#trying to view it the way i would an adaptation of the illiad or the odyssey

[hycinthrt]

literally anything i post about the chosen is me treating it as an ancient mythical text adaption with the occasional lil dash of ✨guilt✨ as a treat every once in a while

[bonesandthebees]

YOU ALSO DIDNT LIKE HOW THE SONG OF ACHILLES PORTRAYED STUFF FROM THE ILIAD????

can i kiss you /j

no but seriously, i read tsoa, loved it, read iliad and now i cant help but hate tsoa but everyone around me still loves it its a pain

(i literally wrote a paper on basically this but it was focused on odysseus)

ok clarification, while I've read the odyssey I have not read the illiad so my knowledge of what was changed was limited but the main red flag I picked up on was miller's attempt to justify/make achilles look like a good guy in regards to the female slaves they took when they sacked the cities. like the entire bit with patroclus convincing achilles to claim women so they wouldn't be raped by other soldiers in the camp and all the slave women living happily in the camp was so??? sorry we all know that's not what happened.

like I understand why miller chose to do that, she was trying to tell a kind of YA version of the story and wanted to make it palatable to a broad audience and saying that the protagonists raped women would put off a lot of readers but it still bothered me.

I recently read silence of the girls by pat barker which is a bit of a retelling of the illiad from briseis' point of view and I did like how it really didn't shy away from all the ugly ways women were treated in the camps, but I still had my issues with it because despite supposedly being a story about briseis it still first and foremost felt like a story about achilles (at least to me). briseis just happened to be the narrator this time. I do think it works best reading it as a contrast to song of achilles because otherwise I think it would feel a bit weak reading it without any other knowledge of modern adaptations of the illiad? I don't know, I just didn't love it as much as I wanted to but I still really liked it

what were your issues with tsoa I'm curious now

[biromantic-nerd]

fruit emoji ask game 🍑

🍑 If you could make a connection between your favorite character and another work you care about (whether a crossover/fusion or a wonderfully “pretentious” literary reference) what would it be? How would it work?

I think I consistently for almost every fandom try to make The Princess Bride AUs in my head for fun. Trying to get the dynamics of who can be who to work out is so tricky; but I just really love that movie and feel like it's fun to imagine characters in and that it lends a hand to to a lot of creative wiggle room. And likewise with Stardust AUs! That's very fun to do as well!! I know I have an ATLA Stardust AU post floating around here somewhere where Aang is the star.

But I think something that would be really interesting is an Illiad parallel in reference to Lancelot or Gwaine and his time spent away from Camelot. To see all his adventures - some as noble as he! some far less so! - and have them really, really mirror those journeys, if not outright recreate them.

Would be very cool! Adapted of course to the circumstances, but there's a lot of leeway for mythological transfer since magic, sorcery, and magical creatures are all real in Merlin BBC.

And of course depending on whether this is Lancelot of Gwaine, motivations and reaction really would drastically alter. But at heart they're both very good men! But well their motives for returning to Camelot are quite different. Lancelot wants to be a knight and make his own honor since (with Merlin's permission) he took credit for Merlin's actions. Gwaine wants to come home to the one place he's found people he believes in - and whom believe in him.

So Gwaine is really, really this figure where it's more pressing to get home.

Lancelot might view it more as the journey he is - except that, as we see in canon, he does sort of stumble when left to his own devices. Nothing as drastic as losing his way even - but just a teeny stumble compared to his prior sure footing of before. But after seeing Merlin he regains his bearings and never falters! So Lancelot, I think, has less of a successful chance of enduring the illiad depending of when in canon this takes place. That's a crucial factor for his success! He needs his faith in himself and in his path!

But of course I can't mention Gwaine going on this journey without imagining him going on this journey and trying to get back to Merlin. The "I didn't do it for Arthur" line always gets me! 🥺

Gwaine is the type of person who offered to help Merlin (emotionally and then to search for Gaius) when almost no one else believed Merlin about Gaius being innocent/kidnapped. If going to the Perilous Lands that none enter is what it takes to help Merlin, then he'll do it. If going to search for the person being called a crown traitor is what it takes to help Merlin, then he'll do it. On an illiad journey in a series of events - whatever it takes to get back to Merlin, he will do it. And that is why he'd make such an awesome illiad figure. He's trying to get home.