Here of Troy got old, as all of us do. Paris a bit slimy, as most versions seem to have gotten right. Cassandra reminds me of my mother, and i understand why no one listens to her because I don’t trust my mother either. Hecuba and Priam are just waiting for things to fall apart, hoping that their children are not useless bloody idiots (spoiler alert: most of them are). Hector and Andromache are, the historians got that right, the most reasonable people in that palace; so obviously no ones listens to them.

I would like to say Paris wasn’t completely shameless, but when he pinched my ass right as his wife’s back was turned I really hoped Menelaus skewered the guy, even though he was a brute and a bore (a phrase I’m borrowing from a much better writer, if only I could remember who). Achilles was very flamboyantly out there though, which is why I’m confused as to who decided to believe that he and Patroclus were just “cousins” or “good friends.” Nestor and Odysseus were bound by the common desire to really want to go home; the latter admits it more easily, but the former manages to complain so much that we all want to send him there. Antilochus is hot though, and actually good friends with Achilles.

I do worry though, how we do the same things here. We like to pretend that things will be fine, but for most people, things have entirely fallen apart. It’s crowded, loud all the time, and the priests are growing fat with offerings. There is an alter every few streets managed by a different priest who reports to a different god claiming that this is the right way to save the city and to get rid of hunger.

No, the hunger will not end anytime soon, the war will take them all.

It’s the day Hector dies that they realise that. They wish they had sent her back, damn all the rules about hospitality. The truth is this, Priam was a selfish old man. Breaking the laws around of hospitality would have only affected him, and he could have been purified; given his health he could have done it. He chose not to, and that day he cursed his own city; doomed it to its death. It’s the reason why Hecuba despises him, why he tries to imprison Cassandra from time to time, why he doesn’t rebuke Paris; he recognises the selfishness; Paris is his so after all.

You see, the day he let the horse in, he knew the Greeks weren’t gone. He knew this was part of their plan and he didn’t want to drag it on any longer. He knew he would be killed, and he also knew what would befall the others. He knew his grandson would be killed, even if he did not know how, he knew what would happen to his wives and daughters and every other man, woman, and child in that God forsaken city.

He had known Calchas growing up, he knew that the slimy priest had a gift, and made sure he was never on the losing side.