Thanos & Iphigenia: The Mad Titan at Aulis

Welcome back to another edition of Comic Relief! where we talk about all the goings on in the world of nerd!

Whenever I read a comic book or watch a superhero film, I always find it very hard to not compare the material presented to the great myths that came before. Comic books after all are a form of modern mythology, heroes that embody the traits that we as a society hold dear struggling against overwhelming odds and overcoming them, it's nothing new, but the romanticism of heroes has been a cornerstone of society since the beginning. After seeing Avengers: Infinity War a second time, I was allowed to be a bit more comprehensive in what I absorbed, and so like all the stories that have come before it, I began to draw parallels to certain myths. What I saw in that film had a certain familiarity to it, it resonated with a story that shaped my interests at a young age, Infinity War felt like a cosmic retelling of the Trojan War. Not all the pieces are there of course, there is no Helen, no city fated to fall, no conflict to last 10 years, but the scope of the conflict match, and the film does form its finale over a siege to gain the final Infinity stone (in a way I guess you could say that Vision is Helen now that I am thinking about it), but still the point is there are similarities. However, there is one in particular that I would like to focus on, and that is the MASSIVE similarities between this film's villain/protagonist: Thanos, and the Homeric hero, Agamemnon leader of the Achaeans.

In the stories of the Trojan War, the character of Agamemnon has a recurring narrative of sacrifice. It seems that in order for victory to be achieved, Agamemnon is constantly force to pay a price. It is important to note the first MAJOR similarity between these two is that like Thanos, Agamemnon is a very successful warlord and has a hold on a vast number of territories, the only economic power to rival his Mycenae was in fact Troy. It is important to remember that while Agamemnon may be fighting for his brother on the surface, sacking Troy has it's personal benefits and in several versions of the tale, control over Troy's trade routes is a massive motivator for his involvement in the conflict. It's because of this, that in order for Agamemnon to reach Troy, the gods demand a steep price. Artemis, having felt slighted by a lack of offerings made, has plagued the Greeks with unfair winds for travel across the sea. Upon reading the augurs, the high priest of the Greeks says that the virgin goddess of the moon demands recompense in the price of Agamemnon's daughter. While Agamemnon is against this and tries to fight it, his captains create a rouse to bring his daughter Iphigenia to Aulis under the auspice of a fake marriage to Achilles. Agamemnon eventually relents, and the long and short of it is that Iphigenia is sacrificed and the goddess grants the Greeks their favorable wind.  As the leader of the Greeks, sacrifice is what is expected of him, even in the Iliad, which starts 9 years into the conflict, Agamemnon again is to part with his favorite war prize Chriseis to appease Apollo and end his wrath of a plague. Sacrifice is his cross to bare, but his prize in doing so is the sack of the fabled city, and a place in legend that stretches an eternity.

So this is actually not Agamemnon, it's Achilles with Iphigenia, the art was just too damn good. check out the artist here

Thanos also bares that same struggle. He is the only one with the will to do what must be done, and to be the savior of the universe, he must pay a high price. When Gamora takes Thanos to Vormir, they are greeted by a spectral Red Skull (just as a side note, Skull is garbed in an ebony cloak that is very similar to the ones the high priests of old wore, so there are even parallels here to the Greek high priest relaying the augurs to Agamemnon). Red Skull informs Thanos of the price that must be paid to attain the soul stone, that Thanos must sacrifice that which he loves most. However, what's more is that Skull's wording implies that this thing cannot be material, it must have be a living being:

An equal price must be paid, a soul for a soul.

While there were probably more scenes initially to hammer this point home that were probably taken out due to time constraints, it is very clear from what is shown in the film that Gamora did in fact hold a special place among Thanos' "children." Out of all of them, Thanos saw Gamora as most like an actual daughter. Thanos drags his daughter to the edge of the cliff, and hurls her to her demise, and the sacrifice is paid. The soul stone reveals itself to Thanos, and this serves as the film's climax as Thanos knows where the last two stones are and can claim them himself. At the end of the film, as the dust clears Thanos has a vision of a young Gamora that asks him what the cost was to achieve his goal. Thanos weeps in his reply of a single word: "everything." Thanos has won, but what was the cost?

A similar question can be asked of Agamemnon. To sack Troy he had to sacrifice Iphigenia, and while he did eventually it took 10 years of his life to do so. Enough time for his wife to find a new lover, and in her resentment over the murder of her daughter, plot Agamemnon's murder. Agamemnon returns home where he is murdered by his wife during his evening bath. Agamemnon took Troy, and it cost him literally everything as well. It is interesting to think on if Thanos' own sacrifice of Gamora will have a similar cost. This is not me laying down any theories of what may happen in Avengers. It's just that the tragedy of these two characters is parallel in so many ways that I can't help but be fascinated. I hope it was intentional, but even if not, it's fun to see how much these old stories can effect us subconsciously while we create the legends of the next generation.

I hope you have found equal fascination in these revelations as well, this has been another edition of Comic Relief! We'll see you next time!