Enrique Mercado-Lopez

* Enrique
* As Justice

**Enrique Mercado-Lopez** is a queer Spanish-Filipino historian whose need to be a political activist in the Philippines is constantly and frustratingly disregarded by those in the trenches.

He is the historian of the main group and his goal is to get into the inner circle of a Filipino revolutionary group. Those in the revolutionary group chose not to accept him into their inner circle due to his Spanish blood and appearance.

## The Gilded Wolves Trilogy

### The Gilded Wolves

Séverin and Enrique attempt to steal a compass rumored to contain a treasure map from the Patriarch of House Nyx, Hypnos. Unfortunately, they trigger a trap and Séverin nearly loses his arm in the process. Fortunately, Enrique is able to free him in time and they escape to a carriage, elated to find that there is something inside the map.

After Laila ensures that the courier of House Kore receives an invitation to an important party, Séverin and the group meet up at L'Eden and all five of them work together to figure out the puzzle in the compass. It reveals the symbol for a legendary artifact known as the Eye of Horus, rumored to show the legendary Babel Fragment to any who look for it. Unfortunately, a few weeks later, Séverin receives a letter from Hypnos who knows he stole the compass.

Séverin and Enrique go to Hypnos’ estate where it is revealed that he did not know who the thief was, but used blood forging to ensure that the thief was the only one who could read the letter. He asks Séverin to help him obtain the Horus Eye from House Kore. In return, Hypnos will readminister the inheritance test on Séverin, as the previous test’s results had been fabricated to keep Séverin from becoming the Patriarch of House Vanth as a child. Séverin reluctantly agrees and returns to the group. They all promise to help him and use a party at an opera house called the Palais de Reves to interrogate House Kore’s courier to learn where the Hours Eye is.

Meanwhile, Enrique and Zofia steal an artifact from the Exposition Universelle to help them sneak into House Kore’s estate. They are attacked by a man with a strange bladed hat. Zofia steals his honeybee pendant, but neither of them know how he got inside the expedition.

After arriving at L’Eden, Hypnos gives them all invitations for House Kore’s party, ensuring that each one of them will assume an identity that is entirely different than the person themselves.

At the House Kore estate, everyone splits into their roles and begins working toward stealing the Horus Eye.

Enrique goes with Tristan into the greenhouse to try and set a trap that will keep anyone else from following them. However, Tristan accidentally gets poisoned and, after feeding him an antidote, they are forced to hide in guard uniforms.

They all eventually meet in an underground atrium after Enrique, Zofia and Laila solve a puzzle to get themselves inside. There, they find hundreds of Horus Eyes and accidentally summon a soul-devouring monster, Ammit, when Laila finds the real one. She and Séverin work together to dispel it, and the group splits from Hypnos. However, when they reenter the greenhouse, they find that Tristan has been tortured by an item called the Phobus Helmet which makes one's nightmares feel real. A man named Roux-Joubert, who both Séverin and Zofia met unknowingly throughout the night, takes the Horus Eye and tells them they have three days to give him Hypnos’ Babel Ring before leaving with Tristan.

The group returns to L’Eden and eventually figures out, thanks to Enrique, that Roux-Joubert is somehow related to The Fallen House, the fourth house that was stripped of its power after trying to use a Babel Fragment to become gods. The group figures out that Roux-Joubert is in the catacombs and wants to use the Exposition Universelle to start a new revolution, though they are uncertain what that entails. Zofia learns that there is a secret entrance in the exhibit and works with a silver cloth that Séverin stole to create a barrier that will stop anyone from stepping through it, as he and Laila leave for the catacombs.

Zofia, Hypnos, and Enrique manage to get into the catacombs from the other side, while Roux-Joubert attempts to awaken the Babel Fragments. Zofia’s invention keeps the other members of the Fallen House from entering the catacombs until Roux-Joubert kills his companion and breaks open the doorway. A man in a bug mask, whom Roux-Joubert calls the doctor, enters. They figure out that the Hypnos Eye needs to be placed in the center of a spiral pattern on the floor and, with Hypnos distracting the doctor, Laila is able to do it. This stops the fragment from rising as order guards, known as Sphinxes, arrive and record everything. The doctor and the surviving House Fallen members run while Roux-Joubert is left injured and furious. Hypnos promises that he will put in a good word for Séverin and the group celebrates their victory.

A week goes by and the entire group prepares for a full moon party. Only Zofia does not go, losing her nerve after she sees Enrique, whom she likes, kissing Hypnos. At the party, Séverin sees Laila take the stage as her actress persona before reading a letter Tristan gave him earlier in the night. He realizes that Roux-Joubert has escaped, but is unable to stop the man as he charges into the party and throws the bladed hat. Séverin tackles Laila, not realizing that Tristan was the target.

Two months later, Séverin and Hypnos are planning on leave for a palace called the Winter Conclave, to which, Enrique agrees to accompany them too.

## Etymology

* The name Enrique means "Home Ruler", and is of Spanish origin. Enrique is a form of Henry.
* Mercado is a name that means 'market' in Spanish and goes back to Latin *Mercatus*, with the same meaning.
* Lopez is a Spanish surname meaning "Son of Lope", Lope itself being a Spanish given name deriving from Latin *lupus*, meaning "wolf".

## Trivia

* Enrique truly wishes to be musically gifted. He is not.
* In *Aru Shah and the City of Gold*, Mini strongly implies that Enrique and Zofia are her great-great-great-grandparents when she mentions how the two of them worked together to break a safe.