#(I WAS THERE WHEN THIS SONG DEBUTED TOO)

[gingermintpepper]

Okay, let's finally talk about EPIC's Apollo

I feel very compelled to say, first of all, that I do not dislike Epic. In fact, I am very fond of Epic and have been following its production and status very eagerly! I attend all the launch streams, I watch all of Herrans' update videos; I am, at the end of the day, a fan and I want it to be known that my words are spoken out of love and passion as much as they are spoken from a place of critique.

So really, what my problem with Epic's Apollo?

In the briefest possible terms; the choice to have Apollo be defined by his musical aspect in God Games is thematically strange. And not in the 'oh well in the Odyssey, Apollo was important to Odysseus and his family so it's weird that that wasn't kept in Epic' strange, strange in the sense that Odysseus' character arc since My Goodbye has been getting more and more obviously Apollonian and so it is positively bizarre that when we get to meet Apollo, the god seems entirely disinterested in him and his affairs. So much so that he is not even defined by any station that would indicate that he has been watching over and protecting Odysseus and his family.

What do I mean by 'Odysseus has been following an Apollonian arc'? I'm so glad you asked!

Remember Them is the last song in which Odysseus explicitly uses his sword until Mutiny where he must use it to defend himself against Eurylochus' blade. He uses it to help enact the plan to conquer Polyphemus and, due to Polites dying in that battle, Polites who wished for Odysseus to put the blade down entirely and embrace a post-war life, Odysseus also retires his sword. This is an action that symbolically separates him from Athena - and the image of Odysseus as a traditional warrior set for him in Horse and Infant - as much as My Goodbye physically separates him from the goddess and her war-ways - from this point onwards, Odysseus will no longer be leaning on Athena's wisdom or methods to solve his problems. Likewise, he will no longer be able to rely on her protection.

Odysseus thusly solves most of his upcoming problems through diplomacy and avoidance. He approaches Aeolus - a strange and ambiguous god (both in gender and in motivation) and appeals to them for help. Circe too, he approaches not with wishes to conquer or for revenge, but for the safe returning of his men and an alternate way forward. In all of these scenarios, there is some Apollonian element which is subtly interweaved alongside the influence of other gods; it is with a bow and arrows that Polyphemus' sheep is slain (and thus it is this Apollonian element which is at the root of Odysseus' spat with Poseidon), it is a vision of Penelope that warns Odysseus that his men are about to open Aeolus' wind-bag, Circe's peace offering to Odysseus is to refer him to a prophet of Apollo who has since died.

In this way, Apollo is walking alongside Odysseus for all of his journey after Athena departs - even in the Underworld, he is guiding him. It is Tiresias' proclamation that is the last straw for Odysseus, it is by the power of a mouthpiece of Apollo that Odysseus decides to embrace his ruthlessness. It is with the bow and arrow that Odysseus subdues the siren who sought to trick him, likewise, Odysseus does not attempt to undermine or escape the fate of paying Scylla's passage price - he knows of the doom about to befall the six men and quite unlike the rest of the journey until this point, he does not fight against it. This all comes to a head on Thrinacia where it is a blade which sacrifices the sun god's cow and brings destruction upon the crew once more.

My point with all of this is that when I heard the teasers for God Games years ago, it made perfect sense to me that Apollo would be Round One - he is not Odysseus' adversary and has no reason to oppose Athena's wish to free him. From other teasers about what will happen in the climax of Epic, Apollo will still be walking alongside Odysseus - it is Apollo's bow that Penelope will give the suitors to string. Likewise, it is Apollo's bow that will prove Odysseus' legitimacy and identity. That bow will be the power by which Odysseus hunts his adversaries and cleans out his palace - it is Apollo who is the avatar of Odysseus' ruthlessness, not Athena.

So tell me, truly, what was the point of having Apollo raise a non-argument in God Games? Why have him appear unconcerned, aloof and slightly oblivious? Why have him appear in his capacity as the Lord of Music at all?? And if the intention was never to make Apollo an active player in Odysseus' life like he was in the Odyssey, why keep Odysseus as a primary archer?

The answer of course is that Apollo is inextricable from the fabric of the Odyssey - his influence and favour exudes from Odysseus just as much as Athena's. In Athena's ten year sulk, it would have been Apollo who kept Telemachus and Penelope safe. It would have been Apollo protecting Odysseus from Poseidon's gaze as he travelled the seas (according to the Odyssey anyway)

Forgive me for not being excited about something that I thought was being purposefully set up. I was extremely ecstatic about all of the little Apollonian details that litter the sagas because I know where this story ends up (loosely) but all God Games did was reveal that maybe those Apollonian details were not intentional at all, but merely the ghost of the Apollo who persistently haunts those he favours, even if he cannot explicitly come to their aide in an adaptation.

[deus-ex-mona]

omg it’s yujiro’s first song as “someya yujiro” what if i cried

[cleradinthealps]

mike wheeler doesn’t know it yet but come the 90s he is going to be the biggest björk fan in the world

[mybiasisexo]

[stari-hun]

Being a girl group stan is gen so horrid sometimes cause why are the fans so much more foul than male group stans. I know it’s the misogyny but damn I thought we all liked women here

[eternal-reverie]

I fell down the rabbit hole with discovering new music and then new-to-me old music, and then somehow circling back to familiar yet unknown music that I rarely search for. Music that my mom would play from her country in the background since my childhood.

[cyberfunsupporter]

i don’t really get why people wanna change the vocal roles of rv (irene rapper, seulgi main vocalist, wendy main vocalist, joy sub vocalist, yeri sub rapper) so bad. i personally think they fit very well + they vary depending on the song, which is what’s supposed to happen in a music group?? it’s just the general set-up for their songs, although it doesn’t inherently mean that’s how it’ll be all the time 😭

[therevengeoffrankenstein]

i love defending pete wentz against the mania haters who call him the music industry's mr krabs bc he sucks in other ways.

[iwatcheditbegin]

What’s your unpopular eras tour opinions?

[starlightkun]

boygroups just arent having cringefail eras with their whole chests like they used to

[cupuasu]

shotaro is so hard on himself :(

[minhoinator]

okay not to be me and read too much into this but this being part of the "discover" pack of pictures, and it's him + his reflection.....discovering himself, chasing himself...does this mean that Minho is the villain of his story as well as the hero, and he has to overcome himself? is that what's happening here or is this just a picture of him and his reflection alsdkfa

[itsays]

i think im gonna be like those sejeong/chungha stans who 7 years later still complain that ch/sj should've been center instead of somi but with hanbin in zb1 sorry to everyone

[bomnun]

the news abt the girls in the park’s company no longer being operating made me go back and relisten to their discography again and it’s coming back to me how much I used to like them :( (I still like them lmao but as they hadn’t been active in over 18 months they weren’t at the forefront of my mind that often) all of them are so fun and their discography is definitely in the top 5 kpop discographies that tickle my brain the most. they had/have such good chemistry and energy, and omg seoryoung… still love how extra she is on every track and her gorgeous voice. I went on a bazooka and puzzle moon stage rewatch and ahhh they’re so fun… why did we have to (half) lose them so early

[gildeddlily]

am I about to write another kny fanfic even tho I'm writing like ten other things? hell yeah

ab our fav depressed guy ofc (the character study is the tag I'll abuse til I'm like dead) (writing ab giyuu is therapy and trauma at the same time) (it'll match with the the genmui that cured my depression and the tomioka-is-a-role-model-for-every-breathing-kamado (so two ppl) fic)

[eunhos]

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