Leonardo

Leonardo Isamu Hamato (a.k.a. Leo, Lee, Leon, Nardo)

Leonardo is the oldest of the turtles (arguably) and the leader of their team.

Physical Description

General Physical Condition

Physical Features

Leonardo appears as a humanoid diamondback terrapin. Like his brothers, he stands upright like a human and has three digits on his hands and feet. His feet are webbed. Leo's shell is ridged down the center scutes. Each scute is paler in the center with black swirls. His plastron scutes each have a black rectangular line that follows the shape of the scute. His skin is a pale mint green color with black lines and spots on his head, and black freckles everywhere else.
There is a healed crack scar in his shell running from his left shoulder down to the center of the second center scute, resulting in a large chip in his shell near the shoulder. He also has a pale white scar under his left kneecap.

Apparel & Accessories

Leo wears a blue mask with long, neat tails, and a blue belt with a fannypack that he carries supplies such as first aid supplies. His leg gaurds are also tied with blue fabric and he has white wrappings on his hands and feet.
Leo prefers to dress down to earth and plainly, as he doesn't like to stand out. He'll usually where plain blue colors with occasional graphic tees.

Human Form

When wearing a Cloaking Brooch, Leo appears as a Japanese teenager with long black hair tied up into a ponytail. He uses his mask as a ribbon to tie his hair up. He dresses in a layered shirt with a graphic anime tee, jeans, and blue converse shoes.

Specialized Equipment

Leo's weapon of choice are swords. He started out training with a wooden bokken, but advanced to twin katanas as his Yokai Weapon. They are made from a blue metal and come with shimmery gold textured scabbards. They are able to fuse into a full sized odachi.
Leo also carries the first aid kit with him, as he's the medic when people get hurt or sick.

Special Abilites

When it comes to pure skill with martial arts, Leo is the best fighter on the team, having put in the most work of anyone else, but his mutation also makes him stronger, faster, and more resilient than a human, making him a formidable foe for anyone to encounter.
When he gets his yokai weapon, he is able to use Godai, specifically the element of Earth, which embodies the traits of stubbornness, collectiveness, stability, and confidence. His ability allows him to manipulate dirt and stone, however he struggles the most of any his brothers to use these abilities, has he has a poor relationship with some of the traits that allow him to use it effectively.

Mental characteristics

Personal history

Leo was a young diamondback terripin that was being kept as a pet until he got a respiratory infection his owners didn't know how to treat, so he we dumped in the woods instead. As he was struggling for life, he was pinned to a rock by a Mutagen canister along with some other baby turtles, before they were all rescued by Hamato Yoshi. Yoshi nursed him back to health in the bathtub of his cabin, until the mutagen began to mutate him into a half turtle, half human toddler.
Leo was mentally already 3 years old when he was mutated, thus he was the first one to learn to speak. This of course startled Yoshi as he had not expected the turtles to speak. As Yoshi mutated himself, he began to look more and more like his pet rat, Splinter, and at Leo's young age he would frequently confuse the two and call Yoshi Splinter instead. When Splinter the Rat died, Yoshi took on the name Splinter permanently.
Being the oldest, Leo had always taken on a protector role for his brothers, even when they were little babies. He was always the one to comfort them when they were upset or hurt. He was a papa's boy towards Splinter, for the first few years of his life he wouldn't leave his side, and would always be the one to scold his brothers if they were breaking Splinter's rules.
Leo was the first to show interest in martial arts. Because of how much time he spent with Splinter, he would watch him practice and try to mimic his moves. Splinter found this amusing, but when Leo's fascination with fighting didn't go away, he decided he'd eventually train the boys, so they could defend themselves. At 8 years old, Leo began learning marital arts with Splinter. Inevitably, his brothers also joined in, not wanting to be left out, but Leo was always the most passionate about it. He practiced more and learned faster than his brothers.
When Raphael got badly hurt by a mutant, Leo started to take his training more seriously. No longer was fighting a fun game with Splinter, it was necessary to keep his brothers safe. He was also determined to learn first aid, so that he'd be ready next time something like that happened again.
The boys were allowed to explore outside the cabin on their own for the first time when Leo turned 13, with the biggest rule being to stay away from the fence. Because Leo was the eldest, the most skilled, and most likely to follow the rules and keep his brothers in line; he was made the honorary leader of their team and would be allowed to give orders if they were ever put in a dangerous situation.

Gender Identity

Show spoiler

Leo has grown up his entire life believing he was a boy as that's what Splinter assigned him when identifying them at a young age, but when he is kidnapped and has DNA extracted by Lindsey Baker, she confirmed that he was genetically female. This left Leo confused about his gender identity for a hot minute, until Splinter convinced him that if he still felt like a boy, than he was a boy. Thus Leo is accidently trans.

Education

Leo was homeschooled along with his brothers. Next to Donnie, Leo performs the second best academically. He prefers learning about history.

Mental Trauma

Leo struggles with OCD. He also struggles with paranoia surrounding being found in their home or being discovered to be mutants by humans, as well as intrusive thoughts and impulses, often involving his brothers getting hurt or him hurting them himself. These thoughts greatly disturb him and cause a lot of stress for him. He decided to become the "doctor" of the family in order to go againsst these thoughts and better protect his brothers. His rituals mostly revolve around the number 3. These include counting to three, counting his brothers, and tapping on his plastron in threes. He locks the door three times when they're inside their house and checks it three times if Splinter leaves. He cleans his swords three times. He taps his utensils three times before and after he eats.

Show spoiler

Leo deals with PTSD after Oroku Saki discovers their location and tricks Leo into letting him into the yokai realm, where Leo is nearly beaten to death before being rescued by Usagi and thrown back out to his family. He was unconscious for two weeks before he finally woke and spent a long time physically recovering. He still hasn't gotten over the attack, often having nightmares about Saki and dealing with feelings of failure, uselessness, and helplessness. He is still angry at himself for not protecting his family properly, and blames himself for Saki's entrance into the yokai realm.

Intellectual Characteristics

Leo is a bright young man. While not as exceptionally brilliant as Donatello, he's still very good at assessing a situation and coming up with a plan. He's an excellent strategist and knows exactly how to use his brothers' strengths to navigate the whole team towards a goal.

Morality & Philosophy

Leo believes strongly in honor; specifically fighting with honor, instilled by Splinter when he trains him. This means avoiding cheap, dirty tactics, starting unnecessary fights, or doing things that would harm innocent people. He has a deep disdain for people who selfish and fight for their own gain, and often feels as though it's his duty to protect people from monsters like that. At the same time, Leo has a tendency to see the good in people, such as Karai, who he believes has a good side somewhere that she is hiding from her father.

Personality Characteristics

Motivation

Leo is honor bound to protect the people he cares about, as well as people in need. He desires to make the world a better place, so when he see's a crime happening, he feels like he'd be a coward if he didn't try to do something about it. This mentality often leads to Leo getting into conflict he didn't need to be involved in, which can lead to trouble for both him and his brothers.

Likes & Dislikes

________	Likes	Dislikes
Color	Blue	Red
Food	Pizza, fried veggies and rice, fish, boba.	Wasabi, spicy food.
Music	Traditional Japanese, New age, Lofi, mellow phonk	Metal, Hardcore
Activities	Meditation, Martial Arts, Weapon smithing, watching anime (Mostly Naruto).	Cooking.
Book	Journey to the West
Game	Beat Saber, Animal Crossing (to relax)	Super Smash Brothers (He's just salty cause Raph always beats him)

Virtues & Personality perks

Leo prides himself in being a good leader, fighter and strategist. He's the one who can bail his team out of trouble most of the time and keep a cool head while doing so. He is brave in the face of danger and won't back down from a fight he's serious about. He's hard to keep him knocked down, as he will keep getting up and fighting, especially if the fate of his friends and family are at stake.
He is a protective person and always the first one to offer a helping hand when needed. He's caring and compassionate.

Vices & Personality flaws

Leo tends to take on an intense burden on his shoulders. He's not the most open about his own emotions because he'd rather be the one helping other people, but all the strain comes at a cost to his mental health. He values so much in being a good fighter and leader that when he fails, it hits him hard and he falls into a depression. He's incredibly hard on himself, and will punish himself if he feels he's not good enough to do his duty.
He also tends to be the most paranoid in new situations, always being on edge and keeping alert, which seriously stresses him out. He'll also avoid new or interesting experiences on the off chance of the risk they pose.

Social

Family Ties

He has a close bond to his family and they are the most important thing in the world to him. He would sacrifice anything to keep them safe and would be completely lost without them. He looks up to Splinter as not just a father or a mentor, but an anchor that keeps him sable in his otherwise chaotic teenage life.

Religious Views

While not super religious himself, he does practice a lot of Shinto and Buddist practices, purely because Splinter does and he wishes to bond with him on a spiritual level.

Mannerisms

Leo tends to be the cool, down to earth one. He is quiet but confident in the way he speaks, though he has a tendency to get easily flustered. He tries to live his life through grace and poise, but he's still a teenager and has a tendency to drop this front and be more casual around his friends and brothers.

Relationships

Leonardo

Brother

Towards Donatello

5

Honest

---

Donatello

Brother

Towards Leonardo

5

Honest

---

History

Leo grew close to Donnie when they were young as they were both the quieter ones, while Raph and Mikey would often wrestle for fun. Donnie found Leo much easier to be around than his louder brothers, and Leo wasn't as overwhelming when they played. When Donnie was 7 and Leo was 8, they were training with wooden weapons when Leo's sword struck Donnie's shell and he bled. This began Leo's fear of hurting his siblings and his interest in learning first aid.
As they got older, Donnie went to Leo often to talk about safety measures around the house, about the mutants in the area, and about strategies. Donnie trusts in Leo as his older brother, and Leo relies often on Donnie's intellect.

Relationship Reasoning

Donnie and Leo are very close and enjoy talking to each other about things like history, strategy, their own biology, ideas for home defense and managing the mutants inside the fence. Leo likes to settle down next to Donnie and listen to him infodump about anything and everything Donnie will talk about.

Raphael

Brother

Towards Leonardo

5

4

---

Leonardo

Brother

Towards Raphael

5

4

---

History

Leo and Raph grew up together ever since they mutated. Being the two eldest children and being so close in age, they treated each other more like twins than a older/younger brother situation. Though to this day, there's many arguments on who the true eldest is. Most of the family agree that it's Leo, except for Raph who will defend his theory that he is the eldest till the end of his days.
Being so close in age, they were often given the same level of responsibility growing up, but Raph's volatile personality would mean that Leo ended up taking most of those responsibilities and bossing him around. Despite still enjoying each others company on a good day, Leo and Raph grew up fighting the most. They're personalities were very different but they both wanted the same thing; independency and being in charge. Leo always got upset with Raph for being so rebellious, and Raph would be upset with how bossy and demanding Leo could be.
When they started training in ninjutsu, the two of them started to become very competitive with each other, despite Splinter's efforts to discourage this mindset. It would happen anyway due to the amount of praise Leo would get compared to the amount of criticism Raph gets.

Relationship Reasoning

Leo and Raph have a complicated relationship. They obviously love each other a lot, but they also have the most trouble getting along of anyone in the family. Raph finds himself being compared to Leo a lot, which crushes his self esteem and makes him bitter about Leo's successes. In return, Leo finds himself fed up with Raph's inability to cooperate or listen to him. Raph often insists that he should be leading the team, or questions Leo's leadership and strategies. Raph often wants to do things his way which is directly contradictory of acting as a team.
A fight between Leo and Raph can often turn into a screaming match and occasionally get physical. Afterwards they won't talk to each other for an extended period of time. Usually it requires an intermediary like Mikey to get the two to reconcile.
At the end of the day though, Leo and Raph love each other, and have a twin bond with each other that none of the others quite have. When things get genuinely serious, the two will put their differences aside to protect each other and their family.

Michelangelo

Brother

Towards Leonardo

5

---

Leonardo

Brother

Towards Michelangelo

5

---

History

Mikey is Leo's littlest brother. Growing up Leo has always had a protective role over him, and he was who Mikey would always go to first to feel safe. Whenever he was lonely at night or had nightmares, he would get up and snuggle with Leo in his bed.
Seeing Leo start training is why Mikey started training as young as he did, as he found it unfair to be left out of a fun activity with his big brother.

Relationship Reasoning

Mikey is always more laid back than Leo's more serious an cautious personality. This often causes Leo to scold Mikey for goofing around when they are trying to be serious. But it's exactly Mikey's lighthearted nature that Leo needs. He is always the one to convince Leo to relax and do something fun, instead of stressing about ninja stuff all the time. In return Leo is an important guiding figure that keeps Mikey focused and on task.
Because Mikey's so empathetic, he's the first to notice whenever Leo is in a funk and will try his best to cheer him up, or at least be a decent distraction.

Commonalities & Shared Interests

Mikey and Leo both enjoy watching anime together, and once you get them going on that topic, they can talk for hours about it.

Ryuji

Cousin

Towards Leonardo

3

---

Leonardo

Cousin

Towards Ryuji

3

---

History

Of all the cousins, Leo and Ryuji have the closest bond with each other. As soon as Ryuji met Leo, (albeit in human disguise) he was so excited to finally meet his cousin from his Uncle Yoshi's side and was too eager to test his skill with someone who had trained with him.
The fight did not end as expected when he knocked Leo's cloaking brooch off during their duel and saw his mutated form for the first time. At first he was stunned and confused, but after the situation was explained, he went out of his way to apologize for his reaction, assuring Leo that he still wants to know his cousins, mutant and all.

Commonalities & Shared Interests

They both watch anime, but Ryuji thinks Naruto is a dumb little kids show, much to Leo's offense.

Usagi

Friend

Towards Leonardo

4

---

Leonardo

Friend

Towards Usagi

4

---

History

Usagi met Leo along with his brothers when they were being harrassed by Oni who had broken their weapons. Realizing they were Hamatos, he offered to help them by getting them new Yokai Weapons, sparking their friendship.
Usagi would see Leo again when he was being attacked by The Shredder and he stepped in to save him. Since then, Leo and Usagi have had a special bond with each other, and the two would hang out from there.

Relationship Reasoning

Usagi is one of the first non-human friends Leo makes, and both being swordsmen mean they have a lot in common. Leo is regularly impressed by Usagi's skill and dedication to his craft and admires him for it.

Show spoiler

Leo has started to develop a crush on Usagi, however he refuses to admit it.

Species

Mutant

Mutant Type

Diamondback Terrapin

Date of Birth

3rd of August

Year of Birth

2007 15 Years old

Family

Hamato Clan

Parents (Adopting)

Splinter

Spouses

Siblings

Donatello (Brother)

Raphael (Brother)

Michelangelo (Brother)

Pronouns

He/him

Sex

Female

Gender

Male

Presentation

Masculine

Eyes

Pale blue

Skin Tone/Pigmentation

Pale mint green with black spots

Height

5'6"

Known Languages

English

Japanese

Related Historical Events

• 2009
  Turtle's and Splinters Mutation
• 2007
  Leo Hatches

Family

Splinter

Raphael

Donatello

Michelangelo

Friends

April O'Neil

Casey Jones