Introduction
The Bloody-Mouthed God is one of the more enigmatic members of the Classic Period Maya pantheon. He only makes a few appearances in Maya art, but where he does appear, he usually does so alongside one of the other T-shaped tooth deities.

Iconographic Traits
The Bloody-Mouthed God can be hard to distinguish at times due to his variety in appearances. His most important trait is his missing lower jaw, which is replaced by blood curls emerging from the roof of his mouth. There are a few depictions, though, in which he does have a lower jaw, either with or without the blood. Some of these may be due to modern repainting. He usually also has the large singular T-shaped tooth. His eyes can vary; in the glyphs, they can either be squinted or wide open with curled pupils, but in other forms of art, such as 2D painting or 3D sculpture, he always seems to have the large, open eyes. His ears can also vary, in the glyphs and in 3D sculpture, he tends to have jaguar ears, while in painted examples, he often has leaf or plant-like elements instead. Lastly, the body of the Bloody-Mouthed God can be either that of a human or that of a bird. This avian body is likely a reference to his extended name, which will be discussed next.

Extended Names and Titles
The head glyph of the Bloody-Mouthed God has had a few suggested readings over the years, the most likely of which is ak’iin “to clear milpa”, though this has yet to be fully agreed upon. The most common extended name of the Bloody-Mouthed God, which occurs at a variety of sites, is Ch’ich Ti’s Chan “BMG” Muut, which can be translated to something like Bloody-Mouthed Sky “BMG” Bird. This is an extremely fitting name, given both his missing lower jaw and his occasional avian body.

Glyph Uses
While the head glyphs of the other T-shaped tooth deities have alternate uses, there do not appear to be any for the head glyph of the Bloody-Mouthed God. There is, however, a glyph that can substitute for the head glyph of the BMG. It is comprised of two parts, a KAB ‘earth’ glyph on the bottom and an axe above it. This glyph, along with the na phonetic complement, is what led Marc Zender and Nikolai Grube to independently suggest a reading of ak’iin “to clear milpa” for the head glyph of the BMG (Sanchez Gamboa et al. 2022:18).

Known Myths
Only two known mythic events involve the participation of the Bloody-Mouthed God, the 4 Ajaw 8 Kumk’u creation in the court of God L, and the resurrection of the Maize God. The 4 Ajaw 8 Kumk’u creation is depicted on the Vases of the Seven and Eleven Gods (K2796, K7750), where the Bloody-Mouthed God can be seen in the row of deities facing God L (Figure 1A). He appears with the other four T-shaped tooth deities, the Jaguar War God and the Pax God sit to his front, and K’inich Ajaw and God I of the Palenque Triad sit to his back (Crim 2025).

The Bloody-Mouthed God next appears in the scenes that depict the rescue and resurrection of the Maize God. His most clear depiction is on the Star War Vase (K6340), where he appears perched atop a tree holding a turtle shell drum and an antler (Figure 1B). Marc Zender suggests that this figure, who I identify as the Bloody-Mouthed God, is the same as the figure from K0731 who wields the same drum and antler (Figure 1E). A figure nearly identical to the one on K0731 also appears on a potsherd from Copan (Reents-Budent 1994:207). Both depictions of this character, who can be seen in a canoe escorting the Maize God with the Jaguar War God and Chahk, lack the Bloody-Mouth, but they do include the T-shaped tooth. Hopefully, more scenes depicting this deity appear in the future in the hopes that they might help expand on the current understanding of this enigmatic deity.

Roles and Associations
Like the other T-shaped tooth deities, the Bloody-Mouthed God was likely most important to the ruling class. He may have also been a messenger, like the Pax God, as he not only has the body of a bird, but muut in his name. While muut can refer to birds, it can also refer to omens, furthering this possible idea of him being a messenger. As the other T-shaped toothed deities all have possible planetary identifications, so too may the Bloody-Mouthed God; he may represent Mercury at dawn (Crim 2025). This creates an interesting duality between him and the Pax God, who may represent the same planet at dusk, as both are missing their lower jaws.

Bloody-Mouthed God Scenes

Sources
Justin Kerr photograph collection, Dumbarton Oaks, Trustees for Harvard University, Washington, DC.
Crim, Alexander
2025 The Vases of the Seven and Eleven Gods: A New Interpretation. IMS Explorer 53, no. 9 (2025): 1, 3–4.
2026 Shark Hunters of the Horizon: Venus, Mercury, and the Rescue of the Maize God. Aztlander 6, no. 1 (2026): 14-16.
Lopes, Luís, Barbara Macleod, and Alejandro Sheseña
2023 Of Heat, Holes, and Hollow Places: The Semantics and Phonetic Value of T650. Estudios de Cultura Maya. 62. 75-114.
Reents-Budet, Dorie
1994 Painting the Maya Universe: Royal Cermics of the Classic Period
Sanchez Gamboa, Angel A., Guido Krempel, and Dmitri Beliaev
2022 New Evidence of K’inich Muhk, A Tonina Lord from the End of the Sixth Century. The PARI Journal 23(1):1-24.
Zender, Marc
2020 Disaster, Deluge, and Destruction on the Star War Vase. The Mayanist 2(1):57-76.