Popol Vuh

by

Dennis Tedlock

Teachers and parents! Our Teacher Edition on Popol Vuh makes teaching easy.

One Death Character Analysis

One Death is one of the most powerful lords of Xibalba, along with Seven Death. Both lords enjoy their peace and quiet, which leads them to summon One Hunahpu, Seven Hunahpu, Hunahpu, and Xbalanque to Xibalba in attempts to sacrifice them after they make too much noise playing their ball game. One Death is also a skilled trickster, and sets many traps for his potential victims. He does, however, attempt to magnify himself far beyond what he deserves, and this is his downfall. He dies when he's too entranced by Xbalanque and Hunahpu's return as minstrels to understand that they're actually going to kill him.

One Death Quotes in Popol Vuh

The Popol Vuh quotes below are all either spoken by One Death or refer to One Death. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Origins, Customs, and the Mayan Culture Theme Icon
).
Part Three Quotes

And such was the naming of their names, they named them all among themselves. They showed their faces and named their names, each one named by the one ranking above him, and naming in turn the name of the one seated next to him.

Related Characters: Hunahpu, Xbalanque, One Death, Seven Death, Blood Gatherer
Page Number: 118
Explanation and Analysis:

"Where might you have come from? Please name it," Xibalba said to them.

"Well, wherever did we come from? We don't know," was all they said. They didn't name it.

Related Characters: Hunahpu, Xbalanque, One Death, Seven Death
Page Number: 120
Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire Popol Vuh LitChart as a printable PDF.
Popol Vuh PDF

One Death Quotes in Popol Vuh

The Popol Vuh quotes below are all either spoken by One Death or refer to One Death. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Origins, Customs, and the Mayan Culture Theme Icon
).
Part Three Quotes

And such was the naming of their names, they named them all among themselves. They showed their faces and named their names, each one named by the one ranking above him, and naming in turn the name of the one seated next to him.

Related Characters: Hunahpu, Xbalanque, One Death, Seven Death, Blood Gatherer
Page Number: 118
Explanation and Analysis:

"Where might you have come from? Please name it," Xibalba said to them.

"Well, wherever did we come from? We don't know," was all they said. They didn't name it.

Related Characters: Hunahpu, Xbalanque, One Death, Seven Death
Page Number: 120
Explanation and Analysis: