History ArtisticLicenseHistory / Isabel

** The real Francis I was not as knockout-handsome as his actor Alfonso Bassave, as he apparently had a long nose and a funny voice.

** UsefulNotes/MaryTudor is described in-universe as being old and unappealing, and tradition has certainly that she was ugly. In contrast, her actress Ángela Cremonte is nothing short of beautiful and doesn't look old at all in her character.

** A strange inversion happens with UsefulNotes/PhilipII, who was a handsome dude in his youth, yet is played by Marcel Borrás, who is more of an average kind of guy and sports unflattering haircuts as part of his character. As a result of this point and the point above, in this series the English royal pairing is more of a case of UglyGuyHotWife when in real life it was one of HotGuyUglyWife.
* Also a few cases of AgeLift.

** Charles of Bourbon's betrayal happened much earlier into the Four Years' War and was not instrumental for Charles V's victory, and he did not seal the Battle of Pavia by suddenly changing sides with 30,000 men at the last moment. In reality, he betrayed Francis only a year into the war, participating in a plan with Charles and UsefulNotes/HenryVIII to divide France among them, but he was discovered and forced to flee, not with 30,000 French soldiers but almost alone (him retaining so many loyal soldiers is somewhat of a PlotHole in the series given that Francis had confiscated all of his titles and money). He was welcomed as an imperial commander and took part in a couple battles more against France, and later arrived in Pavia as part of the army of imperial Viceroy Charles of Lannoy. The scene where he fakes illness did happen in real life, but it happened after he had already secretly betrayed Francis and not while he is pondering about it as in the series.
** In the series' rendition of the Battle of Pavia, King Francis is found and captured in a barn, when in real life he got captured in the battlefield when his horse was killed under him.

** The character of Juan Velázquez de León, who in real life was very minor and died before the Siege of Tenochtitlan, is a CompositeCharacter with several of Cortés' lieutenants, such as UsefulNotes/PedroDeAlvarado (for being the highest ranked and closest to Cortés, as well as the one being later given license for sea exploration) and Cristóbal de Olid (for having been Governor Velázquez's servant, and a future traitor to Cortés). Also, as the Tlaxcaltecs doesn't seem to exist in this continuity, he never marries an indigenous princess. Moreover, the real Velázquez was a stutterer, while this version of him isn't.

** We don't get to see much of the Mexica Empire, but it's notable that every Amerindian appeared onscreen is a honorable NobleSavage displeased by the ways of Cortés and company, while all of the nastiest aspects of their cultures, like cannibalism, imperialism and HumanSacrifice, either happen offscreen or aren't mentioned at all. Moctezuma actually berates Cortés because the Alvarado Massacre ended with many butchered Mexicas, an especially funny claim considering that the Aztec religion involved constant sacrifice of imperial subjects. The very festival interrupted by the massacre included human sacrifices, despite Moctezuma claims "it was only a party".

** In real life, Cuauhtémoc was not imprisoned up to his death, and in fact was given back the throne of Tenochtitlan and continued ruling. Cortés executed him while they were both part of an expedition to the Mayan lands, where hunger and perils drove the Mexica auxiliars to consider revolting, but in the series, as the expedition never happens, Cortés executes him in the Mexica Empire and for an unspecified act of treason to eliminate an untrustworthy chieftain before starting his sea exploration travels. Cuauhtémoc's line accusing Cortés of having many deaths on his conscience, coming from the huey tlatoani of the bloodthirsty and iron-handed Mexica Empire, is definitely ironic.
** The series doesn't mention that Antonio de Mendoza y Pacheco was María Pacheco's brother, which may imply they aren't related in this continuity. In any case, Mendoza is portrayed quite negatively, being smarmy and even directly conspiring against Cortés, but there is no evidence this ever happened in real life.

* ''Carlos'' adapts out Emmanuel Philibert of Savoy and puts the Duke of Alba in his place during the Battle of St. Quentin. In real life, Álvarez was busy guarding Italy from a French invasion, the latter of which is mentioned in the series as a menace to deal with immediately after the battle.

** Actor Álvaro Cervantes is infinitely more attractive than Charles V was, not even having a noteworthy chin like Charles had (granted, the latter would have been hard to achieve without prosthetics).
** The real Francis I was not as knockout handsome as his actor Alfonso Bassave, as he apparently had a long nose and a funny voice.
** Although UsefulNotes/HernanCortez was not unattractive in real life, his actor José Luis García Pérez is much more of a {{hunk}} than Cortés was.
** UsefulNotes/MaryTudor is described in-universe as being old and unappealing, and tradition is that she was ugly. In contrast, her actress Ángela Cremonte is nothing short of beautiful and doesn't look old at all in her character.

** A strange inversion happens with UsefulNotes/PhilipII, who was a handsome dude in his youth, yet is played by Marcel Borrás, who is more of an average kind of guy and sports unflattering haircuts as his character. As a result of this and the point above, in this series the English royal pairing is more of a case of UglyGuyHotWife when in real life it was one of HotGuyUglyWife.

** In real life, Francis I was only six years younger than Charles of Bourbon. In the series, although their respective actors are only eleven years apart, Alberto San Juan (Charles) looks way older than Alfonso Bassave (Francisco), with an almost fully white beard to boot, to the point the two noblemen could pass rather as father and son.
** [[UsefulNotes/TheDukeOfAlba Fernando Álvarez de Toledo, Duke of Alba]] appears already as an adult when Charles arrives in Castile, when in real life he was 10 by that point.
** Moctezuma's actor Christian Esquivel was also below 40 at the time and arguably looks quite youthful for his age, while Moctezuma was 54 at the time. Cuauhtémoc's actor Nelson Dante looks the same age as him, if not older, when in real life Cuahtémoc was almost thirty years younger than Moctezuma.

** The series portrays the Italian Wars as less one-sided that they were in real life, at one point implying that the Battle of Bicocca was the only victory Charles had achieved against France in the Four Years' War before Pavia. In real life, Francis was losing that war badly and Pavia only finished it.
** Charles of Bourbon's betrayal happened much earlier into the Four Years' War and was not instrumental for Charles V's victory, and he did not seal the Battle of Pavia by suddenly changing sides with 30,000 men at the last moment. In reality, he betrayed Francis only a year after the war started, participating in a plan with Charles and UsefulNotes/HenryVIII to divide France among them, but was discovered shortly after faking illness and forced to flee, not with 30,000 French soldiers but almost alone (him retaining so many loyal soldiers is somewhat of a PlotHole in the series given that Francis had confiscated all of his titles and money). He was welcomed as an imperial commander and took part in a couple battles more against France, and later arrived in Pavia as part of the army of imperial Viceroy Charles of Lannoy.

** The subplot of Cortés and the explorers protesting against Chievres giving their jobs to Flemish noblemen is entirely fictional. Contrary to what the series and many people seem to believe, Cortés was never considered a rebel in the empire, and in fact gained King Charles's seal of approval after his controversial breakup from Governor Velázquez, while in the series Charles never gives him such and instead treats him as if he was the devil incarnate.
** The character of Juan Velázquez de León, who in real life was very minor and died before the Siege of Tenochtitlan, is a CompositeCharacter with several of Cortés' lieutenants, such as UsefulNotes/PedroDeAlvarado (for being the highest ranked and closest to Cortés, as well as the one being later given license for sea exploration) and Cristóbal de Olid (for having been Governor Velázquez's servant). Also, as the Tlaxcaltecs doesn't seem to exist in this continuity, he never marries an indigenous woman. Moreover, the real Velázquez was a stutterer, while this version of him isn't.

** As it is usual in portrayals of the Conquest of America, Cortés and his men are here almost alone in their war against the natives, instead of being at the head of a massive army of Tlaxcaltecs and other native states that allied with them against the Mexica. Only in the scenes mentioned above, Cortés' men should have been accompanied by a Tlaxcaltec guard almost twice their own number, who in real life would be instrumental for Cortés and company to get out of the city alive. In the series, there is only a throwaway line by Malinche that Cortés will need the help of the Mexica's enemies, but this doesn't happen onscreen other than some Totonacs following Cortés' expedition to Tenochtitlan (which, amusingly enough, they refused to do in real life because they believed it to be a suicide mission).
** We don't get to see much of the Mexica Empire, but it's notable that every Amerindian appeared onscreen is a honorable NobleSavage displeased by the ways of Cortés and company, while all of the nastiest aspects of their cultures, like cannibalism, imperialism and HumanSacrifice, either happen offscreen or aren't mentioned at all. Moctezuma actually berates Cortés because the Alvarado Massacre ended with many butchered Mexicas, an especially funny claim considering that the Aztec religion involved constant sacrifice of imperial subjects. The very festival interrupted by the massacre included sacrifices, despite Moctezuma claims "it was only a party".
** It's already notable that the Alvarado Massacre happens without Alvarado, who in this series is AdaptedOut, but even more than all of the massacre seems to happen in mere seconds while Cortés and Malinche are getting love-dovey in a hammock. In real life, it happened while (and ''because'') Cortés was away warring against a rival conquistador, Pánfilo de Narváez, who had been sent to capture him due to political enmities. The massacre of the series, which receives no justification (in real life, Alvarado apparently believed the festival was actually a trap to kill ''them''), also has the Spaniards randomly going to sack the royal treasure, after which Moctezuma is murdered by his courtiers in his throne room, nothing of which happened in real life.

** In the series, due to Malinche's manipulations undermining his sanity, Cortés screams to his wife Catalina that [[AGodAmI he is the god in the New World]] (no, not [[Manga/DeathNote that way]], but almost). The real Cortés was extremely Catholic even by his time's standards and would have likely never been so casually blasphemous.

** In real life, Cuauhtémoc was not imprisoned up to his death, and in fact was given back the throne of Tenochtitlan and continued ruling. Cortés executed him while they were both in an expedition to the Mayan lands, where hunger and perils eventually drove the Mexica auxiliars to consider revolting, but in the series, as the expedition never happens, Cortés executes him in the Mexica Empire and for an unspecified act of treason to eliminate an untrustworthy chieftain before starting his sea exploration travels. Cuauhtémoc's line accusing Cortés of having many deaths on his conscience, coming from the huey tlatoani of the bloodthirsty and iron-handed Mexica Empire, is definitely ironic.
** The series doesn't mention that Antonio de Mendoza y Pacheco was María Pacheco's brother, which may imply they aren't related in this continuity. In any case, Mendoza is portrayed quite negatively, even conspiring against Cortés, but there is no evidence this ever happened in real life.

** Racist lines are thrown in here and there, even although otherwise intermarrying happens onscreen. Mendoza even claims that blacks are subhumans, when in real life there had already been plenty of black and mulatto conquistadors, including some examples in Cortés' own entourage whom Mendoza himself would have probably treated personally. Paul III's bull declaring the indigenous' humanity is real, but in real life it was mostly a formality by this point, with Queen Isabella herself having ruled in favor of the indigenous as human beings as soon as they were discovered forty years earlier.
** De las Casas did really propose to replace Indian labour with black slaves before repenting, but unlike what the series shows, importing black slaves to America was not his idea and was already happening in the Spanish Empire, or rather in ''any'' empire or country that could afford it at the time.
** Before the Valladolid Debate, Borja claims to De las Casas that most masters of the UsefulNotes/SchoolOfSalamanca are sympathetic to Juan Ginés de Sepúlveda to the point that his victory is ensured, when in reality several were protegees of the late Francisco de Vitoria, who had similar views to those of De las Casas.
* ''Carlos'' adapts out Emmanuel Philibert of Savoy and puts the Duke of Alba in his place during the Battle of St. Quentin. In real life, Álvarez was busy guarding Italy from a French invasion, the latter of which is mentioned in the series as a menace immediately after the battle.

** Charles of Bourbon's betrayal happened much earlier into the Four Years' War and was not instrumental for Charles V's victory, and he did not seal the Battle of Pavia by suddenly changing sides with 30,000 men at the last moment. In reality, he betrayed Francis only a year after the war started, participating in a plan with Charles and UsefulNotes/HenryVIII to divide France among them, but was discovered shortly after faking illness and forced to flee, not with 30,000 French soldiers but almost alone (him retaining so many loyal soldiers is somewhat of a PlotPoint in the series given that Francis had confiscated all of his titles and money). He was welcomed as an imperial commander and took part in a couple battles more against France, and later arrived in Pavia as part of the army of imperial Viceroy Charles of Lannoy.

* Being a Burgundian, whose mother tongue was French, Charles V didn't speak Spanish when he arrived in Spain, though he learned it real quick. Emperor Moctezuma also never learned Spanish and therefore needed Marina to translate. The series skips both language barriers, presumably for the viewer's sake.

* AdaptationalAttractiveness is here in full force.

** José Luis Pérez is also much more of a hunk that Hernán Cortés was.
** The worst case, however, might be Claude of France, whose actress Eva Rufo is nothing short of beautiful despite Claude was reportedly ''very'' ugly in real life.

** In real life, Francis I was only six years younger than Charles of Bourbon. In the series, although their respective actors are only ten years apart, Alberto San Juan (Charles) looks way too old compared to Francisco (Alfonso Bassave), to the point they could pass as father and son.

** The subplot of Cortés and the explorers protesting against Chievres giving their jobs to Flemish noblemen is entirely fictional.
** The character of Juan Velázquez de León, who in real life was very minor and died during the battle of the Sad Night, is a CompositeCharacter with several of Cortés' lieutenants, such as UsefulNotes/PedroDeAlvarado (for being the highest ranked and closest to Cortés, as well as the one being later given license for sea exploration) and Cristóbal de Olid (for having been Governor Velázquez's servant). As the Tlaxcaltecs doesn't seem to exist in this continuity, he never marries an indigenous women. Moreover, the real Velázquez was a stutterer, while this version of him isn't.
** UsefulNotes/HernanCortez finds Gerónimo de Aguilar entirely by chance outside of his camp. In real life, Cortés was already informed about him and sent people to his village in order to recruit him. This version of Aguilar is still dressed as a churchman and looks a bit shell-shocked from his years there, while the real deal had adapted rather happily and was wearing native garments to the point he looked like one of them.
** The previous scene also introduces UsefulNotes/LaMalinche in spectacular fashion by pulling a knife on Cortés, which would have been utterly out of character for what we now about her personality and intelligence, and also reveals that Malinche is her indigenous name (presumably Malintzin), which in real life is DatedHistory, it being believed to be rather the indigenous form of her Christian name, Marina.

** The Sad Night is entirely skipped, as Cortés and company are seen successfully fleeing from the city by night, or at least happens onscreen and is never mentioned.

** Catalina's threat of destroying Cortés' career by denouncing his infidelity is treated as SeriousBusiness, with Cortés strangling her to death to impede it, but this would have not been the case. While it's true that Cortés had an exceptionally bitter marriage with her and all the evidence implies he did murder her, male infidelity was hardly a rarity in the setting and would not have given him much trouble in the court (in fact, the real Cortés ''was'' a known womanizer yet this was never much of a political impediment for him).

** The incident where Cortés unsheaths his sword for King Charles to kill him with it seems to be inspired by a similar scene where another conquistador, Miguel Díaz, did it on Cortés himself. The rest of the meeting, even if more faithful to history, is just as histrionic, as in real life Cortés was never arrested and there's no evidence that the king was so disdainful on him right on his face.
** In real life, Cuauhtémoc was not imprisoned up to his death, and in fact was given back the throne of Tenochtitlan and continued ruling. Cortés executed him while they were both in an expedition to the Mayan lands, where hunger and perils eventually drove the Mexica auxiliars to consider revolting, but in the series, as the expedition never happens, Cortés executes him in the Mexica Empire and for an unspecified act of treason to eliminate an untrustworthy chieftain before starting his sea exploration travels. Cuauhtemoc's line accusing Cortés of having many deaths on his conscience, coming from the huey tlatoani of the bloodthirsty and iron-handed Mexica Empire, is definitely ironic.

** Racist lines are thrown in here and there, even although otherwise intermarrying happens onscreen. Mendoza even claims that blacks are subhumans, when in real life there had already been plenty of black and mulatto conquistadors, including some examples in Cortés' own entourage whom Mendoza himself would have probably treated personally. Paul III's bull declaring the indigenous' humanity is real, but in real life it was mostly a formality by this point, with Queen Isabella herself having ruled in favor of the indigenous as human beings forty years earlier.

** Before the Valladolid Debate, Borja claims to De las Casas that most masters of the UsefulNotes/SchoolOfSalamanca are sympathetic to Sepúlveda to the point that his victory is ensured, when in reality several were protegees of the late Francisco de Vitoria, who had similar views to those of Salamanca.

* Being a Burgundian, whose mother tongue was French, Charles V didn't speak Spanish when he arrived in Spain, though he learned it real quick. The series skips this.
* In the series, William de Croÿ burns Cardinal Cisneros' testament, which never happens in real life. In fact, the testament is currently in the national archive in Alcalá de Henares.
* [[UsefulNotes/TheDukeOfAlba Fernando Álvarez de Toledo, Duke of Alba]] appears already as an adult when Charles arrives in Castile, when in real life he was 10 by that point and the duchy was held by his grandfather Fadrique, who does appear in the series too and if anything looks like they might be father and son.
* Eva Rufo, who plays Claude of France, is much more attractive than Claude reportedly was in real life (he was apparently ''very'' ugly).
* In a goof which provoked a lot of controversy, Charles is shown swearing the crown of Castile with a formula used in the Crown of ''Aragon''.
* In real life, Francis I was only six years younger than Charles of Bourbon. In the series, although their respective actors are only ten years apart, Alberto San Juan (Charles) looks way too old compared to Francisco (Alfonso Bassave).
* UsefulNotes/HernanCortez finds Gerónimo de Aguilar entirely by chance outside of his camp. In real life, Cortés was already informed about him and sent people to his village in order to recruit him. This version of Aguilar is still dressed as a churchman and looks a bit shell-shocked from his years there, while the real deal had adapted rather happily and was wearing native garments to the point he looked like one of them. The same scene also introduces UsefulNotes/LaMalinche in spectacular fashion by pulling a knife on Cortés, which would have been utterly out of character for what we now about her personality and intelligence, and also reveals that Malinche is her indigenous name (presumably Malintzin), which in real life is DatedHistory, it being believed to be rather the indigenous form of her Christian name, Marina.
* As it could not be otherwise in pop culture, Cortés and his men wear the ubiquitous ''morrión'' helm, which in real life wasn't used until half a century later, and leather kneeboots, instead of the ''alpargates'' more proper for hot climates. Marina and the indigenous women also wear fantastic FurBikini-like attires that have nothing to do with the long ''hupil'' robes they would have worn in real life, and Moctezuma and his circule are dressed solely in loincloths more in the style of Mayans than Aztecs. Speaking of Moctezuma, in this series he speaks fluent Spanish, while in real life he needed Marina to translate.
* Although we don't get to see much of the Mexica Empire, it's notable that every Amerindian appeared onscreen is a honorable NobleSavage displeased by the ways of Cortés and company, while all of the nastiest aspects of their cultures, like cannibalism, imperialism and HumanSacrifice, either happen offscreen or aren't mentioned at all. Moctezuma actually berates Cortés because the Alvarado Massacre ended with many butchered Mexicas, an especially funny claim considering that the Aztec religion involved constant sacrifice of imperial subjects (the very festival the massacre interrupted included sacrifices, in fact).
* It's already notable that the Alvarado Massacre happens without UsefulNotes/PedroDeAlvarado, who in this series is AdaptedOut and seemingly replaced by Juan Velázquez, but even more than all of the massacre seems to happen in mere seconds while Cortés and Malinche are getting love-dovey in a hammock. In real life, it happened while (and ''because'') Cortés was away warring against a rival conquistador, Pánfilo de Narváez, who had been sent to capture him due to political enmities. The massacre of the series, which receives no justification (in real life, Alvarado apparently believed the festival was actually a trap to kill ''them''), also has the Spaniards randomly going to sack the royal treasure, after which Moctezuma is murdered by his courtiers in his throne room, nothing of which happened in real life.
* Also, as it is usual in portrayals of the Conquest of America, Cortés and his men are here alone in their war against the natives, instead of being at the head of a massive army of Tlaxcaltecs and other native states that allied with them against the Mexica (there is a throwaway line by Malinche that Cortés will need the help of the Mexica's enemies, but this doesn't happen onscreen). Only in the scenes mentioned above, Cortés' men should have been accompanied by a Tlaxcaltec guard almost twice their own number, who in real life would be instrumental for Cortés and company to get out of the city alive.
* In the series, Cortés screams to his wife Catalina that [[AGodAmI he is the god in the New World]] (no, not [[Manga/DeathNote that way]], but almost). The real Cortés was extremely Catholic even by his time's standards and would have likely never been so casually blasphemous. Also, Catalina's threat of destroying his career by denouncing his infidelity is treated as SeriousBusiness, with Cortés strangling her to death to impede it, but this would have not been the case. While it's true that Cortés had an exceptionally bitter marriage with her and all the evidence implies he did murder her, male infidelity was hardly a rarity in the setting and would not have given him much trouble in the court (in fact, the real Cortés ''was'' a known womanizer yet this was never much of a political impediment for him).
* Contrary to what ''Carlos'' shows, Cortés and UsefulNotes/FranciscoPizarro were not cousins, but nephew and uncle respectively, and they were distant enough that it's believed they didn't know each other personally, rather than being close comrades as in the series (also, Pizarro never returned to Spain after the conquest of the Inca). The incident happened right after their encounter, where Cortés unsheaths his sword for King Carlos to kill him with it, seems to be inspired by a similar scene where another conquistador, Miguel Díaz, did it on Cortés. The rest of the meeting, even if more faithful to history, is just as histrionic, as in real life Cortés was never arrested and there's no evidence that the king was so disdainful on him right on his face.
* In real life, Cortés executed Cuauhtemoc while they were both in an expedition to the Mayan lands, where hunger and perils eventually drove the Mexica auxiliars to consider revolting. In the series, Cortés executes him much later, back in the Mexica Empire and for an unspecified act of treason, and it's strongly implied that this was an excuse for Cortés to eliminate an untrustworthy chieftain before starting his sea exploration travels. The point about Cuauhtemoc accusing Cortés of having many deaths on his conscience, coming from the huey tlatoani of the bloodthirsty and iron-handed Mexica Empire, is definitely ironic.
* ''Carlos'' adapts out Emmanuel Philibert of Savoy and puts [[UsefulNotes/TheDukeOfAlba Fernando Álvarez de Toledo]] in his place during the Battle of St. Quentin. In real life, Álvarez was busy guarding Italy from a French invasion, the latter of which is mentioned in the series as a menace immediately after the battle.