Hadestown Orpheus - Tumblr Posts
last night I finished watching a hadestown bootleg, so now I have feelings. here are my queer headcannons…
first, they are absolutely t4t, no explanation, it just feels right.
Secondly, they are aro-spec. (This is coming from an aro person, so of course, I’m biased towards aro rep lol.) given that the entire story is about love, to me, seeing Orpheus and Eurydice’s love as alterous, platonic, or any non-romantic attraction adds another level of pain because of the amatanormativity of our society. Their relationship was stripped from them. Hades pretty much decided that their love wasn’t good enough. He gave them a chance, but fear that their love really wasn’t enough is what ended it. Non-romantic love is normally seen as “not enough” and that fear can really hurt. That’s what the entire story is about. Only one song felt inherently romantic, and that was the one that was mainly about hades and Persephone and their views on love, the rest that were about love between Orpheus and Eurydice just felt like any type of love.
“You see the world?”
“Of course I do.”
“I’ll make it beautiful for you.”
Orpheus is something fairly rare in media - a male ENFJ. He is openly emotional and idealistic, contrasting greatly with the more pragmatic and guarded Eurydice.
Fe-dominant men aren’t seen often in shows because they don’t fit the typical traits of men. Usually, fictional men are thinking types, whose emotions are reserved for moments of weakness. But Orpheus is a welcome and notable divergence from this trend. He is open about his feelings, whether it is his love for Eurydice or his despair over losing her to Hades.
Even further, Orpheus breaks through a variety of ENFJ stereotypes. Many ENFJs are viewed as overly warm and fuzzy without a thought in their brains, interested only in harmony and socializing. Either that, or they’re horrifically manipulative, using people’s own feelings against them. Clearly, Orpheus doesn’t slot easily into these ideas - but he’s still quite the ENFJ.
Orpheus is guided by his emotions throughout the events of Hadestown. He falls in love with Eurydice easily and quickly, and is able to charm her into taking a chance on him. He has dominant external feeling (Fe) charisma, which makes him easy to adore and follow. He follows his emotions to retrieve Eurydice from Hadestown, and openly cries out over losing her. This, too, has its own kind of charm - his external emotions catch the attention of Persephone and the workers of Hadestown, sparking somewhat of a rebellion. As Hades says, “with his kiss, the riot starts.” All of this is a sign of dominant Fe, without the fuzzy, overly focused on harmony stereotypes.
Orpheus’s introverted intuition (Ni) and extroverted sensing (Se) also break through expectations of male characters and ENFJs. Of all the characters in Hadestown, Orpheus is usually the most optimistic and positive, looking forward to a highly idealistic future through his Ni. This positivity is unusual for many male characters, but suits Orpheus perfectly. He is also a musician who enjoys a simple and free life, a facet of his Se. In this way, Orpheus’s Se is fairly well-developed, with him avoiding the stereotype of being too impulsive and thrill-seeking.
Orpheus is a fascinating character for many reasons, and his MBTI is certainly a part of that. As a male ENFJ, he is refreshing and complex within the events of Hadestown.
Some costume designs for Hadestown for an upcoming theatrical design contest :3
My favorite part of theorizing about Hadestown is the realization that even IF Orpheus and Eurydice made it out of hell together… what’re the chances that Orpheus would continue working on different songs to fix the world, and forget about Eurydice again?
Hey Little Songbird really did establish Orpheus’ biggest problem.
Eurydice will give him her hand.
Orpheus will give her his hand-to-mouth.
He’s not trying to be toxic. But he’s a dramatic idealist who can’t live in the now.
You can have any reasons you want for you decision (basically just who do you like more)
