Mythology & Religion Power Ranking TOP100
I wrote a book ranking the most powerful gods, monsters, and heroes from world mythologies, religions, and legends in order of strength! Of course, the rankings reflect a fair amount of my personal opinion, but the reasoning behind each placement is grounded in the actual lore and episodes from each mythology, so I think it makes for a fairly convincing read.
In this series, I’d like to introduce some of the characters featured in the book’s ranking. There are plenty of other characters beyond the ones covered here, so I think anyone interested in mythology, religion, or legends will find it an enjoyable read!
Rank 15: Tezcatlipoca (Aztec Mythology)
Overview
Tezcatlipoca is one of the supreme deities in Aztec mythology and is frequently regarded as the most powerful among the gods. His name means “Smoking Mirror” in ancient Nahuatl, a reference to one of his symbols — an obsidian mirror.
By using this mirror, Tezcatlipoca is said to be able to see all future events that will occur in the world — making him omniscient.
Tezcatlipoca collaborated with Quetzalcoatl and others to create the world in the era of the First Sun. However, that era ended when Tezcatlipoca was knocked from the sky by Quetzalcoatl — enraged by this, Tezcatlipoca unleashed an army of jaguars upon the world and destroyed it.
During the era of the Second Sun, Tezcatlipoca felt that the humans of the world under Quetzalcoatl’s stewardship had grown corrupt, and so he transformed every human in the world into monkeys.
Additionally, when the world was being created, a monster called Cipactli bit off one of Tezcatlipoca’s feet, which is why he is often depicted with a missing foot in artistic representations.
Ranking Reason
He has the power to create the world, the omniscient ability to see all things that happen in it, and — when angered — can easily destroy the world or do something as precise as transforming all of humanity into monkeys. This versatility places him in a category clearly apart from standard destroyer-tier deities.
Furthermore, considering the lore of his rival Quetzalcoatl, it seems likely that Tezcatlipoca also has no concept of true death, which further demonstrates that he belongs to an evidently higher tier of divinity.
Taking all of this into consideration, I placed him at this position in the ranking.
