For Tonight We Dine In Hell. The world will know that free men stood against a tyrant, that few stood against many,

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1 Ureña 1 Jose Ureña WRT September 2012 For Tonight We Dine In Hell The world will know that free men stood against a tyrant, that few stood against many, and before this battle is over, that even a god-king can bleed. -King Leonidas (300). 300 is the cinematic rendition of the famous battle of Thermopylae in ancient Greece. It takes us through the story of the struggles of King Leonidas and his three hundred brave warriors while facing the massive forces of tyrannical Xerxes. Xerxes is a self-proclaimed God-King who is trying to rule the entire world. King Leonidas and his three hundred warriors take it upon themselves to fight Xerxes forces and save Sparta and all of Greece from slavery; even though it had been strictly forbidden by the Ephors and the Oracle. The three hundred Spartans have the upper hand in the majority of the story until they are betrayed by Ephialtis, who leads Xerxe s forces through a hidden goat path, leading to the eventual slaughter of King Leonidas and his men. In 300, Leonidas answers the call to protect Greece from its invaders, faces the trials and tests of facing a metaphorical dragon in the superior forces he must face, to reach the ultimate boon of dying with honor in the protection of his homeland. This is a different story from many others in the sense that very important parts of the initiation come before the hero gets his call, which deviates from the classical structure of the hero s journey. King Leonidas never has that innocent world of childhood, because Spartans

2 Ureña 2 were molded into warriors from the very moment of their birth. If a new-born child is anything less than physically perfect, he is discarded. Leonidas is sent out into the wild at the age of eleven, as is customary for all Spartans, as part of a rite of passage called the eogli. During this time, he learns what is necessary to survive, including fighting, stealing, and killing. At the end of eogli, Leonidas goes through his ritualistic death when he fights the beast. At such a young age, Leonidas has lived the most savage and wild aspects of humanity, and it comes down to one final battle in which either he will kill the beast and emerge victorious, or die. When he is done with that task, he returns to Sparta as the new king. Leonidas call to adventure begins when the Persian messenger arrives at his city steps. The messenger comes in behalf of Xerxes, who is on a campaign to conquer the whole world. Xerxes requires a gift of earth and water from Leonidas as a sign of Sparta s submission to Xerxes will. Leonidas is bound to protect the people of his city, so he sends a very clear message back to Xerxes that he will never allow his people to become slaves to the Persian empire. From that moment, Leonidas sets the wheels in motion for what would be his ultimate adventure. There is a force trying to prevent Leonidas from crossing the threshold into his adventure; this force is known as the Ephors. The Ephors were old mystics who due to ancient tradition, had to give the go-ahead for Sparta to go to war. Unfortunately, the Ehpors were very greedy and corrupt, so Xerxes was able to bribe them into rejecting Leonidas plea for action. Pray to the winds, Sparta will fall; all Greece will fall. Trust not in man, honor the Gods; Honor

3 Ureña 3 the Carnea (300). This is the interpretation the Ephors gave of the Oracle, which prohibited Leonidas from marching his whole Army to war. Since the Ephors prohibited Sparta from going to war, Leonidas decided to take care of the problem himself with the help of three hundred companions. The warriors travel on a journey that takes day and night, but not before Leonidas meets with the Goddess, his wife, who tells him to come back with your shield, or on it. That statement serves to remind Leonidas that Spartan law requires him to fight honorably to the death and never surrender. The queen also gives Leonidas a necklace, which would serve as his talisman throughout his perilous journey. After a long road, the Spartans eagerly enter into the belly of the whale; the piece of land where they would defy Xerxes. During a face to face encounter between Leonidas and Xerxes, after being told that he and his Spartans would die for nothing and they would be erased from history, Leonidas said people will know that free men stood against a tyrant, that few stood against many; and before this battle is done, that even a God-King can bleed. This leads Xerxes to prematurely send his best men into battle; the so called immortals, who s reputation Leonidas disproves, while Xerxes watches with fear. Leonidas and his men take part in an epic dragon battle by facing and successfully slaying thousands of Xerxes s elite forces. This small group of men faces a massive force of over 120,000 men. In one encounter with Xerxes emissary, the Spartans are told the thousand nations of the Persian empire descend upon you, our arrows will blot out the sun. In the

4 Ureña 4 standard cocky, Spartan way, one young warrior answers, then we will fight in the shade. True to their nature, the Spartans fight Xerxes hoards without a second thought. In this story, as anyone who has ever served in a combat role in a military force can attest, the sacred marriage is between King Leonidas and every one of his three hundred men. Men in battle form sacred bonds which are beyond the reach and comprehension of anyone who has never been through it. In the encounter between Leonidas and Xerxes, Xerxes said, Imagine what horrible fate awaits my enemies when I would gladly kill any of my own men for victory, to which King Leonidas replied and I would die for any one of mine. Another, equally important sacred marriage is between Leonidas and his values, which are interpreted as Spartan Law. Never retreat, never surrender; that is Spartan law. And by Spartan law, we will stand and fight, and die A Spartan s honor does not permit him to put his wellbeing above that of his city and its citizens; this applies as well to the king. A good leader will stand in battle alongside his men, no matter what the outcome. Leonidas apotheosis comes hand in hand with his ultimate boon. In the very end, when they are completely surrounded by Xerxes troops, the Spartans idealize Leonidas so much, that they are more than willing to follow him to death itself. As the Spartans lie on the ground, their bodies penetrated by thousands of arrows, Stelios looks at Leonidas and says my king, it is an honor to die at your side. To which Leonidas responds it is an honor to have lived at yours. The ultimate boon in Leonidas adventure came at the very time of his death. The ultimate boon is described as the solution to the problem that caused the journey to be necessary. His last act was to prove to the world that Xerxes was not an invincible God to be

5 Ureña 5 feared, but a mortal human by lacerating Xerxes cheek with his spear while Xerxes forces shot arrows at him and his men. He followed through with what he told Xerxes he would do in their initial encounter. Even though Leonidas knew there was no way he and his three hundred men would return home from this journey, he knew that his death would force all of Sparta to go to war with Xerxes. No longer would his Army be held back by politics, Sparta would fight and annihilate the threat against them accompanied by forces from all over Greece who had heard about the sacrifice Leonidas and his men made to protect them. In the end, his glory was the glory of all his Spartans who answered the call to defend Greece, and he had his victory which he had envisioned since the beginning without regard to the impossible odds he faced. In conclusion, 300 is a perfect example of the Hero s Journey. Even though the order of events may not be as it is in a typical story, and even though Leonidas does not return home at the end, the journey itself is complete. Leonidas leaves his home, goes through many trials and difficulties to finally reach his ultimate boon at the end of his journey.

6 Ureña 6 Works Cited 300. Dir. Zack Snyder. Perf. Gerard Butler. Warner Bros. Pictures, Film.