So when signs tell Dakkar that such a son has been born, he sends his troops out to kill him. However, a sage named Griba spirits Ator away and puts him in the care of a peasant couple. Ator grows up undetected, but just as he's marrying his foster sister Sunya, Dakkar's troops suss him out and slaughter his whole village while kidnapping Sunya. Griba trains Ator to fight and sends him to rescue his wife with his father's sword. Along the way, Ator gets captured by an Amazonian tribe, picks up an ass-kicking female ally named Roon, is seduced by a sorceress (played by erotic film star Laura Gemser), and flees a pack of zombies before finally facing off with his enemy.
The film was followed by three sequels, the first of which was The Blade Master, and the last of which was Quest For The Mighty Sword. The third sequel, ''Iron Warrior," was made without Joe D'Amato's participation and is not considered canon to the other sequels. (At least, not by him.)
Like its successor, Ator, the Fighting Eagle was roasted in an MST3K episode.
Ator, the Fighting Eagle contains examples of:
- '80s Hair: Although the film seems to take place in the distant past (or maybe the distant future), Ator's hair wouldn't be out of place in a glam-metal band.
- Action Girl: Roon seems to be a better fighter than anyone else in the movie, including Ator much of the time.
- All Amazons Want Hercules: Roon's all-female tribe is so fierce that they kill men after mating with them, but she nonetheless slowly falls for Ator.
- All Animals Are Dogs: Ator adopts a bear cub that follows our heroes around just like a dog, and even follows commands.
- Ancestral Weapon: Ator gains the Sword of Toran, i.e. his father.
- Bar Brawl: Roon starts one when she steals the purse of a madam in a tavern.
- Belligerent Sexual Tension: Ator and Roon are pretty distrustful of one another, which isn't surprising since her tribe tried to rape and murder him. But there's clearly an attraction going on anyway, though it's downplayed due to Ator's attachment to Sunya.
- Birthmark of Destiny: Ator has one on his shoulder indicating that he's the prophesied son of Toran, though Griba hides it with some sort of magic powder so he can't be identified.
- Bloodless Carnage: There wasn't much of an effort to make anyone look like they were really getting stabbed by the swords.
- Brother–Sister Incest: Sort of. Ator and Sunya grow up believing that they're blood siblings, making things awkward when they fall in love. Curiously enough, when Ator talks to their father about this he mentions that sibling marriages were acceptable sometime in the past. That perhaps explains why no one seems especially creeped out by the fact that the two fell in love while they still thought they were siblings.
- Caught in a Snare: The Amazonian tribe captures Ator when he trips a falling net snare.
- Chosen One: Ator was prophesied from before his birth to be the one who takes down the spider cult.
- Conceive and Kill: The Amazons perpetuate their tribe by mating with captured men and then killing them shortly thereafter.
- Cool Sword: The scene where Ator picks up the Sword of Toran is played to make the sword seem as cool as possible, throwing out light onto Ator's face.
- Damsel in Distress: Ator finds Sunya trapped in a giant web about to be eaten by the Ancient One.
- Devoured by the Horde: Griba ends up eaten by the Ancient One's many, many offspring.
- Died in Your Arms Tonight: Roon dies in Ator's arms after her fight with Dakkar's mooks.
- Disability Superpower: Roon explains that the blind warriors who work in the temple's smithy have a highly developed sense of smell, so she and Ator have to disguise their odors before going in.
- Distressed Dude: Ator has to be rescued no fewer than three times by Roon, first when her tribe captures him, then from the sorceress, then from his Living Shadow.
- Doomed Hometown: The village where Ator grew up is destroyed early in the film, jump-starting his adventure.
- The Dulcinea Effect: When Ator sees three men chasing and attacking a lovely young woman, he springs to the rescue, only to find out that they were after her because she had stolen from them. Worse, as he finds out later, she's actually part of an all-female tribe that kills men after sleeping with them.
- Evil All Along: It turns out Griba used to be the high priest of the spider cult himself, and has been using Ator to take out Dakkar so he can reclaim his post.
- Giant Spider: The Ancient One is a huge spider who lives in the spider cult's temple, although we never see quite how huge because the budget apparently didn't allow for more than a few legs and part of a head.
- Girlfriend in Canada: Roon doesn't believe it when Ator says that his heart belongs to Sunya. Played for tragedy while Roon is dying of her wounds after Ator frees Sunya; Roon asks not to be introduced to the other woman, preferring to still be able to pretend that Sunya wasn't real.
- Glamour Failure: The sorceress Indun looks like a lovely woman, but when she sees herself in the mirror her hideous true appearance is restored.
- Groin Attack: Griba pulls this on Ator while the latter is readying himself for training, to teach a lesson on "surprise."
- Inescapable Net: Once the rope net drops on Ator, he flails around impotently. Admittedly, the fact that he's surrounded by armed women a few seconds later cuts short the time he has to get out.
- Lady Land: Roon belongs to an all-female tribe that only uses men for breeding purposes.
- Living Shadow: While Ator is looking at his reflection in the Shield of Mordor, his shadow comes to life and attacks him.
- Luckily, My Shield Will Protect Me: The Shield of Mordor doubles as a kind of Magic Mirror, though its effects change as the plot demands. When Ator looks into it, his Living Shadow attacks him, but when Ator is wielding it while fighting Dakkar, it makes Dakkar explode.
- Magic Mirror:
- The mirror in the sorceress's bedroom exposes her true appearance when she looks into it.
- The Shield of Mordor acts this way, since weird things happen to whoever sees their reflection in it.
- Mr. Fanservice: The scantily clad and sculptured Miles O'Keeffe.
- Not Blood Siblings: This comes in the form of an Internal Reveal when Ator confesses to his father that he's in love with Sunya. His father tells him that Ator was actually adopted, so he can go ahead and marry her.
- Only in It for the Money: Roon decides to free Ator and join his quest because she's heard there's lots of treasure in the spider temple.
- Opening Monologue: A narrator tells us about the spider cult, Toran, and the prophecy, until the action starts with Ator's birth.
- Pelts of the Barbarian: Almost everyone in the movie wears animal hides, usually with fur attached.
- Religion of Evil: The spider cult involves feeding victims to an actual Giant Spider, and is also cruel and oppressive in other ways.
- Shout-Out: The Shield of Mordor, though it's debatable whether it's a shout-out or just plagiarism.
- Slipping a Mickey: The drink that Indun offers Ator seems to be drugged.
- Tears from a Stone: Dakkar knows when the son of Toran is born (or up to something) when the eagle statue in his temple sheds Tears of Blood.
- Training Montage: We get a standard one as Griba trains Ator in fighting skills, mostly with swords.
- Unusual Pets for Unusual People: The high priest of the spider cult (naturally) has pet tarantulas, Indun has pet snakes, and Ator himself has a pet bear cub.
- Walking Shirtless Scene: Ator spends most of the movie with no shirt, and no pants for that matter.
