Leonard Snart | Captain Cold (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
catchacold) wrote2016-05-30 05:27 am
catchacold) wrote2016-05-30 05:27 am
Entry tags:
Application to MoM
〈 PLAYER INFO 〉
NAME: Rei
AGE: 28
JOURNAL:![[plurk.com profile]](https://plurk.com/favicon.ico)
reineke
IM / EMAIL: N/A
PLURK: reineke
RETURNING: I'm apping back in after having dropped him last month!
〈 CHARACTER INFO 〉
CHARACTER NAME: Leonard Snart / Captain Cold
CHARACTER AGE: 44
SERIES: The Flash (CW) and Legends of Tomorrow (also CW)
CHRONOLOGY: The end of the first season of Legends of Tomorrow.
CLASS: This is complicated. Anti-hero. Anti-villain. He likes to think of himself as a villain and therefore often acts like one, but he ends up being a hero, especially for the people that mean the most to him. Ultimately an anti-villain, I’d say. Yup, anti-villain.
HOUSING: Independent Housing in Heropa (he has a place from before, Mick Rory still lives there) ...I am also not sure where to mention that, but he became self-employed as an anti-villain in game as well
BACKGROUND: Leonard Snart in this form is a character in CW’s DC universe. So far he has appeared in Flash and been a main character throughout the first season of Legends of Tomorrow, but he is set to return in some form or other in at the very least these two shows in the next seasons.
Born on June 2nd 1972, Leonard didn’t have a fun childhood ahead of him. His father, Lewis, was a criminal and – according to Leonard – not a very good one. He went to prison after a failed robbery when Leonard was still just a child and when he returned years later, he had become an even worse father than he had already been before then. Leonard’s sister Lisa was born after his father returned. The age difference between them was significant, but in spite or because of that, he clearly felt very protective of her and responsible for her. No wonder, given their father’s abusive nature.
Meanwhile Leonard spent time in juvie, never finished high school and once he was of age, he apparently had more than a couple of stints in prison as well. In juvie he met Mick Rory, who saved him from getting killed by fellow inmates and who has had his back ever since. They have worked together on and off, but clearly they share a very close bond and many joined memories. When Leonard talked about his partner, it was Mick he’s referring to.
He was a criminal, known for his meticulous planning and research, plotting his schemes down to the second. In fact, he was so good at it all that he seemed bored by the lack of challenge. Enter the Flash, Central City’s first costumed hero, and someone who inspired Leonard to step up his game.
It could be said that Leonard became obsessed with the Flash, under the guise of wanting to defeat and kill him, but clearly mostly just interested in seeing if he could succeed. It was the Flash that made him look beyond his usual approach and when a so called ‘cold gun’ – built by Cisco Ramon – falls into his hands, he is interested specifically because cold is in many respects the opposite of speed. He also obtained a ‘heat gun’ at the same time, which he passed on to his old friend Mick Rory, rekindling their old partnership, something he had previously regarded as too risky after a heist had gone awry due to Mick’s pyromania.
Leonard had always had certain rules, such as not killing cops, as that meant ‘too much heat’. The Flash was the first one to not only call him out on having a code, but also who made him agree that since he didn’t need to kill – he was good enough not to – he shouldn’t. So Leonard’s code was adapted accordingly and he – as Captain Cold – clearly considered himself the Flash’s closest enemy.
Him and Mick teamed up with his sister, Lisa, and together they executed a plan that led to Cisco Ramon building the partners their guns again as well as another gun for Lisa. It was then that he also learned the Flash’s secret identity, Barry Allen. He was clearly becoming fond of the idea of gathering a variety of rogues around him, a team to oppose the Flash. Playing villain turned out to be a lot of fun. But at the same time, Barry Allen kept insisting that he had good in him.
When his father returned and forced him to work with him by directly threatening Lisa’s life, he proved how much humanity he hid behind all the cold walls he’d built around himself. Ultimately, when he got the chance, he killed his father for – as he put it – having broken his sister’s heart.
More encounters with the Flash had him telling Leonard again and again that he had good in him. Sometimes to be let down and sometimes to ultimately leave him without much room to argue. Maybe not a hero, but doing a lousy job of being a villain sometimes.
Perhaps it was that which made Rip Hunter choose him for his mission. Or just dumb luck. Either way, he ended up on an exciting mission of using time travel for many failed attempts to kill one guy and save the world from being a total mess.
In the course of this journey, he didn’t only befriend his team mates – especially Sara Lance – but also drifted apart from Mick Rory, who was also along for the ride. Drifted apart might be the wrong word choice, it would be more accurate to say that they ripped apart and then clashed back together again.
Ultimately Leonard ended up sacrificing himself for the sake of free will, his team and – especially – his partner. From Mick’s perspective he sought him out one last time, by travelling back to 2013 and meeting an unsuspecting Leonard from before the Flash’s creation, to tell him that he was always his hero.
Tears were shed.
Link to a more in-depth exploration of his background, also written by me, in response to revision request last time I apped him.
Since I'm apping him back in and he has been in game for over a year by now, a short summary of relevant developments: After they spent months getting to know each other, saving each other's lives at one point and generally putting each other through emotional hell without meaning to, Leonard and another universe's Mick Rory started dating. Leonard and him have since moved in together. He started working as a self-employed anti-villain, doing jobs on commission and pulling off heists to fund the independent housing apartment him and Mick share as well as everything else he might want. To pass the time he also likes to steal Rincewind's clothes, pets and dignity, but they have formed a strange kind of friendship somehow anyway. Since he knows that he is dead where he comes from, he has embraced the world of MoM as his only chance to keep on living, even if that doesn't keep the homesickness and existential dread entirely at bay at all times.
PERSONALITY: Leonard is intelligent and – as his moniker implies – calculating and cold. He tends to be calm and collected, his emotions are played close to his chest and any outburst is rare. He’s very sarcastic and won’t stop providing witty commentary, often through cutting remarks. His entire speech pattern is made for this, always a drawl to his voice, never much of an emotion other than mocking amusement. The voice is something he clearly purposefully puts on, the effect becomes stronger and stronger the more he embraces his role as Captain Cold and lessens whenever he is truly serious.
Just as his voice, his body language is another chapter onto itself. He usually keeps his hands to himself, often loosely folded, sometimes one arm around himself while his free hand is doing something distracting. He not only tends to lean against whatever is closest in ways that barely look comfortable, but he also tends to stay away as far as possible from everyone else in the room.
Mick, who knows him very well, can be a relatively physical person, but he never once touches Leonard, other than to punch him. It’s a long story. Any touching between them is initiated by Leonard. Likewise, Leonard doesn’t tend to touch anyone, unless it is, again, to punch them.
The abuse him and his sister have suffered at the hands of his father is a central part of his character. He generally only brings it up very purposefully to get through to someone who has been through a similar experience or sometimes in a crass, gallows humour way, presumably his way of dealing, but in his demeanour the signs can be seen constantly. He always keeps fully covered, even when a mission leads him to a steam room, but judging by a scar his sister shows off at one point, it can be assumed that he is scarred as well.
All of this doesn't keep him from being quite capable of being charming as well as faking it, flirting very successfully in his own way. Shying away from too much physical contact also doesn't stop his pickpocketing. There’s a reason his partner refers to him as a klepto at one point. However, he does seem a lot more awkward and almost stunted whenever he attempts talking about his actual feelings. He says himself that he doesn't do ‘touchy-feely’ and at another point he says to Mick that they are no good at talking, so they should let their fists do it for them.
Leonard likes challenges, he likes to be very good at what he does. Stealing seems to be less about greed and more about the thrill and the success for him. What he does, he does well. He might not have finished high school, but his skill-set is impressive enough that even certified genius Ray Palmer takes note. But he isn't only good at it, he also clearly enjoys it. While money itself might not actually hold that much of an appeal to him, there is a lot of appeal to stealing just about everything, the more expensive and closer guarded, the better.
He’s an excellent shot and has very good reflexes, not just with a cold gun. No pun intended, but his ability to keep a cool head under almost any circumstances is something that comes in handy a lot. Only certain buttons shouldn't be pushed unless one wants him to actually begin losing his cool, namely any threat to his sister and, in various ways, Mick. The people that are important to him. He also has an attitude that seems to lead to being protective to the point of self-sacrifice about anyone he considers part of his team. Nobody is left behind.
Also, don't try to shoot the Flash in front of him. He will kill you.
Something else that is worth noting is that while he does flirt with people in his own way and is shown to be quite capable at it, at least when he’s faking for con reasons, he never makes any lewd remarks and generally he doesn’t comment on anyone’s appearance or use lines that might be expected. His way of flirting with the target in question actually included studying up on her interests, enabling him to start a conversation that interests her. An approach that shouldn’t be seen as that unique, but it really kind of is, even among good guys.
Overall, he’s a very complex character with a lot of depth to him. A lot more than he’d ever admit to.
POWER: He has the power of using painful puns. What is that? Once he figures out how to purposefully do it, he can use puns – however terrible – to actually inflict physical pain on people. The intensity is related to how sadistic he is feeling and how bad the pun is, as well as any mental defences the other party would have in place. The exact nature of the damage depends on what kind of pun it is. A pun on cold would send a chill down your spine, etc.
Not an especially useful power overall, it can’t be harnessed to be truly harmful, but if he gets it right, he might at least make someone scream. Scream and beg for mercy, to get him to stop with the painful puns.
ALSO, in game Tony Stark fashioned the cold gun for him, which stayed behind when he was ported out and which was kept by Mick Rory, I'd like for Leonard to reclaim it when he returns.
〈 CHARACTER SAMPLES 〉
COMMUNITY POST (VOICE) SAMPLE: as a returning character, a post done to the comm before
LOGS POST (PROSE) SAMPLE: meme thread set in the game verse
FINAL NOTES: N/A
NAME: Rei
AGE: 28
JOURNAL:
IM / EMAIL: N/A
PLURK: reineke
RETURNING: I'm apping back in after having dropped him last month!
〈 CHARACTER INFO 〉
CHARACTER NAME: Leonard Snart / Captain Cold
CHARACTER AGE: 44
SERIES: The Flash (CW) and Legends of Tomorrow (also CW)
CHRONOLOGY: The end of the first season of Legends of Tomorrow.
CLASS: This is complicated. Anti-hero. Anti-villain. He likes to think of himself as a villain and therefore often acts like one, but he ends up being a hero, especially for the people that mean the most to him. Ultimately an anti-villain, I’d say. Yup, anti-villain.
HOUSING: Independent Housing in Heropa (he has a place from before, Mick Rory still lives there) ...I am also not sure where to mention that, but he became self-employed as an anti-villain in game as well
BACKGROUND: Leonard Snart in this form is a character in CW’s DC universe. So far he has appeared in Flash and been a main character throughout the first season of Legends of Tomorrow, but he is set to return in some form or other in at the very least these two shows in the next seasons.
Born on June 2nd 1972, Leonard didn’t have a fun childhood ahead of him. His father, Lewis, was a criminal and – according to Leonard – not a very good one. He went to prison after a failed robbery when Leonard was still just a child and when he returned years later, he had become an even worse father than he had already been before then. Leonard’s sister Lisa was born after his father returned. The age difference between them was significant, but in spite or because of that, he clearly felt very protective of her and responsible for her. No wonder, given their father’s abusive nature.
Meanwhile Leonard spent time in juvie, never finished high school and once he was of age, he apparently had more than a couple of stints in prison as well. In juvie he met Mick Rory, who saved him from getting killed by fellow inmates and who has had his back ever since. They have worked together on and off, but clearly they share a very close bond and many joined memories. When Leonard talked about his partner, it was Mick he’s referring to.
He was a criminal, known for his meticulous planning and research, plotting his schemes down to the second. In fact, he was so good at it all that he seemed bored by the lack of challenge. Enter the Flash, Central City’s first costumed hero, and someone who inspired Leonard to step up his game.
It could be said that Leonard became obsessed with the Flash, under the guise of wanting to defeat and kill him, but clearly mostly just interested in seeing if he could succeed. It was the Flash that made him look beyond his usual approach and when a so called ‘cold gun’ – built by Cisco Ramon – falls into his hands, he is interested specifically because cold is in many respects the opposite of speed. He also obtained a ‘heat gun’ at the same time, which he passed on to his old friend Mick Rory, rekindling their old partnership, something he had previously regarded as too risky after a heist had gone awry due to Mick’s pyromania.
Leonard had always had certain rules, such as not killing cops, as that meant ‘too much heat’. The Flash was the first one to not only call him out on having a code, but also who made him agree that since he didn’t need to kill – he was good enough not to – he shouldn’t. So Leonard’s code was adapted accordingly and he – as Captain Cold – clearly considered himself the Flash’s closest enemy.
Him and Mick teamed up with his sister, Lisa, and together they executed a plan that led to Cisco Ramon building the partners their guns again as well as another gun for Lisa. It was then that he also learned the Flash’s secret identity, Barry Allen. He was clearly becoming fond of the idea of gathering a variety of rogues around him, a team to oppose the Flash. Playing villain turned out to be a lot of fun. But at the same time, Barry Allen kept insisting that he had good in him.
When his father returned and forced him to work with him by directly threatening Lisa’s life, he proved how much humanity he hid behind all the cold walls he’d built around himself. Ultimately, when he got the chance, he killed his father for – as he put it – having broken his sister’s heart.
More encounters with the Flash had him telling Leonard again and again that he had good in him. Sometimes to be let down and sometimes to ultimately leave him without much room to argue. Maybe not a hero, but doing a lousy job of being a villain sometimes.
Perhaps it was that which made Rip Hunter choose him for his mission. Or just dumb luck. Either way, he ended up on an exciting mission of using time travel for many failed attempts to kill one guy and save the world from being a total mess.
In the course of this journey, he didn’t only befriend his team mates – especially Sara Lance – but also drifted apart from Mick Rory, who was also along for the ride. Drifted apart might be the wrong word choice, it would be more accurate to say that they ripped apart and then clashed back together again.
Ultimately Leonard ended up sacrificing himself for the sake of free will, his team and – especially – his partner. From Mick’s perspective he sought him out one last time, by travelling back to 2013 and meeting an unsuspecting Leonard from before the Flash’s creation, to tell him that he was always his hero.
Tears were shed.
Link to a more in-depth exploration of his background, also written by me, in response to revision request last time I apped him.
Since I'm apping him back in and he has been in game for over a year by now, a short summary of relevant developments: After they spent months getting to know each other, saving each other's lives at one point and generally putting each other through emotional hell without meaning to, Leonard and another universe's Mick Rory started dating. Leonard and him have since moved in together. He started working as a self-employed anti-villain, doing jobs on commission and pulling off heists to fund the independent housing apartment him and Mick share as well as everything else he might want. To pass the time he also likes to steal Rincewind's clothes, pets and dignity, but they have formed a strange kind of friendship somehow anyway. Since he knows that he is dead where he comes from, he has embraced the world of MoM as his only chance to keep on living, even if that doesn't keep the homesickness and existential dread entirely at bay at all times.
PERSONALITY: Leonard is intelligent and – as his moniker implies – calculating and cold. He tends to be calm and collected, his emotions are played close to his chest and any outburst is rare. He’s very sarcastic and won’t stop providing witty commentary, often through cutting remarks. His entire speech pattern is made for this, always a drawl to his voice, never much of an emotion other than mocking amusement. The voice is something he clearly purposefully puts on, the effect becomes stronger and stronger the more he embraces his role as Captain Cold and lessens whenever he is truly serious.
Just as his voice, his body language is another chapter onto itself. He usually keeps his hands to himself, often loosely folded, sometimes one arm around himself while his free hand is doing something distracting. He not only tends to lean against whatever is closest in ways that barely look comfortable, but he also tends to stay away as far as possible from everyone else in the room.
Mick, who knows him very well, can be a relatively physical person, but he never once touches Leonard, other than to punch him. It’s a long story. Any touching between them is initiated by Leonard. Likewise, Leonard doesn’t tend to touch anyone, unless it is, again, to punch them.
The abuse him and his sister have suffered at the hands of his father is a central part of his character. He generally only brings it up very purposefully to get through to someone who has been through a similar experience or sometimes in a crass, gallows humour way, presumably his way of dealing, but in his demeanour the signs can be seen constantly. He always keeps fully covered, even when a mission leads him to a steam room, but judging by a scar his sister shows off at one point, it can be assumed that he is scarred as well.
All of this doesn't keep him from being quite capable of being charming as well as faking it, flirting very successfully in his own way. Shying away from too much physical contact also doesn't stop his pickpocketing. There’s a reason his partner refers to him as a klepto at one point. However, he does seem a lot more awkward and almost stunted whenever he attempts talking about his actual feelings. He says himself that he doesn't do ‘touchy-feely’ and at another point he says to Mick that they are no good at talking, so they should let their fists do it for them.
Leonard likes challenges, he likes to be very good at what he does. Stealing seems to be less about greed and more about the thrill and the success for him. What he does, he does well. He might not have finished high school, but his skill-set is impressive enough that even certified genius Ray Palmer takes note. But he isn't only good at it, he also clearly enjoys it. While money itself might not actually hold that much of an appeal to him, there is a lot of appeal to stealing just about everything, the more expensive and closer guarded, the better.
He’s an excellent shot and has very good reflexes, not just with a cold gun. No pun intended, but his ability to keep a cool head under almost any circumstances is something that comes in handy a lot. Only certain buttons shouldn't be pushed unless one wants him to actually begin losing his cool, namely any threat to his sister and, in various ways, Mick. The people that are important to him. He also has an attitude that seems to lead to being protective to the point of self-sacrifice about anyone he considers part of his team. Nobody is left behind.
Also, don't try to shoot the Flash in front of him. He will kill you.
Something else that is worth noting is that while he does flirt with people in his own way and is shown to be quite capable at it, at least when he’s faking for con reasons, he never makes any lewd remarks and generally he doesn’t comment on anyone’s appearance or use lines that might be expected. His way of flirting with the target in question actually included studying up on her interests, enabling him to start a conversation that interests her. An approach that shouldn’t be seen as that unique, but it really kind of is, even among good guys.
Overall, he’s a very complex character with a lot of depth to him. A lot more than he’d ever admit to.
POWER: He has the power of using painful puns. What is that? Once he figures out how to purposefully do it, he can use puns – however terrible – to actually inflict physical pain on people. The intensity is related to how sadistic he is feeling and how bad the pun is, as well as any mental defences the other party would have in place. The exact nature of the damage depends on what kind of pun it is. A pun on cold would send a chill down your spine, etc.
Not an especially useful power overall, it can’t be harnessed to be truly harmful, but if he gets it right, he might at least make someone scream. Scream and beg for mercy, to get him to stop with the painful puns.
ALSO, in game Tony Stark fashioned the cold gun for him, which stayed behind when he was ported out and which was kept by Mick Rory, I'd like for Leonard to reclaim it when he returns.
〈 CHARACTER SAMPLES 〉
COMMUNITY POST (VOICE) SAMPLE: as a returning character, a post done to the comm before
LOGS POST (PROSE) SAMPLE: meme thread set in the game verse
FINAL NOTES: N/A
SPOILER HEAVE IN-DEPTH BACKGROUND
When the Flash enters the scene in Central City, he really does embrace the role as his villain, his rogue. They agree on the terms of the game, even though the Flash obviously doesn't see it as such for the most part, and their relationship develops further from there. This isn't the superhero and supervillain story where their fates are tied together because of an origin story. All that happens is that Leonard views Central City as his city, as he also confirms when the Flash asks him to go somewhere else, and so he naturally has to be opposite of the hero that elected to protect Central City.
However, things develop further from there when the Flash - Barry Allen - first helps him deal with his and his sister's abuser, ultimately saving him from him in spite of his insistence that he doesn't need to be saved, something he also asserts when he kills him himself, asserting control of his fate the moment he can. Perhaps control is in many ways the important concept here, Leonard wants and almost needs to be in control of his own life, his own decisions and to some extent even of the people important to him, most evident in his relationship with Mick Rory.
Since the Flash helped him and saved his sister's life, their dynamic shifted even further. Although a plan the Flash asked him to help with ultimately ended in Leonard betraying him to further his own plans, he also shot someone who was about to kill the Flash. More and more is added to the nature of the game and one aspect in particular doesn't seem to solely amuse Leonard: The Flash's insistence that he has good in him.
This gets to him, because it hasn't been part of how he sees himself and he is used to defining his own role. The name and status of Captain Cold he was quick to embrace, but this is something that has him at a loss.
Cue Rip Hunter, who comes in offering time travel with a team set to destroy an immortal who is supposed to become the world's worst dictator at some point in the future. Rip Hunter initially tells them that in the future, all of these people he chose for the team won't have made an impact, but by joining the team they could become legen - wait for it - dary.
Why does Leonard Snart decide to join a mission like this? The reason he gives Mick Rory, his partner, to talk him into it is simple enough: All of time to steal on a much grander scale than they ever had the opportunity to before.
But what's true? Sometimes it is hard to tell with a man who keeps things as close to the chest as Leonard, but we can let his actions speak for themselves. Very early on, in the third episode of Legends of Tomorrow and at the first opportunity he has, Leonard elects to returning to his own past in an attempt to change his family's history. He doesn't tell his companions just what exactly his plan is initially when he steals a jewel from a museum in the Central City of the past, but then it's revealed when he takes said jewel to his own old house.
In the original timeline, his father had been arrested for the theft of said jewel and Leonard wanted to prevent that, because his father has become a lot worse after that prison stint. When in his old house, Leonard runs into his younger self, who's about ten years old and wears dinosaur pyjamas and generally seems to be set on being the cutest thing ever. He asks Leonard what he's doing here, introducing himself as 'Leo' to the man that claims to be one of his father's friends. Leonard's voice is soft and sincere when talking to his former self and he drops to his knees in front of him, telling him to never let himself be hurt inside his mind or in his heart. The scene ends when Leonard's father arrives and Leonard gives him the jewel and also tells him that he's only leaving him alive because his sister hadn't been born yet and he couldn't let that happen.
Upon returning from this detour, Leonard learns that it didn't change a thing, as his father was now, in the new timeline, caught shortly thereafter, trying to sell the jewel Leonard gave him.
So it already becomes obvious that, no, Leonard didn't just take this opportunity for Criminal 101 reasons. But then, what else? What about the team? While Leonard doesn't think much of altruism and isn't used to not being the one in charge, he fully accepts being on a team and very quickly asserts to Rip Hunter that this means that no one should ever be left behind. In general he questions Rip Hunter's authority on multiple occasions and distrusts his leadership. Yet he remains with the team and, ironically, sometimes can be seen almost acting as Rip Hunter's guilty conscience regarding keeping all of the team alive and together.
As such it is him that talks Sara Lance down from killing Martin Stein - something considered to keep him from giving away secrets under torture while in captivity. Once more he drops his act, his voice unaffected and real when he talks to her. Later on he says that he did it because Sara didn't want to be a killer, which was certainly another motivation.
All of this initially stands in stark contrast to his partnership with Mick Rory, which perhaps unsurprisingly soon leads to trouble in their criminal paradise. Leonard is the first to refer to the team as their friends and Mick soon discovers that the reasons Leonard used to talk him into coming on this trip can't have been all that truthful, when Leonard not only refuses to stay with him in the Star City of the future, but also punches Mick out to drag him back against his will. On the other hand, even before this, Mick was the one insisting on saving Ray in one instant when Leonard wanted to leave him behind to focus on their own safety instead, since apparently in spite of Leonard's sudden team spirit, no one should be a risk to them and their partnership.
After Leonard 'betrayed' Mick by dragging him back from Star City, their relationship worsened, culminating in Mick handing the team over to time pirates. Time pirates, I know, this show is nothing if not entertaining. Anyway, while they manage to defeat the pirates, this also results in Leonard 'dealing' with Mick, apparently killing him.
Without Mick around, some of the fire certainly seems to have left Leonard, but that doesn't keep him from being a competent and valuable asset to the team. Luckily he doesn't have to wait that long for Mick to return. However, this Mick is now 'Chronos', someone who was captured and brainwashed by the Time Masters, the organization that wants to take the team down to keep them from messing with the time stream. Chronos remembers Leonard and the others, but there is an emotional detachment mixed in with the resentment he still feels. This shows when he captures Leonard and tells him that he'll find his sister and kill her, over and over again, in front of him. This can definitely be seen as a breaking point for Leonard, the emotion on his face at that moment also being enough to break anyone else.
Nevertheless, he frees himself at the first opportunity - even though that means freezing and shattering his own hand - and makes it to the team in time to keep them from killing Chronos, killing Mick. Instead they decide to try and undo the brainwashing. At first this seems like a pointless exercise, but then Leonard lets Mick beat him up and gives him the opportunity to 'kill him and walk', but apparently Mick can't do anything out of love, so he won't do that.
With this very tentative reunion in place, Leonard appears at once more driven to achieving their mission, but also more ready for it all to be over and his doubts over Rip Hunter's handling of basically everything multiply. Sara Lance acts in many ways as a catalyst in his and Mick's relationship, they are often seen all in the same frame. Sara is easily the team-mate he is closest to, even offering and receiving emotional support, which is quite something coming from the ice man.
The mission of killing Vandal Savage becomes more and more crucial and at one point they almost succeed, but only almost. Their chances of actual success are dwindling and Leonard tells Mick that he feels that it will go wrong and that it is time to abandon ship. But before they can really act on that, although Leonard certainly tries, things do indeed go wrong. Although they have Vandal Savage captive at this point, when they turn him over to the Time Masters, the proper authority, they free him instead, stating that he and his reign are 'supposed to happen'.
Almost all the team is captured and it is here that Rip Hunter and in turn everyone else learns about the Oculus, which the Time Masters use to manipulate, control and watch time. The team decides, upon getting free, to destroy the Oculus, which starts an interesting game of switcheroo when first Ray Palmer - who was meant to die there according to the Oculus - holds it in self-destruct mode with the goal of, duh, destroying it. However, Mick Rory steps in, punching him out and taking over. Of course, this is the point where Leonard comes in. "My old friend, please, forgive me."
One last time he punches Mick Rory out, leaves him with his cold gun and the ring he wears in memory of the first heist Mick and him pulled that went wrong (I couldn't make this stuff up, they are so married) and takes over for him, ready to sacrifice himself. Sara comes in just in time to see the decisions he has made and kisses him before leaving with the unconscious Mick. Leonard is alone surrounded by enemy soldiers when he says his last words: "There are no strings on me." and then he explodes. Or is sucked into the time stream. Or ends up somewhere else and we just don't know it yet, it is very up in the air right now.
However, the team mourns him and they mourn him as a hero, even as they acknowledge that it's the last thing he'd want to be remembered as. Mick Rory is seen holding the ring and looking very sad and so it is only fitting that in the last episode, one of the last scenes, is Mick travels to the year 2013, before any of the events of the Flash or Legends of Tomorrow transpired, to tell Leonard that he has always been his hero.
Leonard Snart's role is as complex as the man himself, but ultimately he always tries to define it for himself. No strings.