What’s your favorite myth?

Question

Elena · Answer

The Forgotten Beasts of Eld by Patricia McKillip: This story has stayed with me since reading as a child, when I fell in love with every mythical creature Sybel calls to her castle’s crystal observatory. Forever dreaming of the liralen.

Elena · Answer

The Witch: WOULDST THOU LIKE TO LIVE DELICIOUSLY???

Soso good, not just for Halloween

Elena · Answer

The Green Knight: Love love love this film I cannot get enough of it, a masterpiece imo. Every shot is STUNNING and the story is haunting and twisty and feels like a timeless dark fairytale. It’s based off a real story from the 14th century and weaves in other legends and tales from that time. Kind of like a hot spooky medieval Forrest Gump?

It honestly gets better every time I see it and I notice new things each time. Some people find it a bit too tense to enjoy on the first watch but I didn’t experience it that way.

My advice is to just watch it and do not read further unless you’re a person who needs to know more before you watch! To try to describe the plot is to miss the point in some ways but here goes —

The Green Knight (a literal tree-man) rides into a Yuletide gathering at King Arthur’s round table, and challenges his boldest and bravest knight to a Christmas game to see who can best him. Whatever happens, what is done to the Green Knight shall be returned to the knight who dealt the blow in exactly one year. It seems like it should be a contest of swordplay but it is actually a test of character.

The hapless and selfish/slightly unscrupulous, yet still lovable wannabe knight Gawain (Dev Patel) who is also the nephew of King Arthur, soon finds himself on a quest not quite to prove himself but to find out if he has honor, and possibly redeem himself from a crime of his own hubris / overcompensation.

Cathy · Answer

Myth of the Week: Persephone: Persephone’s story resonates with me the most. Visiting the dark and returning to the light is not always easy but an integral part of life and growth.

Doom SFX · Answer

Perseus: Hard to pick a favorite but because the 1981 Clash of the Titans melted my brain as a kid I’ll say all the adventures of Perseus.

James Kylstra · Answer

Orpheus and Eurydice: The original marshmallow test

D · Answer

Circe (Madeline Miller’s retelling): The myth of Circe has always fascinated me as someone who feels very at home with nonhuman animals and herbs, less so with bio family. Miller’s rendition is so compassionate and descriptive, especially the witchy island scenes. I do think Pigs deserve a little more dignity across the board in human cultures and languages but that’s a story for another time. Miller’s Song of Achilles is a great (beautifully queer) myth as well.