In the first section of Book XXI, Achilles kills Lykaon, a son of Priam. The unimportant Lykaon is used as a stand-in for all the lesser characters who have been and will be killed by the heroes of the Iliad. The attention given to Lykaon — his history and the account of his death — makes the incident stand out in the poem. The most poignant moment comes when Achilles rejects Lykaon's plea for his life, saying, "Come friend, you too must die." Achilles follows this remark with a reminder of Patroklos' death and with the prediction of his own death. He establishes a kinship with Lykaon, assuring the doomed Trojan that all men must face the moment of death. Achilles' attitude is much like that of Hamlet — "Readiness is all." The killing of Lykaon is a fait accompli, and Achilles performs the deed almost as a duty, fully aware of the imminence of his own death in battle.
A slightly ironic commentary on Achilles eventual death occurs in his battle with the river. The river, rising in flood against Achilles because of all the dead bodies thrown in it, sweeps Achilles away. Achilles, who is often an overpowering natural force against the Trojans, is here thwarted and almost killed by the natural force of the river. Achilles is so alarmed by the river that he becomes fearful of ignominious death by drowning rather than the glorious death in battle that has been prophesied. Only the intervention of Hera through Hephaistos, as God of Fire, saves Achilles. Symbolically, the two great elemental forces of fire and water are in conflict, with Achilles in the middle.
