Hyacinth: Sincerity and Joy

[binary_sunset]

Personally, hyacinths have a very special meaning for me. As a queer man, one of the first places I really felt represented in the literary canon was, of course, Greek mythology. The most well-known story of Classical queerness is the story of Apollo and Hyakinthos. If you're not familiar, Apollo is besotted with a young Spartan man named Hyakinthos. Problem is, the god of the North Wind, Boreas, is also interested in Hyakinthos and spies on him and Apollo when they're together. At some point, Hyakinthos throws a discus as hard as he can (being both a Spartan and Apollo's beloved gives him quite an arm). Boreas, in a fit of jealousy, blows the discus back towards Hyakinthos and strikes him in the head, killing him instantly. Apollo is so overwhelmed with grief that Hyakinthos' blood becomes the first hyacinth flower so that his beauty can live on. (A lot of Apollo's doomed lovers get turned into plant life. It's just A Thing, I guess.)

EDIT: As dr_zook pointed out, it's actually Zephyros, the west wind, who fell in love with Hyakinthos and not Boreas. I do not know why I thought this.

If you're a Percy Jackson fan, you might recognise it as the story Cupid uses to goad Nico di Angelo into coming out in The House of Hades.

Anyway, to celebrate this flower's super ancient relationship to queer men, I've decided to make some hyacinth-themed icons for a couple of canon men who like men! Everyone has canon male love interests except for Hunter, who was confirmed to be bisexual by showrunner Dana Terrance.


Sex Education


Hades (Game)


The Witcher (Netflix)


The Owl House

Comments

[cornerofmadness]

very nice post. I need to get back to those stories again. I had tapped out before Nico came out (mostly because I'm terrible at remembering series)

[binary_sunset]

Thank you! A lot of people had mixed feelings about the Heroes of Olympus series. Mine is that Rick bit off more than he could chew by trying to give all 7 main characters and Nico meaningful character arcs and that most of them feel a little incomplete without the Trials of Apollo books. All of them are great reads, though, and they go quick because they're middle grade novels. Highly recommended.

[cornerofmadness]

Yeah biting off a bit too much is possible. I think at the time I had so many fantasy/urban fantasy series going that I could keep up with them and it fell to the wayside (along with Harry Dresden). I should go back but the other thing that happened is I have too many books that I want out of my house and I started reading that vs going to the library (I failed at that this year. Yikes how many books I read from the library this year)

I am also a big fan of Riordan's new line of giving new and diverse voices a chance. I've started several really good series thanks to that (and netgalley) and this reminds me I've never been past book one of most of them. oops

[binary_sunset]

Oh, I adore the Rick Riordan Presents imprint! It's so cool to see these accomplished and talented writers take on a middle grade novel.

But yeah, it happens. I was supposed to reread Narnia during lockdown, but I only got 3 books in lol.

[cornerofmadness]

There are some truly good book authors in that imprint and I'm glad someone is trying to get those voices out there.

Ha, I hear you. I read less during lockdown because we had to pivot online for classes. Let me tell you it is NOT easy to suddenly put multiple classes online when you weren't ready for it not to mention our internet is shit where I live. I had to meet kids in parking lots with the printed notes being passed in envelops thru car windows

[binary_sunset]

XD I experienced the pivot from the other side (though internet access in my neck of the woods was remarkable consistent). Every professor who had to teach during March 2020 deserves a gold medal and a raise tbh.

[cornerofmadness]

Ugh, no fun for you either (yeah most of our internet is between 5-10 mps unless you're in town or on campus) I'll take that medal and raise! In a way it worked for me because in Feb 21 I took a bad fall, nearly lost my leg and had to teach from my rehab hospital for months so it was all there. All I had to do was flip it all back on

[binary_sunset]

I'm happy you were able to keep your leg! Hopefully you're doing alright now. I guess it's pretty lucky that you had that experience, though.

[cornerofmadness]

Thanks. Yes, I want to get back to hiking but I need to find a partner. I can't do it alone any more (okay it was never safe to do that) because I can't feel that leg and the calf muscles atrophied some

[binary_sunset]

Haha, I'd offer my company (I love hiking), but I think if I told my roommates "I'm going to cross state lines to go hang out in the woods with someone I met over the internet," they'd think I was going to get murdered.

[cornerofmadness]

hahaha yes they would especially if you told them your companion has dissected cadavers (medical school, nothing too sinister) and has a head full of serial killers and their deeds.

That said, I'd welcome company. One of the things about getting into my crone years is having to adjust the ways I do things

[binary_sunset]

Haha, between my nurse and doctor grandparents and my funeral director bio dad, I can't fear anyone who's cracked open a corpse. And I think these days, lots of people are into true crime. But yeah, it doesn't help your case lol.

It's important to have company! We're social creatures! It's especially important not to hike alone if you're going anywhere dangerous.

[cornerofmadness]

Yep that's a lot of people who know their way around a dead body (not to mention live ones)

Honestly it's never been particularly safe to hike alone. My problem tends to be the avid hikers don't want to go as slow as I go and my less active friends don't want to hike.

[silveradept]

It is a regular thing that the lovers of gods get turned into other things. Apollo clearly likes pretty flowers.

It's nice seeing so many men with canonical men love interests gathered in one spot.

[binary_sunset]

I'm extremely lucky to live during a time where queer people are so visible in media! I would've given several major organs to have the kind of representation as a kid. I still don't know of too many trans male characters with male love interests, but I'm sure they're somewhere lol. Most of the media I've been enjoying lately have been books, so it's a bit difficult to make icons for them >.

[dr_zook]

What a bunch of lovely icons! I love how your mind went with the prompt. :D My favourite is, of course, Jaskier!

... But wasn't it Zephyrous (the warm West Wind) who fought with Apollon over Hyakinthos?

[binary_sunset]

🙈 It was Zephyros. I'm a dumbass.

In my defense, I was cross-referencing with my copy of The Metamorphoses, which just casts Hyakinthos's death as an accident, attributed to no autonomous entity. But yes, in most other versions it's Zephyros. I'll fix the post. Considering that I'm a pagan who works closely with Apollo, this is VERY embarassing.

[dr_zook]

I'm so sorry, I didn't to embarrass you! It's just that I've devoured these myths as soon as I could put together letters, so it's deeply engrained in my brain; it made sense to me, as a child, that it was Zephyrous, the warm west wind. Because where I come from gays are described as "warm brothers". Made it easy to remember, ahem...

I'm sure Apollon would be willing to forbear with you, since he himself may lose track of his lovers from time to time? ;)