The Song of Achillies

Back of Book Summary:

Achilles, "the best of all the Greeks," son of the cruel sea goddess Thetis and the legendary king Peleus, is strong, swift, and beautiful, irresistible to all who meet him. Patroclus is an awkward young prince, exiled from his homeland after an act of shocking violence. Brought together by chance, they forge an inseparable bond, despite risking the gods' wrath.

They are trained by the centaur Chiron in the arts of war and medicine, but when word comes that Helen of Sparta has been kidnapped, all the heroes of Greece are called upon to lay siege to Troy in her name. Seduced by the promise of a glorious destiny, Achilles joins their cause, and torn between love and fear for his friend, Patroclus follows. Little do they know that the cruel Fates will test them both as never before and demand a terrible sacrifice.

*Spoilers ahead as I am unable to avoid them as I will be discussing the relationship development between the two main characters and how their relational closeness changes throughout the development of their relationship. But, I will not give everything away so if you would like to read you can! To look at their relationship closeness I will be looking at major turning points.*

1. Meet when Patroclus is exiled

   1. Every story has to start somewhere and for Patroclus and Achilles, it is when Patroclus finds himself exiled to Achilles' kingdom as a young boy. Over the first two years, they built a bond between the two of them.

2. Brother in arms

   1. This leads to a blood oath, where Patroclus becomes Achilles' official companion, his right-hand man so you say. At this time we have an idea that they might be more than friends but this is unclear. Being a brother in arms allows for them to be able to be together without much question.

3. Patroclus follows to mount Pelion

   1. Although Achilles never truly comes out to his mother, you can tell she does not like the relationship between her son and Patroclus, so she sends him off to Mount Pelion, to train to be a fighter. This is Achilles' first romantic relationship, which is a common turning point in relationships between a parent and their child (Tyler & Abetz 2020). In this case how she feels about the relationship also caused a turning point within her son's personal relationship as well.

4. Years together in the wilderness

   1. After Patroclus follows Achilles they spend many years together in the wilderness training and being each other's only company other than their trainer. This allows the boys to continue their upward trend in closeness as they are going through large life changes together.

5. Have sex

   1. I feel like this is pretty self-explanatory, they admit their feelings and express them physically.

6. Follows to War

   1. While at training they get work of a war that is happening in another kingdom, since Achillies is the best fighter of his time he must go and help fight this war. Patroclus follows him to war, not because he wants to but because he feels obligated to follow him. This is the first big shift we see in their relationship

7. Achilles refuses to fight

   1. The war goes on for many many years, I get to the point where Achilles does not agree with the fighting anymore. This causes Patroclus to admire Achillies and understand he also knows that this war is useless. It also allows them to stand together as everyone else around them asks them to fight but they stick together and watch as everyone suffers.

8. Patroclus is killed

   1. Death is a pretty clear ending to their relational closeness as it physically breaks them apart.

9. Buried alongside each other, resulting in them being together in the underworld.

   1. I only include this one due to the fact that it is Greek mythology and they are reunited after they both die. This is not a normal turning point but they are brought back together.

Achilles and Patroclus' relationship was first tracked as friendship, although you can tell there is an underlying longing for each other at the beginning of their time together you are left truly unsure until their time spent on Mount Pelion. I really enjoyed watching this relationship develop as it was all of the cute little gay moments, along with them developing into an amazing relationship.

References:

Tyler, T. R., & Abetz, J. S. (2020). Relational turning points in the parent and LGBTQ child coming out process. Journal of Family Studies, 1–21. https://doi.org/10.1080/13229400.2020.1761863