Lope de Aguirre is one of the two main antagonists of Disney's 2021 live-action film Jungle Cruise. He is a historic Spanish conquistador who led an expedition to South America in search for the legendary Tears of the Moon from the Tree of Life to cure his daughter Anna, only to be cursed for 400 years to never leave sight of the river, or the jungle would take them back to it for all eternity.
History[]
In 1556 Spain, Aguirre's only daughter Anna had fallen ill and promised to find the Tears of the Moon to cure her and embarked an expedition with his adoptive brother Francisco as his cartographer. His ship sailed across the Atlantic ocean in storm the shipwrecked in the Amazon. A while after he and crewmates traveled into the jungle, each of them were getting sicker and dying off one by one. Aguirre wouldn't give up and continued to push forward but he too fallen ill from exhaustion only to have the thought of failure of to find the tree and saving Anna. He, Francisco and his three remaining conquistadors, Sancho, Melchor and Gonzalo were saved by the Puka Michuna tribe, the Guardians of the Tree, and used the petals from the Tears of the Moon's magic to revive them. Aguirre was joyed that he was getting closer to saving his daughter. Overtime he became impatient and begged the chief to give the sacred arrowhead and take him to the tree. However, the chief refused, deeming that Aguirre was unworthy.
In anger, Aguirre stabs the chief, fatally wounding him and his conquistadors began attacking the villagers. The chief's daughter escapes with the arrowhead while Francisco, who decided to help the villagers. Aguirre stabs Francisco for his treachery then chases after the daughter. For his cruelty, the dying chief used his last breath to protect the arrowhead and the tree, he cursed Aguirre, Francisco and the others to never leave sight of the river again. Aguirre blamed Francisco for betraying him and never seeing Anna again and fought him time and time again over the years. Francisco then cleverly traps Aguirre, Sancho, Melchor and Gonzalo in a cave far from the river, without it, they all turned all to stone. Over 300 years, the jungle had decayed his body.
Role in the film[]
He remains in the cave, encased within stone and dried up without any of the river water until Prince Joachim freed them in exchange for finding the Arrowhead and the Tears of the Moon. After being freed by Joachim with explosives detonating the cave and allowing the river water to flow within, many different creatures such as deadly snakes, poisonous frogs, and killer bees covered the bodies of Aguirre and his men, turning them into undead beings due to the curse.
Watching from a branch through one of his snakes, he sees Frank, along with Lily and McGregor Houghton, drifting off deeper in the jungle to another native tribe similar to the ones that cursed Aguirre and his crew. Aguirre follows them and ending up attacking all the tribe's men again.
They go after Lily, who has escaped from them and has the Arrowhead, but as soon as they caught up to her, the jungle pulls them back towards the river due to the curse that was placed on them long ago. They come back and become their creature forms, informing Joachim of the location of the Arrowhead and where Frank and Lily were heading to.
Joachim captures McGregor, catches up to Frank and Lily and forces them to find the temple where the tree is being held. As soon as Lily and Frank find the tree and bloom all of it's petals, the moon sets way too soon as the blossoming petals begin disintegrating. Lily plucks one of the petals and Joachim tries to take it from her.
As Joachim failed to get the petal, Aguirre betrays him and decided to go after the petal for himself. His crew attacks Frank and the others, that is until Frank crashes into the wall and causes the river's water within the temple to be emptied out, allowing the vines around it to surround Aguirre and his men along with Frank. Aguirre is once again petrified, snakes and all, within stone as he is set to be for seemingly forever.
Disney Parks[]
Jungle Cruise[]
In Disneyland's Jungle Cruise, Aguirre's conquistador helmet is hung up in the Jungle Navigation Company's boathouse.
Trivia[]
- In a complete contrast to the film Aguirre's goal of trying to save his daughter's life, the real Lope de Aguirre ended up killing his daughter Elvira to spare her from tortuous treatment immediately before he was captured and executed for his treasonous actions against the Spanish crown in 1561.
External links[]
