Xolotl

Xolotl killed the other gods as they gave themselves to bring the Fifth Sun into motion. In one telling, the gods sacrificed themselves so that humankind could be created. In another, they died to persuade the sun to resume its journey across the sky. When his own turn came, Xolotl refused to kill himself and fled from those who pursued him.

He changed himself into the maize plant called xolotl, but his pursuers found him. He then took the form of the agave mexolotl, yet they discovered him again. At last, he became an axolotl, the larval form of a salamander. He remained in the water until Ehecatl found him. Ehecatl killed him, and Xolotl was sacrificed. Some tellings said that they boiled him in a kettle. After his death, the sun began to move across the sky.

Xolotl’s empty eye sockets had another explanation. When the other gods died, he wept, and his eyes fell out. In another telling, Xolotl was Quetzalcoatl’s faithful canine companion. He helped Quetzalcoatl cross rivers and climb mountains during the dangerous journey through the stages of Mictlan. Quetzalcoatl needed to reach the underworld and recover the bones that would be used to create a new race of people. Xolotl helped him make his way through the underworld’s layers and towards Mictlantecuhtli, its bony ruler.

Some tellings equated Xolotl with Nanahuatl or Xipe Totec. Other tellings placed him beside Quetzalcoatl as a divine counterpart to the mortal dogs that accompanied people. His flight ended when Ehecatl found him in the water, killed him, and completed the sacrifice that set the sun on its course.