Anti Lo - Tumblr Posts

"People need to stop saying Lore Olympus is disrespectful to Apollo. Do yOu kNow WHat a ReTeLlinG iS?"

Literally Lore Olympus' comment section (and other places!):

And my personal favorite:

(and yes, apparently (cuz im not the one who took the screenshot) this was found under a LO discussion on Instagram)

I've never read it personally, but from the things people mention online it sounds very misrepresentative of the gods and kinda creepy.

My main problem is how people will take the comic soo far and spread pure hatred for the gods or absolve them of any bad things they did - like they're 2 dimensional and flat.

Also the majority of LO fans I've interacted with have been horrible about my devotion and who I worship (Apollo, Ares etc.) and can't bear to hear that maybe their beloved webcomic isn't an accurate potrayal of very complex deities. It's exhausting lmao

Please reblog if you vote! 🧡

I'm genuinely curious to see the results. Most people I know hate it, but I'd like to see if this is a common sentiment throughout the community.

Just got a Lore Olympus ad send help it was so bad 😭😭

Lore Olympus: a story of wasted potentials

Hello, everyone.

I want to talk about Lore Olympus and I would like to focus on a few elements of it, in order to prove my main point: that this story had a great idea, but a very poor execution.

Brief introduction: Lore Olympus is a webcomic you can read on Webtoon. It’s supposed to be a modern retelling of the classic myth of Hades and Persephone, but this version includes a lot more gods/heroes and figures from the Greek pantheon.

I know, I know. It seems extremely cool, right? And it should be! But if it was, I wouldn’t write a post called “a story of wasted potentials”: I would’ve called it “great comic, read it”.

And one post isn’t even remotely enough! I planned three posts, to properly explain why this story is such a waste of potential. Just think what a disappointment it is.

But before starting, let me clarify a couple things:

* I do not believe in sterile criticism. If I don't like something, I want to explain why I don't like it and show examples. You may agree or disagree with my points, I am not forcing you to think I am right: you have your own mind and you can think by yourself.

* I do not know everything, so if you think my points are not right, please tell me and explain your reasons properly and logically. Opinions may depend on many things, but logic and common sense are neutral and universally accepted.

* I don't give a damn about Rachel Smythe's bank account. I'm not her accountant, so I don't care about her money/fame/whatever. All I care about is if she's a good writer or not. And she’s not.

* I am talking about a story, not insulting your mother. Do not take my words as a personal attack. We all enjoy bad stuff, I like it too and saw a lot of people tearing apart the stuff I liked with their bare hands. And I thank them for that, because they helped me see past the rose-tinted glasses of a fan and notice the flaws. Thanks to them, I developed my critical thinking. And now I can still enjoy the bad stuff, even while pointing out why it’s bad.

* I will use all sorts of language and talk about all sorts of themes, so read at your own risk.

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A sterile retelling

As said before, Lore Olympus is a retelling of the myth of Hades and Persephone adapted for modern times.

Retellings are always intriguing: you know the source material, so you want to see how the author re-shaped it, what concepts will be more prominent, how will the characters change, how and if the setting changes too. There are a lot of things to work on and the final product can be more comical than the original, more tragic, or more dramatic: it's up to the author to choose the direction their work should take.

However, there's one thing that should never change, in every retelling, and it's the essence of the source material.

Why are Greek myths still so important and loved to this day? Because the gods are extremely human. They have strengths and weaknesses, just like all of us. They fall prey to human emotions like love, happiness, jealousy, anger, hate and sadness. They plan revenge and forgive each other. They make mistakes and repent for their actions. There is no completely good or evil god.

So if you reduce the Greek gods to just "good" and "bad" guys, you're already making a huge mistake. Have you ever met someone who is entirely "good" or "bad" in real life? The world is full of nuances and shades of gray, so flattening them isn't good for your story. On the contrary, it proves how much of an inexperienced writer you are.

Therefore, this story isn't bad because “it's a retelling”. It's bad because the writing is boring and childish, there is no real plot and the characters are flattened to adapt to the stereotypical roles of “good guys”/”bad guys”.

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We’ve all been influenced by Christianity

This will probably be shocking for people who never read the Greek myths, but the Greek gods are not supposed to be role models.

Unlike Jesus, whose life and actions serve as a perfect teaching of what people should/shouldn’t do, Zeus’ actions (or any other Greek god’s for that matter) are not. Greeks didn’t look at Zeus and thought: “Ah yes, this is exactly what we should do: go around and fuck everything”.

Myths and gods are not supposed to teach you to distinguish between good and bad: they are explanations for things the Greeks didn’t know how to explain otherwise (like the change of seasons) or retellings of ancient events people transmitted orally that got mixed with legends/additions over time (like Hercules’ adventures).

Sure, some positive aspects/people get rewarded and some negative aspects/people get punished in these stories. But this is more due to “facing the consequences of a certain behavior”, rather than praise/judgment of it based on the Christian concepts of “right” and “wrong”. Also because there are cases like Medusa’s myth, in which she literally gets raped by Poseidon in Athena’s temple and yet, Athena punishes her. Does that mean Athena is a negative goddess? The same goddess who also represents wisdom, intelligence and protects women’s arts? Can you better understand now when I say Greek goods are not entirely good/bad and even less moral teachers?

The thing is: Greek gods are like us. They are good and bad. They are assholes, but also kind and generous. They use humans for their own needs and, at the same time, protect them from dangers. They are powerful and powerless. And, let me repeat that, they are not moral examples to follow.

If you want a moral example for your story, do not use Greek gods. Use Jesus: Jesus is great for retellings. I mean, he’s a pacifist who wanted everyone to be equal, he treated women kindly in a world that saw them as females only, he literally wreaked havoc and whipped merchants who were mistreating a sacred place, he respected the State and wanted it separated from religion (“Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and unto God the things that are God's”). And despite his talking about peace and kindness and not being a dick and loving each other no matter what/who they are, he scared the authorities so much they had to stop him and even today people keep misinterpreting his messages as “respect this kind of people only”, “wars are allowed” and “yes yes religion needs a shit ton of money”.

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Straights everywhere

Lore Olympus would not have been very appreciated in ancient Greece. Not just because it’s full of clichès and the gods make no sense (we will talk about them in the next posts, don’t worry), but also because everyone is boringly straight.

Greek gods loved everything and everyone. Straight wasn’t the norm, bisexual was: the gods had tons of male and female lovers and no problem switching from one gender to the other, as long as they felt love/attraction/whatever.

And let’s not forget that the Greek myths are full of trans people too. And hermaphrodites. And asexuals. In other words, there was everything for everyone. And if there wasn’t a specific myth about that specific kind of love, then rest assured that Aphrodite protects all kinds of love.

So, how did Rachel Smythe show this variety in her retelling?

By making everyone boringly straight. Zeus has female lovers only, Apollo has nothing because he’s a loser and we get a lesbian kiss between two goddesses who were considered (mostly) asexual. Oh and let’s not forget that, according to Mrs. Smythe, the TGOEM was basically a cover for lesbians… so asexuals do not exist, I suppose.

But okay, maybe Mrs. Smythe didn’t feel at ease by writing more different sexualities besides heterosexual. That’s okay too, that’s her sensibility and I would never insult her for that. But in that case, please allow me to ask:

why write a story and use the Greek gods, notoriously known for their multifaceted sexuality?

why focus so much on the sexual aspect of these characters?

It’s as if Mrs. Smythe read the Greek myths and all she saw were romance and sex. Sure, they are part of those myths too, but if you have never read any Greek myth, do yourself a favor and read them: you will find that most of the time romance isn’t the focus at all. Even in the myth of Hades and Persephone, the main focus isn’t the romance: the main focus is Demeter's grief and how the agreement between her and Hades led to the change of seasons. The story is the focus, not the romance between the protagonists.

And no, despite what you think, the fact Hades and Persephone are uncle and niece isn’t important either.

But since I mentioned it, let’s talk about incest too.

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Incest with extra steps

Rachel Smythe changed a lot of relationships in her story. She said she wanted to avoid incest, apparently: the result was that she ended up writing incest with extra steps (which is way worse) or weirdly sexual relationships between people who, according to the Greek myths, are related but have no sexual relationship at all. And, maybe that’s just me, but this makes me a lot more aware of incest, than the actual myths.

Also because, if you read even one story from the Greek myth, I can assure you that incest is the last thing you will focus on. As it was for romance, the focus of the story is the story, the metaphor, the characters. Not how they are related.

But I can hear your question: okay, so if the focus was the story, then why incest was mentioned everywhere? Well, I found this pretty cool article that talks specifically about incest and ancient times. You can read it fully if want, but I would like to quote this paragraph that I think resumes pretty well why incest isn’t so important in myths:

“The incest prevalent among the gods must have set an interesting precedent in the ancient world when it came to family relationships. We must bear in mind, however, that the classical deities were not the models of morality and goodness that we associate with the word ‘god’ now. Instead, they were each independent characters with their own strengths and, more importantly, their own vices. An ancient Greek or Roman would not aim to emulate the actions or behavior of the gods in their own lives! It is nonetheless interesting to consider how the sexual deviance of these divine figures may have influenced the classical perception of incest.”

And these paragraphs which explain why incest was so common back then:

“Apparently, the ancient Greeks and Romans were not content to limit their fascination with incest to the realm of mythology, literature and drama. Laws from the two major city-states of Athens and Sparta indicate that Greeks were legally permitted to marry their own siblings, while in Rome, it was not uncommon for uncles to marry nieces, which was legalized after the Emperor Claudius married his brother’s daughter, Agrippina.  It is important to remember, however, that just because incest was not prohibited by law, and even allowed in some cases, this does not mean that it was widely practiced or socially acceptable. In general, marriage in the ancient world was looked upon as a private affair between two families, and was often used to negotiate, forge alliances and gain power. Consequently, the state did not interfere directly in the arrangements, and was even willing to overlook certain incestum unions.”

Incest was common in myths because it was part of ancient life. And by adding it in the stories, the goal was not to teach people “Please, incest with your family members”, but to show another part of human life. As said before: greek myths were not examples to follow, but a way to explain (or just show) parts of life, nature and the world. Even small parts, not widely practiced by everyone (but still well known) like incest.

It’s pretty clear Mrs. Smythe knows nothing of this. She probably did zero research for her story, aside from a bunch of names of less famous gods/mythical characters and less-known trivia to add to make it look like she did her homework.

And I don't kow you, but I think this is insulting toward the original material, which is way more modern, complex and original than the supposed “modern retelling”.

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Characters overload

This is a very common problem and mostly depends on how inexperienced the author is: if they are young or have never written anything, they tend to add as many things as possible to make their world “full of stuff”, “alive” and “vibrant”. And so we have schools and works and places and a shit ton of characters and chapters dedicated to the backstories of these characters and the plot is put on stand-by to talk about a ton of other, unrelated stuff.

The same thing happens in Lore Olympus, especially in the first two parts. While reading, I kept asking myself why there were so many characters and so much stuff: lack of experience? No previous planning? A simple love for money? I don’t really know.

What I know is that this problem could’ve been easily solved by not adding all this unnecessary stuff. This story is a retelling of Hades and Persephone: the point of the whole thing is the story between them, so the focus should be on them, not on everyone around them.

And if there are other characters, their involvement should make sense for the plot. What was the point of Daphne? What did she add to the story? And Aphrodite and Hephaestus? Aside from a little contribution to the story, they did nothing. Same for Athena, who is just a cardboard. And what about the guys Persephone met in school? And what about the whole school?

The only characters who have a real purpose in this story are Hades, Persephone, Zeus, Hera, Apollo, Minthe and Kronos. Seven characters. The others are all cardboard figurines who pretend to be important while doing marginal shit or are nothing more than plot devices. As a result, we have a ton of people who are never fleshed out and the main characters are not fully fleshed out either, because Rachel Smythe spent too much time exploring all other characters, instead of focusing on the main ones.

What would I have done instead? Add a few surrounding characters who help move the plot forward and leave the rest as background characters or, even better, remove them completely from the story.

For example, why having Hephaestus, Aetna, Eros and Psyche, when Artemis can do everything they did, find out about Apollo's actions and defy him? This way:

Artemis would have more time to be fleshed out and become an interesting character

it would make more sense for the story that Persephone’s supposed bestie tries to help her/gets her back

it would make the story cleaner and smoother and the world less “crowded” with useless characters

it would add additional drama, because there's not a random character fighting Apollo, but his own sister

But nope, Artemis did some stuff and disappeared. Maybe she will pop up again in the future, maybe she won’t, but does that change the story? Not at all. Do I care if she pops up again? Not at all. I don’t care about her, just like I don’t care about any of these characters. They have the potential to be interesting, to be multifaceted, to make me care. But I don’t. I can’t. I don’t have enough time to care, because there are other things happening and other more important characters showing up and they’re not fleshed out nor interesting - and the story is going in a weird direction, like, wasn’t this supposed to be a love story?

But we will talk about it in the next post about Lore Olympus, which will be focused on the three characters who derailed the story from “romance” to “defeating evil villains”: Zeus, Apollo and especially Cronus. Oh, I have a lot to say about Cronus.

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In conclusion

Lore Olympus isn’t a bad story: it’s a disappointing one. It could’ve been a great rewrite, it could’ve been interesting and modern. It ended up being much older than the original myth.

And yes, I know it’s not over yet, but since we’re in the third act and we’re approaching the end (or at least what I hope it’s the end), I doubt it would suddenly change and become the modern, wonderful story it could’ve been. If it does, I would be the first to admit that… but I just doubt it.

This failure is even more disappointing for me, because I grew up with Greek myths. When I was a child, my father read me these stories. They’re the reason why I started reading too: because after a couple of stories, my father always fell asleep, but I still wanted to hear more - and, if he fell asleep mid-story, I wanted to know how it ended. So, while he was napping, I took the book and read these stories by myself. First just one, then a couple, then I moved to other books, then reading became my passion and I'm still an avid reader today.

So Lore Olympus offends me as a reader, because it insults my intelligence with a childish plot and does not focus on the real important parts of a myth, but on the most trivial ones. It pretends to be modern, feminist and innovative, but it does not understand the original material from which it takes inspiration. It does not make me feel anything for the characters, while I still remember fondly parts of these myths I read as a child, after more than 20 years.

And this is just what the “reader” part of me feels. Wait until the “writer” part of me talks. (spoiler: it's not what you think)

See you soon with the second part <3

Next post ->

(How about a coffee? ☕)

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Lore Olympus: a golden mine of bad writing

As I said, one post wasn’t enough.

There is still a lot to say about this webcomic and in this post I would like to talk about how Zeus, Apollo and Kronos have been treated. Here I will focus on the first two acts only, because the third act is not over, as well as the story. And yes, that means I will write another post when this whole thing is over.

I wanted to focus on these three gods in particular because are treated in a way that baffles me and makes me question what did they ever do to Mrs. Smythe. Tell me, Rachel: was it something personal? Did they do something to your family? What happened?

But maybe you don’t understand my point, especially if you haven’t read the Greek myths at all and you think that these three are just “Unfaithful Guy”, “Rapist” and “Evil Villain Har Har Who Also Wants To Rape”. Seriously, what’s with this weird obsession with raping everyone and with sex? Did Mrs. Smythe ever see anything else in myths, besides sex?

So please, allow me to explain why their characterizations are wrong and boring - and no, not just from a mythological point of view. 

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Zeus: the walking clichè

Making Zeus an asshole is understandable, even if utterly boring and clichè. Oh wow, he's an unfaithful husband and he's vain. Very original. Groundbreaking, I'd say. I’ve never read about him being unfaithful to his wife, not even once in all the 200 million retellings made during the history of mankind.

It's a shame because Zeus is much more than that. He's a mighty ruler with a strong sense of justice: in several myths, he punished the assholes for their wrongdoings. He's very clever and strong. He's also associated with xenia, the custom of offering protection to strangers, which means Zeus is also a protector of foreigners.

I mean, this information alone offers so many new perspectives about him! Just imagine if, instead of hanging around and doing nothing useful aside from being everyone’s favorite punching bag, Zeus fought against every corrupt system of the mortal realm, in order to protect the foreigners and the innocents. It would’ve been so cool to see a different side of him, instead of the same thing over and over again!

But nope, Zeus = unfaithful husband only. Let’s ignore all the other aspects of him, to focus on the one everyone focuses on. Let’s make him the umpteenth version of the same guy, instead of offering a new vision. This will surely make the story worth everyone’s time!

Rachel, this could’ve worked if I was 12 and had never read a retelling in my entire life. But since I’m more than twice that age, seeing Zeus as an unfaithful husband again doesn’t get my interest. And I’m sure this doesn’t only apply to me, but to everyone who already saw at least two retellings of him. Isn’t this story supposed to be new and original? Then why are we still picking from the same old clichè visions of these gods? Where is the writer’s personality and ability?

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Apollo: king of wasted potentials

I am absolutely, completely, 100% baffled at how Apollo has been treated in this story.

It's insulting to see the most beloved Greek god treated as a bidimensional piece of shit. Not only because he doesn't make any sense in the story (why is he here in the first place? Did Persephone and Apollo even interact in any myth?), but also because there are so many different possibilities for him, that seeing him being this is the biggest waste of potential I’ve ever seen.

A brief recap of who Apollo really is: Apollo is the embodiment of the sun. He is the god of arts and crafts. He's the most beautiful god, he embodies the concept of perfect Greek beauty. And he is associated with a lot of cool stuff, like medicine, truth and oracles. Also, like most of the other Greek gods, Apollo had many male and female lovers.

Now, look me in the eye and tell me that, with all of this, your first idea about him is "yeah, let's make him a stupid rapist, so stupid to not realize that hey, maybe forcing a girl to sleep with you will not make her fall in love with you". Oh and let's not forget he randomly decided he wanted Zeus' throne just after the fertility plot point had been introduced Because Yes. And he’s running for president of Whatever-Land Because Yes. Also, he’s currently involved again in another evil plot Because… yeah, you got it.

It’s just so frustrating to see him being the biggest loser of all time, considering how much cooler he could’ve been. Just think about it: we could've had a bisexual musician, who does concerts with his band (the Muses) and has a shit ton of lovers. We could’ve had a heartbroken doctor, who does his best to save everyone because he has not been able to save his own son from death (Asclepius). We could've had a mysterious advisor who can see the future because of his foresight powers.

What did we get instead? A fucking rapist.

Apollo is nothing but wasted potential. He’s an insult to himself, the story, common sense, and the Greek culture. Of all the incredible things he could've been, he became the most insulting of them all. I really cannot bear to see this fucking idiot and his punching-bag face, pretending to be Apollo. He’s not Apollo.

But if there is a guy I can see less than him, then let me introduce you to…

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Kronos: Supreme Master of Wasted Potential

First of all: why is Kronos here? Why does this love story need Persephone to defeat a big bad guy? Just to show how cool and badass she is? Considering that their fight was a joke, it didn't work very well.

But okay, let's say we need a villain Because Yes. Kronos is still a huge waste of potential, probably the biggest waste of potential of the whole series until now. He could’ve been an interesting, multifaceted character, but he became a cartoonish supervillain har-har I want power.

Sigh.

But let’s take a step back and talk about the real, mythological Kronos. His story starts with his parents, Uranus and Gaia. The two had a lot of sons, including Titans (like Kronos) and Hecatonchires (monsters with fifty heads and one hundred arms). Disgusted by their monstrous nature or maybe just out of fear of being overthrown, Uranus chained his sons away into Gaia's womb (aka the Tartarus) so that they could never come out again.

Gaia suffered from this decision, so she devised a plan: she made a stone sickle, gathered her sons and tried to persuade them to castrate Uranus.

All of her sons were afraid of Uranus, Kronos was the only one brave enough to do it. And he was successful: he overthrew his father and became the new ruler of the universe, along with his wife/sister Rhea.

However, after becoming king, he didn't free all of his brothers as his mother wanted, but locked Hecatonchires and Cyclopes away once again. And so, Gaia told him that, one day, he would meet his father’s same fate and be overthrown by one of his own children.

Scared by these words, Kronos devised a plan: every time he had a new child, he took the baby from Rhea and swallowed them. Rhea was desperate and, in order to save her last son Zeus, she sought Gaia's help.

So Rhea gave birth to Zeus in a secret place, then handed Kronos a stone wrapped in clothes: he swallowed it, thinking that it was his son. This way, Zeus managed to escape the same fate as his siblings and was raised in secret, away from his father, until he was old enough to come back and fulfill his destiny.

And now, you may think Zeus overthrew his father with a sword and killed him and nah nah nah, myths are not that stupid and predictable. Zeus didn’t use violence to overthrow his father, but intelligence. He disguised himself to reach Kronos' court and, at the right time, he gave him a drink. That drink was an emetic (given by Gaia), that forced Kronos to throw up everything he swallowed, in reverse order: first the stone he thought was his last son, then Zeus' brothers and sisters.

After freeing his siblings, Zeus did what his father would've never done: he released the Hecatoncheires and the Cyclops to help him in the following battle against Kronos and the other Titans, a battle known as Titanomachy.

The war ended with the victory of the Olympians (i.e. Zeus and his siblings). Many Titans were confined in Tartarus, under the Hecatonchires' control, others were not imprisoned and kept appearing in other myths.

And Kronos? His fate differs depending on the myths. In some versions, he was imprisoned in Tartarus. But according to other, more interesting versions, Zeus forgave him after years, freed him and Kronos became king of the Elysian Fields: the famous earthly paradise reserved for the greatest Greek heroes.

Now. Just look at all of this beautiful, beautiful potential.

We have Gaia, a powerful goddess who overthrew two rulers of the universe, without moving a finger. A goddess strong and clever, but also a mother who wanted all of her children to be free - even the most hideous ones. She could’ve been a tragic figure, a master manipulator, or an evil schemer. Or all these things!

We have the Hecatonchires: fighters so powerful, to turn the tide of any battle. They could’ve been scary and intimidating, but also tragic monsters who just wanted to be accepted. They could’ve taught a beautiful lesson about the importance of accepting the ugly and giving everyone a chance to prove themselves.

Then we have Kronos. And Kronos had everything to be the greatest character.

Think about this concept: Kronos has always been afraid of Uranus, just like his brothers. He was just better at hiding his feelings. And that visceral fear is still inside him, it still haunts him after centuries, just like the memory of how he overthrew his father. And that fear takes the shape of paranoid thoughts about his father coming back to take the throne.

Kronos could’ve seen his father haunting him, but he could’ve also dissociated and seen himself as his father. In his altered state of mind, he could’ve been both the king and the one who overthrows him.

That could’ve made him a truly dangerous, unhinged character. A god who can’t see what’s real anymore, obsessed with the ghosts of his past. A god with nothing to lose and everything to gain. After all, if he kills his children again, the throne would be his once more. And, since he sees himself as himself and as his father at the same time, he would think that he is the "true king" coming back to take his throne.

That could’ve been awesome. Kronos could've been complex, desperate and multifaceted, a villain to pity and to be afraid of. A truly new, interesting version to know and love.

And do you have any idea how incredible Zeus could’ve been in this version? We could see him facing Kronos again, still as strong and determined as when he was young. And while everyone would expect him to kill Kronos, he would use his intelligence once again. He would prove to Kronos (and to everyone else) how intelligence is always superior to violence and how he's a good leader, despite his thousands of flaws.

Also, we could've seen Zeus talking to the defeated Kronos and making him the ruler of the Elysian Fields. We could've had a meaningful ending, in which Zeus understands Kronos' fears and shares his own.

I would’ve adored this, because according to the myth, Zeus was also supposed to be overthrown by a son! Hence why he swallowed Metis (his first wife) while she was pregnant.

The myth never truly clarifies who this supposed "son" is, but according to the different versions, Metis was pregnant not with a son, but with a daughter. A daughter who, one day, would be born, full grown, from Zeus' head. A daughter who would become Zeus' favorite child: Athena.

Honestly? I ADORE the idea that there was never a son to overthrow Zeus, but a daughter. And she would not overthrow his father by violence like her grandfather or by intelligence like her father, but by love. Athena doesn't need to take the throne from her father physically, she doesn't even need to sit on that throne: not when her father loves her more than anything else.

And I love the idea that Zeus is aware of that. He knows his daughter is his weakness. He knows that, if she asks, he will willingly give her that throne, because he loves her too much. And I would've loved to see him sharing these thoughts with the defeated Kronos. It could've been a beautiful moment, to see Zeus talking with the fatherly figure he always missed from his life. It could've led to a beautiful, meaningful ending for a dramatic story.

But can you see the problem here? This concept works for a story about Zeus, not about Hades and Persephone! These two have nothing to do with Kronos! Heck, even Rachel Smythe knows it, considering she had to pull a stupid plot point out of thin air, to explain why Kronos would give a damn about Persephone!

In case you were wondering: yes, the fertility-magical-power-battery-thing is bullshit. Gods don’t need a magical battery to be powerful. And no, fertility goddesses are not rare either: Aphrodite, Demeter, Hera, even Artemis are just a few of the fertility goddesses in Greek mythology. Kronos could’ve picked his favorite from a large pool, instead of becoming an absolute creep with Persephone in the stupidest fight of all time.

And speaking of that, two words on the supposed “fight”. First of all, apologies to all fights for being associated with this thing, because this was anything but a fight: it was a cartoonish conversation accompanied by the umpteenth sexualization of Persephone, who first appeared fully naked, then with a dress so stupid to defy the laws of physics and perspective.

And if you don’t believe me, please see it by yourself: this is how the dress was supposed to be, according to episode 75

This is how it ended up. Apparently, the Fates didn’t predict how huge Persephone’s boobs would be and the neckline didn’t grow accordingly: I feared to see one of them slipping out from it anytime during the “fight”

Also, please appreciate how Persephone is turned to the side, but the dress’ stupidly huge neckline is shown from the front, otherwise we would’ve seen her full naked boobs.

And that stupid neckline kept bothering me throughout the whole “fight”, because it kept changing size. Check the episodes and see it by yourself: sometimes it’s smaller, other times it’s wider and it keeps moving in impossible ways. It drove me insane.

But since we’re talking about drawings, please allow me a very brief parenthesis about them too.

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The drawings are a joke

I am not an artist. I can barely draw a straight line by hand. But I studied art history, perspective, proportions and colors, so I’m not completely clueless.

But you don’t need to be clueless, to notice how bad the drawings became. If you have two eyes and saw another human being in your life before, then you can notice by yourself how bad they are.

It’s not a secret that Lore Olympus’ art style changed over time. In the beginning, this comic was characterized by a lot of straight lines and geometric shapes, alternating and mixing with gentle curves. There were blur effects, colored outlines, a lot of details that gave an overall dreamy, ethereal vibe to every chapter (like the soft glow that accompanied the gods).

But as the story progressed, these elements disappeared. The geometric shapes gave way to an overall “softness” and roundness. The dreamy vibes and blur effects were replaced by sharper, clearer drawings. A distinct black outline now marks every character.

And speaking of characters, they were the ones who changed more. Lore Olympus always had funny, silly faces but the characters were also able to be serious and look natural. Now all we have are grotesque faces: the characters are a collection of caricatures and no one has a normal expression anymore. Check by yourself, by confronting a random episode of the third act with the first one: they’re two different worlds.

The disproportions were common too, since episode one. But at least they were somehow plausible, while now they’re completely absurd. It’s as if Mrs Smythe completely forgot what a human being looks like.

And this is pretty evident in how all characters became a rough draft of the two protagonists: all women got Persephone’s face, all men become buff and huge, with wide-ass shoulders and teeny tiny heads. This is particularly obvious at the end of season 2 / start of season 3, when we see some of the funniest images ever, like Hades with a tiny head and shoulders as wide as the entire USA

Or this hilariously bad image of Zeus with clown shoes and a head as big as his deformed hand.

No excuse can justify these drawings: no one is running after Mrs Smythe, nor forcing her to draw, and people are paying her real money to work on this webcomic. The least she can do is draw something that doesn’t look like a bad distortion of a human being.

Unless this isn’t her drawing, but her staff’s work. In that case, they are still paid to do their job, right? Or do they think this story is a joke and decide to show how much of a joke it is, by turning everyone into a grotesque caricature?

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In conclusion

Lore Olympus is hilarious because of how bad the writing is. It’s a manual example of how not to write a climax for your story. It’s a perfect demonstration of how you can still fail, even with great characters with endless possibilities. It’s a list of all the mistakes you can make as an artist.

If you’re a writer or an artist in general, please check Lore Olympus and study it. Here you will find everything you should never do and all the mistakes you should never make.

As a writer myself, I appreciate Lore Olympus, because I need works that teach me what I shouldn’t do. Good teachers are useful, but bad ones are even more useful, because it’s thanks to them that I can learn and grow and make better stories. Lore Olympus might be a failure from an artistic and writing point of view, but it might also serve as a foundation, from which other people can develop better ideas.

Actually, it already did it! Do you want to read a better story, rose from the disappointing ashes of Lore Olympus? Then check Lore Rekindled and @genericpuff: you will find their work here on Tumblr. They planned everything ahead and it’s pretty clear by reading it. The characters make more sense, the events have a more logical explanation. And the art style is much, much better than the last Lore Olympus.

We will meet again for the third and (for now) final post about this series, a much-needed post about the protagonists of this story: Hades, Persephone and Demeter.

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(How about a coffee? ☕)

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Lore Olympus: a superficial vision of Greek Mythology

Hello again,

here we are with the third and last post about Lore Olympus. New post (posts?) will come when the story is over, but this is my last one for now.

This post will be about the main characters of the story: Hades, Persephone and Demeter. The story is about them after all, right? Right?

These three aren’t just the protagonists of the story: they are also the sum of all the problems we talked about: they’re badly written, they’re a waste of potential and they’re insulting to Greek mythology - and everyone’s intelligence.

But let’s talk about them in detail.

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Hades: boring rather than mysterious

Keep reading

Love Olympus: the "charming" lessons we learned from it

Hi! Are you searching for a good story, filled with creativity, care, coherence and beautiful art style? Then please, turn left and you will find something worth your time.

Here we will talk about that beautiful, terrible disaster that is Lore Olympus. Ah, it's always so nice to read a new retelling of Greek mythology and find out it's basically the same 200 stereotypes slapped together into something that's way older and staler than the original. What did my ancestor ever do to the world, to be treated like that.

But I've already talked about what a waste of potential Lore Olympus is, how pathetic the writing is and how bad the protagonists are. I've spent more than enough words commenting on why this series could've been great and came out like this.

Now there's only one thing left: to make fun of it. To draw our conclusions on the whole thing and the finale and find out what "wonderful" messages we got from it.

Don't worry: the messages are absolutely wonderful and I'm not sarcastic, not at aaaaall.

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Planning in advance is for the weak

Don't you know how to fill your third season, after the "battle" that closed season 2? No problem! People will read you anyway, so instead of planning and moving the plot forward, waste everyone's time writing chapter after chapter of pure nothingness: your characters can have discussions so stupid, that people will question if they have been written by using ChatGPT. That will surely prove what a great writer you are!

And don't worry too much about the plot: just wait until inspiration magically falls from the sky. That's how it works, isn't it? Stories are just random events slapped together, with no planning, care or coherence whatsoever. When we write a story, we don't want to treat our readers like intelligent human beings, oh no: people are idiots, so we can just throw them the first shit that pops out of our minds and everything will be fine.

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Coherence is for the weak

After waiting for inspiration (that somehow hasn't fallen from the sky yet, jeez I wonder why), you still don't know what to do with your plot? Easy, use one of the villains! Like the rapist guy! Now he's running for President.

Yes, we know there is a monarchy in this land, because there is a king, but it doesn't matter. The rapist is trying to be President now. President of what, you ask? It doesn't matter! Presidents exist, right? So he's trying to be one, that's all you need to know.

Will he become President? He's running from it, that's all! You don't need to know what happens after that! As we all know, stories do not have closed plot points, they're just random shit thrown around. So why care about solving a problem you just raised? Just forget it, it's not important.

Is the story supposed to take place in Olympus or, at least, in Greece? Well, what's the problem? As we all know, Europe and the US are basically the same thing, so how different can Greece and America be?

I mean: one is a huge country with many climate zones and wide areas, the other is a small, hot country mostly made of mountains and islands. One has a millennia-years-old culture that influenced the entirety of the West, the other is literally called the New World, to emphasize how young it is. Same place.

So, since they're so similar they're basically identical, just fill your Greece with American stuff and give your characters English names. Greece is notoriously full of English names. It's not like there are millions of people with similar names because parents give their own parents' names to their offspring and sometimes all siblings give their parents' names to all their children and the result is that your cousins all have the same goddamn name and you all came up with nicknames to distinguish between them.

No, that's not based on personal experience, what makes you think that.

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The protagonist is better than anyone else

Is Zeus telling you he wants to give his child to some nymphs, because he knows won't be a good father? Well, clearly the most normal thing to do is steal his baby. No, not because you're a psychopath, but because you clearly know how to handle the baby better than some nymphs. Remember: you are the protagonist, hence you are better at everything anyone can do, especially a stupid nymph. You will care for the baby more and better than anyone else, no doubt.

Is the child you stole running around without supervision? But you took care of him! You even hired a babysitter! No, of course you didn't spend time with him, you were busy! What? It could've been better to leave the child with the nymphs as Zeus wanted, because at least they would've spent their time with the child and not hired someone else to do it? Listen, we don't work with logic here and you are the protagonist, so of course all of your decisions are perfect and should never be questioned.

Speaking of kids: is your mother telling you she had a son who died? Time for some favoritism! Your husband is the god of the dead, so death isn't a problem anymore. What? Death is supposed to be impossible to overcome? But you're the protagonist, so the mere mortals' rules do not apply to you. Death is nothing, compared to your perfection.

Oh no, you accidentally caused winter! And a genocide! But remember: you're the protagonist, so of course you're always perfect. And you didn't do it on purpose, so you're automatically innocent and people attacking you are just mean and jealous.

See? You're so perfect, you found a way to solve the problem! How? Easy, by believing in yourself ✨✨✨ And by talking (badly) about how life and death are linked. Yes, we know it's the equivalent of saying that 2+2=4, but we don't want to treat our readers like intelligent people, here. All they have to do is just revel in your perfection.

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More villains! Because Yes!

Do you still have no idea what to do with your plot, after too many useless chapters? Easy, use the cartoonish supervillain! He will do the trick! And throw another naked woman to defeat him: it worked once, it'll work again.

Is your cartoonish supervillain actually useless? No problem, make another villain even more useless. And make him appear out of thin air for two chapters. And since readers are stupid, just tell them that he was the evil mastermind behind everything. They'll eat it up.

Oh, and President Loser is in cahoots with SuperMegaVillain now. Why? Because Yes, of course.

You don't know how to defeat SuperMegaVillain? 🧑‍🤝‍🧑Avengers Assemble🧑‍🤝‍🧑and you're done. It worked for Marvel, it'll work for your story too. I know it's settled in Greece and fertility goddesses do not have resurrection powers or whatever the fuck they're doing, but shhhhh.

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Random justice is good

With all those villains to defeat, you forgot your story is supposed to be a retelling of the myth of Hades and Persephone? No problem, just stick a "Gaia Ex-Machina" here and let her solve the story with a power and authority she doesn't have. No one will notice the difference.

Speaking of justice: is the rapist gonna get the punishment he deserves? Sure, get this: he will fall in love with you and turn himself in. And he will get community service as punishment.

Are you saying that this isn't a real punishment? But of course it is! He turned himself in! The victim isn't allowed to expose him, nor to see him actually getting punished. All the victim can do is walk away. It's not that lack of control is a big deal for a rape victim, right? And seeing the rapist finally get punished won't give them the catharsis they need, right? And it definitely won't free them of the huge weight they carry on, because of the awful, horrible act they suffered from, right?

Of course not, so ah ah ah, the rapist gets to build places, very funny. And aside from that stupid punishment, of course he's free to walk around and, who knows?, maybe rape someone else. Wow, justice truly works well in this place! I would feel so safe to go around there!

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Queer people are stupid too (and ghosts, sometimes)

All those villains could've been great in a story centered around Zeus? We don't work with Zeus here: we hate men, all men except for the capitalist hubby of our dreams. So Zeus is a useless piece of shit and he will keep being a useless piece of shit until the end. Also, he's not a real king anymore, because apparently democracy popped out of nowhere and everyone just rolls with it. I wonder why it too centuries to accept it all over the world...

And Hera is a lesbian now. Why? I already told you we don't work with logic here. She's a lesbian because queer people are idiots too, so thrown them a queer character and they will like it, doesn't matter if it makes zero sense.

Uh? Are you saying that asexual and aromantic people exist too? No, of course not: they're just waiting for the hot lesbian of their dreams or for the hubby that will turn them into wives and mothers.

Hence why the organization centered around celibacy closed: it was just a cover for lesbians after all! And we all know that women can only be lesbians or mothers. A woman doesn't want or feel any romantic attraction? She doesn't exist, then.

Wow people, I don't exist! I'm a ghost!

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Feminism means gender stereotypes

As Wikipedia says, feminism is:

"... a range of socio-political movements and ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social equality of the sexes."

But Wikipedia is stupid, while we won a shit ton of prizes for some reason, so we're the good authors here. And we decided that feminism means "women good, men bad". This definitely isn't a point of view based on a warping of the original concept of feminism, that focused on helping women because, since societies are patriarchal, men already have a powerful position. Hence why, feminism fought (and fights) to give women a powerful position too: to make both genders on the same plane.

But nope, this is all stupid and wrong and doing research is underrated - after all, we wrote a story entirely based on the first shit that popped into our mind, so why do research about this? Let's focus on the superficial vision of feminism and fight for women's equality, by making them lesbians or mothers.

Because sure, feminism is good, but capitalism is better. And since capitalism wants you to have kids, go home to your rich hubby and have a ton of kids you definitely won't neglect, like the child you stole or the supposed godson you never cared about and only after he's an adult "sometimes" you have a conversation with. That's how a perfect, traditional family works, after all. And we know this didn't lead to any generational trauma at aaaaall.

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In conclusion

I don't know if you noticed the teeny tiny veil of sarcasm in my words. I know, it was so subtle, almost invisible. I made it oh-so-hard to find it, please let me know how hard it was.

But you know what? This story is over and I needed to let some sarcasm out. I am finally free to read something else, possibly (hopefully!) better.

And the next time I will approach another retelling... who am I kidding, I know I will fall for it like an idiot because that's what I do every time. They get me with something I love and once I find out it's shitty, I keep reading because I want to see how bad it is.

In this, Lore Olympus didn't disappoint: I expected something bad, I got something bad. And, sometimes, it was so bad, to make me laugh, so extra points for the stupidity: I appreciate something that makes me laugh, way more than something that makes me angry.

And, as I said in my previous posts, even something bad is useful, because it teaches you how NOT to do something.

So thank you, Lore Olympus, for being a terrible teacher. And thank you for making me appreciate the original myths even more. There's a reason why they still stand after millennials and can still capture the popular imagination, while this series will probably be forgotten in a couple years.

To you all, my readers: if you managed to reach the end of LO like me, congrats for surviving it, I hope you learned something useful about how to make better art.

But if you never approached Lore Olympus, don't do it: it's not worth the time you will lose.

Unless you want to see with your own eyes how does it look a story with zero planning and random ideas thrown everywhere. In that case, please, be my guest: read it and learn how not to write. You will learn a lot from this.

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(How about a coffee? ☕)

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TAGLIST:

@royalprinceroman @mudpuddlenl @allmycrushesaredead @aquatedia @whatishappeningrightnow @effortiswhatmatters @bella-in-a-bag @doydoune @forever-third-wheeling @payte @hypnossanders​  @idontreallyknow24​  @imcrushedbyarainbowoffical @patton-cake​  @hereissananxiousmess​  @purplebronzeandblue​  @cynicalandsarcastic​ ​@lost-in-thought-20 @andtheyreonfire​ 

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lore Olympus fans are going to HATE this

APOLLO. DID. NOT. RAPE. PERSEPHONE. IN. THE. MYTHS. Rachel did that for her horribly unfinished plot, and because all of y’all have never read actual Greek myths you have immediately bombarded even the APOLLO FROM GREEK MYTH WIKI saying that he raped Persephone. Never happened. I’ve seen so many people get hate for liking Apollo, the MYTH Apollo, because your Rachel Smythe’s self insert webtoon comic said so. i’m done. I was fine with people liking Lore Olympus but the heavy backlash, online hate, and cyber bullying that happens because of this self-insert pussyphone fanfic that completely altered Greek myths says that Apollo “miehmiehmieh”. The only “lore” you know is Lore Olympus.

Check out a new update from my series, Hera's Boys! It features Ares and Hephaestus as children and their trials and struggles with growing up.

I had a lot of fun with this one in particular, as it is my first time doing something pretty graphic. More like this will come in the future for sure! Let me know what you think!

I’m not sure why every male have to have a crush on Miss Mary Sue . They’re always blushing whenever they’re near her or talking about her... it’s weird Lmao