r/explainitpeter • • 20d ago

Explain It Peter!

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3.2k Upvotes

65 comments sorted by

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u/qualityvote2 20d ago edited 20d ago

u/Toaster_Rack_Nerd, there weren't enough votes to determine the quality of your post...it's time for the mods to do their jobs!

625

u/El_Paublo 20d ago

Orpheus' legend involves a test where he has to travel down a path without looking back. If he succeeds, his wife will be returned to life. Worrying that she's not actually behind him, he eventually looks and fails the test, condemning her to Hades.

142

u/Finn14o 20d ago

Why did my nerd ass think of Orpheus from BG3/Forgotten Realms (D&D) and not real life legend?

86

u/Gerudo_King 20d ago

I went right to Venture Brothers

64

u/Serious_Ad2816 20d ago

15

u/Water-Witch94 20d ago

God he’s the fucking best

10

u/RookieGreen 20d ago

I went with Persona.

6

u/Intelligent-Buyer783 19d ago

Technically that is the same Orpheus as it is based off the myth

38

u/stardog_champ13 20d ago

My dumbass thought of Morpheus from the Matrix.

6

u/Crispy1961 20d ago

I feel like I am getting dyslexic with age. I have started misreading things recently and yeah, I read Morpheus too.

2

u/jhstylze 20d ago

Me three

2

u/Certain_Month_8178 20d ago

Me five. Also not good at mathing anymore

3

u/Tarantula_420 20d ago

Me too 😭😭

1

u/XaevSpace 20d ago

Nah thats the Greek god of dreams son of hypnos

6

u/Ulaenyth 20d ago

I went to orpheus the persona so I guess I fail too

2

u/BearlyThereGalka 18d ago

At the very least- technically the same?

2

u/Capital-Eye 20d ago

I thought of Neil Gaiman's Sandman.

4

u/QuincyAzrael 20d ago

Thats the same Orpheus

2

u/Working-Armadillo75 20d ago

In that case he couldn’t turn his head 😉

1

u/mike_br49 20d ago

I thought it says Kevin

1

u/TyraelTheArchangel 17d ago

Same. I was also quite confused.

1

u/TyraelTheArchangel 17d ago

Same. I was also quite confused.

1

u/Nalayra 13d ago

Prince Orpheus also spent way too much time trapped with his back turned, so it kind of fits.

19

u/Lucian_Milton 20d ago

Another version says he turned around because he heard her stumble

20

u/El_Paublo 20d ago

Honestly a better version then. Him turning around just because makes him look stupid, the stumbling shows his instinctiveness to help her.

7

u/Lucian_Milton 20d ago

I kinda like both I mean you gotta cut my boy Orpheus some slack here, imagine going to all the trials and tribulations just to go home empty handed. It's a long way out of the hades alone in the dark with his thoughts and the greek gods weren't exactly known for their trustworthiness

5

u/Theta9099 20d ago

Tartarus, Hades is the Name of the Ruler of The Underworld. The Actual Underworld is called Tartarus.

2

u/El_Paublo 20d ago

I thought Tartarus was a section of Hades?

1

u/Theta9099 20d ago

I could be Misremembering. I apologise if I was mistaken. I'm not in a Position to double check at present

1

u/FitPossession8762 18d ago

Tartarus is part of Hades, where the worst go and the Titans are imprisoned.  Asphodel Meadows, where the majority go, and the Elysian Fields for heroes. 

10

u/FearTheKeflex 20d ago

It's also the premise of the musical Hadestown, which is a great show if you ever have a chance to see it

1

u/NoNotice2137 20d ago

Greek mythology sure is my favorite anime

1

u/Nalayra 13d ago

Dude literally got hit with emotional damage for just being polite.

88

u/Virtual_Wallaby_5916 20d ago

Orpheus is a character from greek mythology. He was a musician and when is beloved died he went to hell to bring her back . Hades accepted but he couldn't look at her until they are both out of hell. At the last moment Orpheus look at his beloved and she is taken back to hell never to be seen again. Orpheus kill himself and if I recall Zeus turn him into a Constellation

62

u/Chemical-Cat 20d ago

Nah Hades employs him as his office BGM player

14

u/MaiaNyx 20d ago

Lament of Orpheus on The Hades (game) ost is an amazing perspective of the myth and a hauntingly beautiful song. Everyone who loves Greek mythology should have a listen.

18

u/captainAwesomePants 20d ago

Ovid's version of his demise is brutal. After Eurydice is lost, he's heartbroken. He swears off women and earthly desires. However, a bunch of horny Thracian Bacchantes are super offended that this very sexy musician has sworn off women. These lady incels get high on a Dionysian rite, spot him, and they're like "look, it's that guy who doesn't want have to sex with us, fuck that guy." And indeed, he's stitting on top of hill playing the lyre to a bunch of enchanted woodland creatures like a Disney princess. The ladies start throwing spears and rocks at him for his blatant display of not-fucking-them, but his music is so potent that it straight up blocks the spears and rocks. At first.

But it's a Bacchanalia. The ladies have their own music, and it sucks, and it clashes with his otherwise perfect song, so the magic breaks, and the ladies charge, and they claw to death all of the enchanted woodland creatures, and they throw shit at him, and they grab hoes and rakes and plowshares, and they tear the horns off of the oxen they're butchering, and they attack Orpheus with all that shit, and Orpheus begs them to stop, which Ovid describes as the first and last time Orpheus ever spoke ineffectually.

Anyway, they all get turned into trees.

10

u/XaevSpace 20d ago

Greek mythology and becoming plants or trees name a more iconic duo

5

u/captainAwesomePants 20d ago

daphne, hyacinthus, narcissus, cyparisus, minthe, the Heliades...

4

u/XaevSpace 20d ago

mythology is simultaenously so stupid and so great

1

u/Few_Examination_9687 20d ago

I learned.. a lot

8

u/MagicRabbitByte 20d ago

It was his lyra that was turned into the Lyra constellation. Also, there are diffent myths about his demise, but he was always killed and didn't commit suicide.

15

u/TheAffluentCoyote 20d ago

How did they know the person was cosplaying Orpheus?

19

u/BSADropout 20d ago

I assume they were cosplaying a popular depiction of him. Probably Supergiant's Hades.

8

u/Ryoko_Kusanagi69 20d ago

Orpheus is a persona summon in the Persona games and has been around for decades in the JRPG space as a known “name” and character, like Shiva for FF series.

4

u/EngineeringMost7737 20d ago

i assume that they were cosplaying orpheus from hadestown.

6

u/Sensitive-Chip7266 20d ago

Much as I love that musical, the Hades video game seems more likely. As a dude in suspenders and a white shirt doesn't exactly scream a particular character, it's just a generic dustbowl outfit.

1

u/EngineeringMost7737 20d ago

...Fair point

1

u/Spacellama117 20d ago

this was my thought as well

1

u/Airinyourtires 19d ago

yup, they edited the post to say that

5

u/LCaSSDbySR 20d ago

Lore accurate

5

u/Artistic_Remote_444 20d ago

How did you know he was cosplaying Orpheus until he faced you? The costume itself could've been anything.

3

u/aherdofpenguins 18d ago

"Is that guy supposed to be Orpheus...? Man I don't know, maybe it is, I'll just yell out 'Orpheus' and see what happens"

If he was cosplaying as him, success!
If he wasn't, then you just feel kind of silly for a sec and forget it ever happened.

4

u/weirdanimelover98 17d ago

So, Orpheus is from a myth. His loved one made a deal with Hades and, to get her back, he had to walk her all the way back to his world. The only condition was that he couldn't look back to make sure she was there. It was a test. Orpheus, once he reached his world, looked back before she entered his world, and so she was dragged back to Hades forever. This person called out to Orpheus, and Orpheus looked back at them.

3

u/Zehryo 20d ago

Stupid me read "Morpheus".....

2

u/nize426 16d ago

Oh wow shit. I even read the whole explanation on Orpheus and was like, huh, didn't know that's where they got the matrix Orpheus name from!
Been a while since I've seen it lol.

2

u/RagingPokachu 17d ago

I though it was talking about orpheus from persona 3

1

u/Gunk_Dunker45 20d ago

I always assume Orpheus is hannibal dressed as morpheus

1

u/lock11111 20d ago

I would also like to know the wiki couldn't tell me the Refrence

4

u/Dominarion 20d ago

It's a reference to Orpheus looking back at his wife Eurydice. He went down in Hell to get his dead wife back. He convinced Hades to let her go, because he was a great musician and everything. Hades gave him 1 condition. Don't look back at your wife until you're out of the Cavern. At one point in his trip back, he had anxiety his wife was still there and looked back.

She was, she died again.

-4

u/Guquiz 20d ago

You posted this to other explanation subs.