Headscratchers / 300: Rise of an Empire

• Um... where were the actual Persian loyalists? The movie implies the only political intrigue after the previous emperor’s death was between the two siblings. Were there seriously no Persians who questioned two outsider children mobilising for war?
• So, what exactly did Xerxes gain by 'becoming a God-King' aside from becoming taller, hairless and having a deeper voice? It's not like he had some actual god-like powers after the transformation which made his invasion of Greece easier, his army was still the same.
  • The kingdom has a better perception of him as a strong ruler if he's a God-King than "the son of the guy who was killed with a lucky shot". It might have also been a personal thing: the dip into the water and his subsequent emergence as God-King may have mentally strengthened him, making him capable of ruling such a large empire.
  • Immunity to pain, perhaps. A massive cut through the face would make others scream. But Xerxes shrugged it off and even had his wounds stitched in an era without anaesthetic.
  • Some people takes too literally the scene of Xerxes entering the water in a cave and coming out fully shaved and dress in gold, which is obviously a visual symbolism… I mean, he even reappears in a whole different location (a pool inside a palace), that's basic editing, but people seems to think that Xerxes magically changed inside the water. In any case, it was a third character narrating so you can scratch it as just the others imagining what the other was saying.
• Why was Scyllias sent as a spy considering he had fairly Aryan features relative to other Greeks? Surely someone with darker features would have blended in better.
  • In real life, Greeks and Persians are not that different, in fact some Greeks are of darker skin tone than some Persians, contrary to what the movies may make you think (especially the first one). However another explanation is that for that point Persians already had conquest over a lot of Greek colonies especially those of Anatolia, so they already have hundreds of ethnic Greeks in their army. Not to mention that a lot of ethnic Greeks are very similar to other ethnicities of the Persian Empire, and some Greek kingdoms became willingly allies or members of the empire. In real life for example Artemisia was the Queen of a Greek Kingdom allied/client state of the Persians.
  • Furthermore, why did Artemesia call him a coward when he retreated after being caught? Did she expect him to fight the whole Persian army?
    • Maybe. When she was losing, she decided to go out fighting rather than be captured.
• Was the sex scene between Themistocles and Artemisa supposed to be rough sex but consensual or was Themistocles raping her? Is not made clear.
  • She met with him as an intellectual equal and then laid it on heavy when he arrived. She’s also very capable at lopping heads and was surrounded by her military at the time. If at any moment she was displeased with the exchange, he’d be dead and the movie would have been shorter.
  • Also keep in mind that Artemisa was raped many times during her childhood and early teens, she might not even know the difference, she might think all sex is always rough or have a twisted idea of sexuality.
• If Themistocles can hit things that far away in high weather, why would he stop shooting that bow... ever?