History Myth / AztecMythology

Now, there was the matter of who would be the fifth sun. The gods met on the city of Teotihuacán[[note]] (say):"teo-tee-wah-KAHN"[[/note]] to decide who would be TheChosenOne. Two gods volunteered to become the fifth sun. One was the poor, crippled '''Nanahuatzin'''[[note]](say):"nah-nah-WAT-seen"[[/note]], the other was the rich, beautiful '''Tecciztecatl'''[[note]] (say):"tek-see-steh-CAT-ull"[[/note]]. To become the sun, they would have to jump into a fire. Tecciztecatl tried several times, but hesitated each time. Nanahuatzin leapt in without fear and, wanting to save face, Tecciztecatl followed. The two became suns, but the gods decided that because Nanahuatzin showed greater bravery, Tecciztecatl's sun should be dimmer than his. The gods [[AbnormalAmmo threw a rabbit]] at Tecciztecatl to diminish his size and his light, turning him into the moon. Nanahuatzin became '''Tonatiuh'''[[note]] (say):"tow-nah-TEE-uh"[[/note]], the solar disk, but the strength of the sun was too great, and as such he had no ability to move across the heavens. The other gods realized that a greater power was needed to move Tonatiuh across the sky. Another version of the myth is that Huitzilopochtli became the fifth sun in order to oppose his sister Coyolxauhqui, the moon goddess, and her army of Tzitzimimeh, star-demons intent on devouring the world and everything on it. Since Huitzilopochtli was the patron god of the Mexica ''and'' the Fifth Sun, the Mexica claimed superiority to the surrounding nations.

[[caption-width-right:350:[-Quetzalcoatl has been known to do cameos in [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIII various]] ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'' [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyXII games]]. He's cool like that. Credit to [[http://genzoman.deviantart.com/art/Quetzalcoatl-67109721 GENZOMAN]].-] ]]

[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/quetzalcoatl_by_genzoman.jpg http://genzoman.deviantart.com/art/Quetzalcoatl-67109721]]
[[caption-width-right:350:[-Quetzalcoatl has been known to do cameos in [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIII various]] ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'' [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyXII games]]. He's cool like that.-] ]]

[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/quetzalcoatl_by_genzoman.jpg [[http://genzoman.deviantart.com/art/Quetzalcoatl-67109721]] ]]

* TopGod: There's little consensus as to who actually ''rules'' the pantheon. Huitzilopochtli, as the Mexica's patron, usually gets this role, thanks to Spanish translations. Others place Tezcatlipoca as this role, others Tonatiuh. Usually it depends on who you're asking and which city-state they came from.

Mesoamerican culture, as a whole, is [[{{Mayincatec}} often poorly understood among the general populace]]. Part of it is the fact that the names of the gods are [[TheUnpronounceable long and hard to pronounce]][[note]]But see the notes for some quick-and-dirty help. Really, the names aren't so bad, once you get the hang of them--take it one syllable at a time, use Spanish phonemes, and remember that (as in Spanish) the accent usually falls on the penultimate syllable unless there's an accent mark, in which case the accent falls there instead.[[/note]]. Part of it is that it's a very complex and, [[BlueAndOrangeMorality to European sensibilities]], insane belief system. Indeed, the whole notion that deities are both good and bad and that all that is created is created as a duality is a very important aspect of pre-Colombian ideology, and something the conquistadors had a hard time wrapping their heads around (as do, to this day, [[{{Mayincatec}} several movie directors]]). Most importantly, however, it's the sacrifices. Their rich culture and mythological tradition is usually boiled down to "[[HumanSacrifice They'd sacrifice folks]]." And, yes, they did practice human sacrifice to a scale and creativity previously unseen by humanity. But this wasn't the only defining feature of the folklore, and, indeed, there was [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt a damn good reason for it]].

Then, a bunch of Spaniards came, following a couple of bad omens (such as a comet, Moctezuma's dream of white people mounted on deer, and the Temple of Huitzilopochtli catching fire). [[PropheticFallacy By extreme coincidence, this was around the time that Quetzalcoatl said he would return. Being that they arrived from the east, where Quetzalcoatl went in exile, and that Quetzalcoatl was often envisioned with a beard]], [[MistakenForGods Moctezuma was incredibly spooked]], and sent the Spaniards gold in hopes they would be satisfied and leave, rather than sending troops to outright kill him. This ambivalence, combined with the fact that the Mexica had a bad reputation among their conquered foes, allowed Cortez to amass an army of natives and enter Tenochtitlan as guests. [[{{Understatement}} Things went downhill for the Aztecs from there.]]

Then, a bunch of Spaniards came, following a couple of bad omens (such as a comet, Moctezuma's dream of white people mounted on deer, and the Temple of Huitzilopochtli catching fire). [[PropheticFallacy By extreme coincidence, this was around the time that Quetzalcoatl said he would return. Being that they arrived from the east, where Quetzalcoatl went in exile, and that Quetzalcoatl was often envisioned with a beard]], [[MistakenForGods Moctezuma was incredibly spooked]], and sent the Spaniards gold in hopes they would be satisfied and leave, rather than sending troops to outright kill him. This ambivalence, combined with the fact that the Mexica had a bad reputation among their conquered foes, allowed Cortez to amass an army of natives and enter Tenochtitlan as guests. Things went downhill for the Aztecs from there.

* CosmicHorrorStory: [[OlderThanFeudalism Arguably one of the earliest exemples]]. A pantheon with [[EldritchAbomination very weird gods]] [[BlueandOrangeMorality with bizarre sets of morality and behaviour]] ([[DidWeJustHaveTeawithCthulhu even the friendliest ones]]), that demands huge amounts of blood sacrifice (see below on HumanSacrifice), and if their needs aren't heeded, [[VetinariJobSecurity it will leave then too weak to perform their job to mantain the cosmos]], [[NiceJobBreakingItHero and too make matters worse]], it will also let [[AlwaysaBiggerFish even worse things]] [[ApocalypseHow to wreck havoc on earth and destroy humanity]]. In the end, [[BlackAndGrayMorality it's them or the]] [[HumanoidAbomination Tzitzimimeh]].

* HumanSacrifice: The Aztecs are infamous for this. Ripping out hearts of war prisoners on a massive scale was the standard fare. Ceremonies to bring rain required the deaths of crying children (and yes, they HAD to be crying). Harvest festivals involved sacrifice victims being flayed alive and their skins being worn by priests. The "Festival of New Fire" involved a couple being married, then thrown onto a giant bonfire. However, while rituals defenitely took a toll on the population (to the point that warfare was primarily based on acquiring victims), the overwhelming majority of sacrifices were simply bloodletting, to the point that some gods never had casualities in their name. Granted, when bloodletting includes piercing your ''genitalia'', you might start to wonder if it's better than death...

** The Night Axe, a wandering monster resembling a large headless corpse with its chest and belly slit open. Its wound would open and close periodically with a sound like an axe chopping wood. If you came across it while walking at night, you were supposed to approach it fearlessly and, timing it correctly, thrust your hand into the open wound and [[BeatSTillMyHeart tear out its heart]]. If you did this, it would grant you a wish. If you ran away, you would die miserably.

* RazorWings: A goddess called Itzpapalotl (the Flint Lock Butterfly, who was the ruler of the afterlife for sacrificed babies, among other things) could appear as a skeletal warrior goddess with butterly wings made out of obsidian knives.

When they first arrived in the Central Valley[[note]]also referred to as the Valley of Mexico[[/note]], a number of city-states had been established, and the Mexica wandered around, staying in each city-state earning their keep as mercenaries until they inevitably offended their hosts in some way. In one notable legend, the Mexica asked the ruler of the city-state of Culhuacan, who they were vassals of at the time, for one of his daughters. The king granted it thinking it was a political marriage he was accepting, but when he got invited to a festivity, which he thought was said marriage, he was met with the high priest of the Mexica wearing the flayed skin of his daughter; they had actually asked for her to be a sacrifice. Following this [[EpicFail incredible faux pas]], the Mexica were banished to a swampy area of Lake Texcoco[[note]](say):"tets-CO-co"[[/note]], [[ReassignmentBackfire with the belief that they'd starve there]]. According to Mexica myth, their patron god told them to [[StartMyOwn build a new city]] on a spot where they'll find [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything an eagle eating a serpent while perched on a prickly pear cactus]]. They saw this happen on top of a small island way out in the middle of the lake. Undaunted, they began to build the city of Cuauhmixtitlán[[note]] (say):"coo-wow-meesh-tee-TLAN"[[/note]], Place of the Eagle Between the Clouds, later renamed Tenochtitlán[[note]] (say):"ten-oach-tee-TLAN"[[/note]], the Place of the Prickly Pear Cactus (in honor to their first high priest Tenoch[[note]] (say):"ten-OACH"[[/note]]), and its twin city Tlatelolco[[note]] (say):"tlah-teh-LOL-co"[[/note]], Place of the Mound of Sand, home of the largest market in the Americas. And thus began the rise of the Mexica, forming later the Triple Alliance with neighboring city-states of Texcoco and Tlacopan, beginning what is now known as the Aztec Empire. Mexico City is there today.

* {{Badass}}:
** Huitzilopochtli.
** Tezcatlipoca fits this too.

* HerbivoresAreFriendly: Averted. Naguals had no particular bearing on how ferocious the deity attached to it was, as was shown by the nagual of Itzpapalotl, Queen of the [[HumanoidAbomination Tzitizimimeh]] and certified BadAss being ''a freaking '''deer.'''''

* DragonsAreDivine: The Aztec god Quetzalcoatl]] was often depicted as a feathered serpent, and more modern depictions describe him as akin to a dragon.

* CosmicHorrorStory: [[OlderThanFeudalism Arguably one of the earliest exemples]]. A pantheon with [[EldritchAbomination very weird gods]] [[BlueandOrangeMorality with bizarre sets of morality and behaviour]] ([[DidWeJustHaveTeawithCthulhu even the friendliest ones]]), that demands huge amounts of blood sacrifice (see below on HumanSacrifice), and if their needs aren't heeded, [[VetinariJobSecurity it will leave then too weak to perform their job to mantain the cosmos]], [[NiceJobBreakingItHero and too make matters worse]], it will also let [[AlwaysaBiggerFish even worse things]] [[ApocalypseHow to wreck havoc on earth and destroy humanity]]. In the end, [[BlackAndGrayMorality it's them or the]] [[EldritchAbomination Tzitzimimeh]].

* EldritchAbomination:
** The Tzitzimimeh, a group of skeleton women with [[{{Squick}} rattlesnake penises]]. Supposedly, during eclipses, the world was open for them to come down and start wreaking havoc. And there was only one way to prevent that. [[HumanSacrifice Go on, guess]].

* LightIsNotGood: Tzitzimimeh are the goddesses of the stars-the stars you can see during a solar eclipse were taken to be them attacking the sun.

* LovecraftLite: All things said and done, there's still a clear moral dichotomy between the gods and the monsters like Tzitzimimeh[[note]]Who, despite their desire to kill the sun during an eclipse, sill protect midwives and women in labor[[/note]], and between gods like Tezcatlipoca and Quetzalcoatl, though given [[BlueAndOrangeMorality how bizarre it is]], it's still very alien.

* LovecraftLite: All things said and done, there's still a clear moral dichotomy between the gods and the monsters like Tzitzimimeh, and between gods like Tezcatlipoca and Quetzalcoatl, though given [[BlueAndOrangeMorality how bizarre it is]], it's still very alien.

* TricksterArchetype: Tezcatlipoca (again), and Huehuecoyotl.

* BatOutOfHell: The leader of the Tzitzimimeh, Itzpapalotl was often associated with bats and depicted with bat wings.

* DarkActionGirl: Itzpapalotl, a goddess of war and leader of the Tzitzimimeh.

Now, there was the matter of who would be the fifth sun. The gods met on the city of Teotihuacán[[note]] (say):"teo-tee-wah-KAHN"[[/note]] to decide who would be TheChosenOne. Two gods volunteered to become the fifth sun. One was the poor, crippled '''Nanahuatzin'''[[note]](say):"nah-nah-WAT-seen"[[/note]], the other was the rich, beautiful '''Tecciztecatl'''[[note]] (say):"tek-see-steh-CAT-ull"[[/note]]. To become the sun, they would have to jump into a fire. Tecciztecatl tried several times, but hesitated each time. Nanahuatzin leapt in without fear and, wanting to save face, Tecciztecatl followed. The two became suns, but the gods decided that because Nanahuatzin showed greater bravery, Tecciztecatl's sun should be dimmer than his. The gods [[AbnormalAmmo threw a rabbit]] at Tecciztecatl to diminish his size and his light, turning him into the moon. Nanahuatzin became '''Tonatiuh'''[[note]] (say):"tow-nah-TEE-uh"[[/note]], the solar disk, but the strength of the sun was too great, and as such he had no ability to move across the heavens. The other gods realized that a greater power was needed to move Tonatiuh across the sky. Another version of the myth is that Huitzilopochtli became the fifth sun in order to oppose his sister Coyolxauhqui, the moon goddess, and her army of Tzitzimitl, star-demons intent on devouring the world and everything on it. Since Huitzilopochtli was the patron god of the Mexica ''and'' the Fifth Sun, the Mexica claimed superiority to the surrounding nations.

* CosmicHorrorStory: [[OlderThanFeudalism Arguably one of the earliest exemples]]. A pantheon with [[EldritchAbomination very weird gods]] [[BlueandOrangeMorality with bizarre sets of morality and behaviour]] ([[DidWeJustHaveTeawithCthulhu even the friendliest ones]]), that demands huge amounts of blood sacrifice (see below on HumanSacrifice), and if their needs aren't heeded, [[VetinariJobSecurity it will leave then too weak to perform their job to mantain the cosmos]], [[NiceJobBreakingItHero and too make matters worse]], it will also let [[AlwaysaBiggerFish even worse things]] [[ApocalypseHow to wreck havoc on earth and destroy humanity]]. In the end, [[BlackAndGrayMorality it's them or the]] [[EldritchAbomination Tzitzimitl]].

** The Tzitzimitl, a group of skeleton women with [[{{Squick}} rattlesnake penises]]. Supposedly, during eclipses, the world was open for them to come down and start wreaking havoc. And there was only one way to prevent that. [[HumanSacrifice Go on, guess]].

* LightIsNotGood: Tzitzimitl are the goddesses of the stars-the stars you can see during a solar eclipse were taken to be them attacking the sun.

* LovecraftLite: All things said and done, there's still a clear moral dichotomy between the gods and the monsters like Tzitzimitl, and between gods like Tezcatlipoca and Quetzalcoatl, though given [[BlueAndOrangeMorality how bizarre it is]], it's still very alien.

* NobleDemon: It's a ''very'' rare Aztec god that doesn't have entirely positive or negative traits. Even the Tzitzimitl are actually quite fond of their descendants, humans, and will fight to protect them from worse monsters.

* OneBadMother: Tzitzimitl. Not of monsters, no, they and their queen Itzpapalotl are the ''ancestors of humanity.'' And in all fairness, they were actually all very protective of mothers in general.

[[quoteright:215:[[http://genzoman.deviantart.com/art/Quetzalcoatl-67109721?moodonly=86 http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Quetzalcoatl_Returns_to_his_former_glory.jpg]]]]
[[caption-width-right:215:[-Quetzalcoatl has been known to do cameos in [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIII various]] ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'' [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyXII games]]. He's cool like that.-] ]]

* OurGodsAreGreater: Technically, the Aztecs didn't consider the gods "gods" the way Europeans did. Their word for it was "teotl," which indicated a powerful force of nature that did not necessarily have an AnthropomorphicPersonification. However, due to the similar nature and the fact that "teotl" sounds like "teolog" (close enough to "teologia", the Spanish word for "theology"), the word became "god."

* {{Mayincatec}}: [[CaptainObvious Averted.]]

* NativeAmericanMythology

And you thought ClassicalMythology was [[MindScrew trippy]]...

When they first arrived in the Central Valley[[note]]also referred to as the Valley of Mexico[[/note]], a number of city-states had been established, and the Mexica wandered around, staying in each city-state earning their keep as mercenaries until they inevitably offended their hosts in some way. In one notable legend, the Mexica asked the ruler of the city-state of Culhuacan, who they were vassals of at the time, for his daughter to be made a goddess which, unknown to the king, meant that she had to be sacrificed. Afterwards, the king was invited to a festivity where the high priest of the Mexica was wearing the flayed skin of his daughter. Following this [[EpicFail incredible faux pas]], the Mexica were banished to a swampy area of Lake Texcoco[[note]](say):"tets-CO-co"[[/note]], [[ReassignmentBackfire with the belief that they'd starve there]]. According to Mexica myth, their patron god told them to [[StartMyOwn build a new city]] on a spot where they'll find [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything an eagle eating a serpent while perched on a prickly pear cactus]]. They saw this happen on top of a small island way out in the middle of the lake. Undaunted, they began to build the city of Cuauhmixtitlán[[note]] (say):"coo-wow-meesh-tee-TLAN"[[/note]], Place of the Eagle Between the Clouds, later renamed Tenochtitlán[[note]] (say):"ten-oach-tee-TLAN"[[/note]], the Place of the Prickly Pear Cactus (in honor to their first high priest Tenoch[[note]] (say):"ten-OACH"[[/note]]), and its twin city Tlatelolco[[note]] (say):"tlah-teh-LOL-co"[[/note]], Place of the Mound of Sand, home of the largest market in the Americas. And thus began the rise of the Mexica, forming later the Triple Alliance with neighboring city-states of Texcoco and Tlacopan, beginning what is now known as the Aztec Empire. Mexico City is there today.