Storytelling for Week 3: Achilles: Greater than the Gods

Author’s Note:

This is the retelling of The Slaying of Hector. Once again I chose to go into more detail regarding the actual slaying and death of a main character because that is most likely what my storybook will involve. In the original story, Achilles and the Greeks are fighting against Hector and the Trojans because Hector’s brother stole the Greek princess, Helen. Achilles is said to be the bravest and best warrior for the Greeks, then with the help of the gods, he kills Hector. I kept the premise of the story the same as the original, but I changed how Achilles actually chases down and kills Hector, as well as the details about the geography around the city of Troy.

Achilles: Greater than the Gods:

Achilles, who had previously been refusing to fight, finally decides that he will join the battle after his best friend, Patroclus, is killed by the Trojans. The only problem is that Achilles had allowed Patroclus to use his armor, leaving Achilles with nothing to wear to the battle. Although eager to fight, Achilles takes his mother’s advice and decides to wait until the next day to join the fight, at which time a new set of armor will have been made for him by the local blacksmith.

So the next day, Achilles grabs his shiny new armor and makes the short trip to the city of Troy. Once the Trojans realize that it is in fact Achilles who has come to fight them, they become extremely frightened and immediately retreat to the inside of their massive city walls. Hector, however, refuses to back down to any challenge and boastfully shouts out to Achilles, “I fear no man! Fight me and face the same fate as your dear friend.” Angered, Achilles charges at Hector, who immediately begins to run.

Hector begins to run to the West of Troy and Achilles takes off after him. Now that everyone had retreated into the city of Troy except Hector, the guards closed the gates to the wall and the Greeks retreated to their camp, leaving just the two warriors to decide their own fate. Although Achilles is much more fit than Hector, he gains no distance on him during the chase due to the god Apollo giving Hector extra strength. After seemingly forever of chasing Hector, the goddess Athene appears in front of Achilles, instructing him to stop for a second and allow her to guide Hector back towards his direction, where he will surely be able to kill him. Achilles arrogantly refuses, however, and claims that he needs no help in killing Hector.

Without the help of the gods and with Hector being aided by Apollo, Achilles comes to the conclusion that he will have to outsmart Hector in order to kill him. It is well known that Achilles can throw a spear farther than any man, so he decides to stop chasing Hector and quickly disappear from his sight. After Hector realizes that he is no longer being chased, he stops to catch his breath and sees Achilles nowhere in sight. It also happened to be a rather windy day, which inspired Achilles’s plan to catch Hector.

With a wind blowing directly to the West, Achilles being to the South of Troy, and Hector being to the North, Achilles begins to launch spears into the air to the northeast. The wind grabbed ahold of the fast-traveling spears and started blowing them to the West. By the time the spears reached Hector, it appeared as if they were coming directly from the East of him. Seeing this, Hector begins to run West, thinking he is running away from where the spears are coming from. Achilles takes off to the West as well, turns a corner, and sees Hector. He buries his lone remaining spear into the chest of Hector and begins to celebrate his own might and wit.

Depiction sketch of Achilles throwing a spear. (Robert Baratheon)

Bibliography:

Story: The Iliad, retold by Alfred J Church (1907).

Image: Achilles, Robert Baratheon (2008). Web Source: Achilles.