DRAGON COVE OF MYTHS, LEGENDS, AND STORIES: The Tragedy of Achilles and Patroclus, Confronting Grief and the Denial of Historically Queer Representation 🏹

Here’s my art depicting Achilles, overshadowed by the deceased Patroclus! The design is heavily inspired by the Hades video game, in which Achilles and Patroclus are interactive characters.

Maybe you remember the huge Hollywood blockbuster, “Troy”, based on the Ancient Greek war epic, the Iliad, starring Brad Pitt as the famous. mythological Greek hero, Achilles. While garnering international acclaim and mixed reviews, it left deep impressions on my mom and brother for its sense of magnitude and stunning visuals (I was literally a few months from being born in 2004 so I didn’t get the chance to partake in their enthusiasm). It was only until 18 years later that I finally got around to watching it, and then reading what has become one of my all-time favorite books, “The Song of Achilles,” that really got me thinking about a crucial plot point that changed my perspective of the story. 

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In the film, Achilles has a younger, less-experienced cousin, Patroclus, who he refrains from participating in the war. Enraged by a simmering grudge with an allied king, Achilles refuses to step foot in the battlefield in the midst of the 10-year Trojan war, but the brash, naive youngster, stirred up by war fervor, sneaks into battle dressed up as Achilles and gets killed. Devastated, Achilles then goes on a murderous rampage, killing his cousin’s murderer, the Trojan prince, Hector.

But this is precisely where the movie deviates from the original source material, which depicted Patroclus not as Achilles’ relative but his lover. Suddenly the relationship becomes less of a mentor-mentee dynamic and instead, partners on equal footing, with Patroclus (by some literary interpretations) even being the older, wiser one. Unable to bear the suffering and deaths of his friends, and fearing the threat of mutiny from demoralized troops, he pleads unsuccessfully for Achilles to take up arms in the Greek army. Subsequently, he dresses up in Achilles’ armor to lead the soldiers into battle but is killed by Hector in the process. Filled with guilt and a thirst for revenge, Achilles then goes into an all-consuming murderous rampage, targeting Hector, over the death of the love of his life and longtime best friend.

So why the need to deliberately depict them as cousins? Hollywood had always (and still is to a varying extent) been very anti-gay. This directing choice was intentionally made to quell any ambiguity of the relationship being anything but platonic, as if the idea of two men showing vulnerability and tenderness to one another was unthinkable unless they had family relations. Further silencing any discourse over Achilles’ sexuality are explicit scenes of Achilles with other women, which initially felt jarring and off-putting to me as they seemed unnecessary and overly emphasized, as if to prove a point. Flaunting some of the aspects of toxic masculinity, where violence, dominance, and penetrating women are the markers of masculinity, Achilles’ character became less relatable and more like a caricature shaped by outdated norms.

However, a redeeming aspect of the film is a beautifully touching scene between Achilles and Hector’s father, the Trojan King Priam, where the two grieving souls find common ground in their shared losses. Priam’s words melts Achilles’ anger, and feeling remorseful, he returns Hector’s body to the old king for a proper burial.

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Repressing gay stories watered down one of the biggest emotional cores and climaxes (turning point of the war) in the Iliad, erasing all nuances that the relationship offered. I hope to see a new cinematic retelling of the story that does this relationship justice, especially at a time where queer identities are more validated and accepted than when this film was released.