Line #15 Literature/TheCrocodileGod


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/filipino_balangay_inkitt_crocodile_god_cover_photo_3.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:350: Baybayin translation: ''Ang Buwaya Anito.'']]
3
4	->''“'''I am the son of voyagers, the crocodile-god, I break the ships in my teeth. Do you remember me?”'''''
5	-->--Haik
6
7	''[[https://hitrecord.org/albums/3308487/ The Crocodile God]]'' is a TroperWork by {{Tropers/Sharysa}}, initially posted on [=HitRECord=], then her social-media, [[https://www.inkshares.com/books/the-crocodile-god the Inkshares website,]] [[https://www.inkitt.com/stories/fantasy/211084?utm_source=shared_web the Inkitt website,]] and finally [[https://www.wattpad.com/story/324254621-the-crocodile-god to Wattpad.]] Like many of her works, this is an UrbanFantasy that's ''heavy'' on the fantasy.
8
9	The story begins when Mirasol, a Filipino-American woman, finds a Filipino-Australian man called Haik half-dead on the beach. She takes him in after his emergency-room stay is finished and soon finds out that he's the Tagalog sea-god Haik, once loved but almost forgotten, and has had a relationship with her [[ReincarnationRomance across many lifetimes.]]
10
11	Things get complicated when Haik is revealed to be [[TheIllegal an undocumented immigrant,]] and [[GodsNeedPrayerBadly traumatized from his lack of followers.]] Plus traumatized from a LOT of other things, with the main cause being Spain's colonization.
12
13	!!!Tropes in the first draft:
14
15	* AscendedToCarnivorism: It's mentioned in the bleeding-heart dove's myth that the toothed whales used to be herbivores, until [[ItsPersonal the sharks betrayed them]] and they went on a RoaringRampageOfRevenge. The orcas were feared by the ancient Tagalogs for being ''especially'' vicious about it.
16	* BecomeARealBoy: Averted in the story of [[JustSoStory how some of the sambar deer turned into stonefish.]] The prince of the sambar tribe asks a human datu to marry him, but when she rejects him because he's not human, [[HumanSacrifice he kills a little boy]] wearing a gold bracelet and [[ImAHumanitarian eats his flesh to change shape.]] The gods are horrified and give him three shots to repent and become human the proper way:
17	** As he gets to the datu's village, he finds everyone in deep mourning. When he asks who died, he finds out that the little boy with the bracelet [[OhCrap was actually the datu's NEPHEW.]] He just changes from the flashy clothes he arrived in to subdued mourning attire and waits for it all to blow over.
18	** That night when he's staying at the datu's home, he finds out he can't eat meat--just smelling it makes him nauseous. He pretends his mother was Hindu and raised him vegetarian, but he knows it's really because [[OurSoulsAreDifferent the gods refuse to change his deer-soul into a human one]] unless he tells the truth.
19	** After the mourning period is over and he marries the datu, he asks for tattoos. They start out normal, but when they heal, [[RedRightHand they become scenes depicting how he ate the datu's nephew.]] The prince wears heavy clothes to hide them, but when the monsoons end and [[CueTheSun tropical summer begins,]] he's forced to take his shirt off, which is how the datu finally discovers the AwfulTruth and pushes him into a reef to drown. When the sambar-tribe finds out what their leader's done, half of them [[DeathByDespair try to drown themselves as well,]] but Haik [[NiceGuy turns them into fish out of pity.]] The rest of them [[JustSoStory shrink into the small deer of the current Philippines as atonement.]]
20	* BigDamnHeroes: Courtesy of the other gods in the last official chapter.
21	* BornUnderTheSail: The ancient Tagalogs were frequently called "people of the rivers and seas," and Haik naturally turns this up to eleven as their sea-god descended from the Maori.
22	* BroughtDownToBadass: After Haik was forced by the Spaniard to take back his claim that his children with Mirasol would be gods, their next two children are mortals... Who shapeshift and have SuperNotDrowningSkills. Later on, Banog ends up taking a lot more from [[GenerationXerox Haik's bird/wind-deity cousin Lumawig.]]
23	* CanonWelding: The author is patching together Filipino/Tagalog mythology with Polynesian myths, so this version of Haik is an {{Expy}} of Paikea and Maui.
24	** ContinuitySnarl: In mythic fashion, it's not a perfect "Maui = Haik" equation: Haik has Paikea's origin with Maui's voyaging skills and a sister called Hina, but is only [[DecompositeCharacter one of three gods]] with Maui's aspects; Bathala created the Filipino islands and coconuts (though unlike Maui, [[ImportantHaircut Bathala cut his hair]] to make a rope to pull the islands up). Meanwhile, Haik's cousin is called ''[=LuMAWIg=]'' and has the trickster/bird-shifter aspects of Maui.
25	** Over time, the Tagalogs forgot Haik/Paikea's origins as an ancestor of the Maori, since his own name (''haik'' for "daytime") refers to him coming from the ''east,'' but they still remember he's from a place where [[LegendFadesToMyth "the rivers are full of jade,"]] referring to the South Island's cultural significance as "the land of greenstone."
26	** Haik has [[GoingNative gone native among the Tagalogs,]] but a ballad excerpt notes that his followers started calling him [[RememberTheNewGuy Langa-an's nephew]] at some point.
27	* TheChooserOfTheOne: The whales. Haik notes that they could have just left him to drown when his brother tried to murder him, but instead they brought him to the Philippines, which is why [[FamilyOfChoice he calls them his brothers.]] When he asks Mirasol to marry him in the newly-colonized Philippines, the whales' arrival is precisely why he says their children will be gods. In the present day, Mirasol has a PropheticDream where [[ItsNotYouItsMyEnemies Haik left to keep her from getting hurt by ICE.]] Later on, when Haik offers to leave to get ICE off her trail, Mirasol tells him [[ScrewDestiny to stay with her...]] and their demigoddess daughter comes roaring out of the earth as a dragon.
28	* DarkIsNotEvil: It's repeatedly stated that crocodiles weren't a bad symbol in native Tagalog society, as they were thought to be [[DinosaursAreDragons dragons]] or [[OurGodsAreDifferent gods;]] later on, Haik mentions that crocodiles protected the Filipinos from river-demons (and presumably sea-demons as well, since saltwater crocodiles are abundant in the islands). Haik not being the whale-rider anymore and only using his "crocodile" title doesn't mean he's no longer a good person--he's just [[DespairEventHorizon extremely depressed and traumatized.]]
29	** It's also noted that HumanSacrifice (which the ancient Tagalogs practiced in dire circumstances) and even [[ImAHumanitarian eating other people]] isn't necessarily ''evil,'' but depends heavily on the situation. The sambar-prince pissed off the gods not because he ate a person by itself, but because [[CurbStompBattle a gigantic horse-sized deer murdered a defenseless little boy]] just so [[ItsAllAboutMe he could turn human and marry a woman who already rejected him,]] and then he refused to feel bad about it.
30	** [[KrakenAndLeviathan The kraken's arrival]] in the spirit-world's ocean scares the pants off of Mirasol, but he's a GentleGiant that the normal cuttlefish call "Kuya" ("big brother" in Tagalog). They summoned him to get Mirasol back to shore, and he also returns Haik's heart.
31	* DeathOfAChild: The North Wind finds a human boy dead on Mount Pulag and thinks he got lost, so he heads out to find his parents. When he finds out the parents abandoned him on purpose and [[{{Jerkass}} aren't even grieving,]] he [[BerserkButton loses his shit.]]
32	* DeathOfTheOldGods:
33	** A constant point thanks to Spain's colonization of the Philippines, and given a personal spin of parental concerns as noted above. The [[KillTheGod literal death of Haik and Mirasol's whale-goddess daughter]] is the biggest reason for Haik's DespairEventHorizon, as he'd already lost a lot of OTHER family members. The trope is also PlayedWith in that Haik isn't ''dying'' so much as [[GodsNeedPrayerBadly lonely without followers,]] and constantly marginalized and abused.
34	** The MAIN Tagalog pantheon is certainly subject to this, but [[TheOldGods there are spirits older than them]] who aren't.
35	* DeliberateValuesDissonance: Existing Tagalog beliefs are fused with {{Mythopoeia}} of a heavy Polynesian flavor, which results in this. The real-life islanders were indeed [[EternalSexualFreedom more relaxed about sexuality]] and [[MagicalQueer viewed LGBT people as magically gifted,]] but they also used a lot of CorporalPunishment thanks to their feudalistic society and practiced HumanSacrifice. Also, anyone who didn't have blood ties to you was a "foreigner," which seriously annoys Haik's Samoan brother-in-law.
36	** Mirasol's other past-life husband can't wrap his head around Catholicism's "weird" sex rules: Noblewomen CantHaveSexEver until marriage, and yet noblemen betrothed to them are [[DoubleStandard freely allowed to have sex with their maids,]] or go to prostitutes. He muses that in Tagalog culture, a betrothed couple can just have sex with each other [[CaptainObvious since they're gonna have sex anyway,]] and that regardless of social status, a man who boinks another woman during his engagement is deemed to be having an affair.
37	** Lola the dragon sheds light on why Haik's volcano-god grandfather was so abusive to him and Lumawig: Being one of TheOldGods who grew up with humans and spirits [[AuthorityEqualsAsskicking routinely fighting and killing each other,]] you couldn't show vulnerability for too long because it was seen as weakness, and the volcano-god may have thought his own grandsons were going to kill him [[DentedIron for getting too old...]] which implies that [[KinslayingIsASpecialKindOfEvil kinslaying was NOT a special crime]] when they were young.
38	* DespairEventHorizon: Haik and Mirasol both went through this after their first daughter's stillbirth. Mirasol notes that Haik shows signs of PTSD since he's still in so much pain over it ''centuries'' later.
39	** This also happens in the myth of [[JustSoStory how the bleeding-heart dove got its "wound" of red feathers.]] The bird was once a large, prestigious fighter, but after a bloody war where he received a near-fatal chest wound, his feathers grew back red [[ImHavingSoulPains since his soul had been wounded as well as his body.]] At the end of the story, he shrinks to a dove's size and his red feathers evoke a WoundThatWillNotHeal to reflect his emotional pain.
40	** When Mirasol dreams that [[spoiler: the gods [[BigDamnHeroes are mobilizing in a gigantic balangay]] to rescue them]], Haik's response?
41	-->''[[EverybodysDeadDave "I thought they were dead."]]''
42	* DinosaursAreDragons: The Asian-type dragons of the story are repeatedly called "the crocodile's ancestors," and the author notes on Facebook that [[LiteralMetaphor she based her Filipino dragons on ancient crocodilians.]]
43	* DivineDate: Between Haik and Mirasol, across [[ReincarnationRomance numerous lifetimes.]]
44	* DivineIntervention: The ICE officers throw Haik off the corvette into the open ocean, where [[PrimalFear a huge amount of sharks and squid have arrived.]] Even if Haik [[DeathSeeker wasn't too depressed to fight back up to surface,]] he's still losing air and getting dragged under by the sheer numbers of squid. [[spoiler: And then [[DeusExMachina his cousin casts his fishhook]].]]
45	* EatingTheEnemy: Being the crocodile-god and a dragon-shifter, Haik has a tendency to turn into one of those and eat people who make him angry, such as those who [[BerserkButton shoot his wife and unborn child, or molest his sister.]] Also, Haik is a "brother" to ''all'' the whales, including [[GoodIsNotNice the orcas,]] who the ancient Tagalogs feared as vengeful [[SuperPersistentPredator "sea-wolves."]]
46	* EmpathicEnvironment: Whenever Haik gets to the sea, the tide comes in.
47	* EternalSexualFreedom: DownplayedTrope and [[JustifiedTrope justified]]. In the newly-colonized Philippines, the ''indio'' islanders are more relaxed about premarital sex than Christian islanders and the Spanish, partly because marriage ranges from "a formal ceremony" to just "agreeing that you're married and moving in with each other" as in cohabitation/common-law marriage (especially among the lower classes). Mirasol assures Haik that [[BeneathNotice her Spanish employers don't notice what she does outside of work,]] and while the mistress of the house worries about Mirasol having sex before marriage, Mirasol just starts taking medicinal tea to keep from getting pregnant. The REAL issue with marrying Haik is cultural, since her master pulls a gun on him the moment he spots his extensive tattoos.
48	* EthnicGod: Haik, obviously, and the rest of the Tagalog pantheon by extension.
49	* FanFicFuel: InvokedTrope since Tagalog mythology was nearly obliterated in the Spanish conquest; everything Haik tells Mirasol only gives her a whole list of unanswered questions, and with ICE on the hunt for them, they have no time to talk about everything.
50	* GenerationXerox: Haik's cousin Lumawig is a demigod with a gigantic eagle tattoo on his chest, and was [[HappilyAdopted fostered by the monkey-eating eagle]] as a boy. Haik and Mirasol's son Banog is ALSO a demigod with an eagle-tattoo on his back (pretty notable since Haik himself is a sea-god). ''Banog'' means "kite/falcon..." and is a local name for the monkey-eating eagle. Bonus points since they're both the youngest of their siblings. The similarities are openly stated by Haik, when he watches Banog [[InASingleBound jump across a river carrying TWO children on his back.]]
51	* GodsNeedPrayerBadly: PlayedWith--it's not so much literal prayers that Haik needs, but ''followers'' to foster relationships with. He also points out the difference between people ''believing in'' him, and people ''believing him'' when he says he's Haik.
52	** It's noted by Lola the dragon that TheOldGods are {{Anthropomorphic Personification}}s of nature and ''don't'' need worship like the younger gods do, even if they like getting food and attention.
53	* HereThereWereDragons: Haik begins a story like this; he clarifies later that the dragons aren't ''gone,'' but [[DownplayedTrope much fewer in number.]]
54	* HeadbuttOfLove: The Maori ''hongi'' takes the Filipino name of ''ungngo'' in the story. The dragon that Mirasol meets in Chapter 12 reminds them that ''ungngo'' is the Ilokano term for it, while Tagalogs use ''halok.''
55	* HolyIsNotSafe: The whale-goddess is a cheerful and friendly DisabledDeity, who might not be threatening herself--but if she calls for help on the ocean, she's got a lot of SeaMonster family members [[PrimalFear who are very, VERY dangerous.]]
56	* HopeIsScary: After their first daughter's stillbirth, Haik is stuck in the same painful life-patterns of finding and losing Mirasol because [[SafetyInIndifference he's used to that kind of pain and doesn't want to risk MORE of it.]]
57	* HugeGuyTinyGirl: Haik is [[WildSamoan a Maori man]] who [[GoingNative was adopted by the Tagalogs,]] while Mirasol is five feet tall.
58	* HumanSacrifice: Mirasol's first life as a datu's daughter nearly ended by being ritually drowned as an offering to Haik. It's also noted that Haik commonly received human sacrifices in precolonial times; a Kalinga shaman jokes that she'd love to get rid of some people she hates by offering them to him, and in a later life, a teenaged Mirasol asks if Haik eats the people who are offered to him.
59	* IKnowYourTrueName: Haik explains that he and Paikea aren't the same person anymore, because the Tagalogs gave Haik a new name after hearing his story from the Maori.
60	-->''Humans, your names are important, but they are like clothing. Many wear one name from birth to death, and cherish it as such. Some rip them away and take new names in anger or joy or grief. Others force you to wear names that do not fit. But the gods, the diwat? We are creatures of the otherworld, not nearly as solid as earth-dwellers. Our names are who we are.''
61	* TheIllegal: Haik is an undocumented immigrant, and ICE officers head to Mirasol's house since the hospital can't find any records of him after a week. Mirasol gets a PropheticDream where her Caucasian neighbor Claire calls ICE on Haik ''again.''
62	* ImAHumanitarian: Man-eating is a plot point in the sambar-prince's myth: He killed and ate a child as a black-magic ritual to turn human. It's mentioned that Filipino ''aswang ''(vampires) and [[OurMermaidsAreDifferent mermaids]] routinely eat people (though [[DarkIsNotEvil this does not make them evil.]]) When Mirasol dreams [[spoiler: of the Tagalog gods mobilizing in their ship to find Haik]], she sees Filipino mermaids with [[FangsAreEvil visible fangs]] and shark-tooth necklaces.
63	** In one of Mirasol's past lives, Haik tells the Tagalogs that "the Spanish want your souls," and as they had no concept of large-scale religious conversion, they initially think he means [[EatingTheEnemy "they're going to eat you."]]
64	** The orcas also use their infamous "beaching" strategy to [[EatingTheEnemy eat some Spaniards]] attacking Mirasol's barangay.
65	** The infant Lumawig WOULD have been eaten by a merman after being given a sea-burial, had he not been a demigod who was [[SuperNotDrowningSkills sleeping like the water was air.]]
66	* InsistentTerminology: Haik is adamant on this, implied to be because [[WordsCanBreakMyBones gods are sensitive to what things mean.]] He notes that while some sources call him "sea-god" and "god of the sea" as if it's the same thing, he insists that there is only one "god of the sea" as the AnthropomorphicPersonification of the Pacific Ocean. He emphasizes that he's a "sea-god," which means he's one of many deities with sea-based ElementalPowers. Likewise, he can't "see the future," but thanks to his and Mirasol's ReincarnationRomance, he [[RetroactivePrecognition "sees patterns."]]
67	** In the newly-colonized Philippines, when their demigod daughter wants to [[BestServedCold kill one of the Spaniard's children to avenge her sister's stillbirth,]] she deems it a fair punishment, but Haik retorts that [[EquivalentExchange "equal"]] does not mean "fair."
68	** Haik is called a "tricksome" god in the myth of the sambar-prince and he's been noted to TakeAThirdOption when solving problems; it's later revealed that he's a fusion of Paikea and [[TricksterGod Maui,]] so he probably split some of Maui's trickster aspects with his cousin Lumawig.
69	** PlayedWith regarding Itak and Banog's demigod status. Haik keeps saying he "changed his mind" about making them gods, but ''they'' retort that the Spaniard made him do it.
70	* IntangibleTheft / ImpossibleTheft: As with most fire-bringer myths, Haik teams up with Lumawig to steal back fire-making from [[TheOldGods their volcano-god grandfather.]]
71	* KillTheGod: Courtesy of the Spaniard, though it's an extreme KickTheDog moment since the goddess in question wasn't even born yet.
72	* LiteralMetaphor: Dragons are referred to as "the crocodile's ancestors" with shout-outs to ''Film/JurassicPark,'' and the author notes on Facebook that she based them on [[DinosaursAreDragons folk-memories of crocodile's dinosaur ancestors.]]
73	** The story's figuratively meant to be a Filipino counterpart to ''Film/WhaleRider.'' For the literal meaning, Haik the Whale Rider used to be Paikea of New Zealand before [[GoingNative he went native among the ancient Tagalogs.]]
74	** Haik tells Mirasol that when Maori sailors came to the Philippines, Haik was born "when the sailors got drunk and told each other stories." The Tagalogs named him "Haik" since he came from the east, like the sun, so [[IKnowYourTrueName he became a separate man from Paikea.]] Paikea eventually went back to New Zealand, but Haik's stories grew more and more elaborate until he [[LegendFadesToMyth became a sea-god.]]
75	** When Haik takes Mirasol sailing in his newly-returned paraw, he sings about how "the wind in the south is his cousin." Later on, he reveals that his cousin Lumawig has four older brothers, who are indeed [[AnthropomorphicPersonification the Four Winds.]]
76	** PlayedWith when Haik tells Mirasol in their last life about his journey to the Philippines; when he says "Paikea is a different person from Haik," he means it literally, but Mirasol [[MundaneSolution mistakenly thinks]] that he hated his home so much, he [[MeaningfulRename renamed himself.]]
77	* LivingShip: Haik begins a story by saying that in TheTimeOfMyths, the Tagalogs used to [[DragonRider travel the seas on dragons,]] which implies that the common Filipino tradition of putting crocodile-head prows on their ships are a folk-memory of that. Haik's traditional ''paraw'' is the trope's more common form of "a sentient (wooden) boat."
78	** In the conclusion, the gods' ''balangay'' mothership [[spoiler: is Lola the dragon.]]
79	* LordOfTheOcean: DownplayedTrope with Haik; he's not the ''master'' of the ocean (seeing as [[ExactWords he's not the personification of the sea),]] but he's [[FamilyOfChoice an honorary brother to the whales]] and it's implied that ''all the other sea-creatures'' view him as a "relative:" Mirasol has a vision where a huge flock of sea-creatures comes up from the deep ocean [[spoiler: and [[BigDamnHeroes flanks the gods' balangay ship]] to find Haik]], the kraken himself calls Haik "Kuya" (big brother) and brings back his heart, and a pod of orcas in the spirit-world help Haik's son Banog find the ICE officers' ship where he's being detained.
80	* LossOfIdentity: Haik is constantly in despair about how he has no more songs/myths, rituals, or followers, saying that there's "nothing left of him" to help or fight back against their circumstances. It's especially bad since he's a DeityOfHumanOrigin, and the sky-voice tells Mirasol that [[ItOnlyWorksOnce he can't just go back to being human.]]
81	* MayflyDecemberRomance: PlayedWith. Haik is a god and Mirasol is mortal, but she's been reincarnated for different lifetimes. The problem is not her individual lifespans, but [[WhoWantsToLiveForever how Haik remembers ALL of them.]]
82	* MetaphoricallyTrue: ThatManIsDead appears in its usual form since Haik stopped using his "whale-rider" epithet out of trauma, and [[BerserkButton gets angry when Mirasol calls him that.]] However, it also shows up metaphorically thanks to the heavy folklore themes: While Haik acknowledges his Polynesian roots and cultural ties as Paikea the Whale-Rider, he emphasizes that he's not just "the Tagalog version of Paikea" anymore but an entirely separate figure, and [[GoingNative he now identifies as Filipino instead of Maori.]] As noted above, it turns out to be a LiteralMetaphor since [[IKnowYourTrueName the Tagalogs gave him a new name.]]
83	* {{Motif}}: Crocodiles and whales are obviously heavy symbols.
84	** Memories. And the LOSS of them.
85	** A lot of metaphors involve the sea or sailing, thanks to Haik being a sea-god descended from Polynesians. It also emphasizes the connection between [[BornUnderTheSail various Austronesian cultures.]]
86	** HumanSacrifice, and the related trope of [[ImAHumanitarian human CONSUMPTION.]]
87	** Family. And the loss of them.
88	* {{Mythopoeia}}: A fusion of Tagalog beliefs and fictional myths feature prominently throughout the narrative. Thanks to the destruction of native Tagalog culture, whatever Haik tells Mirasol only gives her [[FanFicFuel a ton of different questions.]]
89	* NameThatUnfoldsLikeLotusBlossom: Done to give the {{Mythopoeia}} an oral-tradition feel; Haik's many titles are full of this, "Hina who follows the moon" is his older sister, "Lumawig the last-born" is the youngest of five, and Mayari-who-is-the-moon, naturally, [[AnthropomorphicPersonification is the moon herself.]]
90	* TheOldGods: When Haik and Lumawig [[IntangibleTheft have to steal back fire,]] their grandfather who's hoarding it up is an unnamed volcano-god [[GrandpaGod with white hair,]] who [[NatureSpirit lived in Mount Pulag]] before it went cold. He's also [[ScrewPolitenessImASenior verbally abusive to both grandsons,]] and after giving humans the ability to make fire, [[JerkassGod he took it back because he didn't think they were respecting him properly anymore.]]
91	** Lola the dragon is a literal example of the trope; she tells Mirasol that she and Haik's grandfather were [[TheNameless born before humans started giving things names,]] and they are largely {{Anthropomorphic Personification}}s of nature. While they enjoy worship, they don't ''need'' it nearly as much as the young gods like Haik and Bathala (seeing as Haik's grandfather took fire away from his own worshipers, due to perceived lack of respect).
92	* OurGodsAreDifferent: The Tagalog deities are immortal but can be killed, though it takes a LOT of effort to kill an adult; moreover, Haik notes that [[ToHellAndBack he can sail back from the afterlife,]] and he himself is a DeityOfHumanOrigin as Paikea is a Maori ancestor-figure. Their stillborn first daughter is always referred to as a goddess and was born as an extremely scaled-down whale calf. Their demigod children are mortals with SuperNotDrowningSkills and {{Animorphism}} powers, but were barred from being full gods because Haik "changed his mind" after making such public claims about his children's divinity caused their sister's death.
93	** Lola the dragon and the volcano-god are about Bathala's age, do not need worship like the regular Tagalog pantheon, and [[TheNameless have no proper names]] because [[TimeAbyss they were born before people started giving them.]]
94	* OurSoulsAreDifferent: In addition to heavy focus on {{Reincarnation}} in general, souls can be broken through trauma. The ancient Tagalogs believed that men and women had different souls, and that LGBT people (especially transgender people) had "souls that do not match their body." The myth of the sambar deer hinges on the fact that different species have different souls, as BecomeARealBoy denotes.
95	** It's noted that [[PiecesOfGod gods' souls routinely split into different aspects.]] The Polynesian Maui has three different "pieces" in the Tagalog pantheon: Bathala and Lumawig are the most obvious ones who share many of Maui's myths, and it's revealed that Haik himself is a third aspect of him, in addition to being a folk-memory of Paikea. Haik also notes that the Tagalog version of Mayari is much younger than the Kapampangan Mayari, who intentionally split off a piece of herself [[GodIsGood because she enjoyed the Fil-Americans' worship.]]
96	** The souls of dead children may become demons if they're [[BreakTheCutie miserable and get lost on the way to the afterlife,]] similar to real-life Filipino beliefs. It's quite a contrast to adults: Haik mentions that Mirasol's soul [[AstralProjection often wanders around when she's asleep,]] and the only issue is that there are no more Tagalog shamans/elders who can teach her to manage it properly.
97	* PowerTattoo: ImpliedTrope with Haik's crocodile tattoos, since he often turns into [[NeverSmileAtACrocodile a saltwater crocodile]] or [[OurDragonsAreDifferent a dragon.]] Also, ''all Filipino tattoos'' are spiritual links to one's community--since Haik was forced to take most of his off to avoid (even more) [[TattooAsCharacterType profiling as a criminal,]] the other gods haven't found him for centuries.
98	* PrematureBirthDrama: As with many incarnations of the Polynesian Maui, Lumawig was born premature. His parents grieve heavily and give the still-living baby a sea-funeral, since they may have seen this as a MercyKill. He gets fostered by mermaids, but before they saw he was [[SuperNotDrowningSkills sleeping quietly in the water]] and therefore a god's child, [[ImAHumanitarian they were going to eat him.]]
99	* PrimalFear: Haik's isolation and loneliness is a major character point, and the fear of being hunted/eaten by {{Sea Monster}}s (both real and mythical) is a constant motif since Haik is the crocodile-god.
100	** In Chapter 16, the whale-goddess summons ''a massive horde'' of sharks, seabirds, and Humboldt squid, commonly known as ''el diablo rojo.'' They're initially happy to see Haik after so long apart, but [[GaiasVengeance quickly become furious]] when they find out he's getting deported again. During a fight with the ICE officers, Haik gets thrown overboard [[MakeAnExampleOfThem to make everyone else stop protesting,]] and they assume he's a goner. They aren't far off--the wounded Haik sparks a feeding frenzy with his blood and [[OhCrap starts getting dragged farther into the deep]] when a nearby mob of squid [[HorrorHunger start eating their own wounded.]] Haik [[DeathSeeker just lets himself sink]] and mostly hopes that he passes out BEFORE he gets eaten. [[spoiler: Good thing the gods' ''balangay'' showed up so Lumawig could fish Haik back to the surface.]]
101	** The sea in general is dangerous, and the unexplained arrival of ''many'' threatening sea-creatures is constantly sending the immigrants into mass-panics.
102	* {{Reincarnation}}
103	* ReincarnationRomance: Between Haik and Mirasol.
104	* RuleOfSymbolism: In the story, whales symbolism joy, love, and freedom, while crocodiles symbolize war and protection. Haik and Mirasol's unborn daughter was a scaled-down whale calf, and their other children were shapeshifters who preferred to be crocodiles.
105	** Haik's extensive tattoos have nearly vanished due to his trauma (and the need to avoid {{Profiling}}), but have begun to reappear after Mirasol tells him [[spoiler: her vision of the other gods coming to find them.]]
106	** Mirasol's heart is a mangrove tree, which lives in saltwater.
107	** In the conclusion: After Haik has been tossed off of ICE's corvette to [[PrimalFear either drown in the open ocean]] or [[SeaMonster get eaten by frenzied sea-creatures,]] he's saved [[DivineIntervention by the other gods finally reaching him.]] Once he's hauled back out of the ocean, [[TattooAsCharacterType ALL of his tattoos have reappeared.]]
108	* SeaMonster:
109	** Haik often takes the form of a huge saltwater crocodile, but in one of Mirasol's past-life dreams, he transformed into [[DinosaursAreDragons "a crocodile's ancestor"]] which was ''the size of a ship.'' Moreover, one of his epithets is "(he) who breaks the ships in his teeth." Their demigod daughter also returns as an Asian-type dragon, which are all naturally {{Sea Monster}}s in appearance.
110	** [[KrakenAndLeviathan A bioluminescent kraken]] appears in the twelfth chapter, when Mirasol is wandering the Otherworld and gets stranded in the middle of the ocean. Despite his scary appearance, [[DarkIsNotEvil he's very friendly]] and not only helps Mirasol get back to shore, he returns Haik's heart. [[FluffyTheTerrible The cuttlefish call him "Kuya" (big brother).]]
111	** The ''diablo rojo'' are less an individual large sea-monster and more a ZergRush of smaller ones.
112	* SexForSolace: Haik and Mirasol already had sex several times after she [[ReincarnationRomance remembered their relationship,]] but at the end of the tenth chapter, [[HeartTrauma Haik's heart leaves (temporarily) for the ocean.]] He's extremely depressed without it, and ''she's'' upset that [[ButForMeItWasTuesday he's used to it.]]
113	* ShoutOut: To ''Film/WhaleRider'' through Haik's shared title with the Maori figure Paikea, and both stories' themes of (almost-)lost traditions.
114	** Mirasol compares a Filipino dragon's roar to ''Film/JurassicPark's'' T-Rex, and refers to the Filipino myths that Haik tells her as those from "a lost world."
115	** She also wonders if she'd be called [[Series/GameOfThrones the Mother of Filipino Dragons]] since their children liked to shapeshift into crocodiles, which were considered dragons in Filipino lore.
116	** The Polynesian Maui is [[DecompositeCharacter split into pieces]] in the Tagalog pantheon, which fit the LandSeaSky trinity: Bathala is the creator-god tied to the land, while Lumawig is the trickster wind-deity. It's later revealed that Haik himself has the last "piece" of Maui, as a BornUnderTheSail voyager with a sister called Hina.
117	* SmallRoleBigImpact: Mirasol's boss in the newly-colonized Philippines is only called [[CaptainObvious her master]] or [[RaceNameBasis "the Spaniard."]] His major action is [[ImperiledInPregnancy shooting the heavily-pregnant Mirasol]] to [[RevengeByProxy make Haik shut up about being an islander deity,]] which clinches the DeathOfTheOldGods.
118	* StarCrossedLovers: DownplayedTrope. Haik and Mirasol aren't ''prevented'' from being together, but all the traumas happening to them seriously strain their relationship(s).
119	* SupernaturallyYoungParent: Haik is this by default since he's a god who's [[TheAgeless eternally young and healthy,]] but Mirasol also becomes one after their demigod daughter returns. [[spoiler: And then when their whale-goddess daughter shows up with the other Tagalog deities as a young woman.]]
120	* MysticalPregnancy: Of the "conceived normally, but something happens during pregnancy." When Mirasol gets [[ImperiledInPregnancy shot by the Spaniard,]] the baby [[HarmfulToMinors starts thrashing around in pain.]] When Haik and past-Lloyd take her to a shaman for help, [[RuleOfSymbolism she delivers a tiny whale-calf]] that ends up [[TragicStillbirth stillborn.]]
121	* TheTimeOfMyths: Haik tells Mirasol a JustSoStory about how the bleeding-heart dove got the "bloody" red feathers on its chest.
122	-->'''Haik:''' ''The old days were when the dragons still lived, the crocodile’s ancestors. They carried us across the water, so we did not need ships. The toothed whales had not been betrayed by the sharks yet, and so did not eat meat in vengeance. And so in the old days, the '''dumugong-puso''' [[ShellShockedVeteran had not yet grown tired of fighting.]]''
123	* TimeAbyss: Haik's grandfather and Bathala were young men [[CreationMyth before Bathala made humans.]] Lola the dragon is only slightly younger, since she was born [[ExpositionOfImmortality before people started naming things.]]
124	* TraumaticHaircut: Tagalog women often cut their hair as a sign of mourning. Langa-an the North Wind cuts her hair in grief when her child Lumawig is born premature.
125	* TragicStillbirth: Mirasol's Spanish master [[ImperiledInPregnancy shot the heavily pregnant Mirasol]] after Haik told him that their child would be a god, and their daughter's stillbirth has ''hugely'' traumatized Haik. Their later children grow up [[TroublingUnchildlikeBehavior angry, warlike, and far too protective of their mother.]] Since this started piling [[StarCrossedLovers more trauma and death]] onto their ReincarnationRomance, Haik is constantly reminded of their daughter's death and [[SafetyInIndifference he's afraid of changing things in case he makes it worse.]]
126	* TroublingUnchildlikeBehavior: DownplayedTrope. After their first daughter died, Haik and Mirasol's next two children grow up serious, angry, and overprotective of Mirasol before twenty years old.
127	* TurtleIsland: The literal spirit of Turtle Island, often referred to as the (Great) Turtle, shows up in Chapter 13 as Mirasol and Haik's souls are figuring out a plan to avoid getting deported. The Turtle is {{Kaiju}}-sized with a painted shell, and she speaks both English and Spanish.
128	* WasOnceAMan: The souls of dead children become demons if they're [[BreakTheCutie scared or miserable for too long,]] and they often get lost in the afterlife. Langa-an resurrects her adopted son to avoid this, and the mermaid couple who adopts Lumawig also take him in to prevent him from becoming a demon. Later on it's noted that since children are too young to get tattoos, their ancestors have a hard time finding them.
129	* WhoWantsToLiveForever: The issue with Haik and Mirasol's relationship isn't necessarily her individual lifespans or the unlucky patterns she's caught up in, but how Haik ''remembers all of it.'' [[TraumaCongaLine All his trauma's just been accumulating over his extremely long life.]]

Context Literature / TheCrocodileGod