while obv people getting the iliad's time focus wrong and saying that it ended with achilles' death is a very annoyingly common mistake i also think it's kind of fitting in relation to the ways achilles DOES die in the iliad. he ends the poem having basically killed himself in more ways than one after killing hector and he knows it. the last time we see him we know as well as he does that he's got an expiration date and it's very soon. he's alreasy chased around and killed a man in his own armour. not to mention all the ways in which he rejects life after patroclus' death. from his lying resembling that of patroclus' corpse (κειται Πάτροκλος/κειτο), to being sustained by ambrosia instead of human food just like patroclus is by thetis. like the entire murder/suicide thing going on between achilles and hector PLUS the idea that patroclus' death is modeled after and made to represent achilles' own from a narrative standpoit makes everything much more intresting. i know it's definetly been said before but achilles' relationship with death and his suicidality even should be taken into much more consideration in conversation about him.
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