Troy Plot and Ending | Achilles, Hector's Death, and Differences from the Iliad

The questions people ask most about the 2004 film Troy are where exactly the ending ends, and how much of that ending overlaps with the original. The latter part of the film runs from Achilles killing Hector and dragging his corpse to King Priam's plea, then rushes on to the wooden horse and the fall of Troy.

The question is how much of this actually appears in the original, the Iliad. To give the conclusion first: Hector's death and Priam's recovery of the body overlap with the source text, but the horse and the fall of the city are the film's own expansion, absent from every book of the Iliad. Below, these two layers are separated and organized.

The film is an adaptation compressing the entire 10-year war

The film Troy is not a translation of a single book of the epic; it is structured to fit the entire Trojan War into one film. The fact that the film compresses the broader 10-year war beyond the Iliad and races toward its ending with the horse was a point noted by film critics of the time.

So while the building of the wooden horse and the fall of Troy form the final part of the film, looking for this arc in the original epic yields no answer. The reason is simple: the horse and the fall of the city do not appear anywhere in the text of the Iliad. The difference becomes clear when you examine, book by book, the scope the source actually covers.

The Iliad begins with the rage of Achilles

The Iliad does not cover the Trojan War from beginning to end in sequence. Book 1 presents the rage of Achilles as the starting point of the entire narrative. That rage is the axis that drives the course of the war and the fates of the characters.

The film also makes Achilles its central figure, but it does not open with rage itself the way the epic does. Because the film unfolds its story with a breadth that surveys the entire war, even though both works start from the same character, they open their doors in different ways.

How does Hector die in the film?

The turning point of the film's latter half is the one-on-one duel between Achilles and Hector. The film shows Achilles killing Hector and then dragging his corpse. This death is the point that sets the emotional direction of the ending.

The same event clearly exists in the source text as well. Book 22 of the Iliad is precisely the book in which Achilles kills Hector. However, since equating the film's scene directly with the verses of Book 22 mixes up the scope, it is more accurate to compare 'the film's event' and 'the book of the source' as separate layers.

Priam's recovery of the body: where the film and the source overlap

After Hector dies, the film moves into King Priam begging Achilles to return the body, and the effort to hold a proper funeral. As the cruelty of the corpse-dragging gives way to Priam's plea, the emotions of the ending flow in a single direction.

This arc overlaps with Book 24 of the source. Book 24 covers the range in which Priam retrieves Hector's body and the story moves into mourning and the funeral. In other words, the backbone running from the dragging of the corpse to the funeral is what the film took from the source.

That said, the overlap does not mean every scene is exactly as in the original text. The film layered its own structure and adaptation on top of this backbone, and it is hard to say the details match the original down to every description.

Differences between the film's ending and the Iliad's ending

The core difference can be summed up in one sentence. Books 22 and 24 of the Iliad are not the books that deal with the horse and the fall of Troy. The epic concludes within the range where Priam retrieves the body and the story moves into mourning and the funeral; the final fate of Troy lies outside the scope this epic narrates.

The film, by contrast, ends by showing the building of the horse and the fall of Troy itself. So when comparing the film's ending with the original's ending, the right way to understand the relationship is that the film adapted and added events that come after the source. The shared arc runs from the rage (Book 1) to Hector's death (Book 22) and the recovery of the body and funeral (Book 24), while the horse and the fall are an expansion on the film's layer, absent from the books of the source.

If you want to read the source epic yourself, compare editions in choosing an Iliad book. If you are curious about assessments of the film itself, continue to the Troy film review roundup.

Frequently asked questions

Q. How does Hector die?
A. In the film, he dies after a one-on-one duel with Achilles, and his corpse is dragged away. In the source, the same event is narrated in Book 22, and the recovery of the body and the funeral afterward fall within the scope of Book 24.

Q. Does the film also show Achilles' end?
A. The film does include a scene of Achilles' end, but its details can vary between cuts such as the theatrical version and the director's cut, so this article does not make definitive claims about the scene's specifics. The differences between the theatrical and director's cuts are covered separately in the Troy director's cut vs. theatrical cut comparison. On the other hand, Hector's death and Priam's recovery of the body are ending events confirmed in the film.

Q. How does the Iliad differ from the film's ending?
A. The Iliad ends within the range where Priam retrieves the body and the story moves into mourning and the funeral, and the film's horse and fall of Troy do not exist in any book the epic covers. Since the film is an adaptation compressing the entire war, broader than the Iliad, its ending should be seen as a separate, filmic expansion of the source.

Going deeper

If you are curious about the film's shooting locations, see Troy filming information; if you want to move on to the source epic, choosing an Iliad book is your starting point. Placing the film's ending events side by side with the books of the source makes it clear at a glance where the film followed the original and where it expanded.