#stringing the bow

[cescalovestowrite]

Odysseus aesthetic

[pintura]

A joy, hard learned in winter was the warming of the bed.

[sunlight-shunlight]

to me it's strange that in dai, the game kind of forces you to take minaeve's story at face value? bc it is so weird when i thought about it. it's most likely just in there as a sort of Bioware Centrism Moment, but i wish they'd done more with it.

like ok. if her clan intentionally threw out a child into the woods, that means they were either cutthroat enough to want to kill her on purpose, OR, they wanted to abandon her, but still give her a chance at survival by being found. which was it?

seemingly... neither?

bc if they wanted to kill her, there is literally no need to give her a whole backpack and supplies beforehand. if they're cold-blooded enough to send a child to die, they probably wouldn't care about giving her extra food and stuff beforehand. and i feel like backpacks are actually pretty valuable, just on a cloth/leatherworking effort level, and especially for a small nomadic society that has nowhere to store things besides aravels. this is weird of them. they spent years feeding and clothing and raising her, then decide to coldly scrap all that effort bc they want her gone, and then give her another hand-crafted useful item before they leave her to die? makes no sense!

and if they wanted to just abandon her but still give her a chance, it wouldn't be hard to just send someone to walk her to the edge of a village first. they're experts at surviving and moving through the wilderness, why would it be a hardship for one adult to take a few days and go "ok minaeve, we're going on a field trip to see the human town :)" and then just lie to her and leave her there? still very harsh, and gives her a sad magic-related backstory and dislike of the dalish, but makes more sense! but they didn't do that either.

on a larger scale level.... every single dalish clan we meet prior to that Loves Mages. there's mentions of multiple mages competing to be first, or being traded if another clan is running low on mages. so even if minaeve's clan are assholes, it would be in their interests to basically trade minaeve to another clan for something else of value, and that would compensate them for the amount of time and resources they spent on raising her up to that point.

and on an even broader level, i think the dalish would benefit hugely from even weak mages like minaeve - even if all they ever learn to do is 1 ice spell... that means their whole group now has refrigeration? that's life-changingly useful! there is no way they'd want to pass up on that. and it makes sense why mages are so valued in their culture, bc having a mage improves their quality of life and chances of survival SO much.

so to me, one way minaeve's story makes sense is if the situation was actually: the clan was in some severe danger. the actual mages had to be on the front lines handling it, and no one else could deal with a scared mage child in the middle of everything accidentally setting things on fire. so they sent her out with some supplies so that she was at a distance from whatever was happening, and figured they'd track her down and pick her up in a few days when it was over.

but presumably they did not survive whatever the incident was, so no one came back to get her. minaeve, seven, interpreted this as being abandoned, and the chantry was like "yeah that sounds about right for those horrible cruel barbarians! luckily this child can be raised with good andrastian morals now 😌" and wouldn't dissuade her from thinking that.

[celestine-witch]

Been thinking about Penelope and “The Challenge”

Because after issuing her challenge to the suitors, Penelope tells them to:

“Let the arrow fly once you know that your aim is true”

And like, obviously, on the surface it's about the challenge itself—it is, in part, a test of accuracy, so your aim better be damn good. But y'know what a person's "aim" can also mean? Their motivation, their goals.

And we already saw in "Legendary" and "Little Wolf" that, at the very least, Antinous' motives are anything but true. He wants the power of the throne, the prestige of being able to say he married Penelope, but he doesn't give two shits about her.

Then, "Hold Them Down" confirms that none of the suitors are any better, and how does the first verse of that song start? With Antinous pointing out that the suitors can't even string the bow. Forget shooting through twelve axes, these fuckers can't even do the first step in having a bow. Their aim—their goal—is selfish and vile, so far off the mark that they can't even take the first step in doing it right. So Antinous convinces them to give up; he convinces them to stop pretending and to act as evilly as they all want to (himself especially).

But Odysseus? His aim is true; he is motivated solely by his love for his wife and son, everything—and everyone—else be damned. And shout-out to the animators and artists who depict Ody shooting Antinous through the axes—it's just the perfect extra layer of Odysseus proving that he's leagues above the suitors in all regards. Related: shout-out to the animators and artists who have Penelope make the shot during "The Challenge," because her aim is just as true as her husband's. They're a perfect match for each other.

[somereaderinblue]

Odysseus of troy AU: Does Paris try to woo Odysseus and tries to become a second father to Tele? (And failing miserably at both?)

To answer all of that, here are some incorrect Paris & Ody quotes:

Paris: We're getting married!

Ody: And I'm about to make that everybody's problem.

___________________

Paris: Smart is attractive. Educate me on something I don't know!

Ody, batting his eyes: The mouth of a jellyfish is also an anus.

Paris: Stop.

___________________

Paris: Stay foxy~

Ody: Die lonely.

___________________

Paris: I'll treat you like a god.

Ody: You mean ignore my existence until you need something?

___________________

Paris: Can I bother you for a second?

Ody: Every breath you take bothers me, but go ahead.

___________________

Tele: Pa....pa...

Paris: Come on, say papa.

Tele, pointing at Paris: Pa-the-tic.

Paris: .what

Ody, tearing up: I'm so proud!

[siri-hulth]

[lidera-aro]

We know everyone cried at WYFILWMA but am I the only one who cried in the Challenge?

Specifically, Though I never thought that this would be the length we go for love, I would not have it other way part

Idk, it just felt really emotional(and we also have whole Penelope sitting behind axes thing) but it always makes me tear up and I have no idea why

[mother-ofthe-universedraws]

Hey what if I just…

Something something Angy Theatre Kid x Mad Scientist.

Anyways, Happy Halloween! My favorite holiday deserves my favorite ships

[inky-goddess]

forbidden honey

[consider-the-lily]

penelope watching the suitors violate xenia for the 3652nd day in a row (she's gonna get her husband to kill them all for her)

[shyaringan]

god i wish i knew how to animate bc i Swear theres something there in Dangerous when Hermes says ‘put it a-all on the line’ + the idea of him pantomiming pulling back a bow & it looks so sick in my head but. alas.

[stelliton]

EPIC fandom, why does Penelope have to be physically strong and able to string the bow and easily kill the suitors if she wanted to in order to be a badass/strong female character?????

She may be Spartan but that literally means nothing when it comes to Mycenaean Sparta. No, Penelope would not be trained as a warrior. No, Penelope would not know how to fight. She might be physically fit but that’s about it.

Why can’t women be strong in a way that’s not physical? Why can’t Penelope be strong because she’s patient and smart and a con artist? Why is her value only ever in “being Spartan”?

Listen I love EPIC but y’all are pmo by erasing Penelope’s actual strengths and replacing them with a misogynistic idea that a woman can only be strong and badass if she’s ripped and can fight.

Warrior! Penelope au, sure. It’s an au, it’s fun, it doesn’t have to be realistic or canon. But y’all trying to make canon Penelope something she’s not by citing fake evidence of Ancient Greece? C’mon :(

[fluffypotatey]

Yk I just realized epic Odysseus probably used his hunting bow to kill the suitors

...

killed them like the animals they were Lmao

yeah that was what the swishing noise meant. it’s so fucking fast too like he isn’t even trying to play with his food— I mean, the suitors at all. merciless in his kills, no dignity of an honorable death

just swift and efficient

[awkward-potato-504]

“Whoever can string my husband’s old bow….’cuz I’d rather die than go on without the best of you”

We all know the challenge Penelope posed to the suitors was bullshit. But she really said in the most glaringly obvious subtextual way to the suitors that her husband was the best, the only one she’d ever take as her king and the task was feudal because they aren’t him

[songs-of-the-east]

Herzegovinian Serb Gusle artist: Maksim Vojvodić

[scarlet-sam-chaos]

~ artemis ~