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It's been a while, but if I recall, he specifically cursed Poseidon and said that not even the God himself could stop him from getting home.
Poseidon accepted that challenge.
Wasn’t Poseidon also pissed, because he sided with Troy and Odysseus horse idea was responsible for Troy’s defeat?
Also horses are one of Poseidon's things - so it wasn't just that he was sneaky instead of fighting "honorably" but he also specifically used a fake tribute to Poseidon as part of the plan.
In the poem, a trojan starts to point out how the horse is obviously a trap, but Poseidon sends one of his sea serpents to eat the guy mid sentence.
The rest of the Trojans, witnessing this, decide to bring in the horse anyway.
Odysseus later doesn't thank Poseidon for saving his plan and proceeds to brag about his genius, and insults the gods some more.
Ah yes, I remember: His name was Laokoon.
I think too that blinding his son and then doing doing the equivalent of "haha ez you got wreckt by O-dawg" might have had a hand in it.
The idea of omni-benevolent gods is relatively new. The gods were always right because reality conformed to their will and the only thing that could argue with them was an equal or superior god. That didn't mean they were always "good."
Think of it this way. Most of us were raised around at least someone who loved to remind you "Life isn't fair." And they're right. That doesn't mean that's a good thing, but it is a true thing. We can choose to be fair, or not, that's in our power, but life doesn't know or give a damn about what human morality thinks are good or bad. Such are the gods. You can bitch about them, chafe at their injustice, but you, mortal, are one irrelevant lump of bacon flavoured jello with anxiety piloting a bone-mech with meat armor. Their will is their will, adapt or die.
How do you know that the jello in my head is bacon-flavoured?
Well, neural tissue is largely salty fat, with a vague meaty flavour. As for how I know that... I plead the 5th.
It depends on how you look at it. Even before leaving for the Trojan war, he was told he would be lost on the journey home. But during the course of events trying to get home he does piss off Posiedon by blinding his son (a cyclops).
So was it fate, the gods, bad luck? I'm not sure it matters too much, but reading the story and seeing his actions, hubris (which plays a big role in a lot of Greek stories) plays a big part.
Source on the part regarding Posideon - https://www.enotes.com/topics/odyssey/questions/why-is-poseidon-angry-at-odysseus-286974
The Greek gods did not seem to believe that mortals had any right to survival.
They aren't entirely wrong though......
I suppose if you're immortal, dying at 30 isn't much different than dying at 60
"Look at that bitch eating crackers like she owns the place"
Someone hasn't read The Illiad
this post was submitted on 14 Jul 2026
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