# Nestor — Troilus and Cressida character guide

> Nestor in Troilus and Cressida by William Shakespeare.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** venerable Nestor, old Nestor, Nestor Ay

**First appearance:** 0005-act-i-scene-iii

## Snapshot

The Greeks' eldest voice, Nestor has outlived his own wisdom — a king whose counsel is reverenced in ceremony and quietly bypassed in practice.

## Who they are

Nestor sits at Agamemnon's council table as the embodiment of experience, the man whose age alone commands a hearing when the Greek coalition starts to fray. Yet Thersites dismisses him and Ulysses together as handlers who 'yoke you like draught-oxen and make you plough up the wars,' and the play keeps hinting that his venerable rhetoric is part of the problem, not the cure. His presence matters because he shows how a long war exhausts even its wisest men into ceremony — and how the young warriors who actually fight have stopped listening.

## In the story

### [Scene III](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/troilus_and_cressida_se/chapters/act-i-scene-iii)

Aged Greek commander who initially offers to fight Hector himself, then supports Ulysses' plan to use Ajax.

### [Scene V](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/troilus_and_cressida_se/chapters/act-iv-scene-v)

Welcomes Hector warmly, recalling past battles and praising his valor.

### [Scene V](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/troilus_and_cressida_se/chapters/act-v-scene-v)

Orders Patroclus's body taken to Achilles and describes Hector's rampage.

### [Scene IX](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/troilus_and_cressida_se/chapters/act-v-scene-ix)

Calls for silence to hear the shout announcing Hector's death.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/troilus_and_cressida_se/characters/nestor
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/troilus_and_cressida_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/troilus_and_cressida_se/characters