Achilles
Ἀχιλλεύς
The warrior who chose a short and shining life.
Son of the sea goddess Thetis, offered the choice between a long obscure life and a short glorious death, he chose the latter.
The Iliad begins with him withdrawing from battle in fury at Agamemnon — the whole epic is the story of his wrath.
When his friend Patroclus was killed he returned to the field, slew Hector, and in the end died at Troy himself.
SourcesHomer, Iliad
Commonly confused
The tale that he was "invulnerable except for his heel" is not in Homer. The dip in the river Styx is a story that spread from the Roman era (Statius and others) onward.