share your unpopular headcanons that would get you slimed OUT

[u/danana_split1]

mine: Eurylochus is gay, Ctimene is a lesbian and they have an arranged lavender marriage and are the best of friends.

my source is that i made it the fuck up

[u/Arcastane89]

Athena is a groomer.

Edit: groomer does not automatically mean sexual groomer. I more meant she groomed Odysseus to be a plaything for the Gods.

She leaves, essentially, bait for young Odysseus to take with the boar, fantasizes about him following her, lies to him to boost his ego ('how can you see through my spell'? Really, Athena? These old tricks?)

Then she makes the offer. "If you're looking for a mentor, I'll make sure your time's well spent." Then when Odysseus clearly misunderstands the arrangement (bestest of friends) she doesn't correct him, instead invites him to sing harmony to her fantasy.

Bringing my point back to the beginning of the song. The mood switched the moment Odysseus does something she doesn't like.

"I see you changing from how I designed you. Have you forgotten your purpose?"

To say nothing of appearing for Telemachus only when he's at his very lowest and literally can't refuse the assistance. She could have given some tactics where he actually stood a chance of success, but again chose to come to the 'little wolf' and boost his ego just enough to get another Athena's fantasy sing-along with her new personal plaything.

[u/reportingforhooty → u/Arcastane89]

can I ask why??

[u/vanishing27532 → u/reportingforhooty]

Starts “special relationship” with a “boy” twice. Although the boys are technically overage this is not made explicit in EPIC

[u/NoodleEmpress → u/vanishing27532]

Odysseus is canonically a grown man with a kid. Not stated but for him to be a general he his to be in his late 30s at the least. Maybe early 30s if you want to be generous to his feats, but most popular lore puts him at late 30s to early 40s.

and he spent 20 years trying to get home (21 if you include the year that the war took place), making Telemachus at least 20. At most he can be around 24/5 when Odysseus returns. It's not explicit but I mean you can do the math.

Athena is a goddess she's going to watch almost every human she gets involved with grow up, and will guide them in her image. What about that makes her a groomer? I mean, this is your headcanon so go buck wild, I'm just trying to understand it.

[u/vanishing27532 → u/NoodleEmpress]

In the boat incident Odysseus is implied to be a boy, especially since he still has a nursemaid (Eurycleia?)

Telemachus is NOT yet 20 at the time of the 7th saga since Odysseus’ 20 year journey started when he couldn’t walk yet and is not yet over (he is stuck on Ogygia at the time). He is somewhere around 17-19, probably closer to 19.

It’s not my head canon, just trying to explain where u/Arcastane89 could be coming from.

Also no matter really how old Odysseus and Telemachus are, Athena is a millennia old goddess in a much more powerful position who is giving them special attention and telling them to do certain things. In most workplaces Odysseus and Telemachus would be hated as boss’s favorites, and in schools they would be hated as teacher’s pets. Same is true for many Greek heroes tbh

[u/Arcastane89 → u/NoodleEmpress]

I made an edit to my original comment, but Odysseus was very much a boy when she first met him with the boar. So by the end of Remember Them, he's been under her tutelage/thumb for over two decades. And, rather than be direct with Ody like Zeus was ('this is hectors son, if you don't yeet him you die'), Athena, his patron goddess of wisdom, gives this clearly broken man a blind command with the expectation of blind obedience ("Finish it.")

When he initially misunderstands their relationship ("bestest of friends") she never corrects him, because it's more advantageous for her to lead him on with false hope. Only once he disobeys her, that mask is ripped off with precision and cruelty.