Diksha Sundriyal
Netflix’s ‘Kaos’ mixes several stories from Greek mythology and creates a compelling narrative with a modern setting. The plot revolves around a prophecy that talks about the fall of the gods who have ruled over humanity for millennia. Three humans are connected to this prophecy, two of whom are Eurydice, aka Riddy, and Caeneus. They meet each other in the Underworld, where they are stuck because they weren’t allowed passage to the next world due to the lack of a ceremonial coin for their deaths. Becoming each other’s only friends in the dark world of death and despair, they discover their connection through a common prophecy. But does this connection extend beyond their time in the Underworld? SPOILERS AHEAD
Riddy and Caeneus’s Journey Takes Them on Different Paths
When Riddy and Caeneus meet, he has already been dead for a decade. He was killed by his own people for not being what they expected of him. Meanwhile, Riddy had been caught up in a bad marriage that she was trying to get out of, but before she could do it, she was killed. Married to Orpheus, she suffered an identity crisis because she didn’t feel she had a purpose of her own. Her love for her husband had also waned a long time ago, and her life on Earth depressed her. Interestingly, it is when she dies that things take a turn for the better.
At first, Riddy is dejected about being stuck in the Underworld because her selfish husband stole her coin. But it turns out that this was meant to happen because her prophecy demands so. In the Underworld, she gets a job to get the souls to the Frame, but with Caeneus, she discovers that the Frame is a scam by the gods. They decide to save the souls, and this fills Riddy with a purpose she always felt she lacked while she was alive. This sense of purpose and sharing the same prophecy with Caeneus brings the two of them together. The prophecy confirms that their connection runs deeper and they are meant to save the world from the gods, but this doesn’t mean that they get to do this together.
Just when it seems that Riddy has both purpose and passion, Orpheus shows up in the Underworld to take her back to the Earth. At first, she decides not to go with him, hating him for stealing her coin and also because she doesn’t love him anymore. She also wants to be with Caeneus and save the souls from going to the Frame. But then, she is told that she has a greater purpose to fulfil by returning to the Earth. She must save people who are still alive and completely unaware of what the gods are doing to them. Caeneus has the same purpose, but he must do it by staying in the Underworld.
By the end of the season, Riddy and Caeneus, despite their affection for each other and their desire to be with each other, accept that they must part ways for the greater good. They know that even if they try to defy their prophecy and refuse to leave each other, things will eventually turn out the way they are supposed to. They are bound by what the Fates have in store for them, and they can run away from it for only so long. On the bright side, Caeneus says, Riddy is bound to die someday, hopefully of old age. Then, she will come back to the Underworld, where Caeneus will be waiting for her and they will be reunited. Until then, they must embark on their own journeys and fulfill their destinies.
The separate paths of Eurydice and Caeneus fall in line with Greek mythology, where their journeys never really align as they do in the Netflix series. Eurydice never gets to leave the Underworld with Orpheus; she is thrown back into the darkness because her husband is unable to pass the final test. Meanwhile, Caeneus meets a tragic end. The show gives a more hopeful twist to their stories, bringing them into each other’s orbits and allowing them a different ending, even if not with each other.
Read More: Who does Hera Call in Kaos, Explained
