Are you fighting dragons or windmills? Lessons from Don Quixote.

How Don Quixote warns us about finding enemies where none exist

More than 400 years after its publication, Don Quixote remains one of the most influential novels ever written. Authored by Miguel de Cervantes, this satirical yet deeply human story continues to resonate, not because of the comedic image of a knight charging windmills, but because of its exploration of how we shape reality to fit our beliefs.

In today’s age of misinformation, social polarisation, and algorithm-fed echo chambers, the warnings contained in Don Quixote feel urgently relevant. Cervantes offers not just a timeless literary experience, but a powerful lens through which we can examine our modern tendency to invent enemies, conflicts, and conspiracies where none exist.

The madness of Don Quixote and the invention of conflict

At the centre of the story is Alonso Quixano, a man who reads so many tales of knights and chivalry that he loses his grip on reality. Reinventing himself as Don Quixote de la Mancha, he sets out as a self-styled knight-errant to battle evil and protect the innocent. The problem, however, is that Spain in the early 17th century has no dragons, ogres, or rival knights to fight.

Yet Quixote’s mind cannot accept a world without enemies. In one of the most famous scenes in world literature, he mistakes windmills for giants and attacks them with his lance. But this is not merely a comic misjudgement it reflects a deeper psychological need.

Don Quixote must believe in danger and wickedness because it validates his identity. Without foes, he cannot be the hero. The world must conform to his internal narrative.

This is no isolated incident. Inns become castles, barmaids are transformed into princesses, and sheep marching across a field become the armies of a vile opponent. Don Quixote constantly projects conflict into neutral situations because he sees what he needs to see, not what is actually there.

The absence of villains and the presence of projection

Importantly, Cervantes populates the novel not with villains, but with ordinary, well-meaning or at least indifferent people. Most of them humour Quixote, tolerate his antics, or simply try to avoid him. Any hostility he encounters is typically the result of his own actions, not intentional malice. The “enemy” he frequently references like the imaginary sorcerer Frestón who supposedly steals his library is purely fictional.

This psychological projection is central to understanding the novel’s relevance today. Don Quixote does not simply misinterpret the world; he rewrites it to fit his belief that he is the hero in an epic tale of good versus evil. When reality fails to provide a worthy antagonist, he creates one.

The modern windmills: Enemies of our own making

The same mental pattern is evident across contemporary society. While few of us declare ourselves knights, many engage in behaviour remarkably similar to Don Quixote’s.

Echo chambers and political polarisation

Modern political discourse is rife with imagined enemies. Through echo chambers, social media algorithms, and selective news consumption, individuals increasingly form rigid worldviews. Any opposing perspective is not merely a disagreement it becomes an existential threat. Members of different political parties, ethnic groups, or nations are routinely painted as morally corrupt, dangerous, or irredeemable.

The effect is devastating: rational debate dies, cooperation becomes impossible, and the world is split into “us” and “them”. Nuance vanishes, and like Quixote, we charge at windmills believing we are confronting monsters.

Social media and outrage as identity

Digital platforms reward engagement, and nothing fuels clicks like outrage. Misunderstandings or minor missteps are elevated into serious offences, leading to disproportionate public condemnation. Like Quixote, people seek out these opportunities to be “right” or to expose wrongs, even when no real harm has occurred. This dynamic transforms innocuous statements into flashpoints and fellow citizens into targets.

Outrage becomes part of the performance proof of one’s moral clarity. But just as Don Quixote’s battles were futile and deluded, so too are many online crusades rooted more in self-image than substance.