Le Dernier Spartiate (The Last Spartan) is a comic book by Jacques Martin. It was first published in Tintin magazine in 1966-1967. Then it was published as a comic album in 1967. This is the seventh episode of the Alix series.
Alix wakes up alone on a beach in Greece. He remembers that the ship that he traveled on was caught in a tempest. Soon he finds the shipwreck, but it was burned. He asks Greek villagers for help, but they are very reluctant. One of them finally gives him some food and tells him that his travel companions, including Enak, were enslaved by a group of people who deliberately make the ships run aground.
Le Dernier Spartiate provides examples of the following tropes:
- Alas, Poor Villain: In the end, Horatius is reluctant to attack the temple because he feels some sympathy for the Greeks. Finally, the remaining Greeks die in the fire of the temple. Alix and Horatius feel sorry for them and for Héraklion.
- Anti-Villain: Queen Adréa. Her goal is the free her homeland, which is legitimate. She has slaves, but she opposes cruel treatments like cutting off the hands of one of them. She also considers Alix as a Worthy Opponent and she does not want to kill or enslave him. She only accepts to slaughter the slaves in case of extreme necessity.
- Better to Die than Be Killed: The probable reason for the fire of the temple in the end: the Greeks prefer dying in the fire than being killed or enslaved by the Romans.
- Bittersweet Ending: The slaves, including Enak, are freed. The Romans prevail, but they feel sorry for the Greeks who all died, except Héraklion. Alix also feels sorry for this young orphan.
- Bond Villain Stupidity: If Queen Adréa had let Alcidas kill Alix, or at least if she had jailed him, maybe she would have saved her people.
- Call-Back: Alix and Enak go to Greece to visit Horatius, whom they met in La Griffe noire and Les Légions perdues. In the end, Horatius and Galva besiege the Greek fort.
- The Cavalry: The Roman army under the command of Horatius shows up when the revolted slave are facing the Greeks in a last stand.
- Clothing Damage: When Alix wakes up on the seashore after the tempest, his clothes are damaged, so that he is almost shirtless.
- Distressed Dude: Enak is caught and enslaved by the Greeks. Alix frees him, but he gets caught again. Alcidas threatens to cut off his hands and Alix must intervene. Later, the Greeks plan to slaughter all the slaves, including Enak.
- Dreaming of Things to Come: Adréa makes a nightmare: she is a giant Athena, she is going to crush Alix, but she hesitates and finally Alix stands up and knocks her down. This foreshadows her attitude toward Alix and her final downfall.
- Final Battle: The slaves rebel and then the Romans attack the fort.
- Flashback: Alix and Enak's travel from Rome and the tempest is showed in a flashback.
- Give Me a Sword: Spoken verbatim by Alix as he is surrounded by Greek soldiers. Subverted because he does not get one."If you are worth more than the Romans, let me go. If you are worth as much as the Romans, give me a sword. But if you are worth less than the Romans, then KILL ME!"
- God Save Us from the Queen!: Downplayed. Adréa is the leader of the Greeks, who are the bad guys, but she saves Alix several times from Alcidas's wrath. She is also partly responsible for the ruin of her people because she kept Alix alive and he led the slaves' revolt.
- Good Samaritan: Myron, the Greek villager who helps Alix. He gives him food, clothes and weapons. He also tells him were the slave drivers have gone.
- Grey-and-Gray Morality: The Greeks capture Romans to have slaves, but the Romans also have slaves. They even plan to enslave the leaders of the Greeks after defeating them. The goal of the Greeks is first to free their homeland, which is a legitimate goal, and then to take over the world, just like the Romans do. Some Greeks, like Alcidas or Pyrenias, are scumbags, but others (Horodès, Queen Adréa, Astyanax) are decent people. The Romans also destroy the farm of innocent people.
- High-Heel–Face Turn: Downplayed. Adréa falls in love with Alix and she saves his life several time, but she never betrays her people.
- In Medias Res: The story starts when Alix wakes up on a beach. Alix and Enak's travel from Rome and the tempest is showed in a flashback.
- Last Stand:
- Alix and the revolted slaves face the Greeks on the fort's walls. Alix says that it is not possible to move back anymore: they must repel them or die. Then the Roman army shows up.
- The Greeks in the end. They know they are lost from the moment when the Roman army shows up.
- The Last Title: The title means The Last Spartan and refers to Heraklion, the last of his people.
- Made a Slave: Enak and Alix's other travel companions are enslaved by a group a Greeks.
- Mirroring Factions: The Romans and the Spartiates may be sworn enemies, but they have many things in common. They are both warmongers, attack defenseless peasants, keep non-citizens as slaves and dream of conquering the world.
- Nightmare Sequence: Alix dreams that Enak is taken away by the slave drivers, then that a giant Athena crushes him under her foot. Adréa makes a related nightmare: she is a giant Athena, she is going to crush Alix, but she hesitates and finally Alix stands up and knocks her down.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: When Alix agrees to surrender, Horodès gives his word that Alix and Enak will not be harmed. Horodès' men didn't agree with this and unleashe their war dogs on them. Horodès intervene to stop the dogs and chastise his men for dishonoring his word.
- Right-Hand Attack Dog: The Greeks have dogs. One of them attacks Alix when he secretly follows the Greeks in the forest.
- Slave Liberation: Alix first frees Enak and two other slaves, but Enak is enslaved again. Finally, Alix encourages all the slaves to rebel against the Greeks. The slaves take control of a part of the fort and, finally, the Romans rescue them.
- Snakes Are Sinister: A snake tries to suffocate Alix when he approaches the Greek hidden city.
- Sole Survivor: Heraklion is the only one left of his family and his people, the Spartiates.
- Spiteful Spit: Alix spits in Alcidas's face when the general questions him in jail.
- Storming the Castle: In the end, the Romans attack the Greek fort.
- Take Over the World: In his speech, Alcidas tells the new recruits that this is the Greeks' ultimate goal.
- Temporary Love Interest: Queen Adréa falls in love with Alix. She does not make explicit advances to him and Alix, of course, does not seem to be interested. In the end, she dies.
- Villainous Crush: Queen Adréa falls in love with Alix.
- We Can Rule Together: Queen Adréa tells Alix that she could make him prince if he allies with her.
- Worthy Opponent: Horodès and Queen Adréa explicitly declare that they admire Alix's bravery. Adréa even wants him to be a role model for his son.
- You Wake Up on a Beach: In the beginning, Alix wakes up alone on a beach in Greece.
