Hey Guys!
It's Sunday! Which means, we have a guest blogger over here at Chasing Faerytales, courtesy of SBPT! Today I am featuring Katie from Bibliophile and she lists down her favourite myths which she wants to be retold in YA!
Also, don't forget to check out my post at Katie's blog today!
Hello everyone! I'm Katie from the blog Bibliophile! Thanks for stopping by Mish's blog! Make sure to follow her and the other creative ladies participating in the Summer Blogger Promo Tour for more posts! For today's post I will be discussing briefly the myths I would like to be retold in YA. I've picked four that I feel haven't been retold enough or at all. I hope you enjoy this post and comment below what myths you would like to be retold or if you agree with my list! Take care!
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I love a good myth retelling and I love anything regarding
ancient cultures: religion, myths, economy, architecture, art, etc. Myths can
be found within all cultures and religions. They help to explain how the world
came to be and works based on their environment. The gods and goddesses,
especially in Greek and Norse mythology, had a habit of causing chaos and drama
all over Earth and the Universe. Many stories have been told with a little
variation of their shenanigans and can be a great inspiration for authors. Here
are some myths that I would like to see more retellings of in YA:
Titanomachy a.k.a. Battle of the
Gods
I think it would be a wonderful idea to make a novel or
series about the epic 10 year Battle of the Gods in Thessaly, between the old
gods (Titans) of Mount Othrys and the new (Olympians) of Mount Olympus for the
domain of the universe! The plot could start with the backstory of the Titans
ruling under Uranus who was overthrown by his son Cronus.
Years later, Zeus, Cronus’s son, forced Cronus to vomit up
all of his children that he had eaten due to a prophecy that they would
overthrow his rule. These siblings were led in the rebellion by Zeus against
Cronus. In this war Zeus was given his thunder and lightning. The Olympians won
and imprisoned the Titans in Tartarus. Zeus, Poseidon and Hades divided the
world amongst themselves: Zeus was given the sky and air; Poseidon was given
the sea and all water; and Hades was given the Underworld. The earth was left
as common ground to all, hence all the drama that happens in the myths.
The Kidnapping of Idun
This is the one
Norse myth in this list and it is certainly entertaining. I think this would be
a good standalone novel idea with multideity perspective. The story is somewhat
comical due to Loki’s part in the story and the gods’ reaction to a pissed off
Skadi is so random. Idun was the goddess who cultivated the epli, a fruit people believe is an apple, which kept the gods and
goddesses young and strong (immortal).
Long
story short, Loki pissed off an eagle that was really Thjazi, a giant, in
disguise one evening about cooked meat. Loki grabbed onto the eagle and the
eagle flew so high Loki begged Thjazi to let him down. Thjazi would on the
condition that Loki would lure Idun away from Asgard for Thjazi to kidnap her.
After a while the gods realized they were getting older and weak so they went
to search for Idun. They finally came upon Loki, the trickster god, and Loki
confessed what happened. They forced Loki to retrieve Idun from Thjazi’s
imprisonment with the help of Freya’s feathers to transform Loki into a bird.
When they were safely back in Asgard the gods made a ring of fire to protect
them, thus killing Thjazi. This later led to the marriage of Skadi (Thjazi’s
daughter) to Njord to appease her anger over her father’s death
Cassandra
Cassandra was a
beautiful princess of Troy and had the gift of foreseeing the future. However,
she was cursed in that no one would believe her and, thus, Troy was destroyed
in the Trojan War. I think it would be an interesting story and perspective to
have Cassandra as a main character. To have her become so frustrated with no
one believing her throughout the war between Troy and the Mycenaeans and dealing
with an Apollo who loved her, but did not love him back.
Apollo had fallen in love with Cassandra so he gave her the
gift of foresight, but when she denied him/left him he cursed her that no one
would heed her warnings. (In another version she went to the temple of Apollo
where his snakes licked her ears to listen to the future. Apollo is regularly
associated with snakes.) When the Trojan horse arrived in front of the city’s
gates Cassandra said, “I fear Greeks, especially those bringing gifts.”
Cassandra fled to Athena’s Temple during the war, and then abducted by Ajax.
She was then forced to be Agamemnon’s concubine in Mycenae and eventually
murdered along with Agamemnon and his wife.
Psyche & Eros
Psyche was a mortal
woman who was gifted with beauty (as are all the women who the gods fall in
love with) and grace. Her love of Eros and her sacrifice for him earned her
immortality and she became the deity of the soul. Her story symbolizes personal
growth through her adventures, romance and sacrifice. The story is also known
as “Psyche and Cupid” that has been
told and retold in literature and has been an inspiration for artists for
centuries. It was originally written by Lucius Apuleius in the second century
A.D. in the novel The Golden Ass. I feel this is a beautiful story of
love that survives through adversity and a happy ending in a genre that
generally isn’t so pleasant for its characters’ outcomes.
One variation of the
story goes that Aphrodite became jealous of Psyche’s famous beauty because
people were neglecting to worship Aphrodite. Aphrodite sent her son, Eros, to
make her fall in love with a monster. (In another version he was to poison
men’s souls to see Psyche as hideous.) Well, Eros fell in love with Psyche,
either on his own or poking himself with his own arrow. Psyche was to marry a
beast that she could only be with at night and wasn’t allowed to see his face.
She was tricked into trying to kill her beastly husband, but when she went to
shine a light his face she saw it was Eros himself. Eros felt betrayed by this
and fled. Psyche went to Aphrodite begging for her help, but Aphrodite
sadistically made her prove her love with three impossible tasks. The last task
was to bring the box of the elixir of beauty from Hades to Aphrodite and without
looking inside. Of course Psyche was curious and opened the box. Inside the box
was Morpheus, the god of sleep and dreams, and Psyche fell into a coma-like sleep
in Hades. Eros found out what happened and begged Zeus to help save her. Zeus
then granted Psyche immortality so they could be together for eternity.
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Published Retellings For Your TBR:
There are already numerous books with mythology intertwined with historical events, and the Persephone + Hades retellings seem to be the most published. Rick Riordan has it covered with introducing the younger audience to mythology with his popular series, but in addition to that there are: The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller, Abandon by Meg Cabot, Starcrossed by Josephine Angelini, and The Star-Touched Queen by Roshani Chokshi.
What are your favourite mythology retellings? What myths do you wish are retold in YA?
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