Haudenosaunee TraditionHero
Tadodaho
Also known as Thadodaho, Atotarho, Adodarhoh
The feared Onondaga leader, described with snakes in his hair and a twisted body, who resisted the Great Peace until the Peacemaker and Hiawatha straightened his mind; he became the Confederacy's Firekeeper, and his title is still held today.
About Tadodaho
The most feared man
Every public Haudenosaunee account of the founding of the Great Law includes Tadodaho, an Onondaga leader so feared that people fled from him. The Onondaga Nation and the Haudenosaunee Confederacy describe him as having snakes in his hair and a twisted body, images of a twisted mind, and Parker's 1916 legend makes him responsible for the deaths of Hiawatha's daughters.
Straightened
The Peacemaker and Hiawatha go to him with the message of peace and the support of the other nations. They comb the snakes from his hair and straighten his mind and body, and he accepts the Great Law. Because the council would meet at Onondaga, he is given the role of Firekeeper, the chief who keeps the council fire of the Confederacy.
A living title
Tadodaho is also a title: the chief who holds it today serves as the Confederacy's presiding Firekeeper at Onondaga. The story is therefore not only about one man's transformation but about the origin of an office that still exists.
On parentage: A mortal Onondaga leader.
Key deeds
- Opposed the Great Peace and was feared across the nations
- Had his mind and body straightened by the Peacemaker and Hiawatha
- Accepted the Great Law and became the Confederacy's Firekeeper at Onondaga
Fate
Transformed and made Firekeeper of the Confederacy; the title Tadodaho is held by the presiding chief at Onondaga to this day.
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.
- Onondaga Nation, "History" (onondaganation.org)
- Arthur C. Parker, The Constitution of the Five Nations, or The Iroquois Book of the Great Law ("The Dekanawida Legend")
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.
Hero legends were retold for centuries, and the sources often disagree on parentage, deeds and death. This entry follows the best-known versions and notes the main alternatives.