Because Aztec warfare emphasized capturing victims for sacrifice, Aztec fighters sometimes tried to capture Cortes for sacrifice instead of killing him when he was incapacitated.

“going back to the Aztecs one thing that's remarkable here is just how bad their strategy and tactics often were for example because Aztec military conflict was based around capturing victims for sacrifice there are many cases where Cortez himself was laying on the ground and had been you know knocked off his horse but instead of just killing him on the ground and guarding their advantage the Aztecs were trying to like seize him to go have some sacrifice water and this”