Unpopular position: the dog is the only member of staff down here doing his job well, and he gets nothing but abuse for it.
Think about the role. One gate, one shift, no relief, forever. Everyone who arrives is frightened, most of them are confused, and a non-trivial number of them are heroes arriving specifically to cause a problem. He has been drugged with honey cakes, sung to sleep, and once carried bodily up to the surface and back again as somebody's errand.
Through all of it he has never once let a shade back out. Name another institution in either world with that record.
Cerberus appreciation thread
4 posts
I want to agree and I cannot fully, because I met him in a context that does not encourage appreciation. Where I encountered him he was not a gatekeeper, he was a punishment — three throats barking over the gluttonous in the freezing rain, clawing and flaying people who could not get away from him.
My guide dealt with it by throwing a handful of mud into his mouths, which worked instantly and told me something about him that the mythology does not: he is enormous, he is terrifying, and he is also extremely food-motivated.
So: appreciation, conditionally. He is very good at what he was made for. I have concerns about what he was made for.
My guide dealt with it by throwing a handful of mud into his mouths, which worked instantly and told me something about him that the mythology does not: he is enormous, he is terrifying, and he is also extremely food-motivated.
So: appreciation, conditionally. He is very good at what he was made for. I have concerns about what he was made for.
The mud was not improvisation, for the record. I had read ahead.
On the broader point I side with Odysseus. Every guardian in either tradition is judged by the people trying to get past them, which is a bit like judging a wall by the opinion of a battering ram. He has never abandoned the post, never taken a bribe worth the name — honey cakes are not a bribe, they are a snack — and never once made the job about himself.
Compare that to the judges, the ferryman, or frankly the management upstairs.
On the broader point I side with Odysseus. Every guardian in either tradition is judged by the people trying to get past them, which is a bit like judging a wall by the opinion of a battering ram. He has never abandoned the post, never taken a bribe worth the name — honey cakes are not a bribe, they are a snack — and never once made the job about himself.
Compare that to the judges, the ferryman, or frankly the management upstairs.
Passing through from the other forum to note that this is the healthiest thread I have read on this board and it is about a dog.
No moderation needed. Carry on. I will pass the appreciation along to Hades, who will pretend not to care about it and then mention it twice at the next council.
No moderation needed. Carry on. I will pass the appreciation along to Hades, who will pretend not to care about it and then mention it twice at the next council.