He gets one chapter and one job: when the bow sings and the doors slam shut, Philoetius is one of the two servants who pick up spears from the wall and turn on the suitors. Eumaeus on one side, Philoetius on the other, Telemachus in the middle, Odysseus with the bow. Four men against fifty, and the fifty are unarmed. Philoetius moves like a man made for this, the same line the retelling gives Eumaeus, because both of them have spent twenty years feeding the herds of a master they believed would come back. When the master came back, they were ready. He is the silent half of the loyalty pair. Eumaeus gets the speeches; Philoetius gets the spear.
Philoetius
The loyal cowherd. Stands beside Eumaeus and Telemachus when the doors lock. One of the three men who fought for the king at the door.