Orpheus didn't give up and played a song for Hades that was so beautiful that it stirred up long-forgotten feelings in Hades. Moved as he was, he agreed to release Eurydice from death. But deals with the God of Death are never cut and dry. If Hades just let her go, word would get out and he'd have mortals coming down for their loved ones over and over, so he put conditions on the release of Eurydice. Orpheus, having already endured so much to get there, to win Hades over, agreed to the terms set forth:
Orpheus was to return to the living world, using the same path as his arrival, and trust that Eurydice was following him. If he looked back to check that she was there before they crossed the threshold back to the land of the living, her soul would immediately return to the Underworld where he would never see her again.
The trek was long, but Orpheus traveled it, Eurydice trailing behind him unable to speak or touch him, to let him know she was there. Faith was all he had to keep him going, one foot in front of the other, unknowing if the woman he loved was indeed there behind him. The closer he got to the living world, the more thoughts of doubt entered his mind. What if she wasn't there? What if something had happened to her? What if it had been a trick of Hades to just get him out of the way? Was she really there?
These thoughts permeated his mind, torturing him as he kept walking, never leaving him alone. Ever-present, each step, until he at last saw the threshold before him. He was almost there, almost made it all the way back from the Underworld... but it would be all for naught, if Eurydice was not there. And that fear that everything he had endured was for nothing, that surely if Eurydice had been there she would've found a way to let him know... but he'd felt so alone the entire trek, so overcome with his emotions, that the moment he reached the threshold, he had to look back.
And there Eurydice was, right behind him, but still on the other side of the threshold, still lost in the darkness of the Underworld. They locked eyes for one last moment as Orpheus realized his mistake before Eurydice vanished, shunted back to join the rest of the dead. For the deal was that both of them had to cross from the darkness into the light.
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Orpheus didn't give up and played a song for Hades that was so beautiful that it stirred up long-forgotten feelings in Hades. Moved as he was, he agreed to release Eurydice from death. But deals with the God of Death are never cut and dry. If Hades just let her go, word would get out and he'd have mortals coming down for their loved ones over and over, so he put conditions on the release of Eurydice. Orpheus, having already endured so much to get there, to win Hades over, agreed to the terms set forth:
Orpheus was to return to the living world, using the same path as his arrival, and trust that Eurydice was following him. If he looked back to check that she was there before they crossed the threshold back to the land of the living, her soul would immediately return to the Underworld where he would never see her again.
The trek was long, but Orpheus traveled it, Eurydice trailing behind him unable to speak or touch him, to let him know she was there. Faith was all he had to keep him going, one foot in front of the other, unknowing if the woman he loved was indeed there behind him. The closer he got to the living world, the more thoughts of doubt entered his mind. What if she wasn't there? What if something had happened to her? What if it had been a trick of Hades to just get him out of the way? Was she really there?
These thoughts permeated his mind, torturing him as he kept walking, never leaving him alone. Ever-present, each step, until he at last saw the threshold before him. He was almost there, almost made it all the way back from the Underworld... but it would be all for naught, if Eurydice was not there. And that fear that everything he had endured was for nothing, that surely if Eurydice had been there she would've found a way to let him know... but he'd felt so alone the entire trek, so overcome with his emotions, that the moment he reached the threshold, he had to look back.
And there Eurydice was, right behind him, but still on the other side of the threshold, still lost in the darkness of the Underworld. They locked eyes for one last moment as Orpheus realized his mistake before Eurydice vanished, shunted back to join the rest of the dead. For the deal was that both of them had to cross from the darkness into the light.