The Wisdom Saga is the seventh chapter in EPIC: The Musical. It was released on August 30th, 2024.
Songs[]
Plot[]
This saga begins in Ithaca, 7 years after the events of The Thunder Saga.
Telemachus, the son of Odysseus and Penelope, dreams of living the life of a legend like the stories that he's heard of his father. Unfortunately, he is unable to due to Ithaca's palace being occupied by 108 suitors who are seeking the hand of his mom. As Telemachus wanders the halls of his home, he ends up in a the dining room, which the suitors are currently occupying. The prince is suddenly confronted by Antinous, the leader of the Suitors, about Penelope taking 20 years to choose a new husband, calling her a tramp while doing so. Enraged by this comment, Telemachus challenges Antinous to a fist fight, wondering if he could be just like his father by fighting this monster.
Telemachus is brutally beaten by Antinous, due to the former not knowing how to properly fight. As Telemachus falls to the ground, Athena intervenes and uses Quick Thought on him to give him an upper hand. Telemachus gets back up for another round and holds his own for a bit, but he is still no match for Antinous' superior strength. Antinous then ushers him away, threatening the life of everybody else in the palace if Penelope doesn't make up her mind soon. As Telemachus escapes to his bedroom balcony, he asks Athena why she intervened.
Athena tells Telemachus that he reminds her a lot of an old friend of hers and that she regrets growing distant from him. In response, Telemachus encourages her to try to reach out to and lend a hand to said friend. He also remarks that his time with Athena was one of the best moments in his life, leading to the two growing closer and becoming friends.
Inspired by her conversation with Telemachus, Athena begins diving through Odysseus’s memories to track his location. She sees Odysseus washing up on a mysterious island and being awakened by a beautiful woman who attempts to flirt with him. Odysseus, remaining faithful to Penelope, attempts to reject her advances by threatening her life. The beautiful woman reveals herself to be Calypso, a goddess who placed a spell over the island so nobody can find it, leaving Odysseus trapped in paradise. Jumping to the present, Athena sees that Odysseus has fallen into a deep depression due to being wracked with survivor’s guilt. His depression has taken such a toll on him that he contemplates taking his own life to end his suffering, despite Calypso discouraging him. After having a panic attack on the edge of a cliff, he calls for Athena out of desperation and the latter knows that she has to help him before it's too late.
Athena requests divine intervention from Zeus. Amused by Athena’s request, Zeus raises the stakes by creating a game; if Athena can convince five of her fellow Olympians that Odysseus should be released, then Zeus will order Calypso to release him. Athena accepts the challenge and begins the game.
Her first opponent is Apollo, who is mad at Odysseus for killing several sirens, who make music that he finds catchy. Athena tells him that killing the sirens was an act of self defense, since they intended to eat him and his crew and now other sirens will be safer and sing their songs in peace. Upon this, Apollo advocates for Odysseus to be released.
Next, she must reason with Hephaestus. He cites Odysseus' reason for imprisonment being the fact that he sacrificed his own crew and destroyed the bonds that he forged with them. Athena explains that the crew ignored and betrayed Odysseus and that he can build a better future with his wife and son. After hearing this, Hephaestus also joins Athena's side.
Her third opponent is Aphrodite, who argued that Odysseus should rot on Ogygia for letting his mother die of a broken heart. Athena activates Quick Thought to retort, however, Ares interrupts them with his own version of the ability. Ares mocks Odysseus for sacrificing his men to Scylla instead of trying to fight her and attacking Troy by hiding in the Trojan Horse, comparing him to his "pathetic and weak" son. Athena retorts by proclaiming her friendship with Telemachus and telling Ares and Aphrodite that Odysseus will bring great bloodshed to get back to his family. Following Athena's rebuttal, the two realize that her point still stands and they, begrudgingly, state that Odysseus should be released.
Her final opponent is Hera, who is not impressed by Odysseus due to seeing so many so-called heroes in her time and asks Athena to tell her one thing that makes him different. While Athena struggles initially, she wins Hera over by saying that Odysseus is incredibly faithful to Penelope, something that Hera can't say about her husband.
Despite Athena winning the game fair and square, Zeus refuses to accept that he lost and goes into a rage. He creates a massive thunderbolt and throws it at Athena, who is believed to be dead when the smoke clears. As Athena falls through the Quick-Thought Dimension, slowly losing her strength, she remembers Odysseus and Penelope letting her hold an infant Telemachus. This memory gives her the resolve to push forward even as Zeus throws bolt after bolt at her, much to the horror of the crowd. Using the last of her strength, Athena begs her father to let her friend go before succumbing to her injuries.
Trivia[]
- This saga has the most actors being introduced than any other saga in EPIC.
- The only voices who's not heard in this saga are Troy Doherty's Hermes, Anna Lea's Penelope.
- This is the only saga that doesn’t follow Odysseus, it instead follows Telemachus and Athena.
- Odysseus only appears once in the entire saga, in Love in Paradise.
- The listen-through stream of this saga was infamously taken down during stream for violating YouTube's copyright policy, despite Jorge owning the rights to all his songs.
