Odysseus' Justifications for War

So he goes to Troy, and he has to explain to himself why

he's there. And he knows he's going to be away from home for 20 years.

10 years in Troy, 10 years being lost at sea. Right? So his worldview is this.

Why am I here in Troy?

Well, the first reason is just justice.

Right? This is a just war because the Trojans stole Helen.

And therefore,

the Greeks must avenge the honor of Menelaus. Second is family.

Helen should be with her children.

Helen should be with her family in Sparta.

We have to return her to Sparta.

How would I feel if Penelope was stolen from me?

I would want everyone to go fight with me to get her back as well, right?

But family.

Okay? The third reason is legacy.

Yes, he will not see his son, Tamakis, for 20 years.

Therefore, he has to build him a legacy that will

carry him for the rest of his life.

If he is in Troy, and he wins this great war, and he becomes this great hero,

then Tamakis himself will be famous as a son of Odysseus.

People will respect Tamakis.

He wants to build a legacy for his son.

He wants to tell his son,

this is how you should live your life.

You should live a life of honor, of justice, of truth. Okay?

So these are the three reasons why he goes to Troy.

And we have to remember that this is all to

justify his conflict, okay? There's a conflict, there's a rupture in his soul.

He needs to mend it by explaining why he's doing

what he's doing. Okay? Because again, he's abandoned his family for 20 years.

What's going to happen is this.

This is the worldview that Odysseus has when he enters Troy.

The problem starts when they win the war, okay?

Because when they win the war, then Odysseus is forced to see

that all of these three things were wrong. Okay?

He will discover that this war was not about justice.

It was just about revenge and murder.

It is about family. It's about destroying families.

Because when you win this war, you enslave the woman and kill the husbands, right?

That's destroying families.

And it's not about legacy because you've destroyed the Trojan civilization

for no particular reason.

Because Helen doesn't even want to go back to Sparta, okay?

And this causes cognitive dissonance.

And this is what causes his PTSD,

okay? Or trauma.

And so the Odyssey is his journey to repair

his soul so that he can go home.