#thewittyphantom

[fancyfade]

My favorite thing about Aquababy's birth is that it was FIVE issues after Arthur and Mera married, strongly implying premarital sex.

late reply but i support their premarital sex :p

IDK if that was intention by the authors or if its just timeskip stuff.

[lady-of-the-upside-down]

Fun fact: Odysseus has a younger sister named Ctimene. She's only mentioned twice when Eumaeus recalls how he grew up with her. According to a scholia, she was married to Eurylochus.

YES and it is a painful thing when you realize how mean Eurylochus is to Odysseus 🥲 she likely had to endure seeing all that before the war

Makes me wonder how she actually felt about his death.

[sxnyarostova]

I dunno if you're still taking fanfic prompts but: Persephone teaching a very nervous Hades how to dance.

I AM IN LOVE WITH THIS IDEA I LOVE. I- SCREAMS

"No," she said, stifling a giggle as she watched him attempt to copy the twirl that she'd just demonstrated. "Not like that. Don't shuffle, alright? Lift up your heels, like this." Persephone spun in an elegant circle, her weight shifted to her toes.

The soles of her heels squeaked against the newly-polished tiles of Hades' ballroom; she didn't know why he'd had it built, frankly. The eerily empty chamber had never been used up until now, but if she had to take a wild stab in the dark, its purpose had most likely been to host the elaborate banquets of Hades' dreams that had simply never occurred.

When Persephone first found the ballroom, it'd been no-man's-land, really, a cavern filled with cobwebs and practically bursting at the seams with dust, as well as other creatures that’d somehow burrowed their way through the silk curtains. She'd spent an hour trying to convince Hades to restore it to its former glory.

("Haven't you ever read a romance, lover?" she'd asked, watching Hades' every move with her chin propped up on her hands. "The main characters always do this pretty waltz, see, and-"

"I don't know how to dance," he'd said stubbornly, looking down into his cooling cup of tea. "So-"

"I could teach you."

He'd paused at that, teacup suspended in midair like words left unsaid. "You'd teach me?"

"Of course," she'd replied, grinning as she leant over the table to give his cheek a fond kiss. "I'd do anything for you.")

She stumbled a little, turning back to look up into her man's blank, expressionless eyes. "Well?" she asked, patting at the skirt of her sunflower-yellow dress. "You got that?"

He nodded dumbly, mouth agape.

"So are you ready to try that turn again?"

"Guess so," he mumbled, his voice uncharacteristically soft as he slipped his palm into Persephone's outstretched hand.

And so she began to guide him into the turn, their steps loaded with affection as they slowly breathed some much-needed love into the ballroom that had remained dormant for so long.

[sealbatross]

Attention Hadestown fandom: Thanks to Ben T. Matchstick's Instagram, we have artifacts from early Hadestown development, from 2006 to at least 2012! This pic is from a workshop summary of the second half of Act II (I think), featuring Hades working on mechanical birds in a presumably mechanical aviary, Hades deciding to just shoot Orpheus but then deciding not to and Orph taking the opportunity to sing to him as long as he's there (a previous semi-legible page mentions Orph got imprisoned post-Papers when the speakeasy was trashed), and Hades' guards refusing to quell the workers rioting but then it calms down anyway for some reason. The show has changed a lot! (Also random but of 2007 trivia; Hermes and Hades played poker at one point. Never said who won.)

The idea of guns in hadestown seem so incongruent to me lmao. A mechanical aviary is really cool though, fly my pretties fly!

[gilliflowersmaybe]

2007-era Hadestown fascinates me, especially Hermes. Back then he was more Hades' minion and tried to tempt Orpheus away, then became the narrator, and then Orpheus's surrogate father figure. It's like he had character development over time/multiple loops! *imagines young Orph finding a picture of Hermes shaking Hades' hand and he's like 'It was a different time...'*

Bway!Orph: *finds an old picture of them shaking hands that says Hades and Hermes, 2007*

Bway!Orph: Since when were you white

[alyona11]

I was reading Working On A Song about If It's True for Broadway. In the staging, Seph heads off about halfway through and doesn't hear Orpheus regaining confidence or rallying the workers, she just sees Eurydice's doomed, Hades has him beat up, and then he's sad. In Edmonton Hermes had the lines "And Persephone heard the poor boy sing/And it broke her heart in two/So she went to find that mighty king/To see what she could do", but those was cut for time/spelling out what the audience could see.

Yeah, I read working on a song, but even if we think that Persephone only heard like the first 2 verses and not the revolution one (which is a question of interpretation, because she is staying on stage through the whole song? or so it seems). There’s still literally nothing really heartbreakingly touching in these verses imo. 1st verse is mostly about how the world is crueler than Orpheus has expected + one line about his love being gone, workers’ verse is about how mb one shouldn’t give up and the 2nd one (during which Persephone is standing in the middle of the stage, so she hears it) is about how certain people set the rules and trick others. Idk mb this “certain people” gets to her because Hades and partly her (because she is the ruling class as well) are responsible for this situation. I think this idea works better in London and in Broadway previews, because of the intro to How Long: “- Are you happy? You proved your might!” - London “-How could you?! - How could I what? - He’s just a boy in love!”  - Broadway previews While Broadway version starts with “What are you afraid of? He’s just a boy in love”  But idk I still don’t find this Broadway version of If It’s True is emotionally touching in terms of love and without it “if you have heard how he sang tonight you’d pity poor Orpheus” makes little sense imo. Actually I think that maybe it would make more sense if they kept "And Persephone heard the poor boy sing/And it broke her heart in two/So she went to find that mighty king/To see what she could do" lines for this song, cos by god one need an explaination why is this revolutionary thing is so touching for a queen. These lines might have been excessive for the NYTW version because it’s obvious what’s that special in Orpheus’ song that could make a stone cry. Broadway version? No idea. I just personally think that both Persephone and Hades are moved by the feeling in Orpheus’ song because his love reminds them of their love, this is what makes them “wake up” in the end, so i get confused by the Broadway version of IIT a lot.

[wheredidyamileavemenow]

Why do I feel like I fit in here?

[gabrielied]

Unfortunately, smackjeeves deleted all my previous title names so I see no point keeping them up there. I’ve been so busy with fixing everything that’s falling apart with all this stuff that I forgot to even name this title.