Native American Mythology/Characters

An indigenous pantheon. This is sorted by tribe.

The Tobtob Kin
The "light" gods, but remember, Light Is Not Good. These gods tend to be more rational than the others.

Inyan

The first life form. Created all the other gods.


 * Adam and Eve Plot
 * Dishing Out Dirt
 * Double Standard: Wakinyan doesn't have a problem with him getting with Unk, but had a huge problem with Unk getting with him!
 * Magma Man

Maká

The spirit of the Earth.


 * Dishing Out Dirt
 * Green Thumb
 * It's All About Me: Especially when she was younger.
 * Accent On the Wrong Syllable: Maká means "land". Máka means "skunk".
 * The Smurfette Principle: When listed with the directions, she's the only female.

Wi

The sun spirit. Associated with masculinity. This connection is one reason the word for "summer", bloketu, derives from the word for "male".


 * Chick Magnet: He's the spirit of masculinity for a reason.
 * Double Standard: Ite's helping Wi cheat was treated a lot worse than Wi's cheating.
 * Light'Em Up
 * Playing with Fire
 * The Power of the Sun

Taku Skanskan

That which brings movement. Also the spirit of the sky.


 * Blow You Away
 * Pure Energy

Wakinyan

Inyan's companion. Hates pollution of any kind. Spirit of thunder. Is a bird.


 * Awesome McCoolname: Lightning!
 * Blow You Away
 * Did You Just Punch Out Unktehi?
 * Elemental Rock-Paper-Scissors: Lightning beats water.
 * Four Is Death: There are four main wakinyan, of which he's the main one. Oddly a heroic example.
 * Funny Aneurysm Moment: A creature obsessed with purity, whose symbol is the swastika. Yeah.
 * Go Mad from the Revelation: Seeing one will make you do everything backward.
 * Hermaphrodite
 * Light'Em Up
 * Mega Manning: After defeating the Unktehi, gained control over water.
 * No Swastikas: His traditional symbol. Not used much these days, for obvious reasons.
 * Our Angels Are Different: In a syncretic context, often associated with angels, especially Michael. So maybe not so different.
 * The Phoenix
 * Playing with Fire
 * Popcultural Osmosis
 * The Power of Rock: There's a reason so many ceremonies involve a lot of music, percussions in particular.
 * The Power of Rock: Any percussion instrument will scare away evil.
 * Shock and Awe
 * Yandere: Has hated Unk ever since Unk was with Inyan.

Wohpe/Pte San Win

Maká's daughter. The spirit of all things feminine.


 * Body Horror: Do not think about her sexually.
 * The Chick: Of course.
 * Disproportionate Retribution: A man wanted to sleep with her, and she said "Do as you will." Then when he approached her, he was covered in a cloud and died a fairly horrible death.
 * Incorruptible Pure Pureness: And how!
 * Public Domain Artifact: The pipe.
 * Uncanny Valley: A rare in-universe example.
 * Women's Mysteries: Naturally. Oddly gave the men their ceremonies as well.

Wi Win

Wi's ex-wife. The spirit of the moon.


 * Amicably Divorced: Though she does hide from Wi.
 * Lunacy

Tate

Taku Skanskan's brother. Spirit of the wind.


 * Blow You Away
 * Family Business: His sons are wind spirits too.

Tatanka

The spirit of ceremonies. Became a god along with his friend, Hu Nunp.


 * Animal Motifs: His name means buffalo.
 * Awesome McCoolname: So cool it was used by a pro wrestler.
 * The Beast Master
 * Biggus Dickus: He is a buffalo, after all. More to the point, portrayals of men and male bison in such a fashion are common at the Sundance.
 * Body Motifs: Buffalo skulls are used in ceremonies.
 * A God Am I: The other gods didn't even mind!

Hu Nunp

The spirit of wisdom and Tatanka's friend.


 * Animal Motifs: The bear. (It's semi-bipedal.)
 * The Beast Master
 * Body Motifs: His name means "two legs".
 * A God Am I: Like his friend, he became a god.

Tate Tob

The four winds. The sons of Tate and Ite.


 * Adam and Eve Plot: In some stories, they're the male ancestors of mankind.
 * Blow You Away
 * Cain and Abel: Over a woman, of course.
 * Color Coded for Your Convenience: Eya as black, Yata as white, Yanpa as yellow, and Okaga as red.
 * Evil Is Deathly Cold: Yata
 * Fire, Ice, Lightning: In order, Okaga (south), Yata (north), and Eya (west)
 * Five-Man Band: Okaga's The Hero (being represented by red), Yata's The Lancer (being the coldest to Okaga's passion), Eya's The Smart Guy (because of his lightning association), Yanpa's laziness makes him The Big Guy, and their last brother Yumni pulls double duty as The Chick (god of love) and Sixth Ranger.
 * The Four Gods: Literally and in the sense of "four directions".
 * Freudian Excuse: Their mother ruined the old order, so they create a new order.
 * Human Mom, Nonhuman Dad
 * Kuudere: And not the one you would think: Okaga has this in spades.
 * Law of Chromatic Superiority: Wohpe chooses Okaga, the South Wind. He's represented by red.
 * Love-Obstructing Parents: In the sense that none of them want Wohpe to marry any of the other three.
 * Walking Shirtless Scene: Okaga in recent portrayals.

Yumni

The four winds' brother. Or half-brother, depending on the version you hear.


 * Blow You Away: He's the whirlwind.
 * Human Mom, Nonhuman Dad: Same mom as his brothers, different dad.
 * Older Than They Look: He will forever be a child because of his mother's attempts to seduce Wi.
 * The Power of Love
 * Raised by Dudes
 * Sixth Ranger: Along with Taku Skanskan and Maká.

Nagi, Nagila, Ni, and Sicun


 * A God Is You: They're part of you.
 * Four Is Death: When you die, they separate.
 * I Am Not Shazam: Sicun is not the origin of wasicu.
 * Soul Power

The Wakan Sica
The evil gods. Associated in syncretism with Satan. Dark Is Not Evil, though, and sometimes they can be quite useful. And they form a Five-Bad Band too!

Unk

The original Wakan Sica, she is the Big Bad of many a myth.


 * Adam and Eve Plot
 * Big Bad
 * Good People Have Good Sex: Bad people sleep with other women's husbands and with the sons of such a union.
 * Making a Splash
 * Trope Namer: Many of her children are named after her.
 * Villainous Incest: Adding insult to injury, after having a son by another woman (relatively)'s husband, she then gets pregnant by that boy's

Iya

Unk's son and lover. They make many monsters together. His name means "mouth", and he consumes everything.


 * Adam and Eve Plot
 * The Dragon / The Brute
 * Good People Have Good Sex: Bad people are mother fuckers.
 * Planet Eater
 * Villainous Incest: Plains Indians did not tolerate incest traditionally, to the point of killing not only those who commit incest, but the children of such unions. Expect lots of incest.

Gnaskipeya

Iya's son and half-brother. Tends toward trickery. While Iya consumes everything, Gnaskipeya is ruled by his sexual urges.


 * Evil Genius: Before Inktomi joined them.
 * Gag Penis: Often portrayed this way.
 * Good People Have Good Sex: Like the rest of his family, good people have good sex, but evil people are depraved.
 * Mons: In one particular story.
 * Overshadowed by Awesome: Inktomi is more a genius, albeit less evil.

Inktomi

Formerly Ksa, the god of wisdom, he lost a Mons battle to Gnaskipeya and decided toward chaos.


 * Animal Motifs: His name means "spider".
 * Dark Is Not Evil: Sometimes helps people out, and can even be a Trickster Mentor.
 * Depraved Bisexual: To be fair most of his depravity is with women, though he does at one point have sex with his nephew.
 * Did You Just Punch Out Iya? He did, going inside Iya and cutting him open.
 * Evil Genius
 * I Am Not Shazam: He is not Coyote.
 * Lovable Sex Maniac
 * Mons: A loss in this battle leads to his Start of Darkness.
 * The Paragon Always Rebels: Boy, howdy...
 * Sadly Mythtaken: He is not analogous to Satan.
 * Sixth Ranger: To the Wakan Sica.
 * Sixth Ranger Traitor: To the Wakan Tanka. And sometimes to the Wakan Sica. In fact, this is really his favorite role.
 * Token Good Teammate: Though "good" is relative.
 * Trickster Archetype
 * The Unfettered

Ite

Tate's ex-wife and the mother of his children.


 * Apocalypse Maiden: In the old order.
 * The Dark Chick
 * Dropped a Bridget On Him: A consequence of seeing her in a vision.
 * A God Am I: Why she pursued an affair with Wi in the first place.
 * Good People Have Good Sex: Bad people cheat on their husbands. See a pattern?
 * Uke: If you see her in a vision, you have to put on a dress and pursue other men.

Uncegila

One of the monsters Unk and her sons produce. Yes, Villainous Incest is at it again.


 * Deal with the Devil: Kill her, and everything will be answered.
 * Eldritch Abomination
 * Eye Scream: Seeing her blinds you at first...
 * Go Mad from the Revelation: ...and then you go mad and rabid...
 * Four Is Death: ...and on the fourth day, you die.
 * Making a Splash
 * Poisonous Person

Unktehi

The Unktehi are a group of monsters produced by Unk and her sons.


 * Dishing Out Dirt
 * Eldritch Abomination
 * Elemental Rock-Paper-Scissors: They get on the bad side of it.
 * Humans Are the Real Monsters: Their general opinion.
 * Making a Splash: They cause a flood.

Mni Watu

Creatures made by Unk and her sons which cause disease. They're too small for you to see, though.


 * Hilarious in Hindsight: "All rational [white] people" knew that disease was caused by an imbalance of humours.
 * Making a Splash
 * The Plague: They can cause this if so inclined.
 * Poisonous Person
 * The Virus: Literally.

Tongva
Quaoar

The original god, who brought the world into existence by dancing.

Weywot

Quaoar's son, the god of the sky.


 * Spear Counterpart: to Chehooit

Chehooit

Quaoar's daughter, the goddess of the earth.


 * Distaff Counterpart:to Weywot

Tamit

Weywot's son, the god of the sun.

Moar

Chehooit's son, the god of the moon.

Chinigichnix

A prophet born in present-day Long Beach who created human beings. Not technically a god, but deserving of mention. He also has animal avengers who spy on humans.