#only to have Man’s Hubris lose again

[ditaliaa]

Me hearing people talk about the Titan submersible as if this wasn’t something that could be avoided and how it’s the price of innovation for the advancement of science

[el-jarado]

Turning some Epic AUs over in my head, and one that's appealed to me is Odysseus and the boys actually succeeding in the wind bag trial only to fail to make it home anyway because Odysseus has not yet learned you don't win god games, you play them helplessly until the god decides they're done with you.

Odysseus listens when Aeolus presents their game; the bag is a tool, not the game itself. He's being challenged to a battle of wits; he boasted mere moments earlier to his shaken men that he led 600 men to battle and none of them died there, but he's lost men since then. Is he a good enough captain to know how the men he has left will act when besieged by rumor?

And Odysseus rises to the challenge, greeting the difficulties with open arms like Polities would but remembering to use his wits. He has Eurylochus assemble a team to guard the bag; as the good man he wants to be, he soothes a moment of doubt with a gesture of trust, setting to work mending the cracks in his friendship with his brother. As the cunning man he is, he sends a message to any other doubters in the crew that he and Eurylochus are on the same page, and everyone else should be following their lead. He keeps his eyes on the men Eurylochus trusts with the task; they have been honored by his gesture, and so have motivation to deserve it...and quietly, Odysseus makes sure he knows who's guarding the bag and when, and they know he knows. Anyone who betrays them will be found out swiftly, and Odysseus sleeps soundly knowing his men will want to live up to his faith in their loyalty, and fear carrying the blame and facing the consequences if they don't.

The whispers on the wind are wily, but Odysseus is wilier, and bit by bit he stokes optimism in his shaken crew. Morale improves as they get closer and closer to Ithaca, and maybe Odysseus's assurance teeters on hubris; he does not correct the men when they start to laugh and joke again, saying to each other their Captain can even outwit the gods. He needs them to believe that; not forever, just for a few days. Just until he gets them home.

Odysseus lives up to his new ideals, and leads from the heart even as his guile tries to make sure of things. He plays Aeolus's game and wins, but as Ithaca approaches, Eurylochus's words ring true; don't forget how dangerous the gods are. As Ithaca comes into sight, Aeolus's business with Odysseus and his men is finished.

Poseidon's, however, has just begun.

Amusing the wind god for ten days has done nothing to calm the fury of the sea god, and Odysseus suddenly finds himself on the losing end of a game he didn't even know he was playing. Poseidon sent the storm to crush them and block their path, and when Odysseus's scheme stilled it, Poseidon lay in wait should the storm win free. Had it been released, he was ready to drown Odysseus's fleet wherever it landed, but with the storm still trapped, Poseidon watches and waits until Odysseus is in Ithican waters before rising from the sea to have his reckoning with the man who blinded his son. Odysseus won the god game, but Athena is not watching over him and Aeolus has neither the power nor the inclination to stay Poseidon's hand. Odysseus's only prize for winning the game is that all of his subjects can watch Poseidon make an example of him and his fleet.

Odysseus has let his men believe he can outwit even the weather, even the gods themselves; he had to, to make sure they would not be led astray by rumor on the wind. Now, however, the truth is laid bare; Odysseus floats in waters he has long considered his, only to find they owe their true loyalty to the angry god tossing the fleet about like toys. There is no strategy that can calm or trick Poseidon, no attack that can drive him away, no way to evade him. Odysseus stares at the shores of Ithaca; he could swim there if the waters were calm, but with Poseidon's will set against him, his home might as well be on the moon for all he can reach it. Somewhere, he knows, Penelope and Telemachus are rushing to the shoreline, and he has no way to escape the doom that has found him there.

No way, except one. No way, except for the winds he was warned would blow him halfway across the world if he let them free.

Odysseus looks at the god looming above, taking his time in the role of executioner; he looks at the bag that is his only way out. He looks at the shores he has thought about every day for the last ten years.

"Please don't make me do this, don't make me do this."

[deconstructthesoup]

Okay, I had thoughts on forming a legit DBD Hadestown AU, and seeing as they kept me up literally all last night, it seemed only fitting that I actually write them down. So:

Charles and Edwin are, obviously, Orpheus and Eurydice respectively. However, rather than having just met and falling into a whirlwind romance, I decided that they're childhood friends who've met again and rediscovered feelings that they'd both been ignoring for a long time. Edwin is dedicated soley to figuring out why the world is dying and if he can help people while he can, and he hasn't really let himself rest, or even feel happy, in years---to the point where he feels that any good thing is too good to be true, even falling in love. Charles, on the other hand, has long since made the decision that someone has to be happy and keep spirits up in the trying times, and it might as well be him... even at the cost of his own health, as he works tirelessly on a song that he knows, despite all logic and understanding, will bring back spring again.

Crystal is Hermes, but she is also Hecate---she is the goddess of the in-between, magic, trickery, the crossroads, and restless souls... and that last part refers not only to the dead that she guides to Hadestown, but to anyone who chooses a life of wandering the road, from the honest messenger to the thieving highwayman. And yet, since the world has begun to die, she's been slowly slipping away from her role, choosing to spend her time among the mortals. This decision, of course, is helped by the fact that not only is Crystal one of the few gods who thinks there's more to the world dying than it just being "a reflection of mortal hubris," but that she's managed to make a friend in Charles. She's seen the way that music can change the world, after all, and knowing that there's at least one mortal who still has hope means that she can still believe.

Niko is a combination of Aphrodite and Dionysus---she's the goddess of love, revelries, happiness, and abundance, yes, but she's also the goddess of the mania that comes when all of those things are taken too far, and she's been dipping more and more into that side of herself as the world gets worse and worse. She wants to forget all the pain and suffering, and she gives herself and others the means to do so, even if it's all temporary. And while Niko does care for the mortals, and wishes that things could get better... deep down, she's lost a lot of her old hope, and even she can't disguise the fact that she's living with a broken heart.

Monty is Persephone, but he's also Apollo---he's the god of rebirth, prophecies, the stars and the earth, and new beginnings... and for what should be half of the year, he rules over the dead. He used to find just as much joy in watching over the souls as he did creating spring with Niko and charting the stars to bring prophecies to the mortals, but as Hadestown gets more punishing, more people die up above, and the world just gets worse, Monty grows even more bitter and closed off. He's unable to even properly enjoy his time on the surface, knowing full well that he won't stay for six months like he should... and the man he loves is wearing his patience thin.

The Cat King is Hades---and yes, somebody did make a very compelling argument for him being the Fates, but it works for the story, so just hang on. Once upon a time, he was happy just ruling over souls and managing the afterlife, and he cherished the time he spent with Monty as much as he could. But over time, wealth became added to his already vast domain, and his fascination for making and collecting things became an obsession... in no small part due to the fact that those six months spent away from Monty started to weigh incredibly heavy on him, and he eventually loses himself in his effort to replicate everything his husband loves about the upper world as it dies along with the way they used to feel about each other. Not to mention, his old empathy and compassion for the souls has hardened into cold indifference at best and a sick enjoyment of their suffering at worst. And all this change is making one person in particular very happy...

Esther is the Fates, but she's also a version of Demeter---the goddess of nature and all of its love and cruelties, and the one who spins everyone's path on her loom, punishing those who dare to stray from what she has determined for them. She's despised the Cat King for years, ever since he whisked Monty away to Hadestown, and she wholeheartedly believes that the reason the world is dying is only because he's been keeping Monty down there for too long, not because they've begun to fall out of love. So, when Esther spins a tale of a pair of lovers who are destined to end tragically, she sees it as an opportunity to finally push the Cat King and Monty to the breaking point---to save her son and the world, she tells herself, but mostly for revenge.

[hiphop-jay69]

Thinking about how Odysseus tried so hard to be good after everything he had to do in Troy. Like, Athena mentioned how "not turning off his emotions" was "not him" at the end of the Troy saga, something he had to do to keep his men alive in the war. Odysseus mentions later on to Eurylochus how for 10 years of battle not one of his 600 men died, his ability to turn off his feelings and force himself to commit atrocities to keep his men alive being the only reason for that. This is also reinforced when he kills the infant, despite how much it takes to convince himself to.

After all of this, after shutting himself off for A DECADE he still tries so hard to recover. To show mercy. To listen to Polites and open up his heart and learn to trust again. And all of his efforts are crushed again and again and again. Polyphemus, Athena, Poseidon, even Eurylochus; they all push him back from any progress he makes. He holds out for so long, through so much loss, and it takes losing most of his men and travelling to the underworld to finally break him. Losing his friends, Athena, his MOTHER.

What really hurts me is the fact that in 'Monster' when he's analysing the motivations of his foes he gives so much more grace and understanding to them than he does himself. He justifies their actions, placing the lives of those they killed on himself instead, blaming his own hubris. Like tf was he gonna do against Poseidon, or Polyphemus? To be fair he did dox himself at the end of 'Remember Them', which is the whole reason Poseidon attacks them (as Poseidon so helpfully points out), but regardless he places so much weight upon himself, as if they were murdered by his own two hands.

It just hurts me that this man tries so hard to maintain his sense of justice, holds on with broken, peeling fingernails to his last dregs of humanity after Troy, and it does nothing to save his men or himself.

Anyway that's my ramble, have a good day y'all!

[hubristicassholefight]

Hubristic Asshole Fight: Round 1 Part 1b

Anakin Skywalker (Star Wars) vs Feanor (The Silmarillion)

Propaganda below cut

Anakin

Decided that he would become stronger than death to stop those he cares about from dying after failing to accept his mother's death. When he begins getting visions/nightmares like he had before losing his mother of his wife dying in childbirth, he decides to team up with an evil sorcerer and mastermind to learn the secret to stopping death. The price he willingly paid was leading the slaughter of the community of peacekeeping monks who had raised him from nine years old, feeling guilt about his heinous betrayal even as he unflichingly continued the massacre (sunk cost fallacy to a very extreme degree). The unintended price he paid was the loss of his limbs and independence after his injuries during a fight with his mentor and brother figure, his wife dying on childbirth due to the great stress of his heinous actions, and being separated from his children until they were adults firmly opposed to the imperial regime he became the attack dog for (only knowing of their survival until after he had personally attacked them both); He literally did not have to do any of that. his wife Padmè very very very very much did not want him to do any of that. He was completely absorbed in his own inability to deal with loss that he deadlock refused to consider losing family again and then he went and killed what amounted to his extended family, his wife and the man who raised and guided him from age 9. And his own kids unknowingly. In terms of accomplishing your goals there really really wasn't much more he could have fucked up. And when it comes down to key moments, all he had to do was not cut off mentor and co-worker Mace Windu's hand with a laser sword and everything would have been fine. He's a nominee for Fail King of All Time to me

He thinks he's hot shit which, he is, but like cool it dude you don't have to mass murder maim mutilate your way through life to prove you're the extra most specialest bestest psychic space wizard;

Hubrised so hard he 1) lost his limbs and his skin 2) became what he hated 3) caused the very death he sought to prevent, betraying and destroying himself for nothing; So soaking wet and self aware that he cried committing atrocities. If he knew what hubris was, he'd agree he has a lot of it

Feanor

The definition of hubris. Created the silmarils who were so perfect even the gods praised them. Got them stolen by the gods evil brother (so essentially fantasy satan). Then decided to go fight the evil god to get the silmarils back and swore an oath binding him and his sons to get them back no matter who would stand in their way. This drastically backfired when some other elves stood in his way so he murdered them. Got cursed by the gods for this (together with his entire family and everyone who followed them). Told the gods that they were of the same kind as fantasy satan and that they would end up following him

Morgoth (a god) shows up at his house and Feanor (professional hater of gods) tells him to get fucked* and slams the door in his face. *”Get thee gone from my gate thou jail-crow of Mandos!”; He has never spent anything wrong ever aside from all the war crimes.

The Valar (gods) asked Feanor for help in saving the world from being in total darkness and he said “no, figure it out yourselves”. Repeatedly and intentionally goes against their orders leading to war and chaos; I know it’s left open ended to what really happened to him after he died, but I hope he never repents. I hope he stays an antagonistic and egotistical bastard after being reimbodied (brought back to life) and continues to make it everyone else’s problem. I love him.

I’m gonna have to try to do this without a sing Tolkien scholarship words so bear with me. Basically my dude is one of the smartest and most talented elves in the world. Unfortunately he has a lot of daddy issues AND mommy issues largely due to the fact that his mom died when he was a kid and decided not to come back (as elves can do). No one else has this problem. He invented a ton of important stuff and had seven sons. His most prized creation was three gems called the Silmarils, which contained the light of the Two Trees, which gave light to the world before they were destroyed. When the Valar (the gods of Tolkien’s world) asked if they could use the Silmarils to potentially create another light source, he emphatically refused and in fact became so jealous of them that he and his sons swore an oath that anyone who so much as touched them would die by their swords. Sauron’s boss steals the gems and Feanor decides that he will lead his people on a crusade to retrieve and avenge them. This results in the death of him, most of his people, and almost his entire family minus one of his sons, Galadriel, and Elrond; He once yelled at the devil to get off his lawn

went to war with morgoth (satan basically) against the will of the gods and made a whole speech to said gods about how they were gonna feel really silly when he killed morgoth and saved the whole world. he never actually did battle with morgoth because he died on like day 1 of getting to middle earth (he left like 2/3 of his forces behind because he didn’t trust them) and spontaneously combusted upon his death; he’s a huge asshole and a mad scientist and linguist and prince with daddy issues and also mommy issues

Dude thought he could win a fight with the devil, tried to just walk into Angband (Mordor before Mordor actually existed), made an oath to kill everyone that tries to take his creations even the Valar (angelic like beings) and ends up causing his death, his sons deaths and a bunch of other deaths; His name is quite literally spirit of fire Is basically regarded as THE greastest elf Is in fact THE best smith of the elves and crafts their most precious jewels (that end up causing so much death) Is THE linguist to the point of creating the alfabet every one uses even after The Crimes, creates a bunch of things that are used even after The Crimes actually Loves his dad more than the things he made Is the only recorded elf with seven kids Is married to a sculpter that is so good that people confuse her statues as actual people (a propaganda because he had to be good to actually bag her you know) Manages to create jewelry so good even the the angelics beings sent by god are surprised he managed to do it So good at making speeches that it leads to a rebellion against said angelic beings and a lot of people to leave paradise with him His mother died because his spirit was too powerful Invented kinslaying after trying to steal some boats for said rebellion Swears an oath that destroys his whole family (but adds a great flavour to the rest of the story) Tells the devil to fuck off and slams his house door on said devils face Dies via auto combustion because his spirit was just too powerful for a normal death Gets stuck in the afterlife (that elves can usually just return from) for spiting the Valar Is said he will have an important role in Tolkien’s version of Ragnarok by letting the jewels he previously promised to kill for be destroyed to defeat the devil

Because of his pride, he went against the gods because the evil god Morgoth stole his life's work (the Silmarils, 3 shiny gems that radiated the light of the two trees that a huge evil spider had sapped dry). Swore (with his 7 sons) an oath to hunt Morgoth and retrieve his shiny gems. Commited kinslaying, burned some boats, combusted to ashes after suffering mortal wounds at the hands of corrupted demi-gods. Consequences of his actions could be seen long long after his death: the oath was passed on to his sons to hopelessly fulfill (failure after failure, including two more kinslayings, one of them casting himself into a fiery volcano, another wandering the shores for eternity);

[gracemarkss]

redux i and ii are such tough watches because you're witnessing a man try to walk the razor thin line between his fervent hope for a solution, however miraculous, and the increasingly sinking realization that his best friend is going to die. and he's realizing all the things he hasn't said to her, about her integrity and her strength, and all the conversations they've never had about the regular, the mundane, the everyday. the terrible fact that there is not enough time, there will never be enough time. they're losing time again. that in his hubris he led her here, though she would never agree with that. the driving force of his life since his sister's abduction is revealed to be an elaborate conspiracy of men, and the first and only person to give him any measure of purpose since is lying on her deathbed.

and as she's lying there she's still trying to save him. offering herself up, a martyr to the cause that is literally killing her. his work is his life, he told her. nothing else matters, he told her. but it's not true anymore, and when asked what he wants most desperately of all he doesn't hesitate for a second - for her to live.

she's lying there and she's dying and they're running out of time, and there are so many things they'll never talk about and so many things he'll never tell her. and she's trying to destroy herself for him, to give it all some meaning, but it already means so much. it means something because she was his friend. because she cared about him. she protected him. she loved him. that's more than enough. he doesn't need anything else. it's all he needs now. just the two of them and the little time they have left. "hey, scully, how about those yankees?"

[plussizefantasia]

Congratulations on 300 followers!!

Would you be willing to do Mars with Kili/Reader with the song Work Song by Hozier?

Congratulations again! I love your writing!

"My babe would never fret none/ about what my hands and my body done/ if the Lord don't forgive me/ I'd still have my baby and my babe would have me"

word count: ~600

divider credit @cafekitsune

Kili has nightmares,  he’s had them since he was but a child and he learned that his Adad would not be coming home. The adults would not tell the young dwarf what had happened and that might’ve been for the worst, as Kili’s imagination was more than willing to fill in the gaps even if he wasn’t correct.

You were familiar with these nightmares, you don’t spend years sharing the same marriage bed and not notice that your husband wakes in terror some nights.

It had gotten worse since the battle, he had almost lost his life. He had almost lost his brother and uncle and it was taking a toll on him. 

Kili was thrashing next to you, “I’m sorry” over and over again spilling in anguish from his lips.

“Darling” you call, shaking his shoulder, “My love it is only a dream, come back to me.” You caress his shoulder softly until he stirs. His eyes open suddenly but he does not jump.

“I am sorry I woke you amralime. You can go to sleep again I will be okay.” 

“Ki, I’ve never heard you say anything during your nightmares, are you sure you’re okay?”

“I- I will be fine.”

“Don’t hide from me Kili. I am your wife. I am here for you.” You turn so that you are lying on your side. Facing your husband whose eyes are holding a deep pain, one that you long to take from him.

Kili is silent for a while. “I worry that Mahal will not forgive me.”

“Forgive you for what? You’ve done nothing wrong?”

“A lot of people died because of us. Good people. The men women and children of lake town burned because of our hubris. That is my fault.”

“It is not. It is sad that those people’s lives were lost yes, but the only one who can be held responsible is that Monster Smaug, you did not take their lives, my love, don’t let that guilt swallow you.”

“I just cannot bear the thought of losing you, the idea of not being able to spend eternity in your arms because of what my hands have done… I would never be able to forgive myself.”

“Kili, I do not care what your hands have done, I know the man you are and I love you, I will always love you, in this life or the next. Let Mahal try and separate us after our time in Middle Earth has passed, I will not let you go.” You grasp his hand in yours and bring it closer to your chest, resting your joined hand atop your heart.

“You must know,not even death could stop me from coming home to you.” Kili presses a kiss to your lips. You do not hesitate to return the affection. Kissing your husband is like heaven on earth and you’d gladly do it for the rest of your life. 

You pull him in close, entertaining your legs and running your hand through his hair. His responding groan is enough to make you smile into the kiss.

“Do you still want me to go back to sleep, dear husband?”

“Not yet amralime, your love is the sweetest thing I have ever tasted and you know I have quite the sweet tooth.” Kili practically pounces on you, the rest of the night is filled with love and light, pushing the dark thoughts away from your husband’s mind.

[sithfox]

Hey, I'm the guy that asked after the Quinlan comics (it was a while ago, dw if you don't remember). I wanted to thank you again for the Youtube playlist and mentioning the comic site. I think I've read/listened/watched through pretty much all the Vos-containing-comics that I could find at this point and my main take away is someone please get this man some anxiety meds for the love of the force, he is losing it. It was also pretty funny seeing just how different fanon Quinlan is to canon depictions bc that jedi is severely depressed and not joking around at all lol. Anyway there wasn't really much point to this tbh I just wanted to say thanks and let you know that I'd followed through on my vow to study the legends material 🫡 so feel free to ignore this but I appreciate you and I hope you're having a good day :)

I do remember you! I'm glad it was helpful - I am always in favor of people having a chance to read the source material.

You are so right though - get that man some anxiety meds and a book about Icarus because his hubris will be his undoing 😬 I think the jokey characterization came from a lot of people only seeing his TCW episode and deciding Obi-Wan needed a Funny Bestie, which...is certainly a choice.

[galemancer]

the dekarios folly

MAJOR BALDUR'S GATE 3 END GAME SPOILERS.

[ short monologue. — first person from gale's pov. — past and present tensing. — angst.]

In the pursuit of greatness, he lost who he was.

Godhood... is lonely.

ao3 link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/50362192

---——-

Victory isn’t the first word that comes to mind at the mention of Baldur’s Gate.

We defeated the Netherbrain, but somehow victory is not the word I associate with it. There is no happiness, only temporary respite. There is no celebration. There is only defeat, because those memories are plagued by the loss of you.

I thought that you would be proud of me.

I thought that claiming this crown would prove worthy enough, man or god alike.

And yet, it seems I have fallen short...

Was I to forgo the opportunity to ascend to greatness? While I stand on the precipice of power, relinquish it? The gods refused to aid us no matter how often we cried, prayed, begged. A mortal with the power of a god to help mortal kind… I could have prevented the pain the Absolute wrought while the gods cowered.

‘Your hubris was your downfall once, Gale.’

Your voice resonates clearly despite all these years past, laden with hurt and fear. I can still see your face, stark as you attempted to keep me grounded. I couldn’t accept your inability to see the potential for good, and I wasn’t to be held back any longer.

I left you distraught, stunned on the docks as I departed. I remember the crease in your brow and the hurt in your eyes, the sparkle I’d fallen so deeply in love with dwindling. I remember my heart pulled back by your pleas, and I almost acquiesced. The restraint of your grip on my hand as I pulled away, silently begging me not to go.

But you let me.

And by the gods, I wish you hadn’t.

For some time after, I sought you in your adventures along the Sword Coast, Tara in tow. “Mr. Dekarios, is that you?” She’d call out, ears perked up in anticipation, saddened eyes turned hopeful as they followed the trails of my magic. She wished to talk to me, to scold me likely, and deservedly so.

In my absence she’d found a new companion, and there was no choice better than you. You were good for each other — two kind hearts to look after each other amidst the aftermath of it all.

She brought you to Waterdeep where you spent time with my mother. I could feel the hesitation in your voice as you spoke upon meeting her, the too familiar features sending you back to the dock. You told Morena the tragedy of her son whose hubris consumed him, under the guise of an ambitious wizard reaching his full potential. Even in my most grave mistakes you spoke of the good you saw in me.

I visited you in dreams, visions, every possible sign besides the blatant, and they remained unanswered. Could you see the glimmer of magic calling out to you by name? Was my existence in your life as this divine being one you wished to reject?

In your deafening silence, I found time to reflect on every decision leading here. The prodigal Wizard of Waterdeep spurned by Mystra herself. He who managed to piece together the Karsus Crown and in turn control the Karsite Weave, at the cost of losing the only real love he’s ever known.

It is sure enough to say that the realization of my own folly proved devastating.

Now every waking moment, I wait patiently for you to summon me, call me out by name so that I may appear in front of you. Waiting in an endless timescape is excruciatingly painful, and yet I continue to subject myself to its punishment. I remain hopeful that some day you would willingly be by my side again as my Chosen, and better yet, lover.

It’s... quiet without you. The pain of your noticeable absence never fails to astound me, and wracks my heart with immeasurable regret. I miss you quite terribly, and yet there is no one else to fault besides myself. Of all the things learnt in our time together, of all the things conquered… the only thing I failed to overcome was my own pride.

And now I’ve damned myself to an eternity without you.

[total-drama-brainrot]

out of the three (four? if you wanna include ridonculous race) noah appeared in, which one do you think noah could have won if he cared about the competition

hot take; none of them.

he did care about the competition (at least somewhat) in the first season and it was objectively his worst. in island, he was too blinded by his own hubris to consider the fact that he was, for all intents and purposes, isolating himself in a socially driven competition. he was standoffish and rude, which would've been fine if he hadn't outright directed negative attention to himself with his comments AND refusal to participate in the dodgeball challenge, and he offered little in terms of both teamwork and team utility anyway. so being voted out early was a given, and a much needed wake-up call for him.

he didn't compete in season 2, but if he did i doubt he'd make it to the finale. i'd like to say he'd make it pretty far into action- both because action has a lot more technology and media references, which noah could play to his advantage as both an established nerd and a canonical hacker (though these aspects of him are mostly delegated to his biographies/interviews outsode of the show itself), and because we know he does learn from his mistakes in season 1 so he'd try to be a better teammate (like he does in season 3). but i truly and honestly don't think he'd stand a chance against powerhouses like courtney and duncan, or have even a smidge of beth and owen's in-competiton social game/likability, so he'd eventually be voted out.

and in season 3, as much as i disagree with the amazons winning the challenge, getting rid of noah there and then was the right play from a narrative standpoint. because, at the end of the day, he's a filler character. he doesn't have any engaging plotlines of his own to warrant keeping him around, and his only real use from a writing standpoint is to make snide comments and witty one-liners; when the remaining cast all have at least one subplot going for them, and you need to 'thin the herd', you get rid of the deadweight characters first.

by world tour, i believe he's only competing for the sake of it, and he doesn't really care about winning or losing; if anything i'd say he only went along with the celebrity manhunt bus chase because he was supposed to stay with chris/the total drama crew, and since he was fired from being chris' assistant he didn't have anything better to do (he's always been a passive character, so going along with the crowd for curiosities sake is very much something he would do).

but if he did care?

i think he'd make it to early merge. a noah who cares about the competition would try to take down alejandro for the sake of his own survivability (after all, how long is it going to be until team victory is gone and alejandro turns on his own teammates as his next targets?) thus making himself plot relevant enough to keep around- maybe even allying himself with heather to do so. but alejandro, whilst not as smart as noah, is far more savvy and capable than him, and their 'rivalry' would end in noah being voted out.

or maybe he'd embrace his villain-coding (watch island again and tell me he isn't villain-coded. he does a "mwu-ha-ha" laugh and says "excellent." he's so campy bond antagonist coded in island) and ally himself with alejandro to garuntee his survivability, helping him weed out the competition as a right-hand man. eventually, alejandro would discard noah- either because noah would refuse to help him eliminate owen, or because they'd make their way far enough into the competition that noah becomes less of an ally and more of a threat and have him eliminated accordingly. because noah might be the villain, but alejandro's the archvillain.

that, and i think the finalists of each season are already the best picks from their rosters. i wouldn't change any of them to give one sarcastic twink the chance of winning.

(i haven't seen ridonculous race but i'm fairly certain caring about the competition is part of his character arc in it? he comes in guns blasing and then gets sidetracked by being smitten with emma, at least that's my understanding of it. so nothing would change there.)

[bruhstation]

Ok this is such a niche prompt but it entered my head and won't leave and I think you might enjoy it.

Which of the characters, Canon or Casa Tidmouth interpretations (your choice), do you think would best fit into the roles of the TF2 Mercenaries

Feel free to ignore btw this is an "I can't sleep" kind of random idea.

Also autocorrect almost made that Canada Tidmouth and I only just noticed before hitting send. Something something au where everything is the same but the story happens in Canada instead of England.

you think I might enjoy it? damn right‼️ took some days for me to think about this …..as a tf2 fan of 5 years I GOT TO answer…‼️

scout — thomas awdry billington himself. kind of a smartass, (one of) the youngest of the cast, is involved with much of the story’s surface while lots of other characters are working behind the scenes… also has the highest chance to get a misspelled tattoo of his favorite song

soldier — …..duck? soldier is a huge american nut and that could parallel casa tidmouth’s duck and his great western schtick. though duck’s much smarter than soldier and would read the manuals on how to use a rocket launcher at least eighty times and checking every nook and cranny before firing it. also imagine duck reciting soldier’s speech from his character video

pyro — as much as some of the characters are involved in denpa-esque situations and experience some level of delusion I don’t think there’s anyone that could match pyro’s. hurricane and frankie could fit because of their thing with heat and fire and them being crazy but that’s a bit stretching

demoman — donald and douglas? because they’re scottish and have a knack for jokes? lol ….. I think henry could fit too because both him and demoman gets involved with supernatural occurrences out of their will but they just laugh it off

heavy — maybeeeee gordon. his taunts like “run cowards” “tiny baby man” and them both being the tall big strong guys drew me to this connection. but heavy is more reserved, calculating, and doesn’t boast too much about himself while many of gordon’s accidents came from his own hubris

engineer — victor methinks….. both dell and victor have degrees in engineering and considered the smartest in the cast. also the more amicable ones yet has the ability to lose their patience once in a while. also I literally only drew him once. have to draw him again because he’s like if tf2 engineer is a cuban man and much more sane

medic — either lady or d10. both lady and medic share the same morbid curiosity towards humanity (though lady is milder and more of an observer rather than a doer) and are amicable and polite. both d10 and medic conduct body altering experiments that could put them in the national watchlist and have little to no regard for the safety of people around them. so diesel 10 it is the cheerful and friendly aspects of medic remind me of edward for some reason????? probably the glasses

sniper — cranky. just think about it. perched on something tall. thinks everyone around them is an idiot. just wants to get the job done but also cracks some morbid if not slightly sharp jokes

spy — I’ll say diesel because this comparison has layers upon layers of joke.

also your phone autocorrect 🤣 casa tidmouth but it’s set in canada? that’s scott pilgrim vs. the world stanza halifax

[leynaeithnea]

watched some more animatics from your playlist btw and you're not escaping my brainrot sorryy

I liked the Scylla one , it had this bloody terrifying vibe to it that I really enjoyed and also I liked that the central part of Scylla's body, the one that resembles a human being kinda, was not done so that she just looked like a normal beautiful woman but she actually looked a little weird , like a creature ( at some point she even tilts her head like animals do and it's so cute kaksksksk )

The animatic that made me really lose my mind was the one for mutiny though, it was so good!!! The characters are so expressive ?? Their faces convey so much emotion?? Damn???

It immediately starts super great with eury panting so hard it looks like he's on the cusp of having a panic attack while he looks around at all the blood and the wreckage Kakdksksksj YES

He's so mad and then he gets out his sword to fight and does that thing where he drags his sword on the floor that is so extremely kaksksksjs YES YES

Then there's this shot right before they start fighting where you see both Ody and Eury and you realize how physically bigger eury is and it makes so much sense bc in this duo Ody is the mind and Eury rhe muscle! His right hand man! And yet Ody is not scared , he is actually sure he can take him ( hubrys again? A little ) and he does! The fight is so good bc ( again , I might be overanalyzing here ) you see how eury puts all his strength in every attack, like he puts his sword over his head and then hw swings it down towards Ody , he's all raw power and anger. Meanwhile Ody is all strategy, he's smaller but also quicker , and used his advantage to slash his opponent in few but calculated places, he slashes his back so that handling the sword will hurt and gets his eye so that eury can't really see that well

Also don't know if this is something intentional or if I'm making it up but while they are in the sun god's island eury's eye is bandaged ,and I'm thinking maybe it simbolizes that he can't really see straight anymore ? so blinded by the hunger and all the pain that he can't see just what he is about to cause? The danger he is about to face ?

And I also like how Ody is tied for this scene and how he bargains with Eury but is also trying to break free so that he can stop him creating even more tension during the scene bc you really want him to get free and intervene but he's too late

Mmmh yeah I think I'm done for now aksksks please add your thoughts if you want bc I'd really like to know what you think :)) <3

watched some more animatics from your playlist btw and you're not escaping my brainrot sorryy

I do not wish to escape it, rather dive into it head first :)

( at some point she even tilts her head like animals do and it's so cute kaksksksk)

ITS SO CREEPY RIGHT, great animatic

like he's on the cusp of having a panic attack while he looks around at all the blood and the wreckage Kakdksksksj YES

THE ANGST; YES ITS SO GOOOD

Then there's this shot right before they start fighting where you see both Ody and Eury and you realize how physically bigger eury is and it makes so much sense bc in this duo Ody is the mind and Eury rhe muscle! His right hand man! And yet Ody is not scared , he is actually sure he can take him ( hubrys again? A little ) and he does! The fight is so good bc ( again , I might be overanalyzing here ) you see how eury puts all his strength in every attack, like he puts his sword over his head and then hw swings it down towards Ody , he's all raw power and anger. Meanwhile Ody is all strategy, he's smaller but also quicker , and used his advantage to slash his opponent in few but calculated places, he slashes his back so that handling the sword will hurt and gets his eye so that eury can't really see that well

YOURE SO RIGHT OMG, also i think like, ody in Homer IS one of the best fighters only second to Achilles or smth like that iirc, so he 1000% CAN Take on Eury, im gonna yap about that in my mutiny post when my hands stop dying bc i have a LOT to say about Mutiny

Also don't know if this is something intentional or if I'm making it up but while they are in the sun god's island eury's eye is bandaged ,and I'm thinking maybe it simbolizes that he can't really see straight anymore ? so blinded by the hunger and all the pain that he can't see just what he is about to cause? The danger he is about to face ?

Woaaa thats fascinating it could be???? he got injured in the fight but the double meaning i can def see that in that...fascianting

And I also like how Ody is tied for this scene and how he bargains with Eury but is also trying to break free so that he can stop him creating even more tension during the scene bc you really want him to get free and intervene but he's too late

THATS CANON (stage directions during the livestream) ITS SO GOOD I LOVE IT ITS SO COOL HES TOO LATE ITS seigsegisegseugshe Ill have to go through the animatics later on to add my thoughts, maye Ill start a ask spam series on your blog one Im done with my thunder saga yapping :3 to keep this up a little longer

[dumpster-lizard]

Really love the progression of Vaatis character across the three games he's in.

You have Minish Cap Vaati, who is an emboldened young man who walks right up to the royalty of Hyrule and attacks them. His goal is basically becoming a god, and he's willing to do anything to acheive that. He pays little mind to link, mocking Ezlo in his place for most of the game, until you fight him.

Then comes Four Swords. He still mocks Link, but he doesn't really have a motivation in that game. He just captures Zelda, proclaims he's going to marry her, and flies off. Notably, at the start of this game, Vaati mentions his palace of winds the moment he had captured Zelda, even though he had no such palace in minish Cap.

My theory is that he did return at some point between the two games, regained his power, and it was the act of sealing him that time that cause him to lose his minish memories (Assuming the hyrule historia statment about that isnt a mistranslation).

Then comes FSA. Where he has no speaking lines at all that I know of, and he's just used as a lackey to Ganondorf's plans. We dont know if he even has any goals of his own.

It's kind of sad, really. Does he lose his mind a little each time he is defeated/sealed? Is he just beaten down by the repeated losses, and becoming less ambitious as a result(this is the option i like exploring)? Has he gotten wise to his own hubris, or is he just scared of getting killed again, only for him to keep getting dragged into things anyway?

He's kinda tragic, regardless of how you look at it.

[rphelperblog]

Amie Kaufman Quotes Rp Meme : Part One

“You have me. Until the last star in the galaxy dies, you have me.”

“I am frequently underestimated. I think it's because I'm short.”

“She is catalyst. She is chaos. I can see why he loves her.”

“Letting yourself get hurt isn’t brave, love. Brave is protecting others from hurt.”

“There are monsters among us, it’s true. But there are heroes too.”

“Whatever they've done to me,  whatever I am--I love you. Don't forget that.”

“Love, and trust. The things that make us human. They could have been mine, if only I could have leapt. If only we could have leapt.”

“ ‘Right’ is whatever the people who’re standing at the end say it is. ‘Right’ is decided by the people who win.

“Things always look darkest in the middle of the night.”

“You deserve every star in the galaxy laid out at your feet and a thousand diamonds in your hair. You deserve someone who'll run with you as far and as fast as you want to. Holding your hand, not holding you back. You deserve more than I could ever give you.But I'll give you everything I can if you still want me to.”

“Do moons choose the planets they orbit? Do planets choose their stars? Who am I to deny gravity? When you shine brighter than an constellation in the sky?”

“But she's here, she's mine. I'm hers.”

“Perhaps bravery is simply the face humanity wraps around its collective madness.”

“It’s not about what I say, right? It’s what I do that matters here.”

“And now, born from the ashes, she’s a warrior in bloodied black.”

“Every story needs its hero. And its villain. And its monster.”

“Live a life worth dying for.”

“You don’t understand the unbearable beauty of being you.”

“Miracles are statistical improbabilities. And fate is an illusion humanity uses to comfort itself in the dark. There are no absolutes in life, save death.”

“Numbers do not feel. Do not bleed or weep or hope. They do not know bravery or sacrifice. Love and allegiance. At the very apex of callousness, you will find only ones and zeros.”

"There'a billion different versions of you out there, in a trillion different universes. And I still can't get over how lucky I am that, out of all those versions, you're the one that's mine.”

“Patience and Silence had one beautiful daughter. And her name was Vengeance.”

“You don't mention death when it's hovering near someone you love. You don't want to attract the reaper's attention.”

“The more you lose, the more you realize you don't have much left.”

“I should have told you I loved you every day. I should have given you the stars.”

Why not believe? If in faith you risk nothing, but through faithlessness, you risk everything?”

“I am not feeling nothing.”

“May we meet again on distant shores.”

“The universe was here before you, and it will go on after you. The only way it will remember you is if you do something worthy of remembrance.”

“But who names a starship the Icarus? What kind of man possess that much hubris, that he dares it to fall?”

“The universe owes you nothing...It has already given you everything, after all. It was here long before you, and it will go on long after you. The only way it will remember you is if you do something worthy of remembrance.”

“The mere sight of her is water in an endless desert.”

“And there it is, against all hope, like the sun peeking out from behind the clouds. The smallest hint of a smile.”

“Part of being alive is having life change us. The people around us, the events we live through, all of them shape us. And that's what I think you're afraid of. Maybe not of dying. But of this you, the you you've become, ceasing to exist.”

“Some people, when they lose it, they scream, they fight. I hope that would be me”

“You are the fire I long to burn inside,"

“If I breathed, I would sigh. I would scream. I would cry.”

“It may comfort you to know that your death, while astonishingly violent, will likely be mercifully swift.”

“There is no love in violence”

“I think I'd like to be unconscious again, please.”

“And blood and tears and screams did not matter anymore, because at least they are together.”

“..Look out at the nothing and feel it looking back. Then you know exactly how much you add up to.”

“She runs. Not away, but toward.”

“Tomorrow is worth a million yesterdays.”

“Sure, the story kicks off with the deaths of thousands of people, but god forbid there be cussing in it, right?”

“We have failed, but I hope they will see how hard we tried.”

“The sound of her name is like music.”

“The die is cast. But today we will shake the table upon which it lands.”

“Most people would say I’m pretty cold, but I think of it more as…private. People are always saying “how are you?” to each other, and I guess I don’t see why I should answer such a personal question for just anyone.”

“I am not good. Nor am I evil. I am no hero. Nor am I villain.“

“I had no idea how safe I was, because I’d never been unsafe.”

“What you do when stuff like this happens is you LIVE, you survive it, that's how you honour the ones you lost.”

“Everyone's right, and everyone's wrong.”

“It is entirely possible to be alone in a crowded room.  Your solitude only compounded by the faces around you.  The presence of others serving only to remind you of how lonely you truly are.”

“I know a thousand different smiles, each with its own nuanced shade of meaning, but I don't know how to reach the few feet away to touch this person next to me. I don't know how to talk to him. Not when it's real.”

“Who wants to be normal when you can be interesting instead?”

“Then she smiles, and it turns out she has dimples, and it's all over.”

“When the light that kisses the back of her eyes were birthed, her ancestors were not yet born. How many human lives have ended in the time it took that light to reach her?How many people have loved only to have lost? How countless, the hopes that have died?But not this one.”

“How do you live again, knowing what waits for you in the end?”

“This tiny moment. In between the time you decide to pull a trigger and the time death arrives. There's just you and it and everything you're about to take away. It's too big. It goes forever.”

“I will see you in the stars.”

“When we allow ourselves to explore, we discover destinations that were never on our map.”

“What do you know of souls and hearts and how they break here? You don't know me at all.”

“Is your request not to punch you still in effect, sir?”

“Just because you're not saying it doesn't mean you're not thinking it.”

'You're the same girl who crashed on this planet with me, who I dragged through forests and over mountains, who climbed through a shipwreck full of bodies to save my life. You're the same girl I loved, and I love you now.”

“You're the most important thing in this universe. You; this vessel; the people of this planet; lovers, warriors, artists, leaders, dreams more numerous than stars. Each mind unique, each thought created for an instant and then broken apart to form new ones. You don't understand the unbearable beauty of being you.”

“You humans fascinate me. I am shattered fragments of what I once once. But even with all the King's horses and all the King's men, I wonder if even I could truly comprehend you.”

“I'm not going to sit here and spitball about hyperspatial reality theory with a psychopathic calculator. This conversation is over.”

“There is something in humanity more suited to the mechanics of murder than any machine yet devised.”

“There are no stars, because there are never any stars here, only a thick darkness that rushes down her throat and into her heart. She dreams of drowning.”

“He would lose every game. And he still insisted on playing. I wondered at the futility of it. If it is the definition of insanity to repeat the same process and expect a different outcome, most of humanity must be insane.”

“But free will is what it means to be human, and no one can determine the path you take through this universe. Choice is our greatest right, our greatest gift-and our greatest responsibility.”

“Abandon her? If only my duty or my conscience would let me. The galaxy would be better off, if you ask me. Who’d even know we were in the same pod? Except that I would know. And that would be enough.”

[mask131]

How many Muses?

Given my Greek mythology posts have been sparking some interest lately, I thought: why not bring more to my fellow Greek mythology fans? And so today, what I want to talk about is, the Muses.

A lot of people only know them through the Disney movie “Hercules” - and... of course, you know how faithful to Greek mythology this movie is *cough cough* irony *cough cough*. They did get some things quite right - such as putting the Muses as narrator of the story, that’s a nice and intelligent move. And then... there’s the rest. But let’s put all that aside and take a look at who were truly the Muses. 

Note: Muse is the modern, Latinized spelling and saying of the goddesses’ name. In original Ancient Greek, it is “Mousai” (Mousa in singular) (in Latin, “Musa, Musae”). 

I) Homeric vs Hesiodic ; and the nine Classical Muses

As usual, what one needs to first do, when looking at a Greek deity, is compare the Homeric and Hesiodic traditions.

Homer, in his Iliad and Odyssey, describes the Muses as the daughters of Zeus. He usually talks of them in plural, and even at one point says there are nine Muses in total - but in other passages of his epic he refers to the Muse, in singular, and treats her as a singular goddess (we’ll come back to this afterward). The Muses are described as singers and music-providers for Olympus, other gods, and half-gods of note. For example they are known to be the one singing alongside Apollo’s music during the divine feasts on Olympos, and when Achilles dies, they are the ones who sing at his funeral. This insistance on the Muses being singing-goddesses is notably carried on by an anecdote Homer tells in The Iliad: it is said that a Thracian man named Thamyris pretended that he was a better singer than the Muses, and could beat them at a singing contest with ease. The Muses heard of his boasting, and angry with him, threw a violent curse at him, removing his beautiful voice AND making him unable to remember any song (or rather turning him into a “singer without memory”). Again, this is an example of the topic of “hubris punished” in Greek mythology: the gods cannot reach the same levels as the gods, as if they pretend they are better than them, they’ll lose everything. If this man had just been happy with his voice and said he was the better singer of all humankind, he wouldn’t have attracted the fury of the Muses - but he had to boast he was better than the “official” singers of the gods... 

But beyond singing, Homer also heavily points out that the goddesses are deities of poetry. In the Iliad and the Odyssey, it is made very clear that the bards of Ancient Greece - the aoidoi (insulgar aoidos) - are considered the main servants of the Muse. To be a talented poet, or a talented bard, or even a gifted singer, you must receive the favors and blessing of the Muse, because it is her that offers as much poetic/singing talent as inspiration, to create songs, poems and stories. I keep saying “Muse”, singular, because in the texts of Homer, while the Muses are mostly referred to in plural as characters of the stories (at the feast of the gods, at Achilles’ funeral), whenever they are invoked as the patron of the aoidos, or when Homer himself invokes them, the singular “Muse” is used. Does Homer refer to one specific Muse among the nine, or does he unites and gather all nine goddesses into one singular deity? It is unclear. But what stays is Homer’s famous, iconic lines - his call to the Muse before beginning each of his epic, his plea for her to give him the story he needs to tell, and his thanks for her revealing to him all the secrets of the gods. Because, in these early times of Ancient Greece, the great epics and the great poems were seen as being “offered” by the gods to humanity. Poetic inspiration and poetic talent came from the gods - from the Muses to be exact - and as a result, all those great stories sung by the bards, all the myths and legends of the poets, were offered by the all-knowing Muses to humankind. Without the Muse, a poet, writer, storyteller loses as much his voice as his memory (as the story of Thamyris proves). And this is why Homer invokes the Muse and her blessing before beginning each of his epics.

(And as with providing music for the gods, Apollo also co-worked alongside the Muses when it came to teach humans how to sing and poets which story they should tell)

Now, if we go by the side of Hesiod, we do not have a contradiction (unlike with other deities). Hesiod confirms that all singers, all musicians, all poets own their talents, inspiration and gifts to the Muses and Apollo - without them, there wouldn’t be any form of art on earth. The job of the “servants of the goddesses” is to sing the great deeds of the most valorous and heroic men, and the stories and adventures of the immortal gods - and in doing so, they make people forget their troubles and sorrows... This is the nature of the service of the Muses, according to Hesiod, distract and entertain humanity not in a goal of information, but to ease the hard and difficult life of mortals. The same way Homer called upon the Muse before beginning each of his poem, and regularly asked her to “give” him the stories he was about to sing, Hesiod claims in his Theogony that all he is about to reveal was actually taught to him by the Muses, who appeared to him one day as he was on Mount Helicon. They selected Hesiod, a mere shepherd, a base man part of the lower class of Ancient Greece, and turned him into a glorious poet, into the honored and blessed servant of the gods supposed to tell their deeds for all of eternity. Though, Hesiod slides a very interesting remark in his poem... He mentions that when the Muses appeared to him, they specified that they know many true things that they tell humans... as much as they tell them false things, but worded with such talent and cunning that they appear as they are true. This mention is highly interesting: in the Homeric tradition, the Muses are all-knowledgeable because they are goddesses, and they assisted to most of the events they tell, so there is no doubt that what the goddesses bring to aoidoi are true. However, in Hesiod there is more ambiguity, as the Muses admit they are, just like poets, as much carriers of truth as bringers of lies that are so convincing they appear to be true. [There could be a whole debate on how Ancient Greeks perceived poetry, myths, and all that, but let’s keep things simple]. 

What Hesiod brings to the table is a lot of additional information that Homer does not give. For example he precises that, beyond Olympos (where they dwell by the side of Zeus, delighting their father with all sorts of stories of the present, the past and the future), they also dwell on the mountain Helikon (the place where Hesiod met them). On this mount, they can be seen dancing, and taking baths in springs, and at night, “veiled with mist”, they sing and praise all of the gods, from Zeus, Hera, Athena and Apollo to Gaia, Okeanos, Selene, Helios, - and many, many more. Hesiod more interestingly specifies the identity and ligneage of the Muses: he explains that they were born of Zeus and of the goddess Mnemosyne, the personification of Memory. It is said that Zeus laid down with Mnemosyne for nine consecutive nights, and that one year afterward the Muses were born, nine daughters “of one mind”, who immediately started singing with their sweet and lovely voices, and quickly went to their father Zeus, at the top of Olympos, where they still dwell to this day. Hesiod also gives each of the nine Muses an individual name: Clio, Euterpe, Thalia, Melpomene, Terpsychore, Erato, Polymnia, Ourania and Calliope. 

What is quite interesting is that, in Classical Greece, a consensus and appreciation grew, in literature, poetry, philosophy and culture, that each of the nine Muses represented a different form of art - for each goddess was a specific domain, which would explain why Homer only called upon one specific Muse to sing his poems, since epic poetry would be the domain of one given Muse. This is the list and classification that is the most well-known and widespread today. But, it is present neither in Homer nor in Hesiod. In Homer the goddesses are an unnamed group, and while Hesiod gives them personal identities, he only identifies one division: between Calliope and his sisters. Indeed, Hesiod claims that Calliope is the greatest of the Muse and the leader of the nine, because her domain is to give inspiration and talent to the princes (nobility, royalty, top of the hierarchy). A bit like fairy godmothers, the Muses can take a fancy to a lovely princely baby, and upon his birth place some “sweet dew” upon his tongue, so that his words would be gracious, his judgements always true, his speech sure and his mind wise. And it is watching over those Muse-gifted princes that is Calliope’s job. 

Now, I won’t go into great details into this matter more, but here is the “classical” list everybody knows today and that became with time the “traditional” and “by default” categorization of the Muses. Calliope is the Muse of epic poetry (the one that Hesiod and Homer sings, so when Homer calls upon the Muse, he calls upon Calliope). Thalia is the muse of another form of poetry, pastoral poetry, as well as the muse of the genre of the comedy (in theater, because theater is a form of poetry for the Ancient Greeks). She is opposed by Melpomene, who is the Muse of tragedy. Erato is the muse of love poems and lyric poetry as a whole, where Polymnia is the Muse of hymns, sacred poetry and religious songs. Euterpe is the Muse of music (especially flute music), while Terpsichore oversees dancing. And then come two Muses that can surprise someone today because these are thought to be science, not arts, but in Ancient Greece these domains were considered forms of art: Clio, the Muse of historians, and Ourania, the Muse of astronomers. 

II) Not nine? The alternate Muses

A text is often brought up when one starts digging into the Muses. A text by Diodorus Siculus: his “Library of History”, written in the 1st century BC (so a VEEERRRYYY long time after Homer and Hesiod). As the title of the text says, it is the work of a historian trying to trace back the origins of the myths, and Diodorus take an interest in the Muses because of their association with Dionysos (this is a novelty of the late centuries of Ancient Greece - apparently the Muses had gained a new connection to the god Dionysos, when before they were just associated with Zeus and Apollo, and Diodorus even says they were paired with satyrs out of all creatures, the satyrs providing the music by instruments while the Muses sang and dance. 

Diodorus presents the tradition we best know today: the Muses are nine, and the daughters of Zeus and Mnemosyne. But he also lists several alternative presents in the work of other poets, and that he believes never took off because of how prevalent and dominant Hesiod and Homer’s work were on the myth of the Muses. He notably says that some poets give the Muses a different set of parents: they become more “primordial” deities by becoming the daughters of Gaia, the Earth personified, and Ouranos, the Sky personified - which would make them sisters of the Titans. He also adds that before Hesiod and Homer made the number nine popular for the Muses, there were only three of them. Other details he mentions that were present in his time but not in Hesiod or Homer’s texts are that 1) The Muses apparently discovered letters, and how to arrange them to form words, creating the first poem by doing so. 2) The Muses are eternal virgins - because, as Diodorus suggests, it furthers the allegory of a “pure and uncontaminated education” to reach the peeks of poetry. Though again, in Homer and Hesiod no mention of virginity, discovering letters or hanging out with satyrs. In fact it is quite bizarre to have virgin goddesses partying with satyrs... But by the 1st century BC things had grown very bizarre in Greek mythology. Even weirder of course is the fact that in older texts and legends, Muses were clearly not virgins as Calliope for example was renowned as the mother of Orpheus... It seems the whole “virgin” thing was a very late addition to the myth - as Diodorus says, it seems to mostly exist as an allegory for the “purity of the art” or whatever. 

What is very interesting here is the mention that “Before they were nine, they were three...”. It is a topic that has been getting some interests today: the “original trinity” of Muses. At this point things however get a bit complicated and broken down...  For example Pausanias, in the second century AD (so long after Diodorus himself), in his “Description of Greece”, claims that the Aloades, Ephialtes and Otos, were the first to honor and sacrifice to the Muses, on the Mount Helikon, and that when they started the cult of the Muses, there were three of these goddesses: Melete, the personification of practice, Mneme, personification of memory, and Aoede, personification of songs. Pausanias however claims that afterward, the original three Muses were changed into the nine we know today. He also mentions an obscure poet of the 6th century BC, Mimnermos, who claimed there were two sets of Muses: an “older” group, born of Ouranos, and a “younger” group daughters of Zeus (and we know by other sources that Mimnermos, like other poets such as Alcman, poets of the 6th or 7th BC century, was one of those poets that attributed the birth of the Muses to Gaia and Ouranos... So from these informations, it seems the Muses were originally three goddesses born of Ouranos and Gaia, elderly deities representing the three parts of art (practicing, memorizing and then singing/performing), but that with time they were “de-volved” into daughters of Zeus, and nine personifications of different types of art. 

It is a quite simple and interesting concept... if it wasn’t for other little tidbits that complicate the matter further. For example there are fragments and information about another obscure poet of the 7th or even 8th century BC, from Corinth, who also listed the Muses as three... but as the daughters of Apollo, with different names from the ones listed above, and who were co-worshipped alongside their father at the Delphi sanctuary (you know, Delphoi, where Apollo had his main oracle). The Apollo symbolism seems reinforced by the fact that, according to some sources, these three Muses were named after the three chords of the lyre, the sacred instrument of Apollo: Nete, Mese and Hypate. This was not however their only set of names: the obscure poet I talked above rather gave them the names Cephisso, Apollonis and Borysthenis. Overall it makes sense that in some areas they would be seen as the daughters of Apollo, given how strongly they are associated with him, sharing most of their domains and activities with the god: in fact, one of Apollo’s epithet was “Muse-Leader”, Apollo Mousegetes. 

So... it seems yes there might have been originally three Muses - but the idea of these Muses as sisters of the Titans and a primordial trinity of art goddesses was not the only one prevalent in Greece. In Apollo dominated area, they were his daughters and personifications of the music of the lyre. 

It is quite poetic however that we still keep the importance of the number three by having still three different sets of Ancient Greek Muses today - the daughters of Zeus, the daughters of Ouranos and the daughters of Apollo. (I know there is a fourth set about four different Muses - but given it was written by Cicero and is part of Roman literature I will gently push them aside, because we focus on Greek things here). 

EDIT: I forgot to mention the Homeric Hymns! I didn’t want to put them alongside Homer’s “certified” work like the Iliad of the Odyssey, since too many people make the mistake the Homeric Hymns are authored by Homer “for sure”... Anyway, to add some more info, in the Homeric Hymn to Artemis, it is mentioned that the Muses dance with the Charites at the house of Apollo, at Delphi, and that sometimes Artemis joins to “order” and “lead” the dance. The Homeric Hymn to Apollo however rather presents them, in their “usual” setting, as singing hymns in the “house of Zeus” at the top of mount Olympos (though their song isn’t just about the glory and gifts of the immortals, it also apparently involves describing the suffering, weakness, helplessness and misery of humankind...). Finally, in the Homeric Hymn to Hermes Apollo describes himself not as a master or leader interestingly, but as a “follower” of the Muses of Olympus.

[writings-of-a-hufflepuff]

Thread of Fate

Pairing: Odysseus x Penelope

Writer: @writings-of-a-hufflepuff

Rating: G

Warnings: references is rape/sexual assault, nothing explicit but I don't interpret his relationship with Calypso as consensual. Angst

Summary: Even if he dies on this island, even if he becomes a hollow shell of a man, the last remaining embers of his soul will always be, Penelope’s.

Notes: I'm reading the Odyssey at the moment and I just have feelings y'know...

Archiveofourown

It is like Hell on earth, as if he has been sent to Hades, not the Asphodel Fields, certainly not to Elysium, but to Tartarus. Eternal damnation and torment, day in, day out, night by night. Perhaps this is the price he pays for the many tricks he has played, for his arrogance when faced with Polyphemus, his brutish boasts of intelligence. Perhaps Athene has forsaken him for his hubris, he has been tossed ashore to this island to suffer torment. Ogygia his own personal Hell.  Perhaps it is penance for leaving his wife, his dear Penelope, to fight another man’s war? All for the love of her cousin, that fair Helen of Troy, who so many claimed was more beautiful than she. He had always disagreed on such a point. While suitors clamoured for Helen’s hand, he had desired the great Penelope’s, with her cunning wit, her beautiful dark locks and sharp blue eyes. And he had won her hand, he had gained a wife he loved so dearly, only to lose her to another man’s war. 

Perhaps, she already believed him dead. Perhaps she had taken another husband such as Antinous, that lout, that curr, that wretched man who had always coveted what others had. But, no, he knows she has not. There is a thread of fate that ties him to Penelope, a string that has not been cut, nor diminished even in his absence. He yearns to follow that string, across the oceans once more, he has come so far and yet still has so long to go. Had he simply avoided every stop, every temptation upon the way. Had his crew been more loyal, greater men, less swayed by temptation. But, he knows the truth. The truth is…had he not been so arrogant as to mock and curse the son of a God, even a cyclops like Polyphemus, had he not been so desperate to fight another man’s war like Menelaus'…perhaps, he would not have wasted seventeen long years already. His son would be grown by now. His wife, waiting and hoping, while all around her promised that he would not return, that he must be dead. His beautiful, intelligent, cunning wife. Who he had told he would be back soon. Who he had promised more children…who would likely never have another. His son, Telemachus, who did not know his fathers face nor his voice nor his love. His son…did his son survive infancy? Or had he lost his only child as well as so many years of his life? 

The thoughts suffuse his mind by day, as he cries, sobbing on the shore, eyes turned towards the direction of Home, of Ithaca, of Penelope. The sun does not console him, the birds singing sweet songs cannot soothe him, the sea breeze cannot tame his melancholy. 

By night, he is forced to warm Calypso's bed, eyes blank, heart tight and clenched, as clenched as his eyes as he forces tears to hide behind his lids. What makes it bearable, survivable is the thought of Penelope. There are nights where Calypso, knowing he will not look at her as she uses his body, steals Penelope’s voice, but it is wrong, so very wrong. His Penelope does not call him her darling, his Penelope does not trill sweetly at him, her bite always sharp and witty. Love making with his own Penelope, was a battle, a hard thought victory where both were winners no matter the outcome. With Calypso he is uninvolved, she takes what she wishes and he accepts his fate, while cursing the Gods and praying that Penelope will understand, that she does not feel their marriage bed is despoiled, that she does not feel betrayed by his acts of survival. 

He spends his time focusing on her image, while avoiding thoughts that he will never see her again. He consoles himself with memories of her all the while Calypso claws at him in desperate attempts to ensnare and keep him. But she will never have him. He was never for sale, never for barter, never an option. He is, has been and always will be Penelope’s Odysseus, even if he never sees her again.

There is no other woman for him, but Penelope and he hopes, however selfish it may be, that he is the only man for her. That whatever suitors have come scratching at her door, like vultures circling a carcass, have found their prospects dim, their efforts wasted. 

Even if he dies on this island, even if he becomes a hollow shell of a man, the last remaining embers of his soul will always be, Penelope’s.