Xipe Totec: Our Lord the Flayed One and the Epicenter of a War Between Brothers
The God of Violent Renewal. The Red Tezcatlipoca. The catalyst who sheds the skin of the world so it can breathe again.
Who Is the Aztec God Xipe Totec?
In the hierarchy of ancient Aztec religion, as well as Cesar Torres’ Aztecverse, Xipe Totec (Nahuatl: "Our Lord the Flayed One") is a male deity who represents the visceral engine of transformation. In the mythology, Xipe Totec, also known as the Red Tezcatlipoca, is part of a quartet of highly revered brothers: The Black Tezcatlipoca (Nahuatl: the Smoking Mirror), god of sorcery, night and mirrors; The White Tezcatlipoca, also known as Quetzalcoatl (Nahuatl: the Feathered Snake); and the Blue Tezcaltipoca, known as Huitzilopochtli (Nahuatl: the Hummingbird on the Left).
While Black Tezcatlipoca/Smoking Mirror observes the world through his obsidian mirror and Xochipilli guides the ecstasy of the bloom, Xipe Totec represents the violent necessity of the cycle. In fact, Xipe Totec, symbolizes the circular nature of time, and in that sense, he is the master of time among his brothers. He is the god of springtime, agriculture, and goldsmiths, but his power is rooted in a terrifying truth: for new life to germinate, the old husk must be torn away. There is no rebirth and renewal without the power and presence of Xipe Totec.
To the Mexica, Xipe was the ruler of the East, the direction of the rising sun and the dawn of consciousness. He is the "Red Tezcatlipoca," the brother who flayed himself to feed humanity, embodying the sacred debt of the skin. And he also wears the flayed skin of human victims as a type of costume. To explore the depths of Xipe Totec could take a lifetime, because his symbolic meaning shows up in multiple dimensions.
Manifestation: The Husk and the Seed
The iconography of Xipe Totec serves as a blueprint for the biological horror that permeates my The Coil series. And for contemporary society, his brutal nature and iconography also invokes images of horror and violence. But it’s also worth mentioning that for ancient Aztec peoples, the way they experienced him may have been different. According to research from the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH), his representations are among the most standardized and striking in Mesoamerican art:
- The Golden Garment (Teocuitlaquemitl): He is depicted wearing the flayed skin of a sacrificial victim—a "new skin" that symbolizes the vegetation covering the earth in spring.
- The Sacred Incision: A slit over the heart, where the victim’s life-force was extracted before the skinning began.
- The Double Face: A ghoulish, bloated mask with sunken eyes and parted lips, which is actually the human skin worn over the god’s own divine features.
- The Rattle Staff (Chicahuaztli): A shamanic tool used to summon the rain and call forth the "Night Drinker"—the aspect of Xipe that averts drought through blood.
- The Brother War: The Epicenter of a Cosmic Rift in Cesar Torres' Aztecverse
In the macro-level of the Coil book series, Xipe Totec is the pivot point of a cosmic civil war. He is one of the four sons of the primordial deity Ometeotl, locked in an eternal and necessary rivalry with his three brothers:
In The Coil series, Xipe Totec represents the black sheep among the four Tezcatlipoca brothers. Xipe has been neglected, and he is resentful, and according to the understandings of the human characters in the novels, Xipe Totec is responsible for The Rift, a cosmic event that is tearing time and space with deadly results. In 13 Secret Cities, it’s Clara Montes and her Jose Maria who come to understand this massive cosmic war between gods who they can’t even see with their own eyes. As we move further in the series in 9 Lords of Night, a serial killer nicknamed the Night Drinker seems to be committing ritualistic murders in Manhattan in order to appease Xipe Totec. The upcoming sequel Hall of Mirrors will shed more light on the impact of Xipe Totec on the events of the dark fantasy epic. But author Cesar Torres also confirms that to think of Xipe Totec simply as a major off-stage character in their fictional universe is too limiting. The act of writing and creation itself on part of the author is a transgressive moment, a shedding of skin and renewal that also embodies the powerful elements of this Aztec deity.
The Ritual of the Flayed Men
Historically, the cult of Xipe Totec was celebrated during the month of Tlacaxipehualiztli ("The Flaying of Men"). Recent INAH excavations in Puebla have uncovered the first known stand-alone temple dedicated to him, revealing altars where gladiatorial combat served as a tribute to the "Flayed Lord."
For the Aztecs, wearing the skin of the sacrificed was not an act of cruelty, but a profound spiritual gesture. It was a way to know what it means to live as a seed inside a husk, waiting for the moment of liberation.
Archeologists Are Still Discovering Xipe Totec
Archaeologists from Mexico’s National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) have recently discovered the first known temple dedicated to Xipe Tótec, the "Flayed Lord," at the Ndachjian-Tehuacán archaeological site in Puebla. Built by the Popoloca people between 1000 and 1260 AD, the structure includes two circular sacrificial altars and remarkable stone carvings, including two 440-pound volcanic stone skulls and a sculpted torso depicting the deity wearing the skin of a sacrificial victim. This find is historically significant as it provides the first physical evidence of a dedicated cult complex for Xipe Tótec—a major Mesoamerican god of fertility, regeneration, and war—confirming ritual practices previously only known through codices and later Aztec accounts.
Source: Hallan primer Xipe Tótec en territorio tolteca
Xipe Totec in The Coil Series and the Aztecverse
For author and artist Cesar Torres, the act of wearing, making, creating and shedding skins (human skin, spandex, leather, rubber and other types of skins also serves as a moment of creative and artistic liberation.
In the Coil’s nine volumes, we will continue to explore the Rift, which has been caused by Xipe Totec, and in doing so, we will also learn more about the conflict of Xipe between himself and his three brothers.
The character Stefan Pendley is known in the How to Kill a Superhero: World Without Daylight is known as “The Skin Collector”, a well known queer figure who owns hundreds of costumes, cosplays and fetish bodysuits that also serve the myth of Xipe Totec in the Azteceverse.
Additionally, Cesar Torres’ work in art photography explores skin and the metaphors of skin very often, as in the new composition Tlacaxipehualiztli, which is part of the Our Lord of the Flowers project. These photos may strike audiences as simply horror, but there’s more beneath the surface. They celebrate the symbols of the Night Drinker, but they also welcome in fertility, the renewal of health, and the abundance of the Earth. But they need deeper scrutiny from the viewer in order to be seen.
The presence of the Flayed Lord is felt throughout the bibliography of the Aztecverse, acting as the invisible hand guiding the societal and ecological collapse of the 21st century.
Addiitonal Source
This Radio INAH panel titled "Xipe Tótec ¿el dios desollado?" featuring expert Carlos Javier Gonzalez is an excellent deep dive in Spanish about Xipe Totec and his impact on Mexica culture, customs, military and more. The clip does not offer captions in other languages, but if you're a Spanish speaker, it will offer you lots of value. You can also feed the URL to your AI chatbot of choice to get a summary in any language.
Explore the Pantheon
Cesar Torres explores many of the Aztec gods in the Mexica pantheon through their fiction, photos and digital artifacts. Explore many more below: