How likely is it that Homer's characters in the Iliad Were real?

I would like to think they existed but its a great deal harder to prove specific people from pre-history than it is places. They leave less evidence on the whole. Its possible, simply because no one thought Troy was real until Hisarlik, that the people that populated it were real and went by those names as well. Hektor for instance has been speculated to be a Greek corruption of a foreign name. And it has been mentioned that Hector's shield, mentioned as tapping his helmet and heels as he walked is from a slightly earlier date than the shields that are mentioned for Achilles for instance - which might mean different heroes from different times brought together for the story like many knights of king arthur's round table were. The Hittites do record an 'Alexandros' type of name which was another name for Paris ruling near the Aegean at the right time. So there are hints and clues that the actually people named in the Iliad might have been real - and I like to think they were - but so far, the proof has yet to be conclusively found.