Tritonio Espada is the former owner of a daycare-disguised combat camp that trained students. He was also a minor antagonist before joining the resistance. It is later revealed this camp was established in order to use students to carry out train thefts for him. He was the owner of his ancestral sword before granting it to Anne as a present. After King Andrias devastated Amphibia, he started leading a band of thieves before Anne convinced him to use his talents for good, after which he joined the resistance.
Appearance
Tritonio is a light green newt with lighter shaded spots on his tail. He possesses dark-purple hair and facial features, a short mustache with a fake goatee, and chest hair. He dresses in a French-style, wearing a typical vintage red French jacket with a brown belt fastened with a golden buckle and white puffy sleeves. He also wears long black heeled boots and grey pants.
In season 3, he dresses in a Robin Hood-esque outfit.
Background
Youth
In his youth, Tritonio lived in Newtopia. He was alone in the streets with no friends or family, until one day a group of young thieves brought him in their gang and on one theft he and the group got caught. He called the group for help, but unfortunately for him he learned that they were just using him until he outlived his purpose, which made him act like a lone wolf. He then took this as a lifelong message to not rely on anybody, not make any strong connections and to betray anyone when you are in a tough situation.
Meeting Anne and the Plantars
Tritonio meets Anne Boonchuy, Sprig, and Polly Plantar, posing as the owner of a daycare which Hop Pop Plantar drops them off at as he leaves to attend the Crop-Con convention. After Hop Pop leaves, Tritonio reveals himself to be an adventurer-type instructor who turned the daycare into a combat camp loaded with various weapons of different kinds such as swords, spears, and mushroom bombs. This excites Anne, Sprig, and Polly, but as soon as they start training, Tritonio starts being hard on Anne, making her less thrilled about her training due to having a bad history with her schoolteachers.
One night, Tritonio finds Anne alone and has a heart-to-heart talk with her when she asks why he's tough on her, which reveals the reason why is because he believes in her potential. After cheering Anne up, he gives her his ancestral sword and tells her to get some sleep as they have more training to do tomorrow.
The next day, Tritonio trains with Anne where she improves her skills, impressing him so much that Anne warms up to him. Then, Tritonio gives the kids one final lesson which involves stealing the Tiger Moth's Eye gem from a moving train. Though Sprig and Polly question it, Tritonio assures them it is just an act. However, when they manage to steal the gem after boarding on the train, Tritonio double-crosses them and takes the jewel for himself, revealing he is actually a thief who used Anne, Sprig, and Polly to help him get the jewel. The kids manage to escape and chase after Tritonio, with Anne defeating him with the sword he gave her. After defeating Tritonio, the toad guards of the train arrest him, revealing to Anne, Sprig, and Polly that Tritonio had tricking children to doing robberies for him for a long time. As he's arrested, Tritonio tells Anne he's proud of her before admitting his goatee is fake when Anne questions about it.
At some point between his arrest and King Andrias' devastation of Amphibia, Tritonio escaped from prison and formed the Merry Band, a group of Newt thieves and began stealing caravans belonging to King Andrias.
The Merry Band
Anne and Sprig are surveying a caravan lead by newts and toads that are loyal to King Andrias when a small boy named Jojo Potato who seems injured is found in their pathway. He turns out to just be a distraction as a group of hooded newts arrive and attack the whole caravan. Anne and Sprig are impressed but find themselves cornered by the rebel newts. They are revealed to be led by Tritonio who claims he and the Merry Band are neither working for Andrias, or the resistance and have no interest in doing so. He takes Anne and Sprig to his camp where he reveals his backstory as a street urchin who had to do what it takes to survive. He agrees to help liberate another caravan of valuables and in return, he will join the resistance.
While Anne and Sprig distract some mind-controlled snakes, Tritonio's newts go to liberate the caravan, only for it to be full of drones who attack and capture them. Unable to break his code of the street, Tritonio flees; leaving a bewildered Sprig and Anne to chase after him. Tritonio plans to pack up and leave, but Anne angrily confronts him; accusing him of having genuine attachment to his crew and leaving, simply because he feels that he needs to rather than wants to. As the newts face the Judge Frobot, Anne and Sprig arrive to rescue them, with Tritonio finally coming to his senses and using his strategizing skills to defeat the Frobot judge.
Anne once again asks that Tritonio join as he is a great strategizer and he thanks her for opening his mind, while also complimenting her on how much she has changed.
Sightings
| Season 1 | ||||||||||||
| Amphibia Main Theme: | Absent | |||||||||||
| Amphibia Credits Theme: | Absent | |||||||||||
| 1. "Anne or Beast?": | Absent | 20. "Prison Break": | Absent | |||||||||
| 2. "Best Fronds": | Absent | 21. "Grubhog Day": | Absent | |||||||||
| 3. "Cane Crazy": | Absent | 22. "Hop Pop and Lock": | Absent | |||||||||
| 4. "Flood, Sweat & Tears": | Absent | 23. "Civil Wart": | Absent | |||||||||
| 5. "Hop Luck": | Absent | 24. "Hop-Popular": | Absent | |||||||||
| 6. "Stakeout": | Absent | 25. "Croak & Punishment": | Absent | |||||||||
| 7. "The Domino Effect": | Absent | 26. "Trip to the Archives": | Absent | |||||||||
| 8. "Taking Charge": | Absent | 27. "Snow Day": | Absent | |||||||||
| 9. "Anne Theft Auto": | Absent | 28. "Cracking Mrs. Croaker": | Absent | |||||||||
| 10. "Breakout Star": | Absent | 29. "A Night at the Inn": | Absent | |||||||||
| 11. "Sprig Vs Hop Pop": | Absent | 30. "Wally and Anne": | Absent | |||||||||
| 12. "Girl Time": | Absent | 31. "Family Fishing Trip": | Absent | |||||||||
| 13. "Dating Season": | Absent | 32. "Bizarre Bazaar": | Absent | |||||||||
| 14. "Anne Vs. Wild": | Absent | 33. "Cursed!": | Absent | |||||||||
| 15. "Contagi-Anne": | Absent | 34. "Fiddle Me This": | Absent | |||||||||
| 16. "Family Shrub": | Absent | 35. "The Big Bugball Game": | Absent | |||||||||
| 17. "Lily Pad Thai": | Absent | 36. "Combat Camp": | Debut | |||||||||
| 18. "Plantar's Last Stand": | Absent | 37. "Children of the Spore": | Absent | |||||||||
| 19. "Toad Tax": | Absent | 38. "Anne of the Year": | Absent | |||||||||
| 39. "Reunion": | Absent | |||||||||||
Behind the scenes
Name and basis
Tritonio is named after Adam Colás' grandfather, Antonio Espada Colás.[1] Tritonio's name is Spanish, the name Tritonio is a combination of the word "Triton" and the name "Antonio"; the word triton when translated from Spanish means "newt", referencing his species. His surname, Espada, when translated from Spanish means "sword".
Voice
Tritonio is voiced by Matt Chapman.
Debut
Tritonio debuted in "Combat Camp".
Gallery
Click here to view the gallery.
Trivia
- For Anne, he was the first teacher who she claims understood her as she had complained in the episode "Combat Camp" that none of the teachers back on Earth really appreciated her due to her "carefree spirit".
- It's unknown how he got away from arrest then formed his "Merry Band" to raid King Andrias' forces' caravans on the tracks.
- In "Combat Camp", Tritonio states that the sword has been in his family for years. However, in "Newts in Tights", he stated he had no family when he was young. This could possibly be a continuity error.
- His appearance is similar to Inigo Montoya from The Princess Bride.
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Colás, Adam (May 17, 2022). "Did you know . . . I shamelessly pay tribute to the people in my life when naming characters? These are the most meaningful two I got to put in Amphibia: Renee Frodgers = Renee Rogers, my grandma’s stage name... Tritonio Espada = Antonio Espada Colás, my Yayo" (Tweet). Twitter. Archived from the original on 2022-05-20.