#not sorry for loving you

[aikya-kat-44]

"You didn't stop when I begged you" being in the same rhythm as Calypso's music I can't 😭

Calypso never once stopped to consider Ody's feelings and perspective. She did not listen to Ody and stop trying to assault/harass him even when he made it explicitly clear that he was a) NOT INTERESTED and b) has a wife and son waiting for him at home which btw he would really like to get back to.

(tw: discussions of sa/abuse)

I think she does sa or at the very least harass Ody in epic. While hold them down is very, very explicitly sa, love in paradise is more subtle and manipulative. It's repeatedly iterated that she's what he wants there. She says that they will 'spend their time' in bed despite Ody having clearly mentioned that he has a wife and that he's not her man. When he tries to more assertively reject her, she responds with a veiled threat of her godliness and therefore the power she holds over him.

Not sorry for loving you, in my opinion, is a very accurate depiction of abusive relationships when the abuser 'apologises'. She is quite clearly guilty tripping Odysseus, justifying her actions with her own pain, pretending to apologise, but ultimately stating that she is in the right, and she has no reason to be sorry. To manipulate him into staying. I interpret Ody's 'but not in the way that you want me to' lie as stemming from fear of Calypso (he's spent the last 7 years forced to obey him on an island she fully contols) or the major guilt tripping and emotional manipulation Calypso's been doing.

This isn't to say that calypso doesn't have reasons, or that she isn't sympathetic. She is. She was trapped on an island all alone through no fault of her own for most of her life. It's only natural for her to cling on to the only companion she has. But that doesn't excuse her actions. A major theme of epic is that villains are shaped by their situations, not that their actions are justified. Whilst Odysseus may have done what he did because of his desperation to get home, it does not excuse his actions. The same can be said for Calypso.

Note: I am not taking into consideration the original source material. In the odyssey calypso quite explicitly rapes Odysseus. They are described as an "unwilling lover beside lover all too willing". This post is unrelated to the original Odyssey and relevant only to epic.

[xfilesinamajor]

That was always more my understanding, too, but lines like "Seven years she's kept you trapped out of your control" and "So you're the one who talked to Calypso" in Epic imply that she had some say in it. It's not totally clear, but I included it to be safe.

In defense of Calypso

Look, I'm not saying what Calypso did was okay. But most of the judgements I see leveled against her are the standards you'd apply to a mortal woman.

She's not. She's a goddess. And we already know that most of the gods/demigods have very little concern for human lives. Calypso is in the same class of being as:

the giant cyclops who eats people

the witch who changes men into livestock and then eats them

the wind god who thought putting a guy in a position where he had to go without sleep for ten days was no big thing, helpful even

the sea god who drowns 500+ men just to get back at their captain

the big daddy god who likes making a captain who has never done anything to him choose to sacrifice a baby and his own crew--not to mention (killing?) his favorite daughter just for winning a game against him, or all the mortal women he's forcibly knocked up

And those are all characters who have had company. Calypso has never had a chance to learn about relationships, or consent, or even humans in general. That's the kind of stuff you only learn through interaction with others. Divine instincts plus no societal norms is a dangerous combination.

There is no reason for an isolated goddess to immediately recognize that there was anything wrong with her treatment of Odysseus. And it's obvious that as she spends time with him, she starts to view him as a real person instead of a toy and regrets her initial treatment of him. She still should have let him leave her island, but it sounds like she knew all about Poseidon so she probably thought she was keeping him safe.

To summarize: Gods inherently treat humans as playthings, and affection/respect for individual ones takes time to develop. Calypso in particular has no experience or context on which to base her behavior with Ody. With time, as she gets to know him, she comes to understand how she screwed up. You don't have to feel bad for her or condone her actions, but before Odysseus came along she never had a chance to learn right from wrong.

And why spend energy hating her when Zeus is RIGHT THERE?

[usuallyobsessedtmblr]

Girlypop he dgaf🙏🙏🙏

[o3o-lapd-o3o]

odysseus is a better person than me...

because if the person/woman/goddess who had me trapped & under her control for 7 years, and was forcing onto me a one-sided relationship (even though she knew from day 1, that i had a wife called penelope, who i cried for every day at the beach for those 7 years)

was then crying about being "not sorry for loving you" and trying to justify her actions in keeping me prisoner (you can't convince me she wasn't)

my response to my LIE (she asked him to lie don't forget) saying "i love you" and her responding "you do?"

it certainly wouldn't be "but not in the way you want me to"

it would be "HADES NO, YOU DERANGED ASS MANIPULATIVE HARPY"

before swiftly grabbing my stuff, jumping onto my raft and sailing away as quick as i can (while totally not giving her the ancient greek equivalent of a middle finger)

but that's just me ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[howmanyholesinswisscheese]

Calypso: I hate that I fell in love with you!!

Odysseus:

Calypso: Why did I fall in love with you??

Odysseus:

Calypso: What do I do with this love for you??

Odysseus:

Calypso: How am I supposed to get over you??

Odysseus:

Calypso: Why in the world won't you love me, too??

Odysseus:

[epicthemusicalstuff]

Which songs are in Vengeance Saga?

I'm guessing.... Dangerous, Get in the Water, Hold Him Down?

Vengeance Saga has 5 songs, which in order are

Not Sorry For Loving You

Dangerous

Charybdis

Get In The Water

Six Hundred Strike

(hold them down will be in the Ithaca Saga!)

[lyculuscaelus]

I actually don’t see Poseidon’s “please” in 600 Strike as a pleading.

“Didn’t you say that ruthlessness is mercy upon our—” “Alright! Please…”

The reason he interrupted before Odysseus ever finishing the sentence was never because he couldn’t take the torture anymore. No, he shut Odysseus up because the latter was now using his very words that he was proud of against him—the teachings of ruthlessness. Something he wasn’t used to hear from another person’s mouth—not especially from Odysseus. It sickened him, it disgusted him to hear his own teachings getting back at him, and it hurt him more than anything else.

So he spat the word, “please”, as in “oh please. Just spare me the lesson”. He found his ego hurt, and this was the only way he could retrieve it—even though it might or might not sound like pleading, he only needed to know that behind the mask of fragility, he could at least recognize himself as the morally superior one—and that was enough for him, for now.

Just like Odysseus hiding all his wrath beneath a simple “but not in the way that you want me to” in Not Sorry For Loving You.

[letsplaythermalnuclearwar]

ok so if Ody's "I love you" was lie, it implies that Calypso is kinda super dangerous and has probably directly threatened his life on multiple occasions

if it was the truth, then he somehow found some level of friendship and companionship with Calypso even though she's his jailer

and I don't know which I like better

[what-shitfuckery-is-this-ew]

Calypso is the broken abuser

she has a sad backstory but ultimately she still hurt Odysseus. We can pity her. We can understand what made her do what she did.

But that doesn't mean we can forgive her

[sapphiccanadian]

[vacker-katastrof]

A compilation of Epic gifs I made because I can. I did two versions of Calypso because I couldn't decide if I wanted one of her just stomping around or if I should leave her full line in. As for Hermes... Man is SO gay. Love him. <3

[lovely-p-issues]

Calypso put the new flowers in the vase.

It didn't matter how much water she poured in or how often she changed the plants - the flowers always wilted after a few hours and nothing of her magic could prevent that. She didn't understand that. Just like she didn't understand a lot of things that had happened since her Beloved had shown up on her island.

The late dinner was slowly cooling, the smell wafted throughout the house and the last wisps of steam were disappearing somewhere in the air. She was used to waiting for him. To waiting for him to turn up in her bed at night, for him to join her in the warm springs of the island and rest in her embrace, for him to give up those childish dreams of Ithaca and burn all those tools he was trying to hide from her.

She had waited so long. She could have waited a little longer.

‘Oh darling, this looks just amazing.’

It wasn't Odysseus' voice. Odysseus never sounded so cheerful.

She turned and clenched her fist, and the candles in the room flickered.

At the head of the table, where she usually seated Odysseus, sat a strange man.

No, not a man.

A god, smiling at her with his teeth bared. He sprawled comfortably in a chair, holding a chalice in his hand, Odysseus' chalice, into which she had not yet had time to pour wine. However, the intruder seemed not to mind as he took a sip from it without taking his eyes off her. In his other hand he held a strange staff, entwined with two snakes. He rotated it in his hand, as if slightly bored.

‘This place is not for you, Hermes,’ Calypso growled, and the candles went out completely.

She noticed with anger that the Lilies of the Valley, which only an hour ago had tempted her with their fragrance in the meadow, had begun to bow to the ground. The petals were covered in spots.

The Messenger of the Gods only laughed heartily. Something about that joy made the hair on the back of her neck stand up. He waved the Caduceus, and the candles lit up again, but this time with a rosy glow. She gritted her teeth.

‘So you remember me? I shouldn't be surprised, I can make an impression, after all I am-’

‘Uninvited. And unwelcome.’

‘Funny, I don't recall you being bothered by not being invited when the waves tossed a certain wanderer onto the shore.’

She turned.

‘I enjoy his company.’

She had work to do. She placed the pot over the hearth.

‘I don't doubt it, darling. Tell me, though, does he enjoy yours?’

The wind wailed and hit the shutters. Out of the corner of her eye, Calypso noticed that the petals of the buttercups had fallen on the table. She had to restrain herself from shouting.

‘He will learn to enjoy it. I have time, all the time in the world. His wife cannot say the same. Even his son will eventually turn to dust. And he will finally be able to move on.’

'Ah, so you put your trust in the workings of Chronos, the god of time. A touching method, mortals claim, but even they can tell the difference between it and a vain hope. How long has it been, darling? Seven years, if I count correctly?'

She slammed her hands on the table, glancing at him over her shoulder.

‘Oh, please, what is seven years?’

‘For us?’ waved the Caduceus between them. ‘Nothing. For them?’ he waved his hand towards the window. ‘It's a bit more complicated.’

‘Why do you care? Why couldn't you fly over my island without looking back, like you always do?’

‘For many reasons. If only for the fact that, as you know, I am the god of travellers. What kind of a patron would I be if I didn't make sure that such a determined man didn't make it home?’

‘He is home.’

Although Hermes took a compassionate tone, his face remained sullen.

‘A lie doesn't suit your eyes, darling.’

She clenched her fists and furrowed her forehead.

‘I won't let you-’

Hermes was no longer sitting behind the table. He was hovering over her, and his eyes, though hidden by the shadow of his helmet, glittered with rage.

‘You will let me speak, for as the Messenger of the Gods, I speak not only with my voice, but also with the voice of Zeus, the King on Olympus. You will let Odysseus go. You will end his torment. You will let him sail home. You will give him everything he needs for the journey. And then you will come back here and learn to live without him.’

Calypso didn't think she could still be afraid of anything after all these years. She took a step closer and raised her head so that their noses nearly touched.

‘He's going to die.’

Hermes tilted his head.

‘Let me worry about that, darling.’

His voice was cheerful again.

He moved away from her and began to play with the dried flowers.

She stood in silence, afraid that if she opened her mouth she would start to cry. Finally, she quieted the storm in her chest.

‘What if I convince him?’ she looked at the god, a challenge burning in her eyes. ‘What if he decides to stay?’

‘Then I will be more than impressed, darling, even as a god whose one of his myriad talents is deft eloquence.’

Hermes moved closer to her. In his hands he held a garland braided with petunias, monkshoods and yellow carnations. Fatal was a crown for the queen of Ogygia.

She had not brought those flowers. She took one last look past the set table and the cold food. The only flowers she had brought herself that had not fallen from their strength were yellow roses, the scent of which now made her choke.

Hermes adorned her head with a garland in the gentlest of motions.

‘Go on, Calypso. I shall watch.’

The wings rustled and Calypso was alone. Again.

___

I hope you enjoyed a little dangerous Hermes c:

[miwkchii]

Tweaked my calypso design just a tiny bit ☆

[hamliza-trash]

me n my friends earlier had a conversation abt all the shit Calypso did to Ody and how OBVIOUSLY wrong it was

and we came to the conclusion that "not sorry for loving you" sounds like a pathetic youtube apology video 😜

so here's a drawing one of us did

(sadly he doesn't have tumblr but he agreed to post it here anyway 🙏 his ig and twitter are ananas_comics if anyone's interested in his works)

[gotstabbedbyapen]

In the celebration of the Vengeance Saga trailer being released, I've made another prediction bingo!

Place your bets everyone! This one is gonna gooooood >:))))

[happypeachsludgeflower]

When I first listened to ‘Not Sorry For Loving You’ (the unfinished version on YouTube a few weeks ago), I saw people commenting that Calypso was dumb (and other such rude things) because Odysseus told her he was married and wouldn’t love her. She was told up front and still didn’t understand why he wouldn’t love her.

And yea, he did tell her. It’s not his fault she didn’t believe him. She really should have listened.

But I don’t think she was necessarily dumb, or that it was all her fault either.

From what she says in the song, she was abandoned on that island when she was a young child (I know that’s not exactly accurate to Greek myths, but it’s her backstory here so it’s what I’m going with). And no one can arrive at, or leave her island unless a god intervenes. She’s been alone on that island for a hundred years since she was a kid.

Can you imagine growing up in insolation for a hundred years without a single person to speak to or touch? She probably doesn’t even have solid memories of other people by this point. It makes sense that the first human she’s seen in a century, the first person she’s talked to, the first person that’s broken the cursed solitude that was driving her insane—of course she loved him. Why wouldn’t she?

I for one, cannot blame her for having terrible social skills, no comprehension of boundaries, or a full concept of what no means. I’m frankly surprised she even knows what love is (if she even does at all?? It’s debatable if she loves him romantically or not). Of course she wouldn’t understand when he said no.

Anyway, all I’m saying is, it wasn’t either of their faults.

If you want to blame someone blame Zues for sticking both of them there and being the world’s largest ass.