YMMV / The Song of Achilles

aka: Song Of Achilles

• Alternate Character Interpretation:
  • How dismissive of Patroclus was Achilles really before they became friends? Patroclus from the start said that he "knew dismissal when I saw it". But Patroclus was ignored and neglected for all his life before being banished, and Achilles sitting at Patroclus's table and reaching out to him seems to indicate that he really did care about him. Patroclus also said Achilles "never, not even once" looked at him with the same indifference he did Deidameia, hinting that the seed of his interest was planted from the very beginning, before any of them realized it.
    • A lot of what Achilles thought and felt can only be inferred really, since so much of the story is rooted in Patroclus's perspective. Like for example, when Achilles fell in love with Patroclus is a bit unclear. Did he run away after Patroclus kissed him on the beach because he wasn't in love yet, or did he run away because he knew that Thetis would forbid it?
  • There's Thetis's relationship with Achilles and her motivations for making him a god. It's somewhat unclear whether her protective instincts are because she truly cares about her son, or whether she only in it for the fame she can give him. On one hand, even without seeing her and Achilles's meetings it's clear that she's manipulative and toxic with him. On the other though, there wouldn't be much reason to make him immortal if she only wanted fame. Considering how big of a war Troy is, she could've easily whisked him off as soon as she could as Patroclus thought. She did hide him from the war in Skyros after hearing the prophecy about his death, knowing she was probably condemning him to an unsung, mediocre, but long life if he didn't fight, which suggests that for her, his survival was truly more important than glory.
  • Is Odysseus a shrewdly charming Guile Hero? Or is a Manipulative Bastard who shattered Achilles and Patroclus's chance for a happy future? Did he rat them out for The Needs of the Many, or did he do it just because it was his job? Considering how he was tricked into the draft-just like Achilles-is he a hypocrite for forcing him into war, or another victim who wasted twenty years of his life away from his family? The list goes on. In any case, alternate character interpretations of Odysseus (of The Odyssey fame) are as old as literature itself, so it's definitely unsurprising here.
  • Exactly how much of a Jerkass Deidameia is isn't entirely clear. Given that the book is from Patroclus' perspective, and Achilles is less than forthcoming about the situation, we never learn the details of her sexual encounter with Achilles, including whether or not she was aware that he didn't want it to happen.
• Big-Lipped Alligator Moment: Patroclus having sex with Deidameia. It occurs almost immediately after Patroclus and Achilles reconcile over Achilles being forced to impregnate Deidameia, it doesn't tell us anything about Patroclus that we don't already know (he's empathetic and rather self-sacrificing; even the fact that he isn't completely Achilles-sexual is handled much better with his interaction with Briseis), and it's such a miserable, joyless moment that even Patroclus attempts to pretend it didn't happen. Some readers opt to do the same, a few going on record as having torn out the page, because it really doesn't change much about the story.
• Common Knowledge: It's commonly thought that Patroclus's home city state "Locris" is in Turkey, when it's well established it isn't. Locris are actually three separate places, and they're all in Central Greece.
• Diagnosed by the Audience: It's heavily implied that Patroclus' mother has some form of mental disability. It's only mentioned that she was "simple", which could mean anything, and the specifics are (understandably for the time period) never spelled out.
• Fanon: Patroclus is widely depicted as having darker/tan skin because his kingdom of origin - Locris, which they think is in Turkey. See Common Knowledge for more information.
• Friendly Fandoms:
  • With the 2020 Roguelike Action RPG game Hades, which includes Achilles and Patroclus as inhabitants of the underworld — and are portrayed in an explicitly romantic manner. You'll see plenty of Patrochilles fan-content for the game containing captions or comments relating to the book, with people recommending the book to anyone wanting more Patrochilles content (Greg Kasavin, the director and writer of Hades, has even listed the book as one of his recommendations for modern literature on Greek mythology). Since the book came out in 2011, fans of the book have welcomed this sudden influx of Patrochilles fan-content thanks to the game, and are appreciative of the inclusion of their romance. On top of all that, one thing the player can do in the game is reunite Achilles and Patroclus in Elysium, and the finale of the book involves them doing exactly that. Because the characters in the game have long passed away, the book is often treated as "additional backstory" for Achilles and Patroclus, especially since neither story contradicts the other by very much.
    A comment under a Youtube gameplay of their reunion: *cries in The Song of Achilles* [1]
    A tweet from a Hades player: bought song of achilles at a local bookstore and the owner told me all the copies they received this week have sold out now. tbh i think it's the power of hades right now. [2]
    • Patroclus' character design in the game is also dark-skinned and dark-haired, which works well with the above Fanon of the book.
  • There is a smaller intersection of fans with the band Gang of Youths, due to some fans considering the song "Achilles, Come Down" (a 2017 song from the album "Go Farther in Lightness") to be something of an unofficial theme for the book.
• Harsher in Hindsight: The fond way Odysseus talks about his wife. Miller's next book, Circe, reveals that by the time Odysseus finally returned to Ithaca, he was so damaged by the long war and the dangerous journey home that he found it impossible to live peacefully, and terrorized his family.
• Jerkass Woobie:
  • Achilles can be prideful, cruel and callous of other people but he is only that way because he has been manipulated by everyone whose name isn't Patroclus for his entire life while living with a prophecy dangling over his head; he ends the book with a severe case of Death Seeker because the man he loves died and unwittingly fulfilled that prophecy.
  • Thetis is vindictive and spiteful towards Patroclus while manipulative and obsessed with making Achilles immortal, but she genuinely loves her son and wants what's best for him while having to watch helplessly when Achilles chooses to die young for glory and becomes a Death Seeker. Not to mention her grandson Pyrrhus is killed, although that is because of her parenting method.
  • Deidameia also qualifies; she's spiteful to Patroclus, but did genuinely fall for Achilles. In Ancient Greek society she is left deflowered, dishonoured, unmarried, pregnant with the child of a man she loved but who had no feelings whatsoever for her. Then she finds out that the child will be taken from her by Thetis, and if she ever found out at all what became of him afterwards, she would know he grows up to be such a monster that he deserves the Undignified Death he gets while still young.
• Memetic Loser: Thetis is often jokingly Flanderized as homophobic/prudish nuisance, whose only purpose in the novel is to stop Achilles and Patroclus from having sex.
• Memetic Mutation: At least in the meager fandom. The "I could recognize him by touch alone" monologue is posted on just about every aesthetic post, every blog, just about anything related to The Song of Achilles. It's even added as a quote below the book cover on the main page, on This Very Wiki.
• Narm: When they have sex, Patroclus doesn't seem to know what the word "penis" is when he describes handling "the place of [Achilles's] pleasure".
• Nightmare Fuel: Achilles coming back after his first raid. Little more than a dozen pages ago he was wracked with survivor's guilt, from just witnessing a death. But then, he was so calm over the fact that he killed twelve people. Patroclus himself is quite bothered over this, so Achilles has to make flimsy excuses for murder: "They were armed, I would not kill an unarmed man"... which isn't exactly what what you'd like to see in your usual hero.
  • Recurs near the end of the book, when Achilles completely breaks down over Patroclus' death, refusing to bury him and choosing instead to keep the corpse in his bed so he can cling to it. Not to mention the way he treats Hector's body when he finally kills him.
  • But then you see what Pyrrhus is like, and realize just how much worse Achilles could've been if he was raised by Thetis.
• Rescued from the Scrappy Heap: Most readers (including Rick Riordan) of The Iliad have this opinion of Achilles, who was considered the least likable character in the entire Trojan war, due his characterization in this book. Amazingly, Miller managed to do this without any Adaptational Heroism.
• Tear Jerker: The whole thing, if you know the ending. It's one of those stories that you'll read once for the beautiful writing and characterisation, but never again because the ending will rip out your heart and paint pictures with your aeortal blood.
• They Changed It, Now It Sucks!: Though the novel is well received, the most common criticism that some Iliad fans have is the fact that the novel focuses heavily on Patroclus's gentle side, which was only implied in the epic. The interpretation of his relationship with Achilles being romantic instead of the usual Heterosexual Life-Partners interpretation, as well as the aforementioned focus on Patroclus' gentleness contrasting with Achilles' transformation into a callous warrior, also garners accusations of the former being feminized. There are people who prefer the change, as they see it giving Patroclus depth without being hyper masculine like other Greek heroes.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot: The entire Iphigenia arc is only included in two paragraphs. This is especially notable compare to the other events that were glossed over from The Iliad is because Achilles was a major pawn in the event.
• Tough Act to Follow: The quality and popularity of the book (which managed to win an Orange Prize) will always cast a shadow and comparison to Miller's other works Galatea and Circe.
• The Woobie:
  • Patroclus has a father who made clear that he is a disappointment, a mentally ill mother, a goddess who hates his guts for being mortal and watches the man he loves becoming hardened with war and bloodshed. Even in death, he didn't even get to reunite with Achilles because of Pyrrhus until Thetis has a change of heart.
  • Briseis. A captive of the Greeks, she fell in love with someone who can't love her back only to watch him die brutally. And then she got turned into a sex slave by Pyrrhus and died trying to escape.
  • Lycomedes got repaid for his kindness by watching his daughter suffer and not being able to do anything about it because he's being threatened by a goddess.