#antimachus

Now I want 🍉 for real, I'll go to the market tomorrow LOL (Edit almost a month after HAHAHA I did get watermelon IT WAS SO FRICKIN GOOD!!! Ñam ñam ñam)

To talk about sharpwolf.

Disclaimer! I do not approve of rape or threats of sexual abuse and this post will not be justifying that!

So. Sharpwolf. That's a thing. A thing that will admit, under certain curcumstances, I do really ship. Those circumstances are, however, mainly AUs or Odyssey version, or else exporting thier toxicity for the sake of the toxicity. The reason I enjoy shipping in the epic fandom, as opposed to the Oddysey fandom or wider greek mythology, is because the characters have a standardised appearance, voice, and also songs. That's all. Anyway, me get to the meat of what I have to say.

Sharpwolf's cannon dynamic in epic is, indeed, deeply problematic. There are, however, some claims that I would like to refute. I see a lot of people claim that Antinous is old enough to be Telemachus' father. This is not true. If Antinous had been any older than 15 when the Trojan war began he would have gone to war, therefore he can only be 35-36 max, which makes him 13 years older than Telemachus (23), if that. Whist still a considerable and potentially problematic age gap, this is not nearly "old enough to be his father" I have known relationships between consenting adults irl with this age gap that have been perfectly non toxic. Not to claim that Sharpwolf is non-toxic (it's not), I just wanted to refute that claim. This also makes Antinois not old enough that any potential advances to Telemachus could be considered grooming, if they were both adults. Gentle reminder that Telemachus is an adult of five years, not a 13yrold. Some stans seem to forget this sometimes. He is cute, not a minor. He's lived with the suitors for years, he is not blind or an idiot.

Another thing I want to say is a lot of people talk about Penelope in relation to sharpwolf. Whilst the way Antinuos talks about and acts towards her in cannon is a huge part of his character and the way we learn about it, it has very little if nothing to do with this ship. We do not ship sharpwolf because Antinois threatened to rape Telemachus' mother. Both statements can be true, but no connection is made when it comes to this ship, excepting where it may cause angst and or incentive (for Telemachus, often to demand xharceyr development form Antinois) in fanfiction and the like. Frankly, as much as I love Penelope (literally my 2nd fave), this isn't about her.

I do not think that Epic cannon Sharpwolf is a healthy irl dynamic. If you actually showed me a relationship like this between real people and not fictional characters, I would probably call the police. However, the reason that this ship caught my eye is the same reason I ship Dabihawks (Keigo Takami X Touya Todoroki, mha) or Murdermedia (Alastor X Vox, hh). Its not shipped because anyone actually thinks it's healthy or that they actually like each other. It's shipped for the reason all toxic yaoi is shipped. For the purposes of exploring toxic or troubled relationship dynamics, for the purposes of the "I hate you but I can't get enough of you" or "in another life I know I could have loved you" tropes. Becuase they're interesting, fun, and angsty.

If anyone is actually saying this dynamic is okay, that is problematic. When exploring this ship's cannon dynamic, it is important to express that no one should actually have a relationship like this. Unless I'm doing it for the toxicity itself, I will always change the dynamic in some way, and develop the characters. The most interesting sharpwolf to me is the kind where they both, but Antinous especially radically, go through an insane amount of character development. I adore fluffy, non cannon dynamics with these two, and I will continue to.

The main reason I wanted to make this post however, even with all that said, is because ship hate gets to me sometimes. It makes me so sad to see so much hate in fandoms. I really with I could see less hate concerning any ship, in any fandom. Expressing concerern for the healthiness of the relationship is totally okay, and 9 times out of 10 the creator of the content will be very happy to explain, whether that be adding a disclaimer that they don't support this kind of relationship irl, or expressing how they characterise these characters differently than the cannon. Either way, I'd appreciate if people would stop trying to hurt other people for their ships, and making hate posts about ships. I'm sure I could find something just as problematic with one of your otps, so politely, mind your own business. Block tags, block creators, scroll away, don't like don't read, etcetera. Most of all, don't hate. Hurting real people over a ship you think is hurting characters (not real people, not a real relationship) is not okay. If you're worried about people learning that this kind of toxicity is acceptable in irl relationships, that is admirable and relatable. Please take it up politely and ask for disclaimers to be added, and don't hate people. I encourage anyone writing the cannon dynamic to add disclaimers. I always do.