marycrawford | (no subject)

(no subject)

I just discovered a community called

theatrical_muse, where participants write LJ entries as though they were a particular character from one fandom or another - answering questions, doing memes and the like.

And someone is writing Iolaus at

iolaus_lj, and doing a terrific job. I wish I knew who it was.

If you were left on a desert island, what three things would you take along?
That's easy enough to answer, having been in the situation myself more than once. Realistically, I'd take my bow, my hunting knife, and flint. That's all any hunter worth his salt would need. With those three tools you could survive just about anything if you know how to rough it.

Now, if this were a fantasy sort of question, and survival wasn't an issue, I'd pick a bit differently. In that case, I'd take a barrel of ale, a bed with a real honest to Hades mattress, and Nebula's pirate ship. Preferably with Nebula on it. (Or 'Dite.)

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The pirate ship bit really does sound like Iolaus.

I agree, they are making cool Iolaus. Though I`m in two minds about tombstone question, would Iolaus really like it? When I`m trying to imagine that, there are too many disordered Iolauses both from show and fanfiction in my head, some kicking a fit about it, and some being secretely pleased.

You've got a point there. (I also don't buy the 'I secretly envy Hercules' thing unless we're talking about the first season of the series...)

For me, that tombstone is now ineradicably linked to the wonderful "Why didn't you bury me in the cranberry bog then?" fight in Home Is Where the Heart is - I love PissedOff!Iolaus. ;-)

"Why didn't you bury me in the cranberry bog then?"

That was the first response I thought about also. *g* But then I tried to imagine what would he say if it happened before 5th season, without Jester`s mess and tombstone being on the decent cemetry. All I`ve got was a glimpse of him telling how it`s "a bunch of them scattering all around Greece". With a snarl. *g*

I don`t think envy was an issue between Iolaus and Herc, the bits that were in the series are more of the Pissed Off!Iolaus variety, and mostly not at Herc. It doesn`t look for me as his feelings in this area ever went beyond "wish I never had bed hair" intensity. Though I can be forgetting some moments.

"wish I never had bed hair"

LOL! I love that, that needs to go into a story somewhere.

Though I can be forgetting some moments.

There's a couple of episodes in the first season where I think the writers were trying to give the Hercules/Iolaus relationship more tension by introducing Iolaus' sense of inadequacy. I'm thinking of Pride Before A Brawl and Warrior Princess. But I do think the former is more about Iolaus' desire for recognition and insecurity, not envy exactly. And the latter is - well. A great episode, but I don't buy the plot for a moment, and neither did Hurst and Sorbo, as they mention on the DVDs. *g*

In other episodes where Iolaus occasionally complains, it's more in the nature of good-natured grousing (that scene where Hercules gets the huge platter of food and Iolaus gets no love at all, for example) and there are also plenty of moments where he shows his pride in Hercules' abilities. I love the moment in Cave of Echoes where Iolaus sits holding the torch while Hercules prepares to smash through a rockfall, and says to Parenthesis, "Watch. He’s really good at this."

Mary, rambling away

Yeah, that's always been my feeling too. I think Iolaus was always too aware of the disadvantages of being Hercules -- the responsibilties, the Hera killing your children issues, etc -- to really envy him. Like Ahary said, you can think "damn, I wish I could do that too" about someone without having serious envy issues.

And then there's "The Apple" episode, where Iolaus is offered all these powers of wisdom, speed, skill etc, and what he chooses is Aphrodite's gold apple.

"Why didn't you bury me in the cranberry bog then?"

I think I wrote that whole story just so I could do that scene.

LOL! I think your relish shines through. The cranberry bog scene is certainly one of the reasons why I reread this story periodically, and I'll take it over a hundred soppy 'I'm sorry I treated you badly and stomped on your delicate, flowerlike feelings, O Heroic Iolaus' discussions. *g*

I love Jason's beautifully deadpan comments.

"We'll set aside the incongruity of saying that Hercules thinks he owns you and then chasing him out of his mother's house..."

Mary, grinning

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