Your Guide to ‘The Odyssey’ Relationships: All About the Key Couples

Honestly, name a film we’re more excited for than Christopher Nolan‘s The Odyssey. This might be the first Christopher Nolan movie where we actually understand what’s going on. Don’t get us wrong, we adored Interstellar… but what was happening with the bookcase?!

This time, Nolan is adapting one of the most famous Greek mythology epics of all time: The Odyssey by Homer. Starring Matt Damon as the King of Ithaca himself, Odysseus, the film chronicles his long and perilous journey home after the Trojan War as he attempts to reunite with his wife, Penelope, played by Anne Hathaway. With a star-studded cast including Tom Holland, Robert Pattinson, Lupita Nyong’o, Zendaya, and Charlize Theron, we are beyond ready for this.

To make this Nolan film a little easier to follow than Tenet, we’re breaking down all the couples in The Odyssey. These are the relationships based on the original mythology, so keep in mind they may differ slightly in the upcoming adaptation.

Odysseus and Penelope

The OG couple of The Odyssey and, honestly, one of the few semi-wholesome relationships in Greek mythology. We say semi-wholesome because it isn’t entirely without fault — namely Odysseus sowing his seed across Greece while trying to get home.

Melinda Sue Gordon / Universal Pictures

Penelope is Helen’s cousin — yes, that Helen, the one who sparked the whole Trojan War and all that jazz. She was married off to Odysseus around the same time Helen wed her own husband. Despite the arranged-marriage aspect of it all, the pair genuinely fell in love and had a son, Telemachus (Tom Holland). When the Trojan War begins, Odysseus leaves to fight, much to his dismay, and after spending far too many years away, his only goal is to return to Ithaca and the wife he left behind.

Meanwhile, Penelope spends years fending off an endless parade of suitors, including Antinous (Robert Pattinson). In most retellings, she claims she can’t choose a new husband until she finishes weaving a funeral shroud. Each day she works on it, and each night she secretly unravels her progress, proving she’s every bit as cunning as her husband.

At the end of the original tale, Odysseus and Penelope are finally reunited. It takes a war, monsters, gods, shipwrecks, and about a thousand detours to get there, but they eventually find their way back to each other.

Odysseus and Calypso

Now for what kept Odysseus busy on his journey home while his patient wife was busy unraveling her weaving each night. One of those distractions was the nymph Calypso (Charlize Theron).

Universal Pictures

In the original myths, Calypso is punished by the gods for her father’s actions and sentenced to spend eternity on the island of Ogygia. The enchanted island can never be found by the same person twice, meaning Calypso is cursed to have heroes stumble upon her, fall in love with her, and then leave her behind on their journeys — never to return. Yep, she’s also the same Calypso who appears in the Percy Jackson universe!

That’s essentially what happens with Odysseus and Calypso. He spends years with her on Ogygia, but once he finally leaves, he promptly moves on. Yeah, Odysseus is quite the ladies’ man, and a bit of a player, folks.

Odysseus and Circe

Another one of Odysseus’ conquests, but one who could definitely hold her own! Mythology can’t quite agree on what Circe (Samantha Morton) actually was, aside from a total icon. Depending on the source, she’s described as a goddess, a nymph, or a witch. The latter tends to be the most widely accepted, as Circe was renowned for her vast knowledge of potions, herbs, and magic. Using these skills, along with her enchanted staff, she could transform her enemies — or anyone who offended her — into animals, most famously pigs.

In Homer’s The Odyssey, Odysseus arrives on her island of Aeaea during his journey home from the Trojan War, only to discover that she has turned most of his crew into swine. He manages to convince her to reverse the spell, and the two then spend a year living together on the island. During that time, they have two sons, Latinus and Telegonus, although some versions of the myth add a third son, Agrius, to the family tree.

Circe isn’t just a romantic detour, either. She actively helps Odysseus on his journey, advising him on the dangers ahead and famously directing him to travel to the Underworld for guidance.

And if Greek mythology wasn’t messy enough already, some later retellings have Circe eventually striking up a romance with Telemachus, the son of Odysseus and Penelope. See? Family trees in Greek mythology are rarely straightforward.

Menelaus and Helen

The face that launched a thousand ships! Helen (Lupita Nyong’o) of Troy, Helen of Sparta, Helen of whatever you want to call her now.

Widely considered the most beautiful woman in the world, Helen is essentially auctioned off to the highest bidder when she comes of marrying age. Ultimately, Menelaus (Jon Bernthal) of Sparta is the lucky winner. Before her marriage, all of Helen’s suitors were required to swear an oath — known as the Oath of Tyndareus — promising to provide military assistance to whoever married her if she were ever taken from him.

Menelaus and Helen’s relationship isn’t exactly a great love story. Helen and Menelaus have a daughter, Hermione, but most versions of the myth portray the marriage as largely political rather than romantic.

Everything changes when Prince Paris of Troy arrives in Sparta. In Homer’s version of events, the pair falls passionately in love and flees together to Troy. Other retellings are less romantic, claiming that Helen is abducted against her will. Either way, her departure sparks the Trojan War. Menelaus calls upon Helen’s former suitors to honor their oath, and the largest fleet Greece has ever assembled sets sail for Troy to bring her back. Of course, many historians and mythologists believe a conflict with Troy had been brewing for years, and Helen simply became the excuse.

By the time The Odyssey begins, Troy has fallen, and Helen has returned to Sparta alongside Menelaus. She is encountered by Telemachus during his travels and appears to have reconciled with her husband. Menelaus bears no obvious grudge over her departure, while Helen happily recounts stories from her years in Troy.

Honestly, for a woman blamed for an entire war, she seems surprisingly unbothered by it all.

Clytemnestra and Agamemnon

Now for Helen’s sister, Clytemnestra (also played by Lupita Nyong’o). She is married to Menelaus’ brother, Agamemnon (Benny Safdie), the King of Mycenae. Unlike many marriages in Greek mythology, theirs is often portrayed as a relatively happy and successful one, at least to begin with. Together, they have four children: Iphigenia, Orestes, Electra, and Chrysothemis.

Agamemnon is all too eager to join his brother in the campaign against Troy, but before he can set sail, a seer tells him that the goddess Artemis must be appeased. His solution? Sacrificing his own daughter, Iphigenia. As you can imagine, Clytemnestra is not exactly thrilled by this development.

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While Agamemnon is away at war, many versions of the myth claim that Clytemnestra begins a relationship with Aegisthus, the son of Thyestes and Agamemnon’s cousin. When Agamemnon finally returns home, bringing the Trojan princess Cassandra with him as a war prize, Clytemnestra allegedly murders them both in revenge for the sacrifice of their daughter. At least, that’s the version of events Agamemnon’s ghost shares with Odysseus in The Odyssey.

Following Agamemnon’s death, Clytemnestra and Aegisthus rule Mycenae together as king and queen. They go on to have three children: a son, Aletes, and two daughters, Erigone and Helen.

Honestly, if your husband sacrificed your daughter to get favorable sailing weather, you can understand why she might have held a grudge.

The Odyssey, In Theaters, July 17