Don Gutierrez

Adopted from Dixie:

* Arnold Puss
* Lila Puss
* Punkin' Puss

**Joaquin “Don” Gutierrez**, often known as **Don Gutierrez**, is a Spanish tomcat who works as a hero-for-hire. Though he hailed from a family of noble stature, he became interested in hero work after reading tales of Sebastian Lièvre, then the most powerful hero-for-hire in the world. He abandoned his noble post to pursue this path, first heading into the convent of his famed hero, and then working solo after he was excommunicated and exiled from his homeland. Following his exile, he would make his home in the Ozarks, where he met and later fell in love with Dixie, a frontierswoman. He is the father of Catalina Gutierrez and Einar Gutierrez, and would later adopt Dixie’s children from her first marriage after Einar kills Peter and his nephew, Moses.

Originally intended to be a posthumous character, Don Gutierrez made his proper debut in season four of *Blazin’ Trails Redux*, and has a few roles in the fifth season onwards.

## Personality

Described as having a larger than life personality, Joaquin is known for his good looks, and his energetic, affable and charismatic persona. He often tiptoes the fine line of humility and arrogance, even though by all rights he should be a little arrogant for both his exploits and his family’s status. He possesses a brilliant mind, able to come up with all sorts of plans on the fly, and prior to his start as a hero, he was considering joining the military as his forebears had. Underneath his noble heart burns the flames of rebellion, and he will never hesitate to speak his mind or stand up for what’s right regardless of what happens to him, as his hero had done. He puts others above himself, and this was evident in his relationship with Dixie, especially after they “lose” Cat; though distraught over his “loss”, he did what he could to stay strong for Dixie, and even fought Moses on her behalf when it was revealed that Moses had ordered some of his members to murder him and Cat. Though coolheaded in contrast to his wife Dixie, when truly angered he’s described as being vicious like a wolf, and as calculating as a tiger. The few things that will set off this side are seeing rape/abuse up close, or witnessing anybody hurt his family. He is notably unmerciful when he’s this furious, and won’t hesitate to kill the offending party in the swiftest and brutal way possible. The only reason Moses escaped his wrath twice was because he managed to escape ahead of time, leaving his brothers to suffer Don’s carnage.

Another one of Don’s traits is his large heart, especially towards children; Ricochet joked that he and Melissa must have been siblings in another life. Having witnessed the fates of many orphaned children in his village, Don is determined to not let a child suffer, and works extra hard in cases where a child is involved. He made a personal vow to bring Dixie’s children, Arnold and Lila, back to their mother and to save them from Pete’s brainwashing, and even extends this to Punkin’ Puss, telling him that he always has a home. He always calls his children his greatest achievement, and doesn’t want to miss a moment in their lives. The incident where he “lost” his daughter Catalina at sea left him in depression for years, and as such, he is very protective of his son Einar, not wanting the same thing to happen.

## History

### Early Life

Joaquin was born and raised in the coastal village of Albarracin, Spain, on January 25th. His father came from a family of military generals, while his mother came from an industrious family of merchants. As such, he grew up wanting nothing, and at a young age, his sharp mind was noted by his teachers, who encouraged him to go into military school as soon as he was old enough. As a young boy, he would spend his summers helping his maternal aunts and uncles run their businesses, which were often in smaller, poorer villages. It was here that he developed his true passion: helping others, inspired by one of his favorite verses: “to visit orphans and widows in their affliction”. As many of his family members had no worry for money, they did not truly comprehend nor support his endeavors, sans one uncle, who was adopted into the family. His uncle’s stories, and seeing the orphaned and destitute suffer while he lived in luxury, humbled his spirit. He wished to do something about it, but his family’s urgings to continue the family tradition put much of his desires on the backburner, with his grandmother pushing him the hardest.

His life would be changed when he came across articles focusing on a middle-aged hare who was traveling the world, helping people and getting paid handsomely for it. Said hare, Sebastian Lièvre, had done some work in his hometown and had even vacationed there at one point, calling it one of the most beautiful places in the world. The elder jack would become his hero and inspiration, second to only Joaquin’s own grandparents, Although he would never meet him during his lifetime, the elder jack would become his hero and inspiration. Reading Sebastian’s exploits made him realize that a career as a hero, rather than the military, was his true calling. Though he passed the exams with flying colors, he dropped out of military school, and decided to move across several provinces to head to the House of Ancients, the convent where his hero had gotten his start.

### Hero’s Trails and Trials

Joaquin entered the House of Ancients at the age of 20, where he was originally considered too old for the rigorous “Trials of the Sword” that the House implemented for those who wished to work for them. His mentor, however, saw a fire in Joaquin and convinced the headmaster to give him a chance. Though he failed the first time, he passed his second set of trials with flying colors, and was originally given the title of “Principe” (“prince”) for his regal air and style, which contrasted heavily with much of his peers. He mostly stayed within his home country for hero work, but also ventured into Portugal a few times, having duels and a few paramours, although he was more successful with the former than the latter. He dedicated his life to helping the poor and chastising the corrupt rich who robbed from them, making him a modern day Robin Hood. His charisma and easygoing nature gave rise to his other nickname, Ladron de Carazones (“thief of hearts”), and his loyalty to the House was second to none.

Two years after his start as a hero, he would encounter an ex-hero during a duel who managed to soundly defeat him. Joaquin would have left it at that, but what the man told him gave him pause: “Think long and hard about who you’re allied with.” Joaquin would soon investigate the House on his own terms, where he discovered that the House was inflicting the very harms he was assigned to stop, and when he called them out on this, he was immediately thrown in prison, with the evidence being twisted against him when he was tried.

Refusing to allow this to continue, he broke out of jail and decided to sneak back into the convent, determined to expose them for their crimes. Unfortunately, he’d only managed to scratch the tip of the iceberg when it came to the House of Ancients’ corrupt dealings, which included animal trades; plots to murder several powerful families that had not only donated to their cause, but had sent their children into their buildings; and their allegiance with the Kingslayers, a murderous cult that seek to remove powerful figures from governments in order to sow discord and then establish their own rule. Further digging would reveal that all organizations and governments were banned from making any sort of alliance with the Kingslayers due to their influential power and their hands in several destructive wars over the span of three centuries. Seeing his mentor in the center of this alliance and on the opposite side of what he stood for, Joaquin could not stay in hiding, and revealed himself, confronting the headmaster and his mentor, and challenging them to a duel. Inevitably, the two answered his challenge, forcing Joaquin to kill his mentor and wound the headmaster. He would soon be apprehended by his fellow peers, and cast into the dungeon soon afterwards.

Imprisoned yet again, one of his oldest friends, a young cat named Benito, told him that the headmaster had committed suicide in his own cell, deciding to die to his cause than to expose his followers. The upper echelons had considered executing Joaquin for what he did, but the militia had gotten involved, forcing his sentence to be changed from execution to exile, a fate that Joaquin accepted. He thanked Benito for the information, and following his release from prison, was formally exiled from both the House of Ancients and his home country, never to return. He boarded a ship that was headed to the Americas, where he would start the next leg of his journey.

### Hero of the Ozarks

Not long after arriving in North America, Joaquin attempted to make his home in Texas, only to encounter several heroes-for-hire contracted with his former organization. They had been ordered by the new headmaster to kill him on sight, a feat that they nearly succeeded in. He would flee Texas and eventually lost them in Ozark territory, where the wildlife would claim much of his adversaries. After a few months of remaining on the run, he would make the decision to pursue his dream as a hero-for-hire once again, especially after discovering that the people of the mountains did not have adequate law enforcement.

Though the first year was slow due to the mountain folk’s distrust of foreigners, his popularity would skyrocket when he single-handedly drove out Red Scorpion’s Arkansas branch, killing ten people in the fight. In addition to this, he would put an end to several feuds, help people become free of their debts, and offer medical care. Because nobody could pronounce his name or various nicknames, he asked that they all refer to him as “Don”, which was his country’s equivalent to “Mr.”. He would become a fixture within several towns of the Ozarks, often referred to as their savior.

#### Meeting Dixie

In spring 1837, Don’s life would be upended again, but this time in a different way. En route to taking a short vacation from hero work, he stumbled upon a horrible sight: a queen being beat upon by four other men in a ravine below, who were kicking her in the stomach and face. Spurred into action, Don ambushed the men, killing two of them and forcing the others to flee—the perpetrator, Moses, swore that he would get revenge on Don for “gettin’ in between his affairs” as he retreated. With the men gone, Don turned to the injured queen, and took her back to his cabin to treat her for her injuries.

Things proved somewhat complicated at first. The queen, Dixie, reacted to him initially by scratching him across the face, only to be halted in her escape due to her broken bones. Even after reassuring that he wasn’t a threat, Dixie didn’t trust him immediately and refused to divulge any information on where she’d come from, just that she needed to get out of the mountains. Initially, he’d been frustrated by her closure, though he had enough sense to recognize that something awful had happened to her, yet he didn’t know what.

He would learn some of the truth, however, when she attempted to escape the cabin again, and ended up in the hands of one of the men who’d hurt her; now intent on finishing the job, Moses’ brother, Lincoln, claimed that she and her “worthless brood” would be reunited in death. The news stunned Dixie into shocked silence, and Lincoln took advantage of it by breaking her ankle so she couldn’t flee. Don, infuriated, wasted no time in quickly ambushing and disposing of her would-be killer. His hardened heart would be softened when he heard her cry out in the middle of the night for her children, lamenting not escaping with them as she’d planned. The next morning, she told him everything: how she’d been forced into marriage with an irate tomcat, who’d abused and raped her during their marriage. His family, namely, his brother’s sons, decide to “punish” her for escaping by killing her—and with how remote the mountains were, they were going to do it in a way that would ensure she would never be found. Don openly wept upon hearing the tale. After Dixie was cleared by the doctor, he told her that in no circumstances was she going to head back there alone, not without help. He promised that as soon as she was healed, he’d head back to her town, bring her husband in, and reunite her with her children—and refused to allow her to pay for it, either, as in his opinion, a service like this should be done from the goodness of his heart.

For the next few months, their relationship would change from barely wanting to do anything with each other, to slowly, but surely falling in love. They initially traveled to a few towns due to Don’s hero work, before eventually settling in the small town of Swallowtail, Arkansas, where much of her family lived. Her family was wary of Don at first, but warmed up to him when they saw he wasn’t cut from the same cloth as Peter. They made Swallowtail their permanent home after Don’s last house “mysteriously” caught fire; thankfully, the mountain folk came together and built him a new one deep in the woods.

Reunited with her family and healing from her injuries, Dixie decided to make the decision to formally divorce her husband, and drafted up the papers. She also started to open up again, and her no-nonsense, spitfire personality drew Don to her like a moth to a flame. Likewise, she was drawn to his charismatic, yet honest and caring personality. Not long after they confessed their feelings to each other, they consummated their new relationship, and she moved in with him about two days later. What followed was a passionate love affair. A few months later, Dixie would reveal she was pregnant. Don was shocked at first, but was elated, and couldn’t wait to be a father to his new kitten.

Their daughter, Catalina Gutierrez, was born on July 27th, 1838. Don almost missed it due to heading out for another job and believing that the birth would take place in August, like the doctor said; it took Dixie screaming at him on the phone that morning that made him realize it was happening, and he cancelled his job and raced back to the cabin just in time. Though animal folk traditions saw the woman give their children their surname, Dixie had refused to give her daughter her married name, so Don decided to give their daughter his surname. Shortly after Cat was born, Dixie mailed over the divorce papers to Peter, signaling the definite end of their marriage.

Don came to the decision to “do right” by Dixie due to her father, who knew how much she loved him and didn’t want her heart broken a second time. He agreed, and planned on proposing to her in September, which marked their first anniversary.

## Trivia

* Don Gutierrez is one of several characters from the *For Love and Glory* series that debuted in *Blazin’ Trails Redux* first. Among others include Catalina Gutierrez, Therese Turtle, Tristan Turtle and Tabitha Turtle.
	+ As stated above, he was originally meant to be a posthumous character who mysteriously died at sea. However, this was changed by Iheartgod175 herself, who enjoyed his character so much that she decided to have both him and Touché’s father Tristan be alive, as well as to give Punkin’ Puss’ mother, Dixie, a happy ending with a man who truly loves her.
	+ According to iheartgod175, Joaquin was both fun and a challenge to create. She states that coming up with his history was great, but that she was “greatly tempted” to base much of his character off of Puss in Boots from the *Shrek* franchise. To keep that from happening, she decided to draw a few aspects from other original characters of hers to build Don’s.
* Joaquin is one of several heroes-for-hire who didn’t join the World Heroes Society after being exiled from the House of Ancients. His reason for turning down Edith’s recommendation was that he wanted to spend more time with his family, and that while he’s grateful that Edith has brought changes to the Society’s old, chauvinistic ways, he was horrified to learn how they treated both his hero (who was ousted as the Headmaster by a rival) and Touché Turtle after Sebastian’s death (which happened before Edith became the headmistress), which solidified his resolve not to join. His son, Einar, would follow his footsteps in this regard, only he decided that he would become a vigilante in order to help the people of the hills, as his father's services tend to take him all over the mountain territory.
* Joaquin envies Touché for having been able to meet and train under Sebastian, as doing both was one of his greatest dreams.
* He is good friends with Lumière Edwards, as they share similar views on family and faith.
* Similar to his hero, some of Joaquin’s story was inspired by *Honkai Impact 3rd*—specifically, his defeat at the hands of an ex-hero (inspired by Fu Hua’s sound beating of Kallen), as well as his love story with Dixie, which was inspired by Kallen Kaslana and Yae Sakura’s story. Whereas Kallen and Yae’s story ended in tragedy, Joaquin and Dixie would get their happy ending, albeit near the end of Blazin’ Trails Redux.
	+ He is one of two characters in the series to have been inspired by Kallen Kaslana—the second being Touché Turtle’s sister, Therese.
* His name, Joaquin, means “established by God”.
* Similar to Edith, his costume is also inspired by real life musketeers, namely, the uniforms that Spanish musketeers would wear.