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‘Chironides’

I’m sitting here and thinking about maybe Patroclus actually considered Chiron as a father figure to him🥺

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[azurejacques]

Did you know that I’m in love with them because I’m like. In love with them.

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I was waiting impatiently to find out what Emily Wilson's Iliad would have to say about Achilles and Patroclus and this is just the introduction but suffice it to say I feel safe going into this knowing she understood the assignment on a deep and profound level.

Like OK go off queen I knew we could trust you!

[azurejacques]

“The name of Meleager’s wife is apparently made up for this passage, to provide a clearer analogy between Meleager, who sleeps beside his wife Cleopatra, and Achilles, who sleeps beside Patroclus; Patroclus is, by analogy, Achilles’ wife.”

― Emily Wilson, from the Notes to her translation of The Iliad

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Achilles & Patroclus for Valentines 💖👨‍❤️‍💋‍👨⚔️

This piece is set during the Trojan War, in Achilles’ tent. The lovers are spending a relaxing moment alone together on their bed coming up with new melodies on their lyre. In my mind, this scene is early into the war, where everyone’s still living in canvas tents, and spirits are still high.

[azurejacques]

I have already written about Achilles' waiting, but what about Patroclus' willpower?

He continued to meet Achilles even though he knew he was the prince and he was an exile. He continued to stand by Achilles despite Thetis' threats. He ran after Achilles when he went with Chiron to train, determined not to stop running until he caught up with them. He begged Peleus to reveal Achilles' location and then sailed to Skyros to meet him. He followed him and the rest of the Myrmidons to the Trojan War. He followed him onto the battlefield and through the years there. He continued to wait for him every day in his tent to see him return from battle. He stood by his side after the conflict with Agamemnon. He stood by his side until he saw how Achilles was consumed by his self-centredness. Only then did he abandon him and beg him to fight for them again, as Patroclus had done since he met him.

Although he is not the "fighting" part (apparently), since that is what Achilles is supposed to be, Patroclus fights in another way. He never has things easy, unlike Achilles who is loved, respected and accepted by everyone; Patroclus has to fight against everything and everyone to be by the side of the one he loves. Patroclus is the tireless willpower that moves the soul to fight for what it believes in or loves. Likewise, Patroclus represents the part of the soul that is always searching for its other half.

That is why Patroclus, as he claimed, followed Achilles until after his death.

[azurejacques]

I need to do a rebrand or something at some point like I’ve had this account name since the first queer book I read 😭 which isn’t bad! I just am not sure it’s me anymore? Idk. I also only consistently use this app when I’m hyperfixating on smth 💀 so who knows!

[azurejacques]

WAITTTT I WAS JUST STRUCK WITH DIVINE INSPIRATION.

Hear me out: Song of Achilles AU(?) where it’s just Lucy Dacus’ Thumbs, but it’s Achilles and Patroclus visiting (being visited by?) Menoetius. From Achilles’ perspective, of course. Like do you see the vision bc I sure do.

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inevitable?

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I can’t decide if this would be Achilles singing about Patroclus or the other way round but it’s SO THEMMMM likeeee I’m going to be ILL

need an animatic of this badly I fear

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Doing my best to not cry in the dining hall rn

how terrible it is / to love something death can touch

Keep reading

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I would know him in death, at the end of the world

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I need to sit down. Um.

"I swear it"

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Odysseus watching Achilles absolutely mutilate Hector's corpse

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on tragic heroes and the people who'd follow them anywhere.

tumblr textpost// Anne Carson, An Oresteia// Madeline Miller, The Song of Achilles// Victor Hugo, Les Miserables// William Shakespeare, Hamlet// Anne Carson, An Oresteia

[azurejacques]

“And perhaps it is the greater grief, after all, to be left on earth when another is gone. [...] When he died, all things soft and beautiful and bright would be buried with him.”  🩸

“In the darkness, two shadows, reaching through the hopeless, heavy dusk. Their hands meet, and light spills in a flood like a hundred golden urns pouring out of the sun.” 🌻

Two souls, reunited.

(quotes from Madelline Miller's The Song Of Achilles)