Diego Soto

Diego, a character in the Endless Summer series, is one of the college students who won a contest to spend a week at La Huerta. He is first seen in Book 1, Chapter 1.

Appearance
Diego has brown eyes, short, black hair and tan skin. He wears a short sleeved purple checked shirt.

In Book 2 and Book 3, his hair is much longer and he has a mustache, beard, and goatee. Moreover, his shirt is unbuttoned and there are tears at the edges of the sleeves.

In his Ember vision in Book 3, he wears a sweater over a collared shirt. His long hair has been evened and his beard and mustache have been shaved.

Personality
Diego loves parties and is a huge fan of pop culture. Throughout the story, he is constantly making references to various movies and TV shows. He is shown to be very kind and worries about others. He is also probably homosexual or bisexual as in Chapter 14, he tells Your Character about having a crush on one of the guys (Sean, Jake, Raj, Craig). His file in Rourke's database says that he hides certain parts of his personality from his more conservative family.

In Book 2, Chapter 2, it's revealed that he's been living among the Watchers during the last six months.

Book 1

 * Chapter 1: This Must Be Heaven
 * Chapter 2: We’ve All Got Secrets
 * Chapter 3: All Kinds of Crazy
 * Chapter 4: Cut and Run
 * Chapter 5: It’s What You’re Meant For
 * Chapter 6: The World Has a Habit of Crushing You
 * Chapter 7: Pies Make Peace
 * Chapter 8: You Always Have to be Hero
 * Chapter 9: Out of the Frying Pan… Into the Fire
 * Chapter 11: Rock the Boat
 * Chapter 12: The Enemy Is Out There
 * Chapter 13: One of Us Isn’t Supposed to be Here
 * Chapter 14: Last Night on Earth
 * Chapter 15: It Was Not Meant to End Like This
 * Chapter 16: Here’s to Adventure

Book 2

 * Chapter 1: The Unknown Has Always Been a Comfort to Me
 * Chapter 2: Time Is of the Essence
 * Chapter 3: Those Left Behind
 * Chapter 4: Island Justice
 * Chapter 5: There Are Many Things I Keep Hidden
 * Chapter 6: You Can’t Save Everyone
 * Chapter 7: Everything at Once
 * Chapter 8: Let’s Promise We’ll Do This Again
 * Chapter 9: Toward a New Horizon
 * Chapter 10: Every End Is a Beginning… Except the Last One
 * Chapter 11: Trust is a Fragile Thing
 * Chapter 12: Last Chance to Turn Back
 * Chapter 13: All We Have is Now
 * Chapter 14: You Can’t Promise Anything Anymore
 * Chapter 15: Self-Destruct

Book 3

 * Chapter 2: Tricks of the Trade
 * Chapter 3: What Doesn't Kill Us
 * Chapter 4: You've Come Into Your Own
 * Chapter 5: The More Things Change
 * Chapter 6: The Ties That Break
 * Chapter 7: Where I Needed You To Be
 * Chapter 8: You Are a Warrior
 * Chapter 9: All Our Yesterdays
 * Chapter 10: I Was Lost Until You Found Me
 * Chapter 11: Like There's No Tomorrow
 * Chapter 12: You Mean The World to Me

Your Character
"Maybe I was always cut out to be a sidekick, but if so, then I'm glad I was your sidekick."

- Diego to Your Character.

Diego is Your Character's best friend. Diego also tends to confide his feelings and secrets in Your Character, such as his crush on one of the other male members of the group in Chapter 14. He seems impressed when you think like a detective, such as guessing that Estela being on the plane is suspicious (although it is later revealed that Aleister is in fact the one who isn't supposed to be there) and guessing that the computer password is Zodiac.

In Book 1, Chapter 16, he sacrifices himself to the Vaanti, leaving you riddled with guilt to the point where you hallucinate.

When they are finally reunited in Book 2, Chapter 3, he says he always knew you would come back for him.

He is surprisingly interested in your love life and often encourages you to make a move on your love interest (either Jake, Estela, Sean, or Quinn). This may be because, as shown in the Andromeda Idol flashback, Diego has difficulty being assertive in his own life and is used to living through his friends.

His Parents
It seems that he has a very strained relationship with his parents.

In the Book 2 Finale, a premium choice revealed that he hasn't talked to them for a long time and wanted them to accept him, most likely for his homosexuality. He also said he forgives them.

His Ember of Hope shows a future where his father calls him to apologize for not accepting him in the past.

Varyyn
"Of course my heart would be dumb enough to go for the 'Romeo and Juliet Across Spacetime' love story, huh?"

- To Your Character

After capturing Diego, Ximaedra ordered Diego to act as Varyyn's tutor. The two developed a friendly relationship, with Diego covering for Varyyn and Varyyn interceding with the Vaanti on Diego's behalf. He and the other Vaanti call Diego, "Canis", which is his Hadean Zodiac sign. Upon seeing Diego and Varyyn in a seemingly intimate moment (Varyyn braided Diego's hair so he could see better), Your Character asks if Diego and Varyyn are "a thing", which flusters Diego.

After defeating Cetus, Your Character can encourage Diego and Varyyn to have a private moment, which will lead to Diego being somewhat more obvious about his attraction to Varyyn. If you choose to cheer for them while they are sparring on the water, Your Character will come up with the name "Variego" for the two of them. Diego teaches him several cultural aspects such as Star Wars (however, Varyyn pronounces Darth Vader as "Darth Veeder"). They will finally share a kiss at the New Year's Eve party. Your Character can later encourage them to share a night under the stars before the infiltration of MASADA. When it is time for the group to step through the Lernaean Gate, Diego and Varyyn share a tearful goodbye, with Varyyn promising to wait for Diego "for eternity".

When trying to get back to La Huerta, Your Character will transmit Diego's Star Wars reference to Varyyn, prompting the young Elyyshar to reopen the Gate, reuniting the lovers. They get handfasted in Book 3, Chapter 10.

Everett Rourke
After seeing Rourke has information on him and his friends, Diego developed a mistrust for Rourke, having no qualms with Your Character reading his diary in Book 1, Chapter 15. If Rourke accompanies you in the effort to rescue Diego, Diego will still be mistrustful despite his attempt to be seemingly friendly. Diego will dislike him even more when Rourke holds him at knifepoint for his Catalyst Idol.

Trivia

 * His Hadean Zodiac sign is Canis, the Dog.
 * Diego is the only character that is already friends with you, as you are best friends with him. Most of everyone else starts off with a neutral attitude, with some liking you while others disliking you. He is likely to be the first to become close with you, and one of the few to be "best friends" with you.
 * Several choices you make can skip or lose relationship points with Diego while increasing your relationship with Estela and vice versa; Diego will disapprove of you and Estela not understanding Varyyn's decision to continue the journey with the group in Book 3, Chapter 5
 * If you did not invite any of the four love interests for an intimate moment in your room in Book 1, Chapter 14, Diego will be in your room. He will be accidentally murdered by Varyyn before being brought back to life by you using Varyyn's necklace.
 * Of the three group members who can be left behind in the finale of Book 1, only Diego's disappearance is non-negotiable, as Raj and/or Grace can be saved as premium choices, whereas Diego's is scripted with no choices.
 * Jake calls him "Pop Culture Petey" because of his obsession with movies and his constant references to them.
 * He prefers Christian Bale as Batman over Ben Affleck.
 * His Ember of Hope shows a future where he writes a bestselling book and becomes a Professor at Hartfeld.
 * As part of one of his assignments in this flashforward scene, he has his student's watch Victoria Fontaine's The Warmest Winter which both come from the Red Carpet Diaries series.
 * For the Varyyn and Diego scenes, the writing was inspired by the song, Stay by Rihanna ft. Mikky Ekko.
 * Originally, the character's name was supposed to be Ben.
 * The name Diego is of Hebrew and Spanish origin, which means "supplanter" or "held by the heel".
 * The second name Ricardo is of German origin and means "powerful" or "great leader". It's the Spanish version of the name Richard.
 * The surname Soto is of Spanish origin and means: Thicket, grove.
 * The surname Ortiz is of Spanish origin and means "son of Orti". Orti is a Basque variant of the Latin Fortis ("brave" or "strong") and Fortunius ("Fortunate").