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bloomingjarofhoney · 1 year

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Greek Mythology in Twisted Wonderland: Book 6 Part 2

hey hi hello once again! i am back to annoy and educate you in one of my weird niches once again. i already did a deep analysis in part 2 so if you want you can check it out there. otherwise, i'll most likely repeat myself unless otherwise. everything will be under the read more cause this will be long once again.

starting off strong, we got the hydras! as many know, the hydra is a nine headed serpent where if one's head is chopped off, another will grow in its place. it was mentioned as one of the labors from the twelve labors of heracles. it was the second labor that heracles has to tackle, the first being the nemean lion. i know in the movie, hercules would chop off the heads because he's stupid, but heracles was very smart and would find a way to lure the hydra out of its poisonous caves to attack it.

also should mention, its spit was also poisonous. i know in the movie hercules gets swallowed and thus allowed him to kill the hydra. yeah, the poison would've killed him. instead, he requested the assistance of his nephew to help defeat the hydra. with the assistance of athena, heracles would chop off the heads of the hydra while his nephew would cauterize the stump, thus defeating the creature.

another fun fact, hera was getting pissed that heracles was winning, so she sent a crab after him in the hopes of getting distracted. unfortunately, heracles would later step on it, not even be bothered by the crab. hera felt bad for her crustacean friend so she allowed the crab to be among the stars, and that's where the star sign cancer comes from.

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tbh i first thought it was talking about zeus, but reading further it was talking about heracles. or at least the hercules from the movie because i can guarantee you, heracles very much knew who his father was. he was also not a god, his parents were zeus and a mortal woman where the name escapes me.

gaia is the titan goddess of the earth and the grandmother of the olympic gods. i don't know what titan nebula god idia is talking about because it's not really well known. the only one i could definitively find was astraeus, who is the titan god of the stars and planets and the art of astrology. in some cases, he was also the father of the stars and the four seasonal winds. otherwise, there's not much knowledge of him.

mnemosyne is the titan goddess of memories and is the mother of the nine muses, with zeus being the father. i've mentioned it before in my previous post, but zeus would have sex with anything and anyone. he was not a good guy.

anyway, i digress. mnemosyne was also a river in the underworld, which ran parallel with the river lethe, the river of forgetfulness. according to myth, souls who are reincarnated would drink from the river lethe so they would forget their past life. however, souls of the novices would be told to drink from mnemosyne. possibly so they could remember their past life, i'm not clear on the details.

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aegis is mostly cloth that ancient greece has used. it was mentioned that athena has adopted the aegis as regular dress, even going so far as to use the severed head of medusa as a symbolic representation.

tbh, i would think they would use argus, who in greek mythology was a creature with many eyes around its body. he was mentioned as being a servant to hera. in one myth, hera was able to capture one of zeus's lovers (i think it was io it's been a while) who was turned into a cow and was kept in hera's garden. argus was stationed to keep watch, since his eyes would always be open. zeus devised a plan to rescue his lover by having him slain. he asked hermes for help, which he disguised himself as a shepherd and played a song to put all the eyes of argus to sleep. after he was sure he was asleep, hermes slaughtered argus by using a stone to hit him over the head.

i just think it would've been fun if the barrier was called argus. it would've been a fun flavor point.

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lachesis, clotho, and atropos are the three moirai, or the fates, and they would assign individual destinies to mortals at birth. clotho was the spinner, which means she was in charge of the thread. lachesis was the allotter, which meant that she would distribute the mortal's fate. and lastely atropos the inflexible, which meant that she would not compromise someone's fate no matter how much they begged. one would spin the thread, another would measure it, and the third one cuts it. in some myths, they were the daughters of nyx, the goddess and personification of night. they had enormous power and even zeus was unable to recall their decisions.

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fun fact, this isn't the first time they were mentioned.

they were mentioned throughout the entire game, but the more memorable one is during jamil's fairy gala vignette. no one really knows how old the fates are. they can either be really old or really young, depending on certain myths. also it's fun flavor points when the threads of fate are mentioned.

one more fun fact, the moirai sometimes gets confused with the gray sisters. in the movie hercules, disney combined the gray sisters with the moirai for some reason. the gray sisters, who were extremely old women that shared one eye and one tooth, only showed up once in mythology and that was to give directions to perseus to find the gorgon medusa. the gray sisters at first refused until perseus took their eye and tooth and threatened to tell him where she was, which they agreed. the moirai were perfectly in tact and didn't need to share an eyeball. or a tooth.

yes but also no. i think i've mentioned this before, but the titans do predate the olympic gods, but they weren't the original gods. they were the twelve original children from the primordial parents uranus (the god of the sky) and gaia (the goddess of the earth). it would've been really cool to see the primordial gods that even predate the titans, but disney is trying to tie it into the movies and therefore hates fun.

a cool mention of zeus's lightning bolt. i should mention that it was just a literal lightning bolt, not a thunder spear. nevertheless, it's a cool image to think of.

i should also point out that zeus did not single handedly seal the titans away. i mentioned it in my previous post, but zeus did have assistance from other gods and creatures to defeat the titans.

i get they're trying to connect it to the movie, but it would've been really fun to see the primordial gods in action. or at least be consistent with the actual titans. the only titan i can possibly think of that's the earth titan is maybe gaia, who is the goddess of the earth and is not a titan. the closest one of the phantom titans can come close to is coeus, who is the titan of inquisitive minds and intellect and the titan of the north, can be tied to the ice titan and maybe the magma titan can be tied to perses, the god of destruction. otherwise, there really isn't any correlation from these titans to the greek myth titans.

i think some of the phantoms are supposed to be nods to the disney movies. this one, however, i think is a nod to mythology. it's very similar to king midas, who as many know is a king who was able to turn anything he touched to solid gold. it was a blessing and a curse, as he accidentally turned his favored daughter into pure solid gold. he didn't have any correlation to hades, but this is mainly just for fun.

now i'm gonna just write it out because i either forgot to screencap it or i just didn't think it was necessary. idia mentions that no mortals can enter the gates to the underworld, which is somewhat true. there have been stories where mortals will enter into the underworld to reclaim their lost loved ones, such as the story of orpheus and eurydice. it's not uncommon, but it is rare for mortals to go into the underworld unless they're already dead.

the gates of the underworld is an interesting unique magic to have. mostly because of how media portrays it. rick riordan does a good job in depicting the gate to the underworld as being a door that's heavily guarded so no monsters or undead can enter through it. i believe thanatos guards it in the books, but my memory is hazy so forgive me.

i forgot to screen cap this part, but during idia's backstory when he recreated ortho, he mentioned about the hero going to the underworld to save his lover. this does happen occasionally, as i mentioned orpheus and eurydice. (tbh i legit thought idia was talking about them but then i remembered it was a movie tie in so whoops.) heracles does go into the underworld to retrieve a wife, but it wasn't his wife megara (extremely complicated and not going to get into the details. if you're curious, you can ask me and i will infodump.), but a wife of one of the kings that was one of heracle's friends. back in the day, the gods would take pity on mortals and would revive their lovers back from the dead. i don't think there's one for siblings, and i kinda feel bad for idia to hope that a god will revive his brother back to him.

what is pretty cool about the chapter titles is that each word at the end of the sentence rhymed. i don't remember if the other books had that, but it's pretty neat and it reminds me a lot of how greek plays, especially the chorus, would rhyme out loud during their performance. it was a nice nod to the greek and roman plays. (i studied them in college. it was an interesting experience.)

one thing i will critique is that i wished the towers were done a bit differently. in the underworld, there are three tiers within the underworld: asphodel, elysium, and the fields of mourning. it would've been really cool to see different landscapes that doesn't look so... stale? the technology part of it is pretty neat to look at, but seeing a lush meadow and experiencing a different side to the underworld would've been really cool to see. however, i understand budget issues and all that, but it still would've been nice to see.

and that's it! i might have missed some things, but it's already getting long. longer than the first one i think. if you want any clarifications or you want me to delve deeper into a myth i mentioned in passing, feel free to ask me and i'll do into much more detail as i possibly can. otherwise, hopefully everyone enjoyed the book and everyone enjoyed my little rants and explanations.

#twisted wonderland #twst #book 6 spoilers #book 6 #i went on a very long rant on greek mythos but it was fun nonetheless #holy shit did this book take so long to complete

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bloomingjarofhoney · 1 year

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Greek Mythology in Twisted Wonderland: Book 6 Part 1

greetings fellow travelers! book 6 has officially dropped and i am here to info dump with greek mythology stuff that i have retained over the years. some of the information comes from reputable sites like britanica (which i will source) and other greek mythos. book 6 is interesting because it contains a lot of greek myths and references than any other book. and while the movie hercules does mention some of it, i will be doing a deep dive for those who are interested. i'm sure there are plenty of people who are more coherent than i am, but imma do my best. i will post part 2 in another post once that book is dropped as well so stay tuned once that happens.

everything will be under the read more because i know for a fact that it's gonna be long. so. let's get started.

aight so just to get it out of the way, the numbers that the guards are using (hepta, hexa, penta, etc.) are numbers in greek. it's not mythology, but i find that part fascinating to read.

these are references to charon, who is the ferryman of the dead who leads the souls, or shades as they are called, into the underworld by using the river styx or river acheron depending on myth. charon is also the son of erebus, the god and personification of darkness, and nyx, the goddess and personification of night.

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more references to charon and references to the river styx. fun fact, while styx is one of the main rivers and is considered one of the great rivers, there are actually five rivers in total.

the first river is the river styx, which means hatred and is one of the rivers that the gods swear on and is named after a nymph. also used in many greek tales such as achilles becoming immortal by his mother thetis dipping him in the river. styx and acheron often interchange which river charon ferries over depending on the story and myth, such as dante's inferno.

the second river called the lethe river, which means forgetfulness. before the souls enter the underworld, they are told to drink the water so they forget their earthly existence. it is also named after a minor goddess who is the daughter of eris.

the third river is called acheron river, which means woe or misery. it is also often called the green river because of the hue it gives off. in some stories, it is considered the principal river of the underworld, replacing the river styx instead. it is also considered the entrance to the underworld. according to myth, during the titanomachy (titan war), the titans would use the river to drink from and when zeus found out, he cursed the river in revenge.

the fourth river is the river phlegethon, which means river of fire. the reason it's called that is because it is said to travel to the depths of the underworld where the land is filled with fire. more specifically, the flames of the funeral pyres. this river actually leads to tartarus, which is where the dead are judged and where it holds the titans and its supporters as prisoners.

the fifth and last river is the river cocytus, which is also called the river of wailing. it is also considered to be a river of cries and lamentation. this river actually houses shades that have not received a proper burial and is one of the rivers that charon refuses to ferry over. the river banks of cocytus would have shades wandering the grounds in search of payment so they may go to their final resting place.

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this one is a fun little tidbit about the shroud family. jupiter is actually the roman version of zeus, the god of the sky and thunder. he also has fathered many children such as athena, the goddess of wisdom and war strategy, artemis, the goddess of the hunt, apollo, god of medicine, arts, etc., and many heroes such as perseus, who is known for slaying medusa, helen of troy, who is known as being one of the reasons why the trojan war was started, and, most notably, heracles. also known as the roman name hercules. zeus, or jupiter, was also the king of the gods. olympos (also known as olympus but just a different spelling) is the home of the gods.

this one is just fun! hecate is the goddess of witchcraft and has been known to be associated with the spiritual world and the dead. she also helped assist in finding demeter's daughter, persephone, and when it was revealed she would spend a third of the year in the underworld, hecate became persephone's companion. in some myths, hecate was also known for assisting hades.

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oceanus is a titan god of the ocean. in some versions, he was born from the union of gaea and chaos, while in other myths he was born from the union of gaea and uranus. oceanus was one of the titans that did not participate in the titanomachy against the gods, thus sparing him from imprisonment. there are stories where he either did not participate, or he sent his daughter styx to help fight in the war, along with styx's own children.

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this part takes an interesting take on what happened to the titans. in the original myth, the titans were the predecessors to the olympian gods. in the myth, cronus, the father of zeus, hades, poseidon, hera, demeter, and hestia, learned about a prophecy about how he was about to be overthrown by one of his children and, terrified of it becoming true, would summon rhea, his sister-wife, to bring forth their newly birthed child and would eat them. the only one that was saved was zeus because rhea tricked cronus into eating a rock instead of a baby. when zeus made his return, he but open his father's stomach and out came his five siblings. thus, the titanomachy was formed, which was a battle between the titans and the olympian gods. the war ended ten years later with the titans' defeat and thus were sealed in tartarus.

tartarus is actually part of the underworld. it's a primordial deity that predates the olympian gods. not only are the titans sealed up in tartarus, but also various different types of monsters and creatures and villains that wish to break free from its hold. fun fact, cronus actually used tartarus before zeus did, where cronus imprisoned the cyclopes and the hecatonchires, who was a creature with a thousand arms and faces. the two groups also sided with the olympian gods during the titanomachy.

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i mean, yes but also no. in some versions of myth, it was said that the three brothers - zeus, poseidon, and hades - drew lots to see who would reign over what region. zeus was lucky and would rule over the sky, poseidon would rule over the ocean, and hades would rule over the underworld. hades, obviously, would not be happy with his pick but he diligently did his best with ruling over the underworld. no one really made him do it, but he knows that no one else is going to so he stepped up and ruled the underworld. as for tartarus, i believe that the distance between the two wasn't that significant, but hades will know if someone broke free from the prison.

like hecate and oceanus, these are just fun little flavor points. elysium is the afterlife for those who were either born from a god or were heroes, like achilles for example. eventually, it would expand to whomever the gods deemed worthy and were righteous and heroic. in some myths, elysium was either already in the underworld or was created when persephone arrived to the underworld.

cerberus is the three headed dog that guards the underworld and the child of typhon and echidna, as well as being the siblings of the sphynx, the nemean lion, and other creatures. fun fact, cerberus actually doesn't have three heads. it depends on how he's depicted in art and story, but he mostly either has one head and many tales, multiple heads, or having the heads of snakes from his back. since a lot of urns would depict cerberus with three heads, it stuck that he became the three headed hound of the underworld.

i've mentioned tartarus before so i won't get into too much detail with it, but it is interesting how twisted wonderland takes the concept and creates a new narrative to help fit into the story.

and that's it so far! this took a really long time and was interesting to go back on my notes to see how much greek myths were mentioned. there are other parts where certain characters make an appearance, but i feel like it will be good to be in another part because it was very brief or it would be part of a bigger picture than what was mentioned. if you have any questions, concerns, or you want me to expand on something, let me know and i'll try and answer as best as i can. otherwise, enjoy book six and more to come!

#twisted wonderland #twst #book 6 spoilers #this took so long holy fuck #greek mythology is my passion okay #this is mostly for me and me alone but others can enjoy as well

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