Characters / El internado: Las Cumbres

The students

In general

• Institutional Apparel: Almost all the clothes worn by students are issued by the school: class uniform, gym clothes, overalls for assigned work detail, and sleepwear.
• Troubled Teen: Everyone. That doesn’t include the trauma caused by the Boarding School of Horrors itself. For some students, their issues are plot points or shown onscreen (Eva's file shows notes indicating she has drug-related bipolar disorder, Eric is seen fainting and blacking out); for others, the information is laid out in materials such as an ad where the adult characters read notes from every student's dossier.
  • Amaia has fits of rage and homicidal ideation.
  • Paul has delusions of persecution.
  • Julio has pyromania and impulsivity issues.
  • Paz is diagnosed with a personality disorder.
  • Inés has hallucinations and memory loss.
  • Zoe, the new student introduced on Season 3, has a diagnosis of borderline personality disorder.

Amaia

Amaia Torres

Played by: Asia Ortega

One of the four students attempting to run away from Las Cumbres, she witnesses Manu be carried away by a mysterious figure.

• Absence Makes the Heart Go Yonder: After Manu goes missing, Amaia and Paul grow closer, ultimately sleeping together. When Manu does reappear, ready to pick up things where he left them with Amaya, the situation gets complicated.
• Abusive Parents: While toting a shotgun, Amaia tells Paul that if she had been better with a shotgun, her stepfather would not have left her deaf. And if she had grabbed the shotgun sooner, she would not have had to live seeing him abuse her mother.
• The Cassandra: She can't get Mara or any other authority figure to believe her about Manu being abducted. And later on, she has a hard time getting her friends to believe that Inés can be trusted.
• Hair-Trigger Temper: Amaia is at Las Cumbres after having shot her stepfather with a shotgun. Per promotional materials, her file shows she has anger issues. When Paul tells her about a piece of evidence pointing to a potential member of Nido del Cuervo (they later learn it is a Red Herring), she suggests pulling out that person's teeth or nails until they learn where Manu is.

Manu

Manuel "Manu" Villar

Played by: Carlos Alcaide

A troublemaker who had been expelled from every school before ending up at Las Cumbres.

• The Determinator: He proves to be one when he manages to escape his captivity.
• Spiteful Suicide: Attempted during the beginning of his captivity. He slashes his wrists with a sharpened piece of metal and uses his blood to write "MOTHERFUCKERS"^note The original line in Castillian Spanish started with a Precision F-Strike, "JÓDANSE HIJOS DE PUTA" that did not appear in subtitling. on the floor.
• You Have to Believe Me!: He finally succeeds in escaping and emerges in the school's yard. Upon questioning, he is only partially coherent and cannot really give specific info about what happened. Mara and a Civil Guard decide it is more likely that he just ran away and spent all the time getting high. He is sent to "the freezers" for what they assume is just a hangover.

Paul

Paul Uribe

"This place is rotten and no one does anything!"

Played by: Albert Salazar

Manu's best friend, and Adèle's older brother.

• Berserk Button: Anybody harming his little sister. When Mario ignores his pleas about looking for a missing Adèle, he threatens to beat Mario if anything happens to her.
• Big Brother Instinct: During the escape attempt in the first episode, when Adèle freaks out at hearing Caimán (the watch dog), he chooses to stay behind with her instead of going off with Amaia and Manu.

Adèle

Adèle Uribe

"Don't make any more trouble, Paul. I can't bear it here."

Played by: Daniela Rubio

Paul's younger sister.

• Broken Bird: Begins the second season like this, after her girlfriend is found dead just like Alba, complete with drug use and some suicidal ideation.
• Death Seeker: Her drug use worsens in Season 2. She finds a shotgun and play acts shooting herself. While drunk with Eva, she climbs the bell tower and comes close to falling.
• Determinator: Season 3 has her determined to find the evidence she needs to get her mother released from prison.
• Horrible Judge of Character: Despite her brother's warnings, she gets involved with Rita and later Eva, both of whom encourage self-destructive habits.
• Nobody Likes a Tattletale: After the students throw a wild party while faculty is out, Mara punishes them all by forcing them to stand out in the yard for hours under the rain until somebody confesses. Adèle, who didn't even get to attend, breaks down and gives up the classmate's name^note It was Amaia, but other students pull a reverse I Am Spartacus and start calling out the wrong names on purpose. The next day, she finds a raw fish in her cereal bowl, NIÑATA ("SNITCH") scrawled on her locker and feces inside.
• Trauma Conga Line: Her mother is incarcerated, her father is dead, her uncle places her and Paul in Las Cumbres with no regard as to their welfare, she is bullied for attempting to snitch. Finally, she is abducted and while she manages to escape, her girlfriend is murdered. That is just on Season 1.

Paz

Paz Espinoza

Played by: Paula Del Rio

Amaia's best friend.

• Boyish Short Hair: Makes her stand out among the other girls, most of whom have long hair. It was not her idea; Mario caught her using a cell phone in her bunk after lights out and buzzed off her hair.

Inés

Inés Mendoza

Played by: Claudia Riera

A withdrawn student with amnesia after a car accident and the daughter of Darío or at least, that is what he wants her to think she is.

• Eerie Pale-Skinned Brunette: She is troubled by her visions and the meaning of her returning memories.
• Hidden Depths: After several episodes, she shows great talent in playing the piano, which she thought she could not do. She later discovers the death rune tattooed on the back of her head. It leads her to discover her true identity as Alicia Bernal, a member of Nido del Cuervo.

Eric

Eric Guerrero

"I don't know what they're doing to our brains but whether you believe it or not I ended up on top of a window and I nearly jumped."

Played by: Daniel Arias

A student at Las Cumbres who ends up joining Paul and Amaia in their quest.

• Missing Time: While taking a shower, he starts getting dizzy. Next thing he knows, he finds himself out on a very narrow ledge, barely hanging on to the window. Elías has to pull him back through the window. Eric cannot explain what happened, as he was not suicidal.
• Put on a Bus: Does not appear in Season 3. The onscreen explanation is that he was sent to another institution from the monastery's order.

Julio

Julio Martínez

Played by: Gonzalo Diez

A class clown. He is involved with Paz and Eric.

• Fiery Redhead: He is a redhead with a full head of Quirky Curls, he knows how to make bombs, likes sassing his teachers and enthusiastically joins Eric and Paz for a threesome.
• Hidden Depths: Knows how to make bombs. It remains an informed ability because he and the rest of the group gather the materials but he collapses before he gets to do anything. He also plays the organ that activates the secret entrance when Inés is not available to do so.
• Put on a Bus: Does not appear in Season 3. The onscreen explanation is that he was sent to another institution from the monastery's order.

Rita

Rita

Played by: Francisca Aronsson

A student who becomes involved with Adèle.

• Self-Harm: She burns herself and encourages Adèle to do so as well.
• Traumatic Hair Cut: Mario chops off her ponytail right at the nape of the neck after he finds his missing watch inside her locker. She is left with hair of wildly uneven lengths.

Eva

Eva Merino

"If someone is going to die, let them catch us dancing and unawares."

Played by: Clara Galle

Introduced in Season 2, Eva is a student with bipolar disorder and drug issues.

• Abhorrent Admirer: Likes Paul that way and even brags about kissing him. The feeling is not mutual. Adèle points out that Paul will always see her as a little girl but that does not stop her from forcing a kiss on him.
• Addled Addict: She is seen huffing spray and by her own description, has a whole pharmacy in her mattress. She is so dependent on pills that at one point, she implores Adèle for assistance because she is no longer able to convince the school doctor to issue her any kind of downers.
• Corruption by a Minor: In her friendship with Adèle, she encourages the latter to try things like inhalants and other substances. This later leads to Adèle's later overdose.
• Put on a Bus: In Season 3, it is revealed that Eva had to enter a detox center.
• Unwitting Instigator of Doom: She releases red lanterns as a prank, not knowing that the members of the Crow's Nest use them as a signal to meet. It also summons El Verdugo and results in a murder.

Zoe

Zoe Cruz

Played by: Lydia Pavon

Introduced in Season 3, Zoe is a 17-year-old student with borderline personality disorder.

• All There in the Manual: In-Universe. On the S3E3 episode, Manuel finds her file with all her background info: she was born in a brothel, lost her mother to suicide at the age of seven, and ever since has stayed at children's homes from the Dominican order. The file also mentions she has a tendency to use fantasy to cope. Only the part about losing her mother at age seven and having to stay at foster homes is accurate.
• New Transfer Student: She comes to Las Cumbres as a new student.

Martina

Martina

Played by: Mia Lardner

Introduced in Season 3, Martina attracts Adèle's interests.

• Closet Gay: After her first kiss with Adèle's, she asks to keep things quiet. She later reveals why she was put in Las Cumbres: her parents caught her making out with a female cousin. They referred to her behavior as "disgusting" and put her in Las Cumbres.

School faculty and administration

Mara

Mara

"We will impose order, silence, discipline enforced. They will learn that in this school nothing and no one can move without my permission."

Played by: Natalia Dicenta

Mara is the headmistress of Las Cumbres.

• Evil Principal: She imposes excessively harsh punishments on students and does not hesitate to tell them that nobody wants them. She also deems confiscating Amaia's hearing aids as an acceptable measure. On top of that, she allows Corax Laboratories to test powerful medications on students without their knowledge, let alone their permission or their families'. Oh, and she kills Elías too.
• Villainous Breakdown: Mara has one throughout Season 2, leading to bouts of handwashing that irritate her skin so much she must wear gloves at all times. Eventually, this leads to Attempted Suicide.

Elias

Brother Elías

Played by: Alberto Amarilla

Elías is a Dominican friar and teaches Latin.

• Cool Teacher: On his last day of teaching before being sent to a remote monastery he gives his students a Rousing Speech.
• Meaningful Name: Elías is the name in Spanish for the prophet Elijah from the Bible.
• My Greatest Failure: What made him lose his faith: a student named Yolanda Pascuales asked to be exorcised, claiming she had demons, but she died during the exorcism. Elías later learns that her symptoms were the result of a toxic concentration of a medication she was taking.
• Reassigned to Antarctica: He is sent to do a year's penance at a remote monastery after Pelayo reports his indiscretions with Elvira to Don Arturo.
• Rousing Speech: Students are required to stand up when a teacher enters the classroom and remain standing until allowed to sit. On his last day of teaching before being Reassigned to Antarctica, he addresses the students:
  Elías: Each one of you, each one deserves the same respect as the teachers for whom you stand up. Every time they tell you you're here because you're worthless, they're lying.
• Sexy Priest: Sexy Monk. Underneath the habit he is quite fit. He even graces the screen with a couple of shirtless scenes. Elvira seems to agree.

Elvira

Elvira

Played by: Mina El Hammani

Elvira is a young science teacher and Ph.D. candidate in botany.

• Beauty Equals Goodness: She tries to empathize with the students and advocates for more humane treatment. In Season 3, after she is revealed to be collaborating with Marcel Uribe to get the lodge's secrets, this is downplayed to Even Evil Has Standards when she refuses to test the formula on any students.
• Hot Teacher: She is young and attractive.
• Quirky Curls: Befitting a progressive teacher who opposes Mara's disciplinary measures.

Mario

Mario

Played by: Lucas Velasco

Mario leads the students in physical exercises and doubles as the enforcer of Mara's strict discipline measures.

• Closet Gay: Has a relationship with Luis the janitor. He even tries to appeal to Mara to rehire Luis.
• The Dragon: Outside of class, he is Mara's enforcer, who enjoys punishing female students with traumatic haircuts, subjecting anyone who pisses him off to a Shameful Strip and a dose of the Fire Hose Cannon, and threatening Amaia.
• The Resenter: In Season 3, with Darío having disappeared, Mara appoints as Friar Salvador as vice principal, much to Mario's surprise. That, on top of her dismissal of Mario's request to rehire Luis, make his later betrayal very easy.
• Jerkass: He enjoys making the students miserable. He returns Amaia's hearing aids to her but not before threatening to make her life a living hell if she does anything to Luis.
• Perpetual Frowner: He does take a few breaks from scowling to put on a Psychotic Smirk.
• Sadist Teacher: He enjoys his enforcing duties a little too much. This has earned him the nickname ''El Nazi''. As for his teaching style, it includes plenty of verbal abuse and threats. He makes gym class a harsh experience, and that is before Mara decides to make it longer and harsher.

León

León

Played by: Joel Bosqued

Leon is the music teacher. He takes a special interest in Inés Mendoza.

• Dark and Troubled Past: Inés cannot remember in the beginning, but they had met before she started school. In the year 1936 to be exact, during the Spanish Civil War, when he was a mortally wounded Republican soldier at the hospital where she was a nurse.

Pelayo

Pelayo Ledesma

Played by: Patxy Santamaria

An older professor who completely supports Mara's harsh disciplinary measures.

• Churchgoing Villain: When law enforcement tries to halt the annual vigil to the White Virgin Shrine, on account of reports of red lanterns in the sky, he decries the oppression of religious freedom. He also is seen praying and chastises a pair of boys he sees playing with a ceremonial candle. He is harsh with the students and approves Mara's harsher disciplinary measures. Oh, and he is a serial killer who emulates a notorious TortureTechnician from the The Spanish Inquisition.
• Deliberately Painful Clothing: Pelayo wears a chain cilice around his upper leg, drawing blood.
• Took a Level in Jerkass: On Season 1, he was rarely seen going out of his way to be cruel with students. He did report Elias kissing Elvira, but that was it. On Season 2, he catches Paz, Eric and Julio making out and heaps abuse on them, calling them savages and a few homophobic epithets on top.

Don Arturo

Arturo Lago

"Evil has slipped through our defences and I feel that it is now too late."

Played by: Kandido Uranga

The abbot at the monastery, serves as emeritus director at Las Cumbres. He serves as mentor for Elvira in her Ph.D. studies.

• No Sympathy: When he learns about Elias's indiscretions, he has Elias Reassigned to Antarctica (sent to a remote monastery to do penance) and his cell emptied. When Elias requests to get back a flash drive with information about Corax Laboratories, Don Arturo reminds him that Jesus sent out His disciples with hardly any possession.

Sofia

Sofia

Played by: Nagore Aramburu

Introduced in Season 3, Sofia replaces Celia as the housekeeping manager.

• Brother–Sister Team: She is part of one with her brother Ismael, the maintenance man who replaces Luis.

Ismael

Ismael

Played by: Zigor Bilbao

Introduced in Season 3, Ismael replaces Luis as the janitor.

• Brother–Sister Team: Ismael and Sofia work together to maintain the school and to avenge the deaths of their families as a result of the massacre by the Brotherhood of Executioners.
• The Voiceless: He is unable to speak. Adèle gets him a dry-erase board and befriends him.

Salvador

Friar Salvador

Played by: Alberto Berzal

Introduced in Season 2. Mara appoints him as vice principal in Season 3.

• Meaningful Name: His name is the Spanish word for "savior". In Season 2 he saves Mara when her guilt drives her to attempt suicide.

Others

Dario

Darío Mendoza

Played by: Ramiro Blas

Inés's father. Or so he claims, and the owner of the school. He also sleeps with Mara.

• Affably Evil: His manner is always cordial, yet he leads the experiments with maleic acid on students without their knowledge, let alone their consent or their families. When Fran, the school doctor, warns Darío that their subject might not be able to tolerate any more of the experimental treatment, Darío dismisses his concerns and at one point tells him to comply or quit
• Evil Sounds Deep: Even before the true extent of his evil deeds is revealed, his voice, which is worthy of a Bond villain, gives it away. Downplayed with the actor who voices him in the English dubbing.
• Mad Scientist: Leads the experiments on the students at Las Cumbres and dismisses the warnings about students experiencing catatonia or blackouts. As pointed out to him in episode 2.8 he is willing to sacrifice a few for the benefit of the many and he agrees.
• Tragic Villain: He was driving the car with his family when he had the accident that killed his wife and left Inés with amnesia. He is obsessed with restoring Ines's memory. That is the cover story; in reality his daughter was killed in the accident and the treatments' purpose is to turn another woman (Patient Zero) into a Replacement Goldfish for his deceased daughter.

Alba

Alba

Played by: Sara Balerdi

Alba is the young daughter of Celia, the housekeeping manager at the school. She is tutored in French by Adéle.

• Dead Guy on Display: She is found hanging from a tree, with a blindfold over her missing eyes.
• Friend in the Black Market: Since she has a lot more freedom than the Las Cumbres students, she procures contraband items in town then leaves them for the requestor to find. It is not clear what she gains from the exchange.
• Hidden Depths: Unknown to her mother, she often goes into town to get contraband items for students, such as cigarettes, condoms, and cell phones.

Patient Zero (spoiler character)

Alicia Bernal

Alicia was a member of the Nido del Cuervo (Crow's Nest) secret society. The students find vinyl recordings of her piano performances.

• The Ageless: She was born in 1903 and still looks like a young woman. She fell in love with a dying Republican soldier at the sanatorium during the Spanish Civil War where she worked as a nurse and after he died, she summoned the Crow's Nest for their help to bring him back to life, like they did for her when she succumbed to The Spanish Flu in 1918.
• Blessed with Suck: She may live for a long time without aging, but she starts losing her memory. Dario Mendoza takes advantage of her vulnerable state to turn her into a Replacement Goldfish of his deceased daughter, Inés.

The Republican Soldier (spoiler character)

Alvaro León

^{Click here to see The Republican soldier} 
The soldier

Alvaro León was a soldier during the Spanish Civil War who died due to his injuries and was brought back to life by a nurse named Alicia Bernal, who belonged to the Lodge. They end up marrying, but decades later, they end up separated.

• Deal with the Devil: He agrees to accept a job at Las Cumbres so he can be close to his wife Alicia, who has been turned into a Replacement Goldfish for Darío's deceased daughter Inés.

El Verdugo (spoiler character)

El Verdugo

The Speechless

Played by Patxy Santamaría

El Verdugo ("The Executioner") is a mysterious figure clad in a black butcher apron and a hood. He kills girls, plucking out their eyes and leaving them hanging from a tree, wearing a white nightgown and a bloody blindfold. His identity is not revealed until the last episode of Season 2.

• Jack the Ripoff: His M.O. and whole persona emulates a notorious Torture Technician from the The Spanish Inquisition.
• Names to Run Away from Really Fast: El Verdugo ("The Executioner") shares his name with the man in charge of extracting information about the Nido del Cuervo during the Inquisition.
  • The trope also applies to the original Executioner's alternate name: "Ángel Oscuro" ("Dark Angel").
• The Speechless: He is never heard speaking, at least not with his hood on.
• Would Harm a Child: He murders Alba, Rita on season 1 finale, and finally Paz on the season 2 finale.

Malaquías (spoiler character)

Malaquías/Don Arturo

Played by Kandido Uranga

Appears to be merely the prior with Knight Templar tendencies. In reality, he led efforts to destroy the Nido del Cuervo Lodge... while taking advantage of their secrets to prolong his life without losing his memories.

• Fate Worse than Death: After his attempt to sacrifice Amaya to preserve both his memories and prolonged life is foiled, Alicia and León lock him up in a dungeon, where he will lose all his memories and remain like that until he eventually dies.
• Would Harm a Child: A downplayed version, since he is willing to kill Amaya, a teenager, in order to preserve his memories.