Week 3 Story: The Slaying of Tullius

After supper, the Greybeards you reside with begin to retire to their quarters, but you see their guest turn into the main chamber. Rising from the table, you follow him into the larger room where you both take seats by the fire.  As you stare into the flames, you start to picture the story as you had left it the previous night. Where was it that you had stopped? Oh, right. You were chasing Tullius, around the city and through the mountain caves. He’d been a quick bastard.

“So,” you ask the young man sitting across from you, “are you ready to hear more?”

“Yes, Dovahkiin. Please, tell me about how you killed Tullius.”

He was eager, if nothing else, though you still weren’t sure why he’d trekked all the way up High Hrothgar. But you’d seen him the night he arrived, looking into the fire as if it held answers, until he saw you. Not only that, he’d recognized you. And so you now sat for a time every night, passing on your story in truer form than any current book offered.

“As you’ll recall, Tullius had fled my approach, fearing to face me like a man. I gave chase, but Kynareth aided him, and his stamina never wavered until he reached the city gates. Then I must believe it was Talos who kept him from entering. Moments before he had been a man running for his life, and suddenly, he chose to fight. He offered me a deal, Tullius did. He who had slain my beloved Argus and taken my armor from his body asked me to let his own corpse find peace with his family, and he would do the same for mine. As if he had afforded Argus the same respect, forcing my men to fight tooth and nail just to bring his body back to camp. Rage overtook me.

 I used the Thu’um and marked him for death with the voice of a dragon. The fool still charged me. Tullius was a good swordsman, truly, but I don’t think he realized how much my shout had weakened him. It was almost easy to slide my axe into the joint of his armor. It was not as cathartic as I had hoped. And so, my anger unabated and having promised him nothing in regards to his carcass, I hitched the dying man to the back of my horse by his feet and dragged his body back to camp.”
The traveler ventures a rare interruption. “And what about his wife? What happened to Andromache and his child?”

You grimace. That was just the nasty business of war. “Had Tullius not fought, perhaps they would have kept him longer. She was devastated, so I heard from old Titus Mede. I do not regret killing him, if that’s what you mean to ask.”

“Do you regret anything that you did during the war?”

“Not what you expect, perhaps. I was fighting for our homeland, taken from us by the Imperial menace. Ulfric, rightful king though he might have been, had no right to my lover when I had given him nothing but loyalty and honor. Tullius was representative of the enemy. His death was necessary, regardless of my personal stake. But I should not have let Argus enter the battle. I should have sent someone else, anyone else, or simply turned and gone home. I must live with my choices though, as we all do, even in death.”

You are growing weary of speaking, though you have no material form. Rising from your chair, you turn to face the guest, who has already opened his mouth again.

“But what about—”

“Enough. I am done for tonight. There is more to the story, but it will wait, as will you.”

He grumbles, but stands as well. Somehow, you feel him watching you as you exit the room. Who is this man, you wonder, to climb a mountain only to spend time with silent monks and listen to an old ghost tell stories? It doesn’t matter, really. The story, through him, will pass on.

Perhaps you will, too.


Author's Note: The part of the Iliad that I chose to rewrite was the last part of Hector's death. Essentially, Achilles corners him at the gates of Troy. Athena, helping Achilles, pretended to be Hector's brother so he would stay and fight. Hector asks then (and again after Achilles strikes) that his body be returned to his family. Achilles in response throws his spear, which Hector dodges. Hector charges Achilles, and then Achilles kills him, ties him to his chariot, and drags his body to camp. Meanwhile, Andromache drops her weaving when she hears a cry from the walls, and goes to see what happened. I changed the story by setting it in a video game world, Skyrim, with names changed to fitting Skyrim characters, and telling it from the perspective of the ghost of Achilles, who I have made the player character in the game. I did this because I wanted to explore Achilles' perspective more through characters I was familiar with, and add another layer of narrative by having the story be told orally, as it would have been long ago. Also in the grand scheme, Helen is represented by the the land of Skyrim rather than by a person. In Skyrim's conflict between the Imperials and the Stormcloaks, they are the closest equivalent, and I think the parallel actually works quite nicely.

If anyone not familiar with Skyrim wants to know more, here are some helpful links! But beware of spoilers, if you're ever considering playing.

Background on the Civil War

Ulfric Stormcloak

General Tullius

Marked for Death (the Shout that the Dovahkiin/Achilles uses)

Bibliography: The Slaying of Hector (End) from Homer's Iliad retold by Alfred J. Church (1907). Source.

Image: Imperial vs. Stormcloak. Source.