Zel-reblogs

I've not heard high things about it and it's tempered my spirits.

What do you do?

So if you remember my old post about the relationship of Achilles and Patroclus, which you can find here, I have commented upon the fact that his reaction on the news of the death of his companion even before he got the actual body, can be potentially much more ominous than what people think

I am pretty sure that most of you came in contact with interpretations before such as Achilles collapsing on the ground screaming his lungs out (and for a good reason given that many remember how his mother has heard him scream and arrived with her entourage to see what is going on), or the reaction you get to imagine from popular retellings either before or after the arrival of the body with Achilles reacting vocally or verbally almost immediately. The moment, particularly that first scenario has been done before even by comics which seems sped up due to the lack of framing or potentially the feeling of inability to capture such an intense expression of pain on paper. All of the above is understandable.

However allow me to say that this is not entirely the case and that the real thing can be more ominous than what people think! Therefore I thought it would be useful to make a separate post about this in a full analysis on a step by step build up till the climax of it.

On the emotions after Hector's death

On the slow procedure of Hector's shaming post mortem

A small discussion on Achilles's favorites (thanks to @blinday)

On Achilles's relationship with Odysseus

On Rhapsody 9 Paradox (thanks to @lightningthunderstorm )

Achilles being slowly corrupted (black swan example)

Achilles' blind mad rage (avatar scene example)

On the difference between Achilles and Odysseus' heroism

On Achilles' sexual maturation process

Last but not least:

༒︎ "We don't talk about home. It makes it harder to keep going."

༒︎ "I've seen enough death to know this isn't over. Not even close."

༒︎ "You keep everyone else's hope alive. Who keeps yours?"

༒︎ "I didn't sign up to be a hero. I signed up to bring my people home."

༒︎ "We lost three people today. Say their names. We always say their names."

༒︎ "I'm not afraid to die. I'm afraid to die for nothing."

༒︎ "You have to keep moving. Grief is a luxury we can't afford right now."

༒︎ "I've done things I can't take back. I'd do them all again to keep you alive."

༒︎ "When this is over--if this is over--I don't know who I'll be."

༒︎ "Don't make me promises you can't keep on a battlefield."

༒︎ "The enemy has a face now. That makes everything more complicated."

༒︎ "I stopped counting days. It was making me lose my mind."

༒︎ "You remind me there's something worth surviving for. Don't die on me."

Troy was destined to fall in 10 years The story is being told through prophecies with the most prominent one being Calchas, who had prophesied that Troy would fall in 10 years time. It was already written anyways. The rest of it was just what played to fulfill that destiny. Achilles did not stall that. In fact Achilles was the MVP at the battlefield, taking cities and facing opponents

Achilles didn't just refused to kill Hector In the plot of the actual epic cycle it is not like Achilles refused to face Hector is just that it wasn't the objective to go for Hector in particular. Now there are mentions in the Iliad in which they more or less accuse Achilles that he was afraid to face Hector, which could be discussed on many levels aka Achilles's fate being tied to Hector or the destiny playing behind it (and if that's the case that would be a great humanizing of Achilles or a natural aversion against death even if he chose it) but in the end of the day for once it wasn't about Hector alone. The entire city was holding on for many reasons. Hector was only one part of it. Just like the Trojan War didn't fail for Greeks after Achilles's death, similarly Troy was not necessarily to fall after Hector died. Fate simply played that Hector would die later and the two heroes fought for their sides of the story later

Hector didn't challenge Achilles either With the logic "Why didn't Achilles kill Hector earlier he could ended the war" a similar question could be asked about Hector. Why didn't he face Achilles sooner? And surely Achilles had done plenty against his own people too. So why didn't Hector pursue Achilles earlier and attempt to end the war and favor the Trojans? If we drop the entirety of war effort on why Achilles didn't face Hector earlier surely we can do the same from the other end right? Why did Hector let Achilles be cut loose for 10 years and didn't face him earlier? Why didn't any of the Trojans? Simple. Because it is never so easy to tell. Story of the Trojan war as so many complicated turns that it is just impossible to fix a perfect answer

Kill randos, rape women and steal children ? Okay dunno where to start with this but...well okay for "rape women and steal children" I am not sure where that comes from (particularly the latter) so I would love to hear what you have in mind. For the rape of women I assume one speaks about war prizes. That is a heated debate which at this stage it has become kinda repetitive but okay I understand the sentiment. I agree that it is a cruel practice from modern standards. In ancient texts ironically I have seen women speak with more aversion being used as servants than being concubines to heroes which obviously has cultural implications aka the possibility for climbing socially etc but to say that Achilles was raping women aka that he just pulled women by the hair and violated them as they screamed is something that is not particularly stated at the sources that he did it or that he didn't do it (with the exception some later sources like scholiasts of Virgil and the story of Troilus ironically) As for "stealing children" I am not aware of any source speaking of it unless again we call for war prizes again, which of course can be talked about at this stage Now the "randos" part is the most interesting. You see that has everything to do with ancient warfare. Warfare is not what people think from hollywood aka people lining up and fight. The ancient sieges was essentially cutting the supply from nearby towns while raiding them was literally feeding the army itself. The army could not easily perform agriculture at the military camp and large amounts of goods were not easily shipped from the shores of Greece to the amounts needed to feed such a huge army. So essentially the solution was to raid nearby towns and cities and villages This way they achieved a double result; first they weakened the good supply towards the city and they would feed their army too by taking the harvest. You may also add another double goal which was making the land or cities useless for a good amount of time which wouldn't allow the Trojans to regroup easily plus sending a psychological message to the city to add pressure. So it is more strategic than what people give credit for. Again of course it is cruel but war is cruel anyways which was the point of such sources at the Trojan cycle

The part where Achilles is onto a strike is already the 9th year of the war Iliad takes place at the 9th year of the war. At that stage everyone was already there a decade. His strike simply set the motion for his death not the stalling of the war necessarily. For sure it contributed to the losses the Greeks suffered at that portion of the story but not to the stage of making him the exclusive reason of the long duration of the war.

Odysseus was destined to come back in 20 years anyways One of the reasons several sources state that Odysseus was unwilling to go to the war was that he was already prophesied that he would be back in 20 years (which could translate either to literal 20 years or to a substitute of saying "extremely long time") so Odysseus was already set for a long ride anyways. What is more figures like Circe or Polyphemus were already prophesied that they would meet a dude named Odysseus anyways. So Odysseus would take a long time to go home. Not to mention that later sources connect Odysseus to the murder of Palamedes which led his father, Nauplius send vitriol to the entirety of Greek cities as a revenge against his son's life. This revenge had as a result in some versions, the infidelity of several wives including Aegialia and Clytemnestra as well as misfortune in Odysseus's house with the suitors arrive, his mother believing he was dead and therefore ending her own life and Laertes eventually succumbing to grief. This ironically seems tightly connected to the curse of Polyphemus that curses Odysseus to return to his homeland without his men and meet only misery when he gets there. Somehow the events lock with each other which makes the fate of Odysseus impossible to escape one way or another.

Thus imo the culture and customs become more alive in their actions and practices when the story is looked at by the human will rather through "it was destined to be so anyway," tho in some cases they knew a prophecy beforehand (i.e. Achilles death via his mother) but I do like to imagine the former taking place, and if those who looked upon the Greek heroes revered them so much they couldn't explain their poor actions in a justifiable way other than "it was destined to be by the gods" anyway.

Though im pretty sure if the gods minded their own dang business, the majority of this would be avoided.

Writers that are not the popular big names of tik tok or tumblr are insanely underapreciated. They literally write only to get a couple of kudos in their ao3 account and some comments if they are lucky. Some don't even get that. After having spent hours on writing, editing and posting, to see their stories become an echo chamber is the worst feeling a creator can have sometimes.

When you write and take your precious time and mastered the courage to make public of your work you do NOT do it just to read it yourself, just in public. You do it to share your ideas with others, to hear opinions on your work, to inspire others to create based on your work. You know what you want. You know what you like. When you go public is not just for you.

So instead of trying to persuade writers to be satisfied and content with the lack or attention and appreciation they get despite their hard work and the courage they showed to share their ideas, how about we finally started interacting with them? How about we started actually commenting on their chapters? How about sharing their work? How about allowing their work inspire you to create and draw?

How about we stopped encouraging writers to write even if there is no one there to read their stuff and started actually READING them? Appreciating them? Interacting with them?

i love you all and i need you to stop writing trauma as a single breakdown scene in the rain after which the character is Healed and Ready to Love Again. that is NOT trauma :(

⊹ Trauma doesn't announce itself. it shows up as your character suddenly not being able to eat a specific food, or going very quiet in a loud room, or laughing at the wrong moment because their nervous system decided that was the appropriate response. it's mundane and weird and it makes no sense from the outside. the dramatic flashback sequence is the least realistic part. the most realistic part is your character suddenly needing to leave a grocery store for a reason they can't articulate.

⊹ The body keeps score and it keeps it in the strangest places. a particular smell. the quality of light at a certain time of day. a tone of voice that sounds like someone who hurt them. your traumatised character doesn't think "this reminds me of the bad thing." their heart rate spikes and they don't know why. they feel wrong and they can't locate the feeling. they're irritable for three days and only later, if ever, do they make the connection. write the disconnection. it's more honest.

⊹ trauma also does not make people universally sympathetic and wise. it makes some people controlling. some people funny at inappropriate times. some people very good in a crisis and completely unable to handle a normal day. some people are generously kind to strangers and absolutely terrible to people they love. trauma shapes behaviour in contradictory, inconvenient ways that don't resolve into a lesson. your traumatised character can be difficult to like. that's not a flaw in the writing. that's the WRITING.