#thunder-the-wolf

[pigeonstab]

@somegrumpynerd :3c Cross getting his first toy ever

I think it's the kind of thing he brings everywhere cuz it's his comfort item.. and he's never had a comfort item before

[dantistmarty]

[aityys]

Dear Telemachus

[abandoned-raccoon]

MAIL IS HERE 🗣️🗣️

[ashinaisshin]

Alucard’s bat transformation 🦇 Castlevania: Symphony of the Night (1997), dev. Konami

[prince-of-ithaca]

Me when I found out the “friend” Athena had was my father

YOU AINT GETTING HER BACK SHES MY FRIEND AND REPLACEMENT PARENTAL FIGURE NOW BITCHHHH

(More of an explanation in the long af tags)

[iamgoodtobeart]

The villains (more or less for Calypso) of the last two sagas of Epic the Musical! I think they're my favourite of all. For see their WIP you can check the video on youtube here!

[thusteas]

This is basically how Little Wolf went tbr

[sarnai4]

Sad Canon.

What if in Epic, Penelope shut herself in her room after an incident? She was just out and about. You know, enjoying her palace as much as she could in spite of the unwelcome guests. Then Antinous has to be the creep that he is and tries to force himself on her, but Telemachus steps in (is probably a young teen at this point) and just gets laughed at. She sees that he's going to get really hurt if this keeps up, so she just stops leaving her room to protect them both.

[ice-magician]

DuvetBox arrival in Suffering- “Hey, I know I’m late, but I’m here now.”

DuvetBox uploads since then- *bursts through the door, sunglasses on, Starbucks in hand.* “Move, bitches. I’m here.”

[wolfnight2012]

EPIC!Polites had to die

(Hear me out!)

Anyways, i talked a bit about how Polites literally moves the plot in EPIC ( here) but this time I'm sorta gonna mirror the arguments.

So, this is all gonna come across as Polites favoritism, but (though you don't have to agree with what I say) know my arguments are taken straight from the text.

So, why does Polites have to die?

Because EPIC cannot happen without his death (for two reasons)

Number One

As I state in my linked post, Polites is the only person Odysseus is shown to listen to.

Odysseus changes his mind/his actions 3 times in Act 1.

Zeus: Odysseus would not have killed that infant if Zeus did not tell him to. Zeus tells him the infant will kill Odysseus' loved ones in the future & with a heavy heart, Odysseus acquiesces.

Tiresias: Odysseus would not have become the monster if the prophet had not told him he would never get home + Penelope was with a murderer.

Polites: at the end of "Open Arms" Odysseus starts to seriously consider Polites' words (that's why he sings Polites' words "Greet the world with open arms" back to him.) Thats also why that's the moment Athena chooses to come berate Odysseus. Odysseus has been guilt-ridden since Astyanax, but Athena chooses this moment, when Odysseus is with Polites & listening to him, to tell him he's "forgotten to turn off [his] heart."

One of these instances is not like the other.

Unlike with Zeus or Tiresias, Polites is not threatening Penelope/Odysseus' family.

These are also not the only instances of someone trying to change Odysseus' mind (or trying to tell him what to do)

Odysseus disregards Athena's instructions to kill Polyphemus & when she doubles down on his recklessness/disappointing actions, Odysseus essentially tells her to fuck right off.

Odysseus refuses to give Poseidon a real apology (not saying it would have saved his crew or not, but Odysseus clearly thought it would, hence him playing along)

Odysseus doesn't allow himself to be tempted by Circe in order to save his men (not saying this is a bad thing btw!!)

And then there's Eurylochus.

Eurylochus, notably, tries to reason with change Odysseus' mind a whopping Five Times in Act 1.

Full Speed Ahead: "We don't know what's ahead"

Remember Them: "Captain, we should run"

Storm: "Captain, we will capsize with these waves, our fleet will fail"

Luck Runs Out: (literally the entire song)

Puppeteer: "Think about the men we have left, before there're none"

And Odysseus listens a total of zero times.

And yet, unlike with "Luck Runs Out" when Polites tries to tell Odysseus to change his behavior/his mind/his way of thinking, Odysseus puts up a lukewarm resistance at best AND he sincerely considers Polites' words.

Number Two

Out of all the characters we've been introduced to this far (up to the Thunder Saga) Polites is the one who knows Odysseus best (AND the one he is closest to)

I know we only have 2-3 songs to establish Odysseus & Polites' relationship while Polites is alive (though he does very much haunt the narrative, even up to "Suffering" as Jorge recently-ish informed us) but OH BOY, is it Thoroughly established.

Full Speed Ahead:

The joy in Odysseus' voice when he greets Polites vs the more professional affection given to Eurylochus' entrance.

Not only the fact that Odysseus chooses Polites out of 600 men to scout the island with him, but that he choses only Polites. Either he can trust his life to Polites' skill as a warrior OR (more likely imo) he wants some alone time. And he feels he can be alone/himself with Polites.

Open Arms:

Polites immediately knows something's up with Odysseus but (unlike Eurylochus in "Luck Runs Out") he doesn't say anything in front of the crew, rather waiting until they're alone on the island. Either Polites has more tact than Eury OR (more likely imo) he knows Ody--enough to know he doesnt respond well to being called out in front of others or how to best approach a conversation about his mental state

Polites correctly calls out that Odysseus is tired of war (which Odysseus confirms in "Just a Man"), that he's stressed out ("Look at how you grip your sword, enough said"), and that something is eating at him ("I see in your face there is so much guilt inside your heart")

Odysseus never gets defensive with Polites or shuts down him down (unlike in "Luck Runs Out") despite the fact that Polites IS calling Odysseus out, (Just Like Eurylochus in LRO!) The most we get is a half-hearted/unconvincing "I'm fine, Polites" which makes ME think Ody isn't trying too hard to convince Polites, either because he knows he can't get one past his best friend or because he doesnt want to wear a mask, not around Polites.

((arguably!!)) Odyssues only goes to the cave/trusts the lotus-eater's information because of Polites (which is another instance of him being swayed by Polites or of the affection he holds for his friend being strong enough for him to want to please him)

Survive:

Polites' death is what causes Odysseus to freeze up/go into shock. Odysseus stops captaining his men & leaves them orderless (despite their pleas for him to resume command) solely because Polites dies (and we do have confirmation on this given that in the last live-stream, the stage directions during "Remember Them" tell us Odysseus is still staring at Polites' body up until Eurylochus snaps him out of it)

[edit]Underworld:

Odysseus becomes overwhelmed by the accusing voices of the underworld & starts to spiral (arguably starts having the beginnings of a panic attack)

Polites' voice snaps him out of it (listen to the change in the music/soundscape from "I keep thinking of the infant from that night" to "This life is amazing"

There is audible relief/hope in Odysseus' first "Polites." I hesitate to call it joy, but everything does become lighter

However, Polites CAN'T offer Odysseus comfort/support, since he's not really here/he's just a spirit stuck in his deathloop

Odysseus' 2nd "Polites" sounds dejected/small when he realizes Polites can't interact with him/stay

He was hoping for comfort/support! He heard Polites & the screams IMMEDIATELY quiet! His mood audibly lifts! Polites is canonically Odysseus' emotional/mental support, as seen in "Open Arms" (check out my super long post analyzing "Open Arms" lyric by lyric here) and by how we are shown/told he's noticeably changed in the Ocean Saga (both by Eurylochus suddenly doubting Odysseus + the lyric "Everything's changed since Polites)

So, why do I think Polites had to die to keep the EPIC plot as is?

Well, given the information we have (and including no further speculation or headcanons) we know five things:

Odysseus trusts Polites

Odysseus cares deeply about Polites

Polites can effectively tell when something is bothering Odysseus

Polites can call Odysseus out without getting shut out/down

Polites can get Odysseus to listen/change his mind

Which tells me, Polites could have likely prevented everything past the blinding of Polyphemus.

We KNOW Polites' death is a large part of what causes Odysseus to shout out his name ("My friend is dead") but beyond that:

If anyone is going to tell something is eating at Odysseus in the Ocean Saga, it's Polites. (No other crew member tries to figure out how Odyssues is doing mentally/emotionally OR figures out what's bothering him beyond "Everything's changed since Polites") If Polites is alive, Odysseus isn't carrying all the weight on his own, because Polites will notice & reach out

Polites has a track record of getting Odysseus to listen. If they need to talk to him, it most likely wouldn't be Eurylochus stepping up if Polites lived

Odysseus trusts Polites. If they still get the windbag, Odysseus is letting Polites take a shift

If Polites lives, the plot of EPIC is diverted during the Ocean Saga at latest. Either Odysseus isn't made reckless with grief/anger & thus doesn't reveal his name. Or he doesn't become isolated/succumbs to his stress (and thus allows doubt to sow within the crew) because Polites is there to reach out. Or he trusts the windbag to Polites & they make it home to Ithaca.

Polites has to die to cement Odysseus' downward spiral.

Thank you for coming to my tedtalk.

[sigyn-foxyposts]

''What an akward family reunion..''

Poor fenrir and Jormi, it's a little akward meeting family members destined to kill you :,D

[dantistmarty]

[void-voyager-4]

Little wolf sketch done! Might (hopefully) turn it into a proper drawing at some point.

[archypopsworld]

[redux-iterum]

Leaders who make terrible decisions like Oakstar of ThunderClan and that one cat who wanted to prevent fighting (Morningstar?) Do they get hunted down? Because warcats runs on a different. Morality scale and in Canon those two things are given equal weight.

The metric for Horoa's hunters to decide you're a target worth pursuing, and the metric by which StarClan wants nothing to do with you and won't accept you even if you get away, is such:

Did the cat harm one or more individuals irreparably? (Betraying their Clan, murdering someone, etc.)

Was that harm extended over long periods of time (parental abuse, repeated and severe physical or mental harm, etc)?

Did they enjoy doing the horrible thing(s) they did?

If they didn't, do they regret it and/or did they try to do anything to make up for it? (Whether or not they actually could make up for it is a case-by-case thing.)

Is the cat aware that what they did was a bad thing? Would they commit themselves in their afterlife to trying to make up for it now that they know?

And, most importantly: Is the soul dangerous to mortals or other souls and spirits if allowed to continue existing?

The first three questions, and the last one, if answered with "yes", can immediately paint a huge target on your back, and they very often do. It's even worse if the fourth and fifth are answered with "no".

However, some souls have gotten away with committing a crime or harming someone irreparably by realizing the weight of what they've done before they die, and trying to make up for it both in life and in death. These souls are extremely few and far between, but it has happened before. They still aren't usually allowed into StarClan, though. They just have to wander the earth and lament, or do what they can to spread good things in the limitations of their death.