# Troy (film)

Troy is a 2004 epic film about the assault on Troy by the united Greek forces during the Trojan War.
    Directed by Wolfgang Petersen. Written by David Benioff, based on the Iliad written by Homer.

## Achilles

* That's why no one will remember your name. [To the messenger boy who wouldn't want to fight Boagrius]
* Imagine a king who fights his own battles. Wouldn't that be a sight?
* [to his soldiers] 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!
* [after Hector challenges him] Why kill you now, Prince of Troy, with no one here to see you fall?
* It's too early in the day for killing princes.
* [to Briseis] I'll tell you a secret. Something they don't teach you in your temple. The gods envy us. They envy us because we're mortal, because any moment might be our last. Everything is more beautiful because we're doomed. You will never be lovelier than you are now, and we will never be here again.
* At night I see their faces: all the men I've killed. They're standing there on the far bank of the river Styx, waiting for me. They say "Welcome, brother."
* [to the Thessalonians after defeating Boagrius] Is there no one else?! IS THERE NO ONE ELSE!?!
* [to Briseis] I want what all men want. I just want it more.
* [To Agamemnon] You sack of wine! Before my time is done I will look down on your corpse and smile.
* [outside the walls of Troy shouting to Hector] HECTOR!! HECTOOOOOR! HECTOR!!!!
* [To Hector] Get up, Prince of Troy. Get up. I won't let a stone take my glory.
* [to Briseis] You gave me peace...in a lifetime of war.
* [to Priam] You are a better king than the one leading this army.

## Agamemnon

* [about Achilles] Of all the warlords loved by the gods, I hate him the most.
* Peace is for the women and the weak. Empires are forged by war.
* [as the Greek soldiers cheer for Achilles] Give him too many battles, and the men will forget who's king.
* [as Troy burns] Let it burn! Let Troy burn! Burn it, for Menelaus! Burn it! Burn Troy! Burn Troy! I promised you, brother! I promised you! Burn it! Burn it for Menelaus!
* [capturing Briseis] Too late for prayer, priestess. I almost lost this war because of your little romance. I want to taste what Achilles tasted...
* [to Briseis, leering] You'll be my slave in Mycenae. A Trojan priestess scrubbing my floors. And at night... [gags as she stabs him in the throat, killing him]

## Menelaus

* [During the celebration of their victory after a bloody war and attempting to form an alliance with Troy] Princes of Troy, on our last night together, Queen Helen and I salute you.
* I want her back so I can kill her with my own two hands, and I won't rest till I've burned Troy to the ground!
* I accept your challenge, and tonight, I'll drink to your bones.
* [shouting to Helen after Paris retreats] IS THIS WHAT YOU LEFT ME FOR?!?

## Odysseus

* [Achilles throws his spear into a nearby tree] Your reputation for hospitality is fast becoming legend.
* War is young men dying and old men talking.
* This war will never be forgotten, nor will the heroes who fought in it.
* 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?
* If they ever tell my story, let them say...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.

## Hector

* [grabs Paris by the face] Paris! You're my brother and I love you, but if you do anything to endanger Troy, I will rip your pretty face from your pretty skull.
* You say you want to die for love, but you know nothing about dying and you know nothing about love!
* All my life I've 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!
* [to Paris, before his duel with Menelaus] Make him swing and miss; he'll tire.
* [managing to get Paris to safety when the Greeks prepare to attack] Get inside, Paris! ARCHERS!!!
* If I die, I don't know how much longer Troy will stand.

## Paris

* [to Helen] 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.
* Father, you are a great king, because you love your country so much. Every blade of grass, every grain of sand, every rock in the river - you love all of Troy. That is the way I love Helen.
* [at the discovery of the wooden horse] Father, burn it!
* [giving the Sword of Troy to Aeneas] As long as it remains in the hands of a Trojan, our people have a future. Take them, Aeneas. Find them a new home.

## Priam

* I've fought many wars in my time. Some I've fought for land, some for power, some for glory. But I suppose fighting for love makes more sense than all the rest.
* [giving Paris the Sword of Troy] My father carried this sword, and his father before him, all the way back to the founding of Troy. The history of our people was written with this sword. Carry it with you tomorrow. The spirit of Troy is in that sword. So long as a Trojan carries it, our people have a future.
* I have endured what no one on earth has endured before. I kissed the hands of the man who killed my son.
* I loved my boy from the moment he opened his eyes until the moment you closed them. Let me wash his body. Let me say the prayers. Let me place two coins on his eyes for the boatman.
* [to Hector] No father ever had a better son.
* Even enemies can show respect.
* [last words, as Greek soldiers plunder a temple] HAVE YOU NO HONOR?!

## Thetis

* [to Achilles] 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 lost. If you go to Troy, glory will be yours. They will write stories about your victories for thousands of years and the world will honor 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.

## Dialogue

    Agamemnon: Good day for the crows.
    Triopas: I told you yesterday and I'll tell you again today. Remove your army from my land.
    Agamemnon: I like your land. I think we'll stay. I like your soldiers too. they fought bravely yesterday; not well but bravely.
    Triopas: They won't fight for you.
    Agamemnon: That's what the Mycenaeans said. And the Arcadians. And the Epeians. Now, they all fight for me.
    Triopas: You can't have the whole world, Agamemnon. It's too big, even for you.
    Agamemnon: I don't want to watch another massacre. Let's settle this war in the old manner, your best fighter against my best.
    Triopas: And if my man wins?
    Agamemnon: We'll leave Thessaly for good.
    Triopas: Boagrius!
    [Boagrius emerges from the cheering Thessalian army; a giant of a man with immense strength]
    Agamemnon: [Smiling with confidence] Achilles!
    [Achilles does not appear; Agamemnon's army remains silent. Agamemnon's smile fades while one forms on Triopas' face]
    Triopas: Boagrius has this effect on many heroes.
    Agamemnon: Careful who you insult, old king!
    Messenger Boy: Are the stories about you true? They say your mother is an immortal goddess. They say you can't be killed.
    Achilles: I wouldn't be bothering with the shield then, would I?
    Messenger Boy: The Thessalonian you're fighting-he is the biggest man I've ever seen. I wouldn't want to fight him.
    Achilles: That's why no one will remember your name.
    Agamemnon: I always thought my brother's wife was a foolish woman. But she's proved to be very useful! [chuckles] Nothing unifies the people like a common enemy.
    Nestor: The Trojans have never been conquered. Some say they can't be conquered.
    Agamemnon: Old King Priam thinks he's untouchable behind his high walls. He thinks the sun god will protect him. But the gods protect only...the strong! If Troy falls, I control the Aegean.
    Nestor: Hector commands the finest army in the east, and Troy is built to withstand a ten year siege.
    Agamemnon: There won't be a ten year siege! I'll attack them with the greatest force the world has ever seen! I want all the kings of Greece and their armies. Send emissaries in the morning.
    Nestor: One last thing. We need Achilles and his Myrmidons.
    Agamemnon: Achilles? He can't be controlled. He's as likely to fight us as the Trojans.
    Nestor: We don't need to control him, we need to unleash him. That man was born to end lives.
    Agamemnon: Yes, he's a gifted killer, but he threatens everything I've built. Before me, Greece was nothing. I brought all the Greek kingdoms together! I created a nation out of fire-worshippers and snake-eaters! I build the future, Nestor! Me! Achilles is the past. A man who fights for no flag. A man loyal to no country.
    Nestor: How many battles have we won off the edge of his sword? This will be the greatest war the world has ever seen. We need the greatest warrior.
    Agamemnon: There's only one man he'll listen to.
    Nestor: I'll send a ship in the morning.
    [The Trojans just sailed from Sparta back to Troy, Hector is carving a lion in a small piece of wood, Paris gets closer]
    Paris: It's a beautiful morning. Poseidon has blessed our voyage.
    Hector: Sometimes the gods bless you in the morning and curse you in the afternoon.
    Paris: Do you love me, brother? Would you protect me from any enemy?
    Hector: [stops his carving and looks at Paris] The last time you spoke to me like this, you were ten years old and you'd just stolen Father's horse. What have you done now?
    Paris: I must show you something.
    [A furious Hector discovers that Paris has taken Helen with them on their ship home.]
    Hector: [to helmsman] Turn the ship around! Back to Sparta!
    [As the helmsman barks orders to the ship's crew and prepares to turn back, Paris tries to approach Hector]
    Paris: Wait, wait-
    Hector: You fool.
    Paris: Listen to me-
    Hector: [pushes Paris] Do you know what you've done?! Do you know how many years our father worked for peace?!
    Paris: I love her.
    Hector: [groans in frustration] It's all a game to you, isn't it? You roam from town to town, bedding merchant's 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 on 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.
    Paris: May I speak? 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 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 want 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. [to helmsman] To Troy!
    Hector: [discussing Paris and Helen] Father, I know this is the last thing we need.
    Priam: It is the will of the gods. Everything is in their hands. But I'm surprised you let him bring her.
    Hector: If I'd let him fight Menelaus for her, you'd be burning a son's body instead of welcoming a daughter.
    Priam: We could send peace envoys to Menelaus.
    Hector: You know Menelaus, he'd spear their heads to his gate.
    Priam: What would you have me do?
    Hector: Put her on a ship, and send her home.
    Priam: Women have always loved Paris, and he has loved them back, but this is different. Something has changed in him. If we send her home to Menelaus, he will follow her.
    Hector: This is my country, and these are my countrymen. I don't want to see them suffer so my brother can have his prize. And it's not just the Spartans coming after her. By now Menelaus has gone to Agamemnon, and Agamemnon has wanted to destroy us for years. Once we're out of the way, he controls the seas.
    Priam: Enemies have been attacking us for centuries. Our walls still stand.
    Hector: Father...we can't win this war.
    Priam: Apollo watches over us. Even Agamemnon is no match for the gods.
    Hector: [sarcastically] And how many battalions does the sun god command?
    Priam: [sternly] Do not mock the gods! When you were very young, you came down with scarlet fever. Your little hand was so hot. The healer said you would not last the night. I went down to Apollo's temple, and I prayed until the sun came up. That walk back to the palace was the longest of my life. When I went into your mother's room, and you were sleeping in her arms, the fever had broken. I promised that day to dedicate my life to the gods, I will not break my promise. For thirty years I have worked for peace, thirty years. Paris is a fool sometimes, I know that, but I will fight a thousand wars before letting him die.
    Hector: Forgive me, father, but you won't be the one fighting.
    Helen: They're coming for me. The wind is bringing them closer.
    Paris: What if we left? Tonight, right now. What if we went down to the stables, took two horses and left? Ride east, keep riding--
    Helen: And go where?
    Paris: Away from here. I could hunt deer, rabbit. I could feed us.
    Helen: But this is your home.
    Paris: You left your home for me.
    Helen: Sparta was never my home. My parents sent my there when I was sixteen to marry Menelaus. But it was never my home.
    Paris: We'll live off the land. No more palaces for us. No more servants. We don't need any of that.
    Helen: And your family?
    Paris: We'd be protecting my family! If we're not here, what's the need for war?
    Helen: Menelaus won't give up. He'll track us to the end of the world.
    Paris: He doesn't know these lands. I do. We can lose ourselves in a day.
    Helen: You don't know Menelaus. You don't know his brother. They'll burn every house in Troy to find us. They'll never believe we've left. And even if they do, they'll burn it for spite.
    Paris: Then I'll make it easy for him to find me. I'll walk right up to him, and tell him you're mine. [kisses her]
    Helen: You're very young, my love.
    Paris: We're the same age.
    Helen: You're younger than I ever was.
    Hector: Why did you come here?
    Achilles: They'll be talking about this war for a thousand years.
    Hector: In a thousand years, the dust from our bones will be gone.
    Achilles: Yes, prince. But our names will remain.
    [The Myrmidons arrive and surround Hector]
    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.
    Achilles: Apparently, you won some great victory.
    Agamemnon: Ah, perhaps you didn't notice. The Trojan beach belonged to Priam in the morning. It belongs to Agamemnon in the afternoon.
    Achilles: You can have the beach, I didn't come here for sand.
    Agamemnon: No. You came here because you want your name to last through the ages. A great victory was won today, but that victory was not yours. Kings did not kneel to Achilles. Kings did not pay homage to Achilles.
    Achilles: Perhaps the kings were too far behind to see. The soldiers won the battle.
    Agamemnon: History remembers kings, not soldiers! Tomorrow, we'll batter down the gates of Troy. I'll build monuments to victory on every island of Greece. I'll carve "Agamemnon" in the stone! My name will last through the ages! Your name is written in sand for the waves to wash away.
    Achilles: Be careful, King of Kings. First you need the victory.
    Agamemnon: Your men sacked the temple of Apollo, yes?
    Achilles: You want gold? Take it. It's my gift to honor your courage, take whatever you wish.
    Agamemnon: I already have. Aphareus! Haemon!
    [Aphareus and Haemon enter the tent, dragging in Briseis.]
    Agamemnon: The spoils of war.
    Achilles: [to Aphareus and Haemon] No argument with you, brothers, but if you don't release her, you'll never see home again. Decide.
    Agamemnon: Guards!
    [Achilles draws his sword, as more armed guards rush into the tent.]
    Briseis: Stop! Too many men have died today. If killing is your only talent, that's your curse. I don't want anyone dying for me.
    [Achilles puts his sword away]
    Agamemnon: [in astonishment] Mighty Achilles, silenced by a slave girl! Tonight, I'll have her give me a bath. And then, who knows?
    Achilles: You sack of wine! [points his sword at Agamemnon] Before my time is done, I will look down on your corpse and smile.
    Agamemnon: I see you're not hiding behind your high walls. Valiant of you. Ill-advised, but valiant.
    Hector: You come here uninvited. Go back to your ships and go home.
    Agamemnon: We've come too far, Prince Hector.
    Menelaus: Prince? What prince? What son of a king would accept a man's hospitality, eat his food, drink his wine, embrace him in friendship, and then steal his wife in the middle of the night?!
    Paris: The sun was shining when your wife left you.
    Menelaus: [draws sword] She's up there, watching, isn't she? Good. I want her to watch you die.
    Agamemnon: Not yet, brother. Look around you, Hector. I brought all the warriors of Greece to your shores.
    Nestor: You can still save Troy, young prince.
    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 upon 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.
    Agamemnon: Then every son of Troy shall die.
    Paris: There is another way. I won't give her up and neither will you. So let us fight our own battle. The winner takes Helen home. And let that be the end of it.
    Agamemnon: A brave offer, but not enough.
    Menelaus: [taking Agamemnon aside] Let me kill this little peacock!
    Agamemnon: I didn't come here for your pretty wife. I came here for Troy.
    Menelaus: I came for my honor. His every breath insults me! Let me kill him. When he's lying in the dust, give the signal to attack. You'll have your city, I'll have my revenge.
    Agamemnon: So be it.
    Menelaus: [to Paris] I accept your challenge. And tonight, I'll drink to your bones.
    Odysseus: The world seems simple to you, my friend. But when you're a king, very few choices are simple. Ithaca cannot afford an enemy like Agamemnon.
    Achilles: Am I supposed to fear him?
    Odysseus: You don't fear anyone, that's your problem. Fear is useful. Stay, Achilles. You were born for this war.
    Achilles: My life is war. Is that what you think?
    Odysseus: Am I wrong?
    Achilles: A week ago you were right. But things are less simple today.
    Odysseus: Women have a way of complicating things.
    Achilles: Of all the kings of Greece, I respect you most. But in this war you're a servant. And I refuse to be a servant any longer.
    Odysseus: Sometimes you need to serve in order to lead. I hope you understand that one day.
    Agamemnon: They're laughing at me in Troy, drunk with victory! They think I'll sail home at first light.
    Odysseus: Maybe we should.
    Agamemnon: Flee?! Like a whipped dog?!
    Odysseus: The men believe we came here for Menelaus' wife. Won't be needing her anymore.
    Agamemnon: My brother's blood still wets the sand, and you insult him?!
    Odysseus: It's no insult to say a dead man is dead.
    Nestor: If we leave now, we lose all credibility. If the Trojans can beat us so easily, how long before the Hittites invade?
    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!
    Nestor: He's right. The men's morale is weak.
    Agamemnon: Well, even if I could make peace with Achilles, the man won't listen to me! He's as likely to spear me as to speak to me!
    Odysseus: I'll talk to him.
    Nestor: He'll want the girl back.
    Agamemnon: He can have the damn girl. [Odysseus and Nestor look at him] I haven't touched her.
    Odysseus: Where is she?
    Agamemnon: I gave her to the men. They need some amusement after today.
    Achilles: I told you how to fight, but I never told you why to fight.
    Patroclus: I fight for you!
    Achilles: Who will you fight for when I'm gone? Soldiers fight for kings they've never even met. They do what they're told to do. They die when they're told to die.
    Patroclus: Soldiers obey.
    Achilles: Don't waste your life following some fool's orders.
    Hector: 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. [stabs spear into ground, and takes off helmet, throwing it to the side] Now you know who you're fighting.
    Hector: [takes off helmet and throws it aside] I thought it was you I was fighting yesterday - and I wish it had been you. 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: Who are you?
    Priam: [with tears in his eyes] I have endured what no one on earth has endured before. I kissed the hands of the man who killed my son.
    Achilles: [realizes who his is, stands abruptly] Priam? How did you get in here?
    Priam: I know my country better than the Greeks, I think.
    Achilles: [walks forward, lifts Priam] You are a brave man. I could have your head on a spit in the blink of an eye.
    Priam: Do you really think death frightens me now? I watched my eldest son die, watched you drag his body behind your chariot. Give him back to me. He deserves the honor of a proper burial, you know that. Give him to me.
    Achilles: He killed my cousin.
    Priam: He thought it was you. How many cousins have you killed? How many sons and fathers and brothers and husbands? How many, brave Achilles? I knew your father. He died before his time. But he was lucky not to live long enough to see his son fall. You've taken everything from me. My eldest son, heir to my throne, defender of my kingdom. I can't change what happened, it is the will of the gods. But give me this small mercy. I loved my boy from the moment he opened his eyes till the moment you closed them. Let me wash his body. Let me say the prayers. Let me place two coins on his eyes for the boatman.
    Achilles: [visibly moved] If I let you walk out of here, if I let you take him, it doesn't change anything. You're still my enemy in the morning.
    Priam: You're still my enemy tonight. But even enemies can show respect.
    Agamemnon: Achilles makes a secret pact, and I have to honor it? What treason is this?! Consorting with the enemy king, giving him twelve days of peace! Peace, peace! Their prince is dead, their army is leaderless; this is the time to attack!
    Nestor: Even with Hector gone, we have no way to breach their walls. They can wait ten years for us to leave.
    Agamemnon: I will smash their walls to the ground, if it costs me 40,000 Greeks. Hear me, Zeus! I will smash their walls to the ground!
    [The other Greek kings in the tent with Agamemnon look at each other nervously.]
    [As the other Trojans celebrate around the Greeks' wooden horse]
    Paris: Look at them. You'd think their prince had never died.
    Helen: You are their prince now. Make your brother proud.

## Taglines

* For Honor
* For Victory
* For Love
* For Destiny
* For Passion
* For Troy
* [from TV spot] A love that was forbidden. A battle that was legend. A story that will live forever.
* [from TV spot] If love is worth fighting for, it has known no greater battle than this...

## Cast

* Brad Pitt — Achilles
* Eric Bana — Hector
* Orlando Bloom — Paris
* Diane Kruger — Helen
* Rose Byrne — Briseis
* Brian Cox — Agamemnon
* Peter O'Toole — Priam
* Brendan Gleeson — Menelaus
* Saffron Burrows — Andromache
* Julian Glover — Triopas
* John Shrapnel — Nestor
* Sean Bean — Odysseus
* Garrett Hedlund — Patroclus
* Tyler Mane — Ajax
* Vincent Regan — Eudorus
* Julie Christie — Thetis
* James Cosmo — Glaucus

## External links

* Troy quotes at the Internet Movie Database
* Troy at Rotten Tomatoes