Odysseus is the strategic mind driving the Greek siege of Troy, a commander whose cunning outweighs his patience for brute force. When repeated frontal assaults on the city walls continue to fail, it is Odysseus who devises the plan that finally breaks the deadlock: a massive wooden horse, left as an apparent offering, concealing a squad of elite fighters inside. He presents it to Achilles and the Myrmidons as the last viable path to victory, and they carry it through. Under the cover of the Trojan Horse's deception, the Greeks flood the city and the war that has dragged on for nearly a decade lurches toward its conclusion.

His role is that of the architect rather than the blade. He sets the conditions for the mission's success, and once the horse is inside Troy and the fighting begins, the story moves past him and into the palace, where B'kai's true purpose plays out. Odysseus never learns what actually happened inside those walls, or that one of his most trusted allies was a Wakandan operative whose loyalty was never to Greece at all. He wins the war he was fighting. The war underneath it was never his to know about.