DO NOT tell me they’re not father and son/daughter just LOOK AT them. NOT TO MENTION Tao making the signature Mendoza eyebrows of incredulity

I really like how Zia is the one correcting Mendoza here. After their arrival in the Galapagos Islands, Sancho and Pedro ask Mendoza where they might be. Mendoza suggests that they may have drifted on their raft long enough to have come closer to Lima. However, as Zia points out, the sea has drawn them away from South America.

It's funny to see Mendoza admit that he's wrong - it may be the first time in the series so far – and it's also a bit curious that he didn't calculate their position from the Sun, as he does in later episodes. It also subtly establishes that Zia indeed knows a lot more about the region than he does. This is said earlier in the show, when Gomez tells Gaspar / Perez that the girl will lead them to the Cities of Gold or when Zia herself tells Esteban about her country ; but here's the first time she actually proves it.

It also shows a slight development in her relationship with Mendoza : while she has done her best not to speak to him aboard the Esperanza, here she not only highlights his mistake but also corrects him. Even if she doesn't trust him (yet), she's gained enough confidence to stand up to him (and she'll do it again later). Mendoza even sounds impressed when he admits that she's right.

Another interesting thing the series subtly builds is the parallel between those two characters. If Mendoza quickly became a father figure to Esteban, he also became kind of a model for Zia (even if she'll never acknowledge it). I'd have to make another post about it, but it's really obvious when rewatching the whole series : Zia is as smart as he is, as cunning as he is, and from time to time she can be just as cold and distrustful as he is (particularly toward the Spanish because of what they did to her). She also knows how to use people sometimes, just like he does. She may be the member of the trio who is the most like Mendoza.

Of course, a good part of these traits comes from her bad experience with the Europeans, since she probably had to grow wary and people-smart to survive at the Spanish court. But I think Mendoza played an important role in her evolution because in a way he showed her how those traits could be useful and help her turn situations to her own advantage (like she does with Gaspard and Gomez when they meet again).

On another note, I never fully appreciated this episode before; it's probably because of this red snake mask that Tao uses which scared me to death when I was a kid (also, the whole sequence where he slides behind Zia is absolutely terrifying).

A single tweet but a long one

never forget how he wanted to go after them but he couldn't so he just had to let them die 😭 that scene where Esteban and Zias silhouettes fade behind the water is crazyyy the way he stood there watching it. I can't 😭

He couldn't get to them so he called their name as loud as he could 😭 crying 😭 he's just a dad 💔

Because look, it’s not like Esteban and Zia died and then the others left the city. It’s not the same as when Mendoza, Pedro and Sancho died. The kids saw it happen (which is why them surviving was surprising). In sundagatt, Zia and Esteban weren’t dead yet. Mendoza just couldn’t go after them. They essentially had no choice but to LET them die. Which is even worse in a way. The entire time they spent in the thallios driving to the surface of the ocean, they knew Esteban and Zia were in the process of dying

Which is maybe why Mendoza sees their silhouette fade away. Cause he probably stood there for as long as he could. Cause he didn’t want to leave them

And another thing. If the only people there were Esteban, Zia and Mendoza, then he surely would not have left them. He would’ve died there with them I think. The only problem is that he’s not alone. He also has Tao and Pedro and sancho. And he’s unfortunately the only person that can bring them to safety. So he has to try to save the people he still has instead of try to save the people he’s lost. Which is a crazy dilemma to give a dude

Like how does an entire population just. Disappear. Did they die. And if so HOW

So here are my hypotheses :

- The first thing I can think of is war. War is a great way to get rid of populations. They kill each other. That’s how mu and Atlantis disappeared in the mcog lore. However, there was only one tribe on Taos island. There’s no signs of any struggle. Tao doesn’t act like some fight happened recently. It’s just that everyone died. They also didn’t develop weapons on the island. So I don’t think this is correct answer

- There’s also the case of emigration. Many of the people could have just left the island (Which would lead us to ask “why”? But we’re not there yet). But there’s problems here too. First, they have no contact with the outside world. When Tao sees Mendoza’s map, he’s impressed at how detailed it is. So he’s clearly not up to date about what the Europeans are up to. He’s also unaware about other stuff, like guns. Also, they have no way to leave the island. No ships big enough to cross the ocean. So again this doesn’t work

- Now we’re getting closer. There’s also lack of resources. Tao and his people live on one island amongst many in the Galapagos archipelago. There are no big predators there. The island is known for iguanas, turtles, lizards, birds. Not much to eat. Humans are good predators and also omnivores. I wanna say that Taos people have been living there since a long time, but their houses seem pretty basic, which is weird cause when mu and Atlantis were still around, they were pretty advanced. So like did they lose that tech or something ? But no matter how long they’ve been living there, it’s quite possible that they ran out of stuff to eat. However, this isn’t a very satisfying answer cause 1) humans can adapt to change pretty well and 2) if they did run out of stuff, why did Tao survive and they didn’t?

- my final idea (which was my original hypothesis) is disease. Disease is a very natural thing to happen. And since we’re talking about a small isolated population, it’s possible they couldn’t survive. Everyone would catch it from each other eventually. They might lack resources to make a cure. It might spread quickly. And slowly they’d die. However. We have to ask again: Why did Tao survive?? Did he have some special gene. Did they discover the cure, but too late, so only Tao got it???

what Olympic sport would every Mcog character do?

Here’s the list of all the sports in the summer Olympics (I’m not gonna include the Winter ones cause I don’t think they would do them)

Esteban: gymnastics

So in the first episodes of season 1 especially, we see Esteban do a bunch of gymnastic-y stuff, like balancing on his hands while on a moving ship, walking on his hands, climbing walls, etc, so I think he’d be good at it

Zia: Beach volleyball

Okay hear me out. I think she’d like sports that are kinda beach related, like volleyball or surfing. I know it would technically be cheating, but her telekinesis powers would really come in handy in this this of sport, so like it could make sense

Tao: Archery or triathlon

So we know what Tao has a crossbow, which he’s even able to use with his feet. So I think he’d be good at archery. I also think he’d be good at the triathlon cause he grew up having to fend off for himself on an archipelago, so he’d be good at running and swimming, obviously. We also know he can bike since he had one in his old village + he rides one at chambord (and he’s pretty quick too, since Nostradamus can’t keep up)

Mendoza: swimming

I think this might be obvious. That scene where he faces off against a shark demonstrates how great of a swimmer he is, so I think he’s getting gold for sure

Pedro and Sancho: sailing

I don’t think they’d be good at any sports, given how they’re kinda lazy. However, I think they’d be good at sailing cause it’s literally their job and they enjoy it. But I could also see them doing rowing cause that’s essentially what Mendoza is always making them do

Isabella: fencing

This one is also pretty obvious. She’s great at fencing and fighting in general, and she also enjoys it a lot

Gaspard: shooting

Basically what the title says. Previously, I hypothesized where Tao’s island could be located in real life, and then I tried to figure how his family and people died off. Today, I’m asking: could Tao have really survived all alone in his island? And how did he manage to do it?

Tao’s story reminds us of two other characters from beloved children movies: Tarzan and Mowgli.

Tarzan grew up in a remote jungle, raised by gorillas. He never saw another human, so as a result he understands animals and can’t speak any human languages (until Jane teaches him how). The dangers he faces are predators like jaguars. He survived because he was raised by gorillas, animals that are very similar to humans.

Mowgli got lost in the jungle when he was very young as well, but he was raised by wolves instead. Although it sounds weird, people claim to have seen such cases in real life (?? I don’t really believe that, but whatever). His greatest enemy is, once again, a dangerous predator (a tiger).

Age

Tao’s case is different. He wasn’t a baby that was lost in the jungle. He was born there, along with the rest of his village. Unlike Tarzan or Mowgli, he’s not feral and he can speak human languages. This means he was quite old before his parents died. But how old? All Tao tells us is that he was “very young” when his father died. Tao is 13 in the story, so “very young” could mean anything.

We do have some clues. Tao can talk. Babies start taking at 1 years old (by copying their parents). He’s pretty fluent as well, so he must have spent some years surrounded by other humans he can listen and talk to (because to learn to speak, you need to actually speak with someone!). He can also read. Typically, a kid learns to read and write at 5 years old. However, some kids have been known to teach themselves how to read at the younger age of 3 (even more likely if they’re neurodivergent, which Tao could be). But to do that, they still need other people around them; they need parents to read to them first.

Up till now, it looks like the youngest Tao could’ve been is 3 years old. But there’s more information to look at.

Another clue is revealed to us when Tao says that right after his father died, he started building those houses in the trees. This means he must’ve been old enough to use tools and construct buildings. From ages 3-5, kids are still too young to actually build real things. They can use child scissors and make arts and crafts, but can’t use real tools. So, Tao must’ve been older than that. I think he must’ve been in the 6-9 age bracket when his father died, because it’s then where he would’ve 1) gained the agility and strength needed to build things at high altitude in the trees and 2) gotten enough practice to use real tools.

Given everything I’ve said, I think his age must’ve been 7 or 8. Because I want to be poetic, I’ll choose 7, since that was how old Zia was when she got kidnapped and brought to Spain. It would be cool if both characters suffered their life altering events at the same age.

So, we’ve decided that Tao was 7 years old when his family died. The question now changes: could a 7 year old survive all alone on an island?

Danger

In a previous post, I claimed that Tao’s island could’ve been situated on or near the island of Española in the Galapagos Archipelago. What climate, flora and fauna would Tao have to deal with and would it be manageable for a kid his age?

Tao already has a shelter to sleep in (a whole village’s infrastructure to himself), adapted to the islands conditions (mixture of a tropical savanna climate and a semi-arid climate, transitioning to a tropical rainforest climate). Given that the climate isn’t too harsh, I doubt Tao had much to worry about, so let’s focus on the animals instead.

Glapagos sea lions can be found on the sandy beaches of the island. Sea lions can be dangerous, but this species is the smallest of the sea lions so it’s already not that bad. They’re generally not dangerous to humans, but can get aggressive if they’re attacked or cornered. Given that Tao grew up on this island, I think he knows better than to bother them and most likely knows to give them their space. In fact, other than the sea lions, there are no dangerous animals on the island at all. Unlike Tarzan and Mowgli, who have to fear jaguars and tigers.

Other animals found on Isla Española are the waved albatrosses (this is where they breed and nest), the blue footed boobies (They court each other), lots of other bird species, lava lizards and marine iguanas, which are all pretty harmless to humans.

Knowing that Tao has no enemies makes it easier to believe he could’ve survived on an island at a very young age.

Food

Our question changes again: Could a 7 year old live by himself on an island where he faces no threats?

If you don’t have to worry about protecting yourself, the next thing you think about is where you’ll be getting food. There are two rudimentary ways: hunting and gathering.

Let’s start with hunting. As I said previously, the Galápagos Islands are home to many bird species. Many are small and harmless. Given that Tao has a crossbow, it’s quite possible that he uses it to hunt small birds. Furthermore, he could also eat the small lizards that scurry around. However, hunting takes a lot of time and energy. Tao was only a kid so he might not have solely relied on a carnivorous diet to survive (although he is a really good hunter, as we’ve seen).

Across the archipelago, you can find edible plants such as the Galapagos tomato, prickly pear cactus, and passion fruit. Tao offers Zia and Esteban some fruit (although I’m not sure what it was exactly) which means he probably does have a very balanced diet.

So now we know that: Tao was old enough to take care of himself, he didn’t have any predators to be wary of and, finally, he had access to food (both meat and plants).

Mental Health

We arrive at our final question: could a 7 year old with no predators, a safe shelter, infrastructure and plenty of access to diverse food survive on an island all by himself?

This was talked about in the show. A human being needs connection to survive. Both Tarzan and Mowgli had that: they were raised by animals that loved them like family. But Tao is all alone, as we said. Sure, he’s capable of being independant, but complete solitude can make a person go insane.

Well, he wasn’t completely alone. He did have Pichu as a friend, but we need to ask ourselves: is that enough?

Parrots are very social animals, and since Tao said he raised Pichu since he was a chick, then that means Pichu sees Tao as his flock/parent (source: I have parrots). Pichu also learned to speak, so he can interact in a more complex way than most pets (like cats or dogs). He can reply to Tao, copy him and even react to situations. He’s pretty smart. He can’t replace human connection, obviously, but I think he’s still a valuable part of Tao’s life and could be the reason he survived by himself. Although, a single parrot probably can’t replace human connection, and certainly not for a child living alone for ≈ 6years. Not only does Tao have food, a friend and shelter, he also has ways to entertain himself. We know that humans (and other intelligent animals) can’t stand boredom. We’ve seen that Tao spends his days studying muan culture as well as building stuff. He says that it was necessary for him to keep busy, to do something, in order to survive and not go crazy.

Conclusion