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Lore Olympus

TRIGGER WARNING:
THIS TOPIC INVOLVES DEPICTIONS/VISUALS OF TRAUMA, MENTAL ILLNESS, ABUSE AND ASSULT. 

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To start off about why Lore Olympus specifically? 

Well, the story of Hades & Persephone has been talked about time and time again. I started looking into the story and art style of Lore Olympus as it truly fascinated me. I had been reading it during my first year of university. 

This is the brief synopsis on Lore Olympus so you know what I am talking about/ have some context:

 

Lore Olympus is an adaptation of the classic Greek myth, ‘The Abduction of Persephone' in a mostly modern setting. The webcomic includes modern technology such as smartphones, sports cars, and tabloids. However, scenes in the realm of the mortals take place in the time of the original myths. The comic deals with strong themes of rape, harassment, abuse, and trauma.

The story begins with Hades attending a party of Zeus's after his partner Minthe breaks up with him. Persephone has been allowed to leave the mortal realm and visit Olympus by her mother, Demeter. Hades takes notice of Persephone and comments to his brothers, Zeus and Poseidon that Persephone's beauty rivals that of Aphrodite. Out of jealousy, Aphrodite calls her son, Eros, to get Persephone extremely intoxicated and they dumped her then in the back seat of Hades' car in an attempt to have her embarrass herself in front of Hades. After their initial encounter from this incident, Hades and Persephone both express an interest in each other but Persephone still struggles with this relationship due an earlier plot point that happened in the comic–she was raped by Apollo. Aside from this rape being traumatizing, she struggles with her current association of being a prospective member and a recipient of an academic scholarship from The Goddesses of Eternal Maidenhood (TGOEM), a group of sacred virgin goddesses. - Wikipedia



The overall story and art-style made me fall in love with the series as a whole. It was a very interesting to see two characters that have been talked about longer than I can even fathom within history. Because of this, I decided to look into a medium of their story that I liked- wondering if it would spark anything deeper. 

While I had other topics like Traumacore, I just wasn't sure where I could go with any of them. 

Then it hit me while I was re-reading through the comic as a whole.

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I found that the characters had a lot of layers to them. They weren't just gods. They were these beings that suffered like 'normal' beings. The fact that they have suffered through trauma and how the comic shows that through the artwork. 

Like the ones shown above- with Hades it has him panicking when his emotionally abusive ex- Minthe, says he the splitting image of his father- Kronos (who was abusive to Hades himself). For Persephone, she is talking about her trauma as a result of Apollo. It feels like she is split into pieces and the art comes across with this, visually.

I have the book of the first volume that was released back in early November. This added with having access to it on WEBTOON, gave me the ability to really look at the artwork within the series. Overall it is breathtaking and really brings across just how trauma can effect someone- especially as it can be hard to talk about it/ convey how you really feel.

To help me find ways to explain it better convey or explain this idea of trauma through Lore Olympus, I took to the internet.

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An article by The Mary Sue talks about how Lore Olympus reclaims trauma and allows it to transform. The article talks about how the original story of Hades & Persephone can be seen as rather controversial with it being an abduction tale at its core. Here is a good quote that starts explaining some of the beliefs  around it that links into further deeper topics regarding the series. 

"The Sicilian cult beliefs surrounding Demeter and the goddess Kore (another name for Persephone) look to the spring goddess as a symbol of fertility, sexuality, and a woman’s power over her household. Persephone, in this particular belief, reminded married women of the power they held in their homes and over their husbands. Multiple clues in Smythe’s setting and narrative in Lore Olympus point to the Sicilian background of Persephone as the chief informing text for this adaptation."

Having a narrative and background based within real legend/ belief is interesting as it means there is a good foundation to have especially since Smythe is choosing a more positive show of the two (which I like as it isn't rooted in hatred).

"While her retelling of the myth frames Hades and Persephone’s relationship as a romance, Smythe uses the plethora of problematic material in Greek mythology to reclaim the story of Hades and Persephone and use the pair (and a cast of colorful Olympian characters) to speak directly to issues of trauma and provide healing and closure for her characters and her readers."

This is one of the reasons I love this adaptation. It brings forward a true relationship between people, the highs and lows. Even in recent updates Hades and found out about Persephone's trauma and realises the boundaries they have set as well as making sure he is there for Persephone. Its is important to see and having this representation when trauma and mental health is still somewhat taboo or grossly misinterpreted is valued.

Wanting to further explore the trauma representation of Lore Olympus, I then found this article by ExpLORE OLYMPUS.

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This specific article address how the trauma can be shown vividly through the characters within Lore Olympus

The article raises good points, HOW would we show how trauma effects people? It's such a hard thing to describe how you feel, when it's like your whole world is tumbling down around you. Smythe does an amazing job of showing this representation through the god and goddesses within her series and how their powers can really effect them. 

"In Lore Olympus, the characters’ traumas actually paralyze them. They physically tear through their skin. They burst out of them, painfully, and immobilise them. They overpower not just themselves, but everything around them. They’re overwhelming. They’re crippling. They are a loss of control."

Most of the time we get to see a look into this 'loss of control' within Lore Olympus is with Hades and Persephone themselves. 

For Hades, his trauma response came to him when he was 'younger' after suffering at the hands of his father, he would often spiral into panic attacks and trigger his body to force crystals out of his body- crystallising him to try and protect himself and his mind.

For Persephone, nature tries to reclaim her. The vines tear out of her- her hair grows longer and she almost enters a mode of stasis as she grows cold. Both of their attacks/ their responses to being triggered, shows us how it feels. It's a fraction of what one can fully describe, but it's artfully done. It bring awareness to just how someone may feel as mentally- this is what they could see and feel like. 

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For me, seeing this kind of visualisation is extremely important. This comic series is addressing something that needs to be talked about more. Trauma and trauma related mental illness is heavily stigmatised and is seen as someone being broken or a monster. In reality it can be debilitating and those who are effected need the help and support from people they should be able to trust. 

This has lead me to wanting to turn my project into talking about TRAUMA, rather than Hades and Persephone specifically. I feel like the topic of Trauma can lead into many more avenues for me to be able to explore ideas or ways to really tell a story that will be effective. I want to create games that can have a theme of making a difference. I want all games I ever create- or help to create- to have this big degree of having a purpose. Even if the narrative is made up- the overall story or the main theme that is get across a theme of MEANING. I want a game where a focus is around brining in the theme of trauma and putting a spotlight onto it to show that it is something that needs to be addressed more. 

With that in mind, it was time to put this trojan horse of a topic into my presentation.

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