Magellan

Ferdinand Magellan begins the story in 1511, taking part in the Capture of Malacca while serving under Alfonso de Albuquerque and getting wounded in the fighting. After the clash, he buys a Cebuano slave whom he names Enrique and brings him along when he returns to Portugal. Magellan is cared for by Beatriz Barbosa, whom he marries, while Enrique continues to worship his native gods in secret. As years pass, Magellan’s bold ambitions collide with the cautious pragmatism of European powers, and a gate opens to a voyage that might carve a western sea route to the riches of Asia.

The political scene shifts when King Manuel I of Portugal rejects Magellan’s plan to circle the globe to reach a trade network that could bypass Spanish competition. Undeterred, Magellan travels to Spain, where his proposal gains a receptive audience. In 1519, he sets sail with a fleet, leaving his wife Beatriz pregnant behind. The voyage unfolds as a brutal test of leadership and endurance: discipline is harsh, a crewmember is put to death for homosexual acts, and mutinies lead to the marooning of another sailor and a priest on Patagonia. The long crossing of the Pacific stretches the crew’s resolve, and Magellan’s thoughts drift to Beatriz and the child they may never meet.

Enrique spots the island of Cebu and helps usher the expedition ashore. There, Rajah Humabon welcomes them, with Enrique serving as translator and guide. Magellan brings a statuette of the Santo Niño and a stash of quince to Humabon’s ill son, hoping to cure him; the boy improves, and Humabon’s wife Juana is baptized, taking the name as a sign of new faith. The sudden celebrations ripple through the community, and a blood compact is forged between Humabon and Magellan, accompanied by the locals’ conversion to Christianity. Yet the mood sours quickly as the newly converted people burn depictions of their old gods, and Juana warns that the old powers will demand retribution.

In the wake of the conversion, Humabon’s people are urged to spread rumors about a menacing Datu Lapu-Lapu, a wak-wak feared by neighboring communities. Magellan, dismissive of the myth, is nonetheless drawn toward a confrontation. The clash on native soil becomes a brutal test of the expedition’s strength and resolve, with Magellan ultimately falling on the battlefield. As the dust settles, Enrique oversees the aftermath and offers a stark truth in a voice-over: Humabon and his forces attacked Magellan, and there was no real Lapu-Lapu. Enrique reveals that he himself took part in the massacre of many of Magellan’s remaining men in a bid to win his freedom, a revelation that reframes the voyage as a complex tale of loyalty, survival, and the cost of empire.

Last Updated: October 05, 2025 at 11:55