Tezcatlipoca

Nationality/Culture

Aztec

Pronunciation

tehs-cah-tlee-POH-cah

Alternate Names

Titlacauan

Appears In

Aztec creation myths

Lineage

None

Character Overview

Tezcatlipoca was one of the most important gods of the Aztecs of central Mexico. His name, meaning Lord of the Smoking Mirror, refers to the mirrors made of obsidian, a shiny black stone that Aztec priests used in divination, or attempts to predict the future. Tezcatlipoca played many contradictory roles in Aztec mythology. Like other Aztec deities, he could be both helpful and destructive. As a god of the sun , he ripened the crops but could also send a burning drought that killed the plants. The protector of helpless people, such as orphans and slaves, he was also associated with royalty, and he gloried in war and human sacrifice. Another of Tezcatlipoca's roles was to punish sinners and cheats, even though he himself was often portrayed as untrustworthy.

Although associated with the sun, Tezcatlipoca was even more strongly linked with night and its dark mysteries, including dreams, sorcery, witches, and demons. Legend said that he roamed the earth each night in the form of a skeleton whose ribs opened like doors. If a person met Tezcatlipoca and was bold enough to reach through those doors and seize his heart, the god would promise riches and power in order to be released. He would not keep his promises, though.

Major Myths

As a trickster god, Tezcatlipoca delighted in overturning the order of things, causing conflict and confusion. Sometimes these disruptions could also be a source of creative energy and positive change. Tezcatlipoca's ultimate trick was one he played on his fellow god Quetzalcoatl (pronounced keht-sahl-koh-AHT-1). After introducing Quetzalcoatl to drunkenness and other vices, he used his mirror to show Quetzalcoatl how weak and degraded he had become. Quetzalcoatl fled the world in shame, leaving it to Tezcatlipoca. He did, however, promise to return at the end of a fifty-two-year cycle.

Indeed, the battles between Quetzalcoatl and Tezcatlipoca led to the creation and destruction of the five different worlds in Aztec mythology. In the first world, Tezcatlipoca created himself as the sun, but Quetzalcoatl defeated him, so he then transformed into a jaguar. Tezcatlipoca led other jaguars in the destruction of all people, which ended the world of the first sun. After that, Quetzalcoatl became the second sun, and ruled his people until Tezcatlipoca turned them all into monkeys for not respecting the gods. This fight between the two gods continued until the establishment of the world of the fifth sun, which is what exists today.

Tezcatlipoca in Context

Tezcatlipoca reflects the Aztec belief that change—especially change through conflict or disorder—is an essential part of life. Tezcatlipoca is an instrument of change throughout Aztec creation mythology, and while these changes are sometimes positive and sometimes negative, they ultimately reflect the progression of people to their current civilized state. Tezcatlipoca changes all the people into monkeys when they become complacent; this again reflects the importance, in the eyes of the Aztecs, of a human culture that always changes and progresses.

Key Themes and Symbols

Like many tricksters, Tezcadipoca was a symbol of disorder and mischief He often tried to interfere with the actions of the other gods, such as when he shamed Quetzalcoatl. One of the main themes running throughout the Aztec creation myths is the conflict between Tezcadipoca and Quetzalcoatl, and how this leads to the creation of each of the different worlds.

Tezcatlipoca in Art, Literature, and Everyday Life

Tezcatlipoca was often depicted with yellow and black stripes across his face, and with his right foot replaced by a snake or an obsidian mirror. Sometimes Tezcatlipoca was depicted in the form of a jaguar, a reference to the myth of the world of the first sun. In modern times, Tezcadipoca has appeared in the 2001 science fiction novel Smoking Mirror Blues by Ernest Hogan. The book tells the story of how a version of the god, created by computer programmers, becomes conscious and takes over the body of a human.

Read, Write, Think, Discuss

Using your library, the Internet, or other available resources, research the use of obsidian by Aztec and other early Central American tribes. Where did they get it? What was it used for? Why do you think it played a part in Aztec mythology?

SEE ALSO Aztec Mythology; Quetzalcoatl