Theory: Elpenor was only a part.

so. mediocre editing skills aside, listen to how well these two go together - infact, in the original Elpenor clip, you can even hear “al-“ at the very end, and i believe “-close behind” at the start, and it blends super well.
So, the theory is: Elpenor was originally meant to be part of the song The Underworld, before being cut in favour of the collective of the men who died to Poseidon.

[@Dr_Mortis_SCP]

I mean yeah, I thought that was pretty obvious. The whole point is that they’re going through the Underworld seeing the ghosts of everyone they’ve lost

[@L-ghtlessSky]

@@Dr_Mortis_SCP yeah, true, but it’s presented as if it’s supposed to be its own song- theres no “polites” chant before he shows up, or “anticlea”, it’s just elpenor

[@Dr_Mortis_SCP]

@ The announcers forgot about him

[@L-ghtlessSky]

@ LMAO