The main character in Don Quixote is Alonso Quijano, a 60-year-old man who has gone mad from reading too many chivalric romances. He renames himself Don Quixote de la Mancha and decides to become a knight errant to defend the helpless. His trusted squire and companion is his friend Sancho Panza, with whom he goes on fanciful adventures and misadventures across Spain.