Character Analysis: 2012 Season 5: Leo
In season 5, half of the season was āwhat ifā / AU series. The first and second half of the season, to me, is canon. During this season, Leo was more relaxed and at times happy. I donāt know how long itās been since Splinter died, but it seems so far, Leo is doing ok or is trying to be ok.
For this series, Leo was one, if not the most, out of the characters that had the most focus on him. This version of Leo is the leader from the beginning, which plays a big part of his character. I think the reason why Leo had the most characterization is because of 3 things.
1 the boys just start going above ground, there inexperienced about the topside. Also immediately going uptop, they witness a kidnapping.
2 Splinter plays an active role as teacher here. While also being distant. While splinter isnāt the best father, he does try to give his sons lessons and how to fight.
3 since the boys are immediately shoved into the plot. They havenāt gotten to explore New York without any pressure. Without relaxing and acting like teenagers. Unlike their Rise counterparts
During the series Leo takes his role as leader very serious. But he also simultaneously hates it. During season 1, he try to quit being leader, he says that he didnāt feel respect or that his brothers donāt even thank him. When Splinter find out, he tells Leo that itās his responsibility. A common issue in this series is that Splinter only talks to Leo the most out of the siblings. Sure thats because Leo goes to Splinter to deal with problems/ the writers making Splinter into a wise master. But this has negative effects.
Leo is only 15 when he becomes leader. At 17-ish, he killed Shredder and became leader of the Hamato clan. As well as having to raise himself and his brothers. Three years. That how long heās been leader and in that short span Leo has multiple times, try to sacrifice himself for his family. Iāve even say that in season 4, Leo is actively depressed and even borderline suicidal. In episode 4 Leo keeps talking to a simulator of splinter, his brothers notice thatās his not himself, and during a mission he jumps in front of rocket to save one of his brothers. In episode 14 he goes on a solo mission, after hearing that Fugitoid made the black hole machine. In that same episode, Leo died.
Leo repeatedly love and hates his role as leader. During season 2 Leo activity starts teaching his brothers in different ninja training. His training methods are complete different from Splinterās. While Splinter has the boys fight each other or meditating, Leo turn the training into games. Learning how to fight on the light wires, base off of king of the hill. Training in the shadows by pranking Mikey. His was of training seem more hands on and even fun, while Splinterās is more traditional.
Leoās role is two things; the Golden Child, and the Caregiver. Splinterā teaches Leo, Leo teaches his brothers. As the Golden Child, Leo on purpose or. not, looks down on his brothers. When Leo is stress, he takes it out on Donnie. Most of the time itās Raph and Leo that fights. But there are times, season 4 and 5, were Leo and Donnie get into āfightsā. Weāre they yell at one another. Or many times Leo treats Mikey, who is the same age as leo, as a younger child. Telling him to clean his mess or no video games, telling him to stay at the lair to not get hurt. With Raph, while they have a bit of equal ground. Leo still look down on Raph and try to not make him angry and violent.
The only sibling Leo doesnāt look down on is Karai. Taking the āromanceā subplot and looking at it through the lens of Leo admiring or envies of Karai help show more of Leo character. In season 1 Karai and Leo are each otherās foil. Leo wants freedom and no responsibility, Karai wants a friend, and to not be so involved with her fatherās revenge. By the end of the series, the two more or less achieved their goals. But Leo is the one that activity tries to make Karai going their side. To āsave herā.
Leoās negative traits, beside the self sacrificing, is his control issues and anger. Leo doesnāt like when others take control, even if his alternative self. The only time Leo doesnāt mind this is when he lets others take the control. His anger is also a issue, while not as bad as Raphās or Donnieās. Itās still there, it can be seen when heās fighting or when his brothers arenāt respecting or listen to him. Another bad trait he has is that he believes that he has to do things by himself. He donāt let people know about Karai as first, he doesnāt tell his family weāre heās going/keeping secrets.
At the end of the series, Leo activity kills shredder. In the beginning of the show, Leo was, is, a kid that love space and heroes. While his views of heroes is a bit screwed, he believes not to hurt people. When the purple dragons were first introduced, Leo didnāt hurt them, just scared them. As the series progresses, Leo moralās change and he is seen getting more violent and willing to cause arson or hurt something in the name of his family and what is right.
As for Leo mental and physical status. This boy canonical both died, and is disabled. He was in a 3 month coma. He died in space and had to have his heart jumped, his knee is permanently or semi-permanent damage, and his voice/throat is permanently damage. In real life, all these things can have major issues.
His throat can give him breathing problems, his knee would make him have chronic pain, him having his heart jumped can cause heart problems. He also been electrocuted many times. As for mental, many times in the series the boys experience hallucinations. And in season 5, Leo starts to hallucinate, both auditory and visibly see Splinter. Leo still goes and looks for Splinter as a guide. He also seems to have slight anxiety and depression. And implied autism.
Leo isnāt a boring character. I love him and I think heās very complicated and cool :)













