#they were both masc warriors who were also toxic and misogynist (like most Greek men around that time) what's so fucking hard to understand

[eremin0109]

The more I read about Patroclus' actual characterization in the Iliad, the more my distaste for Madeline Miller's version of him grows.

Like lady, how do you take this MAN who was a formidable, seasoned warrior with a body count that was CANONICALLY greater than that of Achilles', a briliant strategist and an army medic, charming as all hell, bisexual as fuck AND rips apart Zeus' goddamn son with his bare fucking hands and turn him into whatever the fuck TSOA Patroclus was???!?

With all due respect, Patrochilles aren't your run of the mill yaoi couple and the only reason I can see for her to "feminize" Patroclus was to make two WARRIORS who canonically had a balanced dynamic between them to forcefully fit into the done and dusted, absolutely fetishizing seme/uke (erastes and eromenos, if you will) trope. And this is just sad because had she been true to the original characterizations, it would've made for a vastly more interesting retelling and not a book that basically glorifies and justifies Achilles' horrible deeds and makes Patroclus a dumb simp who can't see anything wrong with his boyfriend's actions.

#I didn't mind the characters when I first read the book because I had like negative knowledge about the actual source material #But now that I'm a little wiser than before I fucking hate this aspect of the book with all my fucking heart #She did Patroclus so fucking dirty like you don't have to diminish one HERO to elevate the other FFS #they were both masc warriors who were also toxic and misogynist (like most Greek men around that time) what's so fucking hard to understand #Ugh #we could've gotten battle boyfriends but instead we got a pseudo-hetereosexual romance with Madeline's male OC #fuck this shit I'm so mad about it #the song of achilles #madeline miller #anti tsoa #tsoa critical #patrochilles #Achilles #Patroclus