In the words of the mortal hero Achilles, speaking to his immortal mother Thetis, the status of the hero as ‘best of the Achaeans’ is linked with the akhos ‘grief’ that he experiences over the damage to his tīmē—damage caused by the insult inflicted by Agammemnon in the quarrel between the two heroes. The akhos ‘grief’ of Achilles leads to his mēnis ‘anger’, which in turn will lead to the collective akhos of all the Achaeans. The horkos ‘oath’ of Achilles, Ι.01.233, which he will swear by as he holds the skēptron ‘scepter’, I.01.234, and which he then throws to the ground to mark his oath, is coextensive with the akhos ‘grief’ that the Achaeans will suffer because of the hero’s mēnis. To the extent that the Oath of Achilles is sacred, so too is the coextensive plot of the Iliad. This plot or narrative arc, leading to devastation for the Achaeans, will be enhanced by the mētis or ‘intelligence’ of Thetis, immortal mother of Achilles; and it will be enacted by the Will of Zeus.