#where he says he actually doesn't care that Dante condemned a fictional version of him to hell

[thatpyroblogs]

Oh man, rereading that disclaimer made me realize it does a lot for the story. There's still bits there that I personally don't care for, but can easily reconcile with my headcanons for Odysseus.

I can see Odysseus considering himself an adulterer even though I believe what happened to him with Circe and Calypso should not be seen as such. Its a coping mechanism. A very bad coping mechanism, but it still would give Odysseus a feeling of control over what happened to him.

And the bit in the disclaimer where Odysseus talks about God and God's love I can see making sense in a way. Odysseus is a very devout follower of the Greek gods so I can see him learning about another religion's god and going full 'Got to learn everything about this other divine being so I don't accidently piss them off somehow', which when it comes time to write his little fanfiction means he can spout off whatever he thinks will appease this Abrahamic god. Also can see him researching the Abrahamic religion just to add credibility to his fanfic because in Odysseus's mind if he was to ever convert to another religion he knows he would always be the most devout follower.

Honestly the idea of Odysseus in the Underworld somehow getting his hands on The Divine Comedy, reading it, and deciding he should write fanfic of it is hilarious. It also makes his actions in the book 1000% funnier in my opinion.

Like I can see an interaction between him and Diomedes when he is writing it going like this:

Diomedes: What are you doing?

Odysseus: I recently found this book where you and I get condemned to another religion's version of Tartarus. A lot of new shades keep talking about it. So I decided the best course of action was to write the story of how we escape from it. Of course I've made sure to research the other religion so we shouldn't need to worry about divine wrath. Here, read what I've got so far.

Diomedes (after skimming a couple pages): … Not going to lie this is pretty dumb.

Odysseus (snatching back the pages): That's it. I'm rewriting it and making you an idiot.

I love love love love love your new way of drawing Odysseus. Also I was thinking about reading the eighth arrow and I’ve seen very little discussion of it so it’s hard for me to know if it’s worth it or not, I was wondering if you could give some insight on that. A whole book of Odysseus and Diomedes escaping hell together sounds too good to be true, so I’m a bit suspicious

I love your silly doodles, have a good day ❤️

For me personally it was worth it, and I think if you like Odydio then you'll probably enjoy it. For me personally, their dynamic and banter are definitely its biggest strength, and it also has a lot of goofy cartoony ass moments that make it a fun read. I DO have. quite a few gripes with it though. I didn't like how they characterized Diomedes and Odysseus at times, (in some part because it doesn't match with how I personally perceive them, Diomedes is characterized to be a little stupid and I cant really excuse it for being Odysseus' narrator bias because I don't buy that Odysseus thinks he's stupid lol). Odysseus has a weird pseudo-christianity arc where he gets told there's only one god actually and he's just chill with that despite like. his entire lived experience. And there's also just a bunch of little things about how it interprets the myth that aren't to my personal preference but I cant really hold that against it objectively lol.

Overall I had fun with it though, it really just felt like reading an ok fanfic that makes some weird choices ngl