TV-Series
Description
Mendoza serves as the primary antagonist, a former member of the Makai Order whose fall from grace sets the story's conflict in motion. Originally a Makai Priest, he served the governing Senate and held a deep-seated belief that the Makai Order, having protected humanity from Horrors for so long, deserved to be revered as gods and should rule over the people they guarded. This pride and ambition led him to create Zirkel’s Circle, a forbidden and powerful Madō Tool capable of controlling Horrors. The device's great power, however, came at an unacceptable cost, as it required the use of human blood to function.
His transgression against the Order’s sacred duty to protect humanity resulted in severe punishment. Mendoza was excommunicated and branded with a curse that covered his body in glowing red marks. The punishment was designed to extend beyond himself, ensuring his descendants would also bear the marks, effectively banishing his entire bloodline from the Makai Order for eternity.
Following his exile, Mendoza wandered until he entered the kingdom of Valiante under the guise of a traveling monk. He used his knowledge as a Makai Priest to predict the outcomes of battles and heal the sick during an epidemic, earning the favor of King Fernando San Valiante. As a reward, the king gave him a noble bride and the powerful position of royal advisor. For a time, Mendoza appeared to have found a new life, but his past was inescapable. When his wife gave birth, he saw the cursed marks on his newborn child, proof that his lineage would forever carry the Order’s judgment. Unwilling to let them suffer and determined to conceal his secret, he murdered his wife and child, disposing of their bodies in the sea. This horrific act extinguished any remaining humanity within him, transforming his despair into a consuming, hate-filled vow for revenge against the entire Makai Order.
Mendoza’s motivation is a complex mixture of wounded pride, a desire for power, and a vengeful need to destroy the bloodlines of those who cursed his own. He seeks to become a living god by reviving the ancient, incredibly powerful Horror known as Anima and serving as its vessel. His strategy involves not just brute force but cunning manipulation. He slowly poisons King Fernando and exploits the king’s Christian faith to initiate a systematic witch hunt, under which he secretly captures, tortures, and executes hundreds of Makai Knights and Priests residing in Valiante. He uses Horrors under his control to fill key positions in the government and isolates the kingdom from the outside world. The souls of his murdered Makai brethren are then trapped within a large crystal, their energy intended to fuel Anima’s resurrection.
One of his most heinous acts is the capture and execution of Anna, a pregnant Makai Priestess who is part of the bloodline that bears the title of the Golden Knight, Garo. Mendoza has her burned at the stake while she is giving birth, though her husband, Germán Luís, saves the infant, León. This event sets the stage for the central conflict, as Mendoza spends the next seventeen years attempting to locate and eliminate Germán and his son before the boy can become a threat.
Mendoza maintains several key relationships that serve his agenda. His most loyal follower is Octavia, a woman who was disillusioned by her faith and found in Mendoza a new object of devotion. He manipulates her loyalty by promising he will never discard her, and she assists him in the palace by managing the king’s poisoning. He also allies with the fallen Makai Knight Bernardo Dión, who serves as a powerful enforcer. Later, it is revealed that Germán Luís is forced to work for Mendoza, who survived an apparent death at the hands of his own summoned Horror, though the circumstances of this servitude are complex and shrouded in secrecy.
Throughout the story, Mendoza’s development follows a trajectory from a powerful but disgraced priest to a vengeful mastermind, and finally to a being who achieves his goal of becoming a living god by absorbing the Horror Anima. However, his victory is short-lived. In a final confrontation, León drags Mendoza into the Makai realm, the very source of the Horrors he sought to control. There, the spirit of Anna, León’s mother, transfers the protective flames from her son onto Mendoza. As a consequence of his near-immortality after merging with Anima, Mendoza cannot die. He is instead reduced to a charred skeleton, forced to remain in the Makai in a state of pure agony, suffering the torment of being endlessly burned alive for eternity.
As a former Makai Priest, Mendoza possesses significant abilities. His skills include powerful alchemy, as demonstrated by the creation of Zirkel’s Circle. He also retains the knowledge and talents of a priest, allowing him to perform healing and predictive magic. His greatest ability, however, is his cunning and strategic mind, which he uses to orchestrate the near-total destruction of the Makai Order within Valiante, not through direct combat, but through political manipulation and betrayal. His ultimate power comes from absorbing Anima, which grants him the strength of an ancient Horror and makes him nearly invincible, a state which ultimately becomes his eternal prison.
His transgression against the Order’s sacred duty to protect humanity resulted in severe punishment. Mendoza was excommunicated and branded with a curse that covered his body in glowing red marks. The punishment was designed to extend beyond himself, ensuring his descendants would also bear the marks, effectively banishing his entire bloodline from the Makai Order for eternity.
Following his exile, Mendoza wandered until he entered the kingdom of Valiante under the guise of a traveling monk. He used his knowledge as a Makai Priest to predict the outcomes of battles and heal the sick during an epidemic, earning the favor of King Fernando San Valiante. As a reward, the king gave him a noble bride and the powerful position of royal advisor. For a time, Mendoza appeared to have found a new life, but his past was inescapable. When his wife gave birth, he saw the cursed marks on his newborn child, proof that his lineage would forever carry the Order’s judgment. Unwilling to let them suffer and determined to conceal his secret, he murdered his wife and child, disposing of their bodies in the sea. This horrific act extinguished any remaining humanity within him, transforming his despair into a consuming, hate-filled vow for revenge against the entire Makai Order.
Mendoza’s motivation is a complex mixture of wounded pride, a desire for power, and a vengeful need to destroy the bloodlines of those who cursed his own. He seeks to become a living god by reviving the ancient, incredibly powerful Horror known as Anima and serving as its vessel. His strategy involves not just brute force but cunning manipulation. He slowly poisons King Fernando and exploits the king’s Christian faith to initiate a systematic witch hunt, under which he secretly captures, tortures, and executes hundreds of Makai Knights and Priests residing in Valiante. He uses Horrors under his control to fill key positions in the government and isolates the kingdom from the outside world. The souls of his murdered Makai brethren are then trapped within a large crystal, their energy intended to fuel Anima’s resurrection.
One of his most heinous acts is the capture and execution of Anna, a pregnant Makai Priestess who is part of the bloodline that bears the title of the Golden Knight, Garo. Mendoza has her burned at the stake while she is giving birth, though her husband, Germán Luís, saves the infant, León. This event sets the stage for the central conflict, as Mendoza spends the next seventeen years attempting to locate and eliminate Germán and his son before the boy can become a threat.
Mendoza maintains several key relationships that serve his agenda. His most loyal follower is Octavia, a woman who was disillusioned by her faith and found in Mendoza a new object of devotion. He manipulates her loyalty by promising he will never discard her, and she assists him in the palace by managing the king’s poisoning. He also allies with the fallen Makai Knight Bernardo Dión, who serves as a powerful enforcer. Later, it is revealed that Germán Luís is forced to work for Mendoza, who survived an apparent death at the hands of his own summoned Horror, though the circumstances of this servitude are complex and shrouded in secrecy.
Throughout the story, Mendoza’s development follows a trajectory from a powerful but disgraced priest to a vengeful mastermind, and finally to a being who achieves his goal of becoming a living god by absorbing the Horror Anima. However, his victory is short-lived. In a final confrontation, León drags Mendoza into the Makai realm, the very source of the Horrors he sought to control. There, the spirit of Anna, León’s mother, transfers the protective flames from her son onto Mendoza. As a consequence of his near-immortality after merging with Anima, Mendoza cannot die. He is instead reduced to a charred skeleton, forced to remain in the Makai in a state of pure agony, suffering the torment of being endlessly burned alive for eternity.
As a former Makai Priest, Mendoza possesses significant abilities. His skills include powerful alchemy, as demonstrated by the creation of Zirkel’s Circle. He also retains the knowledge and talents of a priest, allowing him to perform healing and predictive magic. His greatest ability, however, is his cunning and strategic mind, which he uses to orchestrate the near-total destruction of the Makai Order within Valiante, not through direct combat, but through political manipulation and betrayal. His ultimate power comes from absorbing Anima, which grants him the strength of an ancient Horror and makes him nearly invincible, a state which ultimately becomes his eternal prison.