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EmpRupus t1_j1ydj7f wrote

Reply to comment by Bridalhat in Joining the “The Song of Achilles” Appreciation Club by my-nips-hurt

> Patroclus is such a flat character

Agree. Patroclus felt very much like a "self-insert / reader-insert" character very similar to Bella from Twilight, where she keeps going on and on about how she is plain, simple and clumsy, and how she doesn't get why someone as handsome as Edward is into her. And I got the same vibe between Patroclus and Achilies.

Props to the book for exploring the romantic nature of the relationship which other modern retellings avoided / simply said they were "cousins / best friends" etc. So good for lgbt+ representation.

My overall experience of the book is positive. Loved the sea-goddess mother giving fierce MIL vibes. Loved the realism of war, loved the vivid description of palaces, islands and the seas, etc.

But the main character-dynamic between Achilles and Patrocles, where one person is clearly more important, and the other person's whole existence is just being a devoted supporter and having little value beyond that, personally, just did not jibe with me. The relationship felt highly unequal.

I would have preferred if Patrocles was more empowered and heroic in his own way.

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Bridalhat t1_j1zx7i0 wrote

I also hated Thetis in TSOA. I get the vibes, but she decides that the Myrmidons aren’t crying hard enough at Patroclus’s funeral in the Iliad and leads them to sob harder. She also took care of Hephaestus after Hera threw him off of Mt Olympus for being too ugly. She seems like a nice lady! But Patroclus was such a flat character Miller had to find a villain or an obstacle somewhere and landed on the few female characters.

ETA: I want to emphasize that I am ok with novel interpretations, but the women bore the worst of it in TSOA, and I think a more interesting story without Thetis as an outright villain the whole time could have been told. Like, at the end of the day, I just think it was kind of boring and the scope was extremely limited. Like, Patroclus’s funeral was a big deal in the Iliad, and Menelaus and Ajax risked their lives to get his body back, and many more men died for it. But I guess we just get a line about Patroclus helping Menelaus with his headaches?

Otoh the characters in the Iliad, after nearly dying to get the body back, would not have backed down when Pyrrhus says Patroclus’s name won’t be on the tomb. Whatever.

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my-nips-hurt OP t1_j250wr9 wrote

This is really good to know. A lot of people have offered other suggestions or ones closer to the original epic, so I'm looking forward to seeing these characters and how they actually are.

Nice to know Thetis wasn't so bad and it is unfortunate she was painted this way. Also, even in Miller's interpretation, with how much Patroclus helped, I would have expected him to get more. Nice to know he did get the credit he deserved.

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