Ometecuhtli and Omecihuatl, the primordial dual couple, generated the four Tezcatlipocas — Xipe Totec, Tezcatlipoca, Huitzilopochtli, and Quetzalcoatl — along with Xolotl, as the foundational forces of creation.
⚠ Huitzilopochtli's origin is dual-layered: the Historia de los Mexicanos por sus Pinturas places him among the four sons of Ometeotl, while the Florentine Codex narrates his miraculous birth from Coatlicue at Coatepec.
Coatlicue was miraculously impregnated by a ball of feathers at Coatepec. Huitzilopochtli was born fully armed to slay his sister Coyolxauhqui and the Centzon Huitznahua, who had plotted to kill their mother.
⚠ Some traditions name Mixcoatl as father of Coyolxauhqui and the Centzon Huitznahua, but the Florentine Codex account names no father.
Huitzilopochtli wages an eternal cosmic battle against his sister Coyolxauhqui and the Centzon Huitznahua, re-enacting each dawn his victory of sun over moon and stars.
Huitzilopochtli burst forth fully armed at Coatepec and slew his sister Coyolxauhqui, dismembering her, then routed the Centzon Huitznahua who had conspired to kill their mother Coatlicue.
Huitzilopochtli slew his nephew Copil, who had plotted against the Mexica. Copil's heart was cast into Lake Texcoco, where a prickly pear cactus grew marking the site of Tenochtitlan.
Huitzilopochtli claimed Tenochtitlan as his sacred seat — he led the Mexica to its island site with the sign of an eagle on a cactus, and from atop the Templo Mayor's twin pyramid his war cult presided over the empire's beating heart.
Huitzilopochtli and Tonatiuh preside over Tonatiuhichan, the House of the Sun, where warriors slain in battle and women who died in childbirth accompany the sun across the sky for four years before returning to earth as hummingbirds and butterflies.
Tezcatlipoca, Quetzalcoatl, Huitzilopochtli, and Xipe Totec created Tlaloc and Chalchiuhtlicue to preside over water and rain, appointing them lords of the waters as part of the gods' ordering of the newly made world.
The Four Tezcatlipocas — Tezcatlipoca, Quetzalcoatl, Huitzilopochtli, and Xipe Totec — are the primordial sons of Ometeotl who took turns presiding over the successive Suns, each age ending in catastrophe when one brother overthrew another.
⚠ The Historia de los Mexicanos por sus Pinturas names this specific grouping. Other traditions substitute Tlaloc for Huitzilopochtli or vary the identifications of the four brothers.
Huitzilopochtli spoke to the Mexica at Aztlan, commanding them to leave their homeland and guiding their long migration south to found Tenochtitlan.
Cihuacoatl counseled Huitzilopochtli during the Mexica migration, urging the people onward and sanctioning the practice of human sacrifice that would sustain the Fifth Sun.
Huitzilopochtli was born fully armed at Coatepec, the sacred hill where Coatlicue was attacked by Coyolxauhqui and the Centzon Huitznahua.
Huitzilopochtli emerged from Coatlicue's womb already gripping the Xiuhcoatl, the fire serpent blazing turquoise and gold, and with it struck Coyolxauhqui's head from her shoulders and scattered the Centzonhuitznahua down Coatepec's slopes.
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