History Literature / TheOdyssey

* ArcherArchetype: Odysseus is quite capable of using a sword in close combat, but he seems to be more famous for his amazing bow, which nobody else is even strong (or skilled) enough to string, much less shoot (though, as the epic states, Telemachus might have managed to string the bow on the fourth try had Odysseus not stopped him). He's also a sneaky bastard and clever and stealthy too.

** Athena, goddess of wisdom and intelligent warfare, has a long-standing friendly interest in the resourceful and crafty Odysseus, which she also extends to his son and wise Penelope. She intervenes on many occasions, usually taking the form of various friends, relatives, and acquaintances of the three.
** Hermes and Zeus also help on a few occasions, which may or may not have to do with the fact that Odysseus is Hermes's great-grandson and therefore Zeus's great-great-grandson.

** When upbraiding Antinous for trying to kill her son, Penelope points out that Antinous's father took refuge with Odysseus to escape retaliation for his piracy. Antinous's father later launches a rebellion over his son's death and is the only one to be killed before Athena forcibly settles everything.

* EngagementChallenge: Penelope announces to the suitors that whoever can string her husband's bow and shoot an arrow through a straight row of 12 axes will be the one to marry her. None of the suitors are able to string the bow, much less shoot the arrow. Odysseus, in disguise as a beggar, is able to win the contest. He then [[OhCrap reveals himself to the suitors]] and a RoaringRampageOfRevenge ensues.

** Upon some in-depth consideration, Penelope qualifies for this. She's clearly in command of her conversation with [[KingIncognito a certain stranger]] in figuring out his purpose there, she's been manipulating a throng of men straight for three years, and on top of that, she sets up the archery tournament, which basically spearheads Odysseus's reclamation of his home. To top it off, when Odysseus finally reveals his identity, she uses a masterful BluffTheImpostor to make sure he truly is who he claims to be (which, of course, he is). And people wonder why Odysseus would ditch a goddess for this woman.

The Odyssey focuses on Odysseus (the Latinized name ''Ulysses'' is sometimes used in English), king of Ithaca, a small island off the west coast of Greece. After the successful sacking of Troy, which took ten years (depicted partially in ''Literature/TheIliad''), Odysseus earns the ire of Poseidon on his way home by blinding Polyphemus, the {{cyclops}} son of Poseidon, and boasting about it. In response, Poseidon intercedes for Polyphemus and makes Odysseus' journey back to Ithaca as miserable as possible as revenge, leaving him the sole survivor. Meanwhile, Ithaca is taken over by a large amount of suitors, all of whom are trying to win Penelope's hand in marriage. Penelope is having none of it and tries to keep them away, and Telemachus, son of Odysseus and Penelope, sets out to look for his father.

* AccidentalPornomancer: On his way home, Odysseus spends ''years'' as the bedmate of two beautiful women: the HotWitch, Circe, and the sea nymph, Calypso. Neither options are [[QuestionableConsent entirely]] by choice, Calypso significantly less so than Circe. The narrative justifies any choice Odysseus might've had in the matter by saying that he never stopped loving or wishing to return to his wife.

* BadassBoast: Odysseus does this to Polyphemus the cyclops. [[UnbuiltTrope This bites him in the ass]] when Polyphemus, having learned Odysseus's name through his boasting, invokes a favor from his father Poseidon to either stop Odysseus from returning home or, if he is indeed fated to return, to make his journey home a living nightmare. [[PapaWolf Daddy delivers]].

** Penelope waits 20 years for a husband who's believed to be dead and never caves to any of the suitors that approach her. Odysseus, on his journey home, ends up in the beds of multiple women, without tarnishing his reputation as a hero. This would already be justified by the societal norms of the time, even assuming either encounter was [[QuestionableConsent consensual]].

* EngagementChallenge: Penelope announces to the suitors that whoever can string her husbands bow and shoot an arrow through a straight row of 12 axes will be the one to marry her. None of the suitors are able to string the bow, much less shoot the arrow. Odysseus, in disguise as a beggar, is able to win the contest. He then [[OhCrap reveals himself to the suitors]] and a RoaringRampageOfRevenge ensues.

* ForcedTransformation: Circe turns her victims into various beasts, including wolves and lions, while Odysseus' crewmen were turned into pigs.

** Amphinomous seems to be the superego, as he is the one of the main three who thinks most of what the gods might do to them.

* GuiltByAssociationGag: Played with in the slaughter of the suitors. Several otherwise good people (Amphinomous especially) were slaughtered with the rest, but a closer examination shows they were just as guilty at breaking ''xenia'' as the rest of them and were there of their own free will. The [[SoleSurvivor two that were spared]] had valid excuses: the bard Phemius had been forced (more or less at swordpoint) to perform for the suitors and was ''not'' there of his own free will, and the herald Medon was [[TheMole Penelope's spy]].
* HangingAround: ''The Odyssey'' has the oldest recorded example of hanging as a form of execution in the part of the poem in which Odysseus returns home and is met with all of the suitors who have tried to woo his wife in his absence. [[spoiler:He slaughters all of them and then punishes the 12 maids who slept with them, first by forcing them to clear away the suitors' dead bodies, then by [[DisproportionateRetribution hanging them all from one rope]].]]

* LaserGuidedAmnesia: When the parents of the suitors learn that Odysseus has slaughtered their sons they become enraged. So they arm themselves and march on Ithaca so they might avenge their deaths. However, Athena decides that Odysseus has endured enough carnage and so she takes from the parents minds the knowledge that Odysseus was responsible for the death of their sons. With no reason to fight they turn around and return home and peace prevails.

** The suitors' families bring their grievances to the court of Neoptolemus, Achilles's son. He orders Odysseus into exile, hoping to gain Odysseus's island Cephallenia. In this version, Odysseus ends up marrying the daughter of King Thoas of Aitolia (resultant son: Leontophonus).

** After being given a magical bag of wind from King Aeolus, Odysseus's crew is convinced that it contains gold and open the bag, releasing the winds that send them right back to Aeolus's kingdom; the king refuses to replace them as he assumes the crew is either cursed or downright stupid. To add insult to injury, they were right off the shores of Ithaca.

* NoGoodDeedGoesUnpunished: The Phaeacians help Odysseos reach Ithaca, but, on their way back, Poseidon discovers it and sinks their boat by turning it to stone.

** When Irus sees the muscles of the "old beggar" he challenged to a fist-fight.

* OurSirensAreDifferent: Odysseus runs into an island home to the sirens, who are bird-women who lure sailors with their enchanting voices and music. His men stuff their ears with wax, but, [[FatalFlaw true to]] [[{{Pride}} form]], Odysseus just has them tie him to the mast, because he wants to hear the songs and be able to say that [[BadassBoast he's the only man to have heard the song and lived]]. It's also noteworthy that in the original, their song tempts him with knowledge and fame rather than with sex.

* OurGhostsAreDifferent: The shades of Hades, who seems to crave for fresh blood to drink but are otherwise friendly to our hero.

** Odysseus is forced to avert this when he passes by his dog Argos, because he must hide who he is.

* TemptingFate: Odysseus bragging after blinding Polyphemus. In some tellings, he taunts the cyclops first, which nearly gets their boat hit by a thrown rock. Odysseus's men tell him to shut up before he gets them all killed, but he keeps going, which is the point where he gives his name.

* UnwantedHarem: Dozens of foreign nobles seek Penelope's hand in marriage after her husband is presumed dead. He returns and kills them all. It's fair to say that he not only kills them for being pretenders but also because for 20 years they mooched from Ulysses's estate and fortune.\\

** Finally, a real feast of tropes popular in Italy. In one of the lost epics of Literature/TheTrojanCycle, the ''Telegony'', Odysseus fathers a son, [[HeroicBastard Telegonus]], with Circe. When Telegonus comes of age he goes out to seek his father, but when he arrives in Ithaca the two get into a fight without recognizing each other, and he unintentionally [[SelfMadeOrphan kills Odysseus]]. When the truth emerges, Circe brings him, Telemachus, and Penelope to her island of Aiaia and grants the latter two immortality. In the end, Circe marries Telemachus, and [[ComfortingTheWidow Penelope marries]] [[OedipusComplex Telegonus]], which results in a TangledFamilyTree. The story was also dramatized by Sophocles in the lost tragedy ''Odysseus Akanthoplex'', with the added detail that an oracle foretells that Odysseus will be killed by his own son, so he banishes Telemachus to another island...[[YouCantFightFate but, of course, the oracle wasn't referring to him]].

The Odyssey focuses on Odysseus (the Latinized name ''Ulysses'' is sometimes used in English), king of Ithaca, a small island off the west coast of Greece. After the successful sacking of Troy, which took ten years (depicted partially in ''Literature/TheIliad''), Odysseus earns the ire of Poseidon on his way home by blinding Polyphemus, the {{cyclops}} son of Poseidon, and boasting about it. In response, Poseidon intercedes for Polyphemus and makes Odysseus' journey back to Ithaca as miserable as possible as revenge leaving him the sole survivor. Meanwhile, Ithaca is taken over by a large amount of suitors, all of whom are trying to win Penelope's hand in marriage. Penelope is having none of it and tries to keep them away, and Telemachus, son of Odysseus and Penelope, sets out to look for his father.

The Odyssey focuses on Odysseus (the Latinized name ''Ulysses'' is sometimes used in English), king of Ithaca, a small island off the west coast of Greece. After the successful sacking of Troy, which took ten years (depicted partially in ''Literature/TheIliad''), Odysseus earns the ire of Poseidon on his way home by blinding Polyphemus, the {{cyclops}} son of Poseidon, and boasting about it. In response, Poseidon intercedes for Polyphemus and proceeds to make Odysseus' journey back to Ithaca as miserable as possible as revenge. Meanwhile, Ithaca is taken over by a large amount of suitors, all of whom are trying to win Penelope's hand in marriage, but Penelope is having none of it.