'The Legend Of El Cid' Season 1 Ending Explained: Will Ruy keep his promise to the King?
Amazon Prime decided to delve into Spanish history and gave us 'The Legend Of El Cid', based on the life of Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar, a Castilian knight who was famous for his battle victories, which have been immortalized in the form of folk tales and poems and the most famous of poems is 'El Cantar de Mio Cid'. He began his illustrious career by serving Sancho II of León and Castile, who was the son of Ferdinand the Great, in whose court El Cid was born. The first five episodes of the series form the origin story of El Cid and his gradual rise to power.
In the first episode, we meet a young Ruy (Jaime Lorente) who is named squire to Prince Sancho, who happens to be the eldest son of King Fernando of Leon. In the first episode itself, he realizes that there are deep and troubling conspiracies to kill the King during a jousting session. After a deathly battle with the assassin, Ruy manages to kill him, escaping with an injury. He learns that the conspiracy is not exactly an outsider's plot, it comes from Flain, a close acquaintance of the King.
Flain (Carlos Bardem) is furious that this plans were thwarted and spends the second episode looking for the man with the injury. Rodrigo tries to save Ruy and insists on sending him away but Ruy has vowed loyalty to the king and does not wish to leave him. Yet, he must, and before he leaves for Vivar, he tells the King about Flaine's plot to kill him. After a thrilling battle, Sancho and Ruy return to Leon, only to see that the King is slowly succumbing to an illness. Flaine is further eager to kill him, and is trying to blackmail Sancha (Elia Galera) into marrying him, though she says clearly, "One who has been married to a king, cannot be married to a rat." Flaine is eager to become king, and Urraca (Alicia Sanz), the daughter of the King is determined not to let that happen and ensures that Sancho becomes King. The King pleads with Ruy to ensure that he will stand by his sons and that they will never fight. Ruy makes the promise.
A twist is at the end of the episode when Flaine is stabbed and everyone turns to Ruy. Though we didn't quite see Ruy murdering him, it's obvious from Ruy's expression that he did kill Flaine. It remains to be seen what happens in Season 2.
'The Legend Of El Cid' is streaming on Amazon Prime.