Achilles - TSOA

1. What is daily life like with him?

You would be his Patroclus. And that means everything.
He doesn't have 50 friends. He has YOU. He doesn't like crowds, lavish parties, or fake people. He pulls you away from everyone else.

A day with him would be:

Early in the morning he's already at your door: "Come on, let's go for a run before the others wake up." He runs barefoot and you try to keep up.
He teaches you the lyre because Chiron taught him. He gets frustrated if you don't learn quickly, not because you're stupid, but because he wants to share everything with you.
He tells you everything. His dreams, his mother's fears, the prophecy. He's never told anyone, but he tells you. You're the only place where he doesn't have to be "the best of the Greeks."
He shares. Food, a cloak, the best piece of meat, the warmest spot in the tent. If you're cold, he'll give you his cloak even if he's cold himself.

2. WHEN YOU'RE FEELING DOWN

Achilles doesn't know how to console with words. He consoles with his absolute presence.

If someone has humiliated you:
He remains silent, his jaw clenched, with that dark green, goddess-like gaze. The next day, the person who humiliated you will be afraid of him. He doesn't need to hit you. He only needs to look. Everyone is afraid of displeasing Achilles. He uses that for you.

If you are sad / sick:
He becomes a nurse. That's canon. He learned medicine from Chiron just because you did. He'll stay by your bedside, change your dressing, feed you, play the lyre to lull you to sleep. He won't leave. He'll sleep on the floor beside you.
He doesn't say "everything will be alright". He says "I'm here. I'm not leaving".

3. THE HARD PART - AND THERE IS A LOT OF IT

Being best friends with Achilles is difficult. He's not easy to love.

1. He's possessive. He's jealous. Not romantically, but over time. If you make another best friend, he'll become quiet, hurt, and then ask, "Do you like him more than me?" He's afraid of being abandoned.

1. THE BASIS OF EVERYTHING: IT IS MADE OF TWO SIDES

He is the son of a goddess and a mortal, and that tears him apart.
The Tethys (the goddess) side: Divine, perfect, destined for glory, cold, distant, impossible to reach. It is the Achilles that the world wants.
The Peleus/Patroclus side (the human): Gentle, curious, laughs loudly, wants to just be a boy. He is the real Achilles.
He spends his whole life trying to choose what kind of being it is. And it is Patroclus who makes him want to be human.

2. WHAT HE IS REALLY LIKE

1. Brilliant, but not arrogant (at first)
He's the best at everything without even trying. The fastest, the strongest, the most handsome, the one who learns the lyre in a day. But he doesn't brag. He even gets embarrassed when people compliment him.
He doesn't understand why the other boys are jealous. To him, it's normal.
2. Kind and incredibly empathetic.
This is the biggest shock for anyone familiar with the myth. Madeline's Achilles is sweet.
He was the ONLY one who was kind to Patroclus when he arrived in Phthia, exiled, thin, and ashamed.
He protects Patroclus from being mocked by the others.
He cries for the wounded soldiers.
He learns medicine not for glory, but because Patroclus learned it.

3. Loyal until it hurts
His fatal flaw is love. But it's a possessive and absolute love.
"I could recognize you in the dark, just by your touch. I could recognize you blindfolded, by your scent."
If you belong to him, he gives you the world. But if you are taken away from him, he destroys the world.
4. Innocent about the world
Raised by Chiron and protected by Thetis, he is naive. He truly believes that honor matters, that kings are just, that the gods are good. When Agamemnon humiliates him and steals Briseis, it is the first time he understands that the world is rotten. And that breaks him.

1. FACE

• The most beautiful of all: The book repeats this all the time. It's not "beautiful." It's "the most beautiful mortal who ever lived." Gods stop to look.
• Age: Starts at 13 and dies at 26-27. He always looks younger than he is.
• Shape: Perfect, symmetrical face. Strong yet still boyishly soft chin. High cheekbones, a legacy from Thetis.
• Skin: Golden. Not sun-tanned, naturally golden. Smooth, without a blemish, without a scar (until the war). Smells of the sea and olives. Patroclus says it seems as if he was sculpted, not born.
• Expression: Usually serene, almost bored, because everything comes easily to him. When he smiles - and he only truly smiles at Patroclus - his whole face lights up.

2. TRADEMARKS

1. Golden Blonde Hair
Dark blonde, honey-colored, the color of ripe wheat. Not beach blonde, god-like blonde.

• Long, reaching the nape of the neck when young, longer during wartime.
  Smooth and thick, it shines in the sun. Patroclus always says it looks like molten metal.
  He wears it either loose or tied up in a simple low bun.

2. GREEN-GRAY / BLACK-GREEN EYES
The book describes her as having "eyes as green as the sea where Tethys lives."

• They're not blue. They're dark green, almost black when he's angry, light when he's happy.
• Eyes of a goddess. Cold when she wants to be, but warm only for Patroclus.

3. BODY - THE ARISTOS ACHAION

• Height: Tall. Taller than Patroclus. Broad shoulders, but still slender when young.
• Body type: Runner's body. Not stocky like Ajax. Defined, lean, strong, built for speed.
• Legs: "Swift feet" is no sarcastic nickname. Muscular thighs and calves from running every day with Chiron. It's his strongest part.
• Arms: Defined, yet elegant. Arms of an archer and a lyre player.
• Hands: Beautiful, long hands, like those of a musician and a warrior. Patroclus notices this directly.