Im Thinking About Song Of Achilles Again And Like.I Cannot Think Of The Logic Behind How Madeline Miller

I’m thinking about Song Of Achilles again and like….I cannot think of the logic behind how Madeline Miller wrote Pyrrhus (Neoptolemus).

Like, he was a cruel asshole in the myths, so she got that part down.

But she added the wrinkle of him being raised by Thetis and did….nothing with it.

He quite literally exists solely to be a hate sink and to drag the plot out just a little longer.

Maybe he exists to give Thetis some form of redemption, by having her correct his big mistake.

But that raises even more questions because Thetis had been filling the role Pyrrhus had nearly the entire book. Pyrrhus may exists to show why its a good thing Thetis didn’t raise Achilles, but that is never the focus.

As far as the book is concerned, Pyrrhus is just a hate sink like Thetis (until the end) or Agamemnon to throw onscreen to get in the way of Achilles and Patroclus’ happy ending, and the inherent tragedy of him being a twisted Achilles or him being thirteen fucking years old by the time he’s onscreen is never touched upon.

Pyrrhus quite literally exists solely to be a replacement hate-sink for Thetis, and to provide some damn-near unearned last minute redemption for her.

Was Pyrrhus an ass in the original myths? Yes. Does that mean Madeline Miller could have wasted a potentially interesting character so she could throw in yet another one-note hate sink? Absolutely.

The king of Epirus and his bodyguard.

Little king Pyrrhus and his bodyguard Chaon who used to be a trojan prince. Pyrrhus should have kept eating his veggies and drinking his milk

Random headcanon about Odysseus: we all know that he introduces himself as "Son of Laertes" but after Penelope, he def called himself "husband of Penelope" and after Telemachus was born, we all know he called himself "father of Telemachus". What can we say? He's a proud son/husband/dad.

My boy, My Sonion, Neoptolemus as a proper Hades game fake screenshot

Adding to my series of Hermione and Pyrrhus being a cute couple, small husband who loves his wife