Pepelito is a black 630-kg bull who is from one of the main fighting bull ranches in Spain. He's mostly Domecq which is one of the main breeds, but his dad was part Jandillo. One hot day, he escapes certain death in the bullring and runs into Rita's house, enraging Castella, the matador, and his various minions. His shocking and dramatic escape also utterly enrages Henry Dixon and the Taurine Club, posh upper class English aficionados who go on holiday to watch bullfighting.
Deeply anxious and terrified of humans at first, and expecting bad treatment, he develops a deep bond with people who have helped him, but knows nothing about manners and can cause a lot of destruction - mostly unintentionally. He's curious, smart and watches and understands a lot - and forms an opinion of what people and situations are like. He distrusts horses and likes food, water, playing with his toys and watching cows - especially one particular cow.
He is deeply traumatised by treatment he and the others endured at the hands of bullring workers and bullfighters. In particular, he became very close to a brown Miura bull called Ladron who was much bigger than he was and protected him both from humans and other bulls. Pepelito was trapped in a tiny cell inside the bullring when Ladron was tortured and killed, he heard the entire 'fight' and blames himself for not saving him. He thinks about Ladron often, both in terms of wondering what he would have done in certain situations, and of how he died.
They also did an illegal (but still widespread) procedure on him called afeitado where the end of the horn is shaved off and replaced with a resin like substance to appear that nothing has happened. As well as causing terrible pain to the bull it makes it poorer at judging distances, telling where things are, and frequently bumping into stuff etc which will make the matador's job easier. The bull is also more cautious. Because of this he can be awkward and clumsy, as well as pissing off other cows like Maribel because spatial awareness is impeded. Over the course of the book, he recovers and gets stronger.
He's frightened of being alone or of big crowds of humans. But he's loyal and protective of those he loves, animals and humans. Empathetic and affectionate, he will always stay close if you are upset and give his friends a lick to make them feel better. He's clever, learns quickly and can communicate his thoughts to other cows by mooing etc, although it's not perfect and they don't always understand. He needs to be with others, especially other bovines. Because of his experiences he does have a bit of insecurity that other cows and bulls don't understand him. He underestimates himself and his strength repeatedly.
A bit of a turning point comes when he realises that Castella, who kidnapped him and had the farmer looking after him killed, is just a pathetic, insecure coward rather than the terrifying monster he previously thought of him as. The bullfighters and aficionados repeatedly underestimate him and his resolve, believing he's 'cowardly' for escaping etc. The good guys also underestimate him, they want to protect him, but he is better at protecting them in many respects, and better prepared for evil behaviour.
But once he's decided to do something, he'll do it. As time goes on and it becomes clear he's recovered, and how emotionally and physically strong he is, they end up being seriously scared and hating him. As a result of this, other bulls (and even some humans) end up looking up to him, respecting him and turning to him for protection and moral support - a role that he doesn't know if he's 100% ready for. However, he ultimately becomes very aware of the fact that the bullfighters are scared to death of him - and why they do.
This bull is a sweetheart, and becomes much friendlier to humans the more he experiences how good they can be. But as well as having a loving and gentle nature he is very determined and once he's decided to do something, he'll do it - and is very good at distinguishing who is good and bad. The love and concern he feels makes him more dangerous to the bullfighters because once he's strong enough he won't tolerate cruelty to those weaker and he makes it clear that he will step in.
Overall, he's a clever, sweet and kind animal. Definitely more suited to being out in a field though haha :)
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SDT Bonus Content
Mystery / ThrillerThis is going to have random bonus content for SDT such as playlist, character guide, cover art and the like. Maybe the odd fanfic XD. I don't want to put all this in the main book because I don't like too much of this in other people's. So if you d...
