Hobbit ✨ everybody lives au ✨ where Bilbo stays to help rebuild Erebor but he and Thorin are still dancing around each other and their feelings and the company is tired of it so one day Fili and Kili tell Bilbo he really should braid his hair, to be more respectful of dwarven customs of course, and Bilbo may not exactly be a respectable hobbit anymore but he still has manners thank you, so after a bit of practice and failed attempts he does just that. The next day he greets Thorin with a bright smile, proud to show his interest in the company’s culture, but Thorin freezes and looks practically murderous and Fili and Kili are laughing to themselves of course but definitely hiding, and everyone around takes at least two steps back from Thorin who feels as though he has just had a mountain dropped on him because WHO IN MAHAL’S NAME BRAIDED BILBO’S HAIR WHO HAS BEEN COURTING HIS HOBBIT WITHOUT HIS KNOWLEDGE
Is there no one gonna talk on the fact that Odysseus escapes Polyphemus under a ram? A RAM! The ram is one of the sacred animals of HERMES! Also the association of Odysseus with the ram seems to be blatant and I am surprised no one talks of it! Hermes! The god that is his lineage and also arguably the one that helped him without conditions in his trip...is always there!
Hermes is also called Κριοφορος (Kriophoros)= ram-bearer, due to myths that involve him carry a ram around his back
Also in ancient art, Hermes is also depicted riding a ram!
Odysseus escapes Polyphemus and certain death UNDER a ram, when Hermes, the sender of souls to the underworld is depicted ON a ram! What is more the ram as black of color, a color associated to death and mourning as well as Hermes is associated with death!
Hermes is mentioned as "bearer of rams" and yet a lamb now bears Odysseus under it out of the cave!
Of course the most infamous association of Odysseus with a ram is that he is also compared to one! Infamously in the Iliad:
Secondly, the old man upon seeing Odysseus he asked: "Tell me now, dear child, who is that one. He is a head shorter than Agamemnon the son of Atreus but he seems to me wider in his shoulders and his chest, his arms he has them placed upon the well-graised earth. He seems to me like a thick-haired ram the way he prances through the lines of men as if they are a flock of white lambs"
(Translation by me)
Not only does Homer give us a very good physical description of Odysseus in the most beautiful way (ram= thick of hair, possibly curly and wholly -as also described in the Odyssey- possibly hairy of body as well also walking proud and steadily) as well as in a way his demeanour (the word "ram" κτίλος also means "calm" or "demured") but it also seems very interesting how he is associated with an animal known to be sacred to Hermes!
Hermes according to many myths was the father of his grandfather, Autolycus, therefore Odysseus's grea-grandfather! From line one he is associated with an animal that is also associated with his lineage (to me it seems that Homer more or less from line one shows us that this is the family line he follows for Odysseus)
Then a ram is his salvation out of the cave of Polyphemus; a ram that is associated with a god that is said to send souls to the dead also saves his life!
In Aeaea Hermes appears to assist him by giving him Moly and instructions on his trip. Hermes is there all by himself. Other gods have either abandoned him because of his hubris or were not interested in him. Hermes is there to bring assistance on his own accord. (Hermes is also a rule-breaker, just like Odysseus is not the classical figure of a hero and uses methods that are often seen as shady for the ideal warrior)
In the Underworld Odysseus once again has to sacrifice a ram, a BLACK ram and wait for Tiresias to drink from its blood.
A ram is also part of the sacrifice he has to offer to Poseidon (ram, bull and boar).
Hermes comes to bring the message to Ogygia and release Odysseus from it
Odysseus seems to be completely associated with the ram and it is more than just a coicidence to me. Arguably Odysseus who was described as a ram, travels in the Underworld, like Hermes travels to the underworld to bring the souls of the dead! This doesn't seem like a coicidence in my eyes.
Homer seems to be totally insinuating that the ram and consequently Hermes are part of his inheritence. Even the fact that Hermes is often seen as a trickster and a rule-breaker seems to be connected to Odysseus and his behavior or demeanour.
Hermes is also associated as protector of travelers and wanderers and this is exactly what Odysseus is in the Odyssey! Moreover Odysseus and Hermes are associated with the iconography of the hat called petasos:
(Odysseus and Hermes)
Also both associated with this double-stafff iconographically, which is a symbol of a messenger! Odysseus often acts like a messenger or as a comittee or as a negotiator! I also daresay that he is also depicted pulling Briseis from the hand, the movement is associated with Hermes as he leads souls in the underworld!
And most importantly; Hermes's epithets among other are Δόλιος (Dolios)=Wily, Deceiving, Planning
And.....
Πολύτροπος (Polytropos)= Of many ways, of many turns
@scyllas-revenge GIRL ONE OF MY PASSIONS IS EXPLORING THE PHYSICAL AND EMOTIONAL TOLLS OF A CHARACTER'S JOURNEY ON THEIR OUTWARD APPEARANCE
Boromir Lives AU: The Stylist's Continuity Sheet
a quiet, snowy night in Erebor, my gift for huorn on ao3 for @haveahappyhobbitholiday
Bruce Wayne doesn’t swear. The man raises so many kids and is trying to set some sort of example, and still lives with his very polite butler guardian who would most certainly scold him every time he swore in front of the children. He also doesn’t use substitutes cause that’s too goofy, every time Bruce wants to swear he instead just stares intensely into the middle distance
Luke Skywalker in OBI-WAN KENOBI (2022) and THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK (1980)
i like to think they would be happy in middle-earth
#1 aroace loser▪︎[🇨🇱]▪︎ obsessed with CoD, LOTR, star wars, DC, Marvel, funger, merlin and now sonic apparently ▪︎BEWARE The list WILL keep growing
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