Epic The Musical "The Circe Saga" FULL Reaction!

"Odysseus I was so worried you were going to become a fuckboy!" Things I never expected to hear :) I'm glad you're enjoying this. It's interesting to see your take on things having no experience with the source material. We read that in school when I was but a teeny tiny nerdling, and since then I've encountered it in movies, lit, video games, board games, and a lot of early D&D material :) So it's nice to run into somebody that can look at it with new eyes.

Tintros

I still love the irony(?) of Hermes being on the circe saga with a va with that name yet the first saga was the Troy saga🤣

Phoenix Mackenzie

And is also known to just show up and go "here have this" to mortals because it could be fun/Interesting to see what happens

Phoenix Mackenzie

Also Hermes was known for just showing up to give mortals stuff just to see what happened (could be fun/interesting) so it wasn't seen as a "what's he gonna want in return" unlike other gods/goddesses

Phoenix Mackenzie

This one's cool(though I keep seeing it used more and more) but I'll always be biased for Ximena's(obviously) which I'm sadly seeing less people use/see

Phoenix Mackenzie

Haven't seen this Wouldn't You Like animatic before but I like it (though it doesn't surpass Ximena Natzel's, the absolute peak)

SauceyRed

To quote the Ghost King himself ,,Please... He doesn't understand that word. The Underworld is not kind, there is only justice..." (This is one of the prime reasons when he is a terrifing foe to go up against - And the fact that most enemies that the Half-Bloods face ARE from there - in some essence - And they (the forces Hades sends personally) know that hurting the boss' kid would not be good for them, in any capacity)

LikeCat

Also gotta yap abt Hades rq cause the way Disney portrayed him is absolutely inaccurate. Unlike a lot of the greek gods, Hades isn't some petty ass, he does the job he's given, which is watching over the underworld and the souls that reside there, and does it well, he's perhaps the most fair god, the reason media tends to villainise him is because he's associated with death and the underworld, which christianity immediatly labels as hell and the devil, when the underworld in greek mythology is the final resting place of all souls, good and evil and Hades is just the one overseeing the order.

Aiste Laurynaityte

the reason why Odysseus' story goes completely crazy after the Trojan war is quite simply fate. In greek mythology there are the fates who decide and dictate the lives of mortals and its nothing you can change. As for Hermes, while he is a bit of a trickster, he is also the god of travelers, so its basically his job to help him, that and Hermes is Odysseus' great grandfather, though i don't really see it as the reason why he helps Odysseus

Aiste Laurynaityte

*Cough* PJO, HoO, ToA and every ,,spin-off" *Cough*

LikeCat

I did not known that Hermes was the one who guided souls at the River Styx until AFTER reading ,,The Last Olimpian"...Let's just say his gesture towards Luke had me in tears after learning this fact... Like that whole storyline didn't already. (Also just putting it out May Castellan never found out what happened to Luke after TLO... From what I can remember)

LikeCat

Fun fact about Ody & Hermes; Hermes is his grandpa. He is a son of Zeus, God of Thieves, Trickery, Merchants, Travelers, and a shit ton of other stuff, but most notable the Messenger of the Gods. He's the Greek version of Loki but less malicious in his mischief. He is considered a chthonic god (Underworld god) because one of his duties is also to help guide the dead to River of Styx. But him being the patron of travelers is a big reason why he offers Ody help. Circe: Daughter of the Titan Helios (God of the Sun and the sun itself. Not to be confused with Apollo who drives the sun chariot. Titans were the generation of Gods before the Olympians). While it's vague on if she's a full fledged god or not, she is incredibly powerful. Known for turning men who come to her island into beasts. Sometimes stories cite her as doing that as to protect the women on her island (the nymphs), sometimes it's just out of simple malice. She was also a lover of Odysseus in the myths, sometimes she was the mother of his son (Telegonus) sometimes she was the wife of Telemachus (Ody + Penelopes son). Circe is also associated with other major myths. Her sister, Pasiphae, is the mother of the minotaur (The second most iconic greek monster), and Ariadne (Who became the wife of Dionysus, the god of wine and mania) . Her brother Perses was the holder of the Golden Fleece that was crucial to the Argonauts story. He (Perses) is also the father of Medea (Another powerful and iconic Greek witch who was Jason's wife. Though that was a marriage that ended in tragedy and violence) As for the moly, generally myth wise was that it was deadly for a mortal to harvest, but not for a god as they are deathless, which is why Circe called Ody out having gotten it from Hermes.

Adrian_B

Aside from the notes that people already wrote about Circe, how this goes on The Odyssey, what nymphs are and such, Ancient Greece was very, very mysoginist. They considered women half human and the goddesses they had in higher steem were the ones that were virgins by choice (Athena, Artemis, Hestia...) or goddesses that gave them something of value (and they were portrayed as petty) like Aphrodite or Hera. That was bad but, in the other hand, being a gay man was fully accepted and considered the norm, so one thing from the other... In any case, Circe is one of those portrayals of a dangerous woman, evil, seducing, a moral lesson to not trust women... with the times, she ended up being a feminist icon. She was trying to protect her nymph from SA and murder and taking the nymphs mostly are benign beings of nature, is understandable. Still in media she's portrayed as evil (she's one of Wonder Woman's enemies on DC Comics, for example) but I love the spin Epic gives on her and on Odysseus himself.

Vengerin

38:40 of course there’s more drama, it’s Ancient Greece 😂

Siri2319

Hermes is the messenger of the gods, and in this case, generally pretty benign. Another reason he might be helping Odysseus is he is actually Odysseus’s ancestor

Mary

Another fun fact: To my knowledge, the voice actress of Circe and the voice of ody (Jorge) are dating and Jorge posted a bit where him and circe's voice actress are acting out there are other ways irl. 😂😂😂

PinkPonytail _Girl

Fun fact ody conjures up a Cyclops to fight circe's chimera

PinkPonytail _Girl

YES MY FAVORITE CHARACTER HERMES! He is SUCH a bop and he is sooo silly 😂😂😂😂

PinkPonytail _Girl

Out of every saga in the musical, this is the one that sticks closest to the source material. There's only two major changes: first, how the moly works. In the original, it just nullifies Circe's magic, rather than granting Odysseus his own magic. Second, in the original, Circe succeeds at seducing Odysseus. To what extent Odysseus consented to this is a matter of considerable debate- was he outright magically coerced, was he a fully willing participant, or somewhere in the middle where he agreed to it to get her to release his crew and give them information- but the text is clear and unambiguous that one way or another, Circe and Odysseus did have sex. The source material also has the crew stay on Circe's island (called Aeaea) for a year, which the musical doesn't really show, but it also doesn't do anything to exclude a time skip to the next saga, so that doesn't qualify as a change. Exactly what sort of being Circe is varies with the source. The Odyssey describes her as a goddess, but other sources describe her as a nymph or occasionally even a mortal witch. For the most part, Epic's Eurylochus is a composite character of various crew members so Odysseus can have one specific person to interact with without having to cast and introduce a whole bunch of individual characters who only have one or two significant scenes (Polites isn't even really a composite character, but an original character with the name of a minor character from the original). Eurylochus is, however, specified as the one who stays behind at Circe's palace and escapes to inform Odysseus in the original. The reason so many more Achaean soldiers have died after the Trojan War than during it is that during the war, at least some of the gods were on their side. After their conduct during the war and on their returns home, the gods are mad at almost everyone involved. Hermes is the messenger of the gods and god of travelers. He's also a trickster god and the god of thieves. Hermes had some connection with Odysseus's grandfather Autoclyus, with sources varying about whether Hermes was Autoclyus's mentor or his father (which would make him Odysseus's great-grandfather). Odysseus had probably never actually met Hermes at this point, but Hermes is a major god and he appears here with his divine symbols like his winged shoes and caduceus (the staff with the snakes on it), so any Greek king worth his laurels would immediately recognize him. His reasons for helping Odysseus aren't entirely clear here. In the source material, he supported the Achaeans in the Trojan War, so he may still have been helping Odysseus because of that. In Epic, he might just be playing his trickster role and he'd rather see a proper fight rather than Circe just zapping Odysseus and being done with it. Nymphs in Greek mythology are a class of nature spirits. They're not quite gods, but they're still immortal and have magic powers. They're sort of vaguely comparable to angels in Abrahamic religions, though they have a lot more of their own agency rather than exclusively serving the major gods. In the context of Greek culture, Odysseus's crew being there as guests if anything makes it worse for Circe to have harmed them. Hospitality to guests was hugely important to the Greeks, and many other ancient cultures, because it was crucial for being able to travel at all back then. Travel was incredibly time-consuming and dangerous, and outside of a few of the largest cities, there weren't hotels or anything like that to accommodate travelers when they arrived. The hospitality of random strangers was the only way most travelers could get food and shelter at even their destination, never mind intermediate stops, so there were all sorts of religious rules and practices to enforce sacred hospitality.

Production_Run

Hermes, hands-down was one of the best parts of the saga next to Circe‘s. If you wanna check out Hermes‘s voice actor, he actually has his own YouTube channel where he’s been making songs. His real name is Troy doherty. https://youtu.be/Yox0vw2MTyw?si=5ocDcLigeUIWozLq

Meghan Ross

There's a neat musical thing that I really love with the last two songs of this saga. Epic tends to use specific instruments to represent specific characters. Odysseus's is a guitar, and I believe Circe's is either a cello or a violin? Anyways, during Done For, both of their instruments are playing together, to show them competing for control of the situation. In There Are Other Ways, Odysseus's instrument completely vanishes and you only hear Circe's, showing that she now has complete over the situation.

Thunder

The book circe(assuming you mean the miller one) is basically a fanfic🤷 and yes after what happened last time she doesn't trust them, it's a fear response based on prior experience 🤷 it's like saying "I don't go on/near rollercoasters after I almost died on one" or "I got SA'd wearing X thing so I don't/can't wear that thing ever again" she's reacting based on previous experience 🤷 my retired assistance dog is the same, she's been almost attacked and because of it she's now highly reactive(of other dogs show active attention to her she panics) and had to be pulled from work

Phoenix Mackenzie

*great grandson. also not really, Hermes thought it'd be fun to see what happens(as he does), circe knows Hermes vibe of showing up and "here have this"-ing mortals to see what happens 🤷

Phoenix Mackenzie

"i died and nobody noticed, I died and nobody cared!"(False. Ody didn't notice, or care🤣)

Phoenix Mackenzie

Incorrect! A man fell off of circes roof and died :) there was one death

FrisbeeDude42

Yeeees, my favourite saga with my 2 favourite voices in Circe and Hermes and Hermes as my all over favourite character. He's so silly and charming. Jorge (the creator or Epic and the voice of Ody) met Talya in auditions and they are dating, so indeed their fates are intwined

tapdisneyintome

A little bit of fun trivia for you is that Odysseus is the grandson of Hermes! It’s a bit of a factor as to why he got the moly, but the musical also implies that Circe and Hermes just don’t like each other.

Elijah Mishmash

Sav Miller

"i died and nobody noticed, I died and nobody cared!"(False. Ody didn't notice, or care🤣)

Phoenix Mackenzie

OKAY CHANGE TIME! In the Odyssey, Circe offering herself to Odysseus is seen as a right of the host, and it is the right of Odysseus as a guest to accept the offer. This is what happens because it would be rude in the culture to refuse. Especially with Circe being unmarried. Also, she IS a goddess so there is a risk of spurring the advances of the divine. Greek mythology is chock full of cases as such. Overall, the Odyssey itself is a story detailing the rights of hospitality as seen by the Achaeans. Polyphemus violated guest rights by killing and eating Odysseus’s men, Odysseus’s men violated guest rights by over indulging in Circe’s palace (which triggered the spell), and a bunch of other things that will be touched on later in EPIC. In general, I love the musical, but as an adaptation it misses a lot of key things to note when it comes to the actual story

EDHPlayer

Morgan, i love your hair

Wukongfan32

When you're done with the musical, you should check out Troy Doherty's (Hermes VA) Ithaca vlog. It's quite funny and does a great job introducing most of the cast and their casting process. It does have some spoilers, though, so I'd recommend watching it when you're done.

SourCoon

[Mod] Remember, please don’t spoil anything past what Morgan’s currently watched.

Spywi

Hermes is the best! Most helpful god in this whole musical

jessie H

"Atleast no one died in this saga" About that....

Wolfan Terror

I'm pretty sure the goal of them going to the underworld is for Odysseus and his crew to find the prophet Circe was talking about and that said prophet should tell them how to get home or if it is even possible.

Nici

YAAAASSSSS!!!! We've arrived at my next favorite saga, The Circe Saga. AAAAHHH!!! I'm so excited to see your reaction of this!! 8:00, Eurillicus: "Cause we are weak to a power like this!" Ody: "What was it?" Eur: "A woman." Me and Ody: "What😑?" Morgan: "A WOMAN🤣🤣🤣!?" 🤣🤣🤣🤣 11:00. Are you serious😳?! THAT CAN HAPPEN?! Cannibalism without knowing... OH MY TITAN😱😱😱 21:15. And there you have it folks. My favorite God in this whole Musical. Yes, Athena has some good points, but Hermes is so much fun! And a little bit mischievous😏 26:35, Circe doing her *thing* here, and Morgan getting an Ace Panic Moment😳🖤🩶🤍💜. Totally understandable Morgan. I'm gonna have such a Bisexual panic the next couple minutes😳🩷💜💙 32:55. YEESSSS!!! For once... For ONCE, talking worked😁😁😁 35:20(last edit), "She turned out to be okay😁." YES❤️‍🔥!!! I love that Circe choose to show Ody and his men and act of kindness, and help them out. Now, we're off to the Underworld Saga, which is... short. I can say that! It's short! We're talking few songs here!! But anyway, I loved this reaction! And I'm looking forward to the next reaction. See ya then Morgan. Bye👋🏼😁

Julie Moum

No one WE knew!

Julie Moum

LET'S GOOO Elijah just posted RWBY and now Morgan with the next saga hell yeah! And this one has one of my favorite songs, Done For.

SauceyRed

"least no one died in this saga!" are you sure?

Levi Kenway