Eva B.'s Reviews > Lore Olympus: Volume One

Yeah I’m generally not comfortable with the romanticization of the Persephone and Hades myth, but granted I haven’t met one with a comfortable age gap

Sarina wrote: "Yeah I’m generally not comfortable with the romanticization of the Persephone and Hades myth, but granted I haven’t met one with a comfortable age gap"

It's kind of weird to me how much it's been romanticized lately...I'm not inherently opposed to retellings of it, but so many do the "naive born-sexy-yesterday girl falls for much older and much more mature man" trope and I just do Not vibe with it most of the time. Persephone in this is 19/20 to Hades' two thousand year old; it's referenced SO MANY times how young and naive she is and it just feels gross.

The cover for volume two just highlights all the bad vibes

I agree 100%. The myth of Hades and Persephone shouldn’t be romanticized.

Someone needs to watch the Hades and Persephone YouTube video by Overly Sarcastic Productions. I'd paste the link but goodreads won't allow me

4l3x wrote: "Someone needs to watch the Hades and Persephone YouTube video by Overly Sarcastic Productions. I'd paste the link but goodreads won't allow me"

I'm actually a huge fan of Overly Sarcastic Productions and of the Hades and Persephone myth itself, although Orpheus and Eurydice is my favorite. What I am not a huge fan of is a comic that has a main relationship between a man who is thousands of years old, and a nineteen year old who acts like she's 16. I genuinely do not care if other people like this, but it was not for me.

I tried reading this on Webtoons, but couldn't get past the first few episodes. I dunno, the women all felt too sexualized for my liking, and the guys were just... eh, you get what I'm saying. And Persephone just felt like such a baby iswtg I was ready to slap her after Ep 1.
I agree with you that their age gap and relationship (Hades is her uncle, for god's sake) isn't nice at all.
Also, Overly Sarcastic Productions is amazing! They have a fun way of telling their stories, which makes recapping myths, legends, fables and folktales a lot easier for me

Sara wrote: "Also, most of the female characters have been oversexualized which was disgusting. And I hate how Persephone's so stupid and weak!"

I don't mind that Persephone is naive on its own--I mean, considering her upbringing, it makes sense--but the way that it's used to 1) instantly make everyone endeared to her (or lust over her) and 2) to highlight her immaturity compared to Hades is annoying. Also yeah, I hate how literally all of the female characters are constantly sexualized. The men are too, but not to the same extent imo.

Ry wrote: "I tried reading this on Webtoons, but couldn't get past the first few episodes. I dunno, the women all felt too sexualized for my liking, and the guys were just... eh, you get what I'm saying. And ..."

I love OSP's series on classic lit! Their Frankenstein video is one of my favorites. Yeah, all of the women (at least that I can remember) have more or less the same design but with different hair and a different color motif: huge boobs, hourglass waist, wide hips/big butt. To be fair, I don't think they're related in this version, but also the relationships between the gods as a whole are confusing. Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades are all brothers, but not related to Hestia, Demeter, and Hera? I think? Apollo and Artemis are there but idk if they're Zeus's kids or not. I genuinely do not remember if Athena, Hephaestus, Hestia, or Hermes even showed up in this, and if they did, they were clearly too bland to stand out.

Sara wrote: "I understand that Persephone was naive, given her upbringing, but this is one long webtoon series, and she does grow a bit, and finally starts to understand things, and yet she keeps acting stupid,..."

That's fair! I have not read the web series, just this comic, so I can't really speak to her development as a whole. If you've read further into the series, does the catalyst for her development end up being (view spoiler)[ her being raped by Apollo? (hide spoiler)] Because if so...yikes.

Eva wrote: "Ry wrote: "I tried reading this on Webtoons, but couldn't get past the first few episodes. I dunno, the women all felt too sexualized for my liking, and the guys were just... eh, you get what I'm s..."

I love their "Miscellaneous Myths" and "Fables and Folktales"
From classic lit I've only seen the Inferno and the Iliad and Odyssey
I'm thinking about watching their "Trope Talk" as well

Ry wrote: "Eva wrote: "Ry wrote: "I tried reading this on Webtoons, but couldn't get past the first few episodes. I dunno, the women all felt too sexualized for my liking, and the guys were just... eh, you ge..."

I really like the Trope Talks! If you're very spoiler-adverse, I would advice not watching them, as Red breaks down examples from a lot of different sources (although she does say which ones in the video's description) but they're very informative!

Eva wrote: "Ry wrote: "Eva wrote: "Ry wrote: "I tried reading this on Webtoons, but couldn't get past the first few episodes. I dunno, the women all felt too sexualized for my liking, and the guys were just......"

Ah. Thanks for the heads-up!

Ry wrote: "Eva wrote: "Ry wrote: "Eva wrote: "Ry wrote: "I tried reading this on Webtoons, but couldn't get past the first few episodes. I dunno, the women all felt too sexualized for my liking, and the guys ..."

No problem!

I bought the physical copy of this and besides the beautiful art, I really expected more. I don't like the recent trend of spicy retellings of Hades and Persephone and thought this comic could be what I am looking for but sadly, it was not.

If you like myths of Hades and Persephone, Achilles and Patroclus, Orpheus and Eurydice (and greek mythology in general) and want to have some sort of novel-like interaction with it I HIGHLY RECOMMEND YOU TO PLAY HADES. It is a dungeon rouge-like videogame where you get to interact with all sorts of mythological characters (gods, heroes, etc) and even build relationships with them. You play as Zagreus, son of Hades and Persephone (ofc, there are various myths of his origin) who is trying to escape the underworld to get to see his mother. All dialogues and interactions with characters are brilliant and even after 80 hours of gameplay, I did not have a character to repeat themselves.

So in conclusion, if you like videogames and greek mythology, try HADES <3

(currently on sale for 13,64€ on Steam) ;)

Lucia wrote: "I bought the physical copy of this and besides the beautiful art, I really expected more. I don't like the recent trend of spicy retellings of Hades and Persephone and thought this comic could be w..."

I'm not much of a gamer, but I've heard amazing things about Hades!! I'll have to try it if I ever get into gaming. I'm planning to relisten to Hadestown (the London live recording and the Broadway one, the latter of which I haven't listened to in full) so hopefully that gives me my Greek mythology fix!

Ry wrote: "I agree with you that their age gap and relationship (Hades is her uncle, for god's sake) isn't nice at all."
And Zeus and Hera are brother and Sister. Welcome to Greek mythology. Also, the age gap is also a non issue as they are immortal beings.

I brought up the Overly Sarcastic Productions video as they talk in depth about the whole myth and how people forget that Persephone is not this naive girl, goddes of spring, she is the goddess of the Underworld, spring returning when she's back in the surface is just a byproduct of her mum being happy she's back.

Jillian wrote: The myth of Hades and Persephone shouldn’t be romanticized.
Hades and Persephone is they most functional couple in greek mythology, so... I'm not sure why they shouldn't be

Lucia wrote: I HIGHLY RECOMMEND YOU TO PLAY HADES
I really second this. I've played about 170-200h of that game (I've lost count XD) and for the story alone it's amazing. It recently won a Hugo award, I didn't even knew they gave Hugo awards to videogames :D. It has a setting that makes the game progressively easier if you are not that much into gaming and you just want to enjoy the story

Persephone might not be a naive girl in the original myth, but she definitely is in this adaptation. As with the age gap, I don't particularly care if there's an age gap in the original myth--I do care that there is a nearly 2,000 year age gap between the main couple of a piece of media that was made in modern times that is impossible to ignore due to the sheer maturity gap between the characters. Also, being the most functional couple in Greek mythology is not a particularly high bar to hurdle.

Is Hades on PC or counsel? I'll have to check it out sometime! I'd also recommend that you listen to Hadestown, it's a really interesting take on Orpheus and Eurydice. The London live recording is my preferred version of the soundtrack but the Broadway one is good too. Amber Gray (Persephone) and Patrick Page (Hades) both have very distinct voices that add a lot to their roles.

Eva wrote: Is Hades on PC or counsel?

It's actually available on every platform now!:) I have it on my ntb (even though you might need a controller to play, I cannot imagine playing it on a keyboard - though I know ppl who do)

And thanks for the recommendation, I will surely check out Hadestown soon!

Lucia wrote: "Eva wrote: Is Hades on PC or counsel?

It's actually available on every platform now!:) I have it on my ntb (even though you might need a controller to play, I cannot imagine playing it on a keyboa..."

No problem; thanks for yours!

Ah! I'm not alone!
I've been trying to read it on Webtoon and I'm feeling kind of grossed out by it. There is definite grooming going on and it's very uncomfortable. The art is cool, but the story is downright cringey. I'm actually afraid of the hype and the fact most people don't question the rape culturey vibe of it.

LOL

4l3x wrote: "Ry wrote: "I agree with you that their age gap and relationship (Hades is her uncle, for god's sake) isn't nice at all."
And Zeus and Hera are brother and Sister. Welcome to Greek mythology. Also, ..."

I disagree. It shouldn't be romanticized because the whole myth was based on a mother's grief about her daughter being abducted and married off. It happened in Greece a lot and for some reason, not that many people knows about this fact.