This is not the case with Odysseus and every mortal living on earth. They have a time limit and when the limit expires it is called death. The fact that it took Ulysses 20 years to return home was 20 years of wasted time. He could have returned with Penelope shortly after the Battle of Troy, but the gods shipwrecked him and stranded him in places he didn't want to be. Calypso's island is an example, Poseidon got mad at Odysseus and obviously sent them away and they got stuck on Calypso's island. He then remained here for seven years. “Calypso's house: she keeps him there by force. He has no way to return home to his homeland.” (Book