⟨⟨<inverted question mark>Y que lugar tan esquivo es este que en el no ay sino cuita y afan?⟫.Poetics of the locus horridus in Spanish chivalry books

The locus horridus is a rhetorical code that identifies an impenetrable, hostile place, full of dangers. A counterpart to the pleasant place, this frightening place is associated with the forest, the mountains, the caves, and refers from a cultural point of view to a poetics of bearing still rooted in the mentality of the early modern age. This article aims to analyze the features that characterize the loci terribili in some Spanish chivalric books and their link with the emotions that overwhelm the characters when they pass through them.