“Come friend, you too must die. Why moan about it so? Even Patroclus died, a far, far better man than you. And look, you see how handsome and powerful I am? The son of a great man, the mother who gave me life a deathless goddess. But even for me, I tell you, death and the strong force of fate are waiting.”

This passage is extremely significant in the overall demise of Achilles. He mercilessly murders Lycaon here. He’s become nothing but vengeful since the Trojans killed Patroclus and he has no plan of sparring any Trojans now. He killed so many men, that after he threw each one in the river, the channels became clogged. In the beginning of the poem, Achilles was an astounding warrior, but also a relatively fair one. He was level headed, but at the same time would kill any man he needed to to protect himself. At this point in the poem, all of his senses have gone out the window. He’s thinking with his heart and not his head. His way of dealing with heartbreak is to kill every man that stands in his way, any man that presents themselves to him from the Trojan side.

Achilles is absolutely terrifying in this passage, speaking down to Lycaon like he was a murderor, teasing him about the fact that he was about to die, and that Achilles had all of the control. He’s dark and This rage that we see within Achilles shows truly how distraught he is over the death of Patroclus. The two of them must have been very passionate lovers, because Achilles doesn’t break easily. And with this passage, it is clear that Achilles is broken.