 Frank Miller's 1998 comic book miniseries "300", the 2006 film adaptation of the same name, and the , portray Ephialtes (played by Andrew Tiernan) as a severely deformed Spartan exile whose parents fled Sparta to protect him from the infanticide he would have surely suffered as a disfigured infant.Although he is brave and his spear thrust more than adequate, he can not raise his arm so he can be part of the phalanx (a vital part of the Spartan battle formation).Leonidas asks him to support his brethren by bringing the wounded water and clearing the dead from the battleground.