#the goddess of theatrical tragedy..

[adamnablelittledevil]

"There is Lestat, first and foremost, the author of four books of his life and his adventures comprising everything you could ever possibly want to know about him and some of us. Lestat, ever the maverick and the laughing trickster. Six feet tall, a young man of twenty when made, with huge warm blue eyes and thick flashy blond hair, square of jaw, with a generous beautifully shaped mouth and skin darkened by a sojourn in the sun which would have killed a weaker vampire, a ladies' man, an Oscar Wildean fantasy, the glass of fashion, the most bold and disregarding dusty vagabond on occasion, loner, wanderer, heart-breaker and wise guy, dubbed the "Brat Prince" by my old Master - yes, imagine it, my Marius, yes, my Marius, who did indeed survive the torches of the Roman Coven-dubbed by Marius the 'Brat Prince,' though in whose Court and by whose Divine Right and whose Royal Blood I should like to know. Lestat, stuffed with the blood of the most ancient of our kind, indeed the very blood of the Eve of our species, some five to seven thousand years the survivor of her Eden, a perfect horror who, emerging from the deceptive poetical title of Queen Akasha of Those Who Must Be Kept, almost destroyed the world. Lestat, not a bad friend to have, and one for whom I would lay down my immortal life, one for whose love and companionship I have ofttimes begged, one whom I find maddening and fascinating and intolerably annoying, one without whom I cannot exist.

[...]

But Lestat was calling. Lestat was, or so he claimed, afraid. I had to go. The last time he'd been in trouble, I hadn't been free to rush to his rescue. There is a story to that, but nothing as important as this one which I tell now. Now I knew that my hard-won peace of mind might be shattered by the mere contact with him, but he wanted me to come, so I went.

[...]

Of course I knew the very moment that he left this world. I felt it. I was in New York already, very near to him and aware that you were there as well. Neither of us meant to let him out of our sight if at all possible. Then came the moment when he vanished in the blizzard, when he was sucked out of the earthly atmosphere as if he'd never been there. Being his fledgling you couldn't hear the perfect silence that descended when he vanished. You couldn't know how completely he'd been withdrawn from all things minuscule yet material which had once echoed with the beating of his heart. I knew.

[...]

I didn't fear for Lestat, not really. I had no hopes for his adventure, except that he would appear sooner or later and tell us some fantastical yarn. It would be regular Lestat talk, for nobody aggrandizes as he does his preposterous adventures. This is not to say that he hasn't switched bodies with a human. I know that he has. This is not to say that he didn't wake our fearsome goddess Mother, Akasha; I know that he did. This is not to say that he didn't smash my old superstitious Coven to bits and pieces in the garish years before the French Revolution. I've already told you so. But it's the way he describes things that happen to him that maddens me, the way that he connects one incident to another as though all these random and grisly occurrences were in fact links in some significant chain. They are not. They are capers. And he knows it. But he must make a gutter theatrical out of stubbing his toe. The James Bond of the Vampires, the Sam Spade of his own pages! A rock singer wailing on a mortal stage for all of two hours and, on the strength of that, retiring with a slew of recordings that feed him filthy lucre still from human agencies to this very night. He has a knack for making tragedy of tribulation, and forgiving himself for anything and everything in every confessional paragraph he pens. I can't fault him, really. I cannot help but hate it that he lies now in a coma on the floor of his chapel here, staring into a self-contained silence, despite the fledglings that circle him for precisely the same reason as I did, to see for themselves if the blood of Christ has transformed him somehow and he does not represent some magnificent manifestation of the miracle of the Transubstantiation. But I'll come to that soon enough. I've ranted myself into a little corner. I know why I resent him so, and find it so soothing to hammer at his reputation, to beat upon his immensity with both my fists. He has taught me too much. He has brought me to this very moment, here, where I stand dictating to you my past with a coherence and calm that would have been impossible before I came to his assistance with his precious Memnoch the Devil and his vulnerable little Dora. Two hundred years ago he stripped me of illusions, lies, excuses, and thrust me on the Paris pavements naked to find my way back to a glory in the starlight that I had once known and too painfully lost. But as we waited finally in the handsome high-rise apartment above St. Patrick's Cathedral, I had no idea how much more he could strip from me, and I hate him only because I cannot imagine my soul without him now, and, owing him all that I am and know, I can do nothing to make him wake from his frigid sleep. But let me take things one at a time. What good is it to go back down now to the chapel here and lay my hands on him again and beg him to listen to me, when he lies as though all sense has truly left him and will never return. I can't accept this. I won't. I've lost all patience; I've lost the numbness that was my consolation. I find this moment intolerable."

THIS CHAPTER ISN'T OVER YET AND IT'S ALREADY PEAK INSANITY OMG

[honestlyboringperson]

This alliance dissolved faster than sugar in hot water. (Persona 5 AU)

Also I know Bigb and Lizzie have similar outfits and themes and Ren is more red than Pearl, who’s codename is literally just another word for “red”. Eh, oh well.

Southlanders

Team B.E.S.T.

The Scottage + Gem

Magic Mountain + Cub

More under the cut!

Lizzie - “Flora” - The Tower Arcana - Carabosse/Persephone

Once the leader of a sorority and with sky-high academics, Lizzie has since fallen from grace after allegations of foul play were revealed. Even if Lizzie didn’t commit such actions, the label stuck and she has since been outcasted from the student body and now spends her days in the shadows, taking care of quite a few stray cats. Despite these setbacks, she still retains her gleam of authority and tries to help lead the phantom thieves, using some of her old connections & IOUs from her days as an honour student. She’s in an active and loving relationship with a certain former delinquent.

Within the metaverse, Lizzie uses Carabosse. Carabosse is more well known as “Maleficent” or the thirteenth fairy from sleeping beauty. As revenge for not being invited to a party, she curses the newborn princess to prick her finger and die, which another fairy changes to simply falling asleep after pricking her finger. I wanted to combine the two aesthetics and themes Lizzie finds herself in; cutesy fairy and supervillain mastermind.

Her Ultimate persona is Persephone. Persephone is the wife of Hades, and queen of the underworld and goddess of spring. Persephone is often equated and conflated with Despoina, who’s real name isn’t revealed to anyone but those who initiate her mysteries. She is noted to be so terrifying, one must never utter her by name out loud unless they want to catch her attention. This is heavily contrasted by the later interpretations of Persephone as a simple spring goddess.

Ren - “King” - The Emperor Arcana - Arthur/Fenrir

Ren is a prodigy actor at a local theatre, with his acting skills being matched by no one in the theatre. He specializes in dramatic characters with flowery speech and theatrical monologues, to the point whenever he’s in the metaverse, he LARPs as an Evil King. He helps hook the Phantom Thieves up with a weapons expert, who for some reason wears a goat mask 24/7. Upbeat and Loud, he and Skizz helps keep morale high in the phantom thieves. He’s very close with Martyn, despite Martyn insisting he’s just using them as pawns. Whether or not this is true or not is yet to be determined.

His persona is Arthur, namely King Arthur. He is a famed king, known for his sword Excalibur and his large entourage of knights. His story lives on through media, be it through simple books to as grand as whole stage plays. He is often portrayed as a well meaning king who defends the land from both human and supernatural threats. Although his legend has changed throughout history, his story is one bedecked by both tragedy and grandeur.

His Ultimate Persona is Fenrir, a key figure in Ragnarok and killer of Odin. A child of Loki, he and his siblings were foretold to bring the end of the universe and in Odin’s attempt to escape this prophecy, he ends up giving them the power and motives needed to enact the tragedy. In Fenrir’s case, he was brought up the wolf in their home where only Tyr had the courage to approach him to give him food, which sparked a friendship between the two. However, due to his rapid growth everyday the gods made three leg cuffs and had Tyr helped trick Fenrir into putting the cuffs on. When he realizes the trick, he bites Tyr’s hand off. In Ragnarok,he breaks free of his chains and swallow Odin whole, killing him.

BigB - “Spectre” - The Temperance Arcana - Winchester/Eshu

A velvet room attendant who is currently abandoning his duties as an Attendant in the first place. Since the new velvet room manifested, he has since been shirking his duties to explore the outside world, never really returning to the Velvet Room. He still speaks in a somewhat strange manner but is polite and charismatic, making him well liked by the people around him. He initially joins the Phantom Thieves to keep Watch of Grian, as he is aware of his true nature, but eventually finds more reasons he desires to stay. He is especially gifted with persuasive speech and helps come up with alibis for the Phantom Thieves whenever they get into shady business. He has an odd habit of exiting rooms through doors that weren’t originally there.

His persona is Winchester, both the person and the mansion. Sarah Winchester was the wife of the inventor of the Winchester rifle. After she was widowed, she was told she would be haunted by those whose lives were stolen by the rifle her husband created. In order to prevent the ghosts from harming her as well as to possibly contact the ghosts of her lost loved ones, she turned her farmhouse into a strange, maze like mansion with doors and windows that lead to nowhere, stairs that end in ceilings, trapdoors, and barred windows.

His Ultimate Persona is Eshu or Èṣù, a Yoruba Orisha who specializes in divination and acts as a messenger between heaven and earth. He was known to have tricked Ifa out of his secrets of divination, and another where he frees Ifa from his imprisonment within a palm tree and casts him as a founder of the Ifa religion.

[msweebyness]

MiracOlympus- Theatre Deities

Here’s the next batch of gods! The theater class! Enjoy! @artzychic27 @imsparky2002

Ayesha:

(Euphrosyne)

Goddess of joy and cheer

Can find a silver lining in any situation, negativity is a foreign concept

Personal cheerleader for any deity who needs it

Impossible not to smile around her

Great at talking people through their problems

Anthony:

(Thanatos)

God of death

Everything he says is morbid in some way, but he’s still a snark king

Only smiles around Jesse, otherwise he’s a dark cloud

Black Hair, black wings, black everything

SCARY when he’s mad

Jesse:

(Melpomene)

Muse of theater, specifically tragedy

Just as dramatic as his twin, Jean

Will start crying at the drop of a hat

Kind of a pessimist, worries a lot

Seeing him smile is a rare gift

Dot:

(Clio)

Muse of history and records

Keeps METICULOUS files of all happenings on Earth and Olympus

Can be a bit OCD about her records

Can recite an unbelievable amount of trivia

Can be persuaded to sing with her siblings

Petra:

(Iapetus)

Deity of Craft and artistic skill

Always working on some new project

Super critical of her own work

Loves visiting earth to find new materials

Can make anything into a fun art project

Roxie:

(Nemesis)

Godex of Retribution

Can be persuaded to forgive, but NEVER forgets

Believes very strongly in fairness and just punishment

Gives the most savage burns

Refuses to lose an argument

Candace:

(Eunomia)

Goddess of order and lawfulness

The Responsible One™️

Huge stickler for the rules of the divine order

Gets stressed when things go off course

Aggie, Alix and Ismael drive her up the wall

Brecken:

(Cybele)

God of wild creatures and nature

VERY protective of all wildlife

Sweet as a kitten with his friends and Evie

Doesn’t like being inside

Has some animal features, i.e. feline eyes, claws, etc.

Eri:

(Hecate)

Goddess of witchcraft and magic

Still gothic and theatrical as heck

Has a potion or spell for everything

Only likes to come out at night

Everyone is at least a little scared of her

Aggie:

(Atë)

Goddess of daring and impulse

Will NEVER turn down a dare

Harbinger of chaos

Giving the other gods heart attacks on the reg

Lacey’s parkour bestie

Margo:

(Eos)

Goddess of the dawn

Wakes up the world with encouragement and affection

Still a romantic, Rose’s matchmaking buddy

Biggest morning person ever

Dresses like the sunrise

Soo-Yeon:

(Eurus)

God of the east wind and fall weather

Quietest and most restrained of the winds

Still a nervous wreck, tbh

Tries to wrangle his fellow winds as best he can

Can be intense when it’s needed

Has wings like a falcon

Parker:

(Kratos)

Goddess of strength and fortitude

Can deadlift just about anything

Always up to fight for a good cause

Can be VERY stubborn

Best workout coach

Staci:

(Erebus)

Goddess of the ether and gloom

Emotions are impossible to read

Likes to hang out in the shadows

Still snarky like no other

Hangs in the Underworld most of the time

Evie:

(Erato)

Muse of song and lyric poetry

Voice so pure it will make you cry

Still very proper, but cuts loose when singing

Master of wrangling her siblings

Writes love songs for Brecken

Mona:

(Morpheus)

Deity of dreams

Half-awake 90% of the time

Things they say are confusing, but also profound

Cannot stop falling asleep

Keeps a dream journal for the whole world, great at interpretation

Eloise:

(Metis)

Goddess of prudence and deliberation

Consistent voice of reason on Olympus

Does complex math problems or puzzles to relax

Not the most versed in emotion, but a good listener

Always has at least three plans

Anais:

(Urania)

Muse of science and space

Spends hours locked in her lab, working on countless experiments

Never goes anywhere without their telescope

Infodumps about the periodic elements

Is very…intense when curious about something

Missy:

(Asclepius)

Goddess of health and medicine

Will punt any of her fellow deities if they’re not taking care of themselves

She cares, it’s just aggressively

Serves as Olympus’ doctor, nurse, physical therapist, nutritionist, etc.

Snarky, but it’s out of love

Leave your thoughts in the comments and reblogs!

[bb-bugspot]

I MUST SHARE THE AMAZING COMMISSION THAT THE GODDESS OF THEATRIC TRAGEDY MADE OF MY OC (IF THEY WERE PART OF EPIC) THANK YOU SO MUCH 💥💥💥💥 @coquexari

[belladonazeppole]

Tiras, The Executioner of Gods

CV: Mitsuki Saiga

Goddess of Death, Fate, Misfortune, Wisdom and Orden.

Pantheon: Greek

Age: Eons.

Height: 6´6 ft (2.00 cm)

Gender: Female

Aliases:

The Executioner of Gods.

The Child of the Void.

The Performer of Death.

Appearance:

Tiras is a tall, fair-skinned woman with a slim build; small breasts, slim waist, narrow hips and long legs. She possesses brunette hair in a tight plaited bun, dull black eyes, well-defined cheekbones and a beauty mark on the lower left side of her lip.

Tiras wears a black long sleeved formal shirt with a navy blue lavallière, a black divided skirt that goes down to her calves and a pair of riding boots on top.

She wears a pair of silver-colored oval glasses and small golden earrings. And a executioner cloak.

Personality:

Calm, Theatrical, Unbiased, Perfectionist and Aloof. Tiras is a serious and cold woman, difficult to impress. Sometimes she tries to make jokes but since she speaks with a monotone and dry tone no one can decipher if she is joking or not, that makes her feel somewhat frustrated.

Tiras takes her job as an executioner quite seriously so when she has a name on her list she will do whatever it takes to get the job done. She does not possess any negative feelings for those she executes, in her mind she only obeys orders and it is not her job to judge who dies.

Even if she has a serious and cold demeanor, there are things that can break that mask a little. Of the few things that make her feel something are the Greek tragedies for their use of emotions, something she feels she lacks.

She sees gods and humans as part of a play in which she feels unable to participate.

Trivia:

Her sacred animals are Vultures, spiders and owls while her sacred plants/flores are the Asphodelus, orange blossom and cornflower.

She is a lover of Greek tragedies and used to go to the Earth to see the plays when they came out.

Although she has never met him and the other Chaos children feels great affection for her father while seeing Alvah and Akaboshi as her family.

[your-old-sins-tournament]

OC NAVAL WARFARE

/ -- Romantic

*-- Unlabelled/Other

+ -- QPR

& -- Familial

Acid Dragon (VSB*ESB)

VSB and ESB are goofy little guys, VSB is a chaotic goddess who ABSOLUTELY misuses her power to entertain herself. ESB, on the other hand, is.. generally very tired, also a goddess. She's generally very angry and has trust issues and VSB gets on her nerves A LOT. VSB is incredibly theatrical and ESB gets very tired of it very fast. They're kinda enemies to lovers because ESB begrudgingly gets attached to VSB's annoyances and you kinda get the dynamic!!!

Pip the Jackal/Agent 27

Okay SO. First things first, they're both sonic OCs, and Pip specifically is based on the Jackal Squad from Sonic Forces. So. Agent 27 used to work for a man named Emerald as a part of his criminal organization, having been raised as essentially a child soldier/spy. During this time, they were EXTREMELY isolated and were not allowed any friends, essentially never getting any sort of socialization. Pip was a part of the jackal squad, a mercenary group, and was about 27's age, meaning they finally got to socialize and make a genuine friend. Since Pip's lifestyle of constant movement also kept her from making friends, the two clicked and became close. Like, reallyyyyyy close. They were both SO SO gay for each other, though they never managed to confess, always dancing around the confession, Pip scared of ruining their friendship and 27 scared of what Emerald would do if he found out they had any sort of closeness to someone. They were so close to leaving Emerald's abusive grasp for Pip, so they could finally confess and the two could be together, when the events of Episode Shadow took place-- aka, the jackal squad was murdered by Shadow the Hedgehog, leading to the events of Forces, where 27 is majorly involved as a way to get vengeance against Shadow. Even later, when Agent 27 did escape Emerald and changed their name to Saturn, they continued to think about Pip and their unconfessed love THAT WAS A BIG PARAGRAOH JUST EXPLAINING THE BACKSTORY UM . VOTE THEM BC THEYRE LESBIANS AND THEIR STORY ENDS IN TRAGEDY, WHERE NEITHER CONFESS BECAUSE OF FEAR OF A RUINED RELATIONSHIP AND FEAR OF PARENTAL ABUSE AND BEFORE THEY CAN WORK UP THE COURAGE ONE IS KILLED, LEAVING THE OTHER ALONE AND FULL OF ANGER THAT WAS TAKEN OUT IN A BLOODY WAR sry abt the caps I'm very passionate abt my gay little ocs

[paviaquill]

idk if anyone really gafs but I think it'd really strange how the 3 houses lost from the clash have are named after errm ancient greek/roman im not sure how to classify it please get what I'm saying T_T

Ultio-Ultio ("Vengeance") was an ancient Roman goddess, a divine personification of vengeance,l

Clementia-Clementia is the goddess of clemency, leniency, mercy, forgiveness, penance, redemption, absolution, acquittal and salvation.

Dionysia- Was a festival for Dionysius, God of wine and some other sduff..

the central events of which were the theatrical performances of dramatic tragedies and comedies.

ACRUALLT DONT LISTEN TO ME ITS 1O 36PM AND I AM AUP I ED TO BE SLEEPIGN DONT LISTEN TO MT YAPPING INJUST THKUHHT IT WAS STRANGE THAT HE 3 HOUSES FROM RHE CLADH HAD LIKE IHMM ACTUAL CONRNCRIONS O HEIR NAMES TO RE ALITY SND NT SOME FUCKADS NAME LIKE MORTKRANKEN

[clawsextended]

the fluidity with which the goddess moves sparks in the cat a need for showmanship that never quiets. she is always broadway theatrics — to selina clings a very grecian subject for drama. comedy and tragedy marry easily in her.

she keeps her eyes stuck, watching, breath out of her the moment she’s abandoned. and oh, does it feel like a strange, wild tug on her heart, the absence of touch. chestnut brown is flint black in its truest ink.

selina vaults the console so easily — tucks around and drops a knee when she reaches there, dress hiked up shamelessly. she presses between those legs with a moan so shameless it will do nothing but slake that ruby across the other’s mouth. the cat’s nature is to devour.

“when i say whatever you want i mean it.”

she makes statements solid, immovable.

would she like to pull over….? have you fucking met her….?

selina’s delirious and it is not silent, not gentle, not quiet at all. she has absolutely zero capacity for subtlety in this — the goddess touches her and then its disappearance makes her whimper — she feels herself tighten helplessly around even the slightest indication of contact. the cat blinks and feels her eyes mist briefly with nothing but the intensity that surges through her. she somehow, even still, never misses a beat. her nails shred the steering wheel and she swears under her breath, feels herself flush.

she would love nothing more than to pull over. she’s daydreaming about pulling over in the microseconds between artemis’s beautiful suggestion and the car’s acquiescence. she’s envisioning every single movement and sensation, obsessed with the idea. it’s a good thing it’s happening. she turns off the ignition. gathers her bearings for a moment, and only one she’s allowed, only one she gives herself.

she reaches to take the other’s hand captive, presses a token of her affection to the inside of a wrist — leaves behind the trace of her lips in that ruby memory. lipstick marks have always been her very particular love language.

“whatever the fuck you want.”

a murmur against that very wrist held, her nose brushing thin skin with an adoring exhale. truly, worshipful is too light a word, held entirely in the tremulous shudder of her pattering breaths.

[coquexari]

I thought you all deserved a lil something for surviving this long. Enjoy :)

[olympianbutch]

Heyo, just popping in out of curiosity!

I've perused a bit of your blog and would love to hear more about your approach to myth. Do you take mythos literally, metaphorically, or somewhat in between? What historical factors do you consider in your interpretations? How does your understanding of the myths affect your relationships with the gods?

I haven't seen your approach widely expressed before, so I thought I'd ask!

I won’t lie, anon, I’ve been eagerly anticipating an ask like this! :) For the sake of time, though, I’m going to be limiting this post a great deal by discussing my approach to Greek mythology specifically as it’s seen via the medium of literature. The reason being that the visual arts and epigraphic record are beasts in their own right.

When I’m working through Greek mythological texts, I always begin by separating ancient material from modern retellings. Most Greek mythology books I’ve encountered are a mishmash of unsourced Greek and Roman works, which is doubly frustrating when the authors don’t distinguish between periods, regions, or genres.

I then begin sorting out all the primary sources I’ve collected. Not every antiquitous source is created equal. For instance, a writer from the Hellenistic or Roman Imperial period isn’t going to know nearly as much as Homer or Hesiod when it comes to Archaic Greek religion. After sorting the material by period and region, I break it down even further by establishing the genre. Mediums like comedy and tragedy have to be handled carefully since they satirize and exaggerate ancient Greek mythology.

That said, where does Greek mythology even come from? If you were to ask the ancient historian Herodotos, he would tell you that “I think that Homer and Hesiod were older than I by 400 years and no more, and they are the ones who created the divine genealogy for Greeks, gave epithets to the gods, distributed their offices and their crafts and marked outward appearances” (Histories). Quite a few modern scholars are loosely inclined to agree with him. Walter Burkert tells us how “the Library of Apollodoros to a large extent repeats the Hesiodic Catalogues” (Greek Religion, pg. 6) and that this clearly shows an impressive level of mythological continuity from the Archaic to Hellenistic period.

This, of course, is a very broad, generalized explanation for the origins of Greek mythology. Virtually all ancient Greek historians agree that the gods and their mythologies existed long before either Homer or Hesiod. If anything, Homer and Hesiod’s works are culminations of an oral and religious tradition that had been well-established long before their time. Like hundreds, if not thousands, of years before their time.

Unlike ancient theatrical takes on Greek mythology, the Archaic Epic Cycle and Hesiod’s Theogony are said to have been divinely inspired by their respective authors. I’ve already touched on divine inspiration as it’s seen in Homer, so let’s focus on Hesiod.

Hesiod tells us “Here are the words the daughters of aegis-bearing Zeus, / the Muses of Olympos, first spoke to me. / ‘Listen, you country bumpkins, you pot-bellied blockheads, / we know how to tell many lies that pass for truth, / and when we wish, we know to tell the truth itself.’ / So spoke Zeus’s daughters, masters of word-craft, / and from a laurel in full bloom they plucked a branch, / and gave it to me as a staff, and then breathed into me / divine song, that I might spread the fame of past and future, / and commanded me to hymn the race of the deathless gods, / but always begin and end my song with them” (Theogony, 24–34).

Hesiod goes out of his way to tell his listeners that the Muses—the goddesses of ultimate memory and divine inspiration—know how to tell many lies that pass for truth, as well as the truth itself. This line has been instrumental to me and my worship. I’ve always interpreted it as them saying that they don’t necessarily tell the ultimate truth, and instead tell us mortals what the gods want us to regard as true. This leaves room for free thought and regional mythological variations. These variations are sometimes regarded as contradictory, but “These kinds of discrepancies must be admitted and respected because polytheism, . . . has the potential to adapt the figures of its gods and to modify their representation according to the requirements of the specific context and using its own specific language” (The Hera of Zeus: Intimate Enemy, Ultimate Spouse, pg. 297).

I think that Panhellenic legends are especially unique in this regard because they suggest that, sometimes, the gods want us to know only one consistent truth. An example of this would be the abduction of Persephone by Haides. Regardless of what genre or medium you look to, there is not a single antiquitous source discussing the beginnings of their marriage that excludes her violent kidnapping.

Turning back around to me and my approach to Greek mythology, I don’t consider myself a literalist, nor am I exactly an allegorist. When it comes to mythological literalism, I don’t think it’s possible. Dogmatism is inherently incompatible with the open system that is polytheism, and we know too much about religious variety to be able to take such a strict approach. I’m not an allegorist either, because taking a metaphorical or archetypical approach is similarly limiting and doesn’t account for the Greek cosmologies or aetiological myths. Allegorism can also be used to explain away the gods by reducing them to simply being metaphors for phenomena in nature, which I don’t at all agree with.

I don’t use Greek mythology as a means of supplementing my understanding of recorded history or science. It’s hard to explain how exactly it plays into the many different aspects of my life and thought process, but that could be because my religion permeates all facets of my being. I can say with certainty, though, that mythology has informed my understanding of the divine genealogy of the gods, their epithets, offices, crafts, and outward appearances.

[classicschronicles]

Hi lovelies,

Okay, so I’ve come to a conclusion, Marauders-era fanfic writers are obsessed with the Iliad. I literally can’t explain how many fics I’ve read in the last month that have started talking about Troy and Patrochilles and hamartia (although that might be because I seldom read anything other than angst). Anyways so I was reading an update on one of my favourite fics, ‘Staying Strangers’ by 3amAndCounting-which you should all read bc it’s so so funny and sweet, and Remus has a kitten called Antilochus who I would literally die for, and it has non-binary Sirius, AND AND AND it’s chat fic!!! I digress. During the fic, Remus and Lily started talking about the concept of a fatal flaw and hamartia. And so, today’s entry is about hamartia and more specifically Achilles hamartia.

Simply put, hamartia is an error in judgement or mistake made by a noble man, caused by an excess or mistake in behaviour and not because of a willful violation of the gods. So for example, Oedipus hamartia could arguably be his incessant curiosity, as even after being told to not investigate further, his desire to know all led to his inevitable downfall. Or Pentheus’ hamartia would be his ignorance, as his choice to be willfully ignorant of Dionysus led to his death.

The first record of the word hamartia being used was in Aristotle’s ‘Poetics’ (definitely worth a read) and originally referred to those only in theatrical tragedy. However, scholars now use the word hamartia to refer to characters overall (including epic heroes). It may be worth pointing out that hamartia is often closely linked with hubris (excessive pride).

In the fic, Remus points out that heroes have the greatest hamartia, and when asked what Achilles is, says that it may never have been his ankle, but rather his divinity. He argues that Achilles is constantly at war with the parts of himself that were divine and the mortal parts and that if this wasn’t the case then the whole Iliad would’ve ended differently. He says that if Achilles had not had the weight of divinity and fate resting on him he wouldn’t have viewed himself as so invaluable, and wouldn’t have massacred the Trojans or killed Hector- which ultimately sealed his fate. There is the argument that it was the death of Patroclus that set these events into motion, but I would argue that even this can be attributed to his divinity.

When talking (or should I say arguing) this over with my best friend she argued that Achilles’ hamartia was his hubris, as it was his hubris that set all the other events into motion. She argued that in book one Achilles’ desire for the greater geras (prize) was born from his own pride and so was his feud with Agamemnon and his withdrawal from the war. If he had not refused to fight then Patroclus wouldn’t have put on his armour and died. And so Achilles’ biggest error in judgment, leading to his own demise, was his pride.

We also argued over whether or not his anger was his hamartia. The Iliad literally starts with the line “Goddess sing me the anger of Achilles”, so it is fair to argue that it was his rage that caused all the events of the Iliad. Indeed, on many separate occasions, his anger can be seen to drive individual plot points (i.e. the feud in Iliad one, his fighting of the river, his massacre of the Trojans, his desecration of Hector etc…).

However, I think ultimately both of these arguable forms of hamartia stem from his divinity. One of the main characteristics of Homeric demigods is that they possess the ability to feel emotions in a capacity far more bone-deep than their human peers (basically they’re bloody dramatic). So when Achilles allows his pride to rule him, it is because he feels the emotion far stronger than he would if he was entirely human.

I think the same can be said especially concerning his anger. The way that Achilles feels anger is so all-consuming that it actually stops being ‘human wrath’ and becomes ‘cosmic wrath’ (as Remus so adequately puts it). In Greek, this phenomenon is referred to as ‘menis’. It is the idea that your anger becomes you and blinds you until everything you do is driven by this out-of-body, divine anger and, in a sense, you lose sight of who you are. I think in the case of Achilles this anger is also inextricably linked with his grief and causes him to literally lose touch with reality and refuse to eat until he kills Hector (which by the way is one of my favourite quotes in the whole Iliad “Not that I lack it. I lack him.” -it being food). This is the same anger that leads Achilles to lay next to the unburied body of Patroclus, the same anger that leads to him being called the ‘Dog Star’, the same anger that leads him to kill Hector, drag his body around the walls of Troy, and desecrate him even in death. It is this anger that leaves him resigned to his fate. But given that this anger is a side effect of divinity, it is his divinity that acts as his hamartia.

And so, when Remus argues that Achilles’ hamartia is his divinity it wasn’t something that I would have seen before, but I find myself resigned to the fact that he is absolutely right. Never doubt Remus Lupin. I hope you all enjoyed reading about Achilles’ hamartia and if you disagree and think it is something else please let me know what you think, I’d love to learn more about this topic! I hope you all enjoy the rest of your weekend :)

~Z

[grndmsnflwr]

Hellenic Polytheism Holiday’s

Anthesteria

Festival of Dionysus and wine

Time- January 11th-13th

The souls of the dead come from the underworld and walk abroad. People would chew on hawthorn or buckthorn and besmear their doors with tar to protect themselves from evil.

Day 1- Pithoigia (The Jar opening)

The jars of wine from last year are opened.

Day 2- Choës (The Pouring)

People dress gaily and gave rounds of drinks to acquaintances and friends. Drinking contests are held to see who can drink the fastest. Drinks where also poured on the graves of the deceased.

Day 3- Chytroi (The Pots)

Fruit is offered to Hermès and the souls of the dead, who where then bidden to depart.

Apaturia

Days of discussion

Time- 11th-13th of mid-October to mid-November

Day 1- Dorpia

A festival is held at a persons house.

Day 2- Anarrhysis

A sacrifice is made. In modern day we will count this as a gift giving day. (In Ancient Greece they offered goat and ox heads)

Day 3- Kureōtis

A day of offerings, such as hair.

Dionysia

A festival of theatrical performances of dramatic tragedies and comedies.

Time- is split into 2 parts through out the year

Rural Dionysia

Held in December-January. It celebrates the cultivation of vines. A mini parade is held of girls and boys holding baskets of long bread, other offerings, jars of water, and jars of wine. After the Pompe, the mini parade is called, they have dancing and singing contests and dithyrambs where sung too.

City Dionysia

Held 3 months after The Rural Dionysia. Offerings are given to Dionysus to prevent a plague affecting the male genitalia.

Eleusinia

Festival of games

Time- held every 2 years in the middle of August and September.

The Eleusinia is a festival in honour of Demeter. Every other festival is known as The Great Eleusinia it’s purpose was thanksgiving and sacrifice to Demeter for the gift of grain. The festival consists of games and contests. They don’t have a specific theme.

Panathenaea

A celebration of Athena via games incorporating religious festival, ceremonies, athletic competitions, and cultural events.

Time- The Great Panathenaea is held every 4 years and the lesser is held every year, but both are in June though

The Great Panathenaea

This is just a more magnificent display of The Lesser Panathenaea.

1. The Musical Contest

• Is only held at The Greater Panathenaea. In modern times the best speaking of an excerpt of the Iliad and the odyssey would win the contest.

2. The Gymnastic Contest

• Is only held at The Greater Panathenaea. 3 groups of 12-15, 16-19, and 20 and above compete. A race is the only recorded event.

3. The Equestrian Contest

• Is only held at The Greater Panathenaea. A horse chariot race between 2 people. I’m modern day it would not be horses.

4. The Smaller Contests

• The Pyrrhic dance

• I’m modern times it would be a dance competition based on remembering choreography.

• The Procession and Sacrifices

• The procession is a showing of all the victors. At the end of the procession everyone that participated in the events offers and sacrifice/offering to the gods.

• The Officials of the Festival

• The chosen, up to, 10 organize the musical, gymnastics, and equestrian contests of the festival. They would also choose the prizes.

Thargelia

An agricultural festival held in honour of Apollo and Artemis.

Time- May 24th and 25th annually

Day 1

The first fruits of the earth are offered to ward off pestilence and convince Apollo to not give excessive heat. I’m modern day you would also throw a rock in the sea or large body of water.

Day 2

Olive branches bound by wool were affixed by doors of houses. Choruses of men and boys take part in a musical Contest which the prize is a tripod. Adopted people are prayed for to be adopted and taken into a loving home.

Thesmophoria

A festival honouring Demeter and her daughter Persephone.

Time- late October for 3 days annually

The festival was held to celebrated in order to promote fertility, both human and agricultural. It was celebrated by other women and men were forbidden to see the rites.

I am a man by birth so I will not read or write about any of the rites and rituals.

I researched all of these in one night and I’m also very new to fully embracing Hellenic polytheism. If there is anything wrong or needs to be corrected please comment or message me. Also yes I know that using Wikipedia as a source isn’t that great but most things where very confusing to read.

Sources:

[arisefairsun]

Do you belive the literary and theatrical impact of Romeo and Juliets famous tradegy shadows the smaller elements of the play? Such as the comedy and side characters interesting personalities and impact on the story.

Absolutely, absolutely. We have such a minimalistic view of the play, reduced to a pair of star-crossed lovers on a balcony—a balcony which is never even mentioned in the text.

But we forget the prejudice, the hatred, the violence that intoxicate fair Verona. We forget the Capulets and the Montagues’ silly, childish jokes that lead to a corpse on the floor and swords full of blood. We forget the harshness of Juliet’s parents (‘I would the fool were married to her grave,’ says her own mother), the young men’s inability to accept Romeo’s passiveness, Romeo’s devotion to poetry. I believe all of this is essential to grasp, to enjoy, to delve into the play, to understand that ‘Romeo and Juliet are dumb kids’ is too much of a reductive statement for it to do justice to the play.

But what else do we forget? We forget the Nurse’s heart, aching for a child lost long ago. Did Juliet replace the hole in her heart? She is more maternal towards Juliet than her own mother. When she finds Juliet’s corpse on her wedding day, she leaves rosemary twigs on her body. What was she thinking when she picked them up? Could she ever imagine those twigs would end up adorning the lifeless body of that child who gave her so much joy?

Benvolio, whose arms become Mercutio’s deathbed. He has to narrate all the violence, all the cruelty, all the sadness he has witnessed to the authorities, right there, just a few minutes after the death of his beloved one. What does his voice sound like when he speaks again after Mercutio’s death? I imagine it as a trembling voice, as fragile as the Nurse’s rosemary.

Friar Laurence, this plant lover full of knowledge. We first meet him in the fields, picking up flowers, rambling about the power of nature. He always seems to have the right answer for every question, a remedy for all sorts of pain. Yet fear takes over him—this wise man, who believed he had control, that he could achieve anything with his knowledge. He leaves Juliet alone in the tomb, a helpless child with no one left in the world to look after her. ‘I dare no longer stay,’ he tells her before running away. The watch will later find him in the dark, ‘a friar that trembles, sighs, and weeps’.

We forget Romeo’s servant, Balthasar, who stays by his master’s side in the last scene, even though Romeo threatened to kill him if he didn’t leave him alone. We forget Mercutio’s frenzy and Tybalt’s fierceness; Friar John’s inability to leave Verona because of the plague; the musicians that keep singing in spite of the tragedy that surrounds them; the Prince, grieving the loss two of his relatives (Mercutio and Paris).

Juliet’s words resonate with us: ‘O, Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo?’ But there’s so much more. These griefs, these woes, these sorrows make me old. No words can that woe sound. He jests at scars that never felt a wound. Then love-devouring death do what he dare. Dry sorrow drinks our blood. You talk’st of nothing—True, I talk of dreams. Can I go forward when my heart is here?

The images. The images are so vivid, so extreme. The birds ‘sing and think it were not night’ when they see Juliet, a girl with a soul brighter than the very sun. And Romeo’s weary heart? It adds ‘to clouds more clouds with his deep sighs’. He locks himself at home, making ‘an artificial night’, as soon as the goddess of dawn opens her curtains in the early morning. Juliet commands the night to come at once, galloping across the sky with Phaeton’s fiery horses: fatal, fierce, sublime. What about her tomb? It is a ‘nest of death’: the birds who sang to Juliet are now dead.

The play is full of life, full of richness—every scene, every line, every syllable is like a beating heart. We cannot reduce Shakespeare to a single scene. That’s why he is so irresistible after 400 years: there’s something tentatively ungraspable about his texts, something that beats underneath, that exquisite irreducibility that makes his plays eternal.

[havetheavengersdoneanythingwrong]

Theatrics

The fires of Fuyuki rage on, but such a show couldn’t go unwatched.

The curiosity grows —

The Audience learns of a new story they had penned.

Surely, they had a plan in mind — a world that cannot be, would be.

—

[My dear/won’t/you sit here/?]

An endless, glowing light takes its seats right as the curtains open.

Theatrics of romance and emotional sequences were a delight to watch to it. Within itself lay many, who adored the intense love and dedication that other takes on this story provided. The bonds between Master and Servant oft made it collectively jump for joy — all while screaming for it to stop.

Then again, pleasing the Audience was impossible. That was by nature of what it was — endlessly changing its reactions, and what it even was, there was hardly a way to get a fully ‘happy’ reaction.

But the performer before them, with a piece of fabric and a folding fan, knew full well how to at least make it mostly happy. For the Audience would just as soon grow tired of their tricks if all they told were pleasantly loving, happy tales.

So they did away with their scripts of luchadora, of mischievous senpais, and drew upon something else.

An ideal world they crafted just for them.

Indeed, an author always derives their works from common literature. They were no different — beyond their shapeless dark visage, they observed reality after reality, conveying the story of their struggles to their Audience. Of people in many strings of ‘reality,’ who showcase their own humanity, their own power, in their own beautiful ways.

And yet —

They wanted something new.

[Give us the folly/the glory/the sadness/the kindness of man/of human/of them]

The endless light spoke to them; told them to perform a story that they simply could not find.

And yet —

The cries of the Audience were another beast of its own — and their cries resounded, forming the beginnings of another string.

Another chain of events — that which were doomed to be impossible. That which would fade and fizzle out as it mirrored another world, and was pruned.

And yet —

They knew what to do. The perfect inspiration, a world still preparing to follow the tracks of everything before it — to destroy Chaldea, to end the Singularities — a naïve, newborn ‘string’ that could still be dyed and restrung.

Searching for a point, a place that would change everything forever, they found a single phone call, set for a predetermined outcome.

To be ignored — its receiver wasting away into nothingness forever.

{A tragedy of human/‘person,’ placing a weak/normal/average in the role of hero/protagonist, watching them struggle, and fall}

...They laughed, and the Audience curiously peers in —

The folly of man, the failures of man — surely, the despair and the trauma that could fall upon mankind.

All would be seen, and witnessed, by a protagonist found by chance — one already traumatized enough to fall and crumple forever when the inevitable climax would arrive.

A cautionary tale of venturing into the unknown — of defying fate — and what would come of it.

A coward, alone in a dark room, picks up the phone, and talks with the hero that should’ve been —

—A Master from afar, one knowledgeable of luchadora, a hero in the makings, could not interfere, as they would not exist —

—A Master from afar, the friend of rogue AI, would be frozen before they could stand tall and fight—

—The Masters from afar, allies of two goddesses sharing a form, could not interfere, their paths forced not to coincide with ‘Chaldea’ —

—This new string, of a corrupted ‘time,’ frayed into a thousand parts, to create a world that should not be.

A world where the coward, the failure with a target painted to his back, tries and fails to save the world.

A world, its only heroes dealt with, leaving only a doomed man to fight.

[letterboxd]

Animated Enchantment.

A recent restoration of Son of the White Mare sends our animation correspondent Kambole Campbell on a quest for a few words with legendary Hungarian filmmaker Marcell Jankovics, about the external cosmos, inner spiritual worlds, and the latest season of Vikings.

“The true arts are receiving less and less space in every genre.” —Marcell Jankovics

Much adored and highly rated by Letterboxd animation fans, Marcell Jankovics’ 1981 masterpiece Son of the White Mare is, frankly, some of the wildest imagery ever put on the big screen. A swirl of psychedelic depictions of folkloric beings are flattened out into a gorgeous 2D tableau. The titanic figures of the characters twist into impossible and often abstract shapes, all realized with eye-popping and heavily contrasting color.

Arbelos Films recently restored Son of the White Mare to 4K, and it was due for release in cinemas this year. Instead, the film is now available for US animation fans on Vimeo OnDemand, and it’s unmissable. “The restoration made everything pop so much, that at a point I think my brain melted,” writes Bretton, on Letterboxd. “The kind of film that makes me happy to be human,” raves Will. “Appropriately immense imagery for a creation myth,” agrees Lindy.

Hungarian filmmaker Marcell Jankovics.

Based on Hungarian folk tales and poetry, Son of the White Mare begins at the gates of the Underworld, at the base of a massive, cosmic oak tree that holds seventy-seven dragons in its roots. To combat these monsters, a dazzling white mare goddess gives birth to three heroes—the protagonist, Fanyüvő (‘Treeshaker’), and his brothers—who embark on a journey to save the universe. In the telling, Jankovics is clearly only interested in the kind of imagery that, well, only animation can provide.

Son of the White Mare (Fehérlófia) is one of four feature-length films by the animator—his others are Johnny Corncob (János Vitéz, 1973), which was Hungary’s first feature-length animated film, Song of the Miraculous Hind (2002) and the drama The Tragedy of Man (2011), which took Jankovics almost three decades to complete. These features have found continuing acclaim in the animation industry and amongst cult enthusiasts. Jankovics’ shorts are just as celebrated: Sisyphus (1974) was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Animated Short at the 48th Academy Awards, and The Struggle (1977) received a Palme d’Or for short film at the 1977 Cannes Film Festival.

Born in Budapest in 1941, Jankovics began his career almost casually; after realizing his family’s status meant no higher education would be available to him, he passed a test to work at Pannónia Filmstúdió. He has said that the animated Russian film The Humpbacked Horse (1947) directed by Ivan Ivanov-Vano was the first cartoon he remembers watching, but that art books inspired him more than films. His career has traversed post-war Hungary, including the end of the Communist regime in 1989, and Soviet military regime in 1991. These events led to greater storytelling freedom, a shift that can be spied in his art, which has included television documentaries, commercials, books, teaching, and a Disney paycheck (for work that was never seen in The Emperor’s New Groove).

In our interview, Jankovics remains steadfast in his commitment to his “chosen path”, celebrating—but not being distracted by—others in his field, and revealing glimpses of his renowned sense of humor.

This restoration and re-release marks the first time that your film has been distributed in America in decades. Have your views on Son of the White Mare shifted in the time since? Marcell Jankovics: They have not changed.

A lot of Son of the White Mare unfolds on a flat, often circular plane. What inspired you to frame things this way? I never considered 3D. I don’t use it even today. The circularity is a part of what I have to say. A fairy tale (all fairy tales) traverses a particular arc, the year, of the eternal cycle.

Could you run me through the development of the style of Son of the White Mare? Use of the color wheel accompanied the above-mentioned circularity; this was partly adapted to the circle of time and partly to the characters. I wanted to get rid of contours. I could manage this because my characters are illuminated, this is why I could take advantage of light contours.

I notice that a number of your short films have focused on Greek mythology, while your features have mostly drawn from Hungarian folklore or influenced by Judeo-Christian religion. Did your interests shift? Absolutely not! All are projections of a similar spirit of the same world. I’m currently writing a book about Biblical symbolism, and in it I make numerous references to (Hungarian) folk tales.

What fascinates you about these myths and legends? They remain eternally true. They are harmonizations of the external cosmos and man’s inner, spiritual, unconscious world.

Looking at some of the sequences of Fehérlófia, I was reminded of the sequence where Susano’o battles the Fire God in The Little Prince and the Eight-Headed Dragon (1963), directed by Yūgo Serikawa and Toei Dog. Is that a film you’re familiar with? No. And I don’t need to [be]. Tales and myths are universal, the differences are stylistic. Of course, I’d love to see it. When I designed the Fehérlófia figures, I drew countless Japanese woodcuts. I also used Japanese theatrical masks for my heroes’ facial expressions. It’s not common knowledge but the Hungarians and the Japanese consider themselves to be related.

I’ve read in an old interview that you don’t watch much new animation. Is that still true? Yes. I don’t want to be distracted from my chosen path.

What films, live-action or animated, would you say have made the greatest impression on you? I’d rather give you directors: Eisenstein, Kurosawa, Fellini, A. Wajda, Ken Russell. In animation: Frédéric Back, Richard Williams, John Hubley. I don’t know if they influenced me but I have the greatest respect for them and I always enjoy watching their films.

What’s the first film you would suggest to someone looking to discover more animation? My own Sisyphus. It might be particularly shocking for anyone who has never seen animation before.

What was the film that made you fall in love with animation? It was a little different for me, I was rather forced into it as a career. It’s a long story and I’ve told it many times. As a young kid I only watched Soviet cartoons, but still I was enchanted because animation impressed with its own kind of genre surrealism. When I started working in the profession and I had the chance to see others as well, I realized that everything was possible in this world, even what I wanted to do.

Do you have a favorite myth, or one that you’ve been wanting to adapt? Not any more. At the age of 79, I yearn for less laborious work.

Are there any upcoming films you’re excited to see yourself? I haven’t been to the cinema for a very long time. The sort of films that I would be interested in are broadcast on TV late at night. I usually look forward to the latest season of the Vikings series.

How do you feel about the future of animation? The true arts are receiving less and less space in every genre. It is sufficient for me merely to mention the latest restrictive aspects of the Oscars. I hope that the marginalization of the arts and this kind of restriction prove to be only temporary.

Related content

Psychedelic Animation—Peter Hemminger’s list

The 303 Hungarian Films You Must See Before You Die—Bence Bardos’ challenge in progress

Hungarian Films/Magyar Filmek—a list by Máté Tóth

Drawing Closer—Kambole’s preview of ten animated features to look foward to

Follow Kambole on Letterboxd

‘Son of the White Mare’ is available now for online rental in the US via Vimeo OnDemand. ‘Johnny Corncob’ is also available in select virtual cinemas. With thanks to Arbelos and Michael Lieberman.