Editor's note: The below contains spoilers for Season 2 of The White Lotus.
With its second season taking place on one of Italy's historic islands, The White Lotus opted to dip into the vast tomes of ancient mythos in order to enrich its storytelling. Unsurprisingly, since the central themes of the newest season of Mike White's acclaimed series revolve around sex, the mythology introduced largely focuses on infidelity, rape, and sexuality-based power dynamics. Now that the finale has been released, here are the four ancient legends that were at play throughout the season.
Testa di Moro
Introduced in Episode 1, the legend of the testa di moro is the most featured myth of the season, with visual references appearing in nearly every episode. The hotel sets prominently display many severed head statues in their production design, and the story behind them is presented more than once within expository dialogue. But this legend transcends The White Lotus as a real-world myth exclusive to the island of Sicily.
The story behind the myth, which dates back to the 12th Century BCE centers on a young Sicilian woman with a green thumb who one day fell in love with a Moor visiting the island. Their romance blossomed into a deep passion that eventually drove her to a jealous murder when she discovered he was already married with children. When recounted to Harper (Aubrey Plaza), Daphne (Meghann Fahy), Ethan (Will Sharpe), and Cameron (Theo James) in the first episode, Daphne is quick to add her commentary siding with the betrayed woman. However, the series leaves out a few details. After decapitating the Moor, the woman used his severed head as a vase for growing flowers which prospered and became the talk of the island. To this day, vases depicting the crime of passion still have an air of superstition about them, many believe that any plants planted within a testa di moro vase will thrive.
Hades and Persephone
The eldest of the three generations of Di Grasso men, Bert, played by F. Murray Abraham, is responsible for bringing this next myth into the series. In Episode 2, "Italian Dream," the Greek myth is told while the Di Grassos are visiting a local coliseum. He explains that in the legend the god of the underworld, Hades, kidnaps Persephone, the daughter of Zeus and Demeter. He takes her to the underworld and rapes her, imprisoning her in his realm as his queen.
Bert uses the story to underscore his belief that there is nothing that cannot be repaired in a relationship. After all, in the myth, despite the abduction and rape of their daughter, both Zeus and Demeter eventually forgive Hades of his behavior. Intended as a vehicle for unsolicited advice to Bert's son Dominic, played by Michael Imperioli, this myth also can be applied to the situation that Ethan and Cameron find themselves in. By the end of the season, it is never confirmed if Cameron manages to seduce Ethan's wife Harper, but Ethan is forced to reconcile his jealous rages in order to maintain his life beyond their Sicilian vacation.
Leda and the Swan
Season 2's dynamic intro titles are filled with powerful imagery, many of which are animated from right off the walls of a palazzo that characters Harper and Daphne visit. One of the most striking frescos is of a woman holding a swan in a sexual embrace. On its own, it is a captivating image that evokes purity and innocence, until you learn that it is the basis of another Greek myth involving rape. In the legend, the swan is actually the Greek god of Zeus who has transformed into the white bird in order to seduce and rape the beautiful Leda. In an interview with TV Insider, the creatives behind these credits reveal that they had always intended for this myth to be a focal point of the sequence guided by Mike White's insistence for its inclusion.
While in the series, there is a significant amount of sex from the vantage of power, but one coupling that seems to most encapsulate this myth is that of Portia and Jack, played by Haley Lu Richardson and Leo Woodall respectively. Portia, who arrives at the White Lotus hotel wearing a sweater with white swans woven into it, eventually becomes seduced by the wild Brit. But in the end, she learns that he was incentivized to do so, withholding the fact that he had been commissioned to kidnap her away from her boss Tanya, Jennifer Coolidge.
Achilles
As a parting nod to the dramatic myths present this season, in the finale, Bert di Grasso puts forward a quick but very memorable reference to the great warrior, Achilles. Likely to be one of the most prolific memes to come out of Season 2 of The White Lotus, Bert tells his son and grandson, "Our Achilles heel is our Achilles cock." During the great mythic battle of Troy, Achilles is killed by a poison arrow to his heel, the only place on his body that is vulnerable. It's a nice bow on a season of lavish, seductive nods to the stories that propelled our society for millennia before cinema was created.
The arrow that killed Achilles, while shot by Paris, was guided to the soft spot on Achilles' body by the god Apollo. An interesting note to point out from this legend is that both Achilles and Apollo were guided by revenge. Their central motivations as characters throughout the myth revolve around women who were torn away from them by King Agamemnon. Apollo's daughter Chryseis, who begged the king to return her to her father, and Achilles' love Briseis. Rather than team up, however, the demands of their allegiances in war brought the two head to head during the battle of Troy ultimately sewing the seeds for the fateful death of Achilles.
Legend Has It
There is a timeless nature to myths and legends. Most are rooted in core aspects of human nature that were here long before and will undoubtedly remain long after our current era of storytelling. In The White Lotus, they offer texture and meaning, a viewpoint through which the stories are able to encapsulate fundamental truths about us all that far extend beyond simply the handful of characters trapped in the plot. And, perhaps, with their help, a few of these new characters may become legends of our modern times in their own right.
The first two seasons of The White Lotus are now available to stream on HBO Max.