Leonidas I (Λεωνίδας Leōnidas, died 11 August 480 BC) was a Spartan king who is famous for his leadership at the Battle of Thermopylae, during which he was killed (it is, however, considered to be a badge of honour for Spartans to be killed in battle, being that the city-state generally revolved around training and sending soldiers to battle).
In the Parodies[]
In the Downfall parodies, Leonidas is apparently still alive during World War II as he has interacted with Hitler on several occasions, such as in Hitler Rants Parodies' Hitler phones King Leonidas. For reasons unexplained, Leonidas seems to be convinced that Berlin is in fact the city of Sparta, and has on a number of occasions attempted to convince Adolf Hitler that this is the case (usually by repeatedly shouting "THIS IS SPARTA!"), much to Hitler's frustration. As a result, Hitler tries to tell him he is not in Sparta and this is Berlin.
He also always meddles with his arch-nemesis, Xerxes.
Trivia[]
- Although he is portrayed as a nuisance in the parodies, the real-life Adolf Hitler actually cited Leonidas and his kingdom as one of his inspirations for bringing Germany to war.
Gallery[]
