In Werner Herzog’s *Aguirre, the Wrath of God* (1972), the main character, **Don Lope de Aguirre**, is driven by a singular, megalomaniacal goal that evolves from a search for wealth into a quest for total, god-like power.
### **The Main Character’s Goal**
Aguirre’s primary objective is the discovery of **El Dorado**, the legendary city of gold. However, as the film progresses, his goal transcends mere greed. He seeks to:
* **Establish an Independent Empire:** Aguirre aims to overthrow the Spanish Crown. He formally renounces his loyalty to King Felipe II, declaring the king "dethroned," and proclaims his puppet, the nobleman Fernando de Guzmán, the "Emperor of El Dorado."
* **Achieve Personal Divinity:** He rebrands himself as **"The Wrath of God,"** a title reflecting his belief that he is above human law and nature.
* **Found a New Dynasty:** In his final moments of madness, he plans to marry his own daughter, Flores, to create a "pure" and eternal dynasty that will rule the South American continent.
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### **Specific Obstacles**
Aguirre faces a series of escalating obstacles—environmental, human, and psychological—that systematically dismantle his expedition.
#### **1. The Hostile Environment (The Amazon)**
The most persistent adversary is the landscape itself.
* **The River and Flooding:** The expedition is forced onto rafts because the jungle is impenetrable by foot. A significant early obstacle is a massive **swirling eddy** that traps one of the four rafts, spinning it helplessly while the crew watches from the shore, unable to help. Later, a sudden rise in the river level washes away the remaining rafts and supplies.
* **The Jungle:** The "green hell" of the Amazon provides no food and constant humidity that rots equipment and spirits. The expedition is eventually reduced to eating a few kernels of corn and, eventually, nothing at all.
#### **2. Invisible Attacks (Indigenous Resistance)**
The expedition is under constant, "ghostly" assault from indigenous tribes who remain largely unseen.
* **Poison Arrows:** Men are picked off one by one by arrows fired from the thick foliage. These attacks are particularly demoralizing because the Spaniards often cannot see their attackers, leading to a sense of paranoia.
* **Psychological Denial:** By the end of the film, the survivors are so broken that when an arrow strikes a man, he calmly claims the arrow "is not real" or a product of his imagination.
#### **3. Internal Dissent and Mutiny**
Aguirre must navigate the rigid hierarchy of the Spanish military and the weakness of his own allies.
* **The Conflict with Ursúa:** Aguirre must stage a bloody mutiny against the expedition's original leader, Don Pedro de Ursúa, who recognizes the mission is doomed and wants to turn back.
* **The Incompetent "Emperor":** Aguirre installs Don Fernando de Guzmán as a puppet leader, but Guzmán proves to be a liability. While the men starve, Guzmán insists on eating extravagant meals and even has the expedition's only horse pushed off the raft because it "annoys" him.
#### **4. Madness and Hallucination**
As starvation and tropical fever set in, the crew’s perception of reality fractures.
* **The Ship in the Tree:** In one famous scene, the men see a high-masted Spanish sailing ship perched in the canopy of a tall tree. While it is likely a hallucination caused by fever, it serves as a literal obstacle to their sanity.
* **Isolation:** The ultimate obstacle is Aguirre’s own isolation. He ends the film on a drifting, wrecked raft covered in **hundreds of chattering monkeys**, the last survivors of his "empire."
#### **5. The Futility of the Quest**
The greatest obstacle is the nature of the goal itself: **El Dorado does not exist.** Aguirre is chasing a myth through a landscape that is indifferent to his ambition. His refusal to acknowledge this reality is what ultimately leads to his total destruction.