Human history as we know it, is majorly a collection of stories captured originally on stone, papyrus and, in modern times, film. While some of these hold true, and relate to individuals who actually existed. Others are myths and legends, telling symbolic stories that cut across both natural and cultural beliefs. While they might be false, myths are widely held and, often times, make for great stories. For its part, Hollywood has a lengthy history of adapting mythological tales into blockbuster films, with Ancient Greece a favored breeding ground.
The 1981 and 2010 adaptations of Clash of the Titans, which tells the story of Perseus battling Medusa, Zack Snyder‘s 300 in 2006 with its own epic portrayal of the historical Battle of Thermopylae and the Robert Eggers-directed Viking epic, The Northman, which draws heavily on Norse myth, are some key examples of the trend. Mythical tales and legends are often returned to by creatives because they often hold an incredible appeal which audiences find hard to ignore. The two-time Oscar-winning filmmaker, Christopher Nolan, has since been drawn in with the premiere of The Odyssey on July 17, continually drawing near. Adapting Homer’s The Illiad, the film will track King Odysseus’ 10-year voyage home after fighting in the Trojan War.
Matt Damon plays King Odysseus in Nolan’s adaptation of Homer’s legendary epic, and the original story includes other heroes, none more iconic than Achilles. However, Achilles and Odysseus are not the only Greek heroes ever brought to life on-screen. As we look forward to the premiere of The Odyssey, Rebecca Ferguson‘s 2014 historical epic Hercules, which Ben Kenigsberg of The New York Times called half-slog, half-Mel Brooks” has become easier to watch as we get into the blood-and-sandal mood. Pluto TV is curating the perfect mythical storm of heroes, mythical beasts, and larger-than-life tales with a 24/7 streaming of a collection of epics, completely free. Besides streaming Ferguson’s Hercules, which stars Dwayne Johnson in the titular role. Pluto TV’s collection also includes Russell Crowe‘s critically acclaimed epic, Gladiator, the incredibly inspiring tale of William Wallace in Mel Gibson’s Braveheart and the 2023 Chris Pine-led fantasy film, Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves. Other titles include The Ten Commandments, Beowulf, James Cameron‘s record-breaking Titanic, Hero, First Knight, The Green Knight, and Tekin Girgin‘s Troy: The Odyssey, which stars Dylan Vox as Odysseus.
Collider Exclusive · Middle-earth Quiz Which Lord of the Rings Race Do You Belong To? Hobbit · Elf · Dwarf · Man · Orc
Middle-earth is home to many peoples — the courageous, the ancient, the stubborn, the ambitious, and the wretched. Ten questions will determine which race truly claims your soul. The answer may surprise you. Or it may confirm what you already suspected.
🌿Hobbit
🌟Elf
⚒️Dwarf
⚔️Man
💀Orc
01
What does your ideal day look like? How we rest reveals as much as how we fight.
02
How do you feel about the passing of time? Our relationship with mortality shapes everything we value.
03
Danger is approaching. Your first instinct is to: Fight, flight, or something in between — it’s more revealing than you’d think.
04
You stumble upon a great treasure. What do you feel? What we desire — and what we do about it — is the true test.
05
How important is community and belonging to you? No race of Middle-earth is truly alone — but some prefer it that way.
06
How ambitious are you, honestly? Ambition is neither virtue nor vice — it depends entirely on what you want.
07
Where do you feel most at home in the natural world? Middle-earth is vast — and every race has its place within it.
08
What kind of strength do you most respect? Every race defines strength differently — and they’re all at least a little right.
09
What do you want to leave behind when you’re gone? Legacy is the story we tell ourselves about why any of this matters.
10
Be honest — what do you actually want most out of life? The truest question always comes last.
Middle-earth Has Spoken You Belong To…
The race that claimed the most of your answers is your true kin. If two tied, both are shown — you walk between worlds.
◆ A TIE — YOU WALK BETWEEN TWO RACES ◆
🌿
Your Race
The Hobbits
You are, at your core, a creature of comfort, community, and quiet joy — and there is nothing small about that. Hobbits are proof that heroism does not require ambition, that the bravest heart can beat inside the most unassuming chest. You value good food, warm hearths, close friends, and a world that stays largely untroubled by dark lords and quests. When adventure does find you — and it will — you rise to it not because you sought it, but because the people you love needed you to. That is not ordinary. That is the rarest kind of courage in all of Middle-earth.
🌟
Your Race
The Elves
Ancient, graceful, and carrying a weight of memory most mortals cannot fathom, you are one of the Elves. You see the world in its fullness — its beauty, its impermanence, the unbearable ache of watching everything you love eventually fade. You pursue perfection not from pride, but because excellence is how you honour the time you have been given. Others may see you as remote or melancholy. They are not wrong, exactly. But they mistake depth for distance. You feel everything — which is precisely why you have learned to carry it so quietly.
⚒️
Your Race
The Dwarves
Stubborn, proud, fiercely loyal, and possessed of a work ethic that would exhaust most other races before breakfast — you are Dwarf-kind through and through. You do not ask for approval and you do not offer it cheaply. Your loyalty, once given, is given for life. Your grudges last longer. You love deeply and defend ferociously, and the things you build — with your hands, with your sweat, with generations of accumulated craft — are made to last. Not for glory. Because anything worth doing is worth doing properly, and you have never once done anything by half measures.
⚔️
Your Race
The Race of Men
Mortal, ambitious, flawed, and magnificent — you belong to the most complicated race in Middle-earth, and that complexity is your greatest strength. Men are capable of cowardice and extraordinary bravery, of cruelty and breathtaking sacrifice, sometimes within the same breath. You feel the urgency of your finite years, and it drives you. You want to matter. You want to leave something behind. You fall, and you rise, and the rising is what defines you. Tolkien called mortality the Gift of Men — not a curse, but a fire that burns bright precisely because it does not burn forever. That fire is you.
💀
Your Race
The Orcs
Brutal, survivalist, and contemptuous of anything that can’t defend itself — you answered with the instincts of an Orc, and there is a certain savage honesty in that. You do not dress up your desires in polite language or pretend you want things you don’t. You want power, survival, and to never be at the bottom of any hierarchy ever again. Orcs are not evil by nature — they were made from something that was once good, and broken into this shape by forces they did not choose. What remains is fierce, territorial, and deeply aware that the world is not kind. You’ve made your peace with that. The question is what you do with it.
Christopher Nolan’s ‘The Odyssey’ Brings to Life A Grueling Voyage
Interest is high in what Nolan’s The Odyssey would ultimately look like, especially when one remembers that Nolan’s interest in the ancient world nearly led him to direct Troy in the early 2000s, a project ultimately developed by Wolfgang Petersen for Warner Bros. While Petersen’s film focused more on the conflict between the Greeks and the Trojans over Prince Paris’ (Orlando Bloom) decision to begin an affair with Menelaus’ wife, Helen (Diane Kruger), and take her home to Troy. Nolan’s The Odyssey will focus more on the story of Odysseus, the Greek king of Ithaca who fought in the siege of Troy and spent a decade trying to return home across the Ionian Sea to his kingdom. Odysseus’ path will be ravaged by obstacles, including the vengeful sea god Poseidon and his deadly son, the cyclops Polyphemus. In addition, Odysseus encounters the enchantress Circe, the nymph Calypso, and the alluring, yet dangerous Sirens on his quest to return.
In addition to Damon, The Odyssey stars Academy Award-winner Anne Hathaway as Queen Penelope and Tom Holland as her son, Telemachus, as well as Jon Bernthal, Robert Pattinson, Zendaya, Charlize Theron, Elliot Page, and John Leguizamo. The epic is filmed entirely in IMAX
The Odyssey opens in theaters and IMAX on July 17. Stay tuned to Collider for updates.
