Are there any records (contemporary or other) of a self-proclaimed prophet or messiah in the pre-columbian Americas?

by nthensome
pizzapicante27

Speaking of Mesoamerica exclusively, though it is my understanding that culture and mythology have ideological and philosophical commonalities throughout the continent.

If you're looking for a direct analogous to Abrahamic beliefs's messiahnic figure (your Mosses, Christ, Mahoma, etc...) who come and reveal God's word, then no (well, unless you're asking Ixtlilxóchitl, because then the Texcocans were Catholic from the very beginning... we dont ask Ixtlizochitl much anymore).

Let me give you a solid example from Alfredo Lopez Austin's Man-God:

Ce Acatl Topiltzin Queztalcoatl, son of Iztaanixcóatl y Chimalma, was born in Central Mexico at some point in 843 or 895 or 935 or 947 or 1156, and either misteriously departed the physical world completely with no witnesses or died April 4th 1208 at 6p.m. in Yucatan, he was simultaneously a Tollan, Chichimec, or Tenoshcan prince and named Nácxitl, Me-Ahpop, Kukulkán, Ru Ralcán... or perhaps he is Topiltzin, eternal nemesis of Queztalcoatl.

Which of them is true?, well, all of them, thats the problem with Mesoamerican mythology as when compared to Mediterranean mythology, in essence, Mesoamerican mythology isnt moralist but explicative, what do I mean?, well, Tlaloc, an almost universal god in the region shared by pretty much all mesoamerican cultures is not going to tell you why you should live an honorable or good life, thats the job of society if you dont live an honorable and good life a bunch of knights are going to come, beat you up and throw you to jail, Quetzalcoatl is not going to tell little childen to respect their elders, if you dont respect your elders your parents are going to spank you and make you smell into a cauldron of boiling peppers so your nose and eyes clog up, morality is not tied to the divine, morality is a function of society and the individual, mythology is then a way to explain natural and political events.

So what Tlaloc is going to tell you is that the Mexican chief diety Mexhi (also known as Huitzilopochtli, who like Quetzalcoatl is both a god and a historical figure), is part of his family because they are both left-handed, so of course the Mexicans have a right to settle in the Valley of Mexico, why do the Tarscans and Mexicans fight so much? well you see when the nahuatl were migrating through Patzcuaro they divided into 2 groups, Malinalxochitl (sister of Huitzilopochtli) in one group decided to wash herself in a nearby pond, then Huitzilopochtli stole her clothing and moved on, Malinalxochitl then noticed her clothes were missing and had no other choice but to remain in Patzcuaro and adopt local customs all because of those rascal Mexicans and their god, why is one form of rain cold while another warm? well, Tlaloc is breaking his respective gourds, why is Tlaloc the one breaking them? because thats his job, who else would do it?

So while leaders or priests who interpreted the will of the gods were a thing, and you can make analogies like for example, Tenoch who figured that the place were an eagle was devouring a snake on top of a nopal is the place were Mexhi wants them to build their city, and definitely not because this is the only viable place to do so now after we angered half the Valley, so you better figure out how to make buildings float on top of a lake like right now, is a staple of Mesoamerican mythology (and history) its not a 1 to 1 comparison to Abrahamic messianic figures as the context of both cultures is completely different.

I hope my explanation cleared your question and wasnt too confusing, as a topic its difficult to explain because you first have to explain a bunch of things that dont have a direct correlation in other cultures.