The Underworld [Elpenor’s Cut Version] Lyrics
The Underworld [Elpenor’s Cut Version]
[Ensemble]Elpenor
[Elpenor]
I died, and nobody noticed
I died and nobody cared
[Odysseus]
Elpenor, how did this happen?
When did you meet your despair?
[Elpenor]
I drank wine from a chalice
On top of Circe's palace
And fell and broke my neck in shame
But what do you care?
So many deaths happen under your reign
The Underworld originally included a section that depicted Odysseus discovering the fate of Elpenor, who had died tragically on Circe’s island. While this emotional beat was cut from the final version, its narrative footprint remains.
The loss is quietly acknowledged through a numbers gap. In Ruthlessness, it’s stated that Odysseus has “43 left under your command.” Yet in The Underworld, the toll reads “558 men who died under your command.” Since Odysseus departed Ithaca with 600 men, that unspoken discrepancy of one life—Elpenor’s—is tucked between the lyrics, unspoken but still felt.
Though the scene of Elpenor’s death never made it into the final version of the song, its shadow lingers, showing how EPIC often uses omission as a form of storytelling—leaving space for attentive listeners to piece together the heartbreak themselves.