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#also thinking about how Hector was literally wearing achilles previous armor
ragesingoddess · 10 months
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thinking about hector having to face achilles and how scared he must have been and how many guts it took to stand up and fight him knowing beforehand that he was not leaving that battle alive.
imagine looking to your enemy's eyes and finding a shell of person; a person who hasn't eaten or slept in days, a person with absolute fury in his eyes, a person wearing the armour made by a god and fitting it. a person who genuinely has nothing to lose and worst of all a person who has come to terms with the fact that he is going to die. a person who craves it.
this is the core difference between the two of them during their final battle: hector knows he's going to die and he doesn't want to. he has a family and a newborn son to return to and a city that he knows is going to fall without him and all around has plenty of reasons to want to make it out of that fight alive. achilles also knows he's going to die but unlike Hector achilles doesn't want to be alive by this point anyway. hector is fighting for his life while achilles is fighting to try and mend his vengeful heart.
hector had everything to lose; achilles had lost everything already.
and then imagine looking into your enemy's face with pleading eyes. the enemy who has cost you so many of your brother's lives, who's made so many of your sisters into slaves. the person who you know is going to kill you. imagine looking into that person's eyes and having to beg him to at least spare your dead body and give it a proper burial. mind you, these were the times when people believed an unburied person's soul could never reach the afterlife. an unburied soldier was cursed to stay dishonored and alone, wandering through the depths of the world without a physical presence to offer.
and imagine your enemy laughing. and promising to feed your body to the dogs.
and after all of this hector still, still found it in his heart to fight him.
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