Long before Cortés landed at Vera Cruz on Good Friday, 1519, omens of doom appeared. A comet "bright as to turn night into day" lit the sky. Dismayed soothsayers and astrologers maintained they did not see it, and Montezuma cast them into cages where they starved to death. Then, an important temple burned. Lastly, hunters brought Montezuma a bird with a mirror strapped to its head. In it he saw large numbers of people "advance as for war; they appeared to be half men half deer."
How much of this is fact? How much is myth? Since much of the history is told from the Spaniards' point of view, it's hard to tell. By the time spies brought tales of mountains floating upon the sea (Spanish galleons), and men with "flesh very white... a long beard and hair to their ears," Montezuma's nerves were shattered. Was this the legendary feathered serpent god, Quetzalcoatl, who once vanished into the eastern ocean, now returned?
Montezuma half-convinced himself that Cortés was a god—though whether this is true or another mythic reimagining of history is up to debate.

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MPAA: PG
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