#patroclus' death

[sophiejanefostersilver]

They say a true love's kiss can fix everything

So why Achilles keep kissing Patroclus' lips and his eyes are still close?

[wolfythewitch]

My thoughts on the champion!Patroclus au are so disorganized I have not slept, but know that the main reason for its existence is that fictional men are infinitely more attractive when sweaty and covered in blood

[brainrotcharacters]

The thing that gets me giddy is the fact that Logan goes from "Do I know you, bub?" to "WADE! You don't have to do this!"

[greekmythcomix]

DEATH in the ILIAD: an Infographic

(originally 2014, updated slightly for 2023 - hey it's almost as old as Homer's Trojan War was long!)

[hearmyheadcanon]

how the Trojan War really went

Achilles: My boyfriend just died!

Odysseus: oh thats so sad. Diomedes, lead the charge.

[jules-ln]

ngl I'm a bit obsessed with the idea of Achilles's divine counterpart being the protector of youth. Because Achilles himself is a young man and will remain forever a young man, trapped by death in that state of his life without ever growing old

So, in a way, he represents young men in war

Then I think about Patroclus and how he was basically Achilles's death, he basically was the reason Achilles died along with war

That's why I think if Achilles is Apollo and Hector is Athena, then Patroclus should be Ares

He's the glory of the father, the kind of glory that you can only get by dying in war and being immortalized in songs, He's the thing that kills young men like Achilles, the thing youth like Achilles will kill and die for without thinking

[gingermintpepper]

One of my biggest pet peeves is the assumption that something has to be sad for it to be tragic.

I've always been a big believer of the 'Apollo has an awful love life'/'Apollo is plain unlucky with love' line of thinking but it does bother me that the general reasoning for that statement is given to the concept of 'Apollo is somehow undesireable and thus rejected' (Cassandra/Daphne/Marpessa) or 'his lovers die young and thus their love is unfulfilled' (Cyparissus/Hyacinthus/Coronis). I personally think that's a very unfortunate way of looking at things - not only because it neglects the many perfectly cordial entanglements and affairs Apollo has had, both mortal and divine - but because it presents a very shallow interpretation of the concepts of love and loss and how loss affects people.

Apollo can still grieve lovers that have a long, healthy life. The inherent tragedy of an immortal who knows his lovers and children will die and cannot stop it does not stop being tragic simply because those lovers and children live long, fulfilled lives. The inherent tragedy of loss does not stop being tragic simply because someone knows better than to mourn something that was always going to end.

What is tragic is not that Apollo loves and loses but that loss itself follows him. Apollo does not love with the distance of an immortal, he does not have affairs and then leaves never to listen to their prayers again. He does not have offspring and then abandon them to their trials only to appear when it is time to lead them to their destinies. He raises his young, he protects the mothers of his children, he blesses the households that have his favour and multiplies their flocks that they may never go hungry. He educates his sons, he adorns his daughters and even in wrath he is quick to come to his senses and regret the punishments he doles out.

Apollo loves. And like mortals, there will always be some part of him that wishes to protect the objects of his affections. Apollo, however, is also an emissary of Fate. He knows that the fate of all mortal things is death. He knows that to love a mortal is to accept that eventually he will have to bury them. There is no illusion of forever, there is no fantasy where he fights against the nature of living things and shields his beloveds from death. Apollo loves and because of that love, he also accepts.

And that, while beautiful, is also tragic.

[voidcatofbedlam]

Finally read the epic of Gilgamesh. The relationship between Gilgamesh and Enkidu was compared to that of Achilles and Patroclus in the introduction.

Ah yes a great friendship indeed

Yes I know technically they came first but it’s so patrochilles coded my heart can’t handle them.

One followed the other and left first, two parts of a whole yet fated to be separated, violent grief and questionable decisions…

And historians say they are ✨best friends✨

[whitevesper]

patroclus: would you still love me after death?

achilles: you think that death can take you out of our relationship?

patroclus:

achilles: ding dong you are wrong

[habken]

have you ver read the song of achilles? because all I can think of is bkdk as Achilles and Patroclus and I’m actually chewing on my hand thinking about it

I haven’t yet, but I did read the iliad and took a class on troy/homer’s work and … yeah literally how I feel about bkdk is the same way I feel about patrochilles lmao 😭 it’s so corny but the idea of them being more than family more than lovers, something bigger that can’t be easily defined is So Good. The way they’d die for each other, the way they’re basically dead without each other. There’s something beautiful in that.

[sophiejanefostersilver]

OK, but what if Achilles took Pat's armor and came with him? Like, the Trojans would still think Pat is Achilles, and Achilles could look at Pat and see if anyone tried to kill him.

[yumaisbored]

Gojo fundamentally trusts Geto. not in the sense of thinking that Geto will be transparent abt his strategic plans etc. (obviously they're still on opposing sides 'n all that), but in a deeper sense. Gojo trusts Geto’s soul—he trusts Geto to be fundamentally the same person he’s always known. that’s the trust Gojo has in Geto. that’s why Gojo’s soul will always be able to recognise Geto’s. that's why Gojo still trusts Geto after he turns against jujutsu society and becomes a murderer, he trusts him after not having seen him (supposedly but we all know) for ten years, he trusts him even in death.

when confronted with Kenjaku possessing Geto’s dead body, right before being sealed, Gojo addresses Geto directly:

despite Geto having died, and despite his dead body being possessed by an extremely strong cursed spirit, there is no uncertainty in Gojo’s expression or voice. despite everything that would indicate otherwise, Gojo speaks as though he is certain his words will be able to reach Geto:

he trusts that something of Geto remains in his dead body, trusts that he will not allow himself to be used like this, trusts him to fight back. so when Geto’s body starts to choke itself in an act of opposition against Kenjaku, Gojo does not react with surprise—

Gojo trusts Geto. he trusts the same soul and body that always protected him. he trusts his best friend, his one and only.

and what makes this whole encounter even more upsetting is that it's presented (imo, of course) as Gojo acting with genuine intent—he wasn’t trying to save himself from being sealed, he seems pretty convinced it's already too late. instead, he’s saying it to try to help Geto save himself from being used like this, from being reduced to a weapon (iykyk).

[hyperfocuscentre]

dorlene being a patrochilles variant means state of grace is their song.

“These are the hands of fate

You're my Achilles heel

This is the golden age of something good and right and real”

[bex-xa-2026]

Greece legalized same sex marriage today, and someone under one of the announcement posts commented, “Congrats to Achilles and Patroclus. This is what they would have wanted” and now I’m on the floor.

[gibuckaroo]

achilles and patroclus; he is half of my soul as the poets say.

[original text in post: When you took Patroclus from Achilles— is this what he felt? When he saw him lifeless and pale and unmoving in another soldier's arms as they delivered the very reason he was here on earth—did he feel the ground move from under him? Did he feel time cease? Did he feel the way I do now? Out of breath, out of life, out of time, out of love. When you took his person, did he also want to dig a hell of his own?]

[helpmeimblorboing]

The world passes by, and it’s cold. The gravestone is warm. In the depths of Achilles’ fevered mind, he thinks it still smells like Patroclus, the warmth of his skin, the cypress smell of his clothes

He kneels in the frozen dirt, and twigs dig into his skin like the claws of the Furies his mother used to tell him about, screaming, raving spirits of vengeance, risen from the other world to punish him - how dare you let him die !! How dare you let him hurt !!

He thinks he’s been kneeling here for years, but that can’t be right. The Sunday chill is still in the air, and the wind carries the smell of his corpse, limp and dead

The stone is simple, just a slab of rock, words carved into its face - PATROCLUS MENOITIADES 1995-2024

He thinks there should be an “Achilles” scrawled beside it. He thinks he might be dead, too

He remembers how he looked, in those final days, eyes sunken, face shriveled. Skinny as a twig. So unlike the Patroclus he loved that he was half-convinced it was a prank

They said it was pneumonia. Achilles thinks it was Fate herself, playing a cruel joke on him

The weather was calm, almost irritatingly so. Briseis came by to leave out some coffee and donuts for him, lest he ended up starving himself to death, but that was hours ago. And Achilles’ stomach felt like a black hole. He hungered for only one thing, and that was now forever beyond his reach

By now, the cup contained only black-brown sludge, and critters had devoured whatever remained of the donuts. As he watched, one of them nibbled on a crumb

He derived some vicious satisfaction in squishing it, leaving behind a smear of black blood on the rim of the plate. If he had to suffer, so would everyone around him

Maybe, if he sits out here long enough, he’ll catch pneumonia, too. Maybe then he’ll finally be able to follow Patroclus over to the other world. Maybe then he would finally get to be happy

A hoarse voice cleared its throat right behind him. The man was wearing doctor’s scrubs, having just gotten off work. Achilles flinched. It seemed unfazed, “I’m sorry for your loss”

Achilles didn’t respond

Hector continued, “We did everything we could, but it was too late for him. All we could do was-“

“Shut up”, his voice was sharper then he remembered, hoarse and rusty from screaming, like shattered glass, “Shut up before I gouge out your eyes”

“I understand you’re upset”, Hector’s voice was placating. Achilles wanted to kill him, “but it’s not OUR fault”

“I thought I told you something”, his voice was dead, lifeless as his love, right under him, like all the nights they had spent together, “Let me repeat it - shut up”

“Right…”, Hector paused, before clearing his throat, “Briseis wants to know if you’re okay”

Achilles was silent. After a long moment, the tell-tale sounds of a man shuffling away reached him. He didn’t move

After a long moment, he rose to his feet. At the gates of the cemetery, Automedon, clearly worried, perked up slightly at the sight

“Boss”, he called, “The car’s waiting”

“Is…”, Achilles cleared his throat, “Is Mom…”

“She’s at the house”, he swallowed. Hard, “She wants to see you”

“I…”, the breath he drew in was ragged and torn, as he turned back towards the grave, feeling oddly like he was chopping off a limb by leaving this place, “I…”

His mother had never liked Patroclus. But these last few weeks… she had changed. For some reason, the thought of her son losing his heart seemed to get her to finally show the young - so young, too young - man some compassion.

Who knows ? Maybe she had a change of heart.

“Boss ?”, Automedon sounded a bit nervous. He idly scratched the back of his head, “Lady Thetis said she wants you inside by sundown, lest you…”, he swallowed, “…end up like him”

Achilles resisted the urge to bark out a pained laugh. Isn’t that what she always told him would. come of associating with the likes of his beloved ? A bastard, a disgrace, someone disowned by his own family ?

How odd that, now that he was dead, those words were repeated, and with such a different meaning

“Boss ?”

“Yeah”, Achilles turned towards his friend, and was a bit disappointed to not be faced with a funeral hearse, “M’coming”

It seemed improper, for a corpse to be carried around in his mother’s gleaming black Chevrolet Cameron, but he supposed after it had carried his mother around for years, it was used to carting around wounded souls