Capturing Cortés becomes Dwarkesh Patel's question for Si Sheppard

Four new uploads explore conquest, Spain's wealth and the company that challenged India's kings.

Channel: Dwarkesh Patel Story of October 20, 2026Trari Newsroom

Why this story? The channel's weekly summary: what went up this week, what is drawing views now, and where the channel stands among similar channels.

Why the Aztecs Refused to Kill Cortés - Si Sheppard

Capture, not kill. That distinction gives Dwarkesh Patel's most-watched new upload its central puzzle: why did Aztec warriors try to take Hernán Cortés alive even when they had knocked him from his horse?

In "Why the Aztecs Refused to Kill Cortés - Si Sheppard", Patel asks why a thoroughly militarized society struggled to change its approach against the Spanish. Sheppard's answer connects battlefield decisions to religious commitments and social advancement. Bringing captives back to Tenochtitlan earned status, and even the captives had a hierarchy of value. Changing tactics meant more than issuing a different order.

The excerpt has passed a million views, as has "How Spain Got Rich and Fell Behind - Si Sheppard". Those were two of four uploads featuring Sheppard, with the others questioning the role of guns in the Aztec conquest and examining India's kings losing to a company. It's a week organized around uncomfortable historical questions rather than a single long conversation.

The Spain upload is currently drawing the most daily views, closely followed by the India installment. An older Sheppard excerpt, "Nobody Knows Why the Plague Keeps Coming Back - Si Sheppard", also remains among the channel's busiest uploads.

Across the channel, the week brought roughly 10 million views and 10,000 additional subscribers. Daily viewing is below its usual level, but the audience grew nonetheless. Among nearby interview channels, All-In Podcast is having a faster-than-usual day while The Connect is quieter. Patel's own week belongs firmly to Sheppard, whose explanations stretch from battlefield incentives to the fortunes of empires.

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More from Dwarkesh PatelThis week on the channel 8 videos this weekCortés, Pizarro and three Sarah Paine wars fill Dwarkesh Patel's weekEight uploads moved from World War I to Korea to the fall of the Aztecs, on a channel that has passed a billion views in total.Channel: Dwarkesh Patel · Story of October 3, 2026 Also in Podcasts and interviewsVideo people are talking about 11x its usual commentsZelenskyy tells Steven Bartlett why he needed "ammunition, not a ride"In a nearly two-hour conversation, Ukraine's president moves from sleepless nights and grieving parents to Bucha, Paddington Bear and the morning the invasion …Channel: The Diary Of A CEO · Story of October 24, 2026 A different discovery todayVideo taking off 26x its usual first dayADÉLA brings "Nicole Kidman" and airborne splits to FallonHer television debut moves from a red-lit ensemble number to a quiet seated finish, and the comment section is crowded with talk of the choreography.Channel: The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon · Story of October 24, 2026

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The videos drawing views on Dwarkesh Patel right now

How Spain Got Rich and Fell Behind - Si Sheppard1,048,599 views · 2026-10-16 Why Guns Didn’t Conquer the Aztecs - Si Sheppard330,442 views · 2026-10-16 Why India’s Kings Lost to a Company - Si Sheppard243,041 views · 2026-10-18 Nobody Knows Why the Plague Keeps Coming Back - Si Sheppard818,188 views

The numbers

Here is how Dwarkesh Patel's channel and new uploads performed this week.

views gained this week: this channel and similar channels

Stiff Socks

41,094,581

Dwarkesh Patel

10,239,324

SmoshCast

3,645,585

The Connect: With Johnny …

3,073,398

All-In Podcast

2,884,142

Rich Roll

580,408

Hobby Explorer

449,343

Colin and Samir

438,187

Tim Ferriss

421,693

subscribers

1,450,000

▲ 10,000 in the last 7 days

total views

1,084,819,943

views per day

1,112,008

typical day: 1,333,059

first-day views of each video posted this week

Why the Aztecs Refused to Kill Cortés -…

518,504

How Spain Got Rich and Fell Behind - Si…

382,795

Why Guns Didn’t Conquer the Aztecs - Si…

171,350

Why India’s Kings Lost to a Company - S…

199,172

subscribers: this channel and similar channels

Tim Ferriss

1,790,000

Colin and Samir

1,630,000

Rich Roll

1,600,000

The Connect: With Johnny …

1,480,000

Dwarkesh Patel

1,450,000

Stiff Socks

1,250,000

All-In Podcast

1,160,000

SmoshCast

1,100,000

Hobby Explorer

1,100,000

As of October 20, 2026 · Data source: Trari Social News, Trari Traffic Trends and Ranking Platform, Google YouTube

Subscriber, view, like and comment counts are YouTube's. Rates, usual days, rankings, comparisons and categories are Trari's own calculations.