#we all just LOVE odysseus

[limblesstar]

odysseus the line cook au

odysseus is a line cook, 40 years old, hasnt gotten a promotion in the decade hes worked there

coworker is diomedes, fresh(ish) out of culinary school, head chef , 27

odysseus is not very fond of this fact

its a fine dining restaurant, they do not act like it is.

boss is circe who cannot stand any of them,

their manager is hermes, he is chill with everything going on, doesnt really care as long as the kitchen is clean and they get dishes out. too busy smoking weed. could of had his own restaurant but didnt want the responsibility

married to penelope whos a professor in textile materials and technology, busy teaching and grading papers usually.

odysseus and diomedes have a very weird hot work situationship, his wife is very okay with it. odysseus is in love with him

theyre just bros, its not gay to fuck in the walk in freezer

what they do depends on the day and how much they can get away with.

penelope actually wants diomedes to move in so he 1. pays bills 2. she can pawn telemachus onto him 3. wants to know whats up

odysseus chain smokes on his break. he desperately wants to quit because his wife thinks its kind of gross and second hand smoke but he just cant kick the habit

lives in an apartment complex, absolute girlfailure.

poor relationship with father, could of been the greatest nepo baby but dropped out of his degree in commerce to go to culinary school

THIEF AND A LIAR

house is filled with equipment from his work, biggest thing hes stolen is a stand mixer that he convinced circe he threw out because it was broken. everything in his fridge is stored in a stolen quart container

doesnt steal any produce because he thinks its poor quality

ACTIVELY HATES CUSTOMERS

if diomedes wasn't there odysseus would be spitting in peoples food (he does it if the customers piss him off enough and if diomedes isnt looking)

maternal family has mob connections that he doesnt use (he can do it on his own)

on his off day he likes to bbq on his balcony to the displeasure of all his neighbours. hangs out with his son too

[crystaljellie]

Shipping EuryOdyPoliPen as the silliest polycule to ever grace this earth, Odysseus and Polites started dating first and they both had this big fat crush on Eurylochus but neither of them ever said anything.

Then Odysseus meets Penelope because he’s the king of Ithaca and needs to get married to a girl and he’s like “Woahhh what a woman she’s so smart and pretty she should murder or kiss me” but Penelope does not fall for Odysseus first, instead she sees Polites and is instantly head over heels because he’s sweet and charming and then eventually they all end up dating, I just know Penelope would fall for Odysseus because he does something massively stupid while trying to be smart and she’s like “never mind I want them both”

She and Ody get married but are both still dating Polites while having to hide it from the rest of the kingdom (it’s highly obvious and nobody cares)

And then Ctimene is about to marry Eurylochus but she is very much aware Eury is destined to become apart of the polycule, so literally on her wedding day she jokes to Odysseus about “stealing his second husband” Ctimene is our AroAce Queen though so she does not care at all, but it would catch Eury and Ody off guard so much and she would relish in that

But also thinking about Penelope had three husbands go to war and the only one who returned alive has his heart still out at sea somewhere

But yes EuryOdyPoliPen <3

[backpackingspace]

Odysseus with his head in his wife's lap, happily not paying attention to anything, humming one of athenas song and carving something

Some random guy: your majesty----

Odysseus: not bothering to sit up: whatever my wife decided is fine.

[dootznbootz]

Fascinating how Polites, the character who is the personification of Odysseus' optimism and is only in 5 songs, is more grieved and appreciated than Eurylochus, a character who is his own person and is in 11 songs.

[makeriia]

Fantober day 31!! A free day again.

Recently gotten into HADES, and I think about them a normal amount (lie)

[lyculuscaelus]

How much stuff from the Homer should we keep in our vision of the Trojan War story?

Do we keep everything Iliadic and Odyssean here? Do we retain every event, every detail, despite the fact that some of them contradict other traditions? Or should we change something to adapt other accounts, or should we try to find a reconciliation in-between?

Do we omit Palamedes in our telling of the recruitment of Odysseus so the ones being rude were just the Atreïda, or do we go with the Cypria as well as other sources where Odysseus faked his madness and got exposed by Palamedes?

Do we have Achilles and Patroclus in Phthia joining the war eagerly, or do we have Odysseus using the trick to find out Achilles in disguise hiding in Skyros?

Do we have Achilles leading the Achaeans to plunder around before reaching Troy, or do we have a storm scattering the fleet so that each king returned to his own kingdom while Achilles came to Skyros and married Deïdameia there?

Do we have Achilles being able to bleed in battle, or do we make him invincible other than his infamous heels?

Do we have Astyanax as Hector’s only son, or do we allow the existence of another son—Laodamas—to live even longer by his mother’s side?

Do we have Anticleia dying of mostly old age and sadness, or do we have Nauplius bringing false news to Anticleia, causing her to hang herself?

Do we hold Aegisthus responsible for the seduction of Clytemnestra and the death of Agamemnon and Cassandra, or do we have Clytemnestra orchestrating it, and give her an axe to deal the death blow?

Do we have other Achaeans returning and staying home safe from war and sea, or do we have the most of them wandering still to found many cities in places like Italy?

Do we find Neoptolemus staying in Phthia waiting to marry Hermione, or do we see him reigning over in Epirus?

Do we know Aegialeia as the faithful wife who’d tear for her husband in her empty bed, or do we see her as the queen who betrayed her king upon his return, for reasons up to interpretation?

Do we have Diomedes reaching home safe and sound, or do we need him exiled to Italy so he could start founding cities?

Do we keep Odysseus’s journey in mythical islands and seas, or do we have him wandering in Italy (even to Iberia) like others, founding cities and leaving some tombs of his crewmates behind?

Do we agree that the Telemachy took place in Pylos and Sparta, or do we find Telemachus going to Crete to see Idomeneus?

Do we follow Homer’s claim that Odysseus’s lineage was a line of single sons, or do we consider Telemachus’s statement here merely dramatic thus allowing all those other “sons of Odysseus” to exist?

Do we agree that there were no Nausithous or Nausinous, or do we have Odysseus leaving them both behind on Ogygia forever?

Do we know Penelope as the loyal wife that she was, or do we find her consorting with one or more suitors resulting in the birth of Pan?

Do we have Odysseus and Penelope reuniting by each other’s side at last, or do we see Odysseus exiling Penelope because of her “disloyalty”, so that she wandered in Lacedaemonia and Arcadia to Mantineia where she finally died?

Do we have Athena and Zeus intervening in the fight between Odysseus’s household and the suitors’ family to establish an everlasting peace, or do we leave this matter to Neoptolemus’s hands just to see Odysseus exiled?

Do we make him finish his oar quest and return immediately, or do we keep him in Thesprotia where he marries another woman and had another son and fought another war and returned again?

Do we agree that Telegonus wouldn’t exist, or do we have him stabbing Odysseus marrying Penelope giving his mother Circe to Telemachus to wed?

Do we give Odysseus a peaceful death from the sea, or do we not?

[sleeping-at-sea]

Telemachus talking about fighting monsters just to get his Fathers attention…

His Father, Odysseus, who believes he IS the Monster.

[graedari]

Shout to the girls with dyslexia in group chats with people who are caught up with Malevolent and grossly misread Kayne's name until meeting him (it's me.)

[app1es0uce]

Okay- the community has spoken that Trans Telemachus is very much being supported here and a fun possible head cannon for a lot of people

But the question is, is Telemachus Trans fem or Trans masc??

(I’ve seen a lot of votes for Trans masc and Odysseus fucking up the sirens for misgendering his son. But I’ve also seen arguments for Trans fem Telemachus as when Odysseus comes home, she comes out to her dad)

[doggytail-duck]

Why is it that I can be reduced to tears at a few notes of the viola every single time Penelope's theme plays

[draftingtides]

Ngl I dont really understand not sorry for loving you

[backpackingspace]

LISTEN I hope telemachus tries to lean on Athena every single time she shows up. It NEVER works. but he still tries. Because he loves her.

[rin-solo]

One of my favorite post-EPIC headcanons is that Odysseus' family is just completely accepting of all the unhinged sh*t that he's done.

Odysseus, over dinner, some 2 months after his return: And then I finned the sirens, letting them drown. We ate the tails later.

Telemachus, starry-eyed: OMG GUYS THAT'S MY DAD!! THAT IS!! MY DAD!! (points excitedly) ISN'T HE INCREDIBLE?

Odysseus: And later when he wouldn't stop being in my way I stabbed a god repeatedly with his own trident.

Penelope, heart-eyed: That's my husband. My love. Love of my life. You slay, my king.

The rest of the people at the table are 100% freaked out and probably terrified, btw.

[fandomsandfeminism]

Occasionally I think about Penelope and the ways in which she embodies so many aspects of Athena within the Odyssey

Skilled weaver

Bed carved from a living olive tree

Protector of the homestead

So, so, so fucking smart. Literally outsmarts everyone, including Odysseus at one point and the suitors repeatedly.

I just. I just love her and her whole role within the narrative. I am enthralled by what we are shown, and what we aren't.

Do you think she resented her cousin, Helen, for how men fighting over her forced Odysseus to war, right up until her own home was invaded by suitors pursuing her?

Do you think she wished she, like Circe, could have turned the men in her halls into pigs to keep herself and the girls of the household safe?

Do you think she empathized a little with Calypso at all, knowing how it felt to be trapped on an island, longing for true companionship for years and years?

[wowsillies]

I WISH Jorge had referenced the part of Luck Runs Out where Odysseus tells Eurylochus to be quiet because I feel like that’s an element missing from a lot of Eurylochus interpretations.

“I need you to always be devout and comply with this /Or we'll all die in this” is important because Eurylochus fails to do it by questioning Odysseus’ words (the bag is NOT treasure, it’s storm) and opening the wind bag and his actions lead directly to the facilitation of the death of most of the crew. I hesitate to say he’s to blame because, well, Poseidon is taking revenge due to Odysseus’ decision, but Eurylochus handed him means and perfect opportunity to do it.

So, after that, Eurylochus obeys everything Odysseus says to do. He takes men to explore Circe’s island. He stays put instead of running when Odysseus goes to rescue him. He follows intl the Underworld despite the fact that “hey this witch is helping us now by sending us to death’s realm, this is definitely not a trick” probably raised some questions. He doesn’t (or at least we don’t see) stray or talk to the souls in the Underworld even though Odysseus ends up doing it. He traps and kills the sirens.

He lights and gives out six torches.

So, if devotion to Odysseus wasn’t enough to save them? If Odysseusnis now using that devotion and trust to get them killed as long as he gets to make it home to his wife? What is he meant to do now?

Eurylochus doesn’t sound… fully there, during the second half of Mutiny. Whether there was divine intervention pushing him or madness or simply the pain of it all, he’s not acting rationally. He just saw six of his trusted men brutally murdered, asks Odysseus to lie and say it was a trick, and can’t even kill him when the truth comes out. Odysseus’ wounds are bandaged! (I’m not sure that he doesn’t actually know where Helios’ statue is from btw, both due to the melody and bc it seems outrageous)

We’re all talking about Odysseus pleading for Eurylochus to stop before killing the cows, but Eurylochus is pleading too. He asks how much longer is he expected to suffer, to push through doubt, to follow the orders. And Odysseus’ first plea is “I need to get home” (later “we can get home”). Let’s not forget Odysseus is selfish and Eurylochus knows that, maybe even loves that, but he’s not just hungry, he’s tired.

When Polites gets the location of the sheep cave from the lotus eaters and takes the men to it, he leads several of them to death and himself to his doom. When Eurylochus stumbles upon the cows, does he remember that? Does he deliberately invoke it?

Killing the cows isn’t about the hunger, not really. It’s about the devotion that was asked of him, the price he paid to learn that lesson, and the pain that silence put him through anyway.

[bloodyshadow1]

imagine Odysseus' first thoughts when he realizes that it was Hermes who came to the island to rescues him instead of Athena. when he called out for her help in Love in Paradise, do you think it was the first time since My Goodbye that he even tried to pray to her, or do you think he's been praying for 7 years straight and that's the only one we as the audience hear?

Then when he finds out someone is going to release him after praying to Athena, he expects her to be there, maybe he thinks after all this time they could mend fences and be mentor and student again, because to him, she made it clear that they were never friends.

And then he sees Hermes there, as if his prayers to Athena were unanswered just as they were after they split. do you think in his head he curses Athena for not being there, that Hermes cares about him to help him, but the mighty goddess of war and wisdom, who called herself his mentor can't be bothered to heed her prayers. Do you think he curses her name while she was burnt nearly or fully to death fighting for him, enduring the wrath of the king of the gods after using all of her skills to convince 5 other gods to release him.

Or do you think he curses himself for daring to hope after all these years he dared to hope, that he knows if he took her advice he might have been home with almost all of his men and he has no one but to blame than himself?

Do you think Hermes will even have a chance to mention Athena and what she did for him? Or do you thing Ody will just leave believing the bridge between him and Athena is burnt for good and she wants nothing to do with him.

Do you think Odysseus will ever learn what Athena went through for him and Telemachus? Or do you think he'll go to his deathbed thinking he was abandoned by his goddess? And at best she's to hurt fighting for him to correct that assumption