History YMMV / TheOdyssey

** Nowadays, Odysessus and Telemaches executing the handmaidens who slept with the suitors (who likely wouldn't have had a choice in the matter) and the goatherd who allied himself with them seems rather... unnecessary, and are cut from most retellings. The ones that do leave it in (like the TV miniseries) usually cut it down to a single handmaiden who is unintentionally killed in the crossfire [[LaserGuidedKarma trying to aid the suitors]].

* AmericansHateTingle: Odysseus was a national hero to many Hellenic states, where he was praised for his cunning, intelligence, and guile. The Romans, who called him Ulysses, despised him as a villainous, dishonest, deceitful falsifier. Vergil constantly refers to him as "Cruel Ulysses" in ''Literature/TheAeneid''; his character did not lend itself well to the Romans, who has a rigid sense of honour and respected the Trojans for their gallant and determined defence. Indeed, the Romans championed the Trojan prince Aeneas as the ancestor of Romulus and Remus.

* TearJerker: The whole story of Odysseus' dog, Argos. Don't know the story? Well, Argos was his dog, who he trained when he was a pup. Then Odysseus had to leave for 20 years, going to Troy, trying to get back, etc. During his leave, the dog, since his master wasn't there anymore, was neglected by the household servants and made to live outside, staying on a pile of dung to keep warm, getting too old and sick to move anywhere else anyway. Odysseus eventually gets home, disguised as a beggar by Athena, and walks by his dog. He immediately recognizes Argos from across the yard, and Argos likewise instantly senses that the person is his master and wags his tail, but is otherwise too old to move. Since Odysseus is pretending not to be himself, he can't get closer, touch or even show that he recognizes his dog in turn, so he walks away, but he can't help but shed a tear. And the worst part? ''Argos dies of old age right after Odysseus walks away, having just managed to last long enough to see his master once again.'' You can't say that you didn't get a bit teary-eyed yourself when you read about that. [[ThePowerOfLove Argos is a very special dog.]] To make it even worse, one comic book adaptation had Athena carrying the dog's spirit away to the afterlife with a sweet, motherly smile on her face.

* TearJerker: The whole story of Odysseus' dog, Argos. Don't know the story? Well, Argos was his dog, who he trained when he was a pup. Then Odysseus had to leave for 20 years, going to Troy, trying to get back, etc. During his leave, the dog, since his master wasn't there anymore, was neglected by the household servants and made to live outside, staying on a pile of dung to keep warm, getting too old and sick to move anywhere else anyway. Odysseus eventually gets home, disguised as a beggar by Athena, and walks by his dog. He immediately recognizes Argos from across the shed, and Argos likewise instantly senses that the person is his master and wags his tail, but is otherwise too old to move. Since Odysseus is pretending not to be himself, he can't get closer, touch or even show that he recognizes his dog, so he walks away, but he can't help but shed a tear. And the worst part? ''Argos dies of old age right after Odysseus walks away, having just managed to last long enough to see his master once again.'' You can't say that you didn't get a bit teary-eyed yourself when you read about that. [[ThePowerOfLove Argos is a very special dog.]] To make it even worse, one comic book adaptation had Athena carrying the dog's spirit away to the afterlife with a sweet, motherly smile on her face.

* TearJerker: The whole story of Odysseus' dog, Argos. Don't know the story? Well, Argos was his dog, who he trained when he was a pup. Then Odysseus had to leave for 20 years, going to Troy, trying to get back, etc. During his leave, the dog, since his master wasn't there anymore, had to live outside, staying on a pile of dung to keep warm, getting too old and sick to move anywhere else anyway. Odysseus eventually gets home and walks past his dog (disguised as a beggar by Athena). Argos senses that the person is his master and proceeds to ''die by the happiness and shock of seeing his master again''. And the worst part? Since Odysseus is pretending not to be himself, he can't even grieve for his now-dead dog. You can't say that you didn't get a bit teary eyed when you read about that. [[ThePowerOfLove Argos is a very special dog.]] To make it even worse, one comic book adaptation had Athena carrying the dog's spirit away to the afterlife with a sweet, motherly smile on her face.

* WhatAnIdiot: Odysseus is wise enough to listen to the advice he's given. His companions, on the other hand, never learn to take his direst warnings seriously... which is pretty much the reason why Odysseus comes home alone.
** Odysseus also suffers from this in places. Like when he and his men have successfully escaped the Cyclops, he turns around and starts insulting him. Fair enough, except he also told the Cyclops his name, his father's name, and where he lives. Even if his giving his name could be excused by it being an homonym with the ancient Greek word for nobody giving the names of his father and kingdom is like slapping a gangster in the face and then giving him your wallet.
** Also, Aeolus' bag of winds. If keeping it closed was so important that he didn't dare go to sleep while guarding it, why did he even need to bring it with him at all? Letting Aeolus hang onto the bag, opening it only after news of Odysseus' safe return reached him, would've saved Odysseus years of travel later and a whole lot of sleeplessness right away. Except WHEN Aeolus got the news may have been an issue...
** And Elpenor. Most of Odysseus' men who die do so for generally sound reasons (devoured by monsters, killed in a divine storm, etc). How does Elpenor die? He goes to bed on the roof drunk, wakes up with a hangover, and proceeds to forget he's on the roof, so he falls off it and breaks his neck. [[FlatWhat What.]]

** What's the very first thing Odysseus does on his way home? He and his men make a halt on a foreign coast, where they attack and plunder a town, killing the men and taking the women as slaves. It's described as a completely normal thing for them to do. Although the Cicones were allies of the Trojans, so technically, Odysseus is at war with them. Of course still a war that HIS side started.

* IdiotPlot: But it seems that a good deal of Odysseus' problems either come from his own stupidity or, at the very least, his crew's. But he's already been stated to be a master tactician, and he worships frickin' Athena, patron goddess of [[TheSmartGuy Smart Guys]]. It's like every time they land on an island, Odysseus gets pegged in the face with the IdiotBall. There is a reason behind this. The Greeks strongly believed in a concept called ὕβρις, which is often rendered today as "hubris" and can be translated to modern days "{{Pride}}" or "Acting as a human shouldn't". Another thing that hubris carries along is punishment (if you are guilty of hubris, you are going to be punished somehow). All of Odysseus' mistakes are made out of hubris. For a better description of what hubris means, see Website/TheOtherWiki's [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hubris explanation]]. And after all, Odysseus' name is the Ancient Greek word for "[[MeaningfulName trouble]]."

* IdiotPlot: But it seems that a good deal of Odysseus' problems either come from his own stupidity or, at the very least, his crew's. But he's already been stated to be a master tactician, and he worships frickin' Athena, patron goddess of [[TheSmartGuy Smart Guys]]. It's like every time they land on an island, Odysseus gets pegged in the face with the IdiotBall. There is a reason behind this. The Greeks strongly believed in a concept called ὕβρις, which is often rendered today as "hubris" and can be translated to modern days "{{Pride}}" or "Acting as a human shouldn't". Another thing that hubris carries along is punishment (if you are guilty of hubris, you are going to be punished somehow). All of Odysseus' mistakes are made out of hubris. For a better description of what hubris means, see Wiki/TheOtherWiki's [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hubris explanation]]. And after all, Odysseus' name is the Ancient Greek word for "[[MeaningfulName trouble]]."

** Odysseus sleeping with several women and thus cheating on his wife during his journey home while Penelope remains steadfastly faithful would be considered to be rather jerkass behavior of Odysseus, but in Ancient Greece, this behavior was rather normal. Although some of Odysseus's... "adventures" [[QuestionableConsent can hardly be considered consensual in the first place]].

** The story makes a point of averting DoubleStandardRapeFemaleOnMale by acknowledging that Odysseus is [[SexSlave held against his will]] by Circe and Calypso and clearly condemming them for their actions.

** Odysseus also suffers from this in places. Like when he and his men have successfully escaped the Cyclops, he turns around and starts insulting him. Fair enough, except he also told the Cyclops his name, his father's name, and where he lives. Even if his giving his name could be excused vy it being an homonim with the ancient greek word for nobody giving the names of his father and kingdom is like slapping a gangster in the face and then giving him your wallet.

** And Elpenor. Most of Odysseus' men who die do so for generally sound reasons (devoured by monsters, killed in a divine storm, etc). How does Elpenor die? He goes to bed on the roof drunk, wakes up with a hangover, and proceeds to forget he's on the roof, so [[StuffedIntoTheFridge he falls off it and breaks his neck]]. [[FlatWhat What.]]

** Odysseus also suffers from this in places. Like when he and his men have successfully escaped the Cyclops, he turns around and starts insulting him. Fair enough, except he also told the Cyclops his name, his father's name, and where he lives. This is a bit like slapping a gangster in the face and then giving him your wallet.

* RetroactiveRecognition: Series regular Macro is played by a young Creator/RyanReynolds, while young Devon Sawa and Creator/JewelStaite have recurring roles as Ludo and Lobelia, respectively.

* GeniusBonus: When Odysseus strings his bow, the narration describes the procedure of stringing a [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recurve_bow recurve bow]], a type of bow that is effectively impossible to string unless you have both great strength and knowledge of said procedure (and may even break your arm if you're not strong or skillful enough), ''and'' was a new technological development in the time of the ''Odyssey''.

** Odysseus meeting his old friends and allies in Hades (especially when Ajax still refuses to speak with him even when Odysseus pleads with him to let bygones be bygones). In other news, Achilles is still a whiner.

* AmericansHateTingle: Odysseus was a national hero to many hellenic states, where he was praised for his cunning, intelligence, and guile. The Romans, who called him Ulysses, despised him as a villainous, dishonest, deceitful falsifier. Vergil constantly refers to him as "Cruel Ulysses" in ''Literature/TheAeneid''; his character did not lend itself well to the Romans, who has a rigid sense of honour and respected the Trojans for their gallant and determined defence. Indeed, the Romans championed the Trojan prince Aeneas as the ancestor of Romulus and Remus.

* AmericansHateTingle: Odysseus was a national hero to many hellenic states, where he was praised for his cunning, intelligence, and guile. The Romans, who called him Ulysses, despised him as a villainous, dishonest, deceitful falsifier. Vergil constantly refers to him as "Cruel Ulysses" in ''The Aeneid''; his character did not lend itself well to the Romans, who has a rigid sense of honour and respected the Trojans for their gallant and determined defence. Indeed, the Romans championed the Trojan prince Aeneas as the ancestor of Romulus and Remus.

** Also, nowadays, the killing of the handmaidens who slept with the suitors (who likely wouldn't have had a choice in the matter) and the goatherd who allied himself with them seems rather... unnecessary, and are cut from most retellings. The ones that do leave it in (like the TV miniseries) usually cut it down to a single handmaiden who is unintentionally killed in the crossfire [[LaserGuidedKarma trying to aid the suitors]].

* HoYay: Eurylochus to Odysseus: "You're a hard man, Odysseus. Your fighting spirit's stronger than ours; your stamina never fails. You must be made of iron head to foot." Also, Telemachus and everyone.

* FanonDiscontinuity: Pretty much everyone who is a fan of the book doesn't know the sequel ''The Telegony'' or ignore its existence for its BrokenAesop and HappyEndingOverride regarding Odysseus's fate and characterization.