Cē Ācatl Topiltzin Quetzalcōātl [seː ˈaːkat͡ɬ toˈpilt͡sin ket͡salˈkoːʷaːt͡ɬ] (Our Prince One-Reed Precious Serpent) (c. 895–947) is a mythologised figure appearing in 16th-century accounts of Nahua historical traditions,[5] where he is identified as a ruler in the 10th century of the Toltecs— by Aztec tradition their predecessors who had political control of the Valley of Mexico and surrounding region several centuries before the Aztecs themselves settled there.
According to various sources, he had four different possible fathers, the most popular of which is Mixcōatl ("Cloud Serpent"), the god of war, fire, and the hunt, and presumably also an earlier Toltec king—Mesoamerican leaders and high-priests sometimes took the names of the deity who was their patron.
According to legend, the most accepted fate of the man-god was that during the year "1 Acatl" or 947, and at the age of 53 he migrated to the Gulf coast Tlapallan where he took a canoe and burned himself.
The translations claim that he loved his people so much he insisted that they only meet the ancient standards of the gods; he had the Toltec offer them snakes, birds and other animals, but not humans, as sacrifices.
It also demanded that all priests remain celibate and did not allow intoxication of any kind (representing the two major sins to which the original 400 Mixcohua succumbed).
Other parties have also propagated the idea that the Native Americans believed the conquerors to be gods: most notably the historians of the Franciscan order such as Fray Geronimo Mendieta (Martínez 1980).
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.
The tales end with Topiltzin traveling across Mesoamerica founding small communities and giving all the features their respective names.
The Aztecs believed that Topiltzin's search for his holy resting place eventually led him across the sea to the east, from whence he vowed to return one day and reclaim Cholula (Chimalpahin, Motolinia, Ixtlilxochitl, Codice Rios).
Other sources insist that Topiltzin Quetzalcoatl would not return but that he would send representatives to warn or possibly pass judgment on those inhabiting the land (Las Casas, Mendieta, Veytia).
The stories of Topiltzin further expedited the collapse of the Aztec nation by sheer coincidence; they described him as having an incredible likeness to the Spaniards.
Conversely the oppressed Aztec people, taxed and forced to wage war for sacrifices, hoped that these arrivals would bring a new era of peace and enlightenment (Carrasco 2000:145-152).
As the Spanish conquered Mesoamerica they destroyed countless works concerning and pre-dating the Aztecs, and the story of Topiltzin Quetzalcoatl was almost lost.
Topiltzin Quetzalcoatl is usually seen with a plumed headpiece, a curved baton (the chicoacolli) and a feather rimmed shield with the ehecacozcatl (wind jewel) emblem on it.
The first source was produced by an unknown Spaniard which was later named the Historia de los Mexicanos por sus pinturas.
As mentioned before, this version is brief, most probably due to the Spaniards' inability to fully translate the text, or alternatively the lack of interest in relaying the story in its entirety.
This final major translation was done by a Franciscan friar who compiled from native informants an extensive set of texts—collectively known as the Florentine Codex—involving the Mesoamerican pantheon.