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"Mature Content Warning!" |
| “ | ♫Thunder, bring her through the wringer. Show her I'm the judgment call. The one who makes her kingdom fall. Lightning, wield her, use and yield her. Show her what she can't conceal. For true nature will be revealed.♫ | „ |
| ~ Zeus in "Thunder Bringer" |
Zeus is the overarching antagonist of the 2022 musical/concept album, EPIC: The Musical, by Jorge Rivera-Herrans that serves as an adaptation of Homer's The Odyssey.
Like other counterparts of the character, he is the all-powerful and King of Olympus and the gods, being the husband of Hera, father of Athena and Ares, and the brother of Poseidon, who is feared by the world for his power and reputation. As a show of power, he starts the musical by forcing Odysseus to bear the blood of killing the infant son of Hector, which would indirectly lead to the rest of the events of the musical as Odysseus would try to overcompensate for this deed in an act of mercy down the line that wind up costing him the lives of his enormous crew and give him trouble getting back home.
He is voiced by Luke Holt.
His Evil Ranking[]
What Makes Him Close To Being Pure Evil?[]
- He is conveyed to have a history of raping women, comparing breaking the pride of men to how he forces himself on women.
- He forces an incredibly reluctant Odysseus to kill the infant son of Hector as an act of will to the gods, telling him that the boy would seek revenge down the line for the sack of Troy and that the gods will ensure that he will know about it later down the line, traumatizing Odysseus with his blood on his hands.
- When Eurylochus, Odysseus' second-in-command, killed one of the cattle that belonged to the Sun God, Helios, after usurping Odysseus, Zeus appears on the god's behalf and, to inflict his punishment, forces Odysseus into a sadistic choice where he must either sacrifice himself and never see his family or home again or his crew before massacring the remaining 36 men he had when he reluctantly chooses to sacrifice them with guilt.
- He left Odysseus trapped and isolated on Calypso's island for a long time, keeping him away from his family further.
- When Athena beats him at his game in convincing every god to advocate for Odysseus' release, out of spite for having lost, Zeus goes on to strike his own daughter down with his thunder in a state of fury, though he would implicitly regret this choice afterwards.
What Prevents Him From Being Pure Evil?[]
- He slightly fails the heinous standard to Poseidon who replicates Zeus' cruelty in his acts towards Odysseus by forcing him to watch as he drowns 500 of his men to death through his storms and tried to force Odysseus to give up his own life under the threat of drowning all of Ithaca with huge tidal waves, including his family, and gouging out his son's eyes, which would have given him a higher scope of casualties than Zeus with lower resources.
- Though his serial rape niche would have helped him pass, this falls under off-screen villainy as he mainly reveals it through dialogue towards Odysseus with no relevance to the story.
- He cares for his daughter Athena as though he struck her down with lightning out of spite for beating him at his own game; he is implied to have regretted this choice as he releases Odysseus to honor what appeared to be her final wish when she passed out from the strain and begged him to do so.
Trivia[]
- He, alongside Polyphemus and Poseidon, are the only villains from EPIC: The Musical to qualify as Near Pure Evil. He is also the only one to fail the heinous standard, even though he is ironically more powerful than the other Near Pure Evil villains.
- While he is currently Near Pure Evil, there's a chance this could change in the upcoming musical, Ilium.
External Links[]
- Zeus on the Villains Wiki
- Zeus on the EPIC: The Musical Wiki