ive seen two orufrey edits on tiktok to ‘doubt comes in’ from hadestown and the roles were switched in each one and it killed me bc the parallels between qifrey and olruggio to orpheus and eurydice are indisputable.
UHHH MANGA SPOILERS UP AHEAD
you could absolutely argue the case of qifrey mirrors eurydice in the way they’ve been doomed to be so close to death from the very beginning, and the entire plot is their lovers doing everything in their power to prevent their untimely deaths. so much so that they’re being tormented to be in this weird limbo of almost-dead-slash-not-completely-though for years on end. the proof in qifrey’s case would have to be the fact that he could technically just tree the fuck out at any given moment but he doesn’t let himself by keeping himself stressed out by keeping this big fat secret that’s keeps him from experiencing a slight of peace. and he keeps this secret for years by wiping olruggio’s memory everytime it’s potentially/actually brought to light.
in eurydice’s case, she’s dead but she hasn’t completely forgotten herself while she was in the underworld and she’s in this state of being dead but still bearing the memory of living is reminiscent to qifrey. then there’s the argument of how long the journey from the underworld to the land above was. it’s been really misconstrued online/over the years! is it three days? three months? years? was that how long it was one way or does it count the journey back? six days total or is it three? and while it matters you can just consider this whole debate as a reflection to how torturous the whole journey was that neither orpheus or hermes cant remember the finer details as the story begins over and over again. so the idea that the time it took to escape the underworld increasing with every retelling to emphasise the strain that eurydice and orpheus’ relationship took is such a gorgeous detail. ugh i hate it sm
and then there’s the whole olruggio/orpheus dynamic. they’re both selfless people who gave up so much to bring their lovers back to life, orpheus went to the underworld for eurydice and olruggio offered to erase his memory every time he found out about qifrey’s condition. but then u could argue that it’s their selfishness that’s made everything so tragic. if orpheus hadn’t kept working on his song he could’ve kept eurydice alive. if olruggio hadn’t just let qifrey go when the silverwood first took over, he wouldn’t have put qifrey in such a tough position for years on end. they screwed themselves up from the very beginning.
BUT THEN there’s the idea of the roles being reversed.
olruggio/eurydice is such an intresting parallel because in ‘doubt comes in’ the voices in orpheus’ head are essentially telling him that he’s been lied to and that hades is someone not trustworthy and the fact that he even believed what he said to him was ridiculous. but the cue eurydice who’s trying her hardest to reach out to him, trying to tell him he’s not alone and she’s right behind him. she knows what he’s thinking and even with all the doubt that’s clearly affecting him she fully trusts him to get them out of this mess. and with olruggio, he’s knows there’s something plaguing qifrey even with acting skills. and even if it’s something horrible that qifrey is hiding, without missing a beat olruggio’s always offering his help, his companionship or what the hell it is qifrey needs in that moment. you need me to wipe my memory to keep you alive? hand me a palm quire and ink. it’s actually ridiculous how much these two place trust into their loved ones to keep them both safe.
and then the qifrey/orpheus dynamic. ugh. qifrey knows the consequences that will befall on him if he tells olruggio about the silverwood tree curse. and yet he tells him again and again because he’s selfish enough to beg for his death everytime when he knows he’ll always be met with forgiveness instead. he knows this and he hates it. orpheus is one who in every variation of his story will always turn around because it doesn’t matter if he heard eurydice fall or thought they made it out safely or didn’t think she was there in the first place. in every version of the story, he always turns because he loves her!! and qifrey will always wipe olruggio’s memory because he loves him!! they’ve both been put in situations that have been intentionally made to have them doubt themselves. olruggio gave qifrey the task to handle the guilt of keeping all of this hidden, so he could live a life he had dreamt of. hades gave orpheus a task that was too great for his own love to bear and on top of that laid the idea that he shouldn’t trust his word on thickkkk.
anyways that’s my poorly written comparison at nearly 3am!! i would also add the quotes/panels for proof but i can barely see my keyboard. pls see my idea and goodnight!!
