Before Hector meets his fate in front of the walls of Troy he will first attract the ire of Achilles. This is when Patroclus, Achilles’ closest friend, becomes the centerpiece of the action. After a glimpse of the battle convinces him to take up arms, Patroclus asks Achilles if he can don the warrior’s armor and lead his men into battle. Achilles responds by recounting the offense of Agamemnon, but concludes:

“Let bygones be bygones now. Done is done.

How on earth can a man rage on forever?

Still, by god, I said I would not relax my anger,

not till the cries and carnage reached my own ships.

So you, you strap my splendid armor on your back,

You lead our battle hungry Myrmidons into battle!” (16.69-74)

He is no longer angry, and is prepared to move one. Yet, he can’t. He is bound by his word, a promise made in the midst of anger. Now Achilles must watch as his closest companion leads his army into battle. Rage has committed the hero to a path that in a calmer state he would have never chosen.

However, Achilles is not so foolish as to turn over the reins of his army without a warning to its new commander. He asks Patroclus only to push the Trojans back from the Achaean ships and not to chase them across the fields of Troy. By this he hopes to secure his friend's safety since Apollo will turn the tides of the battle if Troy is at risk of falling.

As one should expect, Patroclus ignores this advice and pursues the fleeing Trojans after leading Achilles' army to a small victory on the beach. His success is short-lived though. He is first disarmed by Apollo and then stabbed by a minor character Euphorbus, who then flees into the battle. This makes him easy prey for Hector who finishes off the warrior and claims Achilles’ armor as a prize.

However, before slaughtering Patroclus, Hector suggests that Achilles must have ordered his friend to kill him. This demonstrates an important misjudgment of Achilles. In reality the Achaean hero was insistent that Patroclus only repel the Trojans from the ships, and not put himself at risk. Apparently Hector is unaware of the falling out with Agamemnon and is therefore left to guess at what is keeping the great runner from joining the fray. This ignorance becomes arrogance as he assumes Achilles is a coward. He then tears the runner's armor off of his friend's body as a prize. This will prove a fatal mistake as Hector will receive the credit alone for Patroclus' death.

Achilles, meanwhile, meets the news of his friend's death with cries loud enough to attract the attention of his mother, Thetis, who rises from the ocean to comfort him. He resolves to kill Hector. Thetis reminds him that his own death is fated to occur soon after Hector’s. Achilles retorts, “Then let me die at once” (18.114), concluding that he has been “a useless, deadweight on the good green earth” (18.123) since he has done nothing to save Patroclus nor any of his other comrades. Finally, the disgruntled man recognizes that the cost of his feud has been paid, not by Agamemnon, but by his fellow Achaeans, and, most bitterly, his closest friend, the last collateral damage. He goes on:

“If only strife could die from the lives of gods and men

and anger that drives the sanest man to flare in outrage—

bitter gall, sweeter than dripping streams of honey,

that swarms in people’s chests and blinds like smoke—

just like the anger the Agamemnon king of men

has roused within me now…

Enough.

Let bygones be bygones. Done is done.

Despite my anguish I will beat it down,

the fury mounting inside me, down by force.” (18.126-34)

Here is the dance of rage. Achilles is wishing for the end of all strife in men. He recognizes its enticing temptation and the way it skews even the “sanest” man’s judgment. However, this reminds him of the anger that was incited by Agamemnon. He is just about to launch into another gripe session when he stops short. Rage truly is "sweeter than dripping honey", but apparently he has had his fill with regard to Agamemnon. The changed hero instead falls into the familiar lines he spoke to Patroclus, almost willing himself to move on. He has realized the damage of this particular anger.

However, Patroclus must now be avenged, and so Achilles' ire acquires a new target. This will not be the brooding anger that he harbored against the Achaean king though. This is a rage that inspires action. He resolves to pay back blood with blood, and kill Hector. The stage has been set for the final great clash of the epic.