Eagle

A supreme ruler who soared above all others with divine authority.

Moctezuma II, the ninth ruler of Tenochtitlan, embodied the eagle's visionary, commanding solitude at the apex of power — a god-king who governed a vast empire with near-absolute authority and was believed to be a representative of the divine on earth. He ruled with regal detachment, making sweeping decisions from on high while others executed his will below. His downfall came partly from that very eagle-like isolation — so accustomed to commanding from an untouchable height that he fatally misjudged the threat posed by Hernán Cortés and the Spanish conquistadors.