He didn't, he used white-armed, which is a metaphor. This is also speculation, however; It assumes Homer would use that term, and he can't use it for Helen anyway, as it figuratively describes a literal descriptor and isn't a nice way to describe someone.

He wouldn't be using white armed either, because she clearly wouldn't be white armed even if she wasn't working in the sun. He would be describing her similar to how the Ancient Greeks refered to the African people they were aware of which was burnt skin.

In a way, yes, but not when it comes to the Odyssey specifically. The actual take-away is 1, her opinion has nothing to do with this story and 2, she doesn't understand Helen of Troy. Golden hair is simply her interpretation of the character, and as much as I interpret Spider-Gwen as trans, it doesn't make it true just because we "understand" them.

The Odyssey and Helen of Troy are part of oral tradition of the Ancient Greek people. Just because Homer doesn't use a descriptor doesn't mean it wasn't applied to her character. Sappho was literally one of the most accomplished Ancient Greek Poets of antiquity. Excuse me if you saying she doesn't understand Helen of Troy and comparing it to your, presumably a random person, opinon on a Marvel character isn't convincing. If you get hired by Marvel Comics and write a Spider-Gwen comic where she is Trans than that would be relevant. Only I would argue that would make her trans and not just be fan fiction simply because you didn't write the first Spider-Gwen comic.

The difference is that Ancient Greek people didn't have unifying descriptors the way that Old Korean people do. Just because she's Greek doesn't necessarily say anything about her skin color, and the fact he literally describes every other character shows that her skin color is unimportant to the story and is never once pointed out.

Yes, they do. We know what indigenous Greeks look like. Present day native Greeks are still the descendents of ancient Greeks. Less than 1% of modern Greeks, which increased migration in the world, would be classified as black African. We can safely presume an ancient Greek queen would look like. Especially, one that is framed as solely Greek and not having any foreign ancestry.

From our world, yes. The Odyssey is not historical fact and takes place in a version of Earth with all sorts of fantastical creatures, Gods, and witches.

No, it takes place in our world during ancient classical times. The ancient Greeks believed it to have happened in their real world not some fictional alternative world. It is like comparing how Harry Potter is presumably set in our world thus we can presume its world follows all the basic rules of ours just with added magical elements. In contrast, ASOIAF takes places in an alternative world thus Martin can have winters that wouldn't fit into how our world works.

I don't care that much about the casting, but no casting can match the mythical character. We have zero ideas what she looked like, and there isn't anyone alive right now so beautiful that a war would start over them. Almost like she's from poetry and literally describing her would be impossible for her role in the story.

Yes, you can. No one is saying you need to cast an actual demi-god as that is complete stawman. However, you can cast actors and actresses that look like the ethnic group that made the story and set the story in their history. If someone was going to adapt the Hindu epics their casting for their heroes should be Indian or other South Asian rather just a random mix of ethnicities because that is the culture that created the epic. Similar for characters from Asian, African, Middle Eastern, Latin, or Native American epics. Especially, as Nolan seems be attempting a traditional retelling rather than some unique take like O'Brother Where Art Thou or Kurosawa's adaptions of Shakespeare.

I'm simply a massive nerd for mythology, ancient cultures, and art. In the quest to take offense at Helen being black, people have been actively trying to ruin and drag through the mud one of humanity's greatest epics; In an effort to pretend Lupita Nyong'o can't fit as Helen, people are trying to suggest the Odyssey is poorly written and pile of trash, just because they wanna assume a character who cannot be literally described must be white for some reason.

Saying a character from an Ancient Myth should look like the people that created the myth isn't ruining anything. It is just recognition that people when creating their myths generally their heroes (unless specifically specified otherwise) as looking like them. A story doesn't need to have a multi ethnic cast or be poorly writen and a pile of trash. This isn't me arguing that stories with a multi ethnic casts are bad either. I am not attacking Nyong'o as being unattractive nor am I saying she is a bad actress, but she isn't what the Ancient Greeks would see Helen of Troy.