While Paris is the shame of the Trojans, his brother, Hector, embodies all that is noble. In fact, Hector's admirability shines even when juxtaposed with the prime movers on the Achaean side, Achilles and Agamemnon. The Greeks are soaked in selfish pride, valuing their own grudges above the lives of their comrades. Of the four, Hector is the most admirable. This must have been a strange experience for the Greek listening to the Iliad sung. The person who seems most worth emulating is the antagonist of the Achaeans and a hero fated to die. They have painted their ideal on a vanquished enemy.

This is most evident in Hector’s return to Troy. After entering the city Hector visits his mother first. She offers him mellow wine to pour to the gods and refresh himself. To rest while the battle still rages on would be the path of Paris, who is lounging with Helen in his chamber presently. Hector will have nothing of it. He insists:

“Don’t offer me mellow wine, mother, not now—

You’d sap my limbs, I’d lose my nerve for war.

And I’d be ashamed to pour a glistening cup to Zeus

With unwashed hands, I’m splattered with blood and filth—

How could I pray to the lord of storm and lightning?” (6.313-17)

Hector will not be deterred from the task at hand. He is there to request a sacrifice be made to Athena (futile as that will be), not to hide from battle.

I am reminded of Uriah and David. Following his infidelity with Bathsheba, David tries to cover up her pregnancy by calling Uriah, her husband, back from battle in the hopes of coaxing him to sleep with his wife. Uriah proves too honorable though. He insists that while the Ark of the Covenant, Israel, Judah, and his leader, Joab, are still camped in the fields, then he will not go enjoy the comforts of his home. He is of the same spirit as Hector. His focus will not be swayed from his duty simply because he has returned to the city. Interestingly Uriah, like Hector, is also a foreigner in the eyes of the reader. He is a Hittite; not an Israelite. He isn’t the enemy, but he is, likewise, not a member of Israel. Yet, he surpasses the others in nobility. Further, much like Hector, Uriah, the most admirable actor in the story of David and Bathsheba, will be killed by David's command. Evil visiting good people is not a new story.

Next, Hector makes his rounds to Paris. The mighty warrior comes upon his brother polishing his armor while Helen lounges with him in his quarters. This type of detail is what makes the Iliad a lasting work. Paris' character is so succinctly captured by it. Caring only for pleasure and aesthetics, while the battle rages just outside the city walls, he sits cleaning his tools of war. His concerns are with how the armor looks rather than testing how it functions on the battlefield. A dandy has no time for violence, but Hector has no time for a dandy. He scolds Paris and tells him to prepare to go back to battle.

The last person Hector visits is his wife, Andromache. She also tries in earnest to pull him from his duty, begging him to stay behind the walls of Troy. He understands her fears but says he would “die of shame” if he were to “shrink from battle now, a coward.” (6.523 & 6.525). He goes on to express his primary fear: the theft of his wife by one of the Argives if he were to die. But this is caveated with a surrender to his fate.

“No man will hurl me down to Death, against my fate.

And fate? No man alive has ever escaped it,

neither brave man nor coward, I tell you—

it’s born with us the day that we are born.” (6.681-84)

The whole scene is vulnerable and intimate. It is even accented by a moment of pure humanity when Hector's son recoils in fear, not recognizing his father in his war helmet. He then, rather symbolically, removes the equipment while visiting with his family. The moment leaves a lasting impression on the listener of who Hector is as a husband, father, and a man. He is not a hardened, bloodthirsty warrior finding enjoyment in the works of war. Yet, he is not a softened coward like his brother, Paris. He responds to his circumstances, fulfilling the duty to which he has been called. He genuinely yearns for peace but is prepared to do the tasks of war.