In Homeric epic the human soul only featured at the end of the life of the individual. Heroic action was finished when the warrior lay slain on the battlefield while his soul (his psychē) had an endless shadow existence in Hades. The very opening of the Iliad sets out the distinction when it states that the wrath of Achilles sent many mighty souls of heroes to Hades, but left the men themselves (autoi) to be carrion for dogs and birds. In the Odyssey the souls going down to Hades are compared to dreams taking wing (Od 11.224) and to twittering bats (Od 24.6-9). They keep their recognizable features (“he was wondrously like the man himself”, says Achilles of Patroclus' ghost; Il 23.107), but generally they have no meaningful speech unless they drink sacrificial blood or appear to mortals with a specific message. Their consolations are in the memory of their own past heroic deeds, the preservation of their name among men, and their joy in the record carried on to the next generation, as, for example, the ghost of Achilles strides gladly through the fields of asphodel after hearing from Odysseus of his son's great achievements (Od 11.538-40, 24.93-4). With the exception of the prophet Teiresias, who is permitted to keep intact his understanding (nous) and his thoughts (phrenes), the greatest loss for the departed is to be deprived of the power of reasoning.