#mymcoganalysis

Do any of yall think about the fact that Mendoza was with Esteban for like 2 years or something after he saved him from drowning.

Because we know that Mendoza saved Esteban in 1520, in the Pacific Ocean (id say around December). Esteban probably isn’t a newborn but he is a baby. So not more than a year old I’d say. Esteban’s father asked Mendoza to “bring him [Esteban] home with him”. The expedition reached Spain on September 6 1522. That’s like a year and nine months. By the time he was brought to the monastery, he was a toddler.

Meaning. Mendoza kept Esteban for ALL that time. Which is. A LOT.

Babies start walking at around 12 months. So it’s highly probable his first steps were taken on the ship. They also start talking at a year old (first word is usually “mama” but I think it might be different for Esteban cause he doesn’t have one).

So like. Someone had to raise Esteban. We have no evidence that it was Mendoza himself but it’s not wrong to think that either?? Cause we have no other info 😭

There were no women on the ship cause obviously. And raising babies is usually a woman’s task. So naturally you would think that Mendoza would leave the baby at the first country they reached (like the Philippines) but he didn’t do that, cause Esteban’s father really wanted him to be brought to “his (Mendoza’s)” home.

Now I wanna know. How was it for him to take care of such a young kid? We gotta remember he was also young too. I doubt he had any experience with babies. Did he even want to? Or was he kinda forced to cause uhh who else would do it. Not to mention, it’s not a particularly easy trip they’re on. Lots of people died from disease and stuff during voyages like that, and yet Esteban, a small baby, somehow survived? Probably explains why everyone thought he had special powers and stuff.

Esteban obviously does not remember all that but Mendoza would. So like. New opportunity for bonding ???

This also brings me to an adjacent point I thought of when I was looking at a map.

The Magellan expedition left from and returned to san lucar de barrameda. It’s close to Seville (1-2 hours by car) and very far from Barcelona (10 hours by car).

If we want to go by boat and not land (cause no cars back then) it would be relatively easy to get to Seville, since all you’d have to do is go up the Guadalquivir river. But going to Barcelona would still be long (through the strait of Gibraltar and into the balearic sea). But idk how long it would take exactly cause there’s no modern ferry that can make that journey.

Now listen. Mendoza returned with baby Esteban from the voyage and they arrived in Sanlúcar de Barrameda. But Mendoza doesn’t leave him there! He makes the extra journey of going to Barcelona and leaves him in a monastery over there.

Spain has a lot of churches, he could have left him in any of them close to Sanlúcar de Barrameda. He could’ve gone to Seville if he wanted to leave him in a big city.

So why on earth didn’t he do that? What’s so special about Barcelona?

The only thing I can think of is that’s where Mendoza is from. Because Athanaos says “bring him home with you”. So Mendoza took that to mean, not just his home country, but his home town.

I know this is dumb but it’s the only explanation I can come up with without making too many leaps and without assuming things we have no knowledge of.

(The aftermath of Zia’s dad’s death)

This is actually one of my favourite scenes from the entire show, and I’ve always wanted to talk about it in detail, so here we are :)

I’m sure I’m not the only one who feels this way. It’s one of the rare, emotional and character driven scenes of the show. A lot of important information is revealed about a lot of the characters, which makes it a perfect clip to analyze. But this also means it’s going to be super ultra long, since I’m gonna talk about 5 characters at once.

I will proceed chronologically, starting from when Papacamayo dies until the end of the scene.

Immediately after Papacamayo dies, Esteban, Tao, Mendoza, Pedro and Sancho quietly leave the room. They understand that they’re intruders in this tense, emotional moment. Zia and Maïna are left to grieve their father.

Pedro and Sancho come to see Mendoza and voice their concerns about Papacamayo dying before revealing information about the golden city’s treasure.

Before Mendoza even responds, he does something very interesting.

As you can see in this clip, he takes a long time to reply, as if he didn’t expect the question or he didn’t know how to answer it.

He closes his eyes and the way it’s animated is very interesting to me. When he shuts his eyes, the lines that are created seem to move a lot, as if he’s holding back tears. Then, when he opens his eyes, he looks up, which is something people do to keep tears from falling.

It’s very hard to believe Mendoza would (or could) ever cry, since it’s never happened before, so this my explanation would make a lot of sense. He never cries cause he tries really hard not to.

He finally answers the sailors, telling them that the city’s treasure is not important to them, since all they care about is gold.

So in this way, he’s repressing his emotions both physically (with the tear thing I described) and also by literally saying that he only cares about money. Which is a wild thing to say after you just witnessed a man die.

Also, even Pedro and Sancho are surprised, as you can see by their reactions:

But they quickly get over it, obviously. I think they model their own thoughts, feelings, etc, after Mendoza’s. That’s why, whenever they’re unsure about something, they ask him for his opinion first.

After that clip, Mendoza walks away and starts calculating the position of the city of gold based on the stars. He stops when he notices Esteban and Tao quietly sitting at the edge of the river.

He asks Esteban (and only Esteban, for some reason) what he’s doing there. To any normal person, the answer is obvious. He’s upset and wants some space to feel his sadness. Is Mendoza just that clueless or is he only pretending to be?

Then this exchange happens:

Esteban: I might ask you the same question; what are you doing?

Tao: I’ll bet he’s finding out exactly where the gates of the cities of gold are according to the stars

Esteban sounds a bit angry and annoyed. Tao’s got a sort of sardonic tone to his line as well. They’re both really fed up with Mendoza’s behaviour. I think they always were, but they never said so out loud. They’ve been tolerating it for so long but now they’ve reached the limit.

Even though Tao basically answered Esteban’s question for Mendoza, he decides to comment it with: “there’s no law against that”

Look at his face man 😭 this isn’t a laughing matter.

I think it’s really interesting that, from all the things he could’ve said, he decided to make a joke, because:

1) Esteban is already angry at him. You don’t really make jokes when someone is upset about your behaviour. Either Mendoza is actually clueless or he’s pretending to be. Maybe he’s trying to lighten the mood? But idk it’s a weird way to do it.

2) A man just died. Not only is this not the time to be looking for the city, but it’s also not the time to joke about what you’re doing is no big deal. Bro, read the room.

This line could also be a poor attempt at rationalization, which is a defence mechanism that involves explaining an unacceptable behavior or feeling in a rational or logical manner, avoiding the true reasons for the behaviour.

Esteban answers with: “How could you do such things? Don’t you mind about Zias sadness?”

When he says that, the camera (well I know its an anime, not live action) cuts to Mendoza, and his face goes from smiling to:

whatever emotion this is supposed to convey. I’m pointing this particular image out because it’s only visible to us, the audience. So it’s worth noting.

I find it interesting that he actually seems upset by what Esteban said.

1) is it guilt? He just said something insensitive and Esteban calls him out for it. An analogy I have for this is when you pull a prank on your friend and they go “wtf? You think that’s funny?” And interiorly you go “yeah okay that wasn’t the best move I admit” and you feel uncomfortable for the rest of the day, because “why did I do/say that”

2) or is he upset that Esteban is angry at him? But why should the kid’s words affect him so much? Mendoza has made it clear that he doesn’t care about the children (or anyone else). But we know that that’s just not true. Esteban being angry at him makes Mendoza realize that, although he loves the kids, they don't love him back, or at least, they don’t have a positive opinion about him, because of his insensitivity.

Enough about Mendoza though. I wanna talk about Esteban in this scene as well.

He says: “how can you do such things?” As I said before, he’s lowkey fed up with Mendoza’s behaviour (and who wouldn’t be?). And I think he’s been keeping his annoyed feelings inside of him for a long time, because he says “such things”, where “things” is plural. This is not the first time where Mendoza has been shown to not care about other people. Esteban has always noticed this, but only just decided to say it out loud, because, well, it gets to a point!

For Esteban, it’s simple. Mendoza not showing that he cares about Zia is clear proof that he just doesn’t care at all. He finds it insane that Mendoza does not have any sympathy for her, although he tries to help him find some, since he says: “She just found her father, and he-“ (he gets cut off but we can guess the rest of that sentence).

After that, we get the iconic line:

Mendoza: I’m sorry Esteban, but death no longer upsets me.

After feeling emotions for like, 2 seconds, he decides he’s had enough and puts the emotional walls back up again.

Esteban has “accused” him of being insensitive, and instead of trying to prove him wrong, Mendoza agrees with him, saying “yes, you’re right, I don’t care”. The “I’m sorry” (or in French, “pardonne moi” which means “forgive me”) seems like he’s aware that he’s done something wrong/bad, but he justifies it, saying that this is the type of person he is. This only helps to reinforce the opinion the kids have about him.

But… why does he say that?

1) Does he want Esteban to think he’s heartless? We know the relationship Mendoza has with the kids is transactional. He protects them and they bring him to the cities of gold. Beyond that, he has no reason to care about them, or feel anything for them other than indifference. So there’s no point in trying to make the kids believe he cares about them. There shouldn’t be anything deeper than that. It creates more distance between them, distance that Mendoza wants/needs because anything else would interfere with his goal (being rich).

2) he might also just be telling the complete truth. We know he’s a sailor, we know he’s been on the Magellan expedition (for example). Many people died on that trip (as do sailors on many marine journeys). He’s certainly seen many people die, which has desensitized him to death. That would make sense, because he says “death no longer upsets me”. This implies that he used to get upset over death, but doesn’t anymore, probably due to some events that we have no knowledge of.

But no matter what Mendoza might say, we know he’s not uncaring or unfeeling. I think that line could be an example of reaction formation, which is a defence mechanism that reduces anxiety by taking up the opposite feeling, impulse, or behaviour. Mendoza saying “death no longer upsets me” might be his way to convince himself that he doesn’t care about the events that have transpired that night, when in reality, he does.

I also wanna point out Howard Ryshpan’s (Mendoza’s voice actor) line delivery in this scene. Mendoza’s voice in this scene is really flat, but in a special way. He sounds like someone trying to sound emotionless. It makes it so much more obvious how hard he’s trying to push back his real feelings!

Whatever nuances implied by this line are completely lost by Esteban. Even more upset at his attitude, he says:

Esteban: you really have a heart of stone.

This is a very simple sentence but I wanna focus on a specific word: “really”

“Really” can mean 2 things here:

1) Esteban used to think that, maybe, Mendoza was a little bit of a good person, but now, he’s learned that he was wrong. This could work because, despite Zia insisting that Mendoza was a wicked man, Esteban would sometimes speak in his favour and try to bring up instances of Mendoza being kind and heroic.

2) Or, the “really” can mean “very”, like “you're VERY heartless”, more than just plain regular heartless (is that even possible?).

How do we know which one is the right meaning? I guess it would depend on the intonation of voice, but that differs depending on actor. So I’m not gonna choose one or the other.

I know this is long, but we’re getting near the end! The last line is spoken by Tao:

Tao: I think you’re wrong, he is really very sad too. Yes, I understand. That’s just how I was after the death of my father. I started to build those houses up in the trees straight away. I just couldn’t stop, I had to keep busy. To survive.

What tao says here is very interesting because he seems to be the first and only person to really, truly understand Mendoza in a way that eludes Esteban (and even zia).

Both Mendoza and Tao deal with grief in similar ways; they have similar coping mechanisms. What Tao described here is sublimation, which allows us to act out unacceptable impulses by converting these behaviors into a more acceptable form, something more productive.

Instead of feeling sad over his father’s death, Tao channels that energy into something productive (building houses). Instead of feeling sad over Zia’s dad’s death, Mendoza uses that energy into something more productive (looking for the cities).

Okay, i don’t know if looking for the cities of gold instead of talking about your feelings is actually productive or healthy.

But the point here is to busy yourself into something else, so that you don’t lose your mind in grief, as Tao says, “to survive”. It can be helpful if done well. But it can also result in you pushing your feelings aside, which is obviously not healthy.

I think it’s interesting that Tao and Mendoza have this very deep link and similar coping mechanisms!

What Tao said really strikes Esteban. Before today, he used to think that: if you’re sad, you cry. If you’re sad for someone else, you cry for/with them.

But now he realizes it’s not that simple. People can feel one way and act another way.

He’s been sequestered in the monastery for so long (his whole life) and I think it’s only now that he’s being opened to how strange and complex human beings are. The world isn’t just black and white. People are not just what they seem on the surface.

That’s why he turns to look at Mendoza, who has since walked away and distanced himself from everyone else. He’s no longer calculating locations, and is silent, similarly to Esteban and Tao at the very beginning of this scene. It’s almost like he wants to check if what Tao was saying was true.

He then turns to look at Pedro and Sancho, who are also sitting very sadly. Just like Mendoza, they originally pretended to care about money (when they asked about the treasure in the city right after papacamayo died). But now, they look pretty depressed. Turns out they’re not as unfeeling and greedy as we were led to believe.

The scene lingers on Esteban’s face, with his eyes widening, as if he’s discovered an important secret of the universe.

Finally, the music playing in the background really sells the scene. It’s calm, melancholic, but also climaxes at important moments, like at Mendoza’s iconic line and Esteban’s understanding of his older friends’ behaviour.

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

You can draw parallels between them through vastly different aspects. Like they each get their own part if that makes sense. Okay let me explain it’ll be clearer

Esteban: Esteban and Mendoza’s personalities and goals conflict often, which is why their relationship is crucial if you wanna understand the moral of story. I think the biggest connections we can draw between them would fall in the religious/spiritual category. Because Esteban is basically like a spiritual figure in a way (the characters in the show portray him as such). But Mendoza is as well! In fact, in the behind the scenes book I have about season 1, the voice actor says that Mendoza is meant to be a “spiritual father” for Esteban and so he played him as such. I’m trying not to dive deep into this (cause it should be its own post) but the take home here should be: religious/spiritual parallels

Zia: Now here, I think Mendoza and Zia are similar in the social aspects (will develop soon). They are both great at reading and understanding people, but use it for different reasons. Zia is more compassionate while Mendoza is manipulative. But they do know the exact way to deal with people. Zia knows exactly what to say to make people feel better (she does this with Mendoza a few times) and Mendoza knows exactly how to rage bait people (for example, Gaspar or Isabella). So, personalities are very different. And yet they have this in common

Tao: So, this one is a lot more obvious (because I’ve talked about it before). Tao and Mendoza share similar mental/emotional traits. Both are curious (but manifest that in very different ways). Both cope with uhh trauma (I guess?) similarly, always putting an emphasis on intellect, which is something they both value a lot. So again there are lots of parallels to be seen here, which I’ve also developed in this post.

Okay first up is the good stuff

I think their relationship has some good points cause it’s not just a useless romantic relationship just there for the sake of having a relationship, it lets us know more about the characters themselves (help me I’ve said “relationship” too much)

1- So I did like how they didn’t make Isabella a “femme fatale” type of character. Cause although those can be great (like rouge the bat in sonic) it would suck if that were to happen to the only female character. And let’s be honest it could have happened cause when she’s first introduced you can IMMEDIATELY tell she’s gonna end up with Mendoza 😭

So what I liked was how the guys were the ones being the freaks (bro idk how else to say it) while she’s completely normal about everything. Like yes Mendoza’s completely losing it over her while she’s got nothing nice to say to him. Cause I’d be acting like him as well if I saw her let’s be real

2- And then I also liked how the show COULD have set up a love triangle (they had the perfect opportunity) but they… didn’t?? Gaspar was clearly never a choice for Isabella. Ever since the beginning we know they ain’t ending up together 😭 we’re never afraid that it might happen. And then they could have had Mendoza and Gaspar fight over her but they don’t. Their hatred for each other exists since season 1, Isabella has nothing to do with it, nor does her appearance in the show change it. Which is great, cause or else that would mean ignoring everything from season 1

3- Now, i know this is supposed to be about Mendoza and Isabella’s relationship but i also wanna add Gaspar here too cause i just mentioned him. I love that he’s not some weird guy that only likes her cause she’s “hot” I mean yeah he did find her pretty but he was sold once she yelled at him, Meaning he liked her for her personality. Which you wouldn’t expect, coming from someone like Gaspar, cause he’s not a “good guy” (well not yet). The fact that he wanted to buy a weapon for her is so cute like he payed attention to the stuff she was interested in and wanted to get something she’d like.

And then I could go on and on about their friendship cause MAN was that REFRESHING to see. Despite the fact that Gaspar was in love with her nothing weird ever happens (we just see him miserably fail at winning her over) and again Isabella never ever considers him as a potential love interest. And then slowly Gaspars romantic feelings are switched with platonic ones. Seeing a guy and a girl simply be friends was great I love it give me more. And seeing Isabella enjoy his company and see him as a friend was like YES beautiful I love you guys. Okay I’ll make a whole separate post about this or else I’ll never finish this one

4- I do like how Mendoza also payed attention to Isabella but like in a different way. For example, he sees her getting annoyed at the strands of hair falling in front of her face (I relate) and then he pins it back with a flower Ahhhh so cute they’re giving teenagers. Also you can tell that Isabella loved it cause she kept the flower for a long time (the only reason she didn’t have it anymore is because of Zares body slamming her into that rock)

5- another thing I find really interesting is that whole thing about Isabella working for the king of Spain. Yes there are some bad stuff about it but I’m talking about the good stuff (the bad stuff will follow). Okay so firstly I like how we get to learn about Mendoza’s point of view when it comes to freedom of choice

First he offers Isabella the chance to join him and the kids in the condor. At first you might think he’s just making his move but someone such as myself will tell you that’s not the case. Isabella just told Mendoza that she doesn’t really want to work for Ambrosius. She only does it cause her father is dead and he’s the only family she has left (which is reasonable selon moi). But she dislikes Ambrosius cause he’s going too far in his schemes. Mendoza knows she doesn’t wanna be alone so he’s offering her a new family (with him and the kids). And it makes sense cause he knows the sense of joy and fulfilment he got from dedicating his life to helping others (ie the kids) and so he realizes that’s most likely something Isabella would want (and he’s right). But she doesn’t go with him cause bla bla she’s still got feelings for her uncle (which. Makes sense) and surprise surprise, she works for the king

So when Mendoza finds this out (season 4) you might at first think that he’s upset that she’s not going with him. Upset that her king is more important than he is. But that’s not it. The problem here is that she’s letting someone else decide how she’s gotta live her life. This scene is probably seen as their most romantic one (I mean they literally kiss) and yet I think it has nothing to do with their love.

The most important line here is from Mendoza who says “le monde est vaste et nous appartient, nous n’avons nul besoin de maître” (English version: the world is vast and belongs to us, we have no need of any master). I mean it’s so obvious that he’s telling her to ditch the king and do what SHE WANTS. He’s NOT telling her “ditch the king and come with me”. He wants her to do what she WANTS and he KNOWS that she DOESN’T want to be with Ambrosius, nor spy for the king, despite what she says. And this is why there’s some conflict here (and has been here from the very start). It’s easy for him to drop whatever he’s doing and help or hinder whoever, cause he’s always been the type of guy that looks out for himself. In season 1 he’d constantly go from one person to another, never being loyal to one person. But Isabella clearly isn’t like that.

I’m gonna talk more about that line specifically cause I like it so much. First it’s extremely interesting to me that he uses “us” and “we” meaning that he includes the both of them in this message. Yes he’s telling Isabella to write her own story but he’s also including himself meaning that it’s something that he already understands and does (we know this just by watching season 1). He also says “we have no need of any master” and back in season 3 (when they first met) he would refer to Ambrosius as isabella’s master which made her VERY angry and I think that’s the first sign showing that she doesn’t like working for someone else. And Mendoza probably went “hey I relate to that”. Another sign is that they both wanted to stop Ambrosius from enslaving the people in Patala. I mean it was clear from the beginning that Isabella doesn’t like Ambrosius’ methods.

So all in all. Mendoza helps Isabella understand that it’s okay to choose herself (in fact it’s better for the plot (and herself) if she did). And through their relationship we get to see that Mendoza hates people forcing others to do stuff they clearly don’t want. Just cause you’re rich or your someone’s father doesn’t mean you can tell them what to do. You don’t own this planet, we should all be able to walk on it freely and just idk do what we want. We all gotta be our own people

6- I think This will be the last point although it is connected to my previous point. I love love love JUST LOVE how their relationship ends. So we remember that scene where they kinda “plan out their life”, if that makes sense? Absolutely none of what they said there was related to how a “conventional” relationship between a man and woman should be like. What I mean is, we typically think of stories ending with “and then they got married and had kids”. I’m not against that but you have to agree that it would be extremely out of character for the both of them. First, Mendoza already has kids. Second, just because Isabella is a woman doesn’t mean she would want kids (some people don’t get this…). Third, her mom died in childbirth idk if she’d be up to that. And then let me say this again THEY ALREADY HAVE KIDS.

Given the context the story is set, you would expect them to end that way. But we know that mcog is like “forget about traditional families!” Remember that Esteban rejected the chance of getting adopted by a nice Christian family so that he could stay with his 2 adopted siblings and single father.

I think the fact that Mendoza and Isabella want to go on their own adventures and then tell each other about their day is another way of showing us how they reject the conventional lifestyle. If society tells them to do one thing, you best believe they’ll do the complete opposite. I mean have you heard of a couple that DOESN’T wanna spend time with each other 😭

And again it’s just, really in character for them, I’m so glad the writers didn’t forget how to write their own characters (this happens in a lot…)

I guess in a nutshell It’s just about wanting To live life how you want to live with whoever you want to live it with...... That's why when Mendoza and Isabella are planning their life together, he says that they'll go on their adventures and then come back home and tell each other about it..... so they're not really tied down to one person but are still free to go out and be themselves..... Instead they CHOOSE to come back to each other..... That's powerful love..... and I love that cause it goes against the idea of mariage seen through the eyes of the Catholic Church in 1500's....... Like how you're supposed to be tied down to one person your whole life....... But none of them want that for the other....... Mendoza made it really clear he always saw isabella as her own person and him wanting her to join them wasn't cause he wanted to be with her it's cause he wanted to give her a chance to do what she wanted to do..... oh it all circles back to freedom again..... lovely...

Now that was all cute and lovely (and long) but there are some stuff I don’t like about them. Unfortunately

1- First up Isabella clearly only exists to be a love interest. She didn’t have to be but she doesn’t have much going on for her. Even though there is a lot of POTENTIAL to make her independent of her relationship. It’s unfortunately not explored enough

2- Mendoza sometimes acts weird and out of character due to choices made when writing the relationship. I’ll make this clearer later on

3- also their relationship is quite useless to the plot. Doesn’t add anything at all

4- they tried to do some uhh enemies to lovers but it didn’t work cause they’re barely enemies at the start bro

5- their relationship feels VERY weak cause we never really know WHY they even like each other? Cause Isabella saved the kids? Oh please make it clearer. At least Gaspar and Isabella spend time together and become friends. Mendoza and Isabella barely interact as normal people or friends. They either fight or kiss. They do have some convos BUT THEY BARELY KNOW EACH OTHER. Talk about the weather or something??? Isabella doesn’t know anything abt Mendoza I’m pretty sure she doesn’t even know his name 😭

6- Mendoza randomly being sexist was soooo annoying to me like what do you mean you’re not gonna fight a woman???? Didn’t he fight an Amazon warrior in season 1. I’ve thought (ever since season 1) that Mendoza wouldn’t be prejudiced in any way (despite being European) cause that would mean missing out on making potential allies that might help him in his goal. If you’re an opportunist you CAN’T afford to be sexist or whatever. Can you imagine how his plan would’ve gone if he never listened to a thing Zia said cause she was a girl. Yeah no. Or not accepting help from the incans or Mayans cause idk they’re not white. Come onnnn I know we’re in the 15th century but historical accuracy has never been a part of this show

7- another thing is the double standard Mendoza has towards Isabella.

I mean first she “betrays” him (season 3 finale) and he gets mad at her. Mind you, she TOLD HIM she was on AMBROSIUS’ side. How can she betray you if she’s not on your side. Where’s the logic sir

And he’s still mad at her despite her helping the kids and saving their lives MULTIPLE times. And then when she apologizes he doesn't believe her immediately.

And then when he learns she works for the king he gets REALLY mad. But THEN when Gaspar reluctantly joins their team, HE'S OKAY WITH IT???

despite the fact that Gaspar tried to KILL HIM AND THE KIDS MANY TIMES AND WILLINGLY WORKED WITH AMBROSIUS

VS the fact that Isabella. LITERALLY TOLD MENDOZA that she didn't WANT to work with Ambrosius, it's just that he's her UNCLE AND SHE HAS NO ONE ELSE

ALSO LIKE. Mendoza saves Gaspar's life at the end of the show. And Gaspar gets really mad at that cause he's never gonna live that down. So Gaspar is like "nooo why did you do that???" And Mendoza replies with "well, l've become attached to you" HUHHHHHHHH

Gaspar never ONCE DID ANYTHING TO HELP ANYONE

And yet Isabella doesn't gain his trust that easily????????

HUH?????

Not to mention Gaspar also works for the king basically and Mendoza had no problem with that????? Instead he SPECIFICALLY POINTS OUT ISABELLA?????? WHEN GASPAR IS ALSO RIGHT THERE???? Like I know that in the Isabella-Gaspar duo she's the one who decides what they're gonna do with the artifacts but like.

Mendoza insults HER and only HER with the " like a good little soldier" thing. And only duels HER

It's like......

Mendoza: Isabella has to show that she really wants to help us or else l'm not gonna believe it

Gaspar: I don't wanna help you, but Isabella does, so l'm coming along

Mendoza: ok sure no problem with that!!!!!! Your motives aren't relevant at all!!!!! Doesn't matter that you wanna kill me!!!!

Also it's not just Mendoza. It's EVERYONE.

EVERYBODY has a problem with Isabella. Not a SINGLE PERSON seems to care about what Gaspar does. Reminder he tried to kill them. His sole purpose in life IS TO KILL MENDOZA

Also I like Gaspar | mean he also went through character development and I'm not saying that they should not trust him or work with him but the fact that he easily gets in but Isabella doesn't.

Is crazy to me.

Gaspar doesn't even WANNA BE THERE. But he DID want to join Ambrosius. Like willingly. And it's not only cause he wanted to be closer to Isabella.

The only reason Ambrosius hired him is cause Gaspar hates Mendoza. Like whaaat. And Isabella is only there cause she's HIS NEICE AND MENDOZA KNOWS THIS

It's just.... Isabella really didn't do anything bad ever and yet..... Mendoza is so judgy and petty about it season 1 would never. Ok to be fair

season 1 Mendoza would be horrible in a relationship but still idk it's not sitting right with me!

No matter what Isabella did, Mendoza has done far worse and the show never even acknowledges that. Mendoza himself seems to have forgot everything??? And it's not a new thing. Right after Zias dad died in season 1 he acts like he was this perfect person since forever. Like girl be for real!!!!

It's so crazy that even Pedro and sancho notice and then Mendoza gaslights them and is like ohhh I like the kids so l'm nice now. Pretty sure it doesn't work like that

And same for Gaspar but honestly it's not that bad cause we see some character development and he's not actually that bad of a guy. Like he just wants to get even with Mendoza that's all does he really wanna kill him. Ok yeah. But he does have a reason I think. Like he was just chilling as a teacher in Japan like that's it. He's not lying or manipulating people like Mendoza was. Or betraying people like Isabella has APPARENTLY done

8- also Mendoza acting all petty is both very funny to me I love that scene but I also don’t cause omg 😭 she’s like “you know what I can’t betray my king, bye” and he’s like “but what about meeee” girl shut up you barely know her 😭 why not respect her decision idk. also him mocking her was too hilarious for me to hate. But also. Grow up man 😭

Another thing that got me was when he goes in the nef to “save” her but she’s already saved herself. And then she talks about something Ambrosius is doing (idk I don’t remember) and Mendoza goes “hm and you think this might interest your master?” Mind you he JUST found out about the king of Spain thing and he was sooo slick with it it’s so funny this was SO MESSY 😭 he’s acting like he just caught her cheating

Oh yeah then he’s like “so where you ever gonna tell me” first of all 1) you have practically no relationship, you’re not entitled to anything and 2) I don’t think she’s even LEGALLY allowed to tell you. But Mendoza’s never been one to care about the law hah

8- last thing. Isabella really doesn’t care for Mendoza as much as he does for her. He’s constantly worrying about where she is, if she’s okay etc. That’s cute! But then we cut to Isabella and she’s having the time of her life 😭

While he was worrying about her, she was entertaining the idea of going back to Spain with Gaspar and getting payed for all the artifacts. Never once did she think about Mendoza. And she was seriously considering it by the way. She wasn’t just playing along with Gaspar for funsies. Cause Gaspar says “the king will make you a duchess” and she replies “And you, a duke” GIRL come on. She’s like. Yeah you can come too it’ll be fun. Okay I know it is kinda a joke but this was their plan until Mendoza showed up again

Also we never see Isabella being worried for Mendoza by the way. I’m pretty sure. Like I can’t remember seeing that. Someone tell Mendoza to calm down

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.