3/9/10: the Hadestown concept album is released with Justin Vernon as Orpheus
12/14/13: Taylor releases the music video for “I Knew You Were Trouble.” featuring Reeve Carney
4/17/19: Hadestown opens on Broadway, starring Reeve Carney
7/24/20: Taylor Swift releases folklore, including “exile” featuring Justin Vernon
10/19/20: first recorded interaction between Anaïs and Taylor
2021: Broadway reopens and Taylor goes to see Hadestown after years of being a secret stannie and writing songs about the characters, meets Anaïs and the cast and tweets about it
2022: Taylor releases another folk album and features Anaïs on a track explicitly inspired by Hadestown
2025: the original Broadway cast of Hadestown reunites for “54 Below Presents: The Cast of Hadestown Sings Taylor Swift,” a benefit concert
2035: a revival of Hadestown is staged, except it’s just everyone singing Taylor Swift songs to each other with no plot. it sweeps the Tonys. Taylor completes her EGOT.
folklore taylor swift hadestown cinematic universe conspiracies for the elite
i apologize in advance for the Extra
cardigan
'Cause I knew you
Steppin' on the last train
Marked me like a bloodstain, I
I knew you
Tried to change the ending
Peter losing Wendy, I
I knew you
Leavin' like a father
Running like water, I
And when you are young, they assume you know nothing
But I knew you'd linger like a tattoo kiss
I knew you'd haunt all of my what-ifs
The smell of smoke would hang around this long
'Cause I knew everything when I was young
I knew I'd curse you for the longest time”
Okay I had to put the entire bridge of this song because like... POST CANON EURYDICE TEAS.... the song as a whole doesn’t exactly fit them but this section UGH “I knew you tried to change the ending” like I would like to Perish.
exile
No explanation needed!!!!! This song is about H/P!!!!! I’m just gonna put some of the most H/P lyrics.
“I think I've seen this film before
And I didn't like the ending
You're not my homeland anymore
So what am I defending now?
You were my town, now I'm in exile, seein' you out
I think I've seen this film before”
“So step right out, there is no amount
Of crying I can do for you
All this time
We always walked a very thin line
You didn't even hear me out (You didn't even hear me out)
You never gave a warning sign (I gave so many signs)
All this time
I never learned to read your mind (Never learned to read my mind)
I couldn't turn things around (You never turned things around)
'Cause you never gave a warning sign (I gave so many signs)”
seven
“And just like a folk song
Our love will be passed on”
“It's a love song
It's a tale of a love from long again
It's a sad song
We keep singing even so
It's an old song
It's an old tale from way back when
And we're gonna sing it again and again”
this is me trying
“I didn't know if you'd care if I came back
I have a lot of regrets about that”
“And maybe I don't quite know what to say
But I'm here in your doorway
I just wanted you to know that this is me trying”
“They told me all of my cages were mental
So I got wasted like all my potential
And my words shoot to kill when I'm mad
I have a lot of regrets about that
I was so ahead of the curve, the curve became a sphere
Fell behind all my classmates and I ended up here
Pouring out my heart to a stranger
But I didn't pour the whiskey”
Ugh this song really hurts me heart because it’s SO Hadesephone. From the struggle to apologize and communicate to the alcohol use numbing feelings, it reminds me of them so much, especially circa How Long.
invisible string
“A string that pulled me
Out of all the wrong arms, right into that dive bar
Something wrapped all of my past mistakes in barbed wire
Chains around my demons
Wool to brave the seasons
One single thread of gold
Tied me to you”
“Time, wondrous time
Gave me the blues and then purple-pink skies
And it's cool
Baby, with me
And isn't it just so pretty to think
All along there was some
Invisible string
Tying you to me?”
THE STRINGS OF LITERAL FATE TYING ORPHYDICE TOGETHER.... “all I know is you’re someone I have always known.” Orpheus was the thread of gold pulling Eurydice out of her “lonely life” and past trauma.
peace
“And you know that I'd swing with you for the fences
Sit with you in the trenches
Give you my wild, give you a child
Give you the silence that only comes when two people understand each other
Family that I chose, now that I see your brother as my brother
Is it enough?
But there's robbers to the east, clowns to the west
I'd give you my sunshine, give you my best
But the rain is always gonna come if you're standin' with me
But I'm a fire and I'll keep your brittle heart warm
If your cascade, ocean wave blues come
All these people think love's for show
But I would die for you in secret
The devil's in the details, but you got a friend in me
Would it be enough if I could never give you peace?”
Honestly this song really gives me post-canon Hadesephone vibes... like just them growing old together and accepting that love will always be hard but they have to try their best 🥺 their love is so strong in the end despite everything they’ve been through and everything they’d likely go through in the future. But I can also see this as Orphydice circa Promises? IDK THEY ALL JUST LOVE EACH OTHER.
