So I've been listening to my two favorite songs from Hadestown, Wait For Me (Reprise) and Road to Hell (Reprise), on loop for a few days. And on my 400th listen something occurred to me.
Orpheus was writing his song to "make spring come again". He wanted to "fix what's wrong, take what's broken and make it whole." His entire purpose was to write "a song so beautiful it brings the whole world back into tune." (From Come Home with Me).
And he did. Using his love for Eurydice, he was able to finish his song, his masterpiece. But the cost of his dedication to his music meant his love went hungry and went to Hadestown for food and shelter.
He hoped his love and his music would be strong enough to save her, a task we know was ultimately futile but we still sing about it because maybe one day it will be different but also... He did make spring come again. He helped Hades be more secure in his love for Persephone so she could stay on Earth long enough for their to BE a spring. He did take a broken, strained marriage and help them communicate, make them whole. He did bring the whole world back into tune when he sang their song and another pair of distanced lovers began to dance after so long of arguing.
Everyone else got their happy ending but him and Eurydice.
He did not fail, he just not could not imagine that his song didn't have room for his own happiness. It's a reminder that for every triumph there is tragedy, every repaired relationship there is a breakup and that while it may be spring somewhere, somewhere else it is winter. I don't know, that idea of mixed blessing tragedies in the story intrigued me. Because someone's worst day may be someone's best. And that is why we must always sing these songs, to remember on the bright days and to get us through the darkness and to know, someday, spring will come again.
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Cellbit who holds his shit together, pieces together the clues, and solves the issue while walking on a tightrope, where if he cannot correct for the mistakes made, the fallout would be catastrophic. He cannot fail to solve the case, he cannot fail to cure his friends, it isn’t an option in how desperate the situation has gotten.
He’s relied upon by everyone as the leader of the order, shoulders heavy with the burden. He is intense when he needs to be, gentle when a soft touch is required, and keeps his head when the situation is so intense the others are speechless.
He gets through Forevers stubbornness, reassures Pac in his sorrow and indecisiveness. It’s a fucked up scene and he handles it well because he has no other choice.
He doesn’t cry until it’s all over. Just for a second, when the moment is over, and he can take a breath of air. And even then he leads the rest of them through clean up. He makes sure Pac gets home, gets Forever to a proper place to rest, ensures the rest of the group is okay after what they just witnessed.
Then the moment he leaves the others, he finds another critical clue that he can’t just ignore or put to the back burner.
Another mystery, another crisis, another billion clues he’ll have to organize and follow up on and solve, because he’s the investigation guy, the leader of the order, and the island is counting on him. The kids are counting on him. He doesn’t get a chance to truly breathe. To fully sit down and let himself crumble, let someone, anyone, else be the strong foundation, because if he can’t solve this, who will?
Even with his family returning to him, it’s no wonder he feels so alone. Out of the frying pan and into the fire, I guess.
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i was scrolling back through a bunch of asks about lea and i stumbled upon one where you were asked "if the RO's had to chose between the city and hunter who would pick what" and out of everyone, Lea is like the only one without a doubt to save the hunter and IM SO ????? I LITERALLY LOVE THEM SM. ugh i want to draw/write a comic for that so badly now, im so deranged about the fact the lea would pick the hunter </3
im curious though, would that apply for the hunter even if their relationship is bad?? will lea always pick the hunter?
interesting question.... 🤔
i suppose it would depend on a few other things... like how bad their relationship is and also how bad the hunter's relationship is with other people. if they're just a straight up terror and making everyone around them miserable, then i think Lea would make the choice against them, in a "mercy kill" kind of way (and it would be very difficult for them). but if it's just their relationship that's bad... they would still pick the hunter.
they have that kind of blind, stupid loyalty.
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thinking about how easily ray was willing to make an exception to his firm ‘i can only save emma and norman’ stance once don and gilda are actually in on the escape. the fact that, during his ‘deal’ with norman in ep 5 ‘we can bring don and gilda too’ isnt a condition norman had that ray begrudgingly agreed to but rather one that ray brought up completely unprompted.
ray has spent years coming to terms with the fact that saving everyone is impossible, years putting emma and norman over everyone else because they were the most precious people in his life and because risking a bigger escape could get everyone killed. he thought it was better for the others to live ignorant, happy lives until their shipment than to get killed on the outside.
ray never had that same ignorant bliss the others had, emma and norman lost it after seeing conny, and while don and gilda aren’t given the full truth at first, they are given enough to have that illusion shattered for them as well. i just think a lot about how ray knows what it’s like to be trapped in that house without that happy illusion, and the moment don and gilda lose it, he can’t allow himself to push them away anymore.
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also pour one out for whichever one of the free folk that got their ivory dildo stolen by the nights watch and put in the robbery pile. where is duty where is sacrifice
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So!
You wanted to save money on storage costs.
So you decide to use an entire FUCKING eldritch purgatorial netherworld dimension for storage space.
To save MONEY!
Tell me, Async.
Why did you do this?
Are you stupid?
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