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Achilles was a great hero and a legendary demigod. He was the son of Peleus, king of the Myrmidons, and Thetis, a Nereid. Some legends say that his mother dipped him in the river Styx in hopes of making him immortal, and that she succeeded except for the heel by which she held him. However, no mention of this is made in the Iliad, and Homer has a Trojan soldier hitting Achilles in the arm, which bleeds. When he was a youth, he also was supposedly given a choice between a long and profitable life without glory, or a short life with honor that would keep his name alive for eternity. He chose the latter, and knows he is to die soon after Hector, prince of Troy.

Achilles is most famous for fighting in the Trojan war and killing Hector in the Iliad. In the Iliad he is described as the tallest, strongest, fastest, handsomest, greatest warrior, etc. He is highly favored of the gods. In the beginning of the Iliad, after the quarrel with Agamemnon, he prays to his mother, requesting her to ask Zeus, king of the gods, to give glory to the Trojans so that the Greeks may know how much they need him. After his friend Patroclus is killed and Achilles' armor stolen, he comes out and roars at the Trojans, and Athena shouts with him. Vulcan or Hephaestus, god of fire and blacksmithing, makes him new, immortal armor. After he has driven most of the Trojans inside their walls, Athena tricks Hector into fighting him. Despite this favor, he is killed by Paris or Alexandrus, a brother of Hector, reportedly by an arrow to the heel.

In the Iliad and very briefly in the Odyssey, his personality emerges. Because he refuses to forgive, yet does not wish the destruction of the Greeks, he sends Patroclus out instead of himself, indirectly causing Patroclus' death. When Patroclus is killed, his desire for revenge instantly stamps out his anger at being insulted, and he kills more Trojans in less time than any other mythological hero. He emerges as a young man thrust into battle, still immature despite his extraordinary talent for killing. It is this immaturity that makes him choose a short life and leads to the death of his best friend. Only when he is dead does he realize the value of life, saying in the Odyssey that he would rather be a servant to a small farmer than lord of all the dead.

Note: The reason why I'm leapfrogging this is part of the last paragraph in the original. I don't think I was plagiarizing, but it was rather close to some of Richmond Lattimore's commentary in his translation of the Iliad. So please just select this version. Thanks!

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