Bane of Hector

The gods, especially Athena, was responsible for Hectors death.

Athena uses deceit and trickery to help cut short Hectors life. Athena tricks Hector into
fighting Achilles by taking the build and vibrant voice of Deiphobus (22:271). Athena takes
the form of Deiphobus, Hectors brother, and convinces Hector that they could take on Achilless
onslaught. Achilles starts the fight by throwing his spear at Hector, but the spear misses. No
worries for Achilles though because his spear is returned to him by Athena who snatched it up
and passed it back to Achilles (22:325-6). On the other hand, Hector does not get this sort of
help whenever he needs a new spear. After Hector loses his spear he turns to the fake Deiphobus
for a new spear only to see that the man was nowhere near him, vanished (22:349). Hector
knows that the gods have turned their backs on him whenever he says, At last the gods have
called me down to death. (22:351). Hector decides on a final charge directly at Achilles, and
Achilles just tears Hectors life away.
The other gods are not blameless for Hectors death. In Book 18, Hephaestus builds
Achilles the best set of armor. In Book 3, Aphrodite saves Paris even though he is a coward.
Whenever it comes to Hectors fight, Aphrodite is nowhere to be found. Ares does nothing for
the Trojans after he got beaten by Athena. Hera has sworn to never help the Trojans. The two
main defenders, Zeus and Apollo, of Hector decide to desert him in his time of need. Zeus
stopped the duel between Ajax and Hector in Book 7 because of how he loved them both. Zeus
could have just as easily stopped the duel between Achilles and Hector, but he decides not to stop
them. Apollo deserts Hector whenever Zeus weighs out two fates of death. Hectors scale goes
down, and with this judgment [the] god Apollo left him. (22:254).

Some critics say the gods were not responsible for Hectors death. In fact, some say that
it was Hector himself that was responsible for his own death. In Book 22, Hector decides to wait
outside the gates of Troy instead of taking refuge inside. Hector had plenty of time to get back
into the city with the distraction Apollo created to slow Achilles down, but Hector threw away
the chance to save his life. Hector is not willing to return to the safety of the walls because of
how he decided not to move his army back to Troy. In Book 20, this costly decision to not retreat
causes the Trojan army to be decimated by Achilles. Hector would die of shame to face the men
of Troy for how he ruined his army (22:125). Even the pleas of Hectors parents could not
shake the fixed resolve of Hector. (22:110). Hector rationalizes that it is better by far for me to
stand up to Achilles, kill him, come home alive or dies at his hands in glory out before the
walls. (22:131). According to these statements, Hector is sealing his own doom. Hector, by
deciding to stay outside the walls and face the greatest warrior the Greeks have, has just thrown
away his life. Hector just saw his army decimated by Achilles, but he still decides to face
Achilles in a one-on-one fight.
These critics are failing to see that the gods have the power to influence the decisions of
humans. Athena uses deceit to influence Hectors decision to turn and fight Achilles. In Book 22,
Athena tricks Hector by taking the build and vibrant voice of Deiphobus (22:271). This fake
Deiphobus convinces Hector that they can take on Achilles. Athena gives Hector a false sense of
security. Hector made the decision to turn and fight Achilles under a false pretense. If Athena had
not tricked Hector into turning and fighting, Hector might have been able to run away from
Achilles. The other gods are also responsible for Hectors death. Hephaestus creates the greatest
armor for the greatest warrior in the world. This divine armor gives influences Achilles to fight
everyone. In Book 21, the armor that Hephaestus created influences Achilles so greatly that

Achilles even fights the river god Scamander. The influences of gods on human decisions are not
limited to the battlefield. In Book 3, Aphrodite influences (more like coerces) Helen to sleep with
Paris after Paris lost the duel with Menelaus. In Book 24, Zeus influences Achilles to return the
body of Hector after many days of mutilating the body.
Another argument says that it is not the gods that are responsible for Hectors death, but
instead it is Fate that is responsible for Hectors death. Everyone has to obey Fate. Even the gods
have to obey Fate. Even the almighty Zeus had to obey Fate whenever Sarpedon was killed. Zeus
could have intervened and saved Sarpedon, but this action would have come with dire
consequences. Father Zeus placed two fates of death [in the golden scales] to see who Fate
would decide to kill, whether it was Hector or Achilles (22:250). This shows that Zeus has no
decision on who gets to live, but rather it is Fate that gets to decide. Fate is the final word on
everything. Fate has dictated that all mortals will die, and there is nothing the gods can do about
it. Sure the gods can whisk a man from battle to save them like how Aphrodite saved Paris, but
all mortals have their doom sealed long ago (22:213-14). Throughout the Iliad it has been
stated that Troy will fall no matter what. The Trojans have done well enough to protect Troy
from being sacked for ten years, but in the end Troy will still fall. Troy is one of Zeuss most
favorite cities, but Troy will still fall because Fate has decreed so.
These critics are failing to see that Fate is not as powerful and all controlling as the
argument states. Take look at Achilless fate. Achilles is mortal and will die eventually, but he
has a choice about his fate. Achilles can prolong his life by leaving Troy or shorten his life by
staying and fighting. Achilles clearly had choices about his fate. This shows that Fate is not all
powerful and controlling. If a mere mortal can affect Fate, then surely the gods can also affect
Fate. Zeus, or any god for that matter, had the choice to save Hector but chose not to. These

choices that the gods made are their own and not made by Fate. The choices not to save Hector
make the gods, instead of Fate, responsible for his death.

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