After defeating the supreme death lords, Hunahpu and Xbalanque established a new order over Xibalba, decreeing that its lords would receive only imperfect offerings and hold power only over the wicked.
Ah Puch presides over the deepest and most dreadful level of Xibalba, where the souls of the wicked endure torment under his skeletal gaze as lord of the dead.
The Bolontiku, the Nine Lords of the Night, each preside over one of the nine levels of Xibalba, governing the Maya underworld in a layered hierarchy that mirrors the thirteen heavens above.
The Lords of Xibalba, led by Hun Came and Vucub Came, ruled the underworld from their council house, commanding twelve death lords who wielded disease, fear, and suffering against all who entered their domain.
Hun-Hunahpu and Vucub-Hunahpu descended into Xibalba after being summoned by the death lords, failed its trials, and were sacrificed beneath the underworld ballcourt as told in the Popol Vuh.
Ixtab guides the souls of those who die by hanging to a paradise distinct from Xibalba, offering them rest and abundance rather than the trials and dangers that await ordinary dead in the Maya underworld.
Kinich Ahau descends into Xibalba each night at sunset, transforming into his jaguar form to battle through nine levels of darkness before emerging reborn in the east at dawn.
The Owl Messengers of Xibalba serve the underworld as its agents in the upper world, delivering the death lords' summons to those commanded to appear below, as told in the Popol Vuh.
The Maya regarded the Sacred Cenote as an open gateway to Xibalba, casting sacrificial offerings and human messengers into its depths to reach the underworld lords below.
The Hero Twins journeyed through Xibalba's lethal test chambers — Dark House, Cold House, Jaguar House, Bat House, Razor House, and Hot House — surviving each through magical ingenuity before defeating its lords.
Xquic, daughter of a Xibalba lord, defied the underworld by visiting Hun-Hunahpu's skull on the calabash tree and fled to the surface world while pregnant with the Hero Twins, as told in the Popol Vuh.
Zotzilaha, the House of Bats, is one of the six deadly trial chambers within Xibalba that souls must endure on their journey through the Maya underworld, as described in the Popol Vuh.
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