A fierce Aztec war god. His name means "hummingbird on the left." (Nahuatl word, pronounced wee-tzeel-oh-pok-tlee) Born of the Earth goddess Coyolxauhqui, or Tonantzin, Huitzilopochtli defeated many of the other gods and ushered in the age or world the Aztecs saw themselves inhabiting. The Aztecs viewed that birth was a painful process, that to harvest crops required extremely hard work, and that considerable human toil was necessary to wrest life from their environment. They came to believe that the blood and hearts of sacrificed captives were necessary to keep time in motion, and the seasons continuing. Huitzilopochtli was one of the infamous gods that had to be placated through these gruesome sacrificial rituals.