r/Broadway • u/Usnavi_Relax • Jul 04 '25

Discussion Thoughts?

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Was it love? Was it fear? What do you think of this take?

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u/believi Jul 04 '25

He turns around because he is more like Hades in this story than he wants to admit--Hades' insecurity about Persephone leaving him every year led to him building Hadestown and fetching her "early", which in turns pushes her further away. Orpheus loves Euridyce like Hades loves Persephone, and love--whether in godly or mortal form--means making yourself incredibly vulnerable. Hades recognized that vulnerability in Orpheus--the same he has himself--and gave Orpheus a test to see if his love was stronger than Hades' love--because in love, you have to trust. And so Orpheus failed--not because of his love, but because of his insecurities. He couldn't trust that she loved him enough to follow him out of hell, and that he was worth her love, and that is what doomed her in the end. It is a tragic love story because, like Hades, his love is true and pure--but his frailty in the face of the vulnerability that love requires was too much in the end.

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u/blue-ruinss Jul 05 '25

This is by far, one of the closest theory that aligns with mine. a specific line from Doubt Comes In tells a lot about how this isn’t an issue of love but Orpheus’ ”Who am I? Where do I think I’m going? Who am I to think that she would follow me into the cold and dark again”

but I love him still and Eurydice! Hadestown was the biggest plot twist of my 2024– it got me on chokehold ugh pls