Mark Gagnon

And they also shaped so much of storytelling and character development and like side characters, like stuff that we still use to this very day.

So on the Trojan side was this guy, Hector.

This is the eldest son of King Priam and the commander of Troy's armies.

And this is where Achilles fought for personal glory.

Hector was fighting for something different.

He was fighting for his city and for his family, and most importantly, for his infant son.

In the Iliad, Homer actually gives us one of the most heartbreaking moments

like the saddest visuals ever, maybe in all of literature.

Hector is reaching for his baby boy and the child is crying because he doesn't recognize his father in his war helmet.

And Hector laughs and takes off his helmet and holds his son.

And he knows that he's probably going to die and never see this boy grow up, but he fights anyway.

Beautiful.

Could bring a tear to my eye, but it's not.

And then there is Odysseus, the king of Ithaca.

This is like the smartest, sharpest dude in all of the Greek army.

He didn't really want to go to Troy at all.

And so when the recruiters arrived, Odysseus pretended to be crazy.

He was like plowing his fields with salt, which would obviously destroy your fields.

But the story goes that they placed his infant son in front of the plow.

And then when Odysseus swerved to avoid the child, they knew that he was actually faking it, which I don't know.