Toronado (Zorro horse)
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Tornado (also spelled Toronado) is Zorro's horse. Tornado is a black Andalusian or possibly Lusitano, very intelligent and very fast. His name is pronounced in the Spanish way, "tor-NAH-do". Being as jet-black as Zorro's costume enables horse and rider to more easily elude capture at night.
In Isabel Allende's novel Zorro, Tornado is given to Diego de la Vega upon his return to California, by his milk brother, Bernado, and Bernardo's wife, Light-in-the-night, who trained it. During Bernardo and Diego's Indian initiation ritual before leaving for Spain, Bernardo notices a black foal tentatively following him while he is alone in the woods. Gradually, he befriends the horse, and names him Tornado (pending the horse's approval.) He plans to tame Tornado and give him to Diego, but when he wakes up after three days the horse is gone (only to show up again later.) So instead of a gift, he takes it as a sign that the horse is his spirit guide, and plans to "develop the horse's virtues: loyalty, strength, and endurance" (76.)
