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]

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.