#i felt i needed to live up to having 'nestor understander' in my blog description

[ilions-end]

no more nestor slander! "his speeches are so random and nonsensical!" genuinely they always hold some pertinent lesson or example he wants the younger commanders to consider and follow. he's not only a main advisor of the greek campaign, but also their main historian (and when you consider that he has outlived generations you realize just how powerful that is, because he gets to decide how those stories are framed and conveyed, as the sole surviving witness of so many heroic feats and losses! history may be decided by the victors, but when those victors eventually die it is nestor who gets the final say).

"he's always bragging about how strong and brave he was in his youth, it's so annoying". idk, isn't there something achingly human in his grief at (and almost recurring realizations of) inhabiting an increasingly deteriorating body? in his self-consciousness of not being able to participate among the younger men he advises? no one who knew nestor in his prime are alive anymore, he is the only custodian of his own story as well as those of his past comrades.

"he's so long-winded!" yes, famously so! and i love that it's such a recognizable way for elders to behave, even centuries later. nestor is not a warrior or argonaut or adventurer anymore, his words and wisdom are all he has left to contribute. he knows he's getting towards the end of his own lifespan, and when he dies his perspective (three times the life experience of anyone else!) will be lost, so he makes sure to hold the floor and share his stories/histories when he can, for as long as he can. of course he does.