Echo was a pawn in the games of the gods, used by Zeus to distract his wife Hera from dalliances with other nymphs. Her punishment for playing a part in this deception was a cruel one: Hera stripped Echo of her true voice — only able to repeat the words spoken to her. A curse that left her unable to express her love, leading to her despair and eventual transformation into nothing more than an echo...

In my interpretation of this myth, Echo's tragedy becomes her triumph. She stands before a cauldron of bubbling subterfuge. Near the booming cascade of a waterfall, atop a bed of shells that echo the ocean's waves from afar before sucking in her incantations and echoing them back out across the seas — casting speech spells over crews of unsuspecting ships. Driving each to their doom, one voice box at a time. Echo's mimicry, once a curse, has now become her greatest weapon…

Toby Leon
Tagged: Art