The Other Conquest (1998)

Iñaki Aierra: Hernando Cortés

Quotes 

• Hernando Cortés : [in Spanish, to Topiltzin]  Think what you will of us, but our missionaries have come to this godforsaken land only to save your souls.

  Tecuichpo : [in Nahuatl, "translating" to Topiltzin]  Their missionaries want our souls... but they don't know where to look for them.

• Notario Ramón Quevedo : [spying on Hernán Cortés and Tecuichpo]  And this one? Who is she?

  Capitán Cristóbal Quijano : [also spying on them]  Tecuichpo, the oldest daughter of Moctezuma.

  Notario Ramón Quevedo : What happened to his mistress Malinche?

  [relishing the thought] 

  Notario Ramón Quevedo : Did Cortés hang her next to Prince Cuauhtemoc in Honduras?

  Capitán Cristóbal Quijano : No, he got fed up and gave her to Captain Jaramillo.

  Notario Ramón Quevedo : He gave away the mother of his first-born?

  Capitán Cristóbal Quijano : First-born? A half-bred "mestizo"?

  Hernando Cortés : [noticing them]  Come in, you gossips!

• Hernando Cortés : [passing sentence on Topiltzin]  Captain Cristóbal Quijano of Seville will carry out the whipping of the Indian named Tepilsin -

  Tecuichpo : [interrupts]  Topiltzin! Cuauhtlahtohuac Topiltzin!

  Notario Ramón Quevedo : Should I listen to her?

  Hernando Cortés : No.

  [pause] 

  Hernando Cortés : Call him Tomás.

• Hernando Cortés : [to Tecuichpo]  Were I this gold necklace to live close to your breasts, Doña Isabel. Honor me by wearing it at my side at the conversion of your brother Tomás, a great Christian occasion for me.

• Tecuichpo : How can you not realize that you're not what you think you are!

  Hernando Cortés : I am Don Hernando Cortés, Governor and Captain General of New Spain by the work and grace of this hand and of my own words. I have never needed anyone else!

• Hernando Cortés : [referring to the young friar who is "renouncing" to Aztec beliefs in Topiltzin's name]  Who is this sodomite? Why is he, and not Friar Diego, pronouncing Topiltzin's renouncement?

  Tecuichpo : Perhaps because Friar Diego doesn't approve of how you pay homage to the Lord, Don Hernando.

• Hernando Cortés : [Cortés slaps Tecuichpo]  I don't give a damn about your people!

  Tecuichpo : [She stares at him and exits the room] 

  Hernando Cortés : [to himself]  It is you I care for.