#the eighth arrow

[foopsie-daisy]

The eighth arrow doodles :) ok read, i liked their gay ass banter and cartoony slapstick. I wanted to explode Odysseus with my mind though

[official212th]

ok so i just finished this book the eighth arrow and god knows nobody reads any of my posts so im just gonna put some thoughts here.

first of all: this book is so so so good yet such a fucking trip to read because it is written by a priest. and 90% of the time its a great take on greek legends and mythos and also has some truly ridiculous homoerotic subtext. but then every couple chapters you get a remind that wow. this was written by a priest. spoiler warning but odysseus legit converts to christianity at the end which is actually hilarious. and ok, the priest who wrote it works at a catholic school that is actually in the same city as i am and i will say i appreciated how he very clearly planned to use this book in either theology or english classes, because it was absolutely 100% a metaphor for redemption in catholicism and the idea of mercy and forgiveness. guys i know what im talking about i also go to catholic school. but the way he frames it as a story that's ostensibly not about christianity, but he sneaks in a few metaphors and buzzwords (the disclaimer at the beginning, in which odysseus says he actually made the whole story up, talks about how he was "judged worthy" and "redeemed" and talks about God's grace and providence. which is pretty standard fare for your average high school theology class.) specific to christianity and even catholicism (some of the beliefs regarding redemption in here are pretty unique to catholicism and i don't think some protestants would like this book very much)

second of all did i mention the homoerotic subtext? because wow. honestly it wasn't even subtext it was just text. the whole book is about odysseus and diomedes and their journey through dante's inferno. but it starts off talking about how the two of them are "imprisoned in a single flame" for 3,000 years (ok buddy not sounding too straight to me) and they kind of have a friends to enemies to friends thing happen but like the whole reason they become enemies is odysseus doesn't realize or acknowledge diomedes' love for him??? (GAY)

im going to back myself up with sources. proteus (weird old guy that's there like half the time) says to odysseus "that man really loves you. He loves you more than he loves his own father. More than he's ever loved anyone, I suspect. And that is a sacred thing, a love like that" and does the priest writing it maybe mean it in the way that God loves us? maybe but thats not how i'm interpreting it! anyways i really liked how (spoiler warning again although if you're avoiding spoilers for this book idk how you got this far) odysseus and diomedes are bffs but also fight. like really bad. like almost-killed-each-other bad. and then they have a really nice moment in which diomedes almost dies and odysseus is like "wait i love u youre my family pls dont die" and then they team up and save the day. its so sick. i love gay people.

[lazubear]

Help I'm reading the eighth arrow and rn Odysseus is talking to Homer????? 😭😭

[quill-beetlewing]

ODYSSEUS/DIOMEDES FANS, COME GET YOUR BREAD!

(This includes you @diomedeia , obviously)

Here's some of the best of their interactions from the first 7 chapters of The Eighth Arrow.

Had to be pretty selective because Tumblr only allows 10 pictures max per post, but honestly these two are just so fun, they play off each other too well.

[unsweetenedsugar]

The fact that according to the disclaimer, The Eighth Arrow was a fiction in a fiction in which Odysseus made up the story because Dante putting fictional him in the eighth circle of the fictional inferno fictionally ‘might’ bother him.

And then you got this characterisation of Diomedes son of Tydeus. Who [⚠️spoilers alert] might loved Odysseus more than anything in the world and was disappointed to frustration when Odysseus didn’t acknowledge that love. Diomedes, who betrayed and fought Odysseus and lost. All while Odysseus was having his redemption arc, miraculously solving conflicts through kindness like he’s a Disney princess, and becoming loved and adored by everyone in Hell and converted to Christianity. [end of spoilers⚠️]

Yea, I can imagine Odysseus make up a story like that. Every characterisation flaws in writing were justified when I remembered that it was Odysseus telling the tale.

[foopsie-daisy]

Just finished reading the eighth arrow, 0/10 Odysseus and Diomedes didn't even make out what the hell was that

[foopsie-daisy]

I love love love love love your new way of drawing Odysseus. Also I was thinking about reading the eighth arrow and I’ve seen very little discussion of it so it’s hard for me to know if it’s worth it or not, I was wondering if you could give some insight on that. A whole book of Odysseus and Diomedes escaping hell together sounds too good to be true, so I’m a bit suspicious

I love your silly doodles, have a good day ❤️

For me personally it was worth it, and I think if you like Odydio then you'll probably enjoy it. For me personally, their dynamic and banter are definitely its biggest strength, and it also has a lot of goofy cartoony ass moments that make it a fun read. I DO have. quite a few gripes with it though. I didn't like how they characterized Diomedes and Odysseus at times, (in some part because it doesn't match with how I personally perceive them, Diomedes is characterized to be a little stupid and I cant really excuse it for being Odysseus' narrator bias because I don't buy that Odysseus thinks he's stupid lol). Odysseus has a weird pseudo-christianity arc where he gets told there's only one god actually and he's just chill with that despite like. his entire lived experience. And there's also just a bunch of little things about how it interprets the myth that aren't to my personal preference but I cant really hold that against it objectively lol.

Overall I had fun with it though, it really just felt like reading an ok fanfic that makes some weird choices ngl

[quill-beetlewing]

Quill reads:

The Eight Arrow

Chapter 1: Out of Depths

Part 2/2

Part 1 in case you missed it

I'm sorry Diomedes is BLOND???

"Diomedes knew when to shut the fuck up. Unfortunately for everyone however, I did not" - literally Odysseus

Damn, this'll be My Goodbye all over again, won't it?

LOOK AT ALL HIS HOPES AND DREAMS BEING UTTERLY CRUSHED BY ATHENA, GODDAMN-

Oh, alright so Athena is literally their mom, okay-

Honestly though, the "my sons" aside, this really feels like a mother telling her 9 year old children to go do something for her like taking out the trash and the kids taking it way too seriously.

"You've come to guide us out" :D

"Ah, you wish"

"But what are we supposed to do? We don't even know the way..."

"Yeah that's the point Diomedes, you absolute fucking moron."

Goddess of Wisdom? More like goddess of spitting absolute bars.

Athena, these two have been sitting in a flame for 3000 years, no need to roast them any further.

(Also watch as Athena is later on revealed to be like the Virgin Mary or something-)

Alright so this kinda confuses me.

Athena says they'll be teleported to the first circle of hell, "where the small-souled chase the wind", which I'm assuming is the actual first circle of hell, because the people there are basically forced to live in a tornado (very banal explanation of it, I know).

But then she mentions the entrance of hell...which isn't in the first circle. The first thing you see among entering Hell through the door is the Anti-Inferno, aka: the place where all the people that did neither bad nor good in life and that were forgotten stay in. Then you move down one circle and you find yourself in Limbo, the place where all good Pagan souls go. And only THEN you end up in the first circle.

Sooooo, which is it?

I mean I guess I COULD read ahead, but I'm trying to savor the experience little by little so we'll see.

I actually genuinely don't know if I want them to visit Limbo or not actually. Because on one hand, that's where all the Trojans (- Paris, he's in actual hell because Dante thought he was a pussy) are, which could be pretty interesting. On the other hand, I'm assuming this is where Penelope is (because you can't tell me she doesn't show up come on now) and I don't know if I want them reunion to happen so soon...

Again, we'll see :P

And yeah that's pretty much it for chapter 1. It was pretty short so I don't think I have a fully formed opinion on the book yet, but so far I'm having fun. As someone who's currently studying Dante's Inferno in class (and that likes it too), I am very curious to see where this goes.