The Greek mythological hero that inspired ‘John Wick’
Throughout the John Wick films, there has always been a sense of underlying mythology to proceedings. There’s a deep lore to the franchise’s narrative, with the High Table and code of honour that seems to be imperative in the assassins who serve them.
Then there’s the man himself, who seems like a mythology figure of yore, impenetrable despite the odds, a hero in every sense of the word, skilled and athletic, quick in wit, silver in tongue. And was there ever a better actor to play a character like John Wick as the near-mythological man Keanu Reeves?
In an interview with Variety, Stahelski confirmed that the character John Wick was, in fact, inspired by a true legend of Greek mythology. “I love a good myth,” he said. “I don’t really believe — at least for the John Wick movies — in a three-act structure. I believe in storytelling and leaving it.”
Stahelski continued, “You know, we’ve always seen John Wick as Odysseus. So we take the time we need to tell the story. As long as we don’t fall asleep watching it, we keep it going. But I guess there is a bathroom limit.” So John Wick is, in fact, based on the most prominent mythological hero of them all, Homer’s Odysseus.
The director’s comments explain why Wick’s story has arrived in so many parts; clearly, this is a story that takes some time to tell, as does The Odyssey. Odysseus, like Wick, was also a fearsome warrior who gave up in arms in pursuit of a life of peace and was unwantingly dragged back into his old way of life.
When it comes to Wick and mythology, though, it doesn’t begin and end with Homer’s hero, for there are far more references to the ancient stories of old. For starters, there’s the late Lance Reddick’s character Charon, the doorman at the Continental Hotel.
Charon is, of course, the ferryman of the River Styx in Hades, so could Stahelski’s character be representative of the passing between worlds; the normal mortal realm, where death is almost inevitable, and the underworld, where things are not as they seem?
The Bowery King, played by Laurence Fishburne, is one of the only people who seem to want to help Wick (and perhaps also Ian McShane’s Winston), so could we draw links to him and Athena, who brought aid to Odysseus on many occasions throughout his perilous journey. So it’s clear that Stahelski always had the Greek hero and his story in mind when devising the Wick saga.
