#music has power

[artist-issues]

I’m going to talk about something potentially suicide-related, so watch out.

Music can’t save you.

I keep seeing that all over the place—seriously, all over the place, not just from actual musicians— and I feel like someone needed to say it.

All you’re really claiming when you say “music saved me” is:

Music has a powerful effect.

During a time in my life where I felt like giving up, that powerful effect changed what I was feeling so that I did not give up.

Okay those two things are true, but let’s take a step back for a second.

If you’re lost in the woods and considering giving up, sitting down, and letting yourself starve or be eaten by wild animals, a bird could have the same impact. You might look up, see a colorful shape flying through the trees, and decide to follow it. Now you’re moving. Now you’re doing something, instead of giving up—regardless of whether or not you can keep up with the bird, regardless of where it’s leading you. So sure, that is a good thing. But it’s only temporary, a bandaid solution to your problem. Even if it leads you to water, or shelter, you’re not “saved.”

You’re not “saved” until you’re no longer lost, no longer in the woods. You have to get back to your home. You have to get back to a place where you know where you are in the world, and how to get what you need, and everything makes sense again.

It is the same way with music. Or any art.

Art can remind you of what’s good, and beautiful, and yes, true. But it is not the art that saves you. It is the truth that does the saving. The art just had a hand in reminding you of it. So it would be way more accurate to say “music helped me.��� But you still have to deal with whatever it was that got you to the place where you felt like giving up. And part of that is making sure that you know what the song is saying has truth in it, and that truth actually applies to the problem you’re having, because you can lean on truth, and it’s what made the music worth anything in the first place. Otherwise, the music is just a distraction, and distractions end.

In that sense, it’s more like a tiger is stalking you through those woods. You can get away from it briefly, especially if something beautiful or good or true distracts you from the thought of laying down and letting it take you. But eventually you have to kill the tiger, or get out of the woods where it lives.

Truthfully—truthfully—a song can get you out of, or into, a state of mind and emotions. But those emotions have a source. And if you don’t get rid of the source, or neutralize the source, your songs are only going to be bloody bandages on a wound. Worse, the songs might make you start to love the sight of bloody bandages, when what you really need is disinfectant and actual healing.

I do know this from experience. I’m just saying, think about it.

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

The musical episode.

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[thelucidduchess]

Unpopular opinion but Wouldn’t You Like is really good and people should pay more attention to it

[somerandomcockroach]

And coloring based on @thegunnsara 's sketch

[enbeemagical]

Idk if anyone's talked about this before but the Wisdom saga made me think about how Penelope isn't just being a loyal wife. I mean, there's loyal, and then there's "Your Majesty your husband is almost definitely dead by now we really really need a new king can you *please* legitimize someone to rule who is actually old enough to do that" the Ithacans probably think she's delusional for insisting that her husband is coming home after twenty years.

Penelope's not stupid, she hopes beyond hope, but she knows the chances of Odysseus making it home dwindle every day. Things happen, out at sea, ships never make it home. She knows there's a much greater chance that she's faithful to a ghost.

But it's not just loyalty. These men courting her would kill her son.

He's Odysseus's heir. All the men who trusted and followed Odysseus, well, Telemachus is his son. He can call on those other kings' friendship with his father. He has Odysseus's legacy behind him. Odysseus's friendships. He's young, but if he's inherited half his father's cleverness, half his father's strength, he's on the way to becoming a powerful king in his own right. A threat to his stepfather's rule.

And the suitors know this. If one of them became king, Telemachus wouldn't be likely to survive-- and if he did, it'd probably be in exile.

And Penelope knows this. So as she watches her son grow up, she says Odysseus must be coming home soon. She says she's waiting for him. And when that won't hold water, she stalls, and watches her son grow into his father's son. Anything she can think of, to give him more time.

She's ruled well, alone, but Ithaca must have a king.

She doesn't tell anyone why she's stalling, not even Telemachus. He's like Odysseus- he needs someone to protect, and right now that's her. Let him defend her virtue against the suitors, and she'll keep stalling, keeping them away from her son's throne until he can claim it.

[hinamie]

もう一回、もう一回

[rinni-thecaithsith]

he's asserting dominance

[steviesbicrisis]

Eddie who goes to the same supermarket cause they always play his favorite music and he promises himself he will befriend whoever is in charge of the music cause they have the best taste.

Steve who works at that same supermarket, has an embarrassing crush on Eddie and gets in trouble for putting on metal music every time Eddie comes to the store.

[bunnieswithknives]

Alive Beetlejuice AU that I am rotating in my brain rn. He is so so bad at acting human, he doesn't even bother looking the part, and he has no idea how much money is worth.

[bookishswordfish]

Ponyboy’s reaction to Darry hitting him is always mildly funny to me. He’s all offended like, “I can’t believe Darry would hit me!” when that’s just…normal sibling behavior. You mean to tell me there has never been a time when Ponyboy was being a little shit and Darry just socked the son of a bitch??

[somereaderinblue]

Warrior!Penelope Wisdom Saga in a nutshell:

[haze-of-hyperfixations]

a concept. to consider. what if. what if there was a Remember Them reprise after the Thunder Saga. "We are not to let them die in vain" except he's the only one left so it's "I am not to let them die in vain." and there's no backing chorus of his men. because. they're all dead.

and the line takes on a whole new meaning now that he's the one who chose to let them die.

(not in vain. it can't have been in vain, it can't have been for nothing. i have to see her. i have to see her, because if i don't make it home, those men died for nothing. the ends always justify the means. i can justify anything as long as it ends with Penelope and Telemachus both in my arms again. but if it doesn't-

but it will. it will. it has to.)

and our- ... -and my comrades will not die in vain...

[ricky-mortis]

I drew Ted from the wonderful @nabwastaken ‘s Time Bastard Au! The original design is by the talented @midnightnautilus , and was so very fun to draw!

[youngpettyqueen]

im like 90% convinced that the Doctor is of the same species that the Toymaker and Maestro are

[lunarharp]

shirahama-sensei reminded me she has a thing for the teacher from pokemon s/v so i randomly went off on an au where qifrey is the professor. etc

[australet789]

Honestly, i wouldn't be surprised if Ares was indeed helping Odysseus beat Poseidon up and why his eyes were glowing up red

In the books, Athena helps Odysseus twice with the Phaecians before he reaches Ithaca and she reveals herself. Now, the Phaecians don't appear in Epic

However, Athena's helping does

"Keep Your Friends Close" appeared in Athena's Time Dive in "Love in Paradise". Considering no one knew about what the bag was supposed to do except Aeolus (and the winions), im almost certain she was the one who told Hermes about it to give to Odysseus again. Poseidon here is more active than in the books (he was busy partying lmao), the bag coming back as a Chekhov's gun makes sense. That would be the first helping tied to the books: Athena there helps Odysseus "infiltrate" the Phaecians since they werent used to strangers and would have immediately killed him. She was dressed as one of them so Ody could use his wits to convince one of the girls to help and so the King.

Anyone wondering why a specific Winion suddenly got a Voice Actor?

Now how do the Phaecians help? They make Odysseus travel to Ithaca safe, during the night so he is safe from Poseidon's eyes (beats me how they thought a god couldnt sense someone at night but anyways) and him being asleep in a boat full of "treasure"

You know what else is called full with "treasure" in Epic?

Oh yeah, the windbag.

Now about Ares. We know he was watching Telemachus' and Antinous' fight. He calls both Ody and Telemachus weak and cowards for not even trying to fight when odds are against them (see Scylla). But in "600 Strike" Odysseus wants to fight Poseidon, he is tired and done with everyone's bullshit but specially the Gods. And we know that Ares also didnt like Athena being bullied by Zeus' in "God Games".

He was promised a bloodshed by his sister, but how one man can proof to being able to handle 108 men just by himself? Odysseus in the books was seen as weak because he used only a bow in his fights, since it was a "cowards weapon for being used to long distances attacks".

So he now uses a Trident. Odysseus is willing to change his mindset to go to see his family, to use a melee attack instead of avoiding fighting. Like the King of the Phaecians being impressed by Odysseus journey, Ares is also impressed by him actually wanting to fight a god. So he grants him help.

The last of Athena's helping hand before reaching Ithaca