Montesinos

Also known as: Montesinos himself / Señor Don Montesinos · Family: enchanted world · Role: enchanted warden · First appears: Part 2, Ch. 23.1

In Part 2, Ch. 23.1, at his cave, Montesinos presents himself to Don Quixote as the cave’s alcaide and perpetual warden, inviting him to see its hidden marvels. He identifies Durandarte as both his cousin and friend, calling him “flower and mirror of the true lovers and valiant knights of his time,” while revealing that Merlin has enchanted them there.

After Durandarte dies in his arms, Montesinos removes his heart with his own hands and carries it toward France for Belerma, as his friend requested. He later explains, “I took out your heart as well as I could, not leaving an atom of it in your breast,” and says that Merlin has kept him, Durandarte, Belerma, and Guadiana enchanted for more than five hundred years.

Montesinos identifies Don Quixote as the knight foretold by Merlin, whose aid may free them from enchantment. He shows Don Quixote Dulcinea del Toboso among the enchanted ladies, and in Part 2, Ch. 34.2, a staged messenger announces that Montesinos is coming with the enchanted Dulcinea del Toboso to give Don Quixote instructions for her disenchantment.