#kinda fell to my hubris already ngl | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

superkooku · 8 months ago

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Thank you for the tag 😛

So here's my opinion on the subject :

For starters, your story is fundamentally different from Greek mythology.

There is that Disney™ charm and innocence that, while perfectly fitting the story, is completely absent from the myths, that aim for more epic, tragic stories, or for allegoric representations of real life.

So it's already very difficult to compare. I did find some stuff, though.

1. Aster as Orpheus

(though I agree that both love their wives immensely and would do anything to protect them)

Aster as "Epic the musical" Odysseus ? Maybe. Jay made him a bit more conventionally heroic than in the myths. Odysseus is a hardened soldier, whose body count is pretty high (especially with a whole lot of suitors and dead Trojans).

I don't want to try babying Aster, ofc, especially since he matured, but he's still softer than Odysseus.

(and thank you for making me picture Aster doxxing himself to Polyphemus 😂)

Orpheus is a way better pick, especially since Aster is a musician in your human alternative universe. And Aster seems to love music.

Plus Orpheus is the student (and sometimes son) of Apollo. Apollo is the god of many things, including music, medicine, arts and the sun*.

With Aster being a star (and befriending the sun), it's even better.

*Helios is the main sun god. It's more secondary for Apollo.

Fun fact : Orpheus' voice is stronger than the sirens'

Fun fact n°2 : his voice is so enchanting than even the wildest beasts calm down and listen to him. Heck, even the trees are charmed ! Reminds me of Aster's magic.

Though it's clear that whatever death Aster has is way happier than Orpheus'... just make sure he doesn't come across crazy women in the woods and normally he's safe 😂.

Fortunately, after Orpheus died, his soul was reunited with Eurydice's.

2. KOW!Asha as Antigone

Medea isn't that bad of an idea, honestly. But I also have another pick : Antigone.

Again, let's ignore the unhappy ending.

Antigone : she fought with her king/Uncle Creon and was deeply against injustice, though for wildly different reasons. She was so determined that she was ready to die (and did) for her values.

She was a courageous young girl.

Other potential candidates

+ The muses : goddesses of the arts, who inspired heroes. There isn't a muse of drawing, but if I had to pick one : Polymnia. She's the muse of rhetoric and poetry.

And I wouldn't really compare her to Ariadne. Though it would be neat to mention that Dionysus offers her a crown of stars as a wedding gift.

3. KOW!Magnifico as king Pygmalion or Tantalus

Thank you anon for precising "DISNEY" Hades. In the mythology, they don't match at all.

Hades is the rightful lord of the underworld (even Elysium, which is kinda like an ancient Greek heaven).

He does his job very well and never tried to kill his brothers.

Which king did Magnus resemble more ?

King Pygmalion, not to be confused with the sculptor who fell in love with his creation.

Like Magnus, he was power hungry and murdered his uncle and his sister's (Dido) husband. He then steals all their riches and Dido's forced to run away.

Ngl, I had to dig pretty deep to find this one. More well-known kings are either not evil (like Odysseus, Midas), or ambiguous (Minos, Agamemnon).

The only really "evil" kings are Cronus and Tantalus. The latter is more interesting because, according to Ovid, he murders his own son and, out of hubris, serves him as a meal to the gods in order to test their omniscience.

Greek authors find other reasons for his punishment, but he always ends up in Tartarus.

(and no, Zeus isn't an evil king 😅. He did some... more than debatable stuff, but he was worshipped as a god of justice and he is also the rightful king. So, yeah)

And Creon, who I mentioned earlier, isn't an evil king.

4. KOW!Amaya as Medea

You already mentioned her, so I'll keep it short.

Though Medea isn't as evil as Amaya, I can see the inspiration in KOW (especially in her earlier life).

Then there's what I told you earlier about the cursed necklace of Harmonia.

Also, obvious similarities: they're both powerful witches who fled their kingdoms.

(and both aren't in good terms with kids...)

And Jason abandoning her for someone else, except his new wife is actually innocent and a victim of Medea's rage. While Harmona admittedly deserved at least some punishment.

Other picks :

+ Circe : another witch who, ultimately, isn't as evil. If we count Ovid, she changed Scylla into a monster because she loved the god Glaucus (who in return loved Scylla).

If we don't, she doesn't fit as much.

+ Queen Ino : tried to kill Athamas' children after marrying him. Queen Ino's the first evil stepmother 😂. Before Lady Tremaine and the evil queen, we had Ino.

(well, the second bitter stepmother, if we count Hera. But she's not an evil queen.)

Ino also had her fair share of suffering, mainly because she took care of her nephew Dionysus. And Hera didn't like it very much.

Bonus point : Typhon and Echidna

The only thing close to an "evil couple" in Greek mythology.

They gave birth to many monsters and Typhon almost defeated the Olympians, thus taking over the Earth. But Zeus defeated him and now he's in Tartarus.

All in all

I struggled a bit, ngl. Greek mythology is fascinating to study, but because 90% of its characters are morally nuanced, it doesn't fit the Disney tone.

(That didn't stop them from making Hercules. I won't complain, since I really liked that inaccurate movie).

But here's my answer.

I reread the backstory of the villains and at the end you mentioned that Amaya is Persephone and Magnifico is Hades (from Disney). I was wondering which of the ancient Greek gods (or other characters from Greek mythology) do you associate Asha and Aster with?

So I kept looking for greek love stories with happy endings... And as ya'll can imagine that's a pointless endeavor, most are tragedies, and the few happy ones we do have don't fit with Asha and Aster.

So instead I decided to just pick greek characters that remind me of Asha and Aster, regardless of who those loved.

I'd say Asha reminds me most to Medea

Now hear me out, I know what you're thinking (If you're familiar with her myth)

"But Anny! Medea killed people!"

Yeah yeah I know, that's not what gives me Asha vibes in her, quick summary for those who don't know:

Medea was a princess, that fell in love with a "hero" named Jason

(She only fell in love with him because Hera made her fall in love with him, so she would help him survive the many trials her father was putting him through, Jason was like Hera's champion, that's why she gave him this lil intervention)

So Jason took Medea home with him, after she literally saved his life, and they had two kids together. But later, Jason decided he wanted to marry another princess, like, one still in power instead of Medea that was a run away princess.

Medea obviously got furious that her husband would marry someone else just for the perks. But she didn't just sit down and took it like many other maidens in greek mythology would, nuh-uh, she started plotting her revenge.

She elaborated a plan to kill both their kids and Jason's new girlfriend, through clever scheming and also potions- because did I mention she makes potions? Yeah turns out Medea was also a big inspiration for me when writing Amaya, she's kinda my favorite girl in greek mythology.

So WHY does she reminds me of Asha? Well simple, Asha stood up against injustice and did everything she possibly could to outwit the villains and had plenty of moments where her quick thinking saved her by a hair (Flashback to the climax of Kingdom of Wishes). Asha plans things out and speaks her mind, she and Medea are both strong, not physically, but in their wit.

I guess I could also compare her to Ariadne since she was also clever by helping Theseus escape the minotaur labyrinth, buuuuut Ariadne isn't as cool as Medea, like come on, at the end of the classical stage play she RIDES HELIOS FLYING CHARIOT LIKE A FREAKIN GODDESS JUST TO TAUNT JASON!!! SAYING SHE TOOK EVERYTHING FROM HIM!!! THEN SHE PROPHESIZES HE'LL DIE ALONE!!!! AND THAT THE GODS ARE ON HER SIDE!!! BECAUSE HES A LYING LIL OATH BREAKER!!!

Anyway, it gives me the vibes of Asha flying on her hand drawn flying carpet to defeat Magnifico and Amaya, and then saying "No one believes your lies anymore" while they're being turned into stone, she's just a badass like that.

As for Aster, maybe it's the Epic: The Musical fan in me talking, but eh, Odyseus.

Simply because I can totally see Aster going through hell and back to find Asha, the same way Odyseus did for Penelope, and also because I can see him being dumb enough to give his full name and address to a cyclops he just blinded. But as more and more shenanigans happen (And by that I mean most of his army freaking dying) he becomes more willing to be more ruthless for the sake of his men that are left and so they can go back home, similar to how Aster matured and even got a lil sadistic in the end there when he decided to turn the villains into stone.

Alternatively, I could also let the Hadestown fan in me win and say he reminds me of Orpheus, but that makes me too sad, considering what happens to Orpheus and Eurydice in the end. Let's say if you cut Orpheus turning to look back, yeah that relationship is very Aster and Asha vibes.

@superkooku you like greek mythology right? Do you have other ideas?

#greek mythology #kingdom of wishes

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