ashers !!

born to be a theatre kid, forced to be in a country where theatre doesnt exist

[poetryofapollo]

I've reached the point of this god forsaken ai-infested age where my partner for a group project accuses me of "contributing nothing" because instead of being a lazy bitch I'm doing actual (and to add a cherry on top, very basic) research and answering (again, very basic) questions instead of deciding to rely on technology for something any student our age should know how to do.

[poetryofapollo]

Every time a teacher encourages AI and says "this is your generation" a little piece of my soul gets ripped away

[poetryofapollo]

I feel like the reason people constantly shit on Orpheus for turning around despite us having this conversation over and over again is because people have gotten too used to "love prevails all and trumps any and all hardships!" trope — and I also need people to understand that this trope would not have done any favours for Orpheus and Eurydice.

Because the reason why the story is so significant is because Orpheus turned around. And not only did he turn around, he turned around for all the reasons your typical love-story-with-a-happy ending MCs would have prevailed. He turned because of love.

And this is why it's so significant, but also why people seem to be unable to wrap their heads around it. But is it not interesting, to think that fiction does not always have to depict 'to love' as 'to win?' Is it not more impactful when we acknowledge that sometimes to love is to lose? Is it not more impactful when you realize that not every love story hero is given the privilege of winning? Even when that love story involves a 'hero's journey?'

Tldr: Stop shitting on Orpheus.

[asherrrrs]

ALNST headcanon: Ivan's favorite musical would be Hadestown because orpheus looking back at eurydice and her having to then leave would remind him of him and Till almost escaping ANAKT Garden in that one flashback in black sorrow.

....and Till's favorite musicals would be Heathers and Six, and he would be so embarrassed by it.

All this when they're in the highschool AU, hanging out, and only Ivan has the memories of their alternate lives in the ALNST universe. Ivan has to annoy Till so much to get him to tell Ivan his favorite musicals. Till doesn't understand the significance of Ivan's, because he has no memory of ANAKT Garden.

[len-y]

Small Agomemnon mosquitoes terrorize Achilles

[two-bees-poetry]

twenty years across the sea

[madame-snail-smooches]

STOP IM GONNA CRY

[poetryofapollo]

One thing that people need to understand whenever they are discussing Penelope and her character within the Odyssey is that she was not obligated to wait for Odysseus.

This is something that always bothers me every time it's brought up as an argument against Penelope's autonomy within her marriage. Of course I agree that with the time period, Penelope simply being a woman did not allow for much autonomy at all — however it is very important that her choice to wait for Odysseus was hers alone. She did not wait because it was what society expected her to do, nor did she wait because she was obligated to.

If we look at the Odyssey, it has been stated several times that not only was Penelope pushed to remarry by the suitors, but by her own kin and even Odysseus himself.

Book 2: (Telemachus to the council)

ripped apart; my wealth/will soon be gone! The sons of all the nobles/have shoved inside my house to court my mother,/against her wishes/They should go and ask/Icarius her father to provide/a dowry, and choose who should be her husband

*Though it is important to note in this particular instance that although Telemachus is not exactly pleased by the idea of his Mother remarrying, it is not the suitors' insisting Penelope remarry that bothers him, rather, it is their improper way of courting her. Which shows that her remarrying itself was not the core of the problem.

Book 15: (Athena to Telemachus)

Her father and her brothers are already/telling her she should wed Eurymachus./He is the one most generous with gifts/to her and to her father.

Book 18: (Odysseus to Penelope)

At the time/that he left Ithaca, my husband grabbed/my wrist, took my right hand, and said to me,/‘Now wife, I do not think we armored Greeks/will all come home unharmed from Troy./You must remember this: my parents need/to be well cared for in our house, as much/as now or more so with me gone away./When our son’s beard has grown, you must get married /to any man you choose, and leave your house.’

There are of course exceptions, take for example: Telemachus and Eumaeus. However, Eumaeus was described from the start as a loyal slave, this his bias towards Odysseus would of course factor in his judgement, whilst Telemachus (at the point of the Odyssey) is already assured by Athena herself that Odysseus would be returning, which of course leaves little room for doubt.

Now back to the topic of Penelope — not only does this clear refusal to adhere to remarriage show that she willingly waited for Odysseus, this is also shown in her very own displays of grief regarding her husband.

There are several instances in the text where her grief and (and subsequently love) for Odysseus is made apparent. Even from the very first book alone.

“Stop,/please Phemius! You know so many songs,/enchanting tales of things that gods and men/have done, the deeds that singers publicize./Sing something else, and let them drink in peace./Stop this upsetting song that always breaks/my heart, so I can hardly bear my grief./I miss him all the time—that man, my husband,/whose story is so famous throughout Greece.”

Not only does she show her grief in front of the suitors — she has other moments wherein she has privately broken down. (Therefore eliminating the claim that her grief is performative). Like this scene in book 21 for example:

She sat down on the floor to take it out,/resting it on her lap, and started sobbing/and wailing as she saw her husband’s bow.

So clearly by the evidence shown in the Odyssey itself, it is evident that again, Penelope willingly waited for Odysseus. While yes there is in fact merit in analyzing literature through the lens of which it was written, it is also disingenuous to take women who have shown to hold their own autonomy in spite of their circumstances and insist that they have none. Not only does it get rid of the depth of these epics which are heavily filled with rich storytelling, it also reduces the amount of character which these women are given — which is one of my biggest problems with feminist retellings: you cannot claim to be "doing better for a woman" when you proceed to devalue important aspects of her character, especially if she is a woman of antiquity.

Penelope's love for Odysseus is important to her character, just as Odysseus' love is important to his. Her love is her love, not love that is defined by what that society expected of her. It is important to understand that. A woman in a society that refuses to allow her independence can still make independent choices in spite of it. It is important to understand this nuance instead of claiming that every choice a woman makes is not her own — especially when the narrative shows otherwise.

[thhouseofblack]

people keep missing out on how insane penelope is as a character. she is the furthest thing from rational or sane.

[poetryofapollo]

Me when reading the epics: Wow, despite the very patriarchal world men can still express emotions such as crying without being de-masculated. How interesting and pleasantly surprising.

The fandom: Wow he cried! He cried and he expressed emotion! Wow he's such a twink! His wife is totally a stoic girlboss with no emotions of her own too! Wow I can't believe this man is crying, that's such twink activity despite him being a warrior who killed hundreds at war! Haha, see how feminist I am guys? See how progressive? He's a twink and if you say otherwise you're somehow the sexist one! Haha, how can a man cry and not be a twink after all?

[ninahufflepuff]

Claim your ticket guys:D

[asherrrrs]

was drawing odysseus for my open arms animatic, thought he looked familiar until i clocked it was @imcasperfox

[asherrrrs]

i just learned how to animate spin shots and some better anatomy :)

View this post on Instagram

[asherrrrs]

i practiced some renderingw

[asherrrrs]

i wrote my first fanfic!! i actually did it at the start of this year but was too nervous to post it 😭😭

its an angsty epic the musical oneshot extended scene connecting the cyclops and ocean sagas :3

https://archiveofourown.org/works/86179611

[gemsofgreece]

Question: Why do most people call Helen as “Helen of Troy”? She was the queen of Sparta. She ended up in Troy because either a) she was ABDUCTED against her will or b) she followed Paris in a moment of carelessness and lust she eventually regretted or felt great shame for. Iliad is full of Helen’s self-loathing for being, even unintentionally, the cause of so many men’s deaths in battle. She is very bitter and disdainful towards Paris and she even gets in a fight with freaking goddess Aphrodite, because she blames her for promising her to Paris. In any way you look at it, Helen did not want to be in Troy and did not think highly of Paris, except she perhaps felt some lust for him (possibly ignited by Aphrodite). In Odyssey, she has fully and happily regained her title and duties as queen of Sparta next to Menelaus. The whole war happened exactly because she was NOT Helen of Troy, she was Helen of Sparta. I don’t think it makes sense to attribute her to the place of her abduction, neither does it seem very sensitive to me.

[asherrrrs]

:3

[asherrrrs]

just sayori (best girl)