B’kai / Memnon

EoW - S1 - E2 - Legends and Lies

For nine years, the man the Greeks know as Memnon has fought beside them with enough conviction that no one questions where his loyalty lies. But Memnon is not his name, and Greece is not his cause. He is B'kai, a Wakandan War Dog, and he has been at the siege of Troy for one reason alone: a vibranium pendant resting around the neck of Helen. He has earned the complete trust of Achilles, who defends him against soldiers who suspect he is a Trojan spy, and who gives him a personal necklace as a token of their friendship. B'kai accepts it knowing what is coming. When Odysseus devises the plan of the Trojan Horse and the Greeks finally breach the city, B'kai peels away from the battle at the critical moment, leaving Achilles surrounded by Trojan soldiers, and goes straight for the palace. He confronts Helen and Paris, takes the artifact, and lets them go. He has what he came for, and that was always the only thing that mattered.

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Achilles survives the battle and reaches the palace in time to witness all of it. Certain that the man he trusted most was a Trojan spy the entire time, he attacks with no intention of stopping. B'kai tries to reach him with words, but Achilles is past listening. The fight ends when B'kai slices his heel and delivers a fatal wound, then kneels beside his dying friend and places coins on his eyes, as Greek tradition demands, because it is the only thing left he can give him. Six months later, back in Wakanda, B'kai sits with an older Noni and admits he feels like a stranger in his own country. He asks to go back out immediately. She grants it, but presses him on what it is he is actually searching for. The episode ends before he can answer, with his hand closed around the necklace Achilles gave him.