Peleus, Achilles’s aging father, appears throughout the novel in his son’s thoughts. In fact, when Priam visits Achilles, Achilles at first mistakes Priam for his own father and falls at his feet in tears. Priam later invokes this parallel explicitly, asking if Peleus wouldn’t do for Achilles what he himself is attempting to do for Hector. Priam’s words, combined with Achilles’s memories of his father’s grief at their parting, help persuade Achilles to return Hector’s body.