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OK, Odysseus is finally home, so that means The Odyssey is over now, right? Not so fast. Unfortunately, Odysseus’s return to Ithaca isn’t the end to this poem. In fact, his return is actually the beginning of Part Four … 

Video Transcription:

So now’s the part when I tell you the bad news. Thanks to his own cunning and strength (and some serious intervention by Athena) Odysseus has finally made it back to Ithaka. But you still have twelve chapters to read before this poem is over. I’ll tell you why your pain might be worth it … coming up.

Let’s face it. Movies, TV shows, and books are better when they prolong the good part—in other words, when they make you wait and watch while the guy and girl alllllllllllmost get together … and then finally do.

Think of the last part of the Odyssey that way, and maybe it won’t seem so bad.

Once Odysseus makes it back to Ithaka, he can’t just run back home and announce himself. There are dozens of suitors in his house, remember? Drunken suitors who are all totally lusting after his wife.

So Odysseus holes up with a swineherd, plots the destruction of the suitors with Telemachus and then …

Wait. Don’t get too excited. Then Odysseus hangs out at his house disguised as a cruddy old traveler. He even talks with Penelope … but nothing happens.

And then, FINALLY, Odysseus uses both his cunning and strength to make his homecoming official. He kills off the suitors, reveals himself to Penelope (sigh!), reunites with his father, and, at Athena’s command, halts one final bloodbath.

According to the last prophecy in this poem, Odysseus is now in Ithaka to stay … at least for a little while.