Returning to the quote “…the great leveler, Death: not even the gods/can defend a man, not even the one they love, this day /where fate seizes and exposes him at last'” (Homer 3.269-271). Death is a power that surpasses the gods. In The Odyssey, we meet gods who control water, wind and the decisions of men. They can bring peace and war, but the one thing they cannot do is prevent the death of a mortal. This alone shows how central death is to The Odyssey. The power that death holds rivals no other in this story, there is “…no escape from death” (Homer 12.483). Death is a constant threat to Odysseus throughout this story, and the future predicted for Odysseus by Tiresias is not one of a good life but of "...your own death will rob you... / a sweet and painless death , far from being the sea comes to carry you away…” (Homer 11.153-154). His fortune does not end with his happy life, but with his eventual death. This scene is crucial because it brings the reader back not to the life Odysseus will lead once he successfully returns home and kills the suitors, but to the death he will experience. This brings us back to the time and place where Odysseus will die and take his place among the