What is The Odyssey? Christopher Nolan’s epic is a 10-year-long Main Vaapas Aaunga

Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey is all set to release in theatres worldwide on July 17, and as Nolan fans around the world prepare to watch yet another epic by the filmmaker, there seems to be one question that’s being asked by many who aren’t familiar with the source material of his film – what is it all about? The Odyssey, said to be written in the 8th century BC, is a Greek mythological epic, split into 24 books, attributed to Homer. Odyssey is preceded by Iliad, the story that ends with Odysseus (Matt Damon) winning the Trojan War in Troy.

The events of the Odyssey start from the time when Odysseus sets sail from Troy towards him home, Ithaca, but the journey takes him ten years, while his wife Penelope (Anne Hathaway) and son Telemachus (Tom Holland) wait for him. Odysseus wants nothing more than to come home to his family, but the events that derail him on the way form the plot of the epic.

Anne Hathaway as Penelope in The Odyssey.

Odysseus turns into Nobody, gets cursed

After leaving Troy, Odysseus first heads to Ismarus. A storm blows them off course and leads them to the land of Lotus eaters, where the locals offer them lotus fruits. Upon consuming them, his crew falls asleep and forgets all about their lives. Odysseus doesn’t eat the fruit, rescues his men, and heads out to the sea again.

From here, they reach another isolated island where they find a cave filled with food supplies. Once inside the cave, the cave’s opening is blocked by a giant boulder by Polyphemus (Bill Irwin), a man-eating Cyclops who starts eating Odysseus’ crew one by one. In an attempt to escape, Odysseus comes up with a plan. He feeds him a wine that makes him fall asleep and as Polyphemus asks for his name, he says ‘Nobody’. Once Polyphemus faints, Odysseus uses a giant wooden pole to blind him. When Polyphemus cries in agony, he can only say, ‘Nobody is hurting him’, and so, he gets no help from the Cyclops outside the cave. Polyphemus opens the cave once every day to allow his sheep to go outside, and Odysseus and his men use this opportunity to escape.

As he reaches his ship and is escaping, Odysseus reveals his real name, not realising that this would bring a curse on him that would follow him for the next 10 years. Polyphemus is the son of Poseidon, the god of the sea, and he curses Odysseus that he would lose all his crew and wander the sea for the next decade. Odysseus remains unaware of the curse.

Odysseus’ 11 ships destroyed

From here, Odysseus lands on the island of Aeolia. Here, the king gives him a leather bag containing the power of the wind that can speed up his journey to Ithaca. As the ships reach near Ithaca, Odysseus’s crew wonders if the bag has a treasure and opens it up. The bag lets out a storm, and the ship loses its direction, and they land back in Aeolia. This time, the king doesn’t treat Odysseus with respect as he suspects that he must be cursed, and orders him to go back to the sea. He now lands at Telepylos, where the man-eating giants, the Laestrygonians, destroy 11 of his 12 ships and devour most of his crew.

Odysseus falls for Circe, saves himself from Sirens

Odysseus now lands at the island of Aeaea, home to a witch named Circe. Circe drugs all the men on the ship and turns them into pigs but Odysseus outsmarts her. Seeing a man who manages to outsmart her, Circe falls in love with Odysseus. He stays on the island for a year and has a son named Telegonus. After one year, he decides to head home to Penelope but Circe asks him to visit The Underworld to seek advice on how to handle his future troubles. Here, he meets Tiresias (James Remar), the blind prophet who gives him some key advice to follow for his journey to Ithaca.

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Odysseus and his ship then pass by the Sirens, the magical creatures known to seduce the sailors and he tells his crew to seal their ears with beeswax; however, Odysseus does not. He asks his crew to bind him to the ship’s mast so he cannot get seduced and manages to become the first mortal to cross the Sirens’ path successfully.

Matt Damon as Oddyseus in The Oddysey.

Odysseus sacrifices 6 crew members to save the ship

Odysseus now crosses the path between Scylla and Charybdis. The Scylla hosts a six-headed sea monster and the Charybdis hosts a whirlpool, that can swallow his entire ship. He sacrifices six of his crew members and chooses to pass through Scylla so the rest of the crew can be saved.

All die, Odysseus left alive

Odysseus now heads to Thrinacia, the home of the Sun god Helios, where he houses his immortal cattle. He was previously told by the prophet not to hunt the cattle and he instructs his men to follow orders. However, they ignore his command, and Odysseus is shocked at their foolishness. They head out to the sea again. Helios, in the meanwhile, complains to Zeus, the god of the gods. Punishing Odysseus, Zeus breaks his ship in half as all his crew members die, leaving only Odysseus alive.

Calypso holds him hostage for 7 years

Zeus now lands on Ogygia, the home of Calypso (Charlize Theron). She falls in love with him and offers him immortality if he chooses to stay with her, but he rejects her offer. Upset with him, she holds him hostage for the next seven years. Watching all of this, Athena (Zendaya), Zeus’ daughter, begs her father to intervene and allow Odysseus to head home. Zeus orders Calypso to let him go on a raft but Poseidon attacks him yet again.

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He now lands on Phaeacia, which is his final stop before Ithaca. At first, Odysseus does not reveal his identity but when the King Alcinous finds out that he is the hero of the Trojan war, he sends him off with a ship and gold and silver, and a large crew so he can head home.

Zendaya plays Athena in The Odyssey.

Penelope’s suitors in Ithaca

Meanwhile, Odysseus’ palace has been infested by hundreds of suitors who have been forcing Penelope to marry one of them. Antinous (Robert Pattinson) is one of the suitors. Penelope fools them all for years together and then ultimately sets up a challenge. The winner wins her hand in marriage.

Odysseus is warned of the suitors in Ithaca by Athena, and she gives him a disguise so he can successfully infiltrate his own palace. As he reaches his palace and competes in the challenge, he manages to win, for Penelope has challenged everyone to use Odysseus’ bow to participate. Nobody but Odysseus can string the bow and thus, he wins.

Odysseus then kills all the suitors one by one as his son Telemachus hides all their weapons. But Penelope is still not convinced that the man claiming to be Odysseus is her husband so she asks him to move their bed, which is a trick question. He weeps as he says that the bed cannot be moved, as the bedpost is actually a tree. Penelope now knows he’s telling the truth, and accepts him.

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Nolan has already announced that the events in his film will not be chronological but it is yet to be known which parts from the epic will not be included in the film.