And so, now that AoS is gone until 2017 for real, let’s
turn back to ‘The Librarians’, from time to time. In this particular episode,
they had to deal with a self-fulfilling prophecy that risked having Eve dying
from the Reaper. It was all a plot slash trap by the oracle of Delphi so that
Eve would die in her place, but since Eve is one of the main cast of ‘The
Librarians’, the oracle died instead. So?
So, the only worthwhile commenting piece is the
prophecy, or rather – a prophecy. The one concerning Perseus, the star of ‘The
Clash of the Titans’ movie and its’ remake, as well as several other features;
also, the namesake of Rick Riordan’s Percy Jackson, one of RR’s most beloved
heroes. Before, however, Perseus could slay the gorgon Medusa, and save
Andromeda from a sea monster, he had to be conceived and born. His mortal
grandfather was a king named Acrisius, who had a daughter named Danae, Perseus’
mother to be. One day, for no particular reason, Acrisius got a prophecy that
he is going to die by his grandson’s hand.
Acrisius, naturally, got angry and scared, and
imprisoned Danae into a bronze or copper tower without any windows and only one
door. Zeus, the king of the Greek gods, saw Danae and infiltrated the tower in
guise of a golden shower, and promptly impregnated her with the original
Perseus. In nine months or so, after Perseus was born, Acrisius learned of
this, sealed him and Danae into a wooden box or chest, and set the afloat so
that they would die from natural causes rather than from his own hand (he was
that sort of person, apparently).
Of course, Danae and Perseus survived, Perseus grew
up, killed Medusa, saved Andromeda, etc. Eventually, he went to Argos, where
his grandfather ruled. When his grandfather heard that Perseus was coming, he
fled, and Perseus, not being the smartest of the antique heroes, decided to
console himself by participating in the local Olympic Games (or something
similar). In particular, he was one of the discus throwers. He threw the
discus, it went sideways, (metaphorically speaking) and hit a member of the
crowd, killing him dead. It was Perseus’ grandfather, albeit in disguise. The
prophecy came true.
…Okay, and none of it is the same as the version told
in ‘The Librarians’. Again, this is not a problem; ‘The Librarians’ may be a show
about heroes fighting monsters and villains, but this is presented in an
unorthodox manner; in part to make it more attractive for the viewers and to
make ‘The Librarians’ more unique; and in part because of the budget – odds are,
‘The Librarians’ don’t have the same sort of budget that AoS or any of the ‘Arrowverse’
shows have, so fewer special effects by far. S2 has shown this quite often as
an example.
Moreover, the Greek oracles themselves could be somewhat
strange, if you look at them properly, without any modern adaptations, (like
Rick Riordan’s), you would find yourself wondering: What were the Ancient
Greeks thinking? The oracles varied from asking random strangers for advice, to
the case of Croesus, the king of Lydia. He went to war with the Persians, asked
the oracle for advice, the oracle replied: ‘King, you go to war, you destroy a
great kingdom’. Croesus went to war, and destroyed a great kingdom – his own.
The oracles are not to be trusted, and while ‘The Librarians’ have simplified
(and/or skipped) this entire problem by making the oracle some sort of a
demigod herself. No muss, no fuss, everything straightforward, and pure
brainpower over brawn, as ‘The Librarians’ tend to do. Good luck to them and
successfully high ratings, too!
PS: And the cool AU of the week would've been if Perseus had married Medusa instead, rescuing her from Athene's curse, but 'The Librarians' have nothing to do with that.
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