Laertes in The Odyssey

Who is Laertes?

Laertes is the elderly father of Odysseus who lives withdrawn on his farm on Ithaca, working the land rather than holding court. He represents the home and reputation that motivate Odysseus’s long struggle to return. In the narrative he mostly exists offstage as the ancestral anchor whose decline reminds other characters of the costs of Odysseus’s absence. When Odysseus finally comes home and, after the slaughter of the suitors, brings the conflict to Laertes’ farm, Laertes is tested: his son first approaches him in disguise, then reveals himself and restores his father’s spirits. Laertes joins the final bloody confrontation when a faction from the town rises to avenge the suitors; alongside Odysseus, Telemachus and loyal servants he helps repel the attackers. Athena intervenes to restore Laertes’s strength and to secure peace afterward. Although he appears only near the end, Laertes embodies the familial continuity and homeland that give Odysseus’s wanderings moral and emotional weight.

In the book: Laertes is Odysseus’s aging father back on Ithaca, spending his days working the land instead of holding court. He matters because he anchors the family’s past and reputation, a living reminder of the house Odysseus is fighting to return to. People speak of him with respect and a little sadness, since age and worry have worn him down.

Personality

Aged

He is described as an aging man who spends his days working the land rather than ruling, worn down by time and worry.

Rooted

He tends his farm and vineyard on Ithaca, signifying a deep attachment to the household and land Odysseus left behind.

Grieving

People speak of him with sadness because age and worry have worn him down during his son's long absence.

Tested

Odysseus first approaches Laertes in disguise to test him, then reveals himself by naming the vineyard and showing the boar scar.

Restored

After Odysseus reveals himself, Athena momentarily restores Laertes’s form and spirits before the final battle at his farm.

Character arc

Laertes appears largely as the static, sorrowful end-point of Odysseus’s homeward quest: a once-prominent patriarch reduced to solitary labour by grief and the long absence of his son. At first he is offstage in the poem’s early books, a presence recalled with respect and melancholy. His narrative function intensifies in Book 24, when Odysseus brings the conflict home to Laertes’ farm. Odysseus tests his father by posing as a stranger, then reveals himself through intimate signs—the boar scar and knowledge of the vineyard—prompting an emotional reunion. Athena briefly restores Laertes’s vigor, allowing him to participate in the defense of his property when a faction rises to avenge the suitors. In the ensuing fight he stands with Odysseus and Telemachus, and the intervention of the gods leads to a covenant of peace that secures his grandson’s rule and the household’s future. Laertes moves from the passive emblem of loss to an active defender restored enough to witness the reconciliation that concludes the tale.

Relationships

• Odysseus Laertes is Odysseus’s father; Odysseus tests and then reveals himself to Laertes at the farm, prompting their reunion.
• Telemachus Laertes is Telemachus’s grandfather and later fights alongside grandson and son to repel the avengers at his farm.
• Eumaeus Eumaeus recounts that he was purchased by Laertes, linking the loyal swineherd’s origins to Laertes’s household.
• Penelope Laertes is head of the house from which Penelope waits for Odysseus’s return, a symbol of the family she preserves in his absence.
• The Suitors The suitors’ abuse of Odysseus’s household indirectly causes Laertes’s decline by dishonouring the family property.
• Athena Athena restores Laertes’s strength and appearance briefly so he can participate in the final defense and reconciliation.

Why Laertes matters

Laertes symbolizes the domestic consequences of war and exile: lineage, land, and the erosion of household authority during Odysseus’s long absence. His decline underscores the human cost of the hero’s wanderings and provides the emotional core for Odysseus’s determination to return. The reunion and Laertes’s partial restoration dramatize themes of recognition, restoration, and the reclaiming of home; his participation in the final battle and the subsequent divine-brokered peace tie the private family restoration to the wider civic order, showing how personal reconciliation helps restore social stability.

Chapters with Laertes

• Book 1
• Book 4
• Book 5
• Book 9
• Book 11
• Book 13
• Book 14
• Book 15
• Book 16
• Book 19
• Book 22
• Book 24

More The Odyssey characters

• OdysseusProtagonist
• TelemachusMajor character
• AthenaMajor character
• PenelopeMajor character
• ZeusMajor character
• The SuitorsAntagonist
• AntinousAntagonist
• EumaeusMajor character