Monster Slayer (Naayééʼ Neizghání)
Also known as: Nayénĕzgani (Matthews's spelling), Slayer of Alien Gods
Mythological Narrative
The elder of the Hero Twins, son of Changing Woman and the Sun, who with his brother journeys to their father's house and returns with lightning weapons to destroy the monsters that preyed on the Earth Surface People.
Scholarly Commentary & Evolution
## The elder twin
Naayééʼ Neizghání, Monster Slayer, and his brother Tóbájíshchíní, Born for Water, are the Hero Twins of Diné tradition. Monster Slayer is the son of Changing Woman and the Sun, Jóhonaaʼéí. The twins grow up hidden from the naayééʼ, the monsters that are killing the people, and in time set out to find their father.
## To the Sun and back
Helped by Spider Woman, who gives them protection and words to pacify the guardians along the way, the twins pass through dangerous places and reach the Sun's house. The Sun tests them severely before he accepts them as his sons, and then gives them armour of flint and weapons, among them arrows of lightning. They return to the earth, and their first victim is Yéʼiitsoh, the Big Monster, killed near Tsoodził (Mount Taylor).
## The monsters, and those spared
After Yéʼiitsoh, Monster Slayer goes on to destroy many other monsters, among them the horned Déélgééd and the monster eagles of Tsé Bitʼaʼí (Shiprock). But in Matthews's 1897 version he spares Old Age, Cold, Poverty, and Hunger when each explains why the people need it: without old age there would be no new generations; without cold, no snow and water; without poverty, no new things made; without hunger, no pleasure in food. The story ends not with a world cleansed of every difficulty but with a world in balance.
## After the killing
In several tellings the twins must undergo ceremonies to be restored after so much killing, which are the origin of ceremonies still practised; this site does not describe them.
Cross-Pantheon Parallels & Archetypes
Academic Discussion & Critique
Exchange peer-reviewed hypotheses, comparative Indo-European etymologies, and archaeological field interpretations regarding Monster Slayer (Naayééʼ Neizghání).
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Born for Water (Tóbájíshchíní)
The younger of the Hero Twins, Monster Slayer's brother; in Matthews's version the son of White Shell Woman by the water, in many later tellings Changing Woman's son by the Sun.
Changing Woman (Asdzą́ą́ Nádleehé)
The most beloved of the Diné Holy People, 'Woman who changes', found as an infant on Chʼóolʼį́ʼí, mother of the Hero Twins by the Sun, and creator of the first Diné clans; she grows old and young again with the seasons.
First Man (Áłtsé Hastiin)
One of the first beings of the lower worlds, who with First Woman leads the people through the emergence, helps order the world above, and in many tellings finds the infant Changing Woman.