The Odyssey left out Circe’s wildest storyline, and it completely changes her ending

The mysterious sorceress Circe only has a relatively small role in Nolan’s The Odyssey, but in Greek mythology and Homer’s original epic, her story goes much further than what ends up on screen.

The movie keeps her unforgettable transformation scene, but cuts out an entire chapter of her relationship with Odysseus, as well as what happens after he leaves her island. Here’s the darker storyline The Odyssey leaves behind.

Circe is introduced as a dangerous enchantress who lures Odysseus’ crew into her home before transforming them into pigs with her magic. It’s presented largely as another obstacle in Odysseus’ journey.

In the original myth, Odysseus protects himself from her magic, earns her respect and, despite everything that has just happened, becomes her lover. Rather than immediately continuing his voyage home, Odysseus remains on Circe’s island for a full year.

It’s one of the strangest turns in the whole story, especially considering what happens just beforehand. When Circe suggests they sleep together, Odysseus initially reacts with understandable suspicion:

“Circe, am I a boy, that you should make me soft and doting now? Here in this house you turned my men to swine; now it is I myself you hold, enticing into your chamber, to your dangerous bed, to take my manhood when you have me stripped. I mount no bed of love with you upon it. Or swear me first a great oath, if I do, you’ll work no more enchantment to my harm.”

Then, only a couple of lines later, he follows her upstairs anyway.

Circe and Odysseus even have children together

Their relationship doesn’t just end when Odysseus sails away. According to later Greek mythology, Circe and Odysseus have several children together. The best known is Telegonus, although some ancient accounts also name Agrius, Latinus and Cassiphone as their children.

Their story continues in the Telegonia, an ancient sequel to the Odyssey that has since been lost. The poem explores what happens after Odysseus returns home, with Telegonus eventually setting out to find his father.

It’s a huge part of Circe’s mythology that never appears in Nolan’s adaptation.

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Featured image credit: Universal