To Everna and Beyond!
The official blog and novelblog for Evernade Saga and FireHeart Saga by Andry Chang
"Come forth, Paladins! Fulfill your destiny!"
Explore Worlds in Clicks
Saturday, February 23, 2008
Record of Lodoss War - Episode 1
Episode 1, Part 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=njnTDF0VARU
Episode 1, Part 2
This is one of the anime series that inspired me heavily. A classic, worth collecting (Got the whole series in DVD, though)
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
Saint Seiya - Poseidon - Episode 3, 4, 5
Episode 04
Episode 05
Sunday, February 17, 2008
Saint Seiya - Poseidon Chapter - Episode 1 and 2
Episode 02
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Play the Runemarks Ask the Whisperer Game!
NEW FOR FEBUARY!
This month we have the latest from the bestselling author of Chocolat,
free sample chapters, and China Mieville's bestselling novel - now in
paperback!
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UN LUN DUN
by China Mieville
$9.00
It is London through the looking glass, an urban Wonderland of strange
delights where all the lost and broken things of London end up . . .
and some of its lost and broken people, too–including Brokkenbroll,
boss of the broken umbrellas; Obaday Fing, a tailor whose head is an
enormous pin-cushion, and an empty milk carton called Curdle. Un Lun
Dun is a place where words are alive, a jungle lurks behind the door
of an ordinary house, carnivorous giraffes stalk the streets, and a
dark cloud dreams of burning the world. It is a city awaiting its
hero, whose coming was prophesied long ago, set down for all time in
the pages of a talking book.
READ A SAMPLE CHAPTER
http://www.randomhouse.com/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9780345458445&view=excerpt
VISIT WWW.UNLUNDUN.COM
http://www.unlundun.com
BUY THIS BOOK
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RUNEMARKS
by Joanne Harris $18.99
Seven o'clock on a Monday morning, five hundred years after the end of
the world, and goblins had been at the cellar again. . . Not that
anyone would admit it was goblins. In Maddy Smith's world, order
rules. Chaos, old gods, fairies, goblins, magic, glamours–all of these
were supposedly vanquished centuries ago.
READ A SAMPLE CHAPTER
http://www.randomhouse.com/teens/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9780375844447&view=excerpt
PLAY THE ASK THE WHISPERER GAME!
http://www.randomhouse.com/kids/runemarks/whisperer.html
WATCH THE RUNEMARKS BOOK TRAILER AT RUNEMARKSBOOK.COM!
http://www.runemarksbook.com
BUY THE BOOK
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DREAMRIDER
by Barry Jonsberg $15.99
Michael Terny is at his seventh school in four years and he knows that
whatever he does, he will be ridiculed and pushed around. Michael is
the fat kid. But Michael is also a lucid dreamer–in his dream world he
can recognize when he is dreaming and make the dream unfold exactly as
he wants. Here he is safe and completely in control. Safe that is,
until he finds the
dream world and real world colliding . . . and a passage between the
two promises more power than he has ever imagined.
READ A SAMPLE CHAPTER
http://www.randomhouse.com/teens/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9780375844577&view=excerpt
BUY THE BOOK
http://www.randomhouse.com/teens/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9780375844577
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THE FORESHADOWING
by Marcus Sedgwick $6.50
It is 1915 and the First World War has only just begun.
17-year-old Sasha is a well-to-do, sheltered-English girl. Just as her
brother Thomas longs to be a doctor, she wants to be a nurse, yet
girls of
her class don't do that kind of work. But as the war begins and the
hospitals fill with young soldiers, she gets a chance to help. But
working in the hospital confirms what Sasha has suspected--she can see
when someone is going to die. Her premonitions show her the brutal
horrors on the battlefields of the Somme, and the faces of the
soldiers who will die. And one of them is her brother Thomas.
BUY THE BOOK
http://www.randomhouse.com/teens/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9780553487855
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Friday, February 08, 2008
3.2.12.4. Survival of the Swiftest - Part Five
Unexpectedly, Kyflynn kicks MacLair's hand! The dagger with cursed blood is thrown straight into the sky.
MacLair grunts and delivers the second stab with his other dagger, and the dagger goes into Kyflynn's left stomach near his waist!
'Finally, you let your guard down. See you in hell, Windwalker.'
'No, see YOU,' says Kyflynn. He clutches and pulls MacLair's outstretched left hand, then elbows Mac's face, making him groggy. Using this momentum, Flynn quickly twists Mac's hand, grapples the free hand and feet and raises him high from the ground, stretching him from a lie-down position.
MacLair is now like a rat in a trap. Panicked. Desperate to break free. Too late! The next second he sees his own dagger – the bloody one – coming down, much faster than up.
'NOOOOOOOOO!!!!'
MacLair screams in terror, but how can he escape if he can't move a muscle? The Ultimatum ultimately finds home in its master's chest. The Rogue Assassin's face goes blank. A jerk, then he moves no more. A sigh, and he breathes no more.
One more villain bites the dust. The cursed blood has had its vengeance, says Kyflynn in his mind. He has lowered his guard a bit, sprang the trap and reaped victory from it. However, it's the victory he must pay dearly. The dagger on his stomach and the loss of blood make his sight go blurry. Then, his head go dizzy. His body is failing him. As he mutters 'Help!' Kyflynn collapses, unconscious.
Seeing their leader fallen, the dark elves scatter and run away. Although there are still sixty of them and in upper hand, they leave their enemies all wounded, with Desmond and Agustina bearing the heaviest.
All can guess the result now, and rush to the duel site. There, they see MacLair lay lifeless with his own dagger sticking into his chest.
Andreas Marvellini sighs, saying, 'What a terrible end for such a talented man. What a waste, he went to the dark side.'
'Father Andreas, Kyflynn needs your help here,' Chris calls.
Andreas rushes to Kyflynn's side and, after checking his pulse, his wound and confirming that the elf is alive, the dwarf priest takes the dagger out slowly while putting one hand on the bleeding wound, muttering, 'Viavitali!'
Iris is tending to Robert, Chris and Carol. Rael'charon is tending to Desmond and Agustina, all with healing potions and salves administered carefully like hunters do. Rael confiscates the twin daggers Ultimatum and covers them with MacLair's ragged scarf for investigative purposes. They dig a hole, bury MacLair in there, place several stone slabs as the grave marker. Iris also puts some enchantments on the ground and the stone slabs so no one will be able to remove the slabs and dig the grave which soil is now as solid as iron.
After half an hour of treatment, to all's relief, Kyflynn's life is saved. However, he is still very weak from loss of blood. The big guy Desmond carries him on his back towards the exit of the Wyrmspine Pass.
MacLair... Kyflynn glances towards his enemy's grave. You talked about the Assassin's Code all the time, but there is another code higher and nearer to the truth. A code that says: 'He who live by the sword shall die by the sword.'
3.2.12.4. Survival of the Swiftest - Part Four
Being in pain, MacLair leaps away to the nearest wall and takes off again from there. This time he stabs forward. Just as Kyflynn deflects it, another blow comes. It's Spirit Corruption, a concentrated blow that hits Kyflynn's forehead. Kyflynn's eyes go blank. Something is going on inside his mind.
Actually, the Windwalker is reliving his worst memories: His father was murdered by a night she-elf he loved, then he killed his beloved for revenge, thus resulting to his banishment. He sees his father's face, his love's, the people he killed, shouting curses at him.
Clouded with that thought, Kyflynn falls to the ground. He holds his head and drops his daggers. Looks like he's in agony, tortured by his own memory.
Seeing Kyflynn off-guard, MacLair stares from above like a vulture eyeing its prey, and he dives! He's about to backstab Kyflynn with the blackened-bloodstained dagger.
When the dagger tip is about less than two inches away from Kyflynn's eye, suddenly the elf vanishes! MacLair is shocked. He quickly does a back flip to prevent Flynn from backstabbing him, but midway, as he looks up, Kyflynn's kick lands on his face! Now it's MacLair's turn to kiss the ground.
The Rogue Assassin gets up, and as Kyflynn is about to land another stab, he raises his ands and shouts, 'STOP!' The Windwalker withdraws his attack but he stands on a distance in full alert, anticipating any more of MacLair's dirty tricks.
'I don't get it. How... How did you free yourself from Spirit Corruption?' says MacLair.
The elf replies, 'Because I've left my past behind and forgiven myself for my misdeed. Now I live to redeem this impalpable debt by protecting, not destroying. I'm free. Free from my past. Free from the curse of the Assassin's Code.'
'No, you're not. Because the past is haunting you. The Code is hunting you. And I brought them along to hunt you down. And now that you're hindering it, I'll make you die the hard way.'
'Good. Let's go frontal. My best against your best. Time to end this.'
'Yeah, let's!'
However, they don't move a muscle. Obviously, neither wants to start slower than the other, because in this kind of duel, only the swiftest may survive. They strike their stances, ready and aware with their daggers bare. A minute is past.
Rael'charon sees that, and shoots a knife between the duelers to get them started. Naturally, Kyflynn and MacLair see the knife fly. Just as it goes into the wall, the duelers vanish!
Moving in hyper-speed, both duelers close in for an impact. Oddly, Kyflynn and MacLair don't attack as they go shoulder-to-shoulder. But, half an inch away, back-to-back, they attack! MacLair backstabs without turning and looking back (Traitorous Backstab), and Kyflynn goes defensive by doing a somersault-and-stab (Cartwheel Thrust). They move away from each other and turn to launch the second round. Blood sprinkles from Kyflynn's slightly grazed cheek and MacLair's shoulder as result.
On to the second clash! This time Kyflynn rotates and flies with a stab, Soulsplitter Drill, and MacLair unleashes a mysterious move. He seems to stab with twin daggers one time, also rotating and flying. Lost souls seem swirling around his body slowly. But the impact is the same. Also comes flashes of uncountable dagger-to-dagger clashes and parries. Actually, the impacts are tip-to-tip with incredible precision. Nevertheless, after the clash both receive damage. Kyflynn gets wounds with dark aura to make them worse, whereas MacLair gets more wounds but less dangerous than Kyflynn's.
The night elf knows that his wounds will rot his flesh, so he moves on to end this duel quickly with the move he never used before, the secret skill, Shadowless Wolf. The effect of supersonic speed makes Kyflynn ghost-like: invisible, harder to hit, and pretty much shadowless.
MacLair, on the other hand, splits himself to countless MacLairs with his final move, Legion of Shadows. These supernatural shadows are barely visible, but move only one hundredth of a second slower than Kyflynn. As written in the book of historic tales and poems Deisaga, Annals of the Paladins many years later, the clash is like...
The Shadowless Wolf sprang onto a legion of shadows with his bare fangs and claws. The legion attacked from everywhere, yet the wolf was swifter still.
Somehow, the wolf smells blood among the shadows, and moved for a kill. But no! He was trapped and deceived so, the shadows surrounded him and there's nowhere to go. The brave wolf rampaged, the shadows scattered, but the true foe parted him his claws.
3.2.12.4. Survival of the Swiftest - Part Three
Sample image for Ultimatum, dagger stained with cursed blood |
Suddenly, Iris’ ears flutter again: She detects a very strong, dark aura coming from a distance in high speed, and she shouts, “INCOMING!”
The attack comes towards Robert and lands on Robert’s belly with a loud clang. This time Carolyn shrieks!
Then, a voice comes, ‘Saved by your armor again eh, Robert?’
All eyes turn to the source, and here he is, hanging on the ravine wall by his twin daggers, the Ultimatum. The man has untidy hair; his eyes have no eyeballs like blind, and he has tattoos around and between them. The tattoo on the center of his forehead resembles the crest of the dark elves and the sign of Pride, the Original Sin. He wears ragged clothes and a ragged scarf covers his mouth and throat like a ninja from Shima. His skin is pale-white like a corpse’s, and he’s very skinny, as though he’s fasting for years. He speaks politely like a perfect gentleman as he comes down the cliff.
‘I’m MacLair, Oliver MacLair, at your service. And I’m here to serve you death.’
Robert observes his armor. The spot where the stab has landed is nothing but a dent. MacLair... The man Hulferd warned me of once... The quickest man on the planet. His speed exceeds the swiftest elf, except maybe Kyflynn. And he must admit that he is no match for MacLair and Kyflynn’s speed even in full alert.
But, do not despair. To fight him, Robert and friends still have four more useful weapons: power, magic, defense and wisdom. Plus, if they’re lucky enough, they will defeat the band of assassins like they did to Zal’fira’s undead horde.
Now, with MacLair joining the fight, they can’t rely on Omnigalatr Field alone. They must devise a tactic to turn the tide around. Carolyn and Iris move to the center of the formation. Rael’charon takes out his thin-bladed, elf-made Silk Sword and with Andreas they fend off the assassins.
The mages concentrate their auras, preparing to cast high-level spells. Of course, the assassins recognize that move and concentrate their attacks on the mages. Andreas and Rael'charon move closer to protect the girls. Chris, who recovers from his wounds joins in the defense. The three get more stabs and slashes, and two more dark elves fall; but then the real attack comes from another side!
‘An Algaban Aschi!’
Suddenly, a hexagonal portal erupts in front of Robert Chandler, and from it comes the gigantic, formidable form of the Ancient Red Dragon, Algaban.
‘You sent for me?’ says Algaban in her human-like voice. ‘Hmm, looks like emergency enough. All right, I’ll help you.’
Saying that, the dragon goes on rampage, thrashing around with her great tail and shoots fireblasts on the assassins. A lucky shot burns an enemy into crisp.
The quick-witted dark elves immediately scatter, and five of them plus MacLair attack Algaban.
‘Stab the eyes, shall we?’ MacLair speaks like a perfect gentleman, then vanishes! Soon, Algaban wiggles her head around and closes her eyes as though some bugs fly around her face. Actually, MacLair attacks her with his move: Inevitable Demise, stabbing from every direction in random, all targeting two spots: her eyes.
However, being great in size, Algaban is overwhelmed by MacLair’s super-speedy strikes. Another stab comes from the right, and this time Algaban counters by opening her jaws, ready to swallow him whole. And she does! As she closes her jaws, a body is sticking out between her sharp, large teeth, then the sticking-out part falls onto the ground. Algaban opens her eyes in relief, but suddenly stab darts directly to her eye! Shutting her eyes again will be too late, the strike goes too fast!
Algaban sees the blood-stained dagger closes in – the last sight with her right eye – She has resigned to fate as suddenly.... Something hits the hand with the dagger and deflects it. Robert sees the situation and un-summons Algaban at once.
Who could’ve saved Algaban’s eye?
Then, one figure lands and two more come to his side. They are Desmond, Agustina, and Kyflynn!
‘Well, well. The famous Kyflynn the Windwalker,’ says MacLair the Rogue Assassin. ‘You failed to eliminate your target, and then you’re here to ruin mine? That’s no sporting!’
‘Sorry to spoil your sport, Mac. But this is no sport. This is about survival and what we stand for,’ says Kyflynn.
‘Then, you are not a true assassin. You are nothing more than a knave with a knife. Adair’s puppet. Sissy Assassin!’
‘Call me whatever you like, Mac. I abandoned my clan because I refused to kill my father. And now if Adair should abandon me because I won’t kill my friends, so be it.’
‘Yet, you pretended to fail. You might fooled the fool who hired you, but not me! You forget the Assasins’ Code: To fail is to die. That’s a simple truth. I knew all along that Robert, Rael’charon and you would come here. So, I waited with my fellow disciples to strike you all down, like killing three eagles with one arrow.’
Kyflynn sees Agustina moving closer to them, muttering something. Then he alks on.
‘So, MacLair, the past few months have been very pleasing for you, right?’
‘That’s right. I’ve never had this much fun since I got this cursed blood on my dagger,’ says MacLair, holding up his twin daggers – one of which has a permanent blood stain on it, and the other doesn't.
'Never before Ultimatum drank so much blood. So many to kill, so many souls for me to feed on. Never before I feel so... alive.'
Saying so, a black aura of screaming and writhing lost souls appear around the Rogue Assassin, posing a sound intimidation.
'Your show-off can never scare an assassin like me,' Kyflynn also culminates his wind aura; his long hair rises and waves around like a flag.
'He who refuses to kill his own father is not fit to be an assassin!'
'So, I'm a hunter. My conscience compels me NOT to kill without a good reason. I'm just a trashman and you and your assassin's code are the scums I must dispose of!'
'Enough talking and start trashing!'
Saying so, MacLair vanishes! Kyflynn also vanishes. No human eye can catch them striking at each other, even Agustina's. She instantly goes back to join her comrades in the fight. Moments later, prickles of blood fall from the sky.
Up in the air, between the walls of the narrow ravine, the two death dealers are like flying. After exchanging hundreds of moves, MacLair doubles his speed and attacks with Assasin Cross Slash that grazes the night elf's left arm. Kyflynn counters with Cartwheel Stab: a back flip and thrust move, and his dagger Maraj'vriad finds its target on MacLair's foot, making a minor cut there.
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Thursday, February 07, 2008
Adventure Quest - Bosses
Happy Chinese New Year 2008 for all fellow fantasy lovers and visitors from all around the world! May prosperity and good health be with you all! - BJ Vadis
Saturday, February 02, 2008
Quetzalcoatl
Quetzalcoatl (pronounced [ketsalˈkoːaːtɬ] in Nahuatl) is an Aztec sky and creator god. The name is a combination of quetzal, a brightly colored Mesoamerican bird, and coatl, meaning serpent. Quetzalcoatl is often referred to as The Feathered Serpent and was connected to the planet Venus. Today Quetzalcoatl is the most well-known Aztec deity, and is often thought to have been the principal Aztec god. However, Quetzalcoatl was just one god in a pantheon of gods, not considered superior to the others.[1]
The god Quetzalcoatl was sometimes conflated with Topiltzin Ce Acatl Quetzalcoatl, a semi-legendary 10th century Toltec ruler.
Contents[hide] |
[edit] Antecedents and origins
The Feathered Serpent deity was important in art and religion in most of Mesoamerica for close to 2,000 years, from the Pre-Classic era until the Spanish conquest. Civilizations worshiping the Feathered Serpent included the Mixtec, Toltec, Aztec, who adopted it from the people of Teotihuacan, and the Maya.
The cult of the serpent in Mesoamerica is very old; there are representations of snakes with bird-like characteristics as old as the Olmec preclassic (1150-500 BC). The snake represents the earth and vegetation, but it was in Teotihuacan (around 150 BC) where the snake got the precious feathers of the quetzal, as seen in the Murals of the city. The most elaborate representations come from the old Quetzalcoatl Temple around 200 BC, which shows a rattlesnake with the long green feathers of the quetzal.
Teotihuacan was dedicated to Tlaloc, the water god, at the same time Quetzalcoatl, as a snake, was a representation of the fertility of the earth, and it was subordinate to Tlaloc. As the cult evolved, it became independent.
In time Quetzalcoatl was mixed with other gods and acquired their attributes. Quetzalcoatl is often associated with Ehecatl, the wind god, and represents the forces of nature, and is also associated with the morning star (Venus). Quetzalcoatl became a representation of the rain, the celestial water and their associated winds, while Tlaloc would be the god of earthly water, the water in lakes, caverns and rivers, and also of vegetation. Eventually Quetzalcoatl was transformed into one of the gods of the creation (Ipalnemohuani).
The Teotihuacan influence took the god to the Mayas, who adopted him as Kukulkán. The Maya regarded him as a being who would transport the gods.
In Xochicalco (700-900 AD), the political class began to claim that they ruled in the name of Quetzalcoatl, and representations of the god became more human. They influenced the Toltec, and the Toltec rulers began to use the name of Quetzalcoatl. The Toltec represented Quetzalcoatl as man, with god-like attributes, and these attributes were also associated with their rulers.
The most famous of those rulers was Topiltzin Ce Acatl Quetzalcoatl. Ce Acatl means "one reed" and is the calendaric name of the ruler (923 - 947), whose legends became almost inseparable from accounts of the god. The Toltecs would associate Quetzalcoatl with their own god, Tezcatlipoca, and make them equal and enemies. The legends of Ce Acatl told us that he thought his face was ugly, so he let his beard grow to hide it, and eventually he wore a white mask. This legend has been distorted so representations of Quetzalcoatl as a white bearded man have become common.
The Nahuas would take the legends of Quetzalcoatl and mix them with their own. Quetzalcoatl would be considered the originator of the arts, poetry and all knowledge. The figure of Ce Acatl would become inseparable from the image of the god.
Speculative literature has also associated Quetzalcoatl with Votan, a culture hero mentioned in a 1702 account of Tzeltal beliefs and practices in Chiapas by Bishop Nuñez de la Vega.
[edit] Religion and ritual
The worship of Quetzalcoatl sometimes included animal sacrifices, and in most traditions Quetzalcoatl was said to oppose human sacrifice.
Mesoamerican priests and kings would sometimes take the name of a deity they were associated with, so Quetzalcoatl and Kukulcan are also the names of historical persons.
One noted Post-Classic Toltec ruler was named Quetzalcoatl; he may be the same individual as the Kukulcan who invaded Yucatán at about the same time. The Mixtec also recorded a ruler named for the Feathered Serpent. In the 10th century a ruler closely associated with Quetzalcoatl ruled the Toltecs; his name was Topiltzin Ce Acatl Quetzalcoatl. This ruler was said to be the son of either the great Chichimeca warrior, Mixcoatl and the Culhuacano woman Chimalman, or of their descent.
It is believed that the Toltecs had a dualistic belief system. Quetzalcoatl's opposite was Tezcatlipoca, who, in one legend, sent Quetzalcoatl into exile. Alternatively, he left willingly on a raft of snakes, promising to return.
The Aztecs turned him into a symbol of dying and resurrection and a patron of priests. When the Aztecs adopted the culture of the Toltecs, they made twin gods of Tezcatlipoca and Quetzalcoatl, opposite and equal; Quetzalcoatl was also called White Tezcatlipoca, to contrast him to the black Tezcatlipoca. Together, they created the world; Tezcatlipoca lost his foot in that process.
Along with other gods, such as Tezcatlipoca and Tlaloc, Quetzalcoatl was called "Ipalnemohuani", a title reserved for the gods directly involved in the creation, which means "by whom we live". Because the name Ipalnemohuani is singular, this led to speculations that the Aztec were becoming monotheistic and all the main gods were only one. While this interpretation cannot be ruled out, it is probably an oversimplification of the Aztec religion.
[edit] Attributes
The exact significance and attributes of Quetzalcoatl varied somewhat between civilizations and through history. Quetzalcoatl was often considered the god of the morning star, and his twin brother Xolotl was the evening star (Venus). As the morning star he was known by the title Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli, meaning "lord of the star of the dawn." He was known as the inventor of books and the calendar, the giver of maize (corn) to mankind, and sometimes as a symbol of death and resurrection. Quetzalcoatl was also the patron of the priests and the title of the Aztec high priest.
Most Mesoamerican beliefs included cycles of suns. Usually, our current time was considered the fifth sun, the previous four having been destroyed by flood, fire and the like. Quetzalcoatl allegedly went to Mictlan, the underworld, and created fifth-world mankind from the bones of the previous races (with the help of Chihuacoatl), using his own blood, from a wound in his penis, to imbue the bones with new life.
His birth, along with his twin Xolotl, was unusual; it was a virgin birth, to the goddess Coatlicue. Alternatively, he was a son of Xochiquetzal and Mixcoatl.
One Aztec story claims that Quetzalcoatl was seduced by Tezcatlipoca into becoming drunk and sleeping with a celibate priestess, and then burned himself to death out of remorse. His heart became the morning star (see Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli).
[edit] Moctezuma controversy
It has been widely believed that the Aztec Emperor Moctezuma II initially believed the landing of Hernán Cortés in 1519 to be Quetzalcoatl's return. This has been questioned by many ethnohistorians (e.g. Matthew Restall 2001) who argue that the Quetzalcoatl-Cortés connection is asserted in no documents created independently of post-Conquest Spanish influence, and that there is little proof of a pre-Hispanic belief in Quetzalcoatl's return. Most documents expounding this theory are of entirely Spanish origin, such as Cortés's letters to Charles V of Spain, in which Cortés goes to great pains to present the naïve gullibility of the Mexicans in general as a great aid in his conquest of Mexico.
Much of the idea of Cortés being seen as a deity can be traced back to the Florentine Codex written down some 50 years after the conquest. In the codex's description of the first meeting between Moctezuma and Cortés, the Aztec ruler is described as giving a prepared speech in classical oratorial Nahuatl, a speech which, as described verbatim in the codex (written by Sahagún's, Tlatelolcan informants who were probably not eyewitnesses of the meeting), included such prostrate declarations of divine or near-divine admiration as,
"You have graciously come on earth, you have graciously approached your water, your high place of Mexico, you have come down to your mat, your throne, which I have briefly kept for you, I who used to keep it for you,"
and,
"You have graciously arrived, you have known pain, you have known weariness, now come on earth, take your rest, enter into your palace, rest your limbs; may our lords come on earth."
Subtleties in, and an imperfect scholarly understanding of, high Nahuatl rhetorical style make the exact intent of these comments tricky to ascertain, but Restall argues that Moctezuma politely offering his throne to Cortés (if indeed he did ever give the speech as reported) may well have been meant as the exactly opposite of what it was taken to mean: politeness in Aztec culture was a way to assert dominance and show superiority. This speech, which has been widely referred to, has been a factor in the widespread belief that Moctezuma was addressing Cortés as the returning god Quetzalcoatl.
Other parties have also propagated the idea that the Native Americans believed the conquistadors to be gods: most notably the historians of the Franciscan order such as Fray Gerónimo de Mendieta.[2] Some Franciscans at this time held millennarian beliefs (Phelan 1956) and the natives taking the Spanish conquerors for gods was an idea that went well with this theology. Bernardino de Sahagún, who compiled the Florentine Codex, was also a Franciscan.
Some scholars still hold the view that the fall of the Aztec empire can in part be attributed to Moctezuma's belief in Cortés as the returning Quetzalcoatl, but most modern scholars see the "Quetzalcoatl/Cortés myth" as one of many myths about the Spanish conquest which have risen in the early post-conquest period.[citation needed]
However, it is interesting to note the resemblance of the Quetzacoatl legend with that of the myth of the Pahana held by the Hopis of northern Arizona. Scholars have described many similarities between the myths of the Aztecs and those of the American Southwest, and posit a common root.[3] The Hopi describe the Pahana as the "Lost White Brother," and they expected his eventual return from the east during which he would destroy the wicked and begin a new era of peace and prosperity. Hopi tradition maintains that they at first mistook the Spanish conquistadors as the Pahana when they arrived on the Hopi mesas in the 16th century.[4][5]
[edit] Modern Religious Views
- Main article: Quetzalcoatl (New Age)
Quetzalcoatl has been associated with Vishnu, the second God of the Hindu Trinity. Vishnu is said to have an eagle (Garuda) and a serpent (Adisesha) as his vehicle. [6]
Modern esoteric groups, called "Mexicanistas", have mixed the cult of Quetzalcoatl with modern esoteric practices.
[edit] Notes
- ^ Boone: p. 68.
- ^ Martínez & Mendieta.
- ^ Susan E. James. Some Aspects of the Aztec Religion in the Hopi Kachina Cult, Journal of the Southwest (2000)
- ^ Raymond Friday Locke. The Book of the Navajo, 139-140 (Hollaway House 2001).
- ^ Frank Waters. The Book of the Hopi, 252. According to Waters, "Tovar and his men were conducted to Oraibi. They were met by all the clan chiefs at Tawtoma, as prescribed by prophecy, where four lines of sacred meal were drawn. The Bear Clan leader stepped up to the barrier and extended his hand, palm up, to the leader of the white men. If he was indeed the true Pahana, the Hopis knew he would extend his own hand, palm down, and clasp the Bear Clan leader's hand to form the nakwach, the ancient symbol of brotherhood. Tovar instead curtly commanded one of his men to drop a gift into the Bear chief's hand, believing that the Indian wanted a present of some kind. Instantly all the Hopi chiefs knew that Pahana had forgotten the ancient agreement made between their peoples at the time of their separation. Nevertheless, the Spaniards were escorted up to Oraibi, fed and quartered, and the agreement explained to them. It was understood that when the two were finally reconciled, each would correct the other's laws and faults; they would live side by side and share in common all the riches of the land and join their faiths in one religion that would establish the truth of life in a spirit of universal brotherhood. The Spaniards did not understand, and having found no gold, they soon departed."
- ^ TRUE WORLD HISTORY: Exploring the Mystery of Atlantis
[edit] References
- Boone, Elizabeth H. (1989). "Postscript: Huitzilopochtli and Quetzalcoatl", Incarnations of the Aztec Supernatural: The Image of Huitzilopochtli in Mexico and Europe. The American Philosophical Society, 85–89. ISBN 0-87169-792-0.
- Lawrence, D.H. (1925). The Plumed Serpent.
- Martínez, Jose Luis (1980). Gerónimo de Mendieta (1980), in Estudios de Cultura Nahuatl vol 14.
- Phelan, John Ledy (1956). The Millennial Kingdom of the Franciscans in the New World.
- Restall, Matthew (2003). Seven Myths of the Spanish Conquest. Oxford University Press.
[edit] See also
- Huitzilopochtli
- Tezcatlipoca
- Quetzalcoatlus, a pterosaur from the Late Cretaceous named after Quetzalcoatl
Source:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quetzalcoatl
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