The Song of Achilles recap

Patroclus, an exiled and unpromising young prince, is fostered in Phthia, where he becomes the chosen companion and then the lover of Achilles, the half-divine son of a king and a sea-goddess, destined to be the greatest warrior of his age. They grow up together, schooled by the centaur Chiron, shadowed by a prophecy that Achilles will win eternal glory only by dying young at Troy. When Helen is taken and the Greek kings gather for war, Achilles's mother Thetis hides him disguised among women on Scyros, but the cunning Odysseus exposes him and he goes to war. The Greeks muster at Aulis, where Agamemnon sacrifices his own daughter for a favorable wind, and the fleet sails to a siege that lasts ten years. Achilles is the army's greatest fighter while Patroclus keeps to healing. When Agamemnon seizes Achilles's war-prize Briseis, the enraged Achilles withdraws from battle and the Greeks are slaughtered. Unable to watch, Patroclus dons Achilles's armor to rally them and is killed by the Trojan prince Hector. Broken by grief, Achilles avenges him by killing Hector, knowing his own death must follow, and is soon slain by Paris. Their ashes are mixed, and after Thetis at last relents, their names are joined so they remain together beyond death.

Patroclus, a small, awkward prince and a disappointment to his father, is exiled after a boyhood accident and sent to be fostered at the court of King Peleus in Phthia. There he is drawn to Peleus's son Achilles, a beautiful and effortlessly gifted boy said to be destined for greatness, and to Patroclus's surprise Achilles chooses him as his companion. Their friendship deepens quickly, over the disapproval of Achilles's mother, the sea-goddess Thetis, who thinks Patroclus unworthy of her son and resents his presence. To further Achilles's education, Peleus sends the two boys up Mount Pelion to be tutored by the wise centaur Chiron, who teaches them medicine, music, and the arts of war in a peaceful mountain retreat.

The years with Chiron form the boys deeply, and their bond grows into love, though a prophecy shadows Achilles: he is fated to win undying glory but to die young if he goes to war at Troy. When Helen of Sparta is carried off and the Greek kings begin gathering a great army to reclaim her, Thetis tries to keep her son from his doom by hiding him disguised among the women on the island of Scyros. There Achilles becomes entangled with the princess Deidameia, with lasting consequences. The clever king Odysseus, recruiting for the war, sees through the disguise and draws Achilles out. Torn between a long, safe obscurity and a short life of legend, Achilles chooses to go, and Patroclus goes with him.

The Greek kings and their forces assemble at Aulis to sail for Troy, but the fleet is becalmed. To win a favorable wind, Agamemnon, the proud high king who commands the alliance, sacrifices his own daughter Iphigenia, luring her to the altar under the false promise of marriage to Achilles, an act that sickens both Achilles and Patroclus. The ships finally reach Troy, and the expected quick victory becomes a grinding siege that stretches on for years. Achilles proves himself the greatest warrior of the whole Greek host, his fame growing with every season, while Patroclus keeps largely apart from the killing, learning and practicing the healing arts and easing life in the camp rather than seeking glory on the field.

As the long war drags on, life in the Greek camp settles into an uneasy routine of raids, plunder, and simmering rivalries among the kings. Achilles remains the army's champion, but his brilliance breeds resentment, especially in Agamemnon, who guards his own authority jealously. Among the captives taken in the raids on the towns around Troy is a young woman, Briseis, given to Achilles as a prize; Patroclus steps in to protect her and others like her, and Briseis becomes a dear friend to him, learning healing at his side. Beneath the surface, tension mounts between Agamemnon and Achilles over honor, spoils, and pride, a conflict that threatens to split the fragile alliance just as the war grinds toward its most desperate stretch.

The feud finally breaks open when Agamemnon seizes Briseis from Achilles to assert his dominance. Enraged and dishonored, Achilles withdraws himself and his Myrmidons from the fighting, and without him the Greeks are slaughtered and driven back to their ships. Patroclus, unable to endure the sight of dying men while Achilles nurses his pride, persuades Achilles to let him put on the hero's armor and lead the Myrmidons into battle to turn the tide. He drives the Trojans back but, in the fighting, is killed by Hector, the prince of Troy. Achilles is destroyed by grief. Casting aside all thought for his own life, he returns to war, kills Hector in vengeance, and abuses his corpse, knowing his own death is bound to follow. Soon after, Achilles is slain by an arrow from Paris. He had refused to be buried apart from Patroclus, and their ashes are mingled. But his cruel son Pyrrhus denies Patroclus any honor, and Patroclus's shade lingers unremembered until Thetis, who had scorned him all his life, at last recognizes his worth to her son and ensures his name is joined to Achilles's tomb, reuniting them beyond death.

The fulfillment of Achilles's prophecy destroys everyone Patroclus loves. When Agamemnon takes Briseis from Achilles to humiliate him, Achilles withdraws his men from the fighting in wounded pride, and the Greeks are cut down in droves. Patroclus, unable to bear the slaughter, persuades Achilles to let him wear the hero's armor and lead the Myrmidons to drive the Trojans back. He succeeds, but in his triumph he is killed by Hector, prince of Troy. Achilles is shattered. He returns to the war consumed by grief and rage, kills Hector in revenge, and desecrates his body, knowing full well that his own death is fated to come close on Hector's. Achilles refuses to allow Patroclus's remains to be buried apart from his own. Soon he too is killed, struck down by Paris's arrow. Their ashes are mingled together. The final threads are resolved after both are dead: Achilles's son by Deidameia, Pyrrhus, is cruel and refuses to honor Patroclus, and Patroclus's shade lingers unremembered until Thetis, who spent Patroclus's life despising him, finally understands what he meant to her son. She relents and sees that Patroclus's name is added to Achilles's tomb, so that the two are reunited at last, together in death as they were in life.