Because of his commoner background, the Emperor denied Ollantay's request to marry the princess. Enraged and heartbroken, Ollantay fled the capital of Cusco and led a decade-long rebellion from the fortress now known as Ollantaytambo .
One cannot discuss the concept of "Ollantay" without referencing the seminal work of Peruvian Marxist thinker José Carlos Mariátegui. In his collected writings, titled Temas de Nuestra América (Themes of Our America), Mariátegui published articles under the pseudonym or in a section titled "Ollantay." This was not an accident. ollantay corujo