The Characters: Alejandro Murietta

"How can I do what is right when all I feel is hate?" 

As a young boy, Alejandro had the honor of making the masked bandit Zorro's acquaintance when he and his brother Joaquin helped him defeat Raphael Montero and his soldiers. Now, twenty years later, the brothers have become thieves and linked up with Three-Fingered Jack. Unfortunately, they are wanted by Captain Love, Montero's cruel right-hand man. 

When Joaquin is killed by Captain Love, Alejandro vows revenge and resorts to drink. He encounters Diego in the marketplace and discovers that he is Zorro. Diego takes him back to his lair and begins to educate the young man to take over as an apprentice... but Alejandro is sidetracked by Montero's beautiful daughter Elena. Spirited and feisty, Elena is more than a woman... she's a wonder who is about to capture his heart.

But they are leagues apart and Alejandro has much to learn at the hands of his new master, who can be harsh and demanding. Can Alejandro find his heart and his head in time to save his people from a fate worse than death? Or will revenge overrule common sense and send him spiraling into disaster...?

Character Traits: 

Alejandro is undeniably bad-tempered. Easily angered but dully comic, his traits are blundering his way into disaster and skating out again... with or without a few wounds to remind him of the skirmish. He is young and impulsive, stunned by Elena's beauty and darkly suspicious of Montero. His hatred for Captain Love is evident in every breath he takes and he lives for the day when he can take his revenge with honor... and live to celebrate it.

Memorable Moments:

For me, it is when he takes solace in the confessional and has his first up-close-and-personal glimpse of Elena through the lattice. His tongue has not quite been taken by her beauty and he charms her along, enjoying the experience before escaping just within the nick of time with his life. 

Memorable Quotes:

"You dishonored your father? Well, that is not so bad. Maybe your father deserved it."

"I work, I slave, and you slap me down? Listen to me. I am tired of all this work, all this training, waiting for you to tell me I am ready!"

"Just one question. How would you like your remains displayed?"

"Lightning split the sky, thunder shook the earth... and then all was quiet. The people gave him a huge funeral, the largest was ever seen. But don't worry, little Juaquin, whenever great deeds are remembered, your grandfather will live on. For them there is to always---always!!---be a Zorro! And someday, when he is needed again, we will see him again, on his fearsome steed Tornado, riding in the wind, his sword blazing in the sun! Leaping, jumping... fighting like a lion, fighting like a tiger... fighting.... as safely as possible."