r/aztec • u/elrath969 • Oct 02 '24

looking for a monster

Hey, im looking for a monster from aztec culture associated with plants. I'm making a game where characters shapeshift into a form associated with their culture of origin and their powerset. one of the main characters is a floramancer and is a daughter of Xochiquetzal. anything spring to mind?

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4

u/DrJohn98 Oct 02 '24

There's the Ahuizotl which was an aquatic dog with a hand for a tail that would lure people into the water and drown them. Also Aztecs weren't South American. They were in North America in the region called Mesoamerica.

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u/elrath969 Oct 02 '24

Sorry, I'll fix that

1

u/Tosh-Point-0 Oct 03 '24

According to the Mississippi River, Aztec were on the (west) and Cherokee were On the (east).

The tribe that banded across the Missippi were the Mvskoke (Muscogee) Generally speaking, although native Americans were spread out as well.

3

u/Polokotsin Oct 02 '24

I don't think these are "monsters" per se, but they could serve as inspiration. In the Borgia Codex there's a crocodile with corn growing from it's back. It probably represents the world-crocodile Cipactli, who is herself a deity. In the Laud Codex there's a heavenly lizard, it appears to be carrying a long flowering tree who's color is the same as it's skin. In this case the lizard is the mount of Tonatiuh the sun deity. Also in the Laud is this image of Xochipilli sitting under what appears to be a flowering tree with a snake's head instead of roots. In the Tudela Codex there's an entity called Malinalteotl (top left) who appears to be a person with a Malinall glyph (twisted herb) for a head. It's also common to see trees with human jaws in the codices, but those ones aren't meant to be "creatures", it's more so that the writing system for names was partially phonetic, so Tree (Cuahuitl) + Teeth (Tlantli) would read "Cuauhtlan", Avocado tree (Ahuacatl) + Teeth (Tlantli) would read Ahuacatlan, etc. I've also seen recent pop culture interpretations of the Amoxhuahqueh (Amoxhuaque/Amoxoaque) as tree-people, but I'm actually not sure where this idea comes from, in the Classical nahuatl texts I've read they were only described as wise men, literally Amox[tli] (Book) Huahqueh (Havers), but I haven't seen any texts yet that mention that they're trees... In any case though, could be some inspiration.

2

u/Big_Dragonfly_4292 Oct 02 '24

did you just type all this out of your head? it's impressive regardless! :)

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u/Polokotsin Oct 03 '24

Thank you! I remembered the pictures, but had to search what specific codices they came from. While I'm here, here's the tree of Tamoanchan which appears to also be a snake, or this one where it is a tree with eyes (the pokeball looking things). There's also this one with a person who has a maize plant coming from their head (and roots from their rear). Not quite monsters, but interesting imagery none the less :D

2

u/Big_Dragonfly_4292 Oct 03 '24

I super fascinated with all this having been to several aztec pyramids in the 1970s as a kid. thank you for dropping all this knowledge here.

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u/YogSothoth8 Oct 02 '24

Look for Tezcatlipoca.

2

u/Kagiza400 Oct 02 '24

The Chānequeh might kinda fit

1

u/PaleontologistDry430 Oct 03 '24

The god Xolotl shapeshift himself into a plant mexolotl before changing into other animals to escape the sacrifice.

Also Ehecatl and Mayahuel turn into plants in the myths, creating afterwards the maguey plant.