In 2004’s Troy, Achilles slays the Trojan prince Hector and drags him through the dust to the Danaan camp, but why does he weep over his corpse? Wolfgang Petersen’s loosely-adapted rendition of Homer’s The Iliad, Troy, stars Brad Pitt as the Greek hero Achilles and evokes the tragedies that befell during the Trojan war. After killing Hector, Troy says: “We will meet again, my brother.” While this particular instance does not take place in The Iliad, Achilles’ tears are a focal point in the epic poem, especially when he sits together with King Priam and weeps over Peleus and Patroclus, while Priam mourns the loss of Hector.

To understand why Achilles, an almost-invulnerable demigod, cries after killing Hector who had slain Achilles’ close wartime companion, Patroclus), one needs to understand the dichotomy of war in The Iliad. While on the one hand, war brings ‘glory’ or kudianeira for men, on the other, it is a source of fear, pain, and human suffering. For Achilles, fighting in a war against the Trojans is a mark of honor and heroic mettle. However, it also brings him extraordinary grief, as exemplified in the poem: “Once Achilles has worn out his sorrow, the desire for tears leaves, at the same time, his heart and his body.” Unlike the classical portrayal of heroic figures as killing machines, Homer’s epic celebrates their innate humanity, while imbuing them with honor, fidelity, and agony.

Coming back to Troy, viewers see Achilles arrive outside the gates of the city and challenge Hector to a duel. While the latter fights admirably, the gods (mainly, Athena) favor Achilles, who ends up killing Hector, attaching his ankles to his chariot, and dragging him to the Trojan beach. What happens next could possibly be a catalyst for Achilles’ tears: King Priam sneaks into the Greek camp in disguise and implores him to honor his son through a proper funeral. Achilles, stunned and enraged, refuses, stating that Hector’s death is apt retribution for the murder of Patroclus. To this, Priam refutes that Patroclus’ death was a case of mistaken identity while reminding Achilles of his own war-fueled cruelty: “How many cousins have you killed? How many sons and fathers and brothers and husbands? How many, brave Achilles?”

Overcome with guilt and shame, Achilles agrees to a twelve-day truce in order to facilitate Hector’s funeral rites. He acknowledges Hector’s tactical brilliance on the battlefield and deems him as a worthy opponent. Kneeling over his corpse, Achilles sheds tears, which could potentially symbolize the Greek hero’s realization of the futility of war, and the possibility of respectful comradeship between the two in the absence of the feud over Helen.

Apart from this, he is also acutely aware of his imminent death, hence the sentiment of meeting Hector again on the edges of the river Styx, which was believed to be a boundary between Earth and the Underworld. As anticipated, Troy ends with the death of Achilles, who is shot with a poisoned arrow by Paris (alongside Apollo) in the heel – his only spot of vulnerability.