TROY

“Men are haunted by the vastness of eternity. And so we ask ourselves: will our actions echo across the centuries? Will strangers hear our names long after we are gone, and wonder who we were, how bravely we fought, how fiercely we loved?

I have heard rumours of your beauty. And for once, the gossip is right

Helen:
I’m not afraid of dying, I’m afraid of tomorrow. I’m afraid of watching you sail away and knowing you’ll never come back. Before you came to Sparta, I was a ghost. I walked and I ate and I swam in the sea… I was just a ghost.
Paris:
You don’t have to fear tomorrow… come with me!
Helen:
Don’t play with me, don’t play.
Paris:
If you come, we’ll never be safe. Men will hunt us, the gods will curse us, but I’ll love you. Until the day they burn my body, I’ll love you.

Hector:
You speak of war as if it’s a game. But how many wives wait at Troy’s gates for husbands they’ll never see again?

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Hector:
Do you know what you have done? Do you know how many years our father worked for peace?
Paris:
I love her.
Hector:
Ugh. It’s all a game to you isn’t it? You roam from town to town, bedding merchants’ wives and temple maids and you think you know something about love? What about your father’s love? You spat on him when you brought her onto this ship! What about the love for your country? You’d let Troy burn for this woman? I won’t let you start a war for her.

Hector:
I’ve killed men and I’ve heard them dying and I’ve watched them dying and there’s nothing glorious about it, nothing poetic. You say you’re willing to die for love but you know nothing about dying and you know nothing about love!


Paris:
May I speak? If what you say is true. I’ve wronged you. I’ve wronged our father. If you want to take Helen back to Sparta, so be it! But I go with her.
Hector:
To Sparta, they’ll kill you.
Paris:
Then I’ll die fighting.
Hector:
Oh, and that’s sounds heroic to you doesn’t it? To die fighting. Tell me little brother, have you ever killed a man?
Paris:
No.
Hector:
Ever seen a man die in combat?
Paris:
No.
Hector:
I’ve killed men and I’ve heard them dying and I’ve watched them dying and there’s nothing glorious about it, nothing poetic. You say you’re willing to die for love but you know nothing about dying and you know nothing about love!
Paris:
All the same, I go with her. I won’t ask you to fight my war.
Hector:
You already have.

Odysseus: If they ever tell my story let them say that I walked with giants. Men rise and fall like the winter wheat, but these names will never die. Let them say I lived in the time of Hector, tamer of horses. Let them say I lived in the time of Achilles.

Agamemnon:

I have two wishes. If you grant them, no more of your people need die. First, you must give Helen back to my brother. Second, Troy must submit to my command, to fight for me whenever I call.

Hector:
You want me to look on your army and tremble? Well I see them. I see 50,000 men brought here to fight for one man’s greed.
Agamemnon:
Careful boy, my mercy has limits.
Hector:
And I’ve seen the limits of your mercy and I tell you now, no son of Troy will ever submit to a foreign ruler.

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Priam:
I’ve fought many wars in my time. Some I’ve fought for land, some for power, some for glory. I suppose fighting for love makes more sense than all the rest.

Hector:
You want me to look on your army and tremble? Well I see them. I see 50,000 men brought here to fight for one man’s greed.


Achilles:
Before my time is done I will look down on your corpse and smile.

Hector:
All of my life I have lived by a code and the code is simple: honor the gods, love your woman and defend your country. Troy is mother to us all. Fight for her!

Priam: Men are haunted by the vastness of eternity. And so we ask ourselves, will our actions echo across the centuries? Will strangers hear our names long after we’re gone, and wonder who we were, how bravely we fought, how fiercely we loved?


Priam: [to Helen] I have heard rumours of your beauty. And for once, the gossip is right.

Thetis:

If you stay in Larissa, you will find peace. You will find a wonderful woman, and you will have sons and daughters, who will have children. And they’ll all love you and remember your name. But when your children are dead, and their children after them, your name will be forgotten… If you go to Troy, glory will be yours. They will write stories about your victories in thousands of years! And the world will remember your name. But if you go to Troy, you will never come back… for your glory walks hand-in-hand with your doom. And I shall never see you again


Messenger Boy:
They say you can’t be killed.
Achilles:
Well, I wouldn’t be bothering with the shield then, would I?

Messenger Boy:
Are the stories true? They say your mother was an immortal godess. They say you can’t be killed.
Achilles:
I wouldn’t be bothering with the shield then, would I?
Messenger Boy:
The Thesselonian you’re fighting… he’s the biggest man i’ve ever seen. I wouldn’t want to fight him.
Achilles:
Thats why no-one will remember your name.

Achilles: Myrmidons! My brothers of the sword! I would rather fight beside you than any army of thousands! Let no man forget how menacing we are! We are lions! Do you know what’s there, waiting beyond that beach? Immortality! Take it! It’s yours! this war will never be forgotten, nor will the heroes who fight in it.

Achilles:
If you sailed any slower the war would be over.
Odysseus:
I’ll miss the start as long as i’m here at the end.
Odysseus:
This war will never be forgotten, nor will the heroes who fight in it.
Odysseus:
If we stay, we stay here for the right reasons: to protect Greece, not your pride. Your private battle with Achilles is destroying us.
Agamemnon:
Achilles is one man!
Odysseus:
Hector is one man! Look what he did to us today!
Agamemnon:
Hector fights for his country! Achilles fights only for himself!
Odysseus:
I don’t care about the man’s allegiance, I care about his ability to win battles!
Achilles: Myrmidons! My brothers of the sword! I would rather fight beside you than any army of thousands! Let no man forget how menacing we are! We are lions! Do you know what’s there, waiting beyond that beach? Immortality! Take it! It’s yours!

Odysseus: If they ever tell my story let them say that I walked with giants. Men rise and fall like the winter wheat, but these names will never die. Let them say I lived in the time of Hector, tamer of horses. Let them say I lived in the time of Achilles.
Achilles:Go home, prince. Drink some wine, make love to your wife. Tomorrow, we’ll have our war.
Hector:You speak of war as if it’s a game. But how many wives wait at Troy’s gates for husbands they’ll never see again?
Achilles: Perhaps your brother can comfort them. I hear he’s good at charming other men’s wives.

Prince Hector of Troy: I’ve seen this moment in my dreams. I’ll make a pact with you. With the gods as our witnesses, let us pledge that the winner will allow the loser all the proper funeral rituals.
Achilles: There are no pacts between lions and men. [takes off helmet] Now you know who you’re fighting.
Prince Hector of Troy: I thought it was you I was fighting yesterday. And I wish it had been, but I gave the dead boy the honor he deserved.
Achilles: You gave him the honor of your sword. You won’t have eyes tonight; you won’t have ears or a tongue. You will wander the underworld blind, deaf, and dumb, and all the dead will know: this is Hector, the fool who thought he killed Achilles.

Achilles:Before my time is done I will look down on your corpse and smile.

Hector:All of my life I have lived by a code and the code is simple: honor the gods, love your woman and defend your country. Troy is mother to us all. Fight for her!
Achilles:You’re still my enemy in the morning.
Priam:You’re still my enemy tonight. But even enemies can show respect.