The Iliad, a fanfiction

# Because Destiny Says So: The prophecy that the newborn Paris would grow up to bring doom to Troy. Thus, the Trojan war and everything connected with it happen because of destiny.

• More complicated than that. To the Greeks, fate was the destination, not the path we take to get there. (Notice that even in English "destiny" comes from the same root as "destination".) According to a legend (not actually in the Iliad), Hera, Athena, and Aphrodite asked Paris to judge a beauty contest between them. Then each one offered him a bribe — power, wealth, or the most beautiful woman on Earth. Of course, Paris opted for that last bribe, which is how the war started. But that wasn't destined. Paris was free to take one of the other bribes — and undoubtedly, each one of them would've resulted in Troy's destruction, but in a different way.

So, anyone dare to imagine hwat would have happened had Paris chosen another bribe?

Wealth is easy, Troy gets plundered for it.

Speaking of Illiad fanfiction though, I remember hearing about how there's a loose end in the story where some boy who is prophecies to take revenge for the sacking of Troy gets thrown off a cliff by the 'heroes'.

...and you know how those prophecies always turn out.

*Hera offered to make him king of Europe and Asia,

• Athena offered wisdom and skill in war,
• and Aphrodite, SNIP offered the love of the world's most beautiful woman

From the Wikipedia article.

Frankly, I can't see how Wisdom And Skill in war could have ended in the sacking of Troy, unless he sacked it himself. As for King of Europe and Asia...

BTW, this makes the entry on the page inaccurate: anyone bother to change it?

What, a survivor of Troy takes revenge against the Greeks? It's all been done before...

But since we're speculating: "King of Europe and Asia" can turn out to be rather fleeting, and "Wisdom and Skill in War" doesn't cover times of peace. So pick your poison:

• Hera: Anything she can think of - madness, snakes, Furies (not furries), other minor deities, gadflies, etc.
• Athena: The next up-and-coming empire...
• Aphrodite: Either a jealous lover or an STD. Or 0% Approval Rating since she could probably make everybody hate you, like she threatened Helen. *shrug*

And you can pick two of three! Seriously, with all the Jerkass Gods in the Greek Pantheon, he should have just turned them down completely - although come to think of it, then he'd incur the wrath of all three. Might as well have some fun before you die.

edited 11th Sep '10 10:13:51 AM by Pyrite

Frankly, I can't see how Wisdom And Skill in war could have ended in the sacking of Troy, unless he sacked it himself.

Who says he wouldn't? Greek tales of prophesy rarely follow staightforward and predictable paths; the whole point is that the gods/fates know what's going to happen even if it's extremely chaotic and utterly beyond human capacity to predict.

Well, the fates actually, the gods are as moronic and lost as everyone else, xcept they got supahpowaz

Apollo grants the Delphic oracle his own insight into the future, and Zeus seems sometimes omniscient, sometimes not.

Perceptions of the gods changed over time, but they also changed according to narrative convenience.

On a side note, I once wrote Iliad fanfiction for a high school class assignment, but it wasn't alternate continuity.

Iliad fanfiction, huh? Hmmm...

Hector waited. The stars above him blinked and sparked out of the air. There were Achaeans on the fields. He didn't see them, but had expected them now for years. His warnings to Polydamas were not listenend to and now it was too late. Far too late for now, anyway.

Hector was a Trojan for nine years. When he was young he watched the black ships and he said to dad "I want to be on the ships daddy."

Priam said "No! You will BE KILL BY ACHAEANS"

There was a time when he believed him. Then as he got oldered he stopped. But now outside the walls of Troy he knew there were Achaeans.

"This is Apollo" the god crackered. "You must fight the Achaeans!"

So Hector gotted his ahsen spear and stabbed the chariot.

"HE GOING TO KILL US" said the Achaeans

"I will shoot at him" said Teucer and he fired the arrows. Hector speared at him and tried to kill him dead. But then the gods intervened and they were trapped and not able to kill.

"No! I must kill the villain" he shouted

The Achilles said "No, Hector. You are the villain"

And then Hector was chairot'd.

edited 20th Oct '10 10:29:12 PM by BananaFort

The Firebrand wasn't bad. It was very, very Marion Zimmer Bradley, but not bad.