Heroes
Achilles
uh-KIL-eez
The greatest warrior at Troy, invulnerable but for one heel, who chose a short life with glory.
Achilles is the son of the sea nymph Thetis and the mortal Peleus, and his mother knew what was coming. Told he would die young at Troy, she tried to burn away his mortality, or — in the version everyone remembers — dipped him in the Styx, holding him by the heel. The water made him invulnerable everywhere it touched. It did not touch where her fingers were.
He was given a choice the other heroes never get stated so plainly: a long, comfortable, forgotten life, or a short one whose fame would never die. He chose the short one, and the Iliad is largely about him regretting it in real time.
The poem is not about the war; it is about his anger. Agamemnon takes a war prize from him, and Achilles withdraws from the fighting and lets his own side be slaughtered to make a point. It ends only when Patroclus, wearing his armour, is killed by Hector — and the grief that follows is more terrifying than the sulk. He kills Hector and drags the body behind his chariot for days.
The last book is the best of him. Priam, Hector's father, comes alone into the Greek camp at night to beg for his son's body, and Achilles — who has been unreachable for twenty-four books — sees his own father in the old man, and gives it back. He dies soon after, shot in the heel by Paris.
Gods involved
Achilles: common questions
How did Achilles become invulnerable?
His mother Thetis dipped him in the river Styx as an infant, holding him by the heel — so the heel stayed vulnerable. This version comes from later sources; Homer's Iliad never mentions it.
How did Achilles die?
Shot in the heel by Paris, in most accounts with Apollo guiding the arrow. It happens after the Iliad ends, so Homer never narrates it directly.
Which god is your parent?
Twelve questions and the campfire decides.