From a Trojan War Fanatic: Why I’m not worried about Jorge’s take on the Trojan War

I am a Trojan War superfan. I’ve honestly loved the story ever since I was absolutely tiny and my mom would let me watch Troy on TV. (TV version, guys. I saved the unedited version for my teens.) I’ve read basically every book, watched every show and movie, studied it in university, and have actually verbally recounted the entire story like I’m a crazy bard in Athens in 1000 BCE. I’ve always enjoyed the story of the war much more than the Odyssey, for a few reasons. (One of which is that in the actual Odyssey, Odysseus is kind of not... great? to our modern eyes. Like, I would absolutely hang out with his EPIC version, but I would be nervous to hang out with his canon version.) 

So I was pretty darn happy to see that Jorge is going to do SOME sort of Trojan War interpretation — which, by the way, the fact that it is called Ilium does NOT mean it is only going to recount the Iliad. Ilium was the actual name of Troy, so the title means that it could cover the entirety of the war, even covering Helen’s abduction. It could even flashback to Helen’s suitors swearing to protect her, which is the nice little agreement that led to the eventual war at Troy that we all know and love. (Well, except the people who were there, but they are all very, very, VERY dead so…) 

So consider me flummoxed when this community immediately started posting concerns about things that would be left out, or worries about changes to the story. 

Because, well, yeah. EPIC is a VAGUE interpretation of the Odyssey. Why? Storytelling. Jorge wanted to create versions of Odysseus, Athena, and Telemachus, among other characters, that aren’t the ones we see in Homer’s epics. And to do that, he had to change things. Also, the medium he was using wasn’t going to allow some things. 

For a brief list of some things that were changed: 

1. There’s never any breakup between Athena and Ody. Not only that, but it’s really Athena that pulls the strings the entire story, telling her favorite mortals where to go and what to do. Ody never physically ages because Athena keeps pumping him full of Fountain of Life-esque juice, she transforms him into an old beggar to keep him disguised on Ithaca, she gives him magical devices to help him out, etc. But this was a good change for the musical, because it added conflict that resonates with us as an audience. 

2. God Games. There’s an entire song where Athena begs Zeus for help, she has to convince the other gods, and then Zeus beats the crap out of her. In myth, it is WIDELY established that Athena is Zeus’s pride and joy and the absolute light of his life, and anything she wants, she gets. In the original story, in the very first chapter, the gods are at dinner and essentially Athena says, “Dad, you forgot about my guy Odyseus who’s still stuck on Calypso's island, tell Hermes to go get him!” And Zeus, who, by the way, was on the Trojan’s side of the war and for all intents and purposes should hate Ody’s semi-divine guts, is presumably like, “Oh, no! Daddy’s very sorry for forgetting, baby. Hermes, get off your ass and go free your perfect sister’s guy, why are you still sitting there?” But that lacks drama and also doesn’t fit in with the aforementioned breakup between Athena and Ody.  

3. Odysseus and the 48 Misfortunates spend a YEAR with Circe and he and Circe quite happily engage in “other actions of passions,” and in some versions make at least one baby while they’re at it. This is changed because it CLEARLY doesn’t fit the version of Ody that EPIC needs. 

4. The entire Telemachy straight up isn’t in EPIC. Because it doesn’t really change the story. 

5. Eumaus isn’t there. Which isn’t really a big thing, I just love that guy and mention him whenever I can. 

6. Good ole’ Thunder Bringer doesn’t make Ody “choose,” he just whammies the ship and Ody survives. (Probably thanks to Athena, who is still watching over him like an owl.) There’s no betrayal when it comes to Scylla. They just see her and as they’re trying to figure out what to do, she grabs six of their guys. Which sucks, but on the bright side, all her mouths are full so she can’t eat anyone else and they gun it out of there. These are other obvious changes because the story needs Ody to feel that guilt, and the sorrow needs to weigh on him. 

Add in the Lotus Eaters, the Giants, the fact that Eury kinda sucks the entire time and it’s amazing he survived long enough to kill a golden cow, the princess that saves him, when Telemachus and Ody meet, and a lot of other things, EPIC is NOT a faithful adaptation of Homer’s story. But guess what? I don’t really care. The title is not, “The Odyssey in song form,” it is its own creation, and I like it. I love some of the changes that were made because they add depth to the characters. You see actual change in the divine characters, especially Athena, which isn’t something we ever really see in the myths. 

I know there’s going to be changes made to the Ilium musical from the canon stories, and I’m excited to see what they are. I hope we get to see more characters, or maybe we won’t. The characterization of major players might change, or maybe they won’t. Either way, I love EPIC, changes and all, and I know I’ll love the next project. 

Unless they leave out the love story of Achilles and Patroclus. Then it’s swords and spears at dawn. But I know they wouldn’t do that. :) 

I would LOVE to know what your thoughts are on Ilium. Anyways, thanks for reading my nerdy word vomit.