Tom Holland

Yeah.

And presumably shares Atahualpa's contempt for what Cuzco represents.

I'm sure.

So in a sense, maybe the Spaniards are doing dirty work that he can't actually do.

I suppose, maybe.

Because I cannot comprehend how they would be allowed to do this otherwise.

And Pizarro is part of that chivalric culture where ransoms are taken for granted.

And he is so hit the jackpot with this one.

Billion, zillion, trillion.

And Tom, what about Diego Almagro, who's turned up and has been systematically frozen out?

Yeah, so the cannibals are coming.

But I guess ultimately the issue comes down to, are they likely to survive if Atahualpa is dead?

Or if they release him, can they trust him to be their protector?

Is there not a kind of legal dimension to this?

Because we've talked throughout how legalistic

the spaniards are yes his entire governorship depends on royal approval yes and killing an emperor who you promised life to i mean it's not a good look is it from the perspective of the spanish court yeah i mean it may not just be kind of humanitarian instincts it may be a genuine anxiety that he's torn between kind of legalistic imperatives and his sense of what would be practically the best thing to do which would be to kill him that's absolutely right i think um

And the irony there is that he's doing that to preserve his supernatural potency in the kingdom of the gods.

So he's buried, isn't he, in the local church?

Yes.

But there are stories that...