Tezcatlipoca

God of darkness, lord of the night, ruler of the north

Tezcatlipoca is one of the most important and complex deities in Aztec mythology. His name, which means “Smoking Mirror” in Nahuatl, reflects his association with obsidian, a volcanic glass used to make mirrors and knives. These mirrors were believed to be tools for divination and seeing into the future, and they also symbolized the smoke that rises from a fire, which was thought to carry prayers and offerings to the gods.

Tezcatlipoca is often depicted with a black stripe across his face, a smoking mirror on his chest or foot, and sometimes with a missing foot, which was said to have been sacrificed to defeat a primordial monster. He is associated with the night sky, the north, and the color black. Tezcatlipoca is usually depicted wearing elaborate and richly decorated attire, including a headdress made of flint knives, a war mask of a human skull, golden earrings, and other ornaments.

As a god of contrasts, Tezcatlipoca had many domains, including magic, divination, war, rulership, and the earth. He was also associated with both creation and destruction, as well as with conflict and change.

Tezcatlipoca is often depicted in a dualistic relationship with his brother Quetzalcoatl, the feathered serpent god. They were seen as opposing forces, with Tezcatlipoca representing the darker, more chaotic aspects of the world, while Quetzalcoatl represented light, order, and civilization. Their rivalry is a recurring theme in Aztec mythology, with stories describing their battles and the alternating periods of dominance in the cosmos.

Tezcatlipoca was one of the Aztec gods to whom human sacrifices were made. Captives taken in war were often sacrificed to him in elaborate ceremonies, reflecting his role as a god of conflict and power.

In some myths, Tezcatlipoca is associated with jaguars and is sometimes depicted as a jaguar or with jaguar attributes. The jaguar was a symbol of strength, stealth, and the night, all qualities that were attributed to Tezcatlipoca.

Tzitzimime

The legend of the tzitzimime says they were celestial demons or star deities associated with the darkness and the night sky. They were feared as malevolent beings that could descend to Earth during solar eclipses or at the end of a calendar cycle to devour humans. These beings were large, strong, and heavily muscled, and the Mesoamerican equivalent of the Scandinavian trolls.

Tezcatlipoca was a channeler with tzitzimime blood, making him particularly fearsome both in the waking world and the world of dreams. The site of his eventual death was just to the north east of Tenochtitlan in Santa María Regla, a site famous for its basalt column prisms lining a deep ravine where lore of the tzitzimime remains strong today.

Tōxcatl

The most important part of the Tōxcatl ritual was the sacrifice of a young man who had been impersonating Tezcatlipoca since the last Toxcatl festival, and the selection of a new man to take that role in the year to come.

The youth chosen to be the impersonator of Tezcatlipoca was normally a handsome, young war captive whose skin was without blemish. He was taught courtly speech, singing and to play the flute. Throughout the year he would parade in the streets of Tenochititlan and worshiped as if he was the god himself. His skin was painted black in the style of the god except for a ribbon across his eyes, he was dressed in precious jewelry and elaborate clothes.

In the last month, he would wed four beautiful maidens impersonating four goddesses and engage in carnal pleasure for twenty days. On the day of the main ceremony, he would ascend the largest pyramid where upon reaching the summit, priests would lay him on a sacrificial stone, open his chest with Tezcatlipoca’s obsidian dagger, and remove his heart. He was beheaded and his skull was placed on the skull rack, his body was flayed and his flesh was distributed among the nobles of the city and eaten. The war captive who was to be the next impersonator of Tezcatlipoca also took part in the flesh and probably also wore the skin of his predecessor.

Although channelers were long deceased, this festival and others like it, continued until the empire fell. Atharim priests who ventured to the “New World” saw to it that most all evidence of worship of the gods was destroyed.

The Norse Bargain

It was through the festival of Tōxcatl that Tezcatlipoca first encountered the Norse god Loki, who often masqueraded in various forms whilst following the rampaging travels of his exiled son Jörmungandr. How exactly Loki managed to sweet-talk his way out of the festival’s usual conclusion is unknown, but thereafter he became known amongst the Aztec people as the trickster god Huēhuecoyōtl.

Tezcatlipoca’s connection to the tzitzimime and Loiki’s knowledge of it later prompted Angrboda to travel there too, as it was believed to be key to a plot to aid their son Fenrir. The details of this bargain are unknown, but it resulted in an additional glyph atop the binding of gleipnir: the trollkors.

The Death of Quetzalcoatl

After following Quetzalcoatl to Mictlān one day, Tezcatlipoca was able to divine secrets which would finally bring about the downfall of his brother. Amidst details of a prophecy fated to bring about the end of the Age, he discovered that Quetzalcoatl was hiding a woman of extraordinary capability. Upon his return Tezcatlipoca drugged Quetzalcoatl, and while he was in a stupor, convinced him to visit the priestess and thus reveal her identity to him. Using her gift, he intended to command an army of tzitzimime for himself.

Aware of the cataclysmic outcome, when Quetzalcoatl realized what he had done, he entered the world of dreams in the flesh, aware that he would be ensnared by Tezcatlipoca’s mastery. He used this chance to rescue the priestess, sending her someplace where Tezcatlipoca could not follow, but in retribution, was prevented from ever returning to the waking world, and he died alone, trapped.

Enraged, Tezcatlipoca razed Quetazalcoatl’s temples to the ground, and viciously hunted down his priests and priestesses. He never found the woman he sought. As the balance continued to tip and chaos grew unchecked, the Atharim rebellions which had already claimed the mighty Greek pantheon began to gain a foothold, eventually leading to the Aztec downfall.

Rebirths

In the 1st Age he lived as the Rod of Dominion, Julian Monserre