Remember, Odysseus is the king of Ithaca. If they'd killed him, they could have just said he died in some accident on the way home, but bringing him home tied up in ropes would have fully exposed their mutiny. If Odysseus wasn't feeling merciful when they got home, they might have been facing jail or execution for treason.

Like first of all, Eurylochus had Odysseus' wound patched up, a mercy that I'm really not sure Odysseus would have afforded Eurylochus had their positions been reversed (In fact I'm pretty sure he wouldnt have, given that he wasn't even willing to tell Eurylochus to hand his torch to someone else during the Scylla cave incident).

In the case of Circe's island, they were blindsided. They were lured into a trap that they had no way of anticipating, and after that what's done is done. In Eurylochus' eyes, the witch has them now, what's done is done, and any attempt to rescue them is likely to lose them more men.

In the case of Scylla, on the other hand, Odysseus had all the foresight. He knew exactly what going through the lair of Scylla would cost, and he intentionally set his men up to be killed. He essentially pays Scylla in human lives for passage through the lair.

Even if we say that there was no other choice, there were other ways of going about it. The most important thing would be to tell the men about Scylla beforehand. That way, those who didn't want to risk death could disembark and start a new life on a different island; not everyone is willing to die to go home, and Odysseus had no right to decide that for them.

Furthermore, its the fact that Odysseus never even tried to find an alternative solution to just standing by and watching Scylla eat his men. THAT is why Eurylochus is so mad, he says as much at the beginning of mutiny.

"When we fought the cyclops, you were quick to hatch a plan And when we fought with Circe, it was you who left behind no man But when we fought this monster, we didn't take a stand We just ran"

Its not just the fact that he traded his men's lives like they were tokens, its the fact that it was his first and only plan, that he didn't even try to find a solution that didn't result in death, and just stood there and did nothing as his men died all around him.

In situations that are unexpected and sudden, you can be forgiven for acting in less than ideal ways. But when you have all the knowledge, all the advanced notice, then you have the power and the responsibility to at least TRY to find a different solution. That's what condemns Odysseus in my eyes, and why I'm willing to cut Eurylochus slack for his reaction to the Circe situation.

Based on the art I've seen, Eurylochus wore his hair tied up in a bun while he was stuck on Olympus. And a lot of the art I've seen of seen of him post-Olympus has Eurylochus with his hair down. Furthermore, someone (I think it might have been the creator of this au, but I can't find the post so I'm not sure) put forth the idea that Eurylochus' father pushed him to shave his hair when he went off to war, for safety purposes.

My headcanon is that once he gets back home from Olympus, Eurylochus starts wearing it down all the time, and lets it grow out even longer (My idea is that it would be around his shoulders when he first lets it down, and it eventually gets to the middle of his back.) The hair in the ornate bun was like a symbol of Eurylochus being trapped by Zeus, living in luxury but lacking any freedom or agency. And the shaved head was a symbol of being forced into war, and then later forced to endure all the dangers of trying to make it home.

Letting his hair down and letting it grow out even longer is a symbol of Eurylochus regaining his freedom from Zeus, and finally being able to embrace the peace and safety that he's wanted for decades.

When Eurylochus returns to Ithaca, he talks to Odysseus in a very formal way. Not necessarily in a cold or curt way, but in a way where you'd never guess that they were once friends; basically, Eurylochus talks to Odysseus like they were only ever king and subject, rather than brothers. It's always "your majesty" or "my king" rather than the more friendly terms of "Ody," or even "Captain."

Odysseus would hate this, and I think he would push Eurylochus to drop the formalities and be more casual with him. The years they spent apart gave Odysseus plenty of time to reflect on everything that happened, and he hates how messed up things got between the two of them. He wants to repair their relationship and be close like they used to be, and for Eurylochus to be comfortable speaking his mind.

Now keep in mind, Eurylochus isn't trying to be passive aggressive when he does this. On the contrary, he thinks this is what will please Odysseus. He's trying to be "devout," like Odysseus told him to be in Luck Runs Out.

I think that while eventually Eurylochus does stop treating Odysseus like a stranger, it takes longer for him to fully reinternalize his autonomy in his relationship with Odysseus. His treatment by Zeus has given him a screwed up idea of what relationships should look like, and has instilled this desire to submit to those he sees as having authority over him. As his king and his former captain, Eurylochus feels like he has to place himself below Odysseus. He's also terrified of ever expressing doubt or discomfort, because he's internalized this idea that him acting on his doubt only brings pain and tragedy (e.g. the windbag).

I think this would be a big hurdle in Eurylochus and Odysseus becoming truly close again. Eurylochus hasn't moved on from the pain, but he buries his feelings and just pretends everything's alright in order to do what he thinks Odysseus wants; Odysseus wants things to be okay, so he'll pretend that they are. However, until Eurylochus confronts the bundle of mixed up feelings inside him, things can never truly be okay, and neither can Eurylochus.

Like, the latter strikes me as far more absurd. In Eurylochus' case, its the equivalent of reaching out for help after jumping off a cliff; he's afraid because he just did something that would seal his fate, and he's reaching out to the captain he once knew, the one that was clever enough and cared enough to get them through 10 years of war without any of their lives lost.

In Odysseus' case, he's just sacrificed six men to Scylla, and then when his crew is rightfully upset about it, he hits them with the "My brothers...why?" like tf do you mean "why" bro 😭.

For one thing, it's just a really awful way to talk about someone strongly implied to be a suicidal person.

But for another thing, some Epic fans like to portray Odyssseus as being angry at Eurylochus for giving up on returning home to Ctimine. To which I respond, what fucking right does Odysseus have to judge him for that when he straight up tried to get him KILLED during Scylla???

Remember, Eurylochus was holding a torch too, and Odysseus said nothing. He would have let Eurylochus go to his death had Eurylochus not handed the torch off to someone.