DPP: Mythology

[useyourlove.livejournal.com]

I'm pretty fond of all the Greek (and later Roman) references that are woven throughout BSG. For some reason, I love when people incorporate the mythologies into their fics. What's your favorite thing for people to work into fics? What's your favorite bit of mythology related to pilots (see my icon for mine! The whole Arrow of Apollo thing is just priceless.)

I also like when the actual historical mythology comes up in BSG discussions and meta, and it tends to illuminate things in different ways. What pieces of mythology have you come across that make you rethink some of your assumptions? What make you see the story in a different way?

We've pretty much been talking about this all week, haven't we?? ;-)

Comments

[n-e-star.livejournal.com]

The first mythical connection I made was Apollo/Starbuck with Apollo/Daphne - doomed to love the one person that will always run from them.

Apollo loved her, and longed to obtain her; and he who gives oracles to all the world was not wise enough to look into his own fortunes. He saw her hair flung loose over her shoulders, and said, "If so charming, in disorder, what would it be if arranged?" He saw her eyes bright as stars; he saw her lips, and was not satisfied with only seeing them. He admired her hands and arms, naked to the shoulder, and whatever was hidden from view he imagined more beautiful still. He followed her; she fled, swifter than the wind, and delayed not a moment at his entreaties.
~ Bullfinch

[rachelindeed.livejournal.com]

Beautiful quotation! I was also inspired by that myth, and wrote a little ficlet set around "Sometimes a Great Notion" :)

Daphne (http://rachelindeed.livejournal.com/9014.html). The god Apollo loved a huntress, the Scriptures said, who fled from him in terror.

[n-e-star.livejournal.com]

My first time writing for BSG was because of this myth - Whom the Gods Would Destroy (http://palis-delon.livejournal.com/527.html)

[useyourlove.livejournal.com]

That quote is perfect, and I'm ashamed to admit that I'd never even heard of this myth before. Both of these fics sound amazing.

[callmeonetrack.livejournal.com]

There's so many ways to go with it. Allusions to Kara as Artemis to Lee's Apollo are probably my favorite and I've used it in at least a couple fics myself, and have enjoyed it in many more. I also wrote a tiny ficlet of Apollo and Aurora (set after Maelstrom of course) of her holding open the gates of heaven for Lee's chariot--I like the parallels with her leading the fleet (and Lee--"You're going to love it.") to Earth.

Obviously her imprisonment on New Caprica with Leoben has lots of allusions to the Persephone myth too...I actually wrote a tiny drabble of Kara eating a pomegranate too now that I think about it. Hee.

It's a fun extra layer to explore--I'm surprised there's not more mythology fic actually.

[useyourlove.livejournal.com]

Oh wow I never thought of the New Caprica bit as Persephone!! Aaaah that makes it even more wonderful. My favorite is the Apollo and Artemis parallels as well--they just seem to fit so nicely into that.

It is surprising their isn't more. Now I'm going to go think on it and see if I can come up with why.

[n-e-star.livejournal.com]

her imprisonment on New Caprica with Leoben has lots of allusions to the Persephone myth

And if you twist it sideways she could become Eurydice and Lee, Orpheus - risking his life to save her, but still losing her at the last moment.

[rachelindeed.livejournal.com]

I've enjoyed playing with mythology in my stories as well. I wrote a Kara/Lee version of the Persephone myth called He Kindly Stopped for Me (http://rachelindeed.livejournal.com/11816.html), which was fun, and a post-finale ficlet about Lee called Telemachus (http://rachelindeed.livejournal.com/8915.html) which explored some parallels with The Odyssey. And the fourth little section in Five histories and one present (http://rachelindeed.livejournal.com/10716.html) is set during the Trojan War, with Lee as Hector and Kara as Iphegenia. So yeah, I dabble. I think that kind of storytelling can be beautiful.

I think one of the very best stories out there is shah_of_blah's amazing Portraits (http://shah-of-blah.livejournal.com/30531.html), which is about how Kara's memory grows into legend.

And taragel's lovely, tragic Maelstrom fic that she mentioned above is called Faith Like Wings (http://taragel.livejournal.com/76433.html#cutid1).

My personal favorite Artemis reference comes in the middle of brynnmck's gorgeous Academy fic One Taste of the Apple (http://brynnmck.livejournal.com/32749.html).

And I know that both kag523 and deborah_judge incorporate mythology very deeply in their stories.

[useyourlove.livejournal.com]

Oh my great goodness your stories sound amazing and are going on my long list of to-read. And ah! You bring more! :-) I always love the way kag523 weaves her own bit of mythology with show canon and existing myths. That's one of my favorite parts of her stories.

[callmeonetrack.livejournal.com]

Oops--that wasn't the fic I meant actually. But thank you for the kind rec!(I wrote a really short drabble-like fic that literally was Lee dreaming that he was the real Apollo as he died, and Kara opening the gates to heaven for him. I'm not sure where it is now, it was here on N_T somewhere in commentland!)

[rachelindeed.livejournal.com]

Oh, yes, of course, I remember that. It was back in my relatively early fandom days, I think.

I wrote something about Apollo & Aurora that time, too. I can google a sentence from it and find the post. Hang on...

Here it is: Apollo and Aurora taragel comment!fic (http://no-takebacks.livejournal.com/59290.html?thread=4257946#t4257946)

*i can haz mad google skillz*

[useyourlove.livejournal.com]

GOOGLE FOO! ;-)

[callmeonetrack.livejournal.com]

ah thanks bb! I'll archive it on my site this time!

[pressdbtwnpages.livejournal.com]

I've been kind of intrigued lately by the idea of incorporating myths and legends outside of Greek and Roman canon. Within the show itself, there are examples drawn from Norse (Ragnar, Valkyrie) and Egyptian (Isis) mythology and Judeo-Christianity.

If the conceit of Daybreak is that the Colonials are the first humans on Earth, wouldn't all really old religions/beliefs (Buddhism, Celtic paganism, etc, in addition to the ones already included) stem from the colonists?

[useyourlove.livejournal.com]

If the conceit of Daybreak is that the Colonials are the first humans on Earth, wouldn't all really old religions/beliefs (Buddhism, Celtic paganism, etc, in addition to the ones already included) stem from the colonists?

I actually really like this notion. I always try and associate different myths and cultures with each of the 12 colonies but they never really told us much about each one, so it's kind of hard. The only ones we know are Caprica and a bit of Tauron. And a small bit about others. But I do think it would be interesting to actually apply all the religions to the different colonies.

[pressdbtwnpages.livejournal.com]

We know a bit about Sagitarron the religious extremists as well.

I don't even know that the planets would have different religious ideas necessarily, or if just in settling on Earth, the majority of Thor worshipers got together and wound up in Scandinavia, the people with Hindu ideas stopped in Asia, the Greek/Roman idea took root especially strongly in the Mediterranean, and so on.

[useyourlove.livejournal.com]

I think Gemenon was supposed to be the spiritual hub of pretty much all the religions (judging by Caprica) but that was confusing to me somehow, so I'm still not sure.

[wicked-sassy.livejournal.com]

Sorta relevant? Here's an Apollo poem:

Archaic Torso of Apollo
by Rainer Maria Rilke
translated by Stephen Mitchell

We cannot know his legendary head
with eyes like ripening fruit. And yet his torso
is still suffused with brilliance from inside,
like a lamp, in which his gaze, now turned to low,

gleams in all its power. Otherwise
the curved breast could not dazzle you so, nor could
a smile run through the placid hips and thighs
to that dark center where procreation flared.

Otherwise this stone would seem defaced
beneath the translucent cascade of the shoulders
and would not glisten like a wild beast's fur:

would not, from all the borders of itself,
burst like a star: for here there is no place
that does not see you. You must change your life.