You Won't Understand The Odyssey Without Watching This Video ( Prequel Of Odyssey ) | NAVIK

[00:00:00]There're two works of Western literature written by Homer, The Odyssey on which Christopher Nolan's movie is based, and The Iliad, which serves as a prequel to Odyssey. The Odyssey tells the story of Odysseus returning home. On the other hand, The Iliad shows why [music] in the end 100,000 ships sailed to attack Troy.

[00:00:19]Now, the problem with Nolan's films is [music] that he does not explain much of the backstory.

[00:00:24]Just as he did with Oppenheimer and Dunkirk, he assumes that as an audience you already know the basic geography >> [music] >> and politics of World War II.

[00:00:33]As for all these reasons, I'm making this video so that both you and I can enjoy The Odyssey even better. And for that, the most important thing is to understand its prequel.

[00:00:44]Now, to understand the prequel, you can watch the movie Troy. But although Troy is a good film, it is not a faithful adaptation because it takes a lot of liberties with the characters. For example, right at the beginning of the movie, Helen's husband is killed, but in the book that does not happen. He remains [music] alive. And because of this, if you watch The Odyssey after watching Troy, you will become even more confused. So, let's understand why the Trojan War happened and how it eventually ended.

[00:01:13]The story begins in [music] Sparta when Paris visits Sparta and Menelaus invites him into his home as a guest. After that, [music] Paris and Helen fall in love with each other. But Helen is Menelaus' wife, and while Menelaus is away on a mission, Paris takes Helen along with the treasure and leaves for Troy. This is where the war begins. When Menelaus returns, he finds that neither Helen nor the treasure is there. So, he goes to his elder brother, Agamemnon.

[00:01:41]Now, Agamemnon is the most powerful king in Greece. He only needed one reason to attack Troy, and now he finally had one.

[00:01:49]He forms an alliance with all the kings living around Greece and asks them to fight alongside him. Every king agrees to join the war, but there's also a small backstory behind this. This goes back to the time when Helen's bride-choosing ceremony was being held.

[00:02:04]All the kings of Greece gathered there [music] and competed against one another. The reason was that Helen was unbelievably beautiful. At the same time, she was her father's only daughter. That meant whoever married her would inherit [music] the entire kingdom. That's why every king wanted to marry Helen. However, Helen's father feared that if his daughter chose one king, the others might start a war among themselves. [music] So, he wanted a solution to this problem. On the other hand, among those attending the ceremony was Odysseus. Odysseus had no interest in Helen because he was an [music] extremely clever man. He knew that beauty at that level only brings destruction. So, he wasn't interested [music] in Helen. Instead, he was interested in her first cousin, Penelope. Therefore, Odysseus went to the king and said, "I have a solution that will prevent all these kings from fighting each other. But in return, you must let me marry [music] your father's daughter." The king agreed. Then Odysseus suggested, "Ask every king to take an [music] oath before the gods.

[00:03:02]Let them swear that whoever Helen chooses as her husband, they will respect her decision >> [music] >> and they will protect Helen and her husband for the rest of their lives."

[00:03:12]All the kings agreed. They thought, "If Helen chooses me, this oath will only benefit me."

[00:03:17]>> [music] >> So, every one of them took the oath.

[00:03:19]After that, Helen chose her husband and it was because of this oath that all the kings agreed [music] to fight in the Trojan War. They had sworn before the gods that they would protect Helen. That was the reason why half of the kings joined the war. The other half had a much simpler reason. They wanted to go to Troy, fight the war, and return with its [music] treasure. Now, when all the Greeks prepared their ships to sail for Troy, Odysseus refuses to go. The reason is that a prophecy had been made [music] about him. The prophecy said, "If you go to the Trojan War, you will not be able to return home for 20 years." At that very time, Odysseus just had become a father. He wanted to stay with his family. So, he pretended to be insane.

[00:03:59]He acted as if he had gone mad and said, "I'm crazy. What business do I have fighting in a war?" But his act was exposed. He was caught, placed on a ship, and taken to Troy with the others.

[00:04:10]On the other side, [music] there was another king. Homer himself says in the Iliad that he was the greatest warrior of that time. That warrior was Achilles.

[00:04:19]Around whom much of the Iliad revolves.

[00:04:22]>> [music] >> Now, there's a very interesting incident connected with Achilles. When Halas' marriage ceremony [music] was taking place, Achilles was still a child.

[00:04:30]Therefore, he wasn't present [music] at the ceremony. Since he wasn't there, he never took the oath, which means, technically, he had no obligation to join the war. A prophecy had also been made about Achilles.

[00:04:42]It said that if he [music] went to this war, his name would become immortal, but he would die in the war. Because of his prophecy, [music] his mother wanted to save him. So, she dipped him into a holy river. His entire body became protected from danger. But the part of his body where his mother was holding him never touched the water. That part was Achilles' heel. So, Achilles had two choices. Either he could become immortal through fame, or he could stay alive.

[00:05:08]You could say in better words that Achilles was an egoistic man. He wanted eternal [music] glory. That's why he agreed to go to war. And just how powerful Achilles really was, you will understand that a little [music] later in the story. And with that, 1,000 ships set sail for Troy. Now, let's talk about the city of Troy. You should know that they had two greatest weapons. The first was their enormous walls, which were so strong that the Greeks could not break through them for 10 years. In the end, they had to resort to deception. Their second greatest [music] weapon was Hector. If Achilles was the strongest warrior, then Hector was certainly [music] close behind him in second place. The war between Troy and Greeks continued for 9 years. Sometimes Troy suffered [music] losses. Sometimes the Greeks suffered losses. The Greek army would raid the smaller cities surrounding Troy. They would kill the people living there. They would capture [music] the women and bring them back.

[00:05:59]This is how the war continued for 9 long years. Then in [music] the 9th year, the biggest twist arrived. This is exactly where the Iliad begins. The story starts in the 9th year of the Trojan War. The main focus of the book is Achilles versus Agamemnon and Achilles versus Hector. [music] So, let's understand this part in a little more detail. Agamemnon did not like Achilles at all. The reason was that Achilles never bowed before Agamemnon.

[00:06:24]Achilles disliked Agamemnon as well.

[00:06:27]That's because [music] when the Greek army was setting out for war, Agamemnon had sacrificed his own daughter to the gods so that they would clear the way for his fleet. From that moment onward, a silent rivalry existed between the two. During the war, Achilles received a woman as his share of the spoils.

[00:06:44]>> [music] >> Agamemnon demanded that she be given to him. The moment Agamemnon asked for her, Achilles felt deeply [music] insulted.

[00:06:51]He believed Agamemnon was disrespecting him. Because of this, Achilles refused to continue [music] fighting. He declared, "From today onward, I will no longer fight against Troy." Then he withdrew from the battlefield along with his army. After that, the Greek army became much weaker. Now you can understand just how powerful Achilles really was. As long as he fought, the Greeks kept winning. But the moment he stopped fighting, they began to lose.

[00:07:16]Then another important twist [music] takes place. Achilles had a very close friend named Patroclus. Patroclus could not bear watching [music] the Greeks lose and die. So, he asked Achilles, "Please come back and fight." Achilles replied, "Do one thing. Wear my armor and go fight in my place.

[00:07:32]I won't go myself." So, Patroclus put on Achilles' armor and entered the battlefield. From a distance, Hector saw him. Hector believed Achilles had returned to the war. So, he attacked him during that battle. Patroclus was killed. As soon as Achilles learned what had happened, [music] he was filled with rage. The first thing he did was challenge Hector to a duel.

[00:07:53]Hector accepted the challenge. The battle between them began. It lasted for a long time. After fighting fiercely, Achilles chased Hector around the city of Troy at least three times.

[00:08:04]Finally, Hector became exhausted. He could no longer run. At that moment, Achilles killed him. But, Achilles' anger did not end there. After killing Hector, he tied Hector's body to his chariot. Then, he dragged the body across the ground.

[00:08:17]Afterward, [music] he left Hector's corpse out in the open for the crows to feed on. Hector's father could not bear to see this. So, during the night, he secretly came to Achilles and begged him for his son's body. Achilles finally [music] agreed. He said, "All right, you may take your son's body." He also announced that the Greeks would not attack Troy for 12 days, so Hector could receive a proper [music] funeral. Here's one quick piece of information. Hector was Paris' real elder brother. Hector was the older brother.

[00:08:44]Paris was the younger brother. So, Paris lost his brother, >> [music] >> and this filled him with anger. One special thing about Paris was that he was an excellent archer. When the fighting [music] resumed, Paris stood upon the walls of Troy. He fired an arrow at Achilles. The arrow struck Achilles in his heel.

[00:09:00]That was the only weak part of his body.

[00:09:02]It was the only place to which Achilles could be killed. And Achilles died there. Now, look. The [music] Iliad ends after Hector's death. After that, the Odyssey begin. But, the Odyssey does not start directly with Odysseus' journey.

[00:09:15]It is the story of Odysseus' journey, but in between we find small [music] poems that tell us what happened after Hector's death and before the burning of the city of Troy. Later poets continued those stories and expanded them. And this is where you will most likely see the story begin in Nolan's The Odyssey with the death of Achilles followed by the creation of [music] the Trojan Horse. Now, let me explain a little more.

[00:09:39]Achilles was the Greeks' [music] greatest warrior.

[00:09:41]After his death, the Greek army became much weaker. They realized they could no longer defeat Troy through direct combat, so they decided they would have [music] to win through deception.

[00:09:52]That's when they built the Trojan Horse.

[00:09:54]They left the giant wooden horse [music] on the seashore and pretended to sail away. The people of Troy came outside and saw that all the Greek ships had disappeared.

[00:10:03]Only one Greek soldier had been left behind as a sacrificial pawn.

[00:10:08]His job was to mislead the Trojans. He told them, "This horse is an offering [music] that we have dedicated to the gods so that all the Greeks may return safely to their homes.

[00:10:17]If the people of Troy take this horse inside the city and do anything to it, the Greeks will never reach home safely."

[00:10:24]Hearing this, the Trojans [music] thought, "This is the perfect opportunity." They probably brought the wooden horse inside [music] the city.

[00:10:31]That night, all the Greeks' greatest warriors climbed out from inside the horse. They had been hiding inside it all along. As soon as they came out, they opened the gates of Troy. The entire Greek army, which had secretly [music] returned, entered the city. They began destroying Troy.

[00:10:47]Agamemnon's order was, "Leave no one alive. Not the women, not the children, not the elderly, not even the unborn children [music] still in their mothers' wombs.

[00:10:56]Burn this city to the ground. Loot all of its treasure." And that is exactly [music] what they did.

[00:11:02]During the final battle, Paris was also killed. Troy was completely destroyed, and in the end, the Greeks emerged [music] victorious. The war was finally over, and from this point onward, Odysseus' journey truly begins.

[00:11:16]The same ships that had brought the Greek warriors to Troy now carried them back toward their homes. In the movie Troy, we are shown that Agamemnon dies during the war, but in reality, that is not what happens. When Agamemnon finally returns home, his own [music] wife kills him.

[00:11:32]There are different versions of why this happened. Some stories said that >> [music] >> she was having an affair. Others said that she killed Agamemnon because he had sacrificed their daughter before the war. Which version you choose [music] to believe, it's totally up to you.

[00:11:45]On the other hand, in the movie Troy, Helen leaves with [music] Paris. But according to the original story, when Menelaus finally sees Helen again, his heart melts. He forgives her and he takes Helen back [music] home with him.

[00:11:57]As for Odysseus, he spends 10 years fighting the Trojan War. Then he spends another [music] 10 years trapped at sea.

[00:12:04]His ship cannot return home because the sea god Poseidon [music] is angry with him. During those 10 years, countless extraordinary events take place. Those are the adventures you're most likely going to see in the movie.

[00:12:20]So, how was my [music] video explaining the prequel to the Odyssey? I hope that after watching this, you will be able to enjoy the Odyssey much more and understand its story >> [music] >> better. Thank you for watching and make sure to subscribe for more interesting videos.