Rodrigo Sanchez is a servant and associate of Lord John.
Personal History[]
Rodrigo is originally from Hispaniola. His early life is unknown, but as a young man he was working for Governor Warren as a paid servant.
Events of the Novels[]
"A Plague of Zombies"[]
Rodrigo is employed in the house of the governor when the governor assaults Azeel Sanchez, a young enslaved maid in the house. Azeel sends a plague of snakes after the governor, but Rodrigo is angry on her behalf and commissions another man, Ismael to create zombies. He tells Ismael that he means to terrify the governor.
When Lord John Grey arrives, Rodrigo is assigned to help him dress for dinner and assist him during the visit. In the middle of the night, he visits John's room and cryptically warns John to stay away from the governor. After some pressing by John, he tells John that "the zombie come for him" and then abruptly retreats.
John checks on the governor and finds him sleeping soundly, but when he returns to his own room he is attacked, prompting alarm throughout the house.
The next night, Ishmael secretly meets with Rodrigo and is escorted by him into the house. Rodrigo tells Ishmael he wants to use the zombies to terrify the governor, but when they reach the governor's room, Rodrigo kills him and tells Ismael to have the zombies "feed" on him.
In the aftermath, most of the servants and residents of the house disappear, but Rodrigo is found hiding on the property. He's interrogated by John and his valet,Tom Byrd, though as a witness rather than as a suspect. He tells them that the zombies attacked the governor, and suggests that if there was a non-zombie with them, it would have been a huangan controlling them.
Rodrigo is obliged by Tom and John to help investigate the governor's murder, and is present when John posits that the governor was dead before the zombies attacked him. He feigns surprise but is unnerved.
Rodrigo sets out with John and Tom to the maroon settlement, where John is looking for answers about the mysterious zombie attack and other recent events on the island.
In the middle of the night, Rodrigo, along with Tom, is kidnapped from John's camp and taken to the maroon settlement. He is identified as the man who paid Ismael to create the zombies and, in retribution for his rash actions, turned into a zombie himself. This is a painstaking process involving forcing the person to drink a special potion and then imitating burial rituals, often forcing them into close contact with an actual dead body, so that the "smell of death" permeates them as well. The process damages the brain and nervous systems, leaving the victims stiff, slow, and obedient.
Rodrigo remains in this state for several days until John arrives at camp and demands to see what has become of him. Rodrigo is in a corpse-like physical state, with waxy loosened skin and glassy eyes, and dressed in rags smeared with the smell of death.
John carefully negotiates Rodrigo's release to him, and takes him with him back to the house. Azeel accompanies them and vows to nurse him back to health.
"Besieged"[]
In Besieged, Rodrigo and Azeel have married in King's Town and she has taken his last name, Sanchez. He doing significantly better thanks to Azeel's nursing efforts, though has not yet regained full health. He has regained Spanish, his mother tongue, but is still relearning English.
John tells Rodrigo and Azeel that he intends to go to Cuba to evacuate his mother before the upcoming siege of Spanish-controlled Havana by the English officially begins. He offers them the choice between accompanying him to Cuba, where they might encounter some danger, or if they prefer, he will give them money for passage to the American colonies where he will provide for them there. Rodrigo wordlessly discusses this with his wife, who tells John that they will go with him to Cuba.
When they arrive in Cuba, Azeel and Rodrigo tell the Spanish officers that John is visiting his sick mother, and they allow him to pass. Azeel and Rodrigo accompany John to visit his mother at Casa Hechevarria and then carry a note from John to Casa Valdez where John's cousin Olivia Stubbs and her children are staying. However, when they arrive, they find that members of the house have yellow fever. On their way back to inform John, they encounter John's mother Benedicta who is rushing to the house after receiving the same message.
When Azeel and Rodrigo return, they accompany John to speak to some of the Spanish-speaking enslaved residents of two local plantations, who are restless to rebel but to whom John has promised official freedom in exchange for their help sabotaging the Spanish defenses on the island, in order to increase the success of the planned English siege. To help gain the men's trust, John asks Rodrigo to recount the story of his time as a zombie, and his role in Rodrigo's rescue. Though Rodrigo's story convinces the men to trust John, they are unnerved by Rodrigo and send him from the room.
Rodrigo leaves and wanders in the direction of the main plantation house with an enslaved woman, Alejandra. They speak about the rebellion but Rodrigo notices that she stops well short of the main house. He realizes that the house smells of death, and surmises that the owners of the plantation are already dead.
John proceeds with the sabotage mission with the help from the enslaved men, while Rodrigo and Azeel stay behind at Casa Hechevarria with Benedicta. When John returns, Rodrigo tells him, with help from Tom and Benedicta's bilingual butler, that the owners were likely dead during their initial visit to the plantation. John believes Rodrigo but does not act on the information.
Rodrigo evacuates Havana with Azeel and the rest of John's party.
Personality[]
Physical Appearance[]
Rodrigo is tall and broad-shouldered and very attractive. John believes he looks like an ancient Greek sculpture. He is very dark-skinned.
Relationships[]
Name[]
Trivia[]
References[]
- ↑ John estimates his age as approximately 20 in 1761