Mario Onglao's Blog

Odysseus vs Swine

(Picture from: http://www.independent.co.uk/multimedia/archive/00034/homer_34395b.jpg)

Imagine being away from home for 20 long years, and after all your toil and sacrifice, coming back to find your house inhabited by swines and lowlifes who are trying to woo your wife.  You see them smile and laugh joyously with their wide, toothy grins that are encrusted with months-old leftovers that they took from your own supply.   They stole your property,  harassed your loving family, abused your innocent servants, desecrated your humble abode, and so much more.  What will you do?

This is what Odysseus experienced after 20 years of loneliness and isolation.  The moment he expected to find joy and comfort, he instead found indecent men sullying his house.  So what did he do?  He killed them all.  He was not a pushover; he was not forgiving.  Being wronged, what else could he do but fight for his own rights?  In this manner, he shows how the Greeks had the mentality of “an eye for an eye”, or how everyone gets what he deserves.

When Odysseus acted upon this justice, he, however, did not let anger take control of him.  He calmly devised a plan that would ensure victory, showing the cautiousness and intelligence that set him above the rest.  He first surveyed the situation, with a little makeover from Athena.  Next, he talked to the Telemachus and the swineherd to ask for help in the upcoming slaughter.  He did not act out of plain emotions; he did things with certain victory as his goal.

Another factor that affected his ascertained victory is the will of the gods.  Without Athena’s help, it would have probably taken him a longer time to reach Ithaca, and who knows what events could have transpired during this time.  Blessed with her divine protection, he reached Ithaca safely, and was able to venture into his own home without being recognized by anyone.  His reunion with Telemachus was also brought about by her divine intervention.  As we can see, the gods controlled everything during the Greek era; their anger or love for you determined how your life would play out.  Fortunately for Odysseus, with his intelligence and cunning, he won over Athena’s favor, which proved to be an essential factor in his journey.

Perseus: Beating the Odds

Whenever I think about Greek Mythology, images of jealous, angry and interfering gods flash through my mind.  I visualize gods running around, falling in love with human women and generally causing trouble. However, this vision of Greek Mythology is one-sided, for it is not just about gods abusing their powers doing whatever they want to do; from their crazy antics comes forth the aspect that most people love about mythology: the quests.  Like Newton’s Third Law of Motion, for each and every moment of godly recreation, a demigod is born who will go on a journey, a quest, to save the world.

Demigods are half-god and half-human heroes who, from birth, are destined to perform great deeds that no  pure human can accomplish.  I’d like to talk about one particular demigod: Perseus.

Perseus was the son of Zeus, the god of lightning, and Danae, a beautiful princess fathered by King Acrisius.  Before Persues was even born, there came a prophecy that King Acrisius would be killed by the son of his daughter, and so,when the news came that Danae had bore a son, Acrisius did what every paranoid father would do; he stuffed his daughter and her infant son into a coffin, and chucked them into the sea.  However, be it through luck or divine intervention, they managed to survive long enough to reach Seriphos, the kingdom of King Polydectes, where they were taken in by a fisherman, Dictys, who was also the king’s brother.  With a strong and simple model, Perseus grew into manhood.

One day, Polydectes heard about the beautiful Danae (for a king, he’s pretty slow with the news) and immediately fell in love with her.  Too bad for him though, Perseus stood in the way and was against it; Polydectes had to get rid of him.  Thus, pretending to be in love with a different woman, Hippodameia (poor girl), he asked every person in his kingdom for a wedding gift, knowing full well that Perseus had nothing to offer.  With a little pressure from the king, Perseus found himself stupidly promising to get Medusa’s head as a wedding present.

This quest would have been impossible for normal humans, but, luckily, Perseus was no ordinary mortal.  With gods for his uncles and aunts, Perseus pretty much had everything planned for him.  Sometime on his journey, Hermes and Athena flew down from the heavens and told him exactly what he had to do.  Go to Atlas, who will point you towards the Graeae, who, with a little persuasion, will tell you how to find the nymphs who will give you what you need to kill Medusa.  As a parting gift, Athena gave Perseus a mirrored shield while Hermes even gave Perseus a sickle of adamant and a pair of winged sandals to boot.

Perseus set of on his predetermined journey, and accomplished everything.  He found the nymphs who gave him an invisibility cap and a magic pouch.  So, with everything he could possibly need, he donned his cap and ventured into Medusa”s lair.  When, luck of lucks, he found her asleep!  Better safe than sorry, he, still invisible, used the mirrored shield to watch her reflection, and slowly crept up to her.  Slash.  End quest.

As he flew back towards king Polydectes, he stopped by Larisa and participated in a small sports contest.  For some reason, he misfired and flung the discus into the throngs of people, hitting someone on the head, instantly killing him.  What a coincidence! This person was no other that King Acrisius, Perseus’ long forgotten grandfather.  In the end, the prophecy still managed to fulfill itself.

After this little detour, he flew on towards King Polydectes.  When he landed, he found out that his mom had been abused in his absence.  In his anger, he charged into the palace, shouted, “Let all who are my friends shield their eyes!”, and held up Medusa’s head.  Amazingly, every single one of his foes immediately got turned into stone.  With all his enemies dead, Perseus lived happily ever after.

Perseus was one babied demigod.  From birth until death, he managed to miraculously live through challenge after challenge.  He survived being lost at sea inside a wooden box, and was saved by a fisherman.  On his quest, he was constantly being guided by gods and other immortal beings.  After finishing his quest, as an added bonus, he even accidentally fulfilled the old prophecy that was the source of all his troubles.  Coincidence? I think not; it was divine intervention. His story is an example of how the universe goes out of its way for one person, for the fulfillment of a prophecy – a classic case of Deus Ex Machina.

Perseus’ character and situation is reflected in our present times in a piece of fiction that has recently grown quite famous, the Percy Jackson series.  Percy was named after Perseus, and is also a demigod.  He was named as such because Perseus was the only hero to have had a happy ending.

Aside from Percy Jackson, Perseus is once again seen in the recent movie, Clash of the Titans, a movie loosely based on the story of Perseus.  While the stories may differ greatly, there beginnings and ends still have one common theme.  Through all odds, both Perseus manage to come out on top and live happily ever after.  In the movie, Perseus’ love was revived towards the end as he managed to stop the destruction of Argos.

Through the ages, Perseus’ characteristic of uncharacteristic luck is still remembered and sought after.

http://www.greekmythology.com/Myths/Heroes/Perseus/perseus.html

http://www.mythweb.com/heroes/perseus/index.html

Back to the Basics

Ever since video games first came out and wowed us, they have gone through various evolutions to become what they are today: visually and acoustically mind-blowing.  In fact, this is the common trend; throughout they years, video game companies have been competing to make games with better graphics, clearer sound quality and captivating stories.  From time to time, however, we see games that deviate from this trend, games that focus not on making use of technological advances we have today, but on age-old, but awesome, ideas that have been forgotten throughout the years.

Some people think that companies do this to take advantage of the nostalgia that old players still feel for the old games.  One could say that people think that the companies are only “jumping on the bandwagon” and banking on sentimental feelings.  This may be true, but I’d like to believe that companies go back to the basics not only because old fans will buy it, but because new fans will be able to enjoy it as well.

The old games had substance; they did not need mind-blowing images and audio tracks to make ancient video game fanatics squeal like little girls when the releases came out.  The old games, while short on visual oomph, were chockful of tantalizing ideas.  By going back to the basics, present companies can make use of these forgotten ideas and, when combined with visual art developments, turn them into something that kids of today can still enjoy and love.

Let’s look at this game, Chocobo’s Dungeon 2.  When I was still a child, I had this game for the Playstation One console, and I loved it.  This game is still my favorite game to date, even though it is archaic, and I am sad to say that  through the years, no game like it has ever come out.  It felt like a waste.  Here they had a good game with innovative ideas, and they weren’t even going to make use of it?

Until now, that is, with the release of Final Fantasy Fables: Chocobo’s Dungeon.  This game plays out similarly to the old version, except now it has more appealing graphics and sounds.

However, most players have never even played the old version, so this game appears to be something that is different and new, not a souped up version of the classic game.  New players would still be able to enjoy this game, because that’s how awesome it is.  Square Enix makes use of the classical ideas that I love and bring them into our time today, where people can still love them.