Key Info

- Extremely powerful water god couple

 - Tlaloc was the third sun

- Tezcatlipoca cause Chalchiuhtlicue to cry blood for 52 years and destroy the 4th sun

Brief Bio

One of the oldest and most widely worshiped Mesoamerican gods, Tlaloc was the Aztec god of rain and thunder. It was by his blessing that the seasonal rains arrived on time for the vital maize harvest.

While many of the Aztec gods have traditional parentage, Tlaloc and his wife Chalchiuhtlicue were created either by all four sons of Ometecuhtli and Omecihuatl, or by Quetzalcoatl and Huitzilopochtli. In Aztec mythology, Tláloc was the lord of the third sun which was destroyed by fire. Tlaloc’s son, Tecciztecatl, would become the moon after following the god Nanahuitzin into a sacrificial bonfire meant to create the fifth sun.

Chalchiuhtlicue was an Aztec water goddess and the sun of the fourth age; she was also the patron of newborns and the sick. Along with her counterpart Tlaloc, she was responsible for the timely arrival of waters necessary for the successful harvests. Water was the basis for much of Aztec life, and as such Chalchiuhtlicue held an incredibly important position in the Aztec pantheon.

When Chalchiuhtlicue became the sun, she acted with great love towards her people. A jealous Tezcatlipoca accused her of faking her feelings towards the people in order to gain their adoration. This accusation devastated Chalchiuhtlicue, and she proceeded to cry tears of blood for 52 years, drowning the world in the process. Humans had to turn into fish in order to survive the deluge.