Leona names himself the leader of his team during Port Fest, and Jack says he is always impressed when he sees Leona leading the students of the dorm.
Epel calls Leona “a dependable captain” during spelldrive games who “gives everyone individual advice” during practices, and Leona is often being approached for advice: he advises Jack and the prefect during Book 3 on how to deal with Azul, teaching them “all magic’s got a loophole,” and advises Ace and Floyd on how to not get possessed by ghosts during Halloween, as well about conserving their magic when in an unknown land preparing to face an unknown antagonist.
Leona teaches Ace about judging by appearances, using the example of the elephant graveyard of his hometown that has since been transformed into a tourist attraction: “It just depends on how you choose to look at a thing. You need accurate facts, not rumors and assumptions.”
Leona also spends much of his descent into Tartarus giving advice to Jamil, teaching Jamil about his own potential by using the examples of Ruggie (“he sucks up to me and uses me. That’s not bad or something to be ashamed of. His shamelessness is his strength”) and Jack, leading Jamil to reflect, “I’ve grown up believing that working harder than necessary is pointless. That my day in the sun would never come anyway. Is he right about me…?”
During Port Fest Jack also approaches Leona for advice after Rook encourages him to speak to someone whom he deeply respects and admires.
The Savanaclaw students look to Leona for leadership during Halloween but he redirects them to Jack, saying that he is not the one in command and assuring Jack that he will be following Jack’s orders (as it was Jack’s plan they were putting into play).
During Book 6 Idia says that both Vil and Leona would be great tanks but his personality isn’t suited to a leadership role and “none of their personalities are a perfect fit for their ideal class,” perhaps betraying how little Idia knows about his fellow students: at the end of the NBC event Vil leads the way out of Halloweentown while Leona returns last, as thought to make sure that no one was left behind.
(The residents of Halloweentown spend much of Leona’s vignette complimenting his leadership skills. More here ▶︎)
When Riddle asks if Leona would “dump the entire job” of cooking onto Trey and Jamil Leona explains, “Delegation’s all about assigning the right person to the right job,” and we see many examples of Leona delegating tasks to others throughout the game.
Leona explains, “Different people are cut out for different things. It’s best to give jobs to people who want them, or who are already good at them,” and explains to Floyd, “Imagine a star shooter getting put on defense, or telling someone with a slim frame to try and overpower his opponent. If a coach started making ridiculous demands, they’d basically be handing their opponents a free win…someone who lacks strength or stamina can still be useful.”
Spelldrive formations that played to each athlete’s unique traits were one of the things that so inspired a 13-year-old Jack Howl watching Leona compete on TV, resulting in Jack enrolling at NRC to play alongside him.
Watching Leona, Jack and Ruggie work together in the battle to reach Malleus in Book 7, Ortho compliments Leona, saying, “This is excellent teamwork that capitalizes on everyone’s strengths,” and that Leona’s “situational awareness and judgement are really impressive.”
When Epel—the best first-year flier—asks Leona for help with his passes Leona refuses, saying that if he gets too greedy his main skill is going to suffer, and passing is basic magic that will improve as long as he keeps going to classes.
During Vargas Camp Leona delegates different tasks to his entire team, having Ruggie give on-site directions and Epel filling in where others have trouble, as he is accustomed to using the tools they have been provided.
Ruggie observes, “We’re doing way better than I expected” and a spelldrive club member agrees, saying, “We couldn’t have done it without Leona’s help.”
Leona also delegates tasks to various sports club members during Book 5 and teaches Ruggie the importance of doing so in a vignette: “Ain’t no reason why you gotta act like you’re alone here. Use your head…try seeing it from a pack leader’s perspective.”
Leona delegates tasks to Ace, Epel and Floyd during Spectral Soiree, though Ace is not impressed when Leona assigns himself the role of standing guard.
Ace asks, “How about showin’ some leadership?,” only for Leona to immediately scare away a ghost that had snuck up on them without anyone but Leona himself noticing. (Ace: “Okay, I admit that’s helpful, but still…”)
Leona takes silent instructions from his tsum during Tsumsted and has the first-year students stack up the various tsums, which pleases them. Leona observes, “That was some decent direction back there…Guess you really do take after me.” (Epel: “It looks dignified and mature. Leona’s so cool, even his tsum is that way.”)
Leading up to the grand Halloween of the NBC event Leona delegates tasks to the prefect, Trey and Jamil after Grim eats through their prepared snacks, and while the mayor panics over the time it will take to repair decorations that Grim has ruined Leona tells him to assign the task to the witches, instead, who can fly.
The mayor insists that the witches have been assigned elsewhere and Leona responds, “At this point, you gotta think efficiently and work out who can get a job done the fastest.”
When Jack Skellington agrees with Leona the mayor asks for additional help, and Skully observes that, with Leona in charge, everything is going smoothly: You assigned Vil to check how the fine embroidery came out, while assigning Idia to handle any complex calculations…I’ve been informed that you took everyone’s strengths into exhaustive account when reallocating these tasks.”
Leona insists that he has just “dumped all the hassles on other people” but Skully responds, “Such modesty,” telling him that Trey and Jamil were particularly grateful to Leona.
During the Housewarden meeting of Book 2 Crowley emphasizes how Savanaclaw’s losses of the past two years—the two years since Leona became Housewarden—are negatively affecting the futures of its students.
There is a fan theory that Crowley intentionally put Savanaclaw against Diasomnia in the first round of the tournament two years in a row in order to lay the groundwork for Leona’s overblot. Leona asks Crowley what his intentions are and Vil seems suspicious of Crowley’s plan to retire Malleus (“It reeks of some kind of unconscious bias on your part”).
Savanclaw is not put against until the final round in Book 2, in contrast to previous years, resulting in Leona and his team taking “a beating from every other dorm on the way to the finals.”
While this fan theory has yet to be proven or disproven in game, there is precedent for Crowley manipulating Leona through his concern for his dorm’s students: it is how Crowley forces Leona’s participation in the Fairy Gala event, saying, “Savanaclaw has many beastman students, and I imagine that temperature changes do them no favors. They’d have trouble staying active. Your dorm’s performance and energy would plummet drastically. Are you willing to accept that risk?”
Ace realizes during Halloween that Leona “actually look(s) out for (his) people,” which Leona also says to Malleus: “I like to think I look out for my guys.”
Savanaclaw’s students being ignored by pro league recruiters ever since he became Housewarden (as a result of being put up against Diasomnia in the first round, twice) is the motivation behind Leona’s plans to take out Malleus in Book 2, which Ace catches onto immediately: “How well they do at the Spelldrive tournament could make or break their careers. If that’s their motive, well, it isn’t hard to understand where they’re comin’ from.”
Leona says that “when someone comes in clutch (during a spelldrive match), they get time in the spotlight, and they can make a name for themselves even outside of our school. The school’s support for spelldrive can sometimes be reflected in students’ grades, too. Each individual victory carries more weight for our club than for others.”
Jack acknowledges that the past two years of the tournament have been the dorm’s greatest moments of shame, broadcast to the whole world in real time when they were knocked out without scoring a single point, by Malleus: “The older dorm members won’t ever forgive that.”
When asked what he wants to do in the next year Leona says, “Level up the spelldrive team and win the national championship,” and Cater responds, “it’s supposed to be what YOU want…”
We see many instances of Leona giving orders to others in the game and being instantly obeyed, by members of his own dorm, by the members of other dorms, by the members of both his club and of other clubs.
Leona also gives orders during Book 7 (obeyed by the entire team) and Playfulland (obeyed by the prefect, Jack and Kalim).
While Spectral Soiree begins rough for the group of Ace, Leona and Floyd, by the end both the younger students are following Leona’s orders, and the same for Jamil in Book 6, who also obeys without question during NBC.
At the start of NBC it seems it is Leona who sets their game plan for how to handle Skully, agreed to by the entire group of Malleus, Vil, Idia, Azul, Riddle, Jade, Jamil and Trey. When Leona orders the other Housewardens to clear a path for Idia in Book 7, Azul and Riddle instantly obey.
Leona seems well-liked by his dorm before, during and after the events of Book 2 (a point that is emphasized in the novel as something that Riddle aspires to achieve for himself someday).
“Despite recent events, it seems Leona has not lost the trust of Savanaclaw’s students. It is a testament to how skilled their housewarden truly is, and the degree to which they respect him. Even in Leona’s battered state, no one hesitates to obey him.”
After Leona saves Jack from a fight against several older students Ruggie observes, “Whatever you say. You brought some rebellious dorm kids in line and put a promising freshman in your debt.” Leona says it is just a part of being housewarden and Ruggie responds, “You’re strong, smart, AND you cover your bases. Savanaclaw couldn’t ask for a better pack leader!”
Leona’s dormmates take offense on his behalf when it is revealed that the prefect stepped on his tail and, when it looks like his plan of Book 2 might succeed, they say that everyone in Leona’s kingdom will have some second thoughts about who should be the next king.
On Leona’s birthday his room is invaded by multiple Savanaclaw students demanding that he get out of bed so that they will be able to celebrate him. Leona tries to downplay the situation when he runs into Lilia in a crowd of his own dormmates, but Lilia says he looks pleased.
Leona says that his dorm’s students keep challenging him to chess games on his birthday “like it’s some kinda birthday treat” even though they barely know the rules.
Mistaking believing that he has been turned into a tsum, Leona walks in on Ruggie and several members of Savanaclaw crying over his transformation into “some weird, adorable creature,” saying, “IT’S SO TRAGIC!” (Leona: “How stupid can you guys get?”)
Certain characters in the game seem to be catching on to the contrast between Leona’s words and actions betraying when he is downplaying his worry or efforts for others: Ace observes, “You know, you talk like you don’t care, but…you actually look out for your people, don’t you,” during Spectral Soiree, and Ruggie calls Leona out for wanting to do something nice for the dorm while downplaying it, and for worrying about Jack during Spectral Soiree despite greeting him with, “Did you remember where your house was?”
Ruggie seems to suspect that Leona has a soft spot for Jack and maybe for the prefect and Grim as well, saying during Book 3 that it is unusual for Leona to offer such useful advice as he does while they struggle to find Azul’s weakness. Leona insists otherwise, saying, “If I play my cards right, I can use those chumps to learn that cephalo-punk’s weakness without lifting so much as my pinky finger.”
Towards the end of Book 6 Jamil seems to suspect that Leona cares for Grim, saying, “You seemed truly worried about Grim a minute ago. And here I thought you couldn’t care less.” Leona says he isn’t worried and just doesn’t want to deal with all the grief he’d get if he accidentally turned Grim into sand, but Jamil looks unconvinced,
Grim is shocked when Leona takes responsibility for failing to warn Jack about the heat of Sunset Savanna, but Leona also takes responsibility for his actions of Book 2. He follows with, “If you want my apology, come and take it,” but we have seen him apologize before: he apologizes twice to Ja
Twisted Wonderland Reference Note 