Patroclus In The Odyssey

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Portraying Patroclus as a helpless boar and Hector as a powerful lion, Homer wants the reader to understand that Hector eventually kills Patroclus, no matter how hard he fights. In the epic simile, it states, “The boar pants hard, but the lion comes out on top.” (Homer 16.866-867). Homer uses this line to portray Hector and Patroclus as two enemies, one enemy more powerful than the other. Hector represents the lion, who comes out as a victor in the duel. Because of Hector’s immense power, Patroclus has no chance of coming out of the battle alive, even if he fights his hardest. Just like the boar, he always defeated. Also included in the simile, the two battle “over a trickling spring up in the mountains / They both want to drink from.” (Homer