History WesternAnimation / MayaAndTheThree

* AdultFear: The full circumstances of ''why'' [[spoiler:Maya]] was conceived in the first place and the resulting fallout absolutely reeks of this trope, and that's just the tip of the iceberg...

** Maya calling Zatz a "misbegotten son of a leprous dog" is very similar to [[WesternAnimation/TheBookOfLife La Muerte's furious insult to Xibalba.]]

* GodInHumanForm: [[spoiler:Lady Micte reveals she visited Maya each year on her birthday in disguise, most recently as the servant who helped her wash up in the first episode. Au Puch also is this, with her god form only revealed in the last episode.]]

* HugeGuyTinyGirl: A fairly common pairing in the series involves a hulking man and a slender woman. Besides King Teca and Queen Teca there's also Lord Mictlan and Lady Micthe, Cabrakan and Cipactli, Picchu and Chimi and [[spoiler:Chamazotz and his unnamed wife]].

* BirdVsSerpent: In the opening scene of the series, an eagle catches a snake and perches with it. This is an obvious reference to [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coat_of_arms_of_Mexico the Mexican coat of arms,]] [[spoiler: but it's also foreshadowing the very end of the series. In the climatic final battle, Lord Mictlan takes the form of a giant two-headed serpent, and Maya, Eagle Warrior and Great Eagle of the prophecy, clashes with him.]]

* ActionGirl: Let's see... There's Maya, Chimi, Queen Teca, Lady Micte, Skull and Bones, Cipactli, Xtabay, the Barbarian Princess... it would be easier to list who ISN'T part of this trope.

* CrossoverCosmology: [[DownplayedTrope Downplayed]] and not drawn attention to, but the pantheon of gods are a mixture of mostly Mayan and some Aztec deities.

** Bear Killah is clearly inspired by El Oso from Jorge Gutierrez's earlier work, possibly even an ancestor.

** Bone calling Maya's stuff "LAME!" is a nice call-back to Frida, especially with them sharing a voice actress.

** La Muerte, Xibalba, and the Candle Maker make a cameo in episode seven.

* AdultFear: The full circumstances of ''why'' [[spoiler: Maya]] was conceived in the first place and the resulting fallout absolutely reeks of this trope, and that's just the tip of the iceberg...
* AnnoyingArrows: Both King Teca (at the end of the first episode) and Camazotz, the god of bats, end up with a back riddled full of arrow. At least King Teca was incapacitated enough by them that he nearly died getting back home. Justified in the case of Camazotz because it had been established by then that the gods cannot be killed by mere human weapons, though they did seem to still wear him down.
* AnyoneCanDie: As early as the ''first episode'' the series sets the tone where none of the characters are necessarily safe where her dad gets maimed and loses a hand while in the second Maya's brothers get killed. This ends up being a tone that continues for the rest of the series. [[spoiler: Picchu]] dies in the 7th episode making them a SacrificialLion and by the final episode [[spoiler: Maya's parents, Rico, Chimi, and Chiapa are the only main characters to actually live to the end.]]
* ApologeticAttacker: Maya during her introductory fight with Bear Killah. She's a huge fan of his and feels bad about knocking out his tooth. Comes back when [[spoiler: Lord Mictlan brainwashes Rico, Chimi, and Picchu. Maya doesn't hesitate to fight her friends, but she does keep letting them know she's sorry.]]

* AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence: [[spoiler: As both Maya and Zats were Semi-Devine beings when they died they end up getting reincarnated as the gods of the Sun and Moon respectively.]]

* BabiesEverAfter: After the loss they suffered in the first episode, Maya's parents get twins in the final episode. The epilogue shows that [[spoiler: Rico and Chimi]] also had a whole brood of children.

** During an argument with her mother in the first episode, Maya tells her that she wishes she wasn’t her mother, but regrets it almost immediately after she says it. [[spoiler:Maya then learns when Zatz crashes her coronation that Queen Teca ''isn’t'' her mother at all. Lady Micte is.]]
** She also bemoans the fact that she isn't a prophesied warrior like her brother and thus doesn't get to go on exciting adventures. It quickly turns out that their interpretation of the prophecy was wrong, she ''is'' a central figure, and saving the entire world falls on her shoulders. Her adventure is hard and dangerous [[spoiler:and ends up killing almost everyone she knows, herself included.]]
* BecauseYouWereNiceToMe: [[spoiler: Cipactli, the Goddess of Gators and Cabrakan, the God of Earthquakes]] join the final battle against Mictlan on Maya's side, because Maya saved their marriage (with the help of the God of Counceling).
** Earlier than that Cipactli helped Maya in finding the jungle kingdom after she came back to help her.

* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler: By the end of the series Lord Mictlan and his pantheon of evil gods have been slain for good, plus the relationship between the four kingdoms are now stronger than ever and [[BabiesEverAfter six new blessings]] have been bestowed between the king and queen and the newly coupled Rico and Chimi. However, the full body count is absolutely ''massive'' and includes [[TheHeroDies none other than Maya herself.]] Even if Maya got to die [[HeroicSacrifice on her own terms]] and [[TogetherInDeath became The Sun to Zatz's Moon,]] Lord Mictlan still managed to achieve a smaller but no-less unfortunate victory.]]

* BloodlessCarnage: ''A lot'' of death occurs during the series, but due to the TV-Y7 rating no blood is ever on the dead bodies shown and the gorier action takes place offscreen. In the case of gods, SymbolicBlood is in play as their bodies melt into a metal-like liquid.

* CatchAndReturn: When Sheild throws his shield at Zatz, Zatz simply catches it and throws it back at the three Jaguar Brothers.

* CoolPet: Maya has Chiapa, a jaguar with black fur and gold spots as her mount.

* DeadGuyJunior: A variant when it comes to [[spoiler: the royal twins born during the final battle, being named Jaguar and Eagle in honor of their slain siblings.]]
* DeathByChildbirth: In "The Skull", it’s revealed that Chimi’s mother died shortly after her birth. This, coupled with the fact that she’s albino, made her village believe that she was cursed, so she was abandoned in the jungle.

* DemBones: Mictlan summons a skeleton army. And to make them extra villainous, their armor is styled after conquistadors.

* EmpathicWeapon: Well Empathic staff, Estaban proves to be this, usually communicating via hand gestures.

* EyeScream: Mictlan seem to be a fan of this trope as he took one of Zatz’s when he was a toddler and took out all the eyes of the God of Jungle Animals.

* {{Foreshadowing}}: Rico tells Maya that there is a word for people who do heroic things: "Dead". [[spoiler:In the final battle, Maya ends up pulling a HeroicSacrifice]].
** When Maya sneaked off to to the fighting match Queen Teca called her "your daughter" to her husband. [[spoiler:A short time later it'd be revealed Queen Teca is not Maya's blood mother.]]

* GagNose: A signature for Jorge Gutiérrez art-style, but the award goes to the Grand Bruja, whose schnozz is almost bigger than her head!
* {{Golem}}: Mostly used by the bad guys side but Rico was able to create a few of his own during the final battle.

* TheHeroDies: [[spoiler:Maya performs a HeroicSacrifice to defeat Lord Mictlan. As one of the "3", Picchu also performs a HeroicSacrifice and dies while buying time for his friends to escape the underworld.]]
* HugeGuyTinyGirl: A fairly common pairing in the series involve a hulking man and a slender woman. Besides King Teca and Queen Teca there's also Lord Mictlan and Lady Micthe, Cabrakan and Cipactli, Picchu and Chimi and [[spoiler:Chamazots and his unnamed wife]].

* IKnowYoureInThereSomewhereFight: When Lord Mictlan brainwashes [[spoiler: Rico, Chimi, and Picchu.]] Ultimately, Maya focuses on [[spoiler:Rico]] and successfully breaks their trance [[spoiler:and he then uses magic to free the others.]]
* ImmortalBreaker: Due to Maya's unique heritage. She is capable of killing gods even though she's half mortal.

* AMinorKidroduction: Rico and Chimi in the cold open flashbacks of "The Rooster" and "The Skull" respectively.

** Rico lost control of his power as a child and accidently killed the Grand Brujo.
** Chimi's mother succumbed to DeathByChildbirth and she later angered the Jungle King, who killed her surrogate animal family in an attempt to kill her.

* OneWingedAngel: [[spoiler:Lord Mictlan]] in the final battle. When the tide starts turning against him, [[spoiler:he kills his allies and consumes their hearts to increase his power. He first melts into a pool of molten gold, then emerges as a gigantic double-headed snake that breathes green fire.]]

* ProphecyTwist: The story centers around a prophecy about defeating a great darkness. The initial reading of the prophecy (An Eagle and three Jaguars) is outright wrong. The ''true'' prophecy is revealed to be a Little Eagle, a Magic Rooster, a Skull Archer, and a Puma Warrior. Maya believes herself to be the Eagle and assumes the other figures will be a representative of Luna Island, the Jungle Kingdom, and the Barbarian tribe. [[spoiler:It turns out that the prophecy refers to the kingdoms ''themselves'' uniting to face Lord Mictlan. While Maya, Rico, Chimi, and Picchu were important, it was ultimately in how they brought their kingdoms together, not their actual battle.]]
* ProudWarriorRace: The Barbarians. They love fighting and consider a death in combat to be the most honorable way to go. But they're not bloodthirsty and recognize the importance of fighting honorably, showing mercy, and not starting fights they can't win.

* RedEyesTakeWarning: Quite a few natural ones (with a few of them being subversion), and one mind control variant as seen when Lord Mictan took control of Maya companions.
* RuleOfThree: In "The Skull", Maya asks the Widow Queen for the help of her greatest warrior. She tells her that the greatest warrior is El Monstruo Blanco, who lives as a recluse in the jungle thanks to the previous king, and that she had tried to invite her back after the old king died. She sent warriors to look for her, but "she made it very clear that they were not welcome." The camera then zooms in on three consecutive guards. The first has a golden eyepatch, the second has a golden hook for a hand, the third has a golden hook ... for a head.

* ScrewDestiny: Zigzagged all over the place. The best explanation to be is the film tagline "If it's to be, It's up to me".

* SenselessSacrifice: Lord Mictlan accuses [[spoiler: Picchu]] of this, saying it will only take until the new moon to [[spoiler: rebuild the Divine Gate]]. Subverted, however, as [[spoiler: Picchu immediately points out that he still gave them time, which is what allows the heroes to regroup, bring all the tribes together, fullfill the actual prophecy and, in the end, causes the death of Lord Mictlan himself.]]
* SexyDiscretionShot: Yep, but done tastefully for a TV-Y7 rating. [[spoiler:King Teca and a human-disguised Lady Micte [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything spar passionately with each other,]] and when they are completely alone she removes her disguise. They move towards each other...and the screen abruptly changes to black with a text reading "9 Months Later" with Lady Micte holding the infant Maya.]]

** While fighting, Hura shouts, "God [[WonderTwinPowers twin powers, activate!]]"

** La Muerte, Xibalba, and the Candle Maker makes a cameo in episode 7.
** Bear Killah is clearly inspired by El Oso from Jorge Gutierrez earlier work, possibly even an ancestor.
** The ''original'' El Tigre also makes a quick appearance at the very beginning.

* StayInTheKitchen: A few of the spectators at the fighting match try to heckle Maya into leaving by claiming it's "no place for a girl". Maya immediately shuts this down by upper cutting her gigantic opponent and everyone cheers for her. In a smaller vein, Queen Teca also tries to steer Maya solely into the position of a diplomat, even tearing Maya's wrestling mask in front of her, while being perfectly fine with her sons being warriors.
** [[SubvertedTrope In the final battle, all Teca's troops are women,]] ''but'' [[DoubleSubversion this is only because they weren't included in the earlier attack, where all the men were killed.]] The women are only fighting because they're the only ones ''left'' who can fight. When given the option of male, female, or mixed troops, Teca only chooses men.
* TemptingFate: Rico has a habit of this, which is called out by the other characters. He does twice in a row in the final battle.

* TroubledBackstoryFlashback: The chapters introducing Rico, Chimi and Picchu all start with a cold open flashback of what they consider [[MyGreatestFailure their greatest failure]]. For all three of them, this resulted in [[spoiler: the death of their parents or a ParentalSubstitute]].
* UntoUsASonAndDaughterAreBorn: [[spoiler: Happens to King and Queen Teca as she gives birth to Jaguar (son) and Eagle (daughter) during the final battle. It also happens to Rico and Chimi, her giving birth to ''quadruplets'' that consists of two boys and two girls.]]

* WhatWereYouThinking: During the flashback at the start of episode 7, this is the first thing Lord Mictlan asks Lady Micte upon discovering that [[spoiler:she conceived a child with a human]].

** During their fight in "the Prophecy", Acat uses her snake tattoos as weapons and launches them at Maya, who mutters “I hate snakes.” She says so again with more emphasis later on when Acat starts using her snake tattoos as arrows.
** Rico mentions that he hates goats because goats ate his clothes when he was a young orphan boy. In episode 6, he has to fight Chivo, God of Dark Magic, who is goat-based, much to his dislike.
* YouNoTakeCandle: Most barbarian talk like this, something even their king lampshades but points out that doesn't make them stupid.
** Maya tries talking to Picchu like this when recruiting him for the prophesy. He's...not impressed.
* WomanScorned: Downplayed compared to many examples. Queen Teca eventually forgave her husband for his betrayal and is very much in love with him, but she does admit to stabbing him when she found out. [[spoiler: She also doesn't hold a grudge against Lady Micte, and not just because she's a goddess]].

* EvilAlbino: The Jungle Kingdom believes albinos are a curse, not helped by Chimi's mother's DeathByChildbirth, and abandon her to the jungle. Chimi averts this as, while she considers the Jungle Kingdom her enemies, it's only because they've been the ones antagonizing her and she's willing to give humanity at large a chance.

* GagNose: A signature for Jorge Gutiérrez art-style, but the award goes to the Grand Bruja.

In the Mesoamerican-inspired kingdom of Teca, the young Princess Maya (Creator/ZoeSaldana) yearns to be an Eagle Warrior like her mother. However, when vengeful gods threaten all of humanity, Maya journeys to the find the three prophesied warriors who can save the kingdom.

* ChekhovsGun: In the first episode, Maya's brothers give her a golden pearl, the Pirate Queen's earring, and an exotic bird as birthday gifts. When Maya returns to Teca and has to battle the Gods of Thieves, [[spoiler:the bird aids her as a distraction, and she uses Chimi's bowstring to turn the pearl and earing into a bolo.]]

** Barbarians are a lesser examples as while they do love battle. They also recognize that an empowered god of war would be bad for everyone.