Hear me out
It’s 3 am and I am super sleep deprived but I’m still going to ramble about this thing that I’m 99% sure only makes senses in the mess that is my head.
So I’m watching Hercules and you know how in the Disney Universe Phil takes the role of Chiron? it’s even stated that he trained Achilles right before Hercules,there’s even this line in the movie that Phil says after Herc is presumed dead by the Hydra
“just like Achilles ”.
Well, that line got me thinking that he probably compare the two a lot, and who can blame him?
after all, in this universe, they are very alike for example:
there both teenage demigod
A little too trusting of others
and despite being well intended they are a bit hot-headed and if somebody wouldn’t constantly be stopping them they would do a lot of stupid shit.
Which brings me to the scene where a Phil tells Herc the truth about Meg and he just loses it and throws him into a pile of weights, and that’s when Phil decides to walk away from Hercules, I always found it a little bit weird that he would give up so easily on his dream but that’s when it hit me.
That anger he saw in Herc’s eyes probably reminded him of the one he saw in Achilles ’eyes before he killed Hector, he couldn’t bear watching a hero fall because someone had ripped their heart out and crushed it into a million pieces. He was most likely there when Patroclus died and Achilles didn’t let go of his body, he probably stood there unable to do anything to stop Achilles as he went after Hector and it ruined his chances of being a big-time hero and his reputation. So when he saw Hercules going down the exact same path he couldn't take it, he couldn't relive that story again ,so he decided to leave before he had to watch Hercules fall from grace or worst die.
