#mcoganalysis

The caption of one of the pictures says

“Esteban, son of the sun”

“Mendoza, son of the sea”

😭 who did this. I know it’s not official stuff but it’s still funny to think about

Anyway I think it’s cute given that both guys have been alone all their lives and belong nowhere essentially. But they’ve been claimed by like. The sun and the ocean. cute. No it’s adorable

Cause they (just like everyone in the show) are kinda lonely in their own ways

But it is funny though. Why would anyone want Mendoza for anything

The sun choosing its child: here is Esteban, a young boy, pure, innocent, pious, generous and kind, perfect to represent me 💛

Meanwhile the sea: I found this dude wandering around the ocean, he’s the worst guy ever, he’s probably sold his soul to the devil, or maybe he’s the devil himself, and I love him 💙

But if we do look at this even more it could get goofy

the sun: even though Esteban doesn’t believe in me, I still help him out cause he’s my son and I love him

And then there’s

*Mendoza struggling to keep everyone alive on the raft*

The sea: hmmmm… I should do something,.. oh I know… SHARK ATTACK

The sun: bro what??

The sea: it’s so he can build character :)))

This isn’t entirely false though cause the ocean going haywire is actually beneficial for the characters. Which, i mean, of course it is, because of plot reasons. For example the flying fish hitting Gaspar in the head stopped Mendoza from being murdered

Okay enough goofiness. I think this also fits in other stuff.

So we know Esteban represents the sun, I don’t need to explain why, it’s literally the title of the show.

Then Zia is the moon. Which okay I can see it. Second main character, reflects light of the sun. Feminine energy I guess. And then magic and witchcraft (later seasons when she gets powers).

Then Tao is the stars. Blacked out by Sun (main character). Used for navigation, he guides the characters to the cities of gold etc.

Obviously there’s the whole breaking into the royal palace part. And then finding the right person. And then kidnapping them quietly. And then leaving without anyone realizing what happened

But I also want Zia’s pov on all this

Because we know that Mendoza essentially kinda kidnaps both Zia and Esteban. Sure he didn’t outright abduct Esteban. But he did give him the idea to leave Barcelona + wanted to get him to trust him.

But with Zia it’s very different. We see she’s tied up in a box. So I’m wondering. What led to that happening???

It makes no sense cause he kinda needs Zia more than Esteban, right? So he wants Zia to like/trust him. Obviously. But putting someone in a box is NOT gonna make them trust you. So uhh why’d he do that. There’s practical reasons, yes, but let’s put that aside first

We know that he gently persuaded Esteban by filling his head with ideas about finding his biological father etc. So like I always think that Mendoza probably tried to get Zia to follow him. He probably offered her similar things too. For example he told her he’s bringing her back to her family. To a little girl, lost and alone, it would sound great. But she has experience. She’s smart. She’s scared and wary of him. So he has to use force

unlike Esteban. He’s never had to deal with shady people before. So mendoza’s offer seems perfectly honest

But Zia knows better. And besides, Mendoza is way too scary for her 😭 not just personality wise. I mean just look at him. Not very inviting. And he walks around with a sword 😭 even if Zia didn’t distrust Spaniards specifically, she’d still be scared of him I think

Ok let’s be honest, he for sure tried to persuade her (like with Esteban). Because he knew he needed her more than he needed him. So he needs her on his side. But obviously didn’t work. But now I want to know what happened that made Mendoza tie her up?? Did she try to run away?? Or just idk refused his offer. Or maybe he tied her up so no one would discover her before they left Barcelona (I mean that’s obvious)

Also another thing I wanted to mention. Zia says that Mendoza is a “wicked man” (which is true) and you might think it’s cause he kidnapped her (which makes sense) but immediately after Zia says “all he cares about is gold” and I’m wondering how did she assess his character so quickly they only JUST met. Is it cause he’s Spanish so obviously he wants gold. Or did he say something about the cities. Cause Zia already knows why she’s being kidnapped

Anyway in season 1 we see Zia hating on Spaniards cause she’s only ever has bad experiences with them. When she meets Esteban (a nice Spaniard) she doesn’t go “huh maybe I was wrong maybe not all Spaniards are bad” instead she’s like “okay well Esteban is different, an exception”

And no one can even say she’s wrong about it

Throughout the season we see her constantly hating on Mendoza (yes queen, drag him through the dirt). She mainly points out his hypocrisy and fake concern for others. Tao also hates him but honestly not as much (or with any real reasons)

What I don’t like in season 2 is how she suddenly likes him. For NO reason. And Tao DOESN’T like him?? I’m sorry what

Season 2,3,4 skipped so many things so I’m not surprised

I think zia (at the start of season 2) should’ve been like “oh look at that, Mendoza got gold after all. Clearly that’s all he ever cared about. He only pretended to care about us. Now that he’s lost his money from the first city, he wants to find the second. Ugh I knew it, all Spaniards suck” wouldn’t that make more sense??? If anything it would prove her ideology from season 1 even better + and show that he still really can’t be trusted. That his concern for the children was fake. But they gave this logic to Tao even though it didn’t really suit him at all. Going off track but Tao didn’t have personal enmity with Mendoza. He just didn’t like white people cause he’s heard bad things about them. He’s had no personal experience unlike Zia. Which is why he’s kinda chill with them later on (he even compliments Mendoza at some point… Zia would never). But then in season 2 the make Zia the kind and trusting person and why? Cause she’s the girl?

Idk man I’m just thinking of how different stuff could’ve been. It would’ve been fun to see these dynamics evolve in season 2,3,4 cause the sequel has no character development at all

But the funny thing is that Zia is kinda like him in a few ways. And it would be fun to see her realize that

I’m going into headcanon territory but not too far fetched either

For example. Zia really doesn’t like it when Mendoza lies. When they bring Lana back to her family and Mendoza starts acting all humble, Zia immediately knows it’s fake and goes “he’s lying, he’s never been that nice”. And I think she’s the only one who can really see his lies. This could be due to her just generally distrusting Europeans, but I also think she’s just really good at understanding/reading people (seen more in season 2,3,4) which is a trait Mendoza has as well

Now near the end of the season, Zia also resorts to lying. When Gaspar and Gomez ask where Mendoza is, Esteban and Tao are kinda like “uhh well…” but Zia immediately goes “he’s dead. Burned alive. Pedro and sancho too”. Like dang girl, I thought lying was bad. But of course it was kinda necessary. Also she was really quick with it and didn’t hesitate at all. Similar to Mendoza I think

So yeah I think it would be fun if we saw Zia having to act in certain ways that go against her beliefs ya know. For the sake of the quest

But it also perfectly illustrates one of the (many) things I didn’t like about season 2,3,4. Ok i understand that he’s nice now, but why change his personality completely. Like this is NOT the same guy at all. You can make him be on the kids side but that doesn’t mean he has to give up his sneakiness. In fact we can take those idk “villain” stuff and make him use those skills for a good purpose, instead of getting rid of it all together

I think we can all agree that Mendoza’s most defining trait is his ambiguity. Since the very beginning of the show we never know what side he’s on. We never know for what reason he’s doing something. I mean, we literally get introduced to him twice in the pilot. First, we see him meet Esteban and he seems like a good person who won’t betray him for a piece of gold (his own words). But then we get introduced to him again when Perez tells gomez that “Mendoza is the man for the job [kidnapping Zia]. He’ll do anything for gold”. That’s two completely different ways to introduce the same character. So clearly this is an important trait, which persists for the entirety of the show.

Even after clearly expressing his love for the kids, he doesn’t give up his love for money. The series shows us that he’s allowed to have both. And why not? It’s not wrong to want money. What’s wrong is what you do to get it.

But then in season 2 he’s like, idk, turned into Superman for some reason? I understand him caring for the children. I even understand him not caring about money anymore. If anything twould make less sense if he still wanted money after all they went through. But I don’t like how they just ignored everything that happened and made him some great hero. When that’s just not who he is

I’m not saying he can’t be heroic. It’s just that they took away all the traits that seemed “unheroic” and replaced them with stereotypical ones. What they could have done instead is keep him how he is but have him use his skills for the greater GOOD instead for selfish reasons

And you know I’ve seen this happen with other characters too. Like Loki for example. He’s a trickster, a great liar, stuff like that. But the new Loki show took that away and made him a stereotypical hero when that’s just not who he is. Which is why the character felt flat and more importantly, BORING, in the end

I’m not saying you can’t change. Mendoza has changed thanks to the kids. But you DONT become an entirely new person 😭

Here’s an example. In season 1, Gaspar asks Mendoza if he’d like to have a duel with him for funsies. Just a friendly match. But Mendoza says no. Says that you need to learn to use your head if you want to protect yourself, and makes fun of Gaspar for not understanding that. Call me crazy, but I think this means that Mendoza values brain over brawn. And I might just be hallucinating but I’m pretty sure he prioritizes dialogue over fighting. I’m also pretty sure he almost never swordfights anyone in season 1. His sword is only used to scare people when words fail. And so, his biggest strength is his manipulative tendencies (which is the entire reason the show happens in the first place). There’s a reason why his insults towards Gaspar are often directed to his lack of intelligence. He’s hated by Gomez and Perez because of his cleverness. Gomez allows Mendoza to help his army cause they’re both INTELLIGENT (Mendoza’s own words. Even HE knows his most important feature is his cleverness come onnn). And even the olmecs acknowledge him as the guy with the “smooth tongue”

But in season 2 he… he actually. Enjoys fighting???? Are you gonna watch season 1 and seriously tell me he LIKES to fight? No. And I’m not saying that season 2 made him dumb. But his biggest strength is no longer his smarts. It’s his uhh, well it’s literally his physical strength

That was just one example by the way 😭

Now don’t take it the wrong way though. I do like season 2,3,4 and they do have good stuff. They do give us some good moments showing how his sneakiness and street smarts can still be useful. For example, when the kids are lost and a guy tells Mendoza he knows where they are, but he doesn’t believe him, so he asks “are all 4 of them alright?” And the guy says “yeah all 4”. And so Mendoza knows the guy is lying cause there’s only 3 kids. Like okay that’s smart that’s clever that’s what I’m talking about.

Or perhaps in season 4 when Mendoza and Isabella break into the Olmec base trying to steal the Ophir stone and Tyrias shows up. Isabella reaches for her gun (as a precaution ya know) while Mendoza doesn’t reach for a weapon at all and tries to talk to Tyrias and make him understand the situation. And that works. So you see, you can keep the spirit of season 1 all the while making Mendoza a “good guy” or whatever

But if they really wanna make him a super hero or whatever, then don’t act like he always was one 😭 that just makes it even worse selon moi. You can acknowledge he did some pretty bad things. We were all there when it happened. We all witnessed it 😭 don’t try and gaslight me into thinking it never happened 😭 he kidnapped Zia for goodness sake come onnn. Even Mendoza acts like he was never a bad person. Like the events of season 1 never happened.

So, has anyone ever watched Mcog and thought: “huh, this is basically the story of Icarus?” If the answer is “no”, I’ll challenge myself to change your mind.

And a small disclaimer: I am not a Greek mythology expert by any means (I’m more of an Egyptian mythology person, but even then it’s still limited) so everything I say is very basic. If you know more stuff, or if I got something wrong, please correct me!

Before I start, here’s a refresher on the Icarus myth. Icarus and his father Daedalus are imprisoned in the labyrinth of Crete by king Minos. To escape, Daedalus builds wings out of wax, so they can fly off the island. He tells Icarus that he shouldn’t fly too low (close to the ocean), nor too high (close to the sun). Unfortunately, Icarus gets too excited and flies really high. The sun melts his wings and he falls into the ocean and drowns.

I wanna point out the links between the myth and Mcog. Firstly, Esteban and his father also need to escape from somewhere (the new world). Esteban is a bit luckier than Icarus, and is kinda his opposite, in a way. He almost drowns but luckily, Mendoza saves him. Where Icarus is seen taunting the sun (Helios), Esteban is a lot more modest and can actually control it. Icarus flies too high, and Esteban is afraid of heights.

Now this looks like I just proved the opposite of what I initially said. Esteban is thematically similar to Icarus (since there are many similarities, like the escape, the sun, the drowning, etc) but he doesn’t act like him at all. That’s because, in Mcog, Icarus is not represented by Esteban. I think he’s represented by Mendoza.

For this section of my post, I’m interested in the meaning of the myth, and not its literal elements. The myth can be interpreted in many ways, but a common reading of it warns against being overly ambitious but also against having no ambitions at all. Basically, it’s about moderation. And I think Mendoza represents moderation perfectly.

To better illustrate my point, I’d like to remind us all of a specific scene that really seems to be full of the whole “don’t be too ambitious” warning.

I’m talking about the scene where he snitches on the mayans to Gomez, to get them on his side. He then uses their trust to steal the Spaniards’ cannon, which he gives to the Mayans, acting like he did it for them the whole time. So, he’s telling a bunch of lies, to both parties, so that he may be the winner in the end.

Just like Icarus, he’s overly sure of himself, and that becomes his ruin in the end. We see this happen to Mendoza where he tries to bring the cannon back to the Mayans, but in his self assurance he goes the wrong way. This is something worth noting because we know Mendoza is extremely good at finding his way, even in places he’s never been. So him getting lost may be due to the fact that he assumed he’d come out on top no matter what.

He almost gets caught because of that, but then the Mayans help him. It turns out they knew he was lying this whole time. No matter what new lies he tries to tell them, they don’t believe him. It gets so bad that he almost gets executed for it. In fact, he needs to be saved by Esteban and has to give up the other medallion piece to stay alive. Which is obviously humiliating because he almost dies from being too ambitious about how many people he could deceive.

But Mendoza does learn about moderation, at the end of the show. Once the city is opened, Gaspard and Gomez hurry up and fill their ship with gold, but it gets too heavy and it sinks and they drown. This is so obviously hinting to the whole “being too ambitious” lesson. No moderation at all.

But there are two lessons in this myth: don’t be too ambitious (fly too close to the sun) but also don’t have zero ambitions either (fly too close to the ocean).

I think this explains why at the end of Mcog Mendoza does get gold. He doesn't end up with nothing, but he doesn't end up with an entire city's worth of gold either. The ones who wanted too much gold (like Gomez and Gaspard) end up drowning because all the gold sunk their ship.

The reason why Mendoza makes it out with the gold is because he doesn't take too much. If the show wanted to tell us, for example, that being greedy is bad, then Mendoza would’ve gotten nothing at the end. However, that doesn’t happen. He does get something at the end.

thoughts on Gomez (my husband)? 🫡 if you have any, that is. he’s on my mind 24/7

Omg I’m so happy to find more mcog obsessed people such as myself 🙏. And I’m glad you love my account ❤️

And found out that there were typically 3 types of last names in 16th century Spain

The ones where you're named after your dad. Example. If you're the son of Rodrigo. Your last name is Rodriguez. If you're the kid of Hernan. Your last name is Hernandez

There's also the names where someone is named after a quality. If you're red then your last name is el rojo. Whatever. Also depending on your job. If you're a knight. Then maybe your name will be caballero. Or scribano if you're a scribe

Finally. There's the names that are about where you came from. It could be the name of a place. Or a thing. Like if you live close to a river. You're del rio. And usually you put "de" in front. So to say. "This person from that place"

Anyway. My point is. “Mendoza” is not a father name. Or a quality.

It's a location (it means cold mountain) so the "real" last name is. "De Mendoza". Which is his last name in the book. But in the cartoon. They name him Juan Carlos Mendoza. I have problems with the Juan Carlos part but that's another story. His name should REALLY be. Juan Carlos DE Mendoza. Every guy from the 1500’s with the last name Mendoza is DE Mendoza. Not just Mendoza

And idk this annoys me

I find the relationship between the Spaniards in S1 interesting. Gaspard and Gomez clearly dislike Mendoza and know that he's a sneaky guy, yet they continue to team up with him. And there are moments that reveal they have some respect for him, like their reaction near the end of the season when Esteban lies and tells them Mendoza was killed by the Olmecs. Any thoughts on that?

Thank you so much for this ask 🙏 also I’m glad you enjoy my analyses!! And just like you, I also think a lot about how Mendoza interacts with Gaspar and Gomez. In fact, I think you inspired me to write another essay on it that I might post one day!!

But to answer your question in a brief way (I hope, I tend to ramble a lot lol) I think Mendoza and Gomez are particularly interesting, because they both acknowledge the other person’s “strengths” and are constantly thinking about how to use each other. I think they both dismiss Gaspar, because he, as Mendoza says, is not as “intelligent” as them. In relation to that, I think Mendoza also manipulates Gomez, like he does the children.

Gomez and his troops are looking for the kids. Mendoza shows up and laughs at them for not being able to find them. Then says “I’m a navigator” when they ask him why he’s laughing

Gomez then infers that Mendoza might be useful and decides to team up. = Psychology: mendoza does literally say he wants to help but they ain’t buying it. So he advertises himself, trying to get Gomez to understand it would be in his best interests to team up. Kinda lets Gomez come to that conclusion. But Mendoza doesn’t really want to help. In fact, I’m pretty sure Gomez thinks that HE’S gaining the most out of this arrangement. But he’s not. He’s the loser. What’s even better, is that Gomez makes that choice himself. He probably thinks that he’s the one controlling the outcome of this affair but not true. All he’s doing is acting the way Mendoza needs him to act. Manipulation. So basically. Mendoza already has decided the outcome of every situation. Then he just pushes people in the right direction to make choices that will lead to that outcome. Furthermore, the people are unaware, they think their decisions are their own. But they’re not. They’re mendoza’s

later on they find out kids are hiding in the fort of the black eagle. Gaspar says they should attack. Mendoza says “well we don’t know how many people could be waiting in there”. Gomez thinks yeah that’s true and since Mendoza has proved to be smarter than Gaspar, he says that Mendoza should come up with the plan. Now this looks like Gomez is burdening him with this responsibility. After all, if Mendoza fails, he’s the one to blame. But this is what Mendoza wants. Of course he wants to come up with the plan. He doesn’t want Gomez to win. Manipulation again

finally, Mendoza heads to the fort of the black eagle, presumably to do some recon. but that’s not why he’s there. He’s there to warn Esteban that Gomez is coming to attack. Once again, he’s played Gomez. And why would he do this? Easy. If Gomez wins, then Mendoza loses. So he’s gonna team up with him to…. help Gomez lose…

The reason why Gomez still trusts him, I guess, is just cause he’s That useful. I mean, Gaspar doesnt help much. Sure, he’s loyal, but tactical? Smart? Cunning? Not really. And what Gomez needs to get filthy rich is what Mendoza is offering. Which is why he accepts. Although it’s a risky gamble 😭

Gaspar still has some respect for Mendoza, cause he sees him as an opponent, not a tool. Which is why he’s kinda upset when Zia tells him he died. Gomez couldn’t care less, cause Mendoza has nothing left to give them.