Narciso is not always respected because is has a reputation for being the town drunk, yet he is the voice of reason and moderation when the townsmen pursue the fugitive Lupito. Narciso says,
"Por Dios, hombres! Let us act like men! That is not an animal down there, that is a man. Lupito. You all know Lupito. You know that the war made him sick..."
When the men deride him for being drunk, Narciso replies,
"I am not drinking...it is you men who are drunk for blood. You have lost your reason..."
Narciso counsels Lupito, saying,
"Amigo! You know I am your friend...those were good times, Lupito, before the war came...now we have this bad business to settle...but we are friends who will help you..."
Tragically, Lupito responds in desperation, shooting to draw the fire of the men, and he is killed (Dos).
Later in the book, Narciso heroically tries to get someone to warn La Grande that Tenorio is coming to kill her. When no one will go, he decides,
"Then I will go. Am I so old that a storm of the llano can frighten me? The llano bred and sustained me...it can bury me".
Narciso is indeed gunned down before he can reach the house of Marez, and his last words as he lays dying are,
"It is good to die on a hill of the llano, beneath the juniper" (Catorce).
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