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Jose Ureña
WRT 102
4 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
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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
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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
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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
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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.
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Works Cited
300. Dir. Zack Snyder. Perf. Gerard Butler. Warner Bros. Pictures, 2007. Film.