History Literature / Aztec

* ChangelingFantasy : Malintzin. When Mixtli meets her, she is an orphan brat with DelusionsOfGrandeur. Aztec custom names the child by their day of birth (hers is One Grass) and they're given a full name on their seventh birthday, but because she's an orphan, her name remains One Grass (Ce Malinali). By the time he meets her later, she's become Cortez' interpreter and consort to one of Cortez' men. She's also made up a back story for herself: that she was [[IndianPrincess formerly royalty]], fallen on hard times. The "tzin" suffix (which means lord/lady and is assigned to nobility) is entirely fabricated. It also serves as a TakeThat to the historical figure upon whom Malintzin is based.

* BrotherSisterIncest: A large part of Mixtli's "childhood arc" is about the sexual relationship that Tzitzi instigates with her brother. It does not end up well for her.

* CrackOwMyBack: Mixtli refers to the "age of never" at one point, explaining that it's when someone gets to the age when they're constantly complaining that "X never hurt like this before!" He notes the priests' amusement and correctly deduces that the Spanish have a similar concept.
* CountryMatters : One of the earliest sentences Mixtli learns from the Spanish invaders, much to His Excellency's horror.
* CruelAndUnusualDeath: It's the Aztecs, what do you expect? But a special mention goes to Mixtli himself, for his unique method of [[spoiler: taking revenge on the priests who used his daughter as a human sacrifice]].

** During the boys' circle-jerk games, Mixtli notices that [[spoiler:Chimali and Tlatli]] often do it to each other rather than themselves; the readers catch the significance of this long before Mixtli does, given his age at the time.

* PalmBloodletting : Chimali's signature is his bloodied handprint.
* PapaWolf: Mixtli, although sadly [[spoiler: he's too late to do any good.]]
* PartingWordsRegret : Mixtli, when reminiscing about [[spoiler: Zyanya's last words to him before she dies in the flood of Tenochtitlan, dragged under by Chimali]]. Her words are carried away by the storm and he never got to hear what she had to say.

** When [[spoiler:Beu Ribe finally reveals her feelings to Mixtli after decades of bitter fighting.]] He takes what's left of her hand and says "My dear, I love you too."

* PreserveYourGays: While the Mexica themselves hold homosexuals in contempt (considering them "unmanly," the fact that [[spoiler: Chimali and Tlatli]] are gay ends up having significant impacts on the plot.

** [[spoiler:Chimali for about two-thirds of the book.]]
** Basically the entire point of the sequel.

* RoyalsWhoActuallyDoSomething: Every single Mexicatl from the nobility must be this, even commoners who provide outstanding services to the empire can earn a noble rank, typically through prowess in war. [[spoiler: Mixtli]] eventually becomes one.

* DoesNotLikeMen: Tiptoe, after she is [[spoiler: raped by two Spanish soldiers.]]

* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: Tiptoe's "pregnancy" is never explained in full, and we never learn what it was she carried inside her.

* YouKilledMyFather: [[spoiler: Tenamaxtli learns that the Mixtli of the first novel was his father early on, which spurs him into a hatred of Spaniards for the rest of the book.]]

->''Here end the roads and the days.''

** This also applies to Malintzin (Chekov's Gunman), who learns Spanish early on.

* CruelAndUnusualDeath: It's the Aztecs, what do you expect? But a special mention goes to Mixtli himself, for his unique method of [[spoiler: taking revenge on the priests who used his daughter as a human sacrifice.]]

* DarkSecret: The cacao-bean man and his revelation of [[spoiler: what really happened to Tzitzi.]]

* DownerEnding: The Mexica civilisation is utterly destroyed by the Conquistadors, and Mixtli, after sharing his history with the friars and finally learning that [[spoiler: Beu Ribe secretly loved him all along and was jealous, not angry, that he only married her younger sister and never her, even refusing to take her as a lover after his first wife died]] is condemned as a heretic and sentenced to death by being burnt at the stake. [[KickTheDog Despite the fact that the King of Spain himself wanted to let Mixtli live out the rest of his life unharmed.]]

* EverythingsBetterWithRainbows: During one of his trading ventures, Mixtli meets a crystalsmith who shows him a prism. Mixtli is mesmerized.

** [[spoiler:Tzitzi becoming the Tapir Woman.]]

* ForegoneConclusion: And done quite powerfully, too. From the moment Mixtli first hears about the great "winged houses" on the eastern sea, you just ''know'' all of the places and characters and cultures you've come to know and love are doomed within a few years.

* HandicappedBadass : Armed Scorpion, and then some. If he'd seen Mixtli first, Mixtli wouldn't have stood a chance.

* StealthInsult

Here end the roads and the days.

[[quoteright:304:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/51vhjwiq2l_sx303_bo1204203200__the_aztec_cover_8.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:304:“Of all that I have possessed in my life, my memories are the only things remaining to me. Indeed, I believe that memories are the only real treasure any human can hope to hold always.”]]

* BuryYourGays: Averted. While the Mexica themselves hold homosexuals in contempt (considering them "unmanly," the fact that [[spoiler: Chimali and Tlatli]] are gay ends up having significant impacts on the plot.
** Also important in the sequel.

* BadassGrandpa: For someone who considers himself "a bag of wind and bones," Blood Glutton certainly qualifies. There's a memorable scene early in the story where he realizes a band of "travelers" are actually bandits and singlehandedly sneaks up on and decapitates the ones waiting to ambush Mixtli and party, all without alerting any of the other bandits until it's just the bait-ones left alive. He then presents the surviving bandits with the heads of their comrades and demands they eat them. They're so terrified, they listen.
-->'''Blood Glutton:''' I said EAT!

* FiveManBand:
** The Hero/The Smart Guy: Mixtli
** The Lancer: Cozcatl
** The Big Guy: Blood Glutton
** The Chick: Tzitzi (first arc)/Zyanya
** Sixth Ranger: Beu Ribe

** Also, the fate of Mixtli's mother after she flees Xaltócan.

* DungFu : During the siege of Tenochtitlan.
* DyingMomentofAwesome: Blood Glutton.
* EatTheDog : A literal example. The Mexica brought chihuahuas on their war campaigns, as a self-transporting food source that also kept snakes and pests away from the camp site.

** When Mixtli is about four or five, his mother punishes him for uttering a [[DisproportionateRetribution swear]] by throwing chilis onto a fire and then holding him upside down over it. Afterwards for half a month, his eyes water and it feels like he's inhaling fire every time he breathes.

** When Mixtli is about four or five, his mother punishes him for [[DisproportionateRetribution swearing]] by throwing chilis onto a fire and then holding him upside down over it. Afterwards for half a month, his eyes water and it feels like he's inhaling fire every time he breathes.

** When Mixtli is about four or five, his mother punishes him for ''swearing'' by throwing chilis onto a fire and then holding him upside down over it. Afterwards for half a month, his eyes water and it feels like he's inhaling fire every time he breathes.

** When Mixtli is about four or five, his mother punishes him for swearing by throwing chilis onto a fire and then holding him upside down over it. Afterwards for half a month, his eyes water and it feels like he's inhaling fire every time he breathes.
** It goes UpToEleven as Mixtli recalls her spanking Tzitzi with nettles when she was a child for dreamily murmuring "I hear drums and music playing. I wonder where they're dancing tonight." To their mother, that apparently counted as immodesty.

* AmbiguouslyBrown : Late in the book, Mixtli describes the son of Malinche and Cortez as watered-down cacao, and it's far from a compliment.

'''The original novel provides examples of:'''

* AerithAndBob: An in-universe example: Almost everyone in the various Mexican nations is named for some concrete object or action, such as Dark Cloud, Blood Glutton, etc. So when Mixtli first learns that one character from another nation has a name that means simply "Always," he is understandably taken by surprise.

* Myth/AztecMythology

-->Blood Glutton: I said EAT!
* BeenThereShapedHistory: Mixtli himself, although subverted in that most of the pre-Conquest events he ends up being part of are ''not'' common knowledge to the majority of readers, but were very significant to the Mexica and other nations of the area.
** [[spoiler: Also Chimali, to Mixtli's personal life. That guy shows up EVERYWHERE.]]
*** Malintzin, in the last arc. The character is based upon a real-life person who was blamed, in part, for selling out the Mexica and others to Cortez' conquistadors. Mixtli himself muses that in hindsight, if he'd been able to kill her at any point, things might have turned out different.

* BigDamnHeroes: Intentionally invoked by Blood Glutton during a bandit attack. Also, averted by Narvarez and his troops, who at first seemed like this to the Mexica but, thanks to the ForegoneConclusion, couldn't be. Also averted during Mixtli's "war" experience. He catches the Mixteca's biggest war hero by hiding behind a bush and cutting off the Mixteca's feet--a rather ignoble ending to a military career.

* ChekhovsSkill: Mixtli's ability to read and write the Mexica word pictures, his ease with mastering unfamiliar languages, and his artistic ability will all impact his life, for better or worse, once the Spaniards show up. This also applies to Malintzin (Chekov's Gunman), who learns Spanish early on.

* DeadpanSnarker: Mixtli, often, especially to the Spanish priests transcribing his story. Also, the old soldier Blood Glutton gets his share of snarkiness as well:
-->Blood Glutton: (when Mixtli embraces him) Unhand me! Are they enlisting cuilontin now? To ''kiss'' the enemy to death!?

* DoorStopper: The hardcover copy weighs in at 754 pages. One can only imagine what a paperback copy would look like. (It's just shy of 1000 pages. My well-loved copy fell apart under the strain.)

* DrillSergeantNasty: Blood Glutton, at least during the first arc.
** Also, Angry At Everybody later in the story.
* DrivenToSuicide : Tepetzalan. [[spoiler: After Tzitzi is found not to be a virgin and taken away, he throws himself into the quarry where he works. Also, Tzitzi herself, who found a way to fall forward and smother on her deformed face. And Cozcatl, who prefers to run off to war and be impaled on a sword rather than the slower death from leprosy and heartbreak after his wife leaves him.]]
* DuelToTheDeath: Mixtli vs. [[spoiler: Chimali.]] Also, Armed Scorpion, who was given the option of fighting on the Battle Stone instead of being sacrificed. It's almost an embarrassment when he calmly defeats four warriors--despite Mixtli earlier cutting off his feet.

* EldritchAbomination: The smelly, dirty, hairy, hideous Spaniards, to the Mexica at least.
** Also the description of Chimali's statue of Coatlicue (mother of Huitzilopochtli): she has clawed feet, a skirt made of snakes, wears a necklace of human hearts and hands, and rather than a head, two serpents' heads meet to make her face.

* FateWorseThanDeath: [[spoiler: Tzitzi becoming the Tapir Woman.]] Also the Cozcatl-Chimali attack and reverse-attack, and the punishment and execution of Lord Joy and Jadestone Doll.
** Though the latter two [[spoiler: and Chimali]] definitely deserved it.
* FiveBadBand: They don't ever all work together, but they strangely fit:
** Big Bad: Cortez.
** The Dragon: [[spoiler: Chimali]]
** The Evil Genius: Lord Joy
** The Dark Chick: Jadestone Doll
** The Brute: Pedro de Alvarado
** Sixth Ranger Traitor: Malintzin

* HumansAreTheRealMonsters: The Spainards, both during the conquest arc and during the pre-chapter excerpts, are portrayed as far nastier than the Mexica are, for all their supposed superiority.

-->Mixtli: It would be a weakness, a sullying of what we felt for each other.

* MoralMyopia: Displayed by both the Christian monks who are recording Mixtli's story and Mixtli himself. In the former, there are plentiful examples, such as the priests being disgusted by many acts that Mixtli references but not even batting an eye at the atrocities committed against the Mexica by the Spainards, or their dismissal of the plagues that they have brought to the vulnerable Americas as simply "God's work". Mixtli's most prominent act is the fact that, while he waives off anything "wrong" with a HumanSacrifice he mentions early in the books, he goes berserk and [[spoiler: kills the priests responsible when his own daughter is taken as a sacrifice]], though this may be justified since the priests never asked permission before performing the sacrifice in question.

-->Mixtli: Dare I suppose that Your Excellency joins us today expecting to hear how I ravished the entire female population of Zaachila? No? If, as you say, it would not surprise you to hear it, then let me really surprise Your Excellency. I did not once touch a woman there.

* PetTheDog: Mixtli giving Cozcatl his freedom. Also, when Blood Glutton, previously a DrillSergeantNasty, comes to their aid during the journey south.
** When [[spoiler: Beu Ribe finally reveals her feelings to Mixtli after decades of bitter fighting.]] He takes what's left of her hand and says "My dear, I love you too."

* ReinventingTheTelephone: Mixtli, with the help of a crystalsmith in one of the southern lands, invents the magnifying glass and, later, the monocle. In the sequel, Mixtli's son Tenamaxtzin reinvents grenades, among other things.

* RoaringRampageOfRevenge: Mixtli himself on at least two occasions, as well as [[spoiler: Chimali for about two-thirds of the book.]]

* ShownTheirWork: And how! Practically everything except Mixtli himself has some basis in Mexica history. (Yes, even Jadestone Doll's..."dalliances.") Not to mention every bit of Nahuatl, Mexica culture, warfare, government...heck, it would probably be easier to list everything that ''isn't.''
** The author spent over 10 years meticulously researching the novel, and did a great deal of "experiential" research by traveling throughout Mexico. He did the same for his other novels, as well.

* UnreliableNarrator: Mixtli, of course.

* WhyWeCantHaveNiceThings: Blood Glutton continually remarks during their journey in the third arc that Mixtli is giving away so much of their trade goods for free that they won't have anything left to sell.

'''Aztec Autumn provides examples of:'''

->Mixtli: ...And I concluded with the words I had heard in various languages everywhere:
->"The Azteca were here, but they brought nothing with them, and they left nothing where they went."

''Aztec'' is a 1980 historical fiction novel written by Gary Jennings. It is the highly lengthy life story of a noble Aztec (more properly Mexica) man named Mixtli, or "Dark Cloud." After the Spanish Conquest, Mixtli is asked by the Bishop of New Spain to tell his life story to a group of friars who are recording his story for the King of Spain. The novel is notable for being one of the first ever depictions in media of the Aztecs as heroes, rather than villains, though certainly there are plenty of both among the Mexica pre-Conquest. It is also notable for not shying away from graphic depictions of both sex and violence (and sometimes both at once), as might be expected from a society like that of the Mexica.

It was followed by two sequels by the original author, ''Aztec Autumn'' (widely considered to be as good as the original up until its abrupt and lackluster ending) and ''Aztec Blood''. The series was then continued after the author's death, though the later works are not as well-known or as good. ''Aztec Autumn'' follows the adventures of [[spoiler: Mixtli's son]] Tenamaxtli as he attempts to get his revenge on the Spaniards.

* ChickMagnet: Mixtli, to almost ridiculous levels. Seems to run in the family as well, if the sequels are any indication... This is common to all Jennings' main characters, making them MartyStu, to a point.

* RoaringRampageofRevenge: Pretty much the entire point of the novel.

* DoorStopper: The hardcover copy weighs in at 754 pages. One can only imagine what a paperback copy would look like.(It's just shy of 1000 pages. My well-loved copy fell apart under the strain.)

* Foil: To Mixtli, arguably Chimali and the other Mixtli.

* RoaringRampageofRevenge: Mixtli himself on at least two occasions, as well as [[spoiler: Chimali for about two-thirds of the book.]]

* Expy: Tenamaxtli might as well be a carbon copy of Mixtli from the original, though there's a good reason for that. His cousin Ameyatl plays a similar role to Tzitzi, Cricket might as well be an expy of Zyanya, and Yeyac is one of Chimali, among many others.

* IAteWhat : Mixtli's description of some of the "delicacies" found among his wanderings. Some examples include excreted [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pitaya pitaya seeds]], the intoxicating urine of one of the tribal chiefs, and a baby.