Layla (The Scorpion King)
Layla is a female Akkadian from the movie Scorpion King 2: Rise of a Warrior.
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Biography
From childhood, Layla was friends with the son of Ashur with the two being very close. After disguising herself as a boy, she went off to participate in the games where children fought with one another in order to get the honor of becoming a member of the elite Black Scorpions. To her surprise, her opponent was Mathayus who argued with her about women not being allowed to participate. However, their conversation was overheard by the Black Scorpion commander, Sargon who detained Layla. The act, however, angered Mathayus who struck Sargon as he attempted to defend er. The angry Sargon was ready to execute the young boy for his defiance until his father saved him.
Layla was returned to her family who planned an arranged marriage of hers to that of a fat older sheep merchant, something that she did not desire. To that end, years later when she grew up, she followed Mathayus out of Akkad a day before the wedding in order to escape it. Mathayus attempted to dissuade her from following him and even managed to convince her to turn back but she was determined to leave Akkad to escape her impending marriage. To that end, she followed Mathayus onto the boat set for Egypt. He asked her why she was following him to which she retorted that she was not and made an excuse of wanting to see the pyramids of Egypt. She in turn asked Mathayus why he was going to which he grudgingly revealed his plan to get the Spear of Osiris from the Egyptian Pharoah who's life his father saved in order to use it to kill Sargon. Immediately, Layla mentioned how it was a foolish endeavour as it was unlikely that a Pharoah would hand over a fabled weapon to a 16 year old boy.
It was there that the Greek traveller Aristophanes entered the conversation and stated that the Spear would be useless as it only killed supernatural creatures. Instead, he offered the Sword of Damocles as a possible alternative for Mathayus's quest. Layla herself was skeptical though Mathayus asked the Greek if he would lead him to the sword to which he agreed on the condition for a number of gold pieces and for exclusive rights to tell the story in the future. Though Mathayus agreed to the condition, he lacked the money to pay the Greek to which he turned to Layla who said she would give the money on the equal condition that she tacked along on the journey and treated her like an equal. Mathayus was hesitant to agree to this but relented in order to accomplish his goal. As the boat continued to sail to Egypt, she continued to dictate her various terms to him. When they reached port, she also gave a warning to Aristophanes, who asked to be called Ari, that Akkadian women were just as good with knives as their men. However, he attempted to charm her by saying that her beauty was greater then that of goddesses themselves but Mathayus focused him on the task of claiming the sword.
Reaching the palace which was guarded, Ari the Greek suggested to Layla for her to use her feminine charms to keep the guards busy while he and Mathayus snuck passed them. She instead went forward and seemed to charm them but instead beat them up leaving them unconscious and with her with the keys. With that, they made their way to a doorway while Mathayus fought more guards but this simply led into a dark chamber. Once there, Ari accidently activated mechanism that sent them falling into a prison cell. There they learnt there were other prisoners who were waiting to be fed to the Minotaur whereupon Ari revealed the threat that they would have to face to claim the sword. Layla was understandly furious and put a knife to Ari's throat before Mathayus made a call to the prisoners to fight the Minotaur though none rose to the challenge. With that, Layla removed her robes and showed her somewhat more revealing warrior outfit as she was ready to help Mathayus defeat the monster.
As they moved through the labyrinth, they encountered the large beast and in the conflict Layla's leg was injured. However, a number of captive warriors who's leader owed Mathayus's father his life came to save them. They were ready to leave until Layla revealed that their quest took them to the underworld to recover a weapon but held riches if complete. Though reluctant, Ari managed to convince the veteran warrior to follow them to the underworld. There they entered into a circular room who's doorway disappeared once they entered. When Ari read the inscription on the ground, the walls ripped apart and revealed them standing on a pillar in the desert in a desert in the underworld.
It was then they made their way through the desolate lands where Layla was on a numerous occassions skeptical of Ari's knowledge of the underworld. She witnessed the lands transform into a hideous swamp and attempted to defend the Chinese acrobat Fong from the veteran soldiers who were being warped into being hostile by the underworld's magic. It was then they came upon the goddess Astarte who was greatly angered at her private sanctum being violated by mortals. Using her powers, she made Layla, Ari and Fong bow before her though Mathayus stated that he preferred to stand. Astarte was intrigued by this defiance and attempted to seduce the Akkadian to which Layla objected. The goddess of war and love then asked of Layla was a boy or a girl as she seemed incapable of seducing anyone even if she had gold by her feet. With this challenge issued, the men backed away to use the opportunity as a distraction to find the sword. Layla was openly hostile to the goddess Astarte stating that what man would go to something as old as her and that her magic was her own advantage.
After striking the goddess, Astarte transformed into her battle attire and the two fought against one another in the underworld. The two battle and Layla lost her weapons but managed to use Astarte to defeat her in mortal combat but the goddess resorted to her magic to lift Layla into the air with a fiery pit forming below her. Trapped there, she was useless and attempted to free herself to no avail. When she heard Astarte offer Mathayus the freedom of his comrades in return for him becoming her consort, Layla reacted violently by stating that Mathayus loved her and cautioned him to turn away from her. Despite the temptation, once Ari and Fong got the Sword of Damocles her spell was broken and he resisted her. With that, Astarte let go Layla letting her drop into the pit but Mathayus jumped into the gap and saved her.
With Astarte now angered, the group quickly made their way through the forest back to the spiral staircase before the time ran out as those that left behind would be turned to stone. Now that the quest was complete, they made their way back to the boat at the port in Egypt. From there, they began their journey to return to their home land in order to fulfill Mathayus's quest at slaying Sargon. On the ship, she attempted to cover up the fact that she had feelings for Mathayus by saying that she only said so to distract Astarte. However, there was a mutual level of attraction between the two at this point. As they approached the city though, Layla noticed that there was a great deal of unrest. Sneaking into the city, they attempted to find Sargon so Mathayus could fulfil his quest of killing the murderer of his father.
Once there, the group separated with Mathayus taking Ari to fight Sargon while Layla herself took Fong to help the people of the city. Entering the courtyard where the people were being assembled by Sargon's guards, she heard Sargon's priest announce of a contribution to the goddess Astarte. After that, an elaborate system was put into place which began distributing oil and spraying it on the people of the courtyard. When complete, the guards would ignite it with a fiery arrow and sacrifice the people to the goddess of war and love. Desperately, both Layla and Fong fought the guards and managed to prevent the ignited fire from reaching the walls and killing everyone thus ending the intended sacrifice.
Later, she and the people would discover that Sargon was slain by Mathayus who was wounded in the battle. Nutured back to health and by his side, she greeted him once more to the land of the living and he embraced her in a kiss. Together, they witnessed the crowning of the new Emperor of Akkad though she said that Mathayus should have taken the throne as it would have been nice to live a life of comfort. When Mathayus asked her about her seeking the life of a warrior, she said that it was not the life for her but something she did to be with Mathayus. However, it was not to be as the warrior Mathayus later left Akkad and journeyed into the desert for the next battle. The fate of Layla is unknown.
Overview
Personality and attributes
She did not suit the quiet life of being married to a person she did not know and instead wished to be a warrior though she was deprived of this status due to the fact that she was a girl which Akkadian culture did not allow to become soldiers. However, this was a complex matter as though she wanted to be a warrior, after being exposed to the rigors of combat she later found that it was a life not suited to her. Furthermore, it appears that her desire to be an adventurer and warrior was somewhat influenced by her feelings to be close to Mathayus.
Though she always verbally sparred with Mathayus, she held deep feelings of love towards him. At one point she openly revealed her feelings for him during a battle for life and death but quickly stated that she only used it as a distraction to prevent a change in their friendship.
Powers and abilities
When among the public, she typically wore a robe that covered her features but in battle she discarded these clothes revealing a more skimpier open clothing. The robes made it sure that potential enemies did not see her twin swords that were strapped to her back which she wielded with skill. She also made use of knives and daggers in combat.
She was a skilled fighter and quite capable of beating mortal opponents as well as challenge goddesses even should they decide to not use their magic.
Notes
Appearances
- The Scorpion King:
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