kind of random epic thoughts

Instructions

i was listening to little wolf and i started thinking. mostly about athena saying "oooh, maybe i pushed you a bit too hard" when telemarketer/telephone/telekinesis/etc still got beaten up by the suitors despite her help. and so i wonder if she was going off the image she had of odysseus in her head. at least, the one that she remembers (not very well) after ody and her separated. (this might take some explanation so bear with me here) to me, ody doesn't feel like the kind of person that has any sort of self-preservation. i have a headcanon that when he was being mentored by athena when he was younger, he would just do whatever she told him to do no matter if it injured him or put his life at risk. because, well, she's a goddess. the goddess of WISDOM. surely she wouldn't tell him to do anything he COULDN'T do. right? (turned out that she DID tell him a lot of things he couldn't do. she's a god, a near all-powerful being. odysseus, on the other hand, is a mortal. there's only so much his physical body can achieve. athena would forget that sometimes. she had the idea in her head of what he could be--that he would be a warrior of the mind. the "greatest warrior". and so some of the things that she told him, he couldn't actually achieve. ody, however, tried to do them anyway. athena was his mentor, and he would do whatever she told him to do, because that's what pupils do, right?) as time went on and odysseus grew, athena grew too. she learned his boundaries. physically, at least. there were some mental hurdles of his that she couldn't really understand (the whole "mercy" thing wasn't something she could comprehend at the time). but athena became accustomed to what mortals could and couldn't do, and she adapted. she would give him instructions that wouldn't end with his soul being guided by hermes into the underworld. but then, well. you know. they had a falling out. athena turned away from him and left him to his own devices. but as much as she hated him...i feel like she started to build up odysseus as much greater than he truly was. after nearly 10 years, she doesn't truly remember what ody was like. the things she had learned about mortals began to warp. she forgot most of it, with only a hazy picture of the few things she remembered. and when she saw telemachus? intentionally or not, she compared him to his father. she saw odysseus in him, as so many do. but not the real odysseus. the version she had created for herself after all this time. telemachus probably couldn't do the things that even the actual odysseus could do at his age. and he ESPECIALLY couldn't do the things that athena's near-invincible version could. when he lost that fight, she was confused more than anything. what was different about THIS kid? odysseus could have won that, surely. (though when he was telemachus' age, he couldn't have.) odysseus could have won against DOUBLE the amount of men! (he couldn't have.) and athena realizes how much she no longer understands mortals. how much she's avoided interacting with them since she and odysseus parted ways. or, rather, the way she comes to see it: when she abandoned him. athena has to relearn everything she's forgotten--with some additions, because telemachus doesn't match odysseus physically. it's weird, at first. she wants to bring up his father, tell him things she and odysseus did together. but she can't. she doesn't remember those years as well as she thought she did. and the training that odysseus had grasped quickly doesn't come as easily to his son. although, she notices with a bit of annoyance, telemachus carries the same optimism that odysseus had. he doesn't understand why she's so adamant about ruthlessness, in battle and in life. and maybe athena begins to realize that he, and by extension odysseus, might have a point. athena still holds onto her mental image of odysseus. all the way up until she sees what his life has been without her there at his side. she hears him call her name desperately, on his knees at the edge of a cliff, the daughter of atlas holding him back in unreciprocated comfort. the hero that she's remembered doesn't exist. he never has. telemachus is a kid to her. but odysseus is just as scared. and he needs her. that's when this strong, triumphant, immortal odysseus in her mind crumbles. ough. i could go on about this for hours. reminds me of another mental image i have for i can't help but wonder, but that's a story for another day lol. HOPEFULLY i'll post some fullbody odysseus designs soon! if i'm feeling ambitious some rough sketches for penelope and telemachus hehe.... (rubbing hands together evilly)