History Literature / Circe

* LovableRogue: Hermes is very good at giving off this vibe; he is openly and unabashedly a trickster and gadfly, yet retains Circe's interest for a long time because of his intelligence and irreverence. [[spoiler:Subverted when he heavily implies that he's raped nymphs in the past, and treats it as no different from the harmless games he plays with other gods]].

* KickTheSonOfABitch: Circe turns the men who try to rape her (after she’s taken pity on them) into pigs.

** Oceanus nonchalantly tells Helios (who despite preferring each others company the gods as fellow titans they are “at each other’s throats”) he can “have” his daughter Perse if he wants. Though she was trying to seduce Helios anyways it’s possible he would have married her off anyways. His attitude is like he’s offering someone a piece of candy from a bowl.
** As Circe is neither a boy or as beautiful as the other nymphs both of Circe's parents are horrible to her. Her mother is actively malicious a lot of the time, belittling and bullying and her at any opportunity. While her father barely notices her existence until she annoys him, at which point he scorches much of her flesh off.
*** Perse was also neglectful to Aeetes due to Helios not seeing a successful future for him at first but Circe stepped in as a ParentalSubstitute.
*** While Helios may occasionally treat his children that are useful to him, such as accepting Pasiphaes request to temporarily free Circe so she can help her or giving Aeetes his own kingdom, he ultimately only cares about himself, will throw any of his children under the bus if it benfits him greater and any kindness only extends to the useful ones, otherwise he doesnt care at all. As Pasiphae puts it, he doesnt care if his children or good or bad, just as long as he can use them for power. As far as Helios is concerned, not disowning Circe for being a "burden" due to her being deemed unattractive by their standards and being unable to find her a husband is kindness and pity. Although its clear that the real reason is purely because, whether he likes it or not, she is still his child and he would consider it an insult to himself if any one of his children weren't treated properly. After she is deemed a threat to Zeus he outright calls her a disgrace, is quick to exile her without so much as a goodbye and does nothing to stop a group of mortal sailors from raping her.
*** Even when he has a daughter that is useful to him he really doesn’t care much. He forces Pasiphae into an unwanted marriage and she is sure that he would subject her to horrible treatment himself if it helped with his alliance to Zeus. His interactions with his daughters that tend to his sheep implies that he beats them if they don't care for them properly.

** Circe for the most part averts this and is a {{Good Parent|s}} but there was one time where Circe controlled him to get him to stop crying. An act she deeply regretted.

** Many parts of the book don’t exactly align with mythology. Including Glaucus’ backstory and how he became a god (Circe wasn’t involved).
** In the Story Oceanos and Helios are called cousins. In mythology Oceanos was one of the first generation titans while Helios was born to the second generation making him Helios’ uncle.
** The ending is also a big shift. In myth, this Circe's son married Penelope (some myths also give him a brother) and Circe made both Penelope and Telelongus immortal. Here her son gets to found his own kingdom, Penelope stays on the island as its new witch and Circe makes herself mortal. The original ending is mentioned in the mocking speech Pasiphae gives to Circe before they part ways.
* AdaptationalHeroism:

* AdaptationalSexuality: In the Telegony, Telegonos marries [[spoiler: Penelope after killing Odysseus]]. In this version, [[spoiler: or at least in Circe's hopes for the future of this version, he forms a deep bond with the captain of his guard and does not care to ever marry or sire heirs]].

** Their motives for punishing Prometheus are also slightly different. In the myths, Prometheus first tricked Zeus into allowing humans to keep the best parts of a sacrifice for themselves for which Zeus took away their ability to use fire as a punishment, then punished Prometheus when he stole it back. Here, its specifically stated that Prometheus is being punished for giving humans fire in the first place, because it would improve their lives, and the gods simply want humanity as miserable as possible so that they would give them more worship.
** There wasn't much in the myths about Pasiphae, but she was cursed by Poseidon to fall in love with and copulate with the bull in the myth, while she has some semblance of control in this book because she craves infamy, and she's depicted as an AlphaBitch of godly proportions, only drawing joy from insulting and hurting those without the power to retaliate. She also is the one who keeps Icarus and Daedalus prisoner whilst in the myths she tried to help them escape Crete. [[spoiler:Her story has a fittingly gruesome and ugly ending, going nuts after the Minotaur--her one claim to fame--is killed. She then has to return to gossiping and sniping amongst the gods. Her descendants are deposed from the throne they inherited.]]

** Glaucus' story and how he became a god differs greatly from the myths as well as his relationships with Scylla and Circe. In the myths he never met Circe before becoming a god and accidentally became immortal after personally ingesting magical herbs that he found that resurrected dead fish. It made him immortal but also replaced his arms and legs with a fishtail and fins, he was depressed by this but was taken in by Oceanus and Thetis who taught him prophecy and made him a god. When he fell in-love with Scylla she rejected him for his fish parts and he went to Circe for help only for her to fall in-love with him and curse Scylla instead. Whereas in the novel, Glaucus met and befriended Circe before hand, Circe made him a god (whose form was just like his old one but blue and with barnacles) by feeding him herbs while he slept. And although Scylla was still repulsed by him she agreed to marry him for the glory it would bring her in which case Circe confronted him.

--> '''Circe''': Is that how the Olympians spend their days? Thinking of ways to torment mortals?
--> '''Hermes''': There is not cause for righteousness.

* KneelBeforeZod: Subverted. People frequently kneel to Circe, but she either ignores or rejects the worship. Actually weaponised by [[spoiler:Penelope]], who has deduced that it will shame Circe into helping her.

* BigScrewedUpFamily: There is absolutely no love amongst Circes family. Everyone is too vain, power-hungry, self-centered and cruel to have any true love or kindness for anyone, be you a parent, child, sibling or so forth. Parents only bat you an eye or show you a shred of kindness if you're useful, siblings are rivals and anyone is willing to betray another for power. Even Pasiphae, who is just as cruel and fits in with everyone else, admits to Circe that she hates their family because she knows that any of their cousins and siblings she used to laugh with would laugh at her, if given the chance, their father cares more about power than anything else, their brothers only see them as amusements and their own mother is nothing but a manipulative shrew.

** After his children with Perses are revealed to be witches, and Helios proclaims that out of his alliance to Zeus they will sire no more children together, Perses breaks down in tears as, because of the gender roles, she is now considered completely useless since she can't keep have more children. When Circe walks up to comfort her or apologize Perse thinks she's here to mock her.

* FaceOfAnAngelMindOfADemon: All the gods are stunningly beautiful but completely monstrous on the inside. Even the lowest Nymphs only need the chance ti go from cruel bullies to evil tyrants and sadistic murders.

* {{Forshadowing}}: When Circe hints at her true age to Glaucus he reacts with horror and revulsion, in which she has to claim it was a joke to calm him down. Which he immediately believes. This hints at Glaucus’ hidden vanity, his simple minded nature and that he doesn’t care for Circe as much as she thinks.

** Circe: Is that how the Olympians spend their days? Thinking of ways to torment mortals?
** Hermes: There is not cause for righteousness.

** Perse, Circes mother, only bothers taking care of her kids unless they will be useful and/or pelase her husband for her own benefit. Otherwise she is neglectful at best or bullies them for amusement.

* JerkassGods: While the gods were often reverently talked about and rarely seen in ''Song of Achilles'', here they and their vainglory take center stage. Minor deities and nymphs entertain themselves with ceaseless gossip and cruel words and snipes at one another (even their own children are not safe unless they are useful), and the more powerful Titans who sided with Zeus are in a constant power struggle when it comes to avoiding another war with the Olympians and being ready for one. The Olympians constantly jerk humanity around and send them monsters in order to siphon more prayers and sacrifices out of the people of the world, and will kill innocent people for the pettiest of reasons. [[spoiler:Circe's ultimate triumph at the end of the book is making herself mortal so that she can age and pass as equals with Telemachus.]]
* KarmaHoudini: At the end of the book every JerkassGod is still making humanity miserable for their petty pleasures and power struggle. The closest any of them comes to receiving competence is...
** Circes father Helios getting his pride wounded when Circe blackmails him into freeing her.
** Circes mother is denied the chance to have more children, which does cause her grief because she can’t rub her success in her siblings faces any more, but she overcame her tears quickly and revels in her new title “mother of witches”.

* KickTheDog: Circes mother and siblings constantly did this to Circe growing up, belittling and mocking her any chance they got. This is basically the MO of gods in general, to do whatever they can to make those weaker than them (especially mortals) miserable to make themselves feel powerful. High ranking gods like Zeus, Helios and the Olympians do this by tormenting mortals and extorting sacrifices from them while lesser dieties like nymphs do so by bullying each other.

** Circes father is Helios, the Titan-God of the sun, and he’s no less cruel, petty and power hungry than the rest of the gods. It’s actually hinted that out of all the gods he’s actually the worst.

** Earlier in the book Pasiphae and Perses tell Circe that Helios cattle aren’t actually immortal, but that he takes the form of a bull then mates with the heifers himself to keep up the numbers so it looks that way. Which if you think about it means that each generation Helios technically rapes and haves calves with his own children.

* BigScrewedUpFamily: The gods and titans all hate each other and even the "close" ones will turn one each other for power or torment the other for amusement.

* AdaptationalDistillation: In the original myths, the gigantomachy (called the Great War in this story) occurred when Circe was already living on the island and her father slew the giant to protect his daughter. Here the war had already passed by the time Circe is banished to the island.

* AdaptationalVillainy: While the Greek gods could always be cruel and petty in mythology, and did send monsters to harm mortals who disrespected them, they did not create monsters and actively torment mortals just to milk worship from them.

* AlphaBitch: Circe's sister, Pasiphae, is a huge one. She never passes up an opportunity to insult her sister. Her mother Perse is one of the AbusiveParent variety, frequently also insulting Circe and laughing at her frequently sending her to her room crying.

* BestialityIsDepraved: Pasiphae (willingly in this version) mates with the Cretan bull so she can gain infant for birthing the Minotaur.

* EvenBadMenLoveTheirMamas: Glaucus becomes a total prick after he becomes a god, but he still gives his mother a nice home and a slave to help with her chores after he kills her abusive husband.

* {{Foil}}: Glaucus, Circe's first mortal love interest and Telemachus, her last mortal love-interest who she married. The fact that they were mortals who gained Circe's affection is the only thing they have in common aside from abusive fathers.

* HeirClubForMen: If you're a boy (and your father thinks you will be successful), you are treated with respect. If you're a girl, the best your parents hope is that you're pretty enough to be married off in an alliance. Otherwise, you are just a burden.

* {{Immortality}}: All the gods, though it is known that while they live forever and can heal from most wounds (with Circe regrowing her hand in less than a day after the Minotaur bites it off) they can still die if their forms are completely destroyed by a far more powerful entity, as shown by Helios threats to burn Circe to a crisp or his warning that Zeus could destroy her.

* InferioritySuperiorityComplex: Why are the nymphs so eager to belittle each other if given the opportunity, including Circe's own mother and sister towards her, because they know that at the end of the day they are considered largely useless and not cared for at all by the men in their lives so cruelly taunting or controlling those beneath them makes them feel better.

* ItsAllAboutMe: In Circe's own words, Helios is not able to conceive of a world without him in it. She later declares him a harp with only one string, that plays for him. While he occasionally treats the children that are useful to him, such as awarding his favorite son a kingdom or granting a favor to temporarily release Circe for Pasiphae, the daughter that cemented his alliance to Zeus via marrying his son, he is ultimately only out for his own self-interest and Pasiphae knows he would tie her to her husbands' bed if it helped him in his alliance. None of the other gods are any better.

* KarmaHoudini: At the end of the book every JerkassGod is still making humanity miserable for their petty pleasures and power struggle. The closest any of them comes to receiving competence is:

* LightIsNotGood: Circes father is Helios, the Titan-God of the sun, and he’s no less cruel, petty and power hungry than the rest of the gods. It’s actually hinted that out of all the gods he’s actually the worst.

* NiceGuy: Daedalus and Telemachus are both straight examples of this. Both are good hardworking men who form a genuine friendship with Circe based on respect with Circe coming to love both of them, for the latter romantically.

''Circe'' is a 2017 novel by Madeline Miller. It retells the [[Myth/ClassicalMythology Greek myths]] from the point of view of the sorceress Circe, she of [[BalefulPolymorph turning-men-into-pigs fame]], drawing in particular from ''Literature/TheMetamorphoses'' and ''Literature/TheTrojanCycle''.

* BalefulPolymorph: Circe's specialty is transforming living things into other living things. These victims are rarely willing, but they also [[AssholeVictim usually deserve it]].

* Forshadowing: When Circe hints at her true age to Glaucus he reacts with horror and revulsion, in which she has to claim it was a joke to calm him down. Which he immediately believes. This hints at Glaucus’ hidden vanity, his simple minded nature and that he doesn’t care for Circe as much as she thinks.

** It’s implied that none of the gods care about their children [[TheSociopath given how narcissistic and self-centered they all are]] and only see them as tools to promote themselves further. And given how misogynistic anchient Greece was, the fathers only see their daughters as objects for other men to enjoy that they can marry off against their will.

* BigScrewedUpFamily: The gods and titans all hate each other.

* AllOfTheOtherReindeer: Circe is a girl, so she cannot be seen as anything other than "amusement" for the male gods and she isn't as pretty as any of the other nymphs so they all belittle and mock her when she's in the room. Though Pasiphae admits that they all do that to each other, not just Circe, Circe never had an equal or anyone below her to laugh at (not that she would anyways) so this trope still applies.

* AllOfTheOtherReindeer: Circe was simultaneously hated and feared by the gods for being a witch and for having a voice like that of a Mortal.

* ItAmusedMe: Hermes has no motivation for anything beyond his own amusement.

* {{Narcissist}}: All the immortals are concerned with themselves, their amusement and their power alone. Everyone else is either a rival, situational allies, tool or play thing.

* PragmaticVillainy: Hermes does admit to Circe that, whike enjoying making mortals suffer and not caring at all for them, gods do occasionally have to grant their desires to keep their devotion. Course they wait until just before the mortals completely give up hope then do that barest minimum.
* TopGod: At the very top is Zeus, then Helios (for being a strong ally during the titanomanchy), then Zeus’s siblings and children, then Helios fellow titans, then the river gods (brine lords), the furies then nymphs and humans.

** Circe for the most part averts this and is a [[GoodParents Good Parent]] but there was one time where Circe controlled him to get him to stop crying. An act she deeply regretted.

* AdaptationalBadass: Aeetes - a somewhat insignificant king in the Jason myth, is turned into a BenevolentMageRuler ([[spoiler: later turned SorcerousOverlord that enslaved sailors he came across]]) here.

** One of the most significant changes of the novel is changing a lot of Circe's motivations in the myths surrounding her to paint her in a more heroic light. One major example is the events with Medea and the whole debacle with Odysseus: this version of Circe explicitly states that she spares good men from the fate of being turned into pigs. [[spoiler: The first time she did it she had intended on just knocking them out, but she didn't act quickly enough and was raped. The rage she feels after this allows her to discover the pig transformation spell.]]

** There wasn't much in the myths about Pasiphae, but she was cursed by Poseidon to fall in love with and copulate with the bull in the myth, while she has some semblance of control in this book because she craves infamy, and she's depicted as an AlphaBitch of godly proportions, only drawing joy from insulting and hurting those without the power to retaliate. She also is the one who keeps Icarus and Daedalus prisoner whilst in the myths she tried to help them escape Crete. [[spoiler: Her story has a fittingly gruesome and ugly ending, going nuts after the Minotaur--her one claim to fame--is killed. She then has to return to gossiping and sniping amongst the gods. Her descendants are deposed from the throne they inherited.]]

* AnimalisticAbomination: Trygon is TheDreaded, a monster stronger and older than the gods, with a stinger tail that gives instant death to mortals and an eternity of agony to immortals, and lives in the deepest depths of the sea. [[spoiler: He is also the only immortal in the story to help Circe purely out of the goodness of his heart and respect for her courage]].

* BlessedWithSuck: Circe ultimately comes to this conclusion about [[spoiler: godhood, sure they live forever, are powerful and dont feel pain unless under special circumstances, but that just results in them becoming egotistical, cruel and drunk with power. The book ends with her making herself mortal.]]

* CallingTheOldManOut: At the end of the book [[spoiler: Circe finally calls out Helios for all his stupidity and cruelty, and blackmails him into persuading Zeus to end her exile]].
* CanonForeigner: Trygon has no basis in Greek mythology, and the closest equivalent to him in the stories is [[spoiler:the spear tipped with stingray poison]] from the ''Telegony''. Justified, since [[spoiler: he's vastly older than even the Titans, to the point he dismisses Zeus as "nothing" when Circe brings him up. Trygon is simply beyond the scope of Greek mythology.]]

-->'''Odysseus''': Then the best part of him died...
-->'''Circe''': What was his best part?
-->'''Odysseus''': His lover Patroclus.

** Downplayed when [[spoiler: Telemachus rejects Athena's favor and the glorious fate she has planned for him;]] he is extremely polite about it, but there is no getting around the fact that he is directly defying the will of a particularly fearsome god.

* EarnYourHappyEnding: The tone and themes are very similar to ''Song of Achilles'', but [[spoiler: Circe's story ends much more triumphantly. Circe has a son who becomes a great hero, she forces her father to release her from her exile, and Penelope takes over her role as Witch of Aiaia. Circe even takes Telemachus as a lover and puts Scylla out of her misery in a grand battle at the sea. She becomes mortal and lives into old age with Telemachus.]]
* EvenBadMenLoveTheirMothers: Glaucus becomes a total prick after he becomes a god, but he still gives his mother a nice home and a slave to help with her chores after he kills her abusive husband.
** Averted with some of the other gods whose sexist views extend even to them. Circe was basically a mother figure to her younger brother Aeetes growing up but as he reaches adult hood he cares less and less about her, refusing to take her with him when he gets his own kingdom after she practically begs him to so she can escape the abuse of the rest of their family.

* EvilIsPetty: The amount of spite, vindictiveness and sheer ''smallness'' from beings of enormous power is quite staggering.

** Mixed with [[StrawNihilist Straw Nihilism]]: Pasiphae thinks that Aeetes and Circe were never close and Aeetes, even from a young age, only saw Circe as a source of entertainment. While Aeetes did become condescending and misogynistic as the other gods later in his life he did love Circe at one point, evidenced by his first words being "Circe" and "Sister".

** Trygon's poison can kill any mortal, although it will only cause an immortal endless suffering for the rest of eternity. [[spoiler: Although when Scylla becomes a monster, though Circe knows that she is still immortal and thus weapons cant kill her, she is turned to stone when she consumes a mixture of the poison and Circe's herbs.]]

* JerkassGods: While the gods were often reverently talked about and rarely seen in ''Song of Achilles'', here they and their vainglory take center stage. Minor deities and nymphs entertain themselves with ceaseless gossip and cruel words and snipes at one another (even their own children are not safe unless they are useful), and the more powerful Titans who sided with Zeus are in a constant power struggle when it comes to avoiding another war with the Olympians and being ready for one. The Olympians constantly jerk humanity around and send them monsters in order to siphon more prayers and sacrifices out of the people of the world, and will kill innocent people for the pettiest of reasons. [[spoiler: Circe's ultimate triumph at the end of the book is making herself mortal so that she can age and pass as equals with Telemachus.]]

* KneelBeforeZod: Subverted. People frequently kneel to Circe, but she either ignores or rejects the worship. Actually weaponised by [[spoiler: Penelope]], who has deduced that it will shame Circe into helping her.

* LovableRogue: Hermes is very good at giving off this vibe; he is openly and unabashedly a trickster and gadfly, yet retains Circe's interest for a long time because of his intelligence and irreverence. [[spoiler: Subverted when he heavily implies that he's raped nymphs in the past, and treats it as no different from the harmless games he plays with other gods]].

* MayflyDecemberRomance: Any relationship between a mortal and a god will be this. The quote under the page image gives an idea of this. [[spoiler: Circe eventually renounces her divinity in order to have a lifelong relationship with Telemachus]].

* RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil: Circe cuts off all ties with Hermes after he heavily implies that he's committed rape in the past. [[spoiler: Circe being raped is what pushes her into discovering the spell that transforms men into pigs, and she immediately casts it upon her attackers and all men who attempt to attack her in the future. She specifically does ''not'' do this to kind men who wind up on her doorstep.]]
* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: After Circe confronts Pasiphae for both asking for her help and insulting her at every turn [[spoiler: and also endangering her life by forcing her and the crew of men who picked her up to sail through Scylla's waters]], Pasiphae delivers a huge one to Circe for being totally blind to Pasiphaes own struggles and how cruel and apathetic the world of the gods is to everyone, not just her, who shrugs it off and goes back to her island. Circe then gives a silent one about her sister when she finds out about how ugly and pathetic the ending of her time on Earth was.

** Circe befriends Glaucus before he becomes a god, pulling strings with her ocean deity aunt to make his fishing ventures plentiful, and [[spoiler: using her power to make him a god. While he's unaware of that last part, (though when he finds out he chooses to hide in his room due to embarrassment rather than thank her or say goodbye before she is banished)]] he quickly throws her to the wayside and chooses a prettier but much less kind nymph as his wife... only to forget about said prettier nymph too when she is no longer pretty.

* BrotherSisterIncest: It's heavily implied that Pasiphae had to sleep with her brother Perses to keep him happy. Also, IncestIsRelative where Aeetes planned to marry his daughter Medea to his brother Perses.

* AdultFear: Circe has to deal with this in spades once she has Telegonus. To start with, he's mortal, fated to outlive her, and can be killed by countless things she's never even had to consider as dangerous. As a baby, he's constantly having near-miss disasters which turn out to be the work of a goddess ''much'' more powerful than Circe herself; she does end up managing to work a spell to protect him, but only from accidents caused by the divine, meaning every cliff, poisonous snake and the household flame still poses a threat. There's one instance where she tries giving him a sleeping potion, only for it to be so powerful that it knocks him out, and for a split second, it looks like he may have died from the blow to his head. Then, as he gets older, he grows more and more restive to leave their island, [[spoiler: even building a ship in secret on Hermes' advice - Circe never even knew he was there]], and while she agrees to let him go once she's satisfied with his protection, [[spoiler:on arrival in Ithaca he's attacked by his father, who would've killed him if Telegonus hadn't accidentally killed him first]].

** There's no mention of Glaucus killing his father after becoming a god in the myths, even if it's revenge for years of beatings. He's also much more ungrateful and arrogant compared to the previous stories.