3605. Leonardo (Leo)

Leonardo (Leo) — The courageous leader and devoted student of martial arts, Leonardo wears a blue mask and wields two Katana. He is the oldest of the four. Leonardo was named after the Italian polymath, scientist, engineer, inventor, anatomist, and painter, Leonardo da Vinci. Leonardo (or Leo) is a fictional character and one of the four main characters of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles comics and all related media. In the Mirage comics all four turtles wear red bandanas, but in other versions, he wears a blue bandana. His signature weapons are two ninjaken (literally "ninja sword"), which are universally referred to as katana. Throughout the various media he is depicted as the leader of the four turtles and the most disciplined. He is named after Leonardo da Vinci. In the 1987 TV series' theme song lyrics, Leonardo is said outright to be the leader of the TMNT, and there is little disputing this; his orders are usually followed, and he is a very serious do-gooder who hardly ever makes wise cracks. In one episode, he suffered a crisis of confidence and left the group to do some soul searching; his brothers all tried their hands at being the leader in his stead, only to find that none of them could match his leadership skills, and he came back to them. He was attracted to a young kunoichi named Lotus, a swordswoman prodigy from Japan who was hired by Krang to replace Shredder, whom she easily defeated (along with Rocksteady and Bebop). She and Leonardo dueled to a standstill before she resorted to a trick sword to knock him out. When they met the second time, she tried to convince him to join her as "ninja for hire", but he refused. She turned on Krang and escaped to continue her mercenary lifestyle, telling Leonardo that there was little good in goodness, though she hoped that they would one day be on the same side. This is the only version of the TMNT mythos where Leonardo does not have his sibling rivalry with Raphael. When the cartoon series starts out, he is shown with having a very level head, akin to his leadership qualities in the comic. However, as the series carried on, he became more reactionary and at times would screech in the very high pitched voice, which was very different from the original, deeper pitch in the first season. This presumably may have been the result of the writers downplaying Leonardo as a hero in favor of Michelangelo and Raphael, who were more popular with audiences. This is seemingly the only incarnation of the TMNT in which Leonardo's swords are curved, thus the term katana could be used. Leonardo also seems to enjoy reading. For example, many times when the Turtles are at home, Leo is reading a book. In the episode Four Musketurtles, he is the only Turtle that read The Three Musketeers. Another good example is in "Leonardo is Missing"; while the other Turtles go to an arcade, Leonardo stays at the lair and reads. In the Season 6 episode "Snakes Alive", it is revealed that Leonardo has Ophidiophobia, but confronted it later. In the Season 3 episode "Take Me to Your Leader", Leonardo gives up his leadership and walks away after a dream he believes convinces him he is no longer a good leader. The others have to find him, and stop Shredder, Krang, and Bebop and Rocksteady from draining energy from the Sun with a Solar Siphon and store it in solar batteries. However, Leonardo returns when he spots a bridge collapsing due to snow. After a man says that everybody talks about the weather but nobody does anything, Leonardo realizes his responsibility and begins to search for his brothers. He later finds them, and together they save the Earth. In the original English language version of the 1987 cartoon show, Leonardo's voice actor was Cam Clarke (who also voiced Rocksteady). Leonardo is generally considered to be Clarke's "breakout role" and is still one of his best known parts. In the Hebrew language version, Leonardo was dubbed by Ido Mosseri. In the crossover movie Turtles Forever, this version of Leonardo is voiced by Dan Green. In the Finnish language version, he is voiced by Tom Wentzel.