Spear of Leonidas

"It carries with it a long line of power. A bloodline of incredible heroes—the same blood within you and me. And our family."

―Myrrine to Kassandra, as she gave her the Spear of Leonidas, c. 451 BCE.^[src]^-[m]

The Spear of Leonidas, also known as the Blade of Leonidas, was a Spear of Eden^[4] wielded by King Leonidas I of Sparta at the Battle of Thermopylae. Following his death, Leonidas' now-broken spear was passed on to his daughter Myrrine and then to his granddaughter Kassandra, who regularly made use of the blade, which became her signature weapon.

During Kassandra's quest to locate her family and destroy the Cult of Kosmos, she regularly visited the Ancient Forge to enhance the spear's combat efficiency, structural durability, and supernatural power through the use of Isu Artifact Fragments. However, the spear eventually lost all of its powers during Kassandra's encounter with an Apple of Eden, and was subsequently given to the historian Herodotos as a parting gift from Kassandra before she left Greece.

During the Renaissance, the spear briefly reemerged in Italy, before being hidden again for the next few centuries. In 2018, the Assassin Layla Hassan re-discovered the spear's burial site and retrieved the artifact, holding onto it as she explored Kassandra's genetic memories to find the Staff of Hermes Trismegistus. Although it has exchanged hands several times since, the spear currently remains in the Assassins' possession.

Owners[]

Isu^[5] (until 75,000 BCE)^[6]
Mother of Leonidas I^[7]
Leonidas of Sparta (until 480 BCE)^[8]
Myrrine (c. 480 BCE – c. 451 BCE)^[5]
Kassandra (c. 451 BCE – 420 BCE)^[9]^[10]
Herodotos (from 420 BCE)^[10]
Alessandra d'Avanzago (1509 CE)^[11]
Layla Hassan (2018 – May 2020)^[12]^[13]
Shaun Hastings and Rebecca Crane (August 2020)^[13]
Basim Ibn Ishaq (August 2020 – present)^[13]

Functionality[]

The spear was able to bestow upon its wielder enhanced strength, as well as a myriad of other supernatural abilities. It could harness its wielder's adrenaline to produce supernatural effects, such as cloaking its user, regenerating health, or harnessing some of the natural elements such as poison and fire. It could even briefly increase the wielder's speed and reflexes, charge arrows with explosive energy, produce shockwaves, and augment arrows so they could phase through walls.^[1]

While quite literally granting its wielder god-like powers and abilities,^[1] with it widely being rumored to contain the strength of the fallen 300 Spartans,^[14] the spear did in fact have a finite amount of power and became a normal spear when depleted,^[15] though this well of power appeared to be quite extensive as the Spear was liberally used by Leonidas, Myrrine, and finally Kassandra.^[1]

Spear of Leonidas Level 2 — Kassandra upgrading the Spear

By the time it was passed down to Kassandra, the spear had become quite damaged and did not operate at its full capacity.^[5] Upon discovering the Ancient Forge on the island of Andros, where the spear had originated from, Kassandra discovered that she could repair the weapon using Artifact Fragments, gradually restoring it to its former strength. She subequently did so over the course of the Peloponnesian War, not only increasing the spear's power, but also improving its appearance.^[16]

After the spear was depowered by an Apple of Eden, Kassandra learned from the Isu Aletheia that there was no way to reverse the damage. As such, the spear became a mere symbolic trinket; while still a deadly weapon in the right hands, it no longer granted any advanced abilities to the wielder.^[17]

History[]

"You knew what it was the moment you met me. But I've...outgrown it. It's yours now. Careful. It's still sharp."

―Kassandra gifting the spear to Herodotos, 420 BCE.^[src]^-[m]

Like most Spears and Swords of Eden, the spear which could come to be wielded by King Leonidas I of Sparta was created by the Isu Hephaistos^[18] in his forge^[16] for use in the War of Unification.^[18] Following the Great Catastrophe that wiped out the Isu civilization, the spear became lost to time.^[6]

ACOD Memories Awoken Kassandra Myrrine Spear — A young Kassandra receiving the Spear from her mother

Millennia later, the first known human wielder of the spear was the first wife of King Anaxandridas II of Sparta and the mother of Leonidas I. At one point, Leonidas was given the spear by her,^[7] and he would use it until his death in 480 BCE at the Battle of Thermopylae. After being broken during the battle, the broken tip was recovered by the Spartans and handed over to Leonidas' daughter, Myrrine.^[8] Myrrine would in turn hand down the spear to Kassandra when she was seven years old.^[5]

When Kassandra later fled Sparta, she took the spear with her,^[19] and continued to wield it well into her adult life. It became her signature weapon and saw overt use during the Peloponnesian War, during which Kassandra regularly upgraded the weapon at the Ancient Forge on Andros Island, restoring its former power.^[1]

In 420 BCE, the spear lost its power during the events on the island of Korfu, where its close proximity to an equally-strong Apple of Eden caused it to overload, preventing Kassandra from accessing its special abilities. Once its power was exhausted,^[15] Kassandra left the spear with her friend Herodotos as something to remember her by.^[10] Herodotos, aware of the spear's significance since he had first met Kassandra eleven years prior,^[20] accepted the gift and promised to cherish it forever.^[10]

Centuries later, during the Italian Renaissance, the Assassin Alessandra d'Avanzago recovered the spear to prevent it from falling into the hands of the Templars. The Assassins then hid the spear in a location where they believed it would not be found for a long time.^[11]

ACOD Layla Hassan Spear of Leonidas — Layla Hassan holding the Spear

The spear was eventually recovered and reburied beneath Herodotos' book Lost Histories, where it laid untouched for centuries until 2018, when both objects were recovered by the Assassin Layla Hassan. Using Kassandra's DNA found on the spear, Layla was able to relieve her memories through the Animus. Once Layla had found Atlantis and met Kassandra, kept alive by the Staff of Hermes Trismegistus, she tried offering the spear back to her, only for Kassandra to reply that it was broken and that Layla could keep it.^[12]

In 2020, when Layla sacrificed herself to stop a series of global anomalies affecting the Earth by entering the Yggdrasil chamber in Norway, she left the Spear of Leonidas back at the cabin in North America she and her teammates Rebecca Crane and Shaun Hastings used as a safehouse. The spear was still there when Rebecca and Shaun met the 9th-century Hidden One Basim Ibn Ishaq, who had been freed from his digital imprisonment inside the Grey by Layla. After Rebecca and Shaun left to find their Mentor, William Miles, so he could meet Basim, the former Hidden One remained alone at the cabin with the spear.^[13]

Weapon statistics[]

Animus HR-8.5[]

Class	Rarity	Attack	Stun	Weight	Speed	Critical Chance	Perks	Availability
Wolf	Mythical	97	124.5	9.8	54.7	114.5	Increase Attack, Melee Damage, Ranged Damage and Ability Damage when having at lease one filled adrenaline slot	Loot chest in camp at Dun Ardtreck
Description
This spear as once wielded by King Leonidas in the Battle of Thermopylae. It is said the strength of the 300 radiates from its blade.

Mobile Animus 4.38[]

Tier	Damage	Speed	Miss Chance	Modifiers	Requirements
★★★★★	4.3k-4.6k	1.50	5%	+30 Attack +190 Defense +190 Health +8% Critical Chance +10% Critical Bonus +5% Dodge	300,000 Coins 210 Damascus steel 60 Fine Silk 1 Ancient tablet
Enhanced Skills
Spear of Leonidas: The power of the Spear of Leonidas empowers this hero's normal attacks. Rank 2: All basic attacks hit for 105% damage.
Description
The legendary Spear of Leonidas destroyed during the battle of 300. The weapon was eventually reworked into a smaller one handed blade by Kassandra. Said to be of Isu descent.

Behind the scenes[]

Gameplay[]

The Spear of Leonidas features in Assassin's Creed: Odyssey (2018), where it substitutes for the traditional Hidden Blade used for assassination gameplay in the series. A feature new to Odyssey is the command to "confirm kill" upon assassinating a quest target, such as a Cult of Kosmos member, and the Spear of Leonidas is used for this function. Unlike the Hidden Blade, the spear can be thrown using the "Rush Assassination" ability, which with upgrades enables chain assassinations to be performed on up to three additional enemies. Apart from the opening scene where the player plays as King Leonidas I at the Battle of Thermopylae, the spear cannot be utilized as an independent weapon because the main protagonist, the Eagle Bearer, uses it as a parrying dagger at all times after it is broken at the shaft.

The spear can be upgraded at the Ancient Forge on Andros to a maximum level of 6 using Artifact Fragments recovered from killing Cultists. Access to the Ancient Forge is gained during the memory "Memories Awoken", and upgrading the spear increases the player's health regeneration, expands their adrenaline gauge, and unlocks higher ranks for ability upgrades. The spear's appearance also changes to reflect each upgrade, becoming more and more resplendent. Despite this, the spear always appears in its Level 1 state in the cutscenes of some crucial story memories, including "A Mother's Prayers", "The Conqueror", and "Where It All Began", no matter its actual level.

In the mobile game Assassin's Creed: Rebellion (2018), the two character options for the protagonist in Odyssey, Kassandra and Alexios, feature as separate heroes with distinct skill kits that directly reference the abilities from Odyssey. Kassandra's are drawn from the Assassin branch of the ability tree in Odyssey—Hero's Strike, Rush Assassination, Revelation, and Venomous Attacks—while Alexios' are drawn from the Warrior branch—Spartan Kick, Ring of Charos, Second Wind, and Flaming Attacks. In addition, both have a passive skill empowering their base attack damage that is itself called Spear of Leonidas. Kassandra's Time Dilation skill, where her dodge chance is increased at low health, may also be a reference to Slow Time, another ability from the Assassin branch, although this skill is shared by several other heroes in Rebellion.

In the crossover event between Assassin's Creed: Odyssey and Assassin's Creed: Valhalla, events in the memory "Not All Treasure Should Be Found" from the Odyssey questline "Those Who Are Treasured" result in the Spear's power being rendered inert, preventing the Eagle Bearer and the player from accessing its combat abilities for the rest of the expansion. Although the spear is functionally inert for the sake of the plot, with the story explaining how and why the spear was made inactive by the time Layla Hassan had uncovered it in the modern day, players will have their abilities restored for open world gameplay once they watch the post-credits scene after the memory "A New Horizon".

Meanwhile, Valhalla's questline titled "A Fated Encounter" has players travel to the Isle of Skye as Eivor Varinsdottir, who obtains a fully-intact Spear of Leonidas from a treasure chest as a usable legendary weapon. However, this acquisition is likely non-canon and only included for gameplay purposes.

Design concept[]

The spear takes inspiration from the Pieces of Eden encountered in past installments as an endgame quest item. However, the developers' impetus was to let players wield an Isu artifact throughout the game rather than just at the end of it. It also provides a lore justification for the supernatural abilities of the main protagonist, the Eagle Bearer.^[21] According to Gabriel Blain in The Art of Assassin's Creed: Odyssey, the spear's design is said to be based on the Spartan dory but mixed with Isu influences and driven by the desire to "hint the Assassin's logo in the shape design".

The fundamental gameplay concept of the Spear of Leonidas is similar to that of the Dagger of Time from Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, another Ubisoft property that is regarded as the spiritual predecessor to Assassin's Creed.^{[citation needed]}