astralshift - Character Studies — Homer

Hey everyone!

Hell Maiden is finally out and we hope you've been enjoying getting to know all the currently available Poets of Limbo and interacting with them in-between each run.

Taking inspiration from historical figures is always a lot of fun, but one of the most intriguing has definitely been the poet, Homer, whose undying legacy really puts into perspective how much has been lost from antiquity.

𓆩♡𓆪 Who was Homer?

Simply put, nobody knows.

For the longest time, Homer was presented to audiences as the singular individual responsible for some of the world's most impressive and influential literary works. However, all it takes is a simple Google search to realize this couldn't be further from the, speculated, truth.

This ongoing debate regarding Homer's true indentity has even been given a name — the Homeric Question — which hinges on a few key questions.

Was Homer a real person?

Nobody knows, as historical sources vary on this. However, the most prevailing characteristics of his identity are that he was an old, blind bard born in an Angean island named Chios, near what is current day Turkey.

All that is known about his factual existence doesn't go much further than this, unfortunately.

Can we attribute the authorship of both the Iliad and the Odyssey to Homer?

The consensus among most scholars is that this would be impossible.

There are several inconsistencies and key differences in how these works approach their narratives, use of vocabulary and linguistics, geographical locations, theology and even the way ethics and culture are incorporated.

While they are definitely unified, there simply isn't enough proof that they were ever created by the same individual.

Instead, it is believed that these works were passed down orally and later written down.

If not by Homer, then by whom were they composed?

There are several takes on this issue, two of them being the most popular — the lay theory, which suggests the works were originally composed of short poems composed by different poets that were later weaved together to form the epics we know today, and the nucleus theory that suggests there has always been a core poem, which Homer composed, and that was later expanded and added to by other poets.

Pretty fascinating rabbit hole, isn't it?

In the end, nobody truly knows who Homer was, if there even was a Homer, and how these epics first came to be, which left us with plenty of room to tinker with our own interpretation for Hell Maiden!

𓆩♡𓆪 Homer in the Divine Comedy

Just like Horace, Homer doesn't have an active role in the Divine Comedy and is simply mentioned by Dante alongside other virtuous pagan philosophers, poets and artists who inhabit Limbo.

He is, however, in the elite inner circle composed by Horace, Ovid, Lucan and himself, which gives us some perspective on how Dante viewed Homer as one of the greats.

𓆩♡𓆪 Homer in Hell Maiden

Given the ambiguity of Homer's historical identity, we had free rein to interpret the Homeric Question to our heart's desire and inject some whimsy into our own character.

Rather than sticking with a stoic, wise and overly serious representation as one could expect, we decided to shoot for a carefree and sometimes ditzy approach in hopes of toning down the seriousness and subverting expectations.

Thus, Hell Maiden's Homer goes beyond wisdom and serenity, elements that are still at the core of her character nonetheless, but rather ventures down a more cheerful path with her singing, optimistic outlook and oftentimes featherbrained takes on serious matters.

It's not all sunshine and rainbows, however — Homer can be aloof, inconsiderate, selfish and even a little cruel at times. She's no stranger to tough love, too, as her tolerance for sentimentality isn't very high when there are serious stakes at hand.

Rest assured, you'll have plenty of opportunity to get to know Homer beyond her ditzy self!

Just like Horace, Homer's crux is immortality itself — however, she doesn't particularly care for closure in the same sense Horace does. Instead, she years for novelty, newness and excitement. Anything to break her out of the stupor of eternity.

Luckily for her, Dante arrives in Hell for a second time with just what her heart desires: adventure, drama and violence!

𓆩♡𓆪 Character Design

Similarly to the others' looks, Homer's design takes a lot of inspiration from Greek motifs and overall aesthetic with her white robes of flowly fabrics and jewelry, for example.

As our character designer, Kira took some general inspiration from the Odyssey and its maritime themes of travel which are present in her flowy, airy garments, the boat inscription on the medallion and the wavy pattern in her arm bands.

More than the others, Homer's looks were inspired in mythological nymphs and are meant to invoke a certain ephemeral element to her presence as a whole.

One of the original elements that stayed throughout the various iterations is her golden laurels which Kira included to highlight her statues as the legendary poet, Homer.

No, the pink crocs weren't accepted as part of her design, sadly...

Another element of her design that defines the character and ties into her personality are the glassy purple eyes — Homer is known to have been blind and we wanted to adapt some of that element to our own Homer.

While she is blind in Hell Maiden, she can still feel and sense the auras of every other character, almost in a spiritual way. This is explored in later circles, so we'll leave it at that!

𓆩♡𓆪 In Sum

In comparison to the other Poets of Limbo, Homer's character and direction was always very clear in our minds both when it came to her personality and her character design.

While some of Ebee's research uncovered some surprising developments — the Homeric Question and the extremely violent nature of the Iliad and the Odyssey, for example — it contributed toward a more multifaceted and complex character than what we originally had in mind.

One of Ebee's favorite things to write are flawed characters who often betray themselves, say and do things they didn't mean to, and struggle to break out of vicious cycles and habits. In Homer's case, it's her genuine and unapologetic nature that's truly charmed our writer as Hell Maiden's Homer doesn't bow down to the weight of her legacy and, instead, continues to exist as her own person.

Writing Homer to be a character of her own rather than a take on the legendary poet was one of her goals and it seems to be going in the right direction!

We hope you enjoyed learning more about our take on Homer and what went into bringing her character to life!

Let us know what you think in the comments and we'll be back next month with another Character Studies post!