A thick mist parts to reveal a wooden dock barely standing along an onyx coastline. The shores are packed with beings, all moaning and moving lifelessly towards the dock. At the end of the dock is a ferry, in worse shape than the dock. A tall beast-like figure towers over the masses, arms crossed. Such a beast has never been named, for it so closely resembles a human but is so feared by living mortals that none dare go near it. For this is the beast whom delivers the dead to their fate.
Of course, humans are usually wrong in their perceptions of character, right?
“Geez, you are all such whiney babies. You would think that you were in a rush to get to the other side. Why? You people are DEAD, and on the other side is your judgment!” He rolls his eyes in a way that a 21st-century teenager would refer to as a ‘major eye roll’.
“I could just dump you all in the River Styx, that would take care of my problems. You’d all burn into ashes and then MAYBE I could get some peace and quiet.” His eyes narrow towards a group of Trojans eyeing the river with mouths gaping. “Hey, you! Yes, you! Don’t you dare try to copy Achilles, one immortal human is more than plenty for the next millennium! Sheesh.” The Styx rumbles menacingly. “Oh great, another oath on the Styx. Just another piece of garbage to pollute the river.” A closer look at the river shows children’s toys, art, food, and money flowing with the current. They are the remnants of people’s dreams, promises, and oaths. A suspicious human-looking mass passes by, and the Trojans flee from the bank.
“Now then, who’s next to board? Have your drachmae ready! Otherwise it’s another hundred years for you! Oh, if I could just keep some of these drachmae, Hades doesn’t pay me very much and I’d really like to visit the human world. He’d never have to know…”
“CHARON! Don’t make me send the FURIES over your way!”
Charon’s monstrous head cowers in fear, his beastly hands shaking. He tightens his cloak around him, raising his hood. He now looks like the stereotypical image of death, waiting to greet you on the banks of the After Life. For he is Charon, the non-human (but human wanna be) ferryman of Hades. And he is scared to death of the Furies.
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I personally am interested in the period between death and the afterlife. The humanoid creature that carries the souls of the newly deceased to the afterlife is always fascinating, and what’s also fascinating is how this is depicted differently throughout history. I wasn’t aware of this specific depiction. Most of us, I think, know the grim reaper as the personification of death. I can’t help but wonder when this depiction came about, and why it’s more popular now than the mythical character Charon. Your illustration of the river that carries away peoples’ dreams and hopes was particularly touching to me. How peculiar it must be to die and find ourselves awaiting an unfriendly creature to carry our souls away, but in the meantime we must watch as everything we hoped our lives would be pass us by. Very interesting story indeed. I did enjoy this topic, but I’m looking forward to new ones as well!
It’s a nice story, I just got a little lost towards the end (probably due to my sleep deprivation). I wasn’t really sure where the story was going when you introduced the “beast-like” figure among the humans but then I realized it was Charon and everything made sense again. Do you plan to continue writing more stories regarding mythological characters or do you plan to make up some monsters of your own?
First and foremost I would like to say that I do not know a lot about mythology, so I like and find it very helpful that you capitalize important terms that I am able to look up in order to understand the story and learn a little bit. However, I think that pictures may still be fun and extremely helpful to follow along in the story. I know that if the picture of Charon that I found on Wikipedia was placed on this blog it would be a nice aid to my understanding of the story. With that being said, I think this story is extremely interesting especially from the message that I took away from it. I don’t know if this was your purpose, but after reading your story I started thinking about the humanity within people. Based on your story of Charon and his desire to be a human, I took away the message that everyone has at least a little piece of humanity within them. If this was what you were trying to get across through the story, bravo! If not, I think it’s great that your stories make others, or at least me, think on a deeper level and find messages within them. Your creativity is also really intriguing and fun! I look forward to reading your next story!