Yann Martel

He rails against Agamemnon saying, why are we here?

What do we have to gain?

And he's promptly beaten by Odysseus.

So when I read the Iliad,

Right away, I thought Thucydides was the most interesting, complex character, because he had nothing to gain in that story.

And it struck me as completely natural in the 21st world to speak from the point of view of a commoner, in a sense, because we're the majority by a great number.

Surely the system should serve us.

We're not at the service of billionaires anymore.

At the time, yes, but no longer today.

So it's quite natural for both Soas and Harlow Dunn, the academic, to be both commoners.

You know, the point of looking at the past is to reflect on the present.

And so here's this alternate story

A complimentary story of the Trojan War, I wanted one.

And then Homer, and then Harlow's, in a sense, is the same thing.

The same thing, being plagued by anger, making judgment mistakes.

Mistakes, judgments, calls that from the outside seem foolish, but from the inside seem justified.

When you're angry, you feel justified in what you're doing.

It's only later when you've calmed down that you realize that there was a mistake.

So that's Agamemnon and Achilles.

They get angry, and they do the wrong decision, and the consequences are terrible.