So, so far in this show, I’ve praised the animation, the action, the enjoyable characters, but have said how we haven’t got too too much in terms of plot or character. We’ve gotten some, but so far our heroes are very simple to understand. After an episode or two, you get an idea of what they’re like. But Mendoza, our main villain has been mostly withheld. We’re told early on he has a grievance with the Makai, but not told why. At first, I got the impression I think a lot got, he’s just the evil advisor. He’s the Jafar, the councilor and also he’s a priest, so he’s mostly out for himself and his own power. That’s the sort of idea I got from him. But….damn this show shocked the everloving crap out of me.
While our heroes’ part in the story sandwich the episode, and we’ll get into that….the main focus of this story is the backstory on Mendoza and its just…brilliant. But enough about me just saying its good, what is it about?
First we show him as he’s been captured and tried by the head of the Makai. Rafael and likely Leon’s grandfather hold him in place to receive his sentence. And what is his crime?
He made a tool which can control Horrors. However, it also requires the use of human blood, in some cases bleeding the people dry. This, for obvious reasons is a big big no-no to the Makai, who base their organization on protecting humans. However, I can see the good intentions from which Mendoza made this tool. After all, if you control the Horrors, it would essentially end the constant fighting. The Makai’s constant battle against Horrors would be over. However, one bad aspect is that it isn’t purely for benevolent purposes. Mendoza has come under the idea that the Makai, rather than being simple guardians to humanity, should instead rule over them.
This naturally pushes him to extremism. He looks down on humans and sees the Makai as more powerful, and made this tool so that the Makai would no longer need to fight Horrors and instead take control of humanity. I wonder even more at his reasoning here. Is it pure ambition, or frustration on how thankless, dangerous, and brutal a Makai knight or priest’s life is. We do not know, but what we do know is what they decide to do. Not only do they banish him from their order, they give a branding curse that would be on him and all his descendants, so his bloodline would never mix with the Makai again.
As you can see, these curse marks are incredibly painful and terrible. After being kicked out, Mendoza is so overwrought and broken by what happens, wandering aimlessly. Whatever these curse marks do (it doesn’t really say to what degree they hurt him) he absolutely loathes them, even to the point of ripping off his own flesh to be rid of them.
So, what would you expect after this humiliation, this pain, and his exile? Normally for him to plot his revenge there, it’d be simple enough motivation right there to want to destroy the Makai. But no, the flashback goes on and decides to add an unexpected part to the story. Mendoza doesn’t try to seek out revenge, he tries to find a new start.
He finds an order of monks, and claims to be one himself. He uses his Makai knowledge to cure a plague, which grants him the attention of the king. He then uses some Horrors in secret and gives the king advice to attack to defeat an enemy. Now, we can question the morality of sending the Horrors to attack humans, but he did it to help the king. There’s nothing here that shows he had any ulterior motive or was trying to simply get power for his own designs. He seems to be truly trying to simply live his life. The king even gives him a beautiful wife, the daughter of a count, so his life seems to have become very good.
But…it doesn’t. And he realizes this when his first child is born. The child bears the same curse marks he does. And in that moment,he realizes-there is no escape. No matter how he tries to find a new life or be happy, try to have a family, what the Makai did to him will never go away. He can never escape the pain, humiliation, and the shame he had been subjected to. His past will haunt him until the day he dies. In a fit of rage and utter despair, he kills both his wife and his child, throwing their bodies off of a cliff.
I think this is when he finally truly falls. His anger, his loss, his despair, completely takes hold and many of his better aspects are consumed by his desire for revenge. If he can’t have a happy family, then the Makai’s bloodlines would be stamped out. And ironically enough, he uses the humans he would wish to rule as well as the Makai’s vows against harming them as the greatest pieces of his revenge.
We’re shown one last piece of this tale, him meeting Octavia, who seems to be his main assistant (and I’m suspecting, poisoning the king to keep him out of the picture.) She sees right through to what he is, but what he is she finds admirable, and worth following. She had suffered and felt betrayed by her god, and so seeks to find faith in Mendoza and his plans. She also seems a bit enamored by his coldness. He says he will take her in, and let her serve him, and will never ever throw her away.
I truly, truly wish he doesn’t sacrifice her or cast her aside to directly violate this, and not for her sake. Its because it would be a trite, cliche way to show he’s he bad guy, and would blemish an actually complicated and nuanced villain. His backstory gives us everything and it is incredibly tragic, interesting, and dark. What really sold it for me was that middle part, that part where it seems he is trying to start a new life, only for his past to keep him trapped. It adds depth, and gives us a far more compelling villain than I thought we were going to get. I before had no interest in Mendoza, but now I am fully invested in how his character is going, and almost want to watch the older episodes to see old scenes in a new light.
Anyways,now that that’s done, time to get back to our heroes. Well, I am happy to say, Leon and Alfonso still have not sunk into the idiotic rivalry thing, and seem to have quickly bonded into being real companions. While different, those differences don’t cause them to step on each other’s toes or cause unnecessary conflict.
After they head to town, they meet Emma, who does her favorite pastime, teasing Leon by getting close. I love how, despite being so cold and seemingly distant, Leon becomes a 12 year old blushing boy when things get intimate.
But where is Herman?
Yes, right before we get the dark backstory of our main villain we get even more of Herman being naked. Honestly, show, you beat this gag to death in episode 8, you can’t use it again this soon and have it work. Anyways, most of the episode is with Herman hearing about Alfonso, and concluding that Anna slept with another man and had his child. This is extremely silly and stupid, especially since if they were that close, I think Herman would have noticed her disappearing for like 10 months to a year. However, the others feel like just letting him go off on his crazy suspicions, mostly because he annoys them. By the time we get back after the Mendoza’s stuff, he seems to have finally made piece with it..only for them to finally tell him the truth. Of course, he’s very happy, not just because Anna didn’t cheat on him, but now he’s related to the king.
Though actually, this leads me to a curious theory I developed after watching this episode. What if Leon wasn’t Herman’s son..but Mendoza’s?
I know, there’s a lot of problems with this theory, the lack of evidence Mendoza and Anna ever met or had any interaction, some of the similarities in appearance between Leon and Herman, etc. But, there’s several things I think would make sense for it. It would explain the markings that Leon has (though I haven’t checked to verify if they look the same). Also, it would fit thematically with them both; Mendoza and Leon both are pursuing vengeance over the Makai desire to protect people. Another aspect is how cold and stoic Leon can be, much more like Mendoza than Herman. I know its probably not the case, but its a fun idea to think about until it may be proven wrong. And if it is the case, we got a ‘who’s your daddy” reveal on par with Darth Vader’s.
Anyways, the gang head up to the castle so they can put an end to this, though Emma only helping partially on the way there then vanishing. She’s like this story’s Gandalf, a really really sexy lady Gandalf. ….This job, you say thing you think you’d never say before. We do at least find out she’s been after a certain Horror, but that’s it. The boys enter the castle, dealing with death traps, secret passageways, and of course, Horrors.
Lots and lots and lots of Horrors.
After getting through all of the minion Horrors, they finally get to the main mini-boss. Fernandoooo!!!!!
OH SNAP!!!! Looks like next episode we will have some serious knight on knight action with swords and powers and all that good stuff.
This episode was great, though a lot of what elevated it to being great was the part with Mendoza. A good villain can bolster an amazing story or even save a lousy one, and this is an incredibly well-made villain. He goes far beyond what I expected for this show, and adds depth and dimension to all of it. I’ve been saying how this show’s action is great, but the story needs a bit more….and we got it here. If they show some more amazing character development and growth, it will only add to the action and make this series just fantastic.