QUETZALCOATL The plumed serpent god of Central America, Quetzalcoatl was the giver of breath and the god of the winds. He was also a creator god, who descended into the land of the dead, Mictlan, where he fell like one dead. On his recovery, he gathered up the precious bones there, returned to earth and, sprinkling them with his own blood, turned them into human beings. Quetzalcoatl's enemy was Tezcatlipoca, a chief warrior who tricked the god into taking his form. Quetzalcoatl was then consumed by drunkenness and sensuality, and after a mock death in a stone box, he ordered the abandonment of the city of Tollan. He burned his palace, buried his treasures, and, putting on his insignia of feathers as well as his green mask, he departed in great sorrow. Reaching the seashore, he sailed away on a raft of serpents, declaring that some day he would return to reclaim his throne.