Lion

A proud emperor who ruled with absolute authority and ceremony.

Montezuma II, the ninth ruler of the Aztec Empire, commanded total loyalty from his subjects and projected an almost divine authority — he was carried on a litter so his feet never touched the ground, and those who approached him had to do so with their eyes averted. He was proud, ceremonially magnificent, and deeply protective of his empire, ruling through charisma and the expectation of unwavering deference. His fatal miscalculation with Hernán Cortés reflected the lion's weakness: an innate confidence that his natural dominance would hold, even when the rules of the game had fundamentally changed.