- “And then there was Achilles. Now there was a guy who had it all... the build, the foot speed. He could jab. He could take a hit. He could keep on comin'. But that furshlugginer heel of his! He barely gets nicked there once and kaboom! He's history.”
- ―Philoctetes[src]
Achilles is an an old Greek hero whom almost everyone except for Hercules has forgotten. He was once trained by Phil, but he failed due to his heel.
Background[]
Achilles was the greatest Greek warrior in the Trojan War. When he was a baby, Achilles' mother dipped him in the river Styx, hoping to make him immortal and invulnerable. But she missed the spot where she held him by his heel. And that spot was where he remained mortal whereas he would be rendered invulnerable everywhere else on his body. Having been trained by Philoctetes, Achilles would become Phil's prized pupil but things would end after Achilles ended up injured due to his heel, losing his fame and hero career. The trainer of heroes was there in his success and failure, but still kept a statue of the would-be hero on his island.
Appearances[]
Hercules[]
When Hercules and Phil first meet, the latter talks about how he trained wannabe heroes who couldn't go the distance, leading to them admiring a statue of Achilles. Remembering how Achilles was the "guy who had it all" as his greatest student, Phil talks about the great Greek warrior until he remembered the heel. Annoyed, Phil gave the heel of the statue a tiny flick with his finger and the whole statue crumbled to the floor, reflecting his student's failure and the end of Phil's dreams of fame. Achilles was brought up again later after Hercules completes his hero training and introduces himself to a group of Thebans, partly as an insult to Phil as a goat-man trainer of heroes. Phil brought up Achilles again when Hercules defeated the Hydra through a rockslide, which seemingly killed the young hero as well.
Hercules: The Animated Series[]
- “Hey, look, pal! What happened, happened. OK? Can't change the past!”
- ―Achilles to Hades
Following the brief backstory in the episode, "Hercules and the Living Legend" featured Achilles meeting Hercules during his teenage years of being a hero-in-training. Achilles became an old washout and the laughing-stock of Greece, being forced to keep his vulnerable heel in a protective shoe. Making a deal with Hades, Achilles temporarily gained his old body and capabilities back, with the condition of splitting Hercules and Phil. When Phil is visited by Achilles, who wins a fake battle with Memnon, the two begin to spend more time together, pushing Hercules to the side until he finally decides he no longer needs a trainer. However, Hades plan is foiled when Phil realizes he can't leave Hercules on his own and gets back together with him, so Hades returns Achilles to his grey-haired, pot-bellied former state. When Hades sends Memnon to take his choice of Hercules or Phil out (he decided to take out both), Achilles, realizing what it means to be a true hero, steps in and defeats the monster by knocking him out with his massive gut. Achilles then decides to leave to deal with the flood situation in Arcadia and become a hero once again.
Trivia[]
- In the original Greek mythology, Achilles is killed after his humiliating defeat.
- Phil's dialogue in the film suggested that Achilles indeed was killed like in myth, until he showed up in the TV series.
- In the film's junior novelization, when Phil pointed to Achilles' statue, Hercules recognized it was Achilles. Whether he knew the full details about the hero in the film or not is unknown.
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