I created this node to clear up a lot of the confusion about Aztecs, Toltecs, and Quetzalcoatl. There's so much misinformation out there it is difficult to know what to believe. I've been fascinated with Meso-American History for many years, and while I do not possess a doctorate in Meso-American history, this is the compiled and condensed information from reading book after book after bloody book by people who do. This is the "true" story of Quetzalcoatl as best I have been able to piece together from about 20 different believable sources.
The Toltecs are perhaps one of the best known, yet commonly mistaken cultures of early Mexican History. Most of the faults they were attributed with were actually those of the Aztec people, and most of their accomplishments are credited to the Aztecs in turn. The Toltecs inhabited the area near Mexico City, their city of Tollan located just fifty miles north of it, however it is believed that Tula was their capital. Their time of power was about 800-1200 AD. Their main god was Quetzalcoatl, perhaps one of the gods most confused with his adversary, Tezcatlipoca (a god from the Aztec Mythology). During the Toltec era, Quetzalcoatl was the god of Wisdom, Learning, and Maize. The Toltecs are credited with being experts in metallurgy, architecture, and mathematics. For the most part, they were a peaceful people that did not not pursue the arts of human sacrifice.
The Aztec Empire, however, consisted of a vicious, warlike people that could not defeat the Toltecs in battle due to technological inferiority. Sometime around 1200, a peace was forged between the twain. This was a false peace, the Aztecs were many, and intended to breed out the Toltecs in much the same manner that people from California will. It started small, some cohesion of culture, then advanced to things like cities changing names (Tollan becomes replaced by Tenochtitlan, which much later became Mexico City). Their gods replaced the gods of the Toltecs, or in some cases, changed it so much that it in no way resembled the original Toltec belief. Quetzalcoatl was sudden made out to be the "evil big brother" of Tezcatlipoca (the god of war, pain, and fire, that demanded human sacrifice). By this time, there was almost nothing left of the Toltec heritage, even the people were now calling themselves the Aztecs. It was pronounced by the Aztec priests that Quetzalcoatl had actually been slain by Tezcatlipoca.
However, there were still a few of Toltec blood that protected their old ways, and one of the last of Quetzalcoatl's priests gave the prophecy that on 9 Wind Day (some scholars translate this to be April 21, 1519) Quetzalcoatl would return, by ship, from the East, with light skin, a black beard, robed in black. He would bring about the destruction of the Aztec Nation in revenge for their desecration of his people. A second prophecy predicted that he would come a second time to destroy Tezcatlipoca (whose physical representation was the Sun) who made the Aztecs what they were.
Later, April 21, 1519, the conquistador Hernando Cortez landed within the Aztec scouts' range, dressed exactly as per the prophecy. Thanks to smallpox and guns, the Aztecs were defeated, their cities plundered, and their history muddled. The second prophecy has yet to come true.
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