If Eurylochus had died instead of Polites, do you think their journey would have been easier? I see a lot of people say this but I don't get it because I think Odysseus would have still behaved the same
I think it's tricky to say since we don't know that much about Polites personality compared to Eurylochus since Polites dies so early in the musical.
I think there's an assumption that Polites goes along with everything Ody says which is not true, Open arms is proof of that since Polites continues to engage with the Lotus Eaters despite Ody's obvious distrust of them (if he truly was totally agreeable he would have just left with Ody after discovering the nature of the lotus and they wouldn't have gone to Polyphemus's cave). So Polites is defiant of Ody just as Eurylochus is but in a different way, being risk taking and trustful of others whereas Eurylochus is skeptical and risk averse.
If eurylochus died instead of Polites i think Ody would have still doxed himself, so the main diverging routes is whether or not Polites would have opened the wind bag which i can't say for sure. I'm of two minds whether Eurylochus opened the windbag himself or took responsibility for what the crew did since he is their advocate, if he did open it himself i would say it would most likely be because of fear rather than greed.
The reason i think this is because i came to the realization that Eurylochus is always at the short end of the stick when it comes to decision making. Eurylochus is skeptical of being diplomatic in regards to the inhabitants of Lotus Island and is proven correct when the generosity is actually malicious (Compare "I say we strike first" vs "I have to hand it to you both"), this skepticism carries over to the floating island with Eurylochus being understandably apprehensive at trusting another stranger after what happened with Polyphemus and i think that's why he opens the wind bag which for all he knows could be a magical nuke, but he's proven horrifically wrong.
Possibly because he was so horrifically wrong, he trues to emulate Ody's open arms approach but is again on the short end of the stick because Circe is exactly what he feared, a seemingly trustworthy stranger who's intentions are malicious. Also since he doesn't know that Hermes ex machina is going to happen, he is obviously doubtful at Ody's ability to convince Circe since Ody failed the dialogue tree with both Polyphemus and Poseidon.
Then he sees how Ody's bravery saved the men from Circe and she actually helps them which i think gives Eurylochus the motivation to be like Ody. However this is destroyed when Ody sacrifices the men to Scylla and doesn't warn them what they're about to face (eurylochus nevers says scylla only this monster and ody from what we know is the only one reading lips) but i believe Eurylochus still carries that admiration for ody's bravery which is why he chooses to mutiny, also i think the most likely eating of the sirens is analogous to eating the cows, both a sacrilege since id say eating sirens is similar to cannibalism but one has consequences and the other doesn't.
That's an extremely long way of saying idk how Polites would react post Polyphemus but since we know he is defiant maybe he would have similar decisions to Eurylochus, maybe he would become jaded and disillusioned since it was his decision to continue talking with the Lotus Eaters that lead to the encounter with Polyphemus.
So tldr i don't think the journey would have been easier since Ody's doxxing of himself is really what caused the drama, maybe it would have taken Poseidon longer to find them if the windbag hadn't been opened but to me the storm shows that he already knew where they were and the windbag only contained it, also this depends on how Poseidon would have dealt with the fleet since i like the idea of him getting the Laestrogynians to smush the fleet and im not super clear on whether Poseidon is totally powerless when the windbag is containing a storm since he didn't seem affected by it in Get in the Water
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