CharybdisASHUSwagMaster

//**Origins**//  Charybdis, who was the daughter of the Earth Goddess Gaïa and her son Poseïdon (incest?) who was the god of the sea, was originally a sea-nymph who would flood the land so that her father’s underwater kingdom would be bigger. But then Zeus turned her into a monster because she stole one of his prized cows. From then on she was the ugliest person in all of monsterdom.

//**Appearance**//

Charybdis is normally associated with the appearance of a giant vortex in the water with teeth around the edge. People never got a good view of Charybdis because she was underwater, therefore, there is a very limited amount of info on her.

//**Mythological references**// In Greek mythology, Charybdis lived on one side of the strait of Messina off of the coast of Sicily, and would swallow huge amounts of water three times a day and then belch it back out again, destroying all of the boats and the sailors that would sail around her. Charybdis is most commonly associated with Jason and the Argonauts, and with Odysseus. The Argonauts were lucky and escaped unscathed due to the fact that they were guided by Thetis, who was one of the Nereids. Odysseus on the other hand, did not have a guide, and chose to risk half of his crew to Scylla rather than lose his whole ship to Charybdis.

//**Symbolism**// Charybdis is opposite Scylla not only in location, but also in actions. Because she takes you in slowly, she represents things in life that gradually engulf you, but when they do have you, they are very harmful to you. It teaches that when you encounter these things that you should stop partaking immediately, because the farther you go, the harder it is to get back out. Scylla represents the quick problems in life.

//**Modern References**// In today's society, Charybdis is used for many organizations. To list but a few, Charybdis is a joint special forces unit in Modern Warfare, used to be used often in political cartoons, was referenced in Victor Hugo's most popular work, Les Miserables, as a metaphor for staging two rebel barricades during the uprising in Paris around which the end of the book is centered around. Also, it is used in the second of line of Sting's song, "Wrapped Around your Finger", used in the book "The Cruel Sea", and sung by the Heavy Metal Band Trivium in their album "Shogun".