#Shoot through 12 axes challenge

[backpackingspace]

YALL yall I need you to know the context for the bow competition. LIKE

Okay so the bow in question was Hercule's teacher's bow. (Not sure how odysseus got it. I think it was a gift but 🤷) and the draw back strength was some absurd amount that only demi gods and immortals could achieve (odysseus literally is just that mortal who's built different). (I'm not going to go back and check sources so take this with a grain of salt.) It was something like 500 lbs.

And that's on top of this style of bow being so stupidly hard to string. If you don't do it in the exact right way it will spring back and back you in the face. And this is for a 30lbs of draw back bow. Your stances has to be exactly right. Your hands just so. It's so hard. I cannot imagine what it would have taken to string a 500lb bow. Olympic archers today shoot at a 33 lbs.

AND the challenge itself, the shoot through 12 axes thing? Yah that was odysseus's signature party trick. He did that at every single festival and gathering. During the war he regularly stole every archers bow and did this shit. It was /his/ move.

[rosieparker1856]

Glad to know my people are thriving

cr 小风车手工

[annimatopoeia]

the 12 axes we're shooting through

the difficult part is that odysseus' bow had a draw weight that was a minimum of like 75lbs and could have been up to around 200lbs

a bunch of guys who've never done labor in their life would struggle to pull the string back at all, let alone aim while they were doing it

[oliveoilisedible]

Penelope will always be a girlboss because by sitting behind the 12 axes she told the suitors to shoot through cleanly, not only was she

mocking them by being showing she was fully confident they wouldn’t succeed

But also BASICALLY TELLING EVERYONE THAT THEY WILL NEVER BE BETTER THAN HER HUSBAND WHO ACTUALLY COULD SHOOT THROUGH 12 AXES.

AND ON TOP IF THAT PROVING HER LOVE TO ODY BY SAYING THAT IF ANYONE WERE TO EVER SUCCEED THE CHALLENGE AND BECOME KING, THEY WOULD’VE KILLED HER BY DOING SO. QUITE LITERALLY, SHED RATHER DIE THAN RULE WITH ANYONE OTHER THAN ODYSSEUS!!!

[rakiah]

i just want to to let you know that it was your art of vil with kid jack and leona with kid epel for that single parent leovil fic that really pulled me into leovil. i stumbled upon it by chance when scrolling through a vil blog and saw it reblogged and LOST MY DAMN MIND. particularly baby wolf jack. cause why am i now putting together an epic the musical/odyssey/illiad au for leovil?? (your art. your art is why) itll probably never escape my docs but. so far??

helen and penelope. cousins and princesses of sparta--their dads are brothers and co-ruled. penelope's mother was a water nymph (naiad, so freshwater) whereas helen was the daughter of zeus......soooo.....HEAR ME OUT!!!!!!

neige as helen. vil as penelope. now, i was originally gonna go the rkvl route, because that line in the challenge, when penelope tells the suitors she will marry whoever "can string her husbands old bow and shoot through 12 axes cleanly"--smth her husband odysseus was only able to do, well, a rkvl version of that could go SO HARD.

esp cause like, idk i could just give rook a random kingdom, cause yes, leona is a prince, but technically falena would be king. and i thought of making them menelaus (leona) and agamemnon (falena) with VIL as helen, i mean, come ON!!!!!! it would be SO GOOD!! but odysseus and penelope's story was just tugging at my heart, and i couldnt decide. until i realized that actually this is a fic and it doesnt have to be a 1 to 1 substitution, i can play around and do whatever i want.

(and jack as little wolf telemachus is everything. and neige as helen, both "fairest of them alls" and cursed via apple??? i love it)

sooooo. im thinking.

vil and neige are cousins, princes of. pyroxene? or maybe pyroxene would be made up of a few kingdoms....hmmmmm...idk yet. regardless, their parents' co-rule their kingdom. but neige is the actual heir of the throne. this could be because vil is technically illegitimate. eric had no wife, he just really wanted to be a dad. and so vil's mother, for purposes of this, is either a vampire or a water nymph, or some sort of enchantress, idk, but regardless, vil isnt going to inherit. (also read @pinkbeeps sympathy for the villain fic and lost my mind over it so, yeah, crewel is a vil dad, so at some point when vil and neige are 7 and 6 respectively, crewel and eric get together.)

meanwhile, sunset savannah was split by a civil war? or a revolt of some kind. leona and falena stop it, but part of the truce that is made is that falena cannot rule all of it. so the elephant graveyard half, and some surrounding land makes up what becomes leona's kingdom. why? idk.

then, when neige is like, 17, vil 18, and leona 20, its decided that neige should get married, so all the suitors from various kingdoms come. cause, heir to the throne. and fairest of them all. falena, who is now married himself and has cheka, suggests leona go, but leona isnt rlly looking to get married. falena bugs him abt it tho, and leona still isnt for the marriage thing but rationales that princes and infleuntial people from all over will be vying for neige's hand. leona can go, but not for purposes of throwing his hat in the ring, (neige is an heir and leona has a kingdom to take care of--neither of them would leave their respective homes) but rather, to make connections to better help his people.

and then he meets vil. guy is SMITTENNNNNNN from the get go, he's like, whoever was giving out the fairest of them all titles, did they like, not see you???? heLLO??????

vil is warming up to leona, but also, lets be real, vil has an insecurity abt being a backup, second option when it comes to neige. he would have been wary considering leona is here in technicality as a suitor for neige. but it becomes apparent leona was not here for that in acuality. cause leona, in true oddysseus fashion, does not even bring a wedding gift, guy was just here to network and then fell in love.

it goes as the story always does. neige's parents are worried abt the influx of suitors and wondering how to choose without angering one kingdom over the other. and leona is like, hey i got a solution, but if you want it, you gotta put in a good word for me with vil's parents, your brother and BIL, and you gotta convince them that its okay if vil marries. and theyre like DEAL.

leona proposes his solution--the oath made by all suitors to defend neige and whoever he chooses if a rival ever takes neige away. they would march against the offender and destroy their city.

neige's parents are like damn thats brilliant and then talk to eric and crewel. who put forth a test for leona to pass. he does.

they marry, leona's wedding gift to vil, the living olive tree bed he makes himself, and they have jack and epel, idk how, surrogates? adoption? not sure. but then, the apple, neige is taken away, and that oath comes back to bite leona in the ass. he pretends he's crazy to dodge the draft but baby jack gets tossed in front of the plough and leona saves them, and is forced to go to war etc etc. they win, and then it takes him FOREVERRRR to get home, and then--well we know how it goes!

wow. sorry for just. dumping this in your ask box. i was just trying to appreciate your art and i ended up dropping the au inspired by your art in here. oops

Alright, let’s process step by step cause this ask just made me go wild when I read it. /p

[deep breath]

First, thank you very much! 💕 It’s always a delight to know that more people are into leovil because of me 8D I feel like a priest in Age of Empires (big old ref here ha ha)

Second, your Epic/ Odysseus/ Illiad AU.

I was flabbergasted cause, a few days ago I saw a new leovil fic about Epic the Musical (yes, I do have an open tab of Ao3 on my phone with the leovil tag that I refresh almost every night. When I say I have an otp, I have an otp.) and, since the name rings vaguely a bell, I asked my theater kid friend about this Musical. I just wanted to listen to it before reading the fic and then, I understood Epic the Musical.

AND

YOU CAME.

:’D

I take that as a sign.

Thank you for sharing those thoughts, that was great! I wish you the best for your AU and hope you write it and maybe post it! Otherwise, it’s fine! No pressure of course, I’m already glad with your ask! x3

Anyway, here for you. I couldn’t help sketching those. They imposed themself. Literally.

Pretty sure Vil’d start to poison the suitors too.

[hopefully-helpful-daemon]

The temptation to write an arrowbat/jayroy story about The Challenge from epic the musical (and the Odyssey, but epic inspired me)

Oliver and Bruce having to read the Odyssey for school, and Ollie being confident that he could do the challenge that Penelope set out. He's a great archer and is fairly strong, if he does say so himself! (B argues that it was never about the other suitors, and was set up for her to see that Odysseus was still alive)

Oliver is somehow able to get 12 axes, and they sneak off during the night to try it out. He makes the shot of course, but Bruce says that it wasn't fair because the suitors also had to string the bow. Ollie then unstrings and restrings his bow before hitting the shot again without any difficulty. B says that it's not the same bow! They need to get the same type of bow before he can claim to be able to do it.

Oliver jokes that he's starting to sound like Penelope, making loopholes and caveats to not admit that he won the challenge. Bruce fires back that only his husband can shoot that bow, and he'd rather it be a fair challenge than just give it over to the person that wasn't even doing it properly.

Ollie says that, does that mean if I get the proper bow and can still make the shot, your hand is mine? And B can't help smiling, laughing, and blushing a little, telling him that, you'll just have to get the bow and see, Queen.

Years down the road, both of them heroes and fathers and protectors in their own ways, even if that's away from each other, B walks down into the batcave and sees his second oldest boy standing behind another boy with red hair. The redhead is lining up a shot through 12 axes and Bruce hopes that their story will have the happy ending that his didn't.

[holyadoptionpapersbatman]

Okay, now I'm just imagining an au where Telemachus gains training and self-confidence and cunning a little bit earlier (16 or 17-ish??) and manages to find a loophole that allows him to just kill all the suitors. He manages to convince his mother and his people to become King of Ithaca, but also letting people know that they still believe that Odysseus is still alive.

And so, in classic Anastasia fashion, men come up to Telemachus (despite hearing about his recent feat in killing 108 men single-handedly) declaring that they're his father.

Now, he could just straight up kill them.

But instead, he decides to use his mother's challenges.

The first challenge, as we all know it, is that they need to string his father's bow (that's now extra blessed by Athena so that Odysseus is the only person who manages) and shoot through 12 axes.

Then, if they miraculously manage it because they had their own divine intervention, Telemachus will take them into his "parents' room". The Quotation Marks are there because it isn't actually his parents' room. It's just a really lavish room no one in the royal family is using. But he will tell the man that it surely is. And if the man agrees, Telemachus will kill that man on the spot.

Many fail the first test and are sent away.

One manages to get divine intervention from Apollo, but fails the second test and dies.

And then, suddenly, there's this beggar. Athena is quiet in Telemachus' head, but the young man now 20 years old dares not to believe. This old man who looks worn, tired, starved of love and yet looks at Telemachus as if he has plenty to give him. Telemachus dares not to hope.

He remains stoic in his seat, eyes glaring, anticipating the old man to make a mistake so he could send him on his way. Or if he becomes too rowdy, kill him and forget about all this and brood in disappointment.

But the beggar manages. He strings the bow. He shoots through the axes cleanly.

"What is the second challenge?" the old man asks, voice scratchy but amused.

Telemachus is quiet for a few moments.

Then, he stands from his throne.

"Follow me."

Telemachus' heart is pounding in his chest. Athena still hasn't spoken. But she is here, he feels her presence.

This is the moment of truth.

Telemachus leads Odysseus to a lavish room different from the man who had been assisted by Apollo.

He stands in the middle of it, gesturing randomly.

"Here is your and mother's room," he said, keeping his voice level. He fakes a smile as he adds, "Please wait here as I call for her. She must be in the gardens somewhere."

The man is quiet, eyes shining in the light as he shakily gestures to the bed.

"That is not our bed."

Telemachus refrains from sucking in a breath. "What do you mean?" he asks, prompting, challenging the man to explain.

"I carved the bed your mother and I laid in with my own hands," the man said, voice trembling even more now. "From the olive tree where we first met. I built the palace around that because that bed, our wedding bed, is the symbol of our love."

The man looks at Telemachus desperately. "This cannot be our room. If it is, please, I beg you, tell me what happened to the bed."

Telemachus' voice is almost a whisper when he asks, "How easy would it be to move the bed?"

The man, Odysseus, his father, cries, "The bed is the tree itself!"

Telemachus finally let his tears fall.

"This isn't your room, father," he said, smiling as droplet after droplet fell from his face. "Your room had not changed, and your bed had never been moved. Mother is waiting there as she had always been for the past 20 years."

The man stares at him, and suddenly Telemachus felt self-concious as he wipes his tears away. His father must be angry, or indignant. He wonders if he disappointed his father, and resigns himself that there's nothing Telemachus could do if he has. He has his own style of dealing with things, so if his father couldn't accept it, then he guesses that's that.

"You've grown into such a cunning young man, my son."

Telemachus widens his eyes and looks, actually looks at his father. His father is smiling. It's the same smile his father gave him when he came and declared himself as Odysseus, came and accepted Telemachus' challenge, but this time his perspective isn't smothered with bitterness and longing. This time, Telemachus allowed himself to hope and believe that the man, his father, is looking at him with such adoration and unconditional love.

Telemachus opens his arms, and before he could even say anything, his father brings the two of them together in the tightest and warmest hug he's ever experienced.

[piercingheart]

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐠𝐞 ❀

A/n : ꒥꒷ . I haven't posted anything for a while, also I have been indulging myself in epic the musical, and I've decided I should write a fic for estes :3

estes x reader.

preview ┆︎ the KING has fallen into a deep slumber, which after a while ends up to suitors standing at your palace, pressuring you into chosing a new husband.

(guess what this was based on "the challenge" from epic the musical)

Suitors, standing where the throne of you, your husband usually sits, but it has been a long time since you last seen him awoke right? But the real issue is, you have to deal with these suitors.

Estes was in a deep slumber, sleeping for only the primordial gods know how long, you could only hope it wouldn't be an eternity, as these suitors patience is wearing thin. You've known they are only hungry for power to become the new moon elf king.

Thankfully, due to miya protection, they won't be able to harm you, or break into your bedroom door, to do unspeakable things.

Last night, you've seen a meteor passing down the midnight skies, lighting up new hopes, a sign to the king— No, your husband, that his awakening is soon.

today was the day, where you said you'll choose a new husband, after all, it's been a while and these suitors are waiting, waiting. You had been buying time but now the day has finally come. You've used up all of your options.

That leaves you, to give the suitors a challenge. A challenge they cannot do. You've walked through the gardens, holding an unstring bow that only Miya and estes can string it themselves. The suitors make way for you, a path as you walk past them, then turning around to let everyone see the bow.

“whoever can string my husband's old bow and shoot through 12 axes cleanly.. will be the new king, sit down at the throne.."

You've paused.

"and rule with me as his queen.."

You dropped the bow on the table, not sparing a glance to anyone as you stood across the 12 axes.

"Let the arrow fly, once you know that your aim is true." They can't do it, they won't, which is why you've given these power-hungry suitors, an impossible challenge, and if they can complete the challenge, you'll end up dying anyways, due to that part of the challenge, the twelve axes.

hours and hours pass, as suitors and suitors take their turn to try and complete this challenge. What they didn't know, it was supposed to be impossible, it was for you to buy time, for your husband as you have hopes he will wake up soon, for as suitors and suitors failed to string the bow.

Going back to the garden as you turned around to find your dear husband, face to face surprising you. As you didn't expect he would awoke sooner than later.

Estes told you to stay in the bedroom, let's just say.. it really was a palace covered in red, as he walked into the bedroom, face covered with blood. Questioning you to.. will you fall in love with him again, even tho he has been slumbering for a long time?

Of course..

"i.. will fall in love with you, over and over again. I don't care how when or where, no matter how long it has been."

"you're MINE!" as to how, he would DARE question your loyalty, to think you've fallen out of love after all this time.

"Love.." You haven't been called that nickname for a while, but it felt different, the same from when we got married, how many years has it been since you've been called "Love?" well it didn't matter, as long as the both of us are here, Together. You both hugged each other..

and the ending is up to interpretation, sorry mb guys I suck at writing endings. Anyways, sorry if it feels short. 😭..

please leave a heart.. or reblogs, I appreciate anything (⁠✯⁠ᴗ⁠✯⁠)

[pokemonacademy]

You know what I'd like to see in a Hold Them Down animatic? Odysseus stringing his bow in the background while everyone is distracted by Antinous rallying the suitors together, then he successfully shoots an arrow CLEANLY through 12 axe heads, *shwoop* it goes, also hitting Antinous. Maybe even with some sort of scope perspective? Like, the holes of the axes serve as the scope and Antinous can be seen through the holes before he finally shoots. This way, Odysseus also showcases that he's the rightful winner of Penelope's challenge while getting rid of Antinous.

[intothestacks]

Trying the Odysseus “12 axes” shot! #theodyssey #epic

For anyone who's unfamiliar with the Odyssey:

While Odysseus is off getting lost all over the Greek isles, his wife tricks her suitors to buy time for her directionally challenged husband to come back.

After 20 years of stalling, the suitors lose their patience so she devises a challenge only her husband could succeed in since she has no intention of marrying anyone else.

The challenge consists of successfully "shooting through 12 axes" with little explanation as to what that means.

[protagaster]

Idea: since Odysseus's challenge is to have all the women weave Penelope's Shroud without a single mistake, what if Odysseus's strategy was to use his bow and said the challenge will begin when he shoots through 12 axes cleanly (he makes sure that the bow can only get through 10 axes, just close enough to make the women think he's actually trying)

OH MY GOODNESS!

Zippy, you have no idea how much I LOVE the idea of Ody using the "arrow through the axes" trick to stall his own suitors (especially when you consider the bow itself and his messed up shoulder)

While I'm not sure if Blue and I will include it directly before Ody's challenge for the suitors, I definitely wanna mention it as one of the ways Ody stalls them while waiting for his wife to return!

[goldenunicornmaster]

Ok I very much misinterpreted the “shoot through 12 axes” part of the song The Challenge.

My first though was not that they were supposed to shoot through small openings that decorate the handle. I thought the task was to break the metal wedges.

To be fair, it was a bow with so much tension only Odysseus could string, I thought he would have the strength to shatter axes with it.

[gx-gameon]

So question

Is the Yugioh vision on the Penelope challenge to summon 12 monsters in one turn?

Cause I’ve been sitting here thinking about this, and like Penelope’s challenge to the suitors is to string her husband’s bow and shoot through 12 axes cleanly (they have a hole in them)

So for duel monsters would the challenge be to summon 12 monsters? But like in building order? 1 star followed by 2 star all the way up to a 12 star monster.

Can you do that? It’s a lot of special summons and probably couldn’t be pulled on the 1st turn but is it possible to pull off? 12 summons 1 turn.

Make it harder that everyone has to use the same deck when attempting (Penelope’s husbands deck)

I think it’s a fun idea

[loraluna]

Listening to the Ithica Saga and pondering once again how the hell Penelope's challenge is supposed to work. The internet seems to have plenty of theories, but I'm curious what people actually think of when they picture this scene.

[starlightshadowsworld]

Concept: Reyna tries to postpone choosing Jason’s replacement as Praetor.

But reaches a point where she no longer can and holds a challenge. It was one that should have been impossible and had been for all those who tried.

Unfortunately Percy not only entered without knowing that was the case and accidentally won.

He is more than a little apologetic when Reyna reveals the truth and her plan. Percy tells her he’ll resign then and there but Reyna stops him.

Saying that it might be for the best because at least it’ll hold off the more power hungry types from getting the spot.

The promise is inspired by Penelope’s challenge in Epic the musical (The Odyssey) and I just thought of how funny it would be if it was the same challenge.

Stringing a bow and shooting it through 12 axes.

Because I headcanon that Jason’s trained in all manner of weaponry because he has no signature weapon.

And the funny comes from the fact that Percy rather infamously can’t shoot a bow for shit. So him winning really was that unforeseen.

He probably wasn’t even in the arena.

[mr-celestial-writings]

The Challenge

Pairing: Oliver Queen x GN! Spouse! Reader

Summary: 20 years Oliver has spent away from home, away from you. Now, he returns, right on time to see you issue a challenge he knows is impossible for any other man.

DC MASTERLIST

Song Inspiration:

================================================

Oliver walked carefully into his palace, hearing the voices and the laughter of the men who dare try to win your heart. His cloak moved with him, the hood covering his face

It had been 20 years since he had last been here, a war keeping him away from you at first for a decade, then the troubles on his journey home keeping him away from you for another 10 years.

So much has changed, but also stayed the same. He, and the suitors were in the court yard, servants were setting up 12 Axes. You came and stood behind them, his old bow in your hands.

You were just as beautiful as he remembered, a bit older than he remembered, then again, Oliver wasn't the man you married either.

Everybody stopped and paid attention to you, you raised his bow over your head.

"Whoever can string my husband's old bow and shoot through 12 axes cleanly," You motioned to the Axes in front of you, "Will be the new king, sit down on the throne, and rule with me as they're spouse!"

There was a certain air of tiredness in your voice, but Oliver felt a flicker of hope. You had given them an impossible challenge. Oliver was the only one who knew how to string that bow.

"Let the Arrow fly, once you know that your aim was true, because I'd rather die, than grow old without the best of you!" You declared before turning heel and leaving to the throne room. You sat the bow against the archway.

Oliver wanted nothing more than to chase after you and reveal the fact he was home, but he had vengeance to enact first. He wanted your suitors to pay.

He looked at his old bow, now in the hands of the Leader of the Suitors.

Yeah, he was going to make all these bastards pay before he got back to you.

================================================

a/n: I was torn between making this Oliver, or making this Roy. I settled on Ollie because I need to write for him more.