The Great Athena: Manipulation of Odysseus

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The Wayne family returns from the theater on a rainy night, unfortunately though, the shortcut they take is Gotham’s notorious “Crime Alley.” A stray mugger holds up the Wayne Family and takes all of their money, but feeling that it is not enough, he shoots and kills both Dr. Thomas and Martha Wayne. That night, Bruce vows to avenge his parents and wage war against crime. However, unbeknownst to Bruce, his very own father pulls the strings. Thomas connects him with Officer Gordon and Alfred Pennyworth, supplies him with the necessary tools and fabricates his own death in order to harden his son into a crime fighting machine. Bruce is much like Odysseus in his determination to bring justice to criminals and that the heroes’ actions are working for the favor of the masterminds behind them. Athena works through Odysseus in his acts of vengeance to deal out justice because she does not want to shed blood herself.

Throughout the Iliad and the Odyssey, Athena meddles in the affairs of mortals, leading them to do her will without having to change directly the course of history herself. Athena guides the kings of Achaea into the war against Troy to reclaim Helen and because of her influence, they return victorious. In the Iliad, Helen is taken to Troy by Prince Paris, and later claimed by Deiphobus, when the red-haired king Menelaus is away. Upon hearing of this treachery, Menelaus calls his brother and the kings of Greece together to gather a force to bring back his wife. Odysseus is one of these kings, and Athena, favoring Odysseus, guides the men in their efforts and shows them the path to victory. Athena saves Odysseus and the men cached inside of the legendary “Trojan Horse” as Helen circles the figure “challenging all our fighters...

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... depth and a whole new level of creativity when supernatural beings play a role in the story. Athena in her efforts to bring justice to the world is the most important force within the story, pushing the plot alongside Odysseus. Generally, the gods within the myths are great characters that are not perfect and have archetypal vices like rage, greed and war, but these characteristics and flaws complicate the story even more as the gods reactions shake things up and make the story more interesting. From the most famous classical work to modern pieces, the addition of whimsical and fantastic fiction makes anything and everything more enjoyable, whether it’s Athena manipulating mortals or a vigilante fighting hundreds of criminals with futuristic technology.

Work Cited

Homer. The Odyssey. Trans. Robert Fagles. New York: Penguin Books, 1996.

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