What is the name of Achilles’ close friend and companion who is killed by Hector? Patroclus is the answer.
Patroclus was a Greek hero and Achilles’ closest companion in Homer’s Iliad. After being exiled from Opus as a child, he was taken in by Peleus, Achilles’ father, and grew up alongside Achilles. In the Greek camp at Troy, Patroclus served as a trusted companion, adviser, and leader of the Myrmidons.
When the Trojans threatened the Greek ships, Patroclus begged Achilles to let him enter battle wearing Achilles’ armor. The disguise was meant to frighten the Trojans and drive them away from the camp, not to let Patroclus pursue them indefinitely. Patroclus broke through the initial crisis, killing several enemies, including Sarpedon, a son of Zeus.
Apollo disrupted Patroclus during the fighting, and the Trojan warrior Euphorbus wounded him. Hector then delivered the fatal blow. Patroclus’s death transformed Achilles’ anger and grief into a renewed campaign: Achilles returned to battle specifically to avenge him, eventually killing Hector. Homer presents their bond as exceptionally intimate, though the Iliad does not explicitly describe them as lovers; later Greek writers debated and sometimes emphasized that interpretation.