The Myth of Quetzalcoatl (Patreon)

Hello! I got asked about Quetzalcoatl, so I'm going to make a post about it. Some warnings though. 1. The figure of Quetzalcoatl wasn't created by Aztecs. Aztecs were the last big civilization before the Spanish arrived, so many other empires had risen and fallen before them. Myths were transferred, shared, and evolved from one to another. You can even argue that Quetzalcoatl is similar to a Chinese Dragon, so the idea of a flying reptile is very human on its own.

2. When Spanish conquered the land, they ended up destroying tooooons of temples, decorations and statues because they were considered blasphemous. Most Middle America hadn't developed yet an Alphabet or paper, so writing was pictographs only. As a ton of it was lost, our only hope are what friars documented with the difficulties of not knowing the language, some oral transmission, and what has been found with modern studies. All of these make stories confusing to follow as every time an expert talks about it, for the common reader is hard to compare all the historic sources and fact-check every single line in a book. You might end up telling the story that you heard at school and that "makes sense" even if by today it is mistaken. 3. Stories from ancient civilizations weren't proper stories. As an example, ancient Chinese stories don't describe a lot because it is more like "Come on, bro. The Jade Emperor. Why do you need me to tell you where he came from? He's just there! Anyway, here's the story about the horse of the emperor". So you end up reading stories where divine beings or monsters just appear and leave like it was their regular Tuesday. Heck, even the term "deus ex machina" comes from Greek stories moving forward just because a god would come to help out of nowhere and nothing more. 4. Tons of these stories were also trying to explain the physical and metaphysical plains at the same time. Sometimes "Sea" will be the sea, sometimes it will be all water known. Sometimes "400" doesn't mean 4 hundreds, but "a lot more than you can count". And in Aztec vision, they also served as a moral compass. As an example totally fake it would be like "And then the Mountain God turned into stone. That's why we don't tell lies!". Does it make sense? Not completely but it was how the common folk learned and where rites originated from. 5. Finally, Aztecs had a huge empire but they weren't all what Mexico is nowadays. So, myths didn't align. It is like trying to learn about Superman at a comic book convention. Some things are common, some will start clashing, and some will end up being total nonsense. You just have to accept it is all possible.

So, with all these warning I'll tell you the version of the story I like the most. Is it the right one? Probably not, but it is the one that has a more cohesive narrative. Others will be a nightmare to explain and they would require for me to talk about other 10 myths at the same time. So, her it goes!

The Myth of Creation

It was said that at some point the God Above All (it has a name but it is hard to pronounce) came down to earth with his wife and created his four sons. Then he told them "Your mission is to create life" and went back to Heaven.From these four sons, we'll focus on two of them. Quetzalcoatl and Tezcatlipoca (Tez for short).Quetzalcoatl and Tez decided that the first thing was to create the Land. Here's where I say things were confusing like I warned earlier. If there was no Land, where the heck where they before? Where they floating? In my opinion, "The Land" meant the fertile land, full of life, minerals and wonders.The two gods realize that there is a huge monster living in the ocean. A monster that attempts against any life form because its hunger turns it into a killing machine. The gods decide to hunt and kill it, but first they need a bait. Tez decides to chop his own foot and throws it to the ocean. The fresh meat and blood from a god is too tempting for the monster, falling for it. Quetzalcoatl and Tez take their chance and attack the colossal creature (think of a Kaijuu).

After a long fight, they come victorious and spread the chopped monster onto The Land, giving it life and the perfect place for civilization.

Then, minor Gods were created as well and now they only needed the humans. Their father had given them Precious Bones, capable of giving life and so they began.

First Sun

"Suns" refers to Eras of humanity before calamity ended them. "Suns" will also be gods that will be guiding humanity and bringing life. Finally, this is where my version changes the most because the popular one had Eras ending for no logical reason. Like one ends with Quetzalcoatl making fire rain. Why? Metaphor I guess.

The Four Sons managed to convince the Calm Waters Goddess to become the first Sun, and so she ascended to the sky. The first humans they created were really small and gods couldn't manage them. They'd ran loose doing whatever but adoration or civilization. So the Calm Water Goddess got angry and turned them all into fishes.

Second Sun

The Second Sun was the Jaguar God. This time, they made humans huge and tall. But they ended up being clumsy, slow and a bit dumb. They crashed against each other, breaking and turning into mountains, forests and valleys.

Third Sun

The Third Sun was the Wind God. Now they learned and give humans a proper size, but they ended up making mankind way too perfect. They'd do nothing but look at themselves and nothing else. The Sun ended with all of them turning into monkeys.

Fourth Sun

At this point, they said "Okay, let's give them a heart to make them feel" but they messed up once more, and the heart was too big. It was a human so kind that wouldn't move to avoid hurting anyone or anything.

The Rain God Sun turned them into turkeys.

Fifth Sun

At this point, the Gods had given up and decided that the best thing they could do was hide the Bones in the underworld to avoid more failures and plan how to tell their father they had failed.

But Quetzalcoatl wouldn't let their mission fail. He went into the Underworld, walking through all kind of hardships all the way to the Underworld Lord Throne (Mictlantecuhtli) and asked him to give back the bones. The Lord knew he couldn't give them back or he'd be in trouble, but Quetzalcoatl wouldn't just take no for an answer. So, Lord decided to put Quetzalcoatl onto a trial. He gave him a conch without holes and said "Well, Quetzalcoatl. Make this conch produce sound and I'll give you the bones" But little did Lord know that Quetzalcoatl asked for insects help. Some works quickly ran to him and made holes on the conch and a bunch of bees entered to make a beautiful humming sound. Defeated, Lord gave him the Bones but decided that he wouldn't let him go that easy. He makes his servants build a trap. A deep hole. When Quetzalcoatl is about to leave, he falls to his death and the Bones are broken. Being a god, however, he is reborn and eventually goes to pick the Bones up. He is angry but there is no time for sorrow. He runs back to make his final attempt. Quetzalcoatl makes his penis bleed, mixes the broken Bones with his blood and corn and creates us modern humans. And that is why we are so different from one to another. Because the Bones broke so we're a mix of everything. And it also speaks on why this "Humanity" was a success. Not because it was created to serve, but because it was created from the sacrifice and blood of a loving God.

The Fifth Sun had arrived.

Quetzalcoatl, The King.

This is another confusing part. From this point on, humanity kinda went on its own. And myths clash. There is Quetzalcoatl God of Creation mixed with Quetzalcoatl The King and an actual Emperor named Quetzalcoatl that only had a similar name in case I remember correctly.

Quetzalcoatl himself was the ruler of Tulah. But Tulah in modern Mexico isn't placed where this theoretic Tulah is described to be. Where was it then? Only he knows. It is said that one day Quetzalcoatl looked down on Tulah and saw them performing a human sacrifice. He came down from the heavens and stopped the ritual. Quetzalcoatl decided to be their king to guide and help them. He gave them knowledge, corn and prohibited human sacrifice. It is said that Tulah was a prosperous land under his guidance and everything was going perfectly fine.

But Tez (he's back) and other gods were furious, as they wanted those sacrifices to be done. So, they came up with a plan.

Quetzalcoatl loved his kingdom and his people, but he had aged with them. At this point he was an old man, with pain, boredom and sickness. In one of his walks, Tez disguised himself as an old man and offered Quetzalcoatl some company and a cup of "pulque" (traditional alcoholic beverage. Like what sake was for Japanese)Quetzalcoatl accepted it, as human pulque was nothing for him. But Tez created one made specially for Gods. When Quetzalcoatl lips touched the beverage, he couldn't resist and drank more and more till he was energetic again but so drunk.He had a destructive rampage on the city, and he broke his celibacy. I've heard versions where it was with a particular priestess, others with his "Goddess Sisters", and some with just women at the temple.

When he woke up, he didn't recognize himself or what he had said or done. He felt he let everyone down. It is said that he climbed up to a mountain, looked down on his destroyed city (they never address how bad it was. I think he didn't kill anyone. It had never been addressed) and cried till the next morning.

Quetzalcoatl told his people he was sorry, and that he was undeserving of continue being their king. So, he took a boat and walk to the East shore. He started rowing disappearing into the horizon, not without promising that one day he'd be back. And that was the last time he was seen.

Debunking a Myth

For the longest time, this legend was used as a "Aha! I found it!" because the East coast was where Spanish came from.

Even so, Quetzalcoatl was described as an European (the blonde part is in debate but I prefer it because makes him stand out more) so wouldn't it make sense for Aztecs to had received Spanish conquerors as Gods? Well, no. First, Aztecs were not technologically advanced. But they weren't dumb. It is like saying Vikings would see any French guy and say "OMG it is Odin!". Not just that but Aztecs had spies and messengers all over their land. They knew more land existed (like by logic. They hadn't started navigation yet so it was only logical that as their empire extended, they'd found more people and stuff. They just weren't aware how big the actual world is or what a continent was) and from the first moment Spanish touched land, there were already messengers telling Aztecs they were people. Another reason why this Myth persisted was because ancient cultures didn't value gold as much as Europeans did because they weren't there yet. It was a cool metal, really pretty but not that useful. Aztecs, Mayans and so on got theirs by trading, not mining. So they used to be good guests to make trades, instead of starting an assault right away.War for Middle-American cultures wasn't always an option. They preferred trading and expansion. Most tribes even saw Aztecs as barbaric because they were more into the War stuff. Spanish people were often received with gold gifts, food, music and some say that with incense (due to their smell, or just a ritual). So, what did they think? "They think we're superior! They treat us so well"And that only grew more when tribes oppressed by the Aztecs wanted to gain Spanish favor to go fight against the Empire. So, no. Aztecs didn't think Spanish were Quetzalcoatl. They might have, for a second or two, but not much more. And that's it! Hope you like it