ari’s Reviews > The Iliad > Status Update

— Zeus calls the gods to a meeting where he says the gods can aid whichever side they choose but he believes Achilles, now consumed by furious anger at his dead companion, will destroy their wall and go beyond what he is destined to receive/do. The gods then set off to battle
— Aeneas charges towards Achilles, spurred on by a disguised Apollo, “where are the threats you always used to make among the Trojan lords when you were drunk? You vowed to fight Achilles face to face!” though he’s hesitant at first knowing he’d almost been killed by Achilles before if not for the help of Zeus helping him run down Mount Ida. The gods decidedly sit this one out, unless Apollo or Ares start to do something that will mess with Achilles
— Ummmmm did a god mate with some horses because they were “good horses” ?????????? Aeneas has a crazy story about his familial connection to Priam after Achilles dissed him lol. “Come on then, let us taste each other’s spears” is cool asf tho
— Poseidon decidedly snatches up Aeneas away from battle to save him, putting fog upon Achilles eyes, as he is not fated to die by Achilles nor the other Greeks once Achilles dies, and also bc he feels a bit bad for him and that he trusted Apollo to be able to save him. Achilles is sort of amazed, and thought he was only bragging about his lineage and the love the gods had for him lmfao
— Achilles rouses the Greeks to fight and so does Hector with the Trojans but Apollo addresses Hector directly to stay at a distance or else Achilles will slaughter him, to which Hector is befuddled by a god talking to him and stays back until Achilles spears through Polydorus, Priam’s youngest and favourite son, and charges forward in anger. ‘Achilles, who at once jumped forward and said triumphantly, “This is the man who broke my heart, who killed the friend I loved. At last we shall stop shrinking from each other amid the channels of the battlefield.” With this, he scowled and said to noble Hector, “Come here at once and feel the ropes of death!”
— They end up having a stalemate as Athena and Apollo butt heads protecting Achilles and Hector respectfully, to which Achilles eventually decides to “seek out some other victims.” Achilles goes on a killing spree, ‘Achilles had no sweetness in his heart, no softness in his mind. He was riled up with frenzied eagerness to fight and kill.”