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vifetoile Since: Jan, 2001
Mar 7th 2018 at 1:09:49 PM •••

Okay, here's the rest of the tropes that were on the Song of Achilles page. Feel free to add them ot the main page if you like.

     The old page 
The Song of Achilles is a 2012 novel by Madeline Miller, detailing the life of the Greek legendary hero Achilles from the eyes of his faithful best friend and confidante, Patroclus. The book spans from when Achilles was a child to his final role in The Trojan War, and thus is a retelling of The Illiad as well. At heart, The Song of Achilles is a love story, a recording of the fierce devotion and passion between the two men, an exploration of the depths of the human heart and a vivid interpretation of classical Greek heroes, brought to life by a compelling plot and beautiful language.
  • Ain't Too Proud to Beg: Priam in stark contrast to every Greek leader especially Achilles, making his moment of awesome even more powerful.
  • All Love Is Unrequited: Achilles's dashing good looks causes him to break a few hearts. Briseis is also quite fond of Patroclus.
  • Amazon Brigade: The horsewomen of Anatolia.
  • Badass Normal: Patroclus, again. He even points out that, unlike most other suitors for Helen, he wasn't the son or grandson of a god.note 
  • Childhood Friend Romance: Patroclus and Achilles grew up together, and have been best friends since they were nine.
  • Curb-Stomp Battle: Achilles versus anything that isn't a god, more or less.
  • Deadpan Snarker: Odysseus will occasionally get a few good jabs in.
  • Dead Person Conversation: Thetis to Patroclus
  • Death Seeker: After Patroclus dies, Achilles doesn't even bother trying in battle anymore; he goes fighting without armour, trying desperately to get killed.
  • Defeating the Undefeatable: Achilles versus Scamander.
  • Determinator: Patroclus is usually quite mild-mannered, but fuck with anyone he loves, and he will come down on you with the force of the Greek army.
    • He purposely defies Thetis multiple times for Achilles's sake
      • In a more tragic twist, Patroclus also ends up betraying Achilles to Agamemnon in order to save Briseis.
  • Doting Parent: Odysseus does not stop talking about his wife and son.
  • Double Standard Rape: Female on Male: Completely averted. Thetis blackmails Achilles into lying with Deidameia was portrayed as a complete violation of his body to the point that Achilles detests both Deidameia and Thetis while keep insisting on aborting their child together until Patroclus intervenes.

  • Dying Moment of Awesome
  • El Cid Ploy: But of course
  • Five-Man Band: The main generals of the war could be seen as this:
    • The Hero: Agamemnon, by default even though he's pretty much a Jerkass
    • The Lancer: Menelaus, Agamemnon's brother
    • The Smart Guy: Odysseus, of course
    • The Big Guy: Ajax
    • The Chick: Menelaus could be seen as this, since he acts as a foil to his arrogant, more aggressive brother Agamemnon.
    • The Sixth Ranger: Achilles and Patroclus, who generally stay out of their ways but occasionally gets tangled into their drama.
  • Foreshadowing: Those who reread the novel stumble upon quite a number of 'oh, fuck' moments, most notably when Chiron is telling Achilles and Patroclus the story of Heracles, who killed his wife and children due to his madness caused by the gods. Achilles protests that the punishment was more unfair to Heracles' wife than to him, and Chiron says that the gods are not known for being fair, and 'perhaps it is the greater grief, after all, to be left on earth when another is gone.'
  • Heroic BSoD/Despair Event Horizon: What Achilles goes into after Patroclus's death, and what pushes him into becoming a full-fledged Death Seeker.
    • Later on, Briseis ends up falling for Patroclus even knowing that he only loves Achilles
  • I Have You Now, My Pretty: When Patroclus arrives at Agamemnon's tent after he takes Briseis he walks in just as he's about to force himself on her.
  • Instant Expert: Achilles at fighting, more or less. Averted for Patroclus on his rampage, who simply copied what he remembered Achilles doing.
  • Ironic Name: Patroclus notes this at one point for himself since his name translates as "glory of the father" when his father wants nothing to do with him and is ashamed of him.
  • Jerkass: Agamemnon. Of course anyone who knows his later fate (mainly killed by his own wife as revenge for what he did to their daughter) knows that he doesn't remain a Karma Houdini for long.
  • Lover and Beloved: Interestingly enough, for a gay romance novel set in Ancient Greece, averted. Achilles and Patroclus are pretty clearly equals in their relationship, and it is this which makes their relationship so unusual - it is explicitly spelled-out that this give-and-take is unconventional, where the Seme/Uke type dynamic that was more common in the period would have raised very few eyebrows.
  • Living Emotional Crutch: Achilles and Patroclus for each other, holy shit. Patroclus is more subtle than Achilles, only hinted that he doesn't plan to live after Achilles is killed while Achilles went down right murderous and suicidal after Patroclus is killed.
  • The Medic: Patroclus is quite a gifted healer. The first time he's on the field he carefully cuts out an arrow shaft out of a soldier's shoulder without any risk of infection.
  • My Beloved Smother: Thetis, once again. Though to be honest if your mother was a sea goddess you probably wouldn't have the nerve to refuse her.
  • Murder by Mistake: How Patroclus ends up in Phthia.
  • Nice Guy: King Peleus, by all accounts. Also, arguably, Patroclus and Menelaus.
  • No-Sell: Thetis whose mere presence is a Brown Note, attacks Odysseus only for him to be completely unaffected. He's favored and protected by Athena who trumps her in power.
  • Not Quite the Right Thing: Patroclus interferes in Achilles' plan to let Agamemnon rape Briseis so that Achilles would have just cause to kill him. This starts a chain of events that would lead to Patroclus', Achilles' and Briseis' deaths.
  • One-Hit Kill: Lots.
    • Interestingly both used with Sarpedon, who dies to a single javelin throw when he falls backwards off his chariot and subverted in the same event, since Patroclus must kill Sarpedon as Achilles would have.
  • Physical God: When Achilles fights, he's untouchable.
    • Not to mention all the actual 'real' Physical Gods floating around, although Thetis is the only one we see much of.
  • Prophecy Twist: Implied. It's prophesied that Achilles will only die after he kills Hector. So Achilles spends 10 years avoiding any confrontation and his Achilles in His Tent is partly to keep out of the battle. However while the prophecy is strictly true, it's Patroclus' death that causes him to be a Death Seeker. Hector dying is merely another consequence.
  • Purple Prose: And how. Pick a love scene and count the times some variant of the word "trembled" is used.
  • Rage Against the Heavens: In his quest for Hector, Achilles is so enraged that even an ancient river god with a staff the size of a tree trunk doesn't stop him. In turn, his reaction to when his mother tells him that he's pissed off Apollo was basically 'let them come at me, I don't have anything to live for'.
  • Talking to the Dead: When Achilles has a nightmare and he fruitlessly attempts to wake up Patroclus.
  • Team Dad: Patroclus, to all the girls he's rescued in the war. And Briseis is Team Mom. That's partly why she ends up falling for him
  • Together in Death: Eventually. After he burns Patroclus's body, Achilles orders the soldiers to mix his and Patroclus's ashes together once he's died but even after Achilles died Patroclus' spirit remained on earth unable to move on - because Pyrrhus and Thetis wouldn't engrave Patroclus' name on the tomb. Thetis finally, after a very long talk with Patroclus' spirit did release him which lead to one of the most beautiful passages of the book.
  • The So-Called Coward: Patroclus.
  • Vitriolic Best Buds: Odysseus and Diomedes bicker non-stop.
  • World's Most Beautiful Woman: Helen of Troy, as per myth. Patroclus meets her as a boy, and is even then awed at how beautiful she is.

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