The Greatest Warrior
Suppose I had the power to gather up four of the greatest warriors that Hollywood has shown us recently. 
Three are based on literature and one as fantasy, but let us enter the realm of fantasy and suppose these warriors could be brought together for an HBO pay-per-view event from Las Vegas, Nevada:
ACHILLES
HECTOR
MAXIMUS
LEONIDAS
Personally, I think Hector would emerge victorious against the other three contestants.
VS. Achilles-
Now, I know that in the Iliad, Achilles triumphs over Hector, and drags his body around in a chariot and then Priam asks Achilles for his son, for proper funeral rituals. We have all have seen the movie, or even better, read the book.
Achilles was a spoiled brat. His mother, the nymph Thetis, dipped him in the river Styx to make him invulnerable, but he held him by the heel! This, of course, results in his only weak spot. The god, Hephaestus, also made him a “special” armor, to face Hector and the other Trojans at the end. So, basically, the reason Hector lost to Achilles was because of the meddling of the Greek gods. If you have read Homer, you will see that when Athena appears to Hector as his brother, Deiphobus, it was all a ruse to favor Achilles. At the final encounter, Achilles, in fact, missed Hector, when he threw his spear. Athena had to “magically” pick it up and give it back to him for a second chance. When Hector threw his spear, the aim was perfect but Achilles’ shield stopped the edge of the spear from harming him. If we take away the meddling gods from Achilles’ side, Hector would win.
VS. Maximus-
Maximus is great with the short sword, as we saw in Gladiator, but Hector is much stronger and can win with a spear from far away. In close quarters, it would be an awesome battle with a sword, but I see Maximus tiring out a bit faster than Hector. Maximus was a great general, but Hector held back the Greek army almost entirely on his own for 10 years. Daily war would have him more physically fit for this titanic battle. It would be very close.
VS. Leonidas-
Leonidas is resourceful, but his greatest strength is military strategy. On a one on one battle, Hector will again prove the stronger man. Both are more than adept with the spear and shield, however, if Hector breaks Leonidas’ spear, he will dominate him with the sword, or spear. The Spartan king would put up a great fight, but his lack of body armor would make him vulnerable to Hector’s attacks. Leonidas also believes that death is glory, while Hector believes that there is nothing glorious about dying, nothing poetic.
Therefore, Hector>Achilles>Maximus>Leonidas
Am I wrong? Who do you think would win?
May 19th, 2009 at 2:46 pm
Great movies, though.
May 18th, 2009 at 12:30 pm
same here I’ve watched troy at least 100 times and every time they show it on tv hopeing that achilles wouldnt die. and the same on three hundred.
April 10th, 2009 at 9:05 pm
Lol. Then you and I do the same thing, if my hero dies in the flick, I watch it over and over in hopes that they may not die “this time”. Haha
Gladiator is Awesome. And yes, watch Troy!
I was thinking of writing a blog for another battle… maybe Goku vs. Dr. Manhattan…
April 10th, 2009 at 8:16 pm
I love Gladiator! There was this week where they played it on TNT (I think) three evenings in a row, and I watched it all three days hoping that Maximus wouldn’t die. My brother has seen Troy, but I have yet to watch it for myself. I’ll get around to doing that soon.
April 10th, 2009 at 3:21 pm
Leonidas will get the battle won, or halt the invading Persians until the Greeks got their act together to repel them! I loved 300, and he was a great warrior-king, but one on one, he would not hold out long against the other three. Anyone else, he would win.
Nobody would want to fight any of those guys, at it would mean sure death! I may be biased toward Hector because he is a reluctant warrior. He doesn’t desire to kill, he does so because he has to protect Troy. He is a chivalrous warrior that possesses qualities that most men would want to have. Oh, and check out Gladiator and Troy if you get a chance, buddy!
April 9th, 2009 at 5:33 am
Lol, this is a tough one since I only know about one of them – Leonidas. But given that, he definitely wouldn’t win. You’re right that his greatest strength is in military strategy, but given that the strategy relies on multiple soldiers, individual combat may be more difficult.