I Just Had A Thought.

I just had a thought.

What if “Scylla” is from Scylla’s perspective? Think about it. We hear Scylla singing in the beginning, but neither Odysseus nor the rest of the crew reacts. Because she’s watching them, they’re sailing through her lair.

“You know that we are the same.” … “You hide a reason for shame.” She’s observing Odysseus, seeing that he’s the leader, that he knows what’s up, and that he’s willing to make sacrifices.

“Leaving them feeling betrayed, breaking the bonds that you made,” … “There is no price we won’t pay.” She does horrible things to live, snatching men from passing ships and consuming them. “We both know what it takes to survive.” She had to cross lines and learn how to survive, and she recognizes the need for the same in Odysseus.

“We only care for ourselves.” She recognizes that all that matters is their own—for Scylla, that’s herself, and for Odysseus, that’s his family.

Here, the music recedes a bit, and Scylla sings the line differently than the others. She heard Odysseus give the order to light six torches, and what she’s only been assuming thus far is confirmed. “We’re lonely demons from hell.” Until this point, Scylla only sang in one voice, with one head, showing a human-like appearance. But now she sings in several voices with all her heads. She reflects what Odysseus did by giving that order, showing who she is “Deep down”—a monster—and bringing it to the surface.

As indicated by Eurylochus’s line, “Captain. Something approaches,” she starts approaching the ships. Before, no one noticed her; she observed unseen, hence why no one reacted to her singing. She then greets Odysseus almost politely, as one would a peer or an equal. “Hello.”

Odysseus shouts at the crew to “Row for your lives!” Scylla pursues, claiming the sacrifices one by one, as can be heard throughout her verse. She sees that Odysseus is running, failing to completely be the monster that he is. So, while she feasts, she tells him what it means to be a monster, but also gives him advice on how to live as a monster, how to live with himself.

“Drown in your sorrow and fears. Choke on your blood and your tears. Bleed ‘til you’ve run out of years.” Essentially, she’s saying “Go ahead, cry about it.” She says those things rhetorically, presenting them as options neither of them actually have, because “We must do what it takes to survive.” As monsters, they must survive. Giving up is not an option.

“Give up your honor and faith.” She stopped caring about right and wrong. She sees that Odysseus is a soldier with strong moral values, and that he must do the same and abandon those values. “Live out your life as a wraith.” Life is hardly worth living anymore, for her. But she’s come too far to simply let herself die. So she’s become an empty husk of herself, surviving for the sake of it. Odysseus will inevitably need to do the same. “Die in the blood where you bathe.” A reference to her transformation into her current state. The old Scylla died in that moment, leaving only the monster. War is sometimes called a “bloodbath”, and Scylla suggests that Odysseus has already killed so many that his journey could be considered one. He must undergo a similar transformation, letting the old Odysseus die (which he has not completely done yet) and embracing the new monster. She then reinforces the reason for doing these things: “We must do what it takes to survive.”

Finally, she talks to Odysseus directly. “We are the same you and, I.” Odysseus responds, harmonizing at “I”, meaning he can hear her. He can’t bear to admit what he is, since he still hasn’t fully become the monster he declared himself to be, which is why he doesn’t harmonize for the entire line.

I am such a nerd for this musical. Still, I don’t get everything right. Feel free to add anything or correct me in the comments.

Quick, someone who hasn't rated StP on Steam yet:

Rate it with "I finished it, unlike Matpat".

brain chemistry changed from no longer you and monster btw

Do you know what breaks my heart?

Knowing that Odysseus probably still feels so guilty he can barely breathe, he's just suppressing it and filling the void with Penelope.

That's why she's finally showing up more plainly in this second part because Odysseus needs to believe that something will be worth all the guilt and all the suffering and that something is Penelope.

That's why she sings that she "will take the suffering" from him, because that's his hope, that's what he needs to believe because otherwise, it was all in vain.

And you know what's even worse?

Even if he does reach Ithaca, and even if he does have his "happy ending" (which I have no idea if it'll happen because I never read The Odyssey but I know enough about Greek Mythology and tragedies that I don't think so), it'll not be happy.

It'll be so bittersweet it makes my heart ache in ways I can't even bear.

I imagine Odysseus will never be able to swim with Telemachus and Penelope again, even if it's just a river, because he'd not know to differentiate between siren Penelope and real Penelope then.

I imagine he will never be able to look at his sister the same knowing that he caused her husband's death and so will she.

I imagine he will have to face his other men, who will know (or so Odysseus will think) that he sacrificed several of them to be there again.

I imagine he will have to discover all over again how to be a father to teenager Telemachus who doesn't even remember what is like to have a father, let alone see Odysseus as one.

I imagine if he will ever sleep in peace again, fearing that the gods will find him there once and for all.

I'm not crying, you are!

Jorge Rivera-Herrans: it's 558 men because in the original odyssey there was this man named Elpenor who died at Circe's palace, and it's also a reference to a cut song!

Also Jorge: TweLvE lOnG yeArS