When Do You Think People Die?

“When do you think people die? When they are shot through the heart by the bullet of a pistol? No. When they are ravaged by an incurable disease? No. When they drink a soup made from a poisonous mushroom!? No! It’s when… they are forgotten.”

-Dr. Hiriluk

This quote is from my favorite show One Piece. Dr. Hiriluk is talking to Chopper, his rookie assistant, who had accidentally made him a poisonous soup. Chopper is just a little kid and he wanted to save Dr. Hiriluk’s life so he researched and researched what kind of medicine would cure his illness. Dr. Hiriluk knew that he was going to die regardless of any medicine he takes but he saw how hard Chopper was working so he couldn’t bring it upon himself to tell Chopper that all his hard work was for nothing–so he ate the poison soup.

Dr. Hiriluk had come to terms with his death and he explains to Chopper, who is extremely sad at this point because he just found out that he had given Dr. Hiriluk the wrong medicine, that people don’t die from poison mushrooms, they die from being forgotten.

This idea of death by being forgotten proposed by Dr. Hiriluk can be connected to the idea of “kleos” in The Iliad. Kleos means “glory or immortal fame” in Greek, but it can also mean “rumor or renown.” Kleos seems to be the motivating force for actions for many of the characters in the Iliad.

“Then Pallas Athena granted Tydeus’ son Diomedes strength and daring–so the fighter would shine forth and tower over the Argives and win himself great glory.”

In this short passage we see the goddess Athena egging Diomedes into battle using glory as a motivator. It’s important for characters for Diomedes to achieve glory in the battle field because if they don’t then they are just regular people who hasn’t performed any great deeds.

Characters like Achilles and Hector value being noble and achieving great glory rather than saving their lives. Both characters knew that they might die in the battle field if they kept on fighting. There were moments in the story where both characters had a pause so that they could make a decision to keep fighting in the war of to stay out of it to save their lives; both characters chose to fight. For Hector it was when his wife begged him to stop fighting, but he replied:

“All this weighs on my mind too, dear woman. But I would die of shame to face the men of Troy and the Trojan women trailing their long robes if I would shrink from battle now, a coward…I’ve learned it all too well. To stand up bravely, always to fight in the front ranks of Trojan soldiers winning my father great glory, glory for myself.” (Book 6:522-529)

I don’t know what characters like Hector are thinking but I can only assume that being noble and gaining glory is a big aspect to them and their culture. Maybe they don’t want to be forgotten, just like people in the 20th century want to leave a mark on the world so did Hector back in the Iliad. Doing something noteworthy in the battle-field is a ticket to being remembered because when people only really die when they are forgotten.