This was accompanied by a shift in women's roles from wife and mother to playing integral parts in courtly life, such as participating in rituals involving the supernatural world and at times ruling individual polities.
[6] The daughter of Chak Tok Ichʼaak II, Lady of Tikal was depicted on Stela 23, which was broken and later re-erected incomplete.
It was probably Sak Kʼukʼ and her consort Kʼan Moʼ Hix who held most of the power during the childhood of Kʼinich Janaabʼ Pakal.
She was the daughter of Bajlaj Chan Kʼawiil of Dos Pilas and arrived at Naranjo in the position of ruling queen and established a "new dynasty."
[11] Additionally, she is shown on monuments taking on the role of a warrior-king by standing over a trampled captive, an unusual representation for a woman.
[13] Although a secondary wife, Lady Ikʼ Skull may have ruled for a short time in Yaxchilan's history until her son Bird Jaguar IV was old enough to take the throne.
Current thinking is that the rightful heir through Lady Kʼabʼal Xook's lineage may have been her son, or perhaps a nephew or brother,[17] but that this individual was captured during a conflict with Dos Pilas in 745.
In their second revised edition Martin and Grube note that at Piedras Negras there is mention of a new king at Yaxchilan, Yopaat Bahlam II, who may have ruled for part or all of this period.
On the other hand, Josserand notes that Lady Ikʼ Skull ruled as regent during this time and that it was not until her death that Bird Jaguar IV took the throne.