Quetzalcoatl · Chapter 7 of 7
The Return That Was Written Afterwards
A prophecy · Written later · A convenient explanation
Some legends are built backwards, out of a need for them.
The most famous claim attached to this tradition is one many current historians reject: that the Mexica took Cortes for Quetzalcoatl returning from the east. The sources for it are post-conquest, written under Spanish authority, and the earliest appear years after the events they describe. Historians have argued that the story served both sides — a prophecy that made a conquest look fated, and an explanation for a defeat. What people in Tenochtitlan thought in 1519 is not recoverable from texts composed to explain what happened next. The story about the story is far better documented than the story.
- Written afterwards
- A useful prophecy
- A story about a story
Unlocks in-game at Ascension tier 5.
