Troilus
Prince Troilus was the youngest son of King Priam and the husband of former First Doctor companion Vicki Pallister.
Biography[[edit] | [edit source]]
The Trojan War[[edit] | [edit source]]
Troilus was the youngest child of King Priam of Troy, preceded by Paris, Hector and Cassandra. At the age of seventeen (TV: The Myth Makers [+]Loading...["The Myth Makers (TV story)"]) or eighteen, (PROSE: The Myth Makers [+]Loading...["The Myth Makers (novelisation)"]) during the Trojan War, he met and was attracted to Vicki Pallister, rechristened "Cressida", although he was briefly afraid that she was a witch as Cassandra claimed. He was also jealous of Vicki's relationship with Steven Taylor, who was impersonating Greek soldier Diomede, even when she assured him that they were only friends. He released her once the Greeks appeared to leave Troy.
Troilus defended Vicki against Cassandra's accusations of witchcraft, that she was responsible for the Trojan Horse and that she had set Steven free from the dungeons through sorcery. He left the city to find Steven at Vicki's urging. Out on the plains he encountered and slew Hector's killer Achilles in a fight, but was injured as he struck the final blow. Afterwards, he saw Troy burning and was found by Vicki, who had chosen to remain with him rather than leave in the TARDIS. She suggested they could go with Aeneas to build a new Troy. (TV: The Myth Makers [+]Loading...["The Myth Makers (TV story)"])
Married life[[edit] | [edit source]]
Troilus and Vicki wandered with a group of surviving Trojans in search of a place to settle following the fall of their city. In 1183 BC, they encountered the Eighth Doctor in the company of Charlotte Pollard and a young William Shakespeare. Afterwards, they headed for England on advice from Shakespeare, who had read a book which stated that relatives of Aeneas were the first Britons. According to this account, Troilus and Vicki "had a lovely marriage and lived happily ever after" in Mousehole. (PROSE: Apocrypha Bipedium [+]Loading...["Apocrypha Bipedium (short story)"])
Vicki had trouble to adjust to her new life, since nobody shared her memories or her values. One account said the Trojans thought she was possessed or insane, and wanted to abandon her on a rock in the middle of the sea. However, Troilus stood by her, and eventually the couple left Aeneas and settled down in Carthage, while the others went on their journey. They had two sons, and apparently lived a happy life. (AUDIO: Frostfire [+]Loading...["Frostfire (audio story)"])
A third account stated that Troilus and Vicki remained with Aeneas and, after a brief look-in at Carthage, founded a new Troy which they called Rome. When the Doctor visited Homer to check up on Vicki, he was told she was middle-aged but still very much in love. (PROSE: The Myth Makers [+]Loading...["The Myth Makers (novelisation)"])
Troilus was outlived by his wife. (AUDIO: Fugitive of the Daleks [+]Loading...["Fugitive of the Daleks (audio story)"])
Legacy[[edit] | [edit source]]
Troilus went on to feature in multiple works set around the time of the Trojan War, including Troilus and Criseyde by Geoffrey Chaucer (PROSE: Troilus and Cressida [+]Loading...["Troilus and Cressida (short story)"]) and William Shakespeare's plays The Noble Troyan Woman of Troy and Troilus and Cressida, the latter of which was based on Chaucer's story.
The love between Troilus and Cressida failed in Chaucer's version, as it did in Shakespeare's Troilus and Cressida in which Cressida ended up not with Troilus but with Diomede. The First Doctor, having not read the play, was not aware of this. Writing in their memoir Not Necessarily the Way I Do It!, a later incarnation of the Doctor recalled that he had only let Vicki go away with Troilus at Troy's fall because he had assumed their romance was predestined once he heard she was calling herself Cressida. The Eighth Doctor was shocked when he learnt the truth. (PROSE: Apocrypha Bipedium [+]Loading...["Apocrypha Bipedium (short story)"])
Troilus was in Act II Scene II of Troilus and Cressida, in which he, Priam, Hector, Paris and Helenus discussed a message from Nestor in which a peaceful resolution to the conflict was promised if they simply returned Helen. Hector advocated for her release, saying their high losses of men were not worth it to keep her. However, Troilus vehemently disagreed, asking Hector if he weighed "the worth and honour of a king so great as our dread father in a scale of common ounces". Troilus later commented on the approach of Cassandra, calling her "our mad sister". In a variant version of the play, the entire conversation was overheard by the Prologue who was concealed within an urn. (PROSE: Troilus and Cressida [+]Loading...["Troilus and Cressida (short story)"])
Troilus was also a minor character in The Noble Troyan Woman of Troy, a piece of juvenilia based on Shakespeare's encounter with the real Troilus and Cressida, written in strict iambic pentameter composed entirely in rhyming couplets. (PROSE: Apocrypha Bipedium [+]Loading...["Apocrypha Bipedium (short story)"])
Appearance[[edit] | [edit source]]
Troilus was a "rippling mass of muscle". Homer believed that Troilus resembled one of the "devilish good-looking" gods, namely Apollo or Hermes. (PROSE: The Myth Makers [+]Loading...["The Myth Makers (novelisation)"]) Vicki also believed that he was good-looking, although Priam claimed not to have noticed. (TV: The Myth Makers [+]Loading...["The Myth Makers (TV story)"])
Personality[[edit] | [edit source]]
Troilus seemed to be unaware of his good looks and was a pleasant and unspoilt young man. (PROSE: The Myth Makers [+]Loading...["The Myth Makers (novelisation)"]) He did not enjoy killing, but loved adventure. (TV: The Myth Makers [+]Loading...["The Myth Makers (TV story)"])
Behind the scenes[[edit] | [edit source]]
In The Storyteller [+]Loading...["The Storyteller (webcast)"], Vicki is seen talking to a young child, Sophia. While it is implied that they are grandmother and granddaughter, it is not explicit.
