No!
Our Greek comrades are begging for a crack at the Persians, sire.
Good.
I've got something I think they can handle.
Tell Daxos that I want him...
...and 20 of his best eager, sober and ready for the next charge.
King Leonidas.
- Stelios, catch your breath, boy. - Yes, milord.
The Persians are approaching.
A small contingent. Too small for an attack.
- Captain, I leave you in charge. - But sire...
Relax, old friend.
If they assassinate me, all of Sparta goes to war.
Pray they're that stupid.
Pray...
...we're that lucky.
Besides...
...there's no reason we can't be civil...
...is there?
None, sire.
Let me guess.
You must be Xerxes.
Come, Leonidas.
Let us reason together.
It would be a regrettable waste...
...it would be nothing short of madness were you, brave king...
...and your valiant troops to perish...
...all because of a simple misunderstanding.
- There's much our cultures could share. - Haven't you noticed?
We've been sharing our culture with you all morning.
Yours is a fascinating tribe.
Even now you are defiant...
...in the face of annihilation and the presence of a god.
It isn't wise to stand against me, Leonidas.
Imagine what a horrible fate awaits my enemies...
...when I would gladly kill any of my own men for victory.
And I would die for any one of mine.
You Greeks take pride in your logic. I suggest you employ it.
Consider the beautiful land you so vigorously defend.
Picture it reduced to ash at my whim.
Consider the fate of your women.
Clearly you don't know our women.
I might as well have marched them up here, judging by what I've seen.
You have many slaves, Xerxes...
...but few warriors.
It won't be long before they fear my spears...
...more than your whips.
It's not the lash they fear...
...it is my divine power.
But I am a generous god. I can make you rich beyond all measure.
I will make you warlord of all Greece.
You will carry my battle standard to the heart of Europa.
Your Athenian rivals...
...will kneel at your feet...
...if you will but kneel at mine.
You are generous...
...as you are divine...
...O king of kings.
Such an offer only a madman would refuse.
But the...
The idea of kneeling, it's...
You see, slaughtering all those men of yours has...
Well, it's left a nasty cramp in my leg...
...so kneeling will be hard for me.
There will be no glory in your sacrifice.
I will erase even the memory of Sparta from the histories.
Every piece of Greek parchment shall be burned.
Every Greek historian and every scribe shall have their eyes put out...
...and their tongues cut from their mouths.
Why, uttering the very name of Sparta or Leonidas will be punishable by death.
The world will never know you existed at all.
The world will know that free men stood against a tyrant.
That few stood against many.
And before this battle was over...
...that even a god-king can bleed.
You fought well today...
...for a woman.
As did you.
Maybe if I'm injured, you'll be able to keep up with me.
Perhaps I was so far ahead you couldn't see me.
More likely offering your backside to the Thespians.
Jealousy...
...does not become you, my friend.
Move it, men!
Pile those Persians high.
For unless I miss my guess...
...we're in for one wild night.
They have served the dark will of Persian kings for 500 years.
Eyes as dark as night.
Teeth filed to fangs.
Soulless.
The personal guard to King Xerxes himself. The Persian warrior elite.
The deadliest fighting force in all of Asia:
The Immortals.
The god-king has betrayed a fatal flaw:
Hubris.
Easy to taunt, easy to trick.
Before wounds and weariness have taken their toll...
...the mad king throws the best he has at us.
Xerxes has taken the bait.
Spartans, push!
Immortals.
We put their name to the test.
Father!
My king!
Arcadians, now!
Go! Show the Spartans what we can do.
Go!
They shout and curse...
...stabbing wildly, more brawlers than warriors.
They make a wondrous mess of things.
Brave amateurs, they do their part.
Immortals.
They fail our king's test.
And a man who fancies himself a god...
...feels a very human chill crawl up his spine.
To our king!
And our honored dead.
Whom will Xerxes dare to send next? Whom?!
There's nothing that can stop us now!
Even the king allows himself to hope for more than glory.
Such mad hope, but there it is:
"Against Asia's endless hordes, against all odds, we can do it.
We can hold the Hot Gates.
We can win."
Dawn.
Whips crack. Barbarians howl.
Those behind cry, "Forward!"
Those in front cry, "Back!"
Our eyes bear witness to the grotesque spectacle...
...coughed forth from the darkest corner of Xerxes' empire.
When muscle failed...
...they turned to their magic.
One hundred nations descend upon us, the armies of all Asia.
Funneled into this narrow corridor, their numbers count for nothing.
They fall by the hundreds.
We send the severed bodies and the fragile hearts back to Xerxes' feet.
King Xerxes is displeased with his generals.
He disciplines them.
Xerxes dispatches his monsters from half the world away.
They're clumsy beasts...
...and the piled Persian dead are slippery.
- You still here? - Somebody's gotta watch your back.
Not now, I'm a little busy.
Regroup!
Astinos!
My son!
Astinos!
No!
Day wears on.
We lose few...
...but each felled is a friend, or dearest blood.
And upon seeing the headless body of his own young son...
...the captain breaks rank.
He goes wild, blood-drunk.
The captain's cries of pain at the loss of his son...
...are more frightening to the enemy than the deepest battle drums.
It takes three men to restrain him and bring him back to our own.
The day is ours.
No songs are sung.
Your gods were cruel to shape you so, friend Ephialtes.
The Spartans, too...
...were cruel to reject you.
But I am kind.
Everything you could ever desire...
...every happiness you can imagine...
...every pleasure your fellow Greeks and your false gods have denied you...
...I will grant you.
For I am kind.
Embrace me as your king and as your god.
Yes.
Lead my soldiers to the hidden path that enters behind the cursed Spartans...
...and your joys will be endless.
Yes! I want it all.
Wealth. Women.
And one more thing...
...I want a uniform.
Done.
You will find...
...I am kind.
Unlike the cruel Leonidas, who demanded that you stand...
...I require only...
...that you kneel.
Beautiful night.
Yes, but I did not ask you here for small talk, Theron.
You can be sure of that.
You never spared words with me.
Can I offer you something? A drink, perhaps?
Is it poison?
I'm sorry to disappoint you, it's only water.
I'm told it's been arranged for you to go before the council.
Yes.
I need your help in winning votes to send the army north to our king.
Yes.
I can see it, the two of us standing together.
Me, politician. You, warrior. Our voices as one.
But why would I want to do that?
It proves you care for a king who right now fights for the very water we drink.
True.
But this is politics, not war.
Leonidas is an idealist.
I know your kind too well. You send men to slaughter for your own gain.
Your husband, our king, has taken 300 of our finest to slaughter.
He's broken our laws and left without the council's consent.
- I'm simply a realist. - You're an opportunist.
You're as foolish as Leonidas if you think men don't have a price in this world.
All men are not created equal. That's the Spartan code, my little queen.
I admire your passion.
But don't think that you...
...a woman, even a queen...
...can walk into the council chamber and sway the minds of men.
I own that chamber...
...as if it were built with these hands.
I could crush the life out of you right now.
You will go before the council, but your words will fall on deaf ears.
Leonidas will receive no reinforcements, and if he returns, without my help...
...he will go to jail or worse.
Do you love your Sparta?
Yes.
- And your king? - I do.
Your husband fights for his land and his love.
What do you have to offer...
...in return for my word that I'll help you send our army north?
What does a realist want with his queen?
I think you know.
This will not be over quickly.
You will not enjoy this.
I'm not your king.
Dilios.
I trust that scratch hasn't made you useless?
Hardly, my lord. It's just an eye.
The gods saw fit to grace me with a spare.
My captain?
Curses the gods and mourns alone.
Leonidas!
We are undone. Undone, I tell you. Destroyed.
Daxos, calm yourself.
Our hunchback traitor led Xerxes' lmmortals to the hidden goat path behind us.
The Phocians you posted there were scattered without a fight.
- This battle is over, Leonidas. - This battle is over when I say it is over.
By morning, the lmmortals will surround us. The Hot Gates will fall.
Spartans! Prepare for glory!
Glory? Have you gone mad?
There is no glory to be had now.
Only retreat or surrender. Or death.
Well, that's an easy choice for us, Arcadian.
Spartans never retreat. Spartans never surrender.
Go spread the word.
Let every Greek assembled know the truth of this.
Let each among them search his own soul.
And while you're at it, search your own.
My men will leave with me.
Godspeed, Leonidas.
Children!
Children.
Gather round.
No retreat, no surrender.
That is Spartan law.
And by Spartan law, we will stand and fight...
...and die.
A new age has begun.
An age of freedom.
And all will know that 300 Spartans...
...gave their last breath to defend it.
My friend.
I have lived my entire life without regret until now.
It's not that my son gave up his life for his country.
It's just that I never told him that I loved him the most.
That he stood by me with honor.
That he was all that was best in me.
My heart is broken for your loss.
Heart?
I have filled my heart...
...with hate.
Good.
Dilios...
...let's take a walk.
Yes, my lord.
But, sire, I am fit and ready for battle.
That you are, one of the finest.
But you have another talent unlike any other Spartan.
You will deliver my final orders to the council...
...with force and verve.
Tell them our story.
Make every Greek know what happened here.
You'll have a grand tale to tell.
A tale of victory.
Victory.
Yes, my lord.
Sire, any message...?
For the queen?
None that need be spoken.
Hundreds leave.
A handful stay.
Only one looks back.
Spartans!
Ready your breakfast and eat hearty...
...for tonight we dine in hell!
May I give the floor now...
...to the wife of Leonidas and queen of Sparta.
- What's this? - This is nothing.
Councilmen...
...I stand before you not only as your queen.
I come to you as a mother.
I come to you as a wife.
I come to you as a Spartan woman.
I come to you with great humility.
I am not here to represent Leonidas.
His actions speak louder than my words ever could.
I am here for all those voices which cannot be heard.
Mothers, daughters, fathers, sons.
Three hundred families that bleed for our rights...
...and for the very principles this room was built upon.
We are at war, gentlemen.
We must send the entire Spartan army to aid our king...
...in the preservation of not just ourselves, but of our children.
Send the army for the preservation of liberty.
Send it for justice.
Send it for law and order.
Send it for reason.
But most importantly, send our army for hope.
Hope that a king and his men have not been wasted to the pages of history.
That their courage bonds us together.
That we are made stronger by their actions...
...and that your choices today reflect their bravery.
Three hundred.
We must send them.
Moving...
...eloquent, passionate.
But it doesn't change the fact that your husband has brought war upon us.
You are wrong. Xerxes brought it forth...
...and before that, his father Darius at Marathon.
The Persians will not stop...
...until the only shelter we will find is rubble and chaos.
This chamber needs no history lesson, my queen.
Then what is the lesson you would like to leave?
Shall I begin to enumerate all of them?
Honor. Duty. Glory.
You speak of honor, duty and glory?
But what of adultery?
- How dare you. - How dare I?
Watch her carefully.
She is a trickster in true form.
Do not play with the members of this sacred chamber, my queen.
Just hours ago, you offered yourself to me.
Were I a weaker man, I would have her scent on me still.
- This is outrage. - Oh, the hypocrite speaks!
Did you not receive a similar payment, which you took...
...in exchange for her having an audience with these noble men?
- That is a lie. - Is it?
Was he not, by your invitation, asked to come to the king's bedchamber?
The very bed where you attempted to negotiate with me so vigorously?
You look shocked. A bribe of the flesh, gentlemen...
...while her husband promotes anarchy and war.
He speaks truth.
Words escape even the most cunning tongue...
...my little whore queen.
What queen-like behavior.
Remove her from this chamber before she infects us further...
...with her inglorious and shabby self.
This will not be over quickly.
You will not enjoy this. I am not your queen.
Traitor.
Traitor! Traitor! Traitor!
Traitor!
Leonidas, my compliments and congratulations.
You surely have turned calamity into victory.
Despite your insufferable arrogance...
...the god-king has come to admire Spartan valor and fighting skill.
You will make a mighty ally.
Yield, Leonidas.
Use your reason. Think of your men.
I beg you.
Listen to your fellow Greek.
He can attest to the divine one's generosity.
Despite your several insults, despite your horrid blasphemies...
...the lord of hosts is prepared to forgive all...
...and more, to reward your service.
You fight for your lands.
Keep them.
You fight for Sparta.
She will be wealthier and more powerful than ever before.
You fight for your kingship.
You will be proclaimed warlord of all Greece...
...answerable only to the one true master of the world.
Leonidas, your victory will be complete...
...if you but lay down your arms...
...and kneel to holy Xerxes.
It's been more than 30 years since the wolf in the winter cold.
And now, as then, it's not fear that grips him...
...only restlessness. A heightened sense of things.
The seaborne breeze coolly kissing the sweat at his chest and neck.
Gulls cawing...
...complaining even as they feast on the thousands of floating dead.
The steady breathing of the 300 at his back...
...ready to die for him without a moment's pause.
Every one of them...
...ready to die.
His helmet is stifling.
His shield is heavy.
Your spear.
You there...
...Ephialtes.
May you live forever.
Leonidas, your spear.
Stelios!
Slaughter them!
His helmet was stifling.
It narrowed his vision, and he must see far.
His shield was heavy. It threw him off balance...
...and his target is far away.
The old ones say we Spartans are descended from Hercules himself.
Bold Leonidas gives testament to our bloodline.
His roar is long and loud.
My king.
It's an honor to die at your side.
It's an honor to have lived at yours.
My queen!
My wife.
My love.
"Remember us."
As simple an order as a king can give.
"Remember why we died."
For he did not wish tribute or song...
...nor monuments, nor poems of war and valor.
His wish was simple.
"Remember us"...
...he said to me.
That was his hope.
Should any free soul come across that place...
...in all the countless centuries yet to be...
...may all our voices...
...whisper to you from the ageless stones.
Go tell the Spartans, passerby...
...that here, by Spartan law, we lie.
And so my king died...
...and my brothers died...
...barely a year ago.
Long I pondered my king's cryptic talk of victory.
Time has proven him wise.
For from free Greek to free Greek...
...the word was spread that bold Leonidas and his 300...
...so far from home...
...laid down their lives not just for Sparta...
...but for all Greece and the promise this country holds.
Now, here on this rugged patch of earth called Plataea...
...Xerxes' hordes face obliteration!
Just there the barbarians huddle...
...sheer terror gripping tight their hearts...
...with icy fingers...
...knowing full well what merciless horrors they suffered...
...at the swords and spears of 300.
Yet they stare now across the plain at 10,000 Spartans...
...commanding 30,000 free Greeks!
The enemy outnumber us a paltry three to one.
Good odds for any Greek.
This day, we rescue a world from mysticism and tyranny...
...and usher in a future brighter than anything we can imagine.
Give thanks, men...
...to Leonidas and the brave 300.
To victory!
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