THEMES
In this book, I would say that there are several themes. The most important are:
Love always prevails
Pride and carelessness can lead to downfall
Greed is not honorable
Too much greed can cause someone to think like they're better than everyone else. Like Hector who thought he was better than Achilles. He expected to be able to kill Achilles but was not able too.
This theme is also present amongst Agamemnon and Achilles during the war at Troy. Achilles refused to fight until Agamemnon had apologized. Achilles wanted all the honor and power in the Greek army and put everyone else's life in danger because the Trojans nearly overtook the Greeks. Not only was Achilles selfish, he almost destroyed the legacy that he was trying to preserve so well by being stubborn.
Even through the thick and thin, Achilles and Patroclus continued to keep their reatltionship afloat. Although Thetis constantly tried to break them up and take Achilles away from Patroclus, they both ended up being together. In the end, everyone saw that their love was in its truest and purest form. Even Thetis saw how much her son loved Patroclus and carved his name on Achilles' headstone.
Against the odds, they meet and their soul intermingled in the underworld as one when they were both burried. This shows that, if it is really true love and you will give anything to make it work, it will work. This is a main theme because it is present through over half the book and is always constant
Pride ultimately lead to Patroclus's dad's downfall. He was too concerned with keeping his reputation for his kingdom that he even went to the length to disown his own son. Even though this worked out to the advantage of both Achilles an Patroclus, it was what lead to the Menotide's downfall.
Another example is when Achilles stopped caring about the battles because he got too full of himself. Granted he was the best fighter of his time, he stlll endangered many people just because he was careless.
Pyrrhus, Achilles' son was careless in the way he acted. He thought just because he was Achilles' son, he would be this great god and he was untouchable. He got too careless and took a bride for himself that was not his and got himself killed. Although this theme may not be the main theme, it is present several different places in the book.