Aztec PantheonCreature
Itzpapalotl's Obsidian Host
- Obsidian Wings
- Star Terror
- Paradise Gate
Obsidian-butterfly warriors of the paradise Tamoanchan, beautiful, jagged, and lethal to the uninitiated.
About Itzpapalotl's Obsidian Host
Obsidian Butterflies of Tamoanchan
Itzpapalotl, the obsidian-butterfly, rules a host of tzitzimime linked to Tamoanchan. Codex Borgia and related ritual books show skeletal, clawed women with butterfly and knife attributes. The host is a war-band of tzitzimime, not a second biography of Itzpapalotl herself.
Tamoanchan and the fallen
Nahua sources place Itzpapalotl in Tamoanchan, the paradise from which some gods were cast down for breaking a prohibition, and among the tzitzimime who threaten the world at times of cosmic danger. In the Codex Borgia she presides over one of the trecenas (13-day periods) of the ritual calendar. The Chichimec migration accounts in the Anales de Cuauhtitlan give her a role in the early history of the northern peoples.
Quick answers about Itzpapalotl's Obsidian Host
- What is Itzpapalotl's Obsidian Host?
- Obsidian-butterfly warriors of the paradise Tamoanchan, beautiful, jagged, and lethal to the uninitiated.
- Where does Itzpapalotl's Obsidian Host live?
- The atlas lists Itzpapalotl's Obsidian Host's habitat as Tamoanchan.
- What abilities does Itzpapalotl's Obsidian Host have?
- The atlas lists these abilities for Itzpapalotl's Obsidian Host: Obsidian Wings, Star Terror, and Paradise Gate.
Sources and further reading
Source notes
These references are recorded in the catalog. Their passage wording and translation have not been checked, so quotations are not displayed here.
- Codex Borgia and related ritual books; Sahagún notices of Itzpapalotl
About this entry
By Elizabeth Stein for Mythos Atlas. About the author. Editorial notes are grounded in the site's cited sources and can be challenged through the contact page.
The danger rating is an editorial shorthand for how the myths portray the creature, not a claim made by the sources.
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