The Hero Twins and the Dangerous House of Bats

The House of Bats

The Hero Twins in the House of Bats

From Xibalba, to the house of cold, later to the house of jaguars, then to the house of fire, and finally, to the house of bats. The bats "were great beasts with snouts like blades that they used as murderous weapons" (Christenson 172). Hunahpu and Xbalanque were thrown into many houses, to be beaten down and defeated. The twins knew they were on their last going, both weak and beat down like an old newspaper in a garbage can. 

Murderous Sharp Snouts

"When they arrived there, they were to be finished off," and they "even had to crawl inside their blowguns to sleep so that they would not be eaten there in this house" (Christenson 172). Christenson describes the adventure of the Hero Twins to visit their grandmother, but get set up in traps along the way to truly see how much of "heroes" they really are. Both end up talking about leaving their blowguns to see if it is dawn outside yet. Hunahpu really wanted to check badly, but as he left his blowgun, "his head was cut off by the death bat" (Christenson 172). Xbalanque continued to ask if it was dawn yet, not knowing his brother had just been decapitated by one of the bats. 

Hunahpu's head atop the ballcourt

Xbalanque then felt ashamed, as his brother had been killed, and he had been hiding from these dangerous bats. And "at the word of One Death and Seven Death, the head [of his brother] was placed atop the ballcourt," which all the Xibalbans all rejoiced to the head of Hunahpu (Christenson 172).

Mayan Shrine

After the decapitation of his brother, Xbalanque "summoned all of the animals - the coatie and the peccary, and all the animals both small and great - while it was still dark" (Christenson). He told the animals to bring food that belonged to them, later using all these materials to carve up and build a new head to build some sort of shrine of his brother. This idea of shrines and looking up to someone strong and as a hero goes back to the Mayans, as they had built heads of the elites, or someone whom they looked up to similarly.

This video shows the Hero Twins outwitting everyone in games, instead of tests of strength