fearandlothering:argonautic:Achilles (Pyrrha) | PB: Alyssa SutherlandTheir biggest mistake was assum
fearandlothering:argonautic:Achilles (Pyrrha) | PB: Alyssa SutherlandTheir biggest mistake was assuming she’d ever needed lessons on how to be a woman. Being among Lycomedes’ daughters was no more a chore than anything the great centaur had ever taught her. It was a fallacy to think that all anyone needed to be successful in battle was a weapon and a strong arm. Fighting was nothing more than a dance, albeit more deadly. The application of grace was severely underrated, and man or woman, it made Achilles the very same great warrior of legend. For every assumption that the company of Lycomedes’ daughter Deidamia was teaching the wild daughter of Peleus the gentility she lacked, the truth of the matter was that it was Achilles doing the teaching. Why should women be regarded as weak and single-faceted? And why should they have to assume the role of men to gain their agency? The only thing she wanted to be regarded as was as Achilles. How she was brought into the world mattered little. What she did with the life she had been given…For that, she would always be remembered.#achilles’ history lends really well to genderswapping#especially given the incident at Skyros#its hardly ever even implied that his time on skyros was emasculating at all#achilles and deidamia discovering themselves and each other#is just beautiful and heartbreaking#self-discovery is gender neutral#achilles marvels at deidamia’s talent for small detail#and deidamia likewise marvels at this almost-goddess supplicated before her#never knowing prior to Achilles’ arrival that there was a possibility for a life other than the one dictated for her#so they find freedom in each other’s differences#each making up what the other lacks#it actually makes Achilles’ departure even MORE heartbreaking for deidamia than it already is#because with achilles gone she loses not only a companion but her freedom#as she has no way to avoid her father’s demands any longer#though for achilles it’s still fairly onesided#the loss of her childhood friend would be only the loss of her childhood#and not her sense of self#the first girl loses once again#filed away and forgotten as a distant memory#though deidamia is still there#in every swing and every thrust and every dodge#deidamia’s grace becomes Achilles’ greatest gift#even more so than her invincibility#because in order to teach achilles anything#one first has to teach the invulnerable warrior how to be vulnerable -- source link
#love