AHA SOMEONE TO SHARE THIS THOUGHT WITH!
Anyway Keyleth and Vax are Orpheus and Eurydice coded and Percy and Vex are Hades and Persephone coded :D
YES!! I see that, and you're totally right, but I also raise you...the reverse!
Like, Vaxleth is totally Orpheus and Eurydice coded, but the parallels between them and Hades and Persephone scream at me all the time! Like the two of them being deities/tied to deities of life and death respectively, forced to be together and apart at the whims of fate. Tragic but beautiful all at once.
And then Perc'ahlia...this maybe a little bit of a stretch, but I feel like there's an inkling of Orpheus and Eurydice in them too. The number of times they've defied death or bargained with gods for one another is crazy. Like, Percy begged the Dawnfather for her life during Pelor's trial ("She is my heart, my judgment, and the one I'm betrothed to."-- The way I'm FERAL for this speech), while Vex is the reason he came back to life after dying on Glintshore. They've conquered death so many times for the other, and have helped shape the way they've seen the world; even if they're both a little more jaded, they've made one another more hopeful, happy, and healthy, just the way Orpheus and Eurydice, at least in the context of the musical, have made one another. They've helped bring one another back from certain death and darkness that would otherwise be eternal, and I find something absolutely beautiful in that. The major difference is that these two get their happy ending, while Orpheus and Eurydice are doomed by the narrative (which unfortunately makes them aligned with Vaxleth just a little more)
Honestly, both pairs of these couples can be reflected in Vaxleth and Perc'ahlia, and my former-theater kid, Hadestown-loving, feral self is here for it.
