Fernando Alhorn
Fernando Alhorn (フェルナンド・アルホーン, Ferunando Aruhōn) is a primary antagonist featured in the light novel El Aleph.
He is a gang leader of human smugglers who shoots hundreds of civilians with the Bow and Arrow, hoping to awaken their powers. He is also a Stand user, wielding El Corazón de las Tinieblas.
Appearance
Fernando Alhorn is a middle-aged man with deeply chiseled features. He has green eyes, and the lines on his cheeks and chin are sharp "as if they were forged by a blacksmith". He appears as if he could be an action star, pimp, street vendor, and a character from Greek mythology all at once.
Alhorn's arms, neck, and chest are covered in blue tattoos made with the ink of boiled-down clerodendrums. His tattoos include a lizard, an eagle, thorns, lightning, the cross, a shooting target, hieroglyphics, and a long slogan of revolutionary ideology.[4] He wears a gold wristwatch.[1]
When relaxing in his hideout, he only wears a robe.[3]
Personality
Alhorn is a psychopathic, apathetic, and intimidating man with violent and cruel tendencies. Ever since he was a child, he felt unable to see himself, his friends, or his family as anything else but walking cadavers. While he was in the military, despite seeing maggots infesting the bodies of his allies, houses of innocents being burned down, and civilians shot to death, Alhorn was more concerned that he would soil himself from dysentry-induced incontinence. Although he is from an affluent family, Alhorn doesn't feel as if he has fallen from grace due to his actions. He also feels no joy when he is surrounded by wealth and women, and isn't the type to think about his past or future.[1] His goal is to make war a sport that is handled by private parties rather than being waged between countries, where a team would win based on their strategy, logistics, and ammunition reserves. He strongly dislikes traitors and those who would shamelessly switch sides, such as when Octavio Luna Kan attempts to provide classified information in exchange for gaining powers from the Bow and Arrow.[3]
Alhorn acts impulsively on his curiosity, obsessed with learning more about the powers that the Arrow could awaken. He believes that these powers are one's deepest weaknesses and will lead humanity to new horizons. He feels no compassion or empathy when shooting or torturing his targets, not even when he decides to murder the family of his right-hand-man, Dos Santos. He would hurt women, children, and people of any age or race indiscriminately. Eventually, he creates rules to abide by when choosing his targets so that he wouldn't get frustrated for wasting his time when they fail to awaken powers, ensuring he would push their bodies to the limit from stress or fear.[1] His torturing methods are extremely inhumane, involving either slicing off skin with a razor, ripping off nails, cutting off digits, hammering nails into them, shooting, burning, starving, freezing, drowning, playing songs over and over again, or planting lethal bacteria in their bodies. He would occasionally take pity on his victims and show them mercy to break their minds, making them his loyal slaves to the point where they would even offer their wives or children to him. He also acts prideful and confident over his sadistic techniques.[3]
Due to alcohol use, Alhorn speaks with a husky voice,[4] described as making listeners feel that they are being dragged somewhere by a powerful wave. His presence unnerves even Octavio, who is normally fearless no matter who he's facing.[3] According to Aki Marcela de la Vega, Alhorn acts very friendly and eloquent when speaking. He is intelligent and likes to read philosophical books. Lisa Lisa describes him as being unprincipled, frivolous, and hollow. Despite confronting evil beings who were far more despicable than him, she likens Alhorn to the personification of the depths of hell, noting that his empty eyes lack desire or determination.[4] Alhorn calls those who try capturing him his fanatics, but he doesn't believe in any god or religion, nor is he trying to imitate being a god. He felt like he could hear a mysterious howling within him that sounded like a scream, eventually learning the true nature of his soul once he turned 49. His sole purpose is following the voice he hears from his soul deep within him.[3]
Alhorn is a master of manipulation and deceit, creating elaborate schemes. He takes on several different personas to evade the Speedwagon Foundation and other organizations trying to catch him.[6] He usually hides his Stand ability, relying on his gang to take care of things for him.[7] He skillfully incites divisions in armies and chaos, causing numerous wars and conflicts. He seizes any opportunity to exploit vulnerabilities, dominate others, and, whenever possible, steer them towards destruction. Wherever he goes, he causes relentless bloodshed and intricate conspiracies.[6]
Abilities
As a gang leader, Alhorn commands several armed soldiers and bodyguards, both with and without Stand abilities. His mercenaries are loyal and Alhorn relies on them to handle intruders to his hideout before he personally tortures them. While torturing, he has swift movements that are skillful and controlled.[3]
Stand
Alhorn is the user of El Corazón de las Tinieblas, which scatters mercury-like droplets that can switch around the composition of either objects or organisms. For example, he can swap one's body parts like their blood vessels with their body hair, or swap around walls in a building to create a maze.
History
Background
Fernando Alhorn was born into a family that became rich off of the oil and mining industries. His father died when he was 17, but he enlisted in the military instead of inheriting his father's lands or mines since he was the third-eldest son. He was assigned to the Agrupamiento del Norte's 33rd infantry brigade and fought in the Ecuadorian border conflict. He suffered from illnesses such as malaria and typhoid fever while witnessing his countrymen and several people shot to death.
He was eventually discharged after a ceasefire was declared, and later traveled to places such as Brazil and Mexico. He worked several jobs while traveling, being a day laborer, bouncer, pimp, human smuggler, tour guide, and geological survey assistant. He read books and didn't settle down in any one place.[1] Alhorn dabbled in illegal activities such as smuggling, organizing gangs of robbers and kidnappers, supporting far-left extremists, and there are unconfirmed rumors of him committing political manipulation through assassinations and poisonings.[4] When he turned 49, he discovered the true nature of his "alma gritando".[1] He learned of the Bow and Arrow through his role as a geological survey assistant, and obtained it during one of his routes.[4]
At some point, Alhorn became the boss of the human traffickers throughout South America. The organization became more corrupt ever since, doing things like demanding exorbitant fees, forcing people to walk through dangerous areas, and shooting them with the Arrow.[5] He often went out in sandals, went to a random home, knocked on the door, and then shot whoever answered with the Arrow. The man had shot over a hundred people with the Arrow but less than 20% awakened their powers. Instead of wasting his time, he created a set of rules to abide by when choosing his targets. Both Alhorn and his right-hand-man, Dos Santos, are included in the personas más peligrosas list.[1] Alhorn had been detained by border patrols for smuggling, stranded at airports, and interrogated by police several times, but managed to escape each time. However, audio recordings of his interrogations were left behind.[4]
In 1974, he traveled back to his homeland of Peru after not being there for several decades. He found a new place to live in the suburbs of the capital instead of returning to his family home. He made appearances all throughout the country, and sometimes branched out into neighboring nations.[1]
El Aleph
Peru Arc
Vacationing at Santa Rosa
Alhorn resides in an extremely large repurposed factory hidden on the summit of San Juan de Lurigancho.[3] One day in 1974, Sasha Loggins and Gustave Shaulo Messina are caught by Dos Santos when trying to investigate his hideout. They are brought to a room similar to a quarantine ward.[8]
Meanwhile, Alhorn is at Santa Rosa. He visits the family home of Dos Santos, and is invited inside. Curious about whether Dos Santos's bloodline or environment influenced his Stand ability, Alhorn shoots Dos Santos's parents with the Arrow. Both of them die and Alhorn leaves their bodies in the living room. He then goes to the bedroom and forces their son-in-law to put his head to his pregnant wife's stomach to hear their baby kicking and breathing. Alhorn shoots them with the Arrow, killing the man, his wife, and their baby all at once. He waits for a while to see if they would awaken any powers, but nothing happens.
Alhorn then takes off his shirt and relaxes in their house, drinking and laying on their bed. Dos Santos arrives to pick him up, telling him that he should return home soon. However, Alhorn tells Dos Santos to relax and have some drinks. Consequently, they end up staying in the house for three more days while drinking. Dos Santos asks his boss to put his clothes on since it's not his house. He explains that there are people waiting for him in their cells, so Alhorn finally decides that they should leave and tells Dos Santos to grab the Bow and Arrow. Dos Santos is shocked to see his sister and brother-in-law's corpses, and laments the death of his family once they head to the living room despite cutting ties with them years ago. Alhorn asks Dos Santos what he expected when they decided they would come to his home.
As they leave the house, they are immediately surrounded by Santa Rosa police officers, who point their guns and have armored cars behind them. Alhorn suspects that Dos Santos set him up, but Dos Santos denies the accusation. Alhorn then orders Dos Santos to wipe out the police officers using his powers.[1]
Intruders of the Citadel
When Alhorn returns back to his citadel, he shoots Sasha and Gustave with the Arrow along with the other prisoners in the quarantine room.[8] Three men who run militia groups in Mexico attempt to band their groups together to capture Alhorn. However, they are captured instead and made into Alhorn's torture victims. Alhorn immobilizes them by tying their limbs to a chair's armrest and legs, with stakes driven through their hands into the wood. For the next few days, Alhorn tortures them by scraping off pieces of their skin and burning body parts on one of them, while tearing out the finger nails and cutting off an ear and toes on the other two. In order to prevent them from going into shock, he covers their bodies with a blanket and gives them smelling salt made from deer horns and hooves.
He is interrupted when Alhorn's subordinate brings Octavio to his room. Alhorn interrogates Octavio, who reveals he's from Guatemala and has encountered a man who controls iron flies and a girl who uses chalk to make holes. Alhorn doesn't seem to know who Fabio is, but is aware of Izahela and asks whether Octavio could see her chalk. Trying to navigate the conversation, Octavio hints that various organizations are after Alhorn. He emphasizes that he's not just another informant but someone who wants a mutually beneficial deal, since he put himself at risk to provide Alhorn with information. Alhorn tries to gauge Octavio's true intentions, as he's wary of Octavio's potential to betray him, likening him to a dog that might bite the hand that feeds it. Nonetheless, Octavio tries to assert his independence, stating he doesn't want to be a mere pawn but seeks a life of his own. He subtly flatters Alhorn, suggesting he has the physique of an athlete, and tries to steer the conversation towards his desire for the Arrow by wondering whether he plays sports or does archery. Alhorn claims he doesn't play sports, but shares his vision of the future of warfare.
Seemingly growing tired of the discussion, Alhorn invites Octavio to follow him to a different part of the room. Alhorn flips off the blanket on the three objects in front of them to reveal the three men he was torturing. As one man slowly begins to regain consciousness, Alhorn suddenly drives a nail into his thumb and then slices off a sliver of skin from his cheek using a razor. Alhorn orders Octavio to tell him exactly who is leading the investigation and what organization he is part of, since Octavio is next in line to be tortured. Before Octavio could even think about fleeing, Alhorn's subordinates shove him to the floor and restrain him. He is dragged away and thrown into a solitary cell.[3]
Octavio manages to escape by swiping the key to his cell from one of Alhorn's guards. He starts a fire in the citadel which eventually causes an explosion when it reaches a gas cylinder. Dos Santos battles Joaquín Ruiz-Jorruda, Octavio, and Sasha as they try to escape. Meanwhile, Alhorn and his other men evacuate the citadel using a pickup truck and several other cars through a hidden escape route. When Dos Santos is defeated, Alhorn shoots Joaquín and Octavio from the truck using his crossbow with the Arrow. As they crawl on the ground from excruciating pain, Alhorn taunts them about their changed fates and hints at looking forward to seeing them again before speeding off.[9]
Final Arc
Various Identities
Alhorn takes on various personas afterward, inciting countless civil wars and incidents. He disguises himself as a descendant of Russian exiled nobility, and also pretends to be a revolutionary, inciting divisions in the national liberation army.[6] Throughout the years, he continues firing the Arrow at random civilians. The Foundation is aware of 33 of his victims who have unknown abilities. He has shot from high places at pedestrians like in the Texas Tower shooting incident, targeted entire families of people he met, shot a Catholic priest during a sermon, and even tested it on an orangutan being transported to a zoo.[7]
He has two more encounters with the Foundation. In the late 1970s, he is followed by Sasha Loggins and J.D. Hernández to a casino in São Paulo. However, they fail to capture him. One of his companions uses their Stand to cause many casualties while Alhorn flees the scene. He also manages to escape from their third encounter, which followed a similar pattern.[7]
In Salvador, Bahia, he masquerades as a real estate developer for doing business dealings and transactions after the original owner passed away. His base is a mansion in the lower part of the city.[6] In actuality, he is illicitly producing firearms to sell to guerrillas, using the basement of the mansion as a factory.[10]
Revenge of the Orphans
In the early 1980s, Octavio and Joaquín approach his gang pretending it is for a business deal, saying they'd like to buy out his weapons in bulk for their cartel. However, when Alhorn arranges the factory tour and sees them in person, he realizes they are actually there for revenge seeing Octavio's anger. Octavio calls him a devil, but Alhorn admits he's been called several names like that already, such as a villain, the Grim Reaper, an assassin, and Mephistopheles. Alhorn proves that his guns work by killing several of Octavio's guards. After provoking them to bring out their Fantasmas, he assumes they didn't do anything, but notices it suddenly got dark outside.
Alhorn summons his own Fantasma, El Corazón de las Tinieblas. He notices that Joaquín looked at El Corazón, but Octavio didn't react. Seeing Octavio's prosthetic leg, Alhorn assumes he must have been deemed unworthy by the Arrow and had to get it amputated. El Corazón attacks Joaquín but the latter dodges at the last moment, communicating something to Octavio which Alhorn couldn't understand. El Corazón then punches a wire mesh scaffolding Joaquín was standing on, which deforms and makes a hole Joaquín falls into. El Corazón repeatedly tries punching Joaquín, but its punches are blocked by Joaquín's own arms. Alhorn wonders how Joaquín is capable of directly defending himself with his own body, but then notices that dark spots emerged on Joaquín's arms, shoulders, and neck, which might have been his own Fantasma.
He decides to change his target to Octavio instead, blowing away Joaquín when he tries shielding Octavio. El Corazón punches Octavio, using its mercury-like droplets to transform Octavio's body. Octavio's blood vessels are swapped with his body hair, and his hand and finger bones are swapped with his teeth. He continues grotesquely deforming Octavio to torment him, swapping his right ear with his left toe, his left collarbone with his kneecap, his left leg with his right arm, and his right eighth rib with his left sternocleidomastoid muscle. Octavio yells at Joaquín not to come to him, so Joaquín obliges and runs up the stairs to the ground floor of the mansion. Alhorn chases after him, using El Corazón to rearrange the mansion into a labyrinth by swapping positions of walls and furniture, and destroying staircases. Nonetheless, Joaquín is able to keep evading him, slipping into different rooms. Alhorn could barely even see Joaquín's body anymore, which is enveloped in an intensely dark aura of the night. Alhorn cautiously tries bringing El Corazón closer to Joaquín, but in doing so, leaves his own body open. Despite all his injuries, Octavio manages to stab Alhorn using his prosthetic leg as a weapon. Octavio thanks Alhorn for making it easier to stab him, since his prosthetic leg was swapped with his arm.
Alhorn tries to quickly call back El Corazón, but it gets caught in what Alhorn believes to be is Joaquín's Fantasma. From a whirl of night above Joaquín's head, a beast appears, biting into El Corazón's neck. With El Corazón's throat crushed, Alhorn's neck is as well. He tries using El Corazón's ability on the creature, but nothing happens. In a desperate attempt to survive, Alhorn uses El Corazón's power on himself just as his head is severed from his neck, swapping his heart with his right cheekbone. This creates a successful bypass in his blood vessels while keeping the ventricles and atria intact, maintaining blood circulation and metabolic cell activity. El Corazón's effects on Octavio end up deactivating during this, and the Fantasma itself stops manifesting at all afterward, which Alhorn believes is because he lost his body. Left as a disembodied yet conscious head, Octavio lifts him up and demands to know the whereabouts of the Arrow.[10] Octavio keeps Alhorn's head in a birdcage for several years afterward, bringing him to the Amazon rainforest where Octavio's Selva Cartel is located. Alhorn names Joaquín's ability "El Aleph" during this time.[11]
Infinite Night
In 1986, Lisa Lisa, Sasha, and Hernández are led by Joaquín to Octavio's lair in a temple at the Amazon rainforest. They are surprised to learn that Octavio is the actual leader of the cartel, rather than Alhorn. Octavio shows them Alhorn's head in the cage, toying with his former adversary's head like a bored deity. Octavio brings up how Alhorn came up with the name "El Aleph", and asks Alhorn to confirm, but he doesn't reply at first. Suddenly, Alhorn opens his eyes upon hearing the name. He grotesquely greets Lisa Lisa; his flesh decaying, eyes wildly rolling, cheek pulsing, mouth twitching, and tropical flies crawling all over his skin. Alhorn jokes that he was away for a bit, thinking that he had died. He asks Lisa Lisa if she can persuade them to put him out of his misery. Octavio speaks with Alhorn, showing the Foundation how the once-dominant gang boss is now merely a submissive head. Alhorn tries claiming that he's still a king even without his throne, but Octavio proves that it's clear that isn't the case. Octavio encourages Alhorn to narrate the events of their past encounter, so Alhorn agrees, as talking is all he could do now.[11]
After El Aleph summons the nightmarish creatures to devour everyone, Alhorn is ecstatic about it being the end of the world. He embraces the chaos that unfolds around him, taunting the creatures to eat him already. He screams and laughs like a madman about the "royal king" El Aleph having descended, before he is presumably eaten by the swarm of creatures.[12]
Chapters
Novel Appearances- El Aleph Chapter 3: III - Guatemala Arc (Mentioned only)
- El Aleph Chapter 4: IV - Peru Arc (1st full appearance)
- El Aleph Chapter 5: V - Peru Arc (Flashback)
- El Aleph Chapter 6: VI - Peru Arc (Mentioned only)
- El Aleph Chapter 7: VII - Peru Arc
- El Aleph Chapter 8: VIII - Peru Arc (Mentioned only)
- El Aleph Chapter 9: IX - Peru Arc (Mentioned only)
- El Aleph Chapter 10: X - Peru Arc
- El Aleph Chapter 11: XI - Peru Arc (Mentioned only)
- El Aleph Chapter 13: XIII - Final Arc (Mentioned only)
- El Aleph Chapter 14: XIV - Final Arc (Flashback)
- El Aleph Chapter 17: XVII - Final Arc
- El Aleph Chapter 18: XVIII - Final Arc (Flashback)
- El Aleph Chapter 19: XIX - Final Arc (Death)
Quotes
Quotes- “The essence of war and murder is asymmetry. They have never had equal actions and results.”—Fernando Alhorn, El Aleph Chapter 4: IV - Peru Arc
- “You set me up, didn't you? You led the cops here like a pack of wolves, you son of a bitch!”—Fernando Alhorn to Dos Santos, El Aleph Chapter 4: IV - Peru Arc
- “I know when there's prey in my web by the tiny vibrations that travel down the strings. My world's so filled with those sensations that there's no room for anything else.”—Fernando Alhorn, El Aleph Chapter 5: V - Peru Arc
- “A person's inner self can't be said to be good or evil. It's their actions that are.”—Fernando Alhorn, El Aleph Chapter 5: V - Peru Arc
- “I didn't call you here to make a deal—I called you here to make you talk, and I have my ways.”—Fernando Alhorn, El Aleph Chapter 7: VII - Peru Arc
- “You're nothing but a dog. There’s no guarantee a traitor like you won't bite the hand that feeds it.”
- “Soon, war won't be waged between countries. It'll be handled by private parties. These won't be wars fought over land, borders, or national identity, and it won't be any holy war fought by future martyrs. I'll make guerra into a sport in every way. Sure, it's a team sport in some ways, but at its core, it'll be all about the individual athlete. Casualties will be like player injuries. So what is it that a team needs to win in the sport of guerra? Strategy, logistics, and ammunition reserves. I don't have time to deal with the mierda who shamelessly switch sides or don't want to become another weapon.”—Fernando Alhorn, El Aleph Chapter 7: VII - Peru Arc
- “Once the drugs kick in, that's when the fun starts.”—Fernando Alhorn, El Aleph Chapter 7: VII - Peru Arc
- “I've shouted at these bastards about how they're just my fanáticos, but I don't believe in any god or religion. I'm not trying to imitate those fakes that people wrote those reverent hymns about. All I'm doing is listening to that voice deep inside of me.”—Fernando Alhorn, El Aleph Chapter 7: VII - Peru Arc
- “I was away for a bit. Lucky me, lucky me! Thought I was dead, but maybe not. Both sides are pretty bad. I've got a fever actually. Touch my forehead. It's swollen with a temperature of forty degrees, I've got chills. Maybe you could also ask them for me, Madam. Tell them to make it quick and put an end to me already, finish me off.”—Fernando Alhorn, El Aleph Chapter 17: XVII - Final Arc
- “Ah, creak, creak, creak, creak, my bones are creaaakiiing! Give me some water.”—Fernando Alhorn, El Aleph Chapter 17: XVII - Final Arc
- “If you kill me, I'll be quiet. Forever quiet. Let's make a deal.”—Fernando Alhorn, El Aleph Chapter 17: XVII - Final Arc
- “A throne? A king is still a king even without a throne.”—Fernando Alhorn, El Aleph Chapter 17: XVII - Final Arc
- “Long time no see. It's me, Alhorn. You okay with it being me? To be fair, I might be the only one who can tell you about the threat of the 'night' that attacked me back then.”—Fernando Alhorn, El Aleph Chapter 18: XVIII - Final Arc
- “Is that all you can do, dodge? Why don't you release your Fantasma? Are you guys big-balled bailarinas de ballet or what? You wanna go prance around in tutus performing Swan Lake?”—Fernando Alhorn, El Aleph Chapter 18: XVIII - Final Arc
- “Are you going to eat me or not? Go ahead, disfruta la comida!”—Fernando Alhorn, El Aleph Chapter 19: XIX - Final Arc
- “Bow to the royal presence of El Aleph, for the king has descended! Ohohohohoho!!”—Fernando Alhorn's last words, El Aleph Chapter 19: XIX - Final Arc
References
- ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 El Aleph Chapter 4: IV - Peru Arc
- ↑ Based on his age and the year the story takes place.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 3.7 3.8 El Aleph Chapter 7: VII - Peru Arc
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 4.6 El Aleph Chapter 5: V - Peru Arc
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 El Aleph Chapter 3: III - Guatemala Arc
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 El Aleph Chapter 13: XIII - Final Arc
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 El Aleph Chapter 14: XIV - Final Arc
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 El Aleph Chapter 8: VIII - Peru Arc
- ↑ El Aleph Chapter 10: X - Peru Arc
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 El Aleph Chapter 18: XVIII - Final Arc
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 El Aleph Chapter 17: XVII - Final Arc
- ↑ El Aleph Chapter 19: XIX - Final Arc
