margaretkart:
Honestly, this needs to be said more often: if you’re going to be a diehard fan of Epic: The Musical please take the time to read the Odyssey and Iliad.
These are texts that have been around for nearly three thousand years, and Homer’s work isn’t exactly hidden behind paywalls. We’re talking public domain epics available on dozens of websites, many even in modern translations. There’s really no excuse to confidently post headcanons or “hot takes” about characters like Odysseus while being completely unaware of what Homer actually wrote.
It gets frustrating when people make sweeping claims, like “Odysseus would’ve been horrified about Agamemnon sacrificing his daughter,” when… hello? Not only was Odysseus very aware of the plan in other sources, he’s literally the guy who helped trick Iphigenia into coming to Aulis. In Euripides and the Cypria, he’s even the one pushing for the sacrifice to happen for the sake of the war. That’s not even interpretation it’s written! So spreading misinformation because “well, the musical made him look soft and morally conflicted” is just lazy.
And don’t even get started on the bizarre insistence that Odysseus was just a cheater who didn’t love Penelope. This is a man who was literally held captive and assaulted by not one but two goddesses, and yet never stopped longing for home. He’s not some player archetype, you’re confusing him with modern tropes. Homer paints him as flawed, clever, and deeply human, yes but loyal in his own way, struggling through divine interference just to return to his wife and son. His image has been more distorted by fandom takes in the last years than it ever was during thousands of years of oral and written tradition. It’s time to stop reducing him to a meme or “messy husband energy” and start recognizing him for what he is: one of literature’s most iconic, complex heroes.
If you love these characters and this world, that’s great BUT it feels a little disrespectful to twist canon into takes while never bothering to open the actual text. It’s not about being a scholar. It’s about respecting the foundation you’re building your fandom on.
Anonymous
