Known by various names, the girl born to noble parents in 1505 was given the Aztecan name Ixkakuk, meaning "beautiful goddess." The priest of Quetzalcoatl gave her the name "Malinali," the name of her birth month meaning "dry grass," and the twelfth month of the Mexican calendar.

Her father, Teteotcingo, a royal prince of the Aztecs, having no son, began to educated Malina, leadership skills. he taught her to read the Aztecan pictogram language.

Malina learned to be very assertive She attended the best school in Tenochtitlán, a privilege given to few girls, and was tutored by her grandmother, Ciuacoatl. Also studied oratory and rhetoric, as well as herbal medicine.

Her father died, Malina came home and her mother, Cimatl, remarried and bore a son. In order to secure Malina's heritage for her son, Cimatl sold the girl into slavery to some Mayan merchants from Yucatán. As a servant, she ground maize, cooked for her master's family and wove cloth.

In 1519, Cortés defeated the Yucatáno’s who gave him gold and 20 slaves chosen for their beauty, including Malina, then 14 as a peace offering. Cortés discovered that she spoke various Mayan dialects as well as Nahuatl, and Malina was placed in a central role in his expedition as translator.

Malina was given the Christian name of Doña Marina and became Cortés' interpreter, guide and, later, mistress, having been promised her freedom if she helped the Spanish. It was Doña Marina who requested the initial meeting between Montezuma II and Cortés.

She used her role to warn people about the brutality inflicted by the Spanish on native groups in an attempt to reduce the harm to many.

Malina gave birth to Cortés a son named Don Martin Cortés Tenepal in This child, the result of a union between an Indian and Spaniard, is said to have begun a new ethnic group of people called the mestizos. However, its known that mixed children were born in Hispanola in the 15 th century. Cortés gave Malina to another Spanish officer, Juan Jaramillo, with whom she had a daughter, Maria Jaramillo. Malina's son rose to prominence in the new order but later was suspected of treason and executed in Her daughter was robbed of her inheritance, much like Malina had been. It is said that she drowned her daughter giving rise to the “La llorna” legend

Several theories exist about Malina's death. Many authorities agree that she died from smallpox in relative obscurity at the young age of 24. However, Geney Torruco in his 1987 book "Doña Marina Malintzin" says she died over twenty years later in 1551, and another theory suggests one of Cortés' servants murdered her one night.

Ixkakuk, Malina Tenepal, Malintzin, Malinalli, Doña Marina. She is known by many names in several dialects, but with the passage of time, her name has become associated with treason. Novelist Carlos Fuentes says, "We as Mexicans not only have to contend with Eve's great sin, but with Malinche's as well, we unfortunately, receive a double dose of corruption."

If a traitor, who did she betray? What is her significance in history? Why is she a scapegoat?