Aww, there’s a sweet reason Telemachus keeps saying ‘wise eyes, Athena’s eyes’ in The Odyssey

If you watched Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey, you probably noticed Telemachus has a habit of saying one particular line whenever he meets someone new: “Wise eyes, Athena’s eyes.”

It happens often enough that loads of people have wondered whether it’s just a compliment he gives to anyone he likes, or if there’s a deeper meaning behind it. As it turns out, there absolutely is.

The biggest clue comes from Mentor, the man who accompanies Telemachus for much of his journey. In Homer’s original epic, Mentor isn’t actually Mentor at all. He’s Athena in disguise. The goddess regularly takes on different identities throughout The Odyssey, and disguising herself as Mentor is one of her best-known tricks. It’s not even unusual by Greek mythology standards, as the gods constantly appear in human form across both The Odyssey and The Iliad.

That means every time Telemachus comments on someone’s “wise eyes” or says they have “Athena’s eyes”, he’s unknowingly getting incredibly close to the truth in at least one major case.

There’s another clever literary nod hidden in the line too. Athena’s most famous Greek epithet is γλαυκῶπις (glaukōpis), a word that’s famously difficult to translate into English. Depending on the translation you’re reading, it’s rendered as “bright-eyed,” “grey-eyed,” “blue-eyed,” or “of the flashing eyes.” There isn’t one perfect English equivalent, so Nolan’s repeated phrase “wise eyes, Athena’s eyes” feels like a modern way of referencing one of the goddess’s most iconic descriptions.

Throughout the story, Telemachus is eager to see the good in people and is constantly looking for signs that the gods are watching over him. Some people have interpreted this as him taking Zeus’ laws of hospitality incredibly seriously, believing divinity could be hiding inside any stranger he meets.

His instinct to search for Athena in everyone he meets highlights both his kindness and his innocence. He genuinely believes the gods could be present in any person he encounters, which is why he repeats the phrase so often.

So, it’s a hint towards one of the story’s biggest disguises, and a small insight into just how hopeful and naïve Odysseus’ son still is.

For all the latest film and TV updates and hot takes, like our Facebook page.

Featured image credit: Universal