Iliad Book 16

1)Which god is Hector's patron in this book? What does this god have to do with prophecy? what is ironic about Patroclus' prophecy to Hector, that Hector rejects?

Apollo is Hector's patron because he was the one that had him kill Patroclus and was the support for him as Hector did the act. Apollo was the one that fulfilled the prophecy that Zeus gave for Patroclus to die. Patroclus had said he'd kill Hector, but Hector ended up killing Patroclus.

2) What responsibility does Patroclus have for his own death? To what extend is Apollo responsible? To what extent is Hector Responsible? To what extent is Achilles responsible? To what extent is Zeus responsible? Fate?

Patroclus) Patroclus is quite responsible for his own death. He strapped on a hero's armor, dashed into battle, and got himself killed, thinking that putting on Achilles' armor would scare all the Trojans, while he couldn't just stand around, and wait for Achilles to change his mind, and we can't blame him for his actions, he still went into battle, which puts his life on the line, and so he died.

Apollo) Apollo was basically the reason Patroclus got killed. Patroclus, who isn't Achilles, had to face a god, then man killing Hector himself, persuaded by Apollo to go after Patroclus.

Hector) While Hector killed Patroclus, I believe he isn't that responsible for Patroclus' death. He sees what he thinks is Achilles, and goes to kill him, as someone in a war might do, take out the major player, and so he goes to kill Achilles, but finds that Patroclus is the one in Achilles' armor. While Hector did have the choice to kill the person in the armor, you can't blame him for killing in a war.

Achilles) Achilles is very responsible for his friend's death. He strapped his dear friend into his armor, and send him into war in his stead, and got him killed. Achilles should have taken the armor himself and gone to fight the Trojans.

Zeus) While Apollo was the action that sent Patroclus to his death, it was Zeus that sent that action into action. He was the one who ultimately decided that he wanted Patroclus dead.

Fate) Fate I believe is also responsible for Patroclus' death. Achilles wasn't changing his mind, and it's his fate to go into battle, so what does Fate do? Fate gets Achilles' friend killed to get him into battle.