Christopher Nolan’s Changes to The Odyssey Make the Mythical Epic Feel More Human
12 min readSpoilers below.
The first thing you’ll see in Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey is a line of text on a black screen: “It is a time of apparent magic…” It’s an apt introduction to Homer’s famous epic, which is known for its gods, goddesses, cyclopses, giants, witches, and mystical disguises; and yet, in this film, the story feels very down-to-earth. That’s not just because of the impressive special effects and practical filming locations, but also because of how the story is (re)told.
Nolan faced the great challenge of adapting a nearly 3,000-year-old poem for modern cinematic audiences. That meant making some changes to the story, combining plots or skipping showing some characters altogether (sorry, Zeus) to focus on more iconic scenes in the 172-minute runtime. Still, the moments that are included feel largely accurate, sometimes even more nuanced, thanks to Nolan’s writing and the cast’s skillful performances. Most gods don’t make appearances, but the characters feel more layered, like Odysseus (Matt Damon), who is traumatized by war, or his wife, Penelope (Anne Hathaway), who is rougher around the edges. Even Helen of Troy (Lupita Nyong’o) briefly expresses regret for the trouble she caused. We don’t meet Odysseus’s father, Laertes, but we do get backstory on his main rival, Antinous (Robert Pattinson), which brings more tension to their final confrontation.
Nolan told The Los Angeles Times he “wanted an earthy narrative” when it came to using colloquial American dialogue, but that could also apply to the film as a whole. He felt “a responsibility to have the appropriate tone, to have a sense of consequences.” His version of the story is a little more grounded, even if it still has massive whirlpools and men turning into pigs. I’d argue the real magic of the film is in its humanity.
Here, we take a look at some of the biggest differences between Nolan’s The Odyssey and Homer’s.
Odysseus is tormented with guilt.
Matt Damon as Odysseus in The Odyssey.
The biggest addition to The Odyssey is in the characterization of Odysseus. He’s not only a formidable warrior and tactician, as he is in Homer’s poem, but also a weary veteran grappling with guilt and the horrors of war. Yes, he’s the brilliant mind who invented the Trojan Horse, but he’s haunted by the destruction it wrought—innocent people murdered, homes burned, and a whole civilization destroyed. (This could explain why The Odyssey was Nolan’s follow-up to Oppenheimer.)
“It’s an academic twist on a story about homecoming, but [also] this character who, much like Oppenheimer, is wrestling with the price of his ingenuity and what it’s going to mean for the world,” Matt Damon told Letterboxd.
“The Trojan Horse, ingenious as it was, is a trick [that is in] direct violation of Zeus’s law. It’s presented as a gift and an offering of peace—but obviously, it’s full of soldiers. Of course, knowing that the world was cast into four centuries of darkness right after this story takes place—there’s a lot there thematically, and [you] can draw comparisons and lines from there.”
The attack on Troy in The Odyssey.
In fact, it’s because he’s still processing that trauma that Damon’s Odysseus seems to avoid going home—it’s not just that gods and monsters kept him off course. When he and his men first leave Troy, he takes a different route than Agamemnon so they can “see the world” and take the scenic route. It’s an erratic decision from someone who’s in denial of their inner turmoil. As Odysseus (in disguise) later tells Penelope, he regrets that he and his men “abused what’s sacred between people” when they attacked Troy. Athena (Zendaya) even appears to him in the form of a Trojan woman he watched get murdered.
These details add more depth and complexity to one of the most famous and glorified heroes in history. This version of Odysseus challenges—or expands upon—the definition of masculinity. That’s not to say that Odysseus wasn’t emotional in Homer’s poem; he also wept often, felt great pain, and was clearly flawed. But Nolan’s telling looks at his greatest achievement through a new lens. It’s also inspired by the opening line of Emily Wilson’s 2017 translation of The Odyssey, which Nolan himself cited as an influence: “Tell me about a complicated man.”
Zeus’s law plays a big role.
The Trojans retrieve the horse.
“Zeus’s law” is mentioned by many characters in the film as the sacred rule of hospitality. All people have an obligation to welcome guests and treat them with respect, and guests must do the same for their hosts. “It’s the Golden Rule—treat as you would be treated—and with a theological underpinning in their world, that you might be a god in disguise,” Nolan told The New York Times.
In actual ancient Greece, there was no actual Zeus’s law, but there was a concept known as “xenia” that was still connected to the god of thunder. The term comes from Zeus Xenios, “the aspect of Zeus that cares about…hospitality and host-guest relationships,” Suzanne Lye, a professor in the department of classics at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, told ELLE. It was necessary for survival in antiquity, when it was far more dangerous to travel. It’s not exactly the Golden Rule, but Nolan expanded its meaning for his adaptation.
Xenia is a recurring theme in Homer’s Odyssey. That’s why Penelope and Telemachus can’t just kick the suitors out of their home. Eumaeus and King Alcinous are examples of hosts who honor xenia. Penelope’s suitors, on the other hand, violate xenia as they take advantage of Odysseus’s home. Circe also defies it by luring men with food and turning them into pigs.
Nolan uses that concept to bring out the irony of the Trojan Horse. It’s considered a genius war tactic but also violates xenia—because the Greeks disguised themselves as a harmless gift and then killed their hosts. When Odysseus realizes what they had done, it haunts him throughout his journey home.
There are fewer gods.
Zendaya as Athena in The Odyssey.
Although Athena, Circe, and Calypso appear in the film, the rest of their godly kin do not, even though they are characters in Homer’s poem. In fact, Athena only appears and talks to Odysseus in the film, and none of the other characters can see her when she’s with him (sadly, that means there are no Zendaya-Tom Holland scenes).
“For me, having these remote gods with chess pieces or whatever, all the things you’ve seen in the past, felt alienating,” Nolan told Vulture. “It’s not so much about trying to be realistic; it’s just trying to see the gods the way these characters would have seen them.”
Hence, when the characters see lightning or hear thunder, they assume Zeus is present. When they encounter stormy waves, they believe it’s Poseidon’s doing. That’s probably how ancient Greeks felt at the time, attributing inexplicable forces of nature to divinity.
In the original epic, however, Zeus appears in many scenes, speaking to Athena and other gods. Poseidon is actively involved in the ruin of Odysseus’s fleet, especially after he blinded his son Polyphemus, the Cyclops. Hermes orders Calypso to set Odysseus free. Helios complains when Odysseus’s men eat his cattle, and Zeus responds by striking lightning on their ship. Persephone is present when they meet the souls of the Underworld.
Athena is also far more involved in Homer’s story. She even aids Telemachus on his journey to meet Menelaus and puts an elderly disguise on Odysseus (not just a hooded cape) when he returns to Ithaca. In the film, however, she’s more hands-off. The fact that she takes on the form of a slain woman from Troy raises the question of whether she was actually the goddess herself or Odysseus’s conscience personified. In Nolan’s version, humans are more in control, which is why they must face the consequences of their actions.
Antinous and Sinon get new backstories.
Robert Pattinson as Antinous.
Sinon (Elliot Page), who originally appears in Virgil’s Aeneid, is added to Nolan’s Odyssey in the same role: He is a Greek soldier who volunteers to stay behind after the rest of his men pretend to retreat, and he convinces the Trojans to accept the horse as an offering to Athena. Antinous (Robert Pattinson), on the other hand, appears in Homer’s Odyssey and is considered the ringleader of Penelope’s suitors. In both versions, he’s cocky, disrespectful, and wants to get rid of Telemachus.
The film, however, intertwines their backstories: When they were young, Antinous tried to switch places with Sinon during the draft for the Trojan War. Odysseus catches his attempt and sends the two on their correct paths: Sinon off to battle and Antinous to stay behind. When Odysseus goes to Hades, he finds Sinon, who tells him he felt betrayed by Odysseus and his fellow soldiers because he didn’t know they were in the horse the whole time. He also tells Odysseus to take revenge on Antinous when he returns to Ithaca.
The movie also shows flashbacks of a young Antinous and a group of boys joining Odysseus on a hunt. That memory also explains why, as an adult, Antinous recognizes Odysseus’s bow-and-arrow shot during Penelope’s test in the palace. In Homer’s version, Antinous is the first of the suitors to die, with an arrow to the neck. Nolan’s more cinematic take saves his satisfying death for last.
Odysseus’s parents are not included.
Throughout Homer’s story, Odysseus is referred to as the “son of Laertes.” When he returns home, his last grand reunion after Penelope is with his elderly father, juxtaposing their relationship with those of Odysseus and Telemachus and Eupeithes and the now-deceased Antinous. But Laertes does not appear in the film at all. Instead, Odysseus’s faithful swineherd, Eumaeus (John Leguizamo), acts somewhat like a father figure.
In Homer’s version, Odysseus even sees his late mother, Anticlea, in the Underworld after she died while he was away at Troy, but she doesn’t appear in the movie. There are many more souls he encounters in Hades who are not shown on-screen, such as Ajax, Achilles, Hercules, and Sisyphus.
The Lotus Eaters and Calypso’s stories are combined.
Odysseus and his crew on the ship.
In Homer’s version, after sacking the Cicones, Odysseus and his men first stop at the Lotus Eaters’ island before encountering the Cyclops. When eaten, the plant makes people forget their homeland and erases their desire to return. Some of Odysseus’s men ate the sweet-tasting plant and never wanted to leave; he had to drag a few wailing stragglers back to the ship after they consumed the flower.
That doesn’t happen in Nolan’s film. Instead, it’s folded into Odysseus’s stay with Calypso. She feeds him the lotus flower on her island so he can forget his home and family and stay with her forever. She’s able to keep him there for seven years before he finally remembers his past.
Odysseus doesn’t do his “Nobody” trick.
In Homer’s story, there isn’t just one Cyclops but a whole island’s worth. But like in the film, Odysseus and his men spend the most time with one named Polyphemus. Odysseus cleverly tells the Cyclops that his name is Nobody, so when he blinds the monster by driving a spike into his eye, Polyphemus cries out in pain, “Nobody’s tricked me, Nobody’s ruined me!” But after he and his men escape the cave under bundles of sheep’s wool, Odysseus is overcome with hubris and wants to take credit for his trick. He tells Polyphemus that if anyone ever asks, tell them Odysseus took his eye. But by revealing his name, Odysseus made himself a target for the wrath of Poseidon, Polyphemus’s father. Everything goes (further) downhill from there.
The crew doesn’t stop on Aeolia.
After the Lotus Eaters’ island and before encountering Circe, Odysseus and Co. arrive on Aeolia, home of the wind king Aeolus. He hosts the seamen for a month as Odysseus recalls his battles in Troy. When it’s time to go home, Aeolus gifts Odysseus a bag of storm winds sealed tightly in bull’s hide and keeps the west wind calm so they can reach Ithaca. Odysseus stores the bag below deck and steers the ship for nine days straight. When he finally sees their homeland in the distance, he falls asleep at the wheel. During his slumber, his jealous crew guesses what’s in the bag of hide; assuming it’s money and wanting some for themselves, they open it and mistakenly let loose the stormy gales, sending them off course once again. They even return to Aeolia to ask the king for help, but upon hearing of their misfortune, he sends them away, believing they are cursed.
The Laestrygonians don’t throw boulders.
Odysseus and his men on the island of the Laestrygonians.
In Homer’s version, the team encounters the Laestrygonians, a tribe of giant cannibals, after Aeolia. They throw rocks at Odysseus’s ships from the cliffs, ruining every ship but one. In Nolan’s film, the Laestrygonians are indeed giants who kill some of Odysseus’s men, but they aren’t portrayed as cannibals. Instead, they are towering warriors covered in silver armor who battle Odysseus’s warriors on land. They even seem to have the ability to move trees to trap the men for an easy kill. They still destroy the rest of Odysseus’s ships, chasing the soldiers down to the beach and attacking them as they try to climb aboard their boats.
Odysseus is a more faithful husband.
Charlize Theron as Calypso.
In the text, Odysseus stays with Circe for a year as her lover after he is immune to her magic potion (with the help of a plant from Hermes). She hosts him and his men, whom she turns back from pigs to humans, luxuriously on Aeaea. But in the film, Odysseus reasons with her, and she undoes her spell on his crew. They leave almost immediately.
Similarly, with Calypso, Odysseus says in the poem that the sea nymph “received me, loved me” even though he never reciprocated the feeling in his heart. She held him captive for seven years, offering him immortality, but his longing for home was too strong. In Hesiod’s Theogony, she even gives birth to twin sons fathered by Odysseus. Although Odysseus does stay with Calypso for seven years in the film, they’re not portrayed sleeping together (though it could be implied). He’s far more noble and yearns for Penelope throughout, making their reunion in the end even sweeter.
King Alcinous is skipped over.
In Homer’s version, after building a raft and sailing from Calypso’s island, Odysseus first gets washed ashore on the island of Scheria, where he is found by Princess Nausicaa, daughter of King Alcinous and Queen Arete. He is invited to a banquet in the king’s hall, where he recounts the full story of his journey after Troy to the guests (and the reader). In another great show of hospitality, Alcinous prepares a ship and crew for Odysseus to finally make it home. When they arrive at Ithaca, the crew leaves Odysseus, asleep, alongside his gifts from the king. When he wakes, he doesn’t recognize his home because Athena has shrouded it in fog. In the film, Odysseus washes ashore on Ithaca after his stay with Calypso. Athena appears beside him when he wakes to tell him he’s home.
Penelope doesn’t test Odysseus with his bed.
Anne Hathaway as Penelope and Tom Holland as Telemachus.
When Odysseus returns home in Homer’s poem, after he completes Penelope’s arrow test, kills all the suitors, and reveals himself to his wife, she remains skeptical. She has hardened herself over 20 years, after all. She asks her nurse, Eurycleia, to make a bed for her strange “guest” and to place it outside the master’s chamber. Odysseus is outraged to hear this because he knows moving that bed is impossible. He built it with his own hands, carving it out of an olive tree around which their bedroom was built. That was his and Penelope’s secret—and her final test. When she hears his outburst, Penelope believes he is truly her husband and runs to embrace him.
Nolan skips this part in his version, but it’s understandable given the runtime and flow of the story. With the battle of the suitors playing out as the climax of the film, it probably didn’t make sense to add another test with a motif (the bed) that was not introduced earlier in the story. Instead, Penelope recognizes Odysseus as he completes the bow-and-arrow test, even strumming the bow in his signature style, and kills all the suitors. In the film, their “secret” is her pin in the shape of Athena, which she gave him before he left for war. When he collapses in her arms during their big reunion, he presents it to her, further confirming his identity.
The story ends with exile instead of Athena bringing peace.
At the end of Homer’s epic, after the suitors are slain, their families are rightfully angry and hungry for revenge. Eupeithes, Antinous’s father, leads a mob against Odysseus, who prepares to fight alongside his father, Laertes; his son, Telemachus; and their swineherds. Athena appears under the guise of Mentor. She emboldens Laertes to throw his spear, striking Eupeithes in the head through his helmet. The opposing parties charge at each other, but Athena orders them to stop and make peace, acting as their arbiter.
Nolan’s film concludes very differently. Odysseus is exiled for killing the suitors and breaking Zeus’s law, a core value of hospitality. Penelope joins him, and they sail off into the sunset together, just like she suggested they do decades earlier, before he went to Troy. Telemachus stays behind as the new king of Ithaca. As they head for the horizon, Penelope asks her husband why their stories will be told in song. Odysseus replies that songs are all future generations will have to remember them by. He adds, “A new dawn will break over the darkened world, when our mistakes will once again be forgotten.” Roll credits.
Nolan’s version, like the rest of his film, puts the focus on the humans rather than the gods. In reality, Odysseus would likely face the consequences of his actions rather than be saved by divine intervention. It also emphasizes the gravity of Zeus’s law and reflects it to the viewers, reminding them of the importance of treating one another with decency. The story of The Odyssey “can seem alien, like another world, until it’s not,” Nolan told The Los Angeles Times. “The modern world frighteningly reminds you that these things don’t change.”