Previous
Perse
Trygon is an immortal creature who has god-like status. He is a stingray whose tail is so poisonous that it can kill a mortal instantly and cause eternal pain to a god. Circe first learns of Trygon from Aeëtes who wants to make Trygon’s tail into a weapon. Later on, Circe goes to Trygon to challenge him for his tail, as she knows that such a powerful weapon would deter Athena from trying to approach Circe’s son, Telegonus. When Circe meets Trygon, he tells her that the only way for her to get his poison tail is to experience the poison first. She knows that the poison will cause her unending agony, but she is willing to sacrifice herself for Telegonus’s safety. She agrees to Trygon’s request, but when she reaches for his tail, he pulls it away. He tells her that her offer was good enough, and then he instructs her to cut off his tail. The implication is that, because she understands the meaning of sacrifice (she was about to give herself everlasting pain for her son), she will not take his sacrifice lightly. Accordingly, Circe balks from his order to cut off his tail, but she nevertheless does so, as she believes that this is the only way to protect Telegonus. As she watches him bleed his golden blood, she feels sick of living in a world where one must harm others to protect oneself (and one’s loved ones). As she thinks of how she “cannot bear this world a moment longer,” Trygon tells her to “make another.” These words are her call-to-action later in the story, when she feels despair at Telegonus’s departure and the knowledge that all the mortals she loves will die. She takes her fate into her own hands and demands an end to her exile before killing Scylla and drinking a potion to give up her immortality.
Trygon Quotes in Circe
The Circe quotes below are all either spoken by Trygon or refer to Trygon. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 20
Quotes
You were ready to fight me to have it. Not if I am willing?
My stomach churned against itself. “Please. Do not make me do this.”
Make you? Child, you have come to me […]
I lifted the blade, touched its tip to the creature’s skin. It tore as flowers tear, ragged and easy. The golden ichor welled up, drifting over my hands. I remember what I thought: surely, I am condemned for this. I can craft all the spells I want, all the magic spears. Yet I will spend the rest of my days watching this creature bleed […]
The darkness around us shimmered with clouds of his gilded blood. Beneath my feet were the bones of a thousand years. I thought I cannot bear this world a moment longer.
Then, child, make another.
Related Characters:
Related Symbols:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 24
Quotes
My island lay around me. My herbs, my house, my animals. And so it would go, I thought, on and on, forever the same. It did not matter if Penelope and Telemachus were kind. It did not matter even if they stayed for their whole lives, if she were the friend I had yearned for and he were something else, it would only be a blink. They would wither, and I would burn their bodies and watch my memories of them fade as everything faded in the endless wash of the centuries […] For me there was nothing. I would go on through the countless millennia, while everyone I met ran through my fingers and I was left with only those who were like me. The Olympians and Titans. My sister and brothers. My father.
I felt something in me then […] I seemed to hear that pale creature in his black depths.
Then, child, make another.
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 25
Quotes
“Her name,” he said. “Scylla. It means the Render. Perhaps it was always her destiny to be a monster, and you were only the instrument.”
“Do you use the same excuse for the maids you hanged?”
It was as if I had struck him. “I make no excuse for that. I will wear that shame all my life. I cannot undo it, but I will spend my days wishing I could.”
“It is how you know you are different from your father,” I said.
“Yes.” His voice was sharp.
“It is the same for me,” I said. “Do not try to take my regret from me.”
He was quiet a long time. “You are wise,” he said.
“If it is so,” I said, “it is only because I have been fool enough for a hundred lifetimes […] I must tell you, all my past is like today, monsters and horrors no one wants to hear.”
He held my gaze. […]
“I want to hear,” he said.
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire Circe LitChart as a printable PDF.
Trygon Quotes in Circe
The Circe quotes below are all either spoken by Trygon or refer to Trygon. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 20
Quotes
You were ready to fight me to have it. Not if I am willing?
My stomach churned against itself. “Please. Do not make me do this.”
Make you? Child, you have come to me […]
I lifted the blade, touched its tip to the creature’s skin. It tore as flowers tear, ragged and easy. The golden ichor welled up, drifting over my hands. I remember what I thought: surely, I am condemned for this. I can craft all the spells I want, all the magic spears. Yet I will spend the rest of my days watching this creature bleed […]
The darkness around us shimmered with clouds of his gilded blood. Beneath my feet were the bones of a thousand years. I thought I cannot bear this world a moment longer.
Then, child, make another.
Related Characters:
Related Symbols:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 24
Quotes
My island lay around me. My herbs, my house, my animals. And so it would go, I thought, on and on, forever the same. It did not matter if Penelope and Telemachus were kind. It did not matter even if they stayed for their whole lives, if she were the friend I had yearned for and he were something else, it would only be a blink. They would wither, and I would burn their bodies and watch my memories of them fade as everything faded in the endless wash of the centuries […] For me there was nothing. I would go on through the countless millennia, while everyone I met ran through my fingers and I was left with only those who were like me. The Olympians and Titans. My sister and brothers. My father.
I felt something in me then […] I seemed to hear that pale creature in his black depths.
Then, child, make another.
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 25
Quotes
“Her name,” he said. “Scylla. It means the Render. Perhaps it was always her destiny to be a monster, and you were only the instrument.”
“Do you use the same excuse for the maids you hanged?”
It was as if I had struck him. “I make no excuse for that. I will wear that shame all my life. I cannot undo it, but I will spend my days wishing I could.”
“It is how you know you are different from your father,” I said.
“Yes.” His voice was sharp.
“It is the same for me,” I said. “Do not try to take my regret from me.”
He was quiet a long time. “You are wise,” he said.
“If it is so,” I said, “it is only because I have been fool enough for a hundred lifetimes […] I must tell you, all my past is like today, monsters and horrors no one wants to hear.”
He held my gaze. […]
“I want to hear,” he said.
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
