Editor’s Note: The following contains spoilers for Dark Winds Season 3 Episode 2.The third season of the acclaimed AMC+ thriller Dark Winds is now streaming and showrunner Graham Roland has delivered a new threat that will take Navajo Nation Police officers Joe Leaphorn (Zahn MClarnon) and Jim Chee (Kiowa Gordon) to the brink. Dark Winds is based on the series of novels “Leaphorn & Chee” by Tony Hillerman and boasts executive producers Robert Redford and George R.R. Martin (both make surprise cameos this season). In the very first scene of Episode 1, a petrified Leaphorn has an encounter with a terrifying creature in the dark desert that sets the stage for a potential antagonist in Season 3. It is later revealed that they may be dealing with the ancient and mystical Navajo entity known as Ye’iitsoh. The audience has seen brief glimpses of what may be Ye’iitsoh, but after two episodes, it is clear that Roland will slowly roll out what this creature is and is capable of during Leaphorn and Chee’s investigation.
What Is Ye’iitsoh in ‘Dark Winds’?
Translated from the Navajo, Ye’iitsoh means “Big monster” or “Big God,” and Leaphorn and Chee are told that this monster is involved in the disappearance of two young Navajo boys. In the Navajo culture, the Ye’iitsoh is the equivalent to the Sasquatch, boogeyman, or the La Llorona monster of Hispanic folklore. It is believed that no monster is more powerful or feared in the Navajo nation than the Ye’iitsoh. As it has been told and handed down over the years, Ye’iitsoh was a member of the Anaye, a collection of evil god-like monsters in Navajo mythology. Its appetite for eating humans was unmatched as it roamed the plains, slaying and eating the Diné.
Ye’iitsoh threatened to wipe out the Diné, either by eating all their food or the people. It is said that he put fistfuls of people into his jagged, toothy mouth all at once. The legend also goes that he was killed by two brave twins who were the sons of the sun carrier god, Tsohanoai. Similar versions have them as the twin sons of the sun, Jóhonaaʼéí. The twins were endowed with the gifts of lightning bolts and arrows made of sunbeams from their father, which they used to mortally wound Ye’iitsoh and kill him. The first episode of the season is bookended by references to the Navajo monster, and it will be a significant storyline moving forward.
The Second Episode of ‘Dark Winds’ Appears to Confirm the Ye’iitsoh
In the premiere of Dark Winds‘s third season, both Leaphorn and Chee are skeptical that Ye’iitsoh could be involved in the abductions, but in the second episode, as Leaphorn investigates further, he becomes more and more convinced that they are indeed dealing with something that cannot be easily explained. Leaphorn is plagued by inexplicable visions of what looks like Ye’iitsoh. In the final scene of Episode 2, Leaphorn is convinced that this is no ordinary man. His final line conveys that he is sure that the Ye’iitsoh is involved as he simply says, “It’s him,” and the end credits roll.
It will be interesting to see how Roland continues to insert this mythical being into the storyline of Season 3. This is a new element for the critically acclaimed show, and the use of Ye’iitsoh promises to be the moodiest and most frightening force that Leaphorn, Chee, and Bernadette Manuelito (Jessica Matten), who is now a Texas Border Patrol officer, have dealt with. While Season 2 addressed skinwalkers and witchcraft, this physical manifestation of Ye’iitsoh is far more visceral and intimidating. It also may be a device that is intended to play on Leaphorn’s guilt after he left B.J. Vines (John Diehl) out in the desert to die at the end of Season 2, and this is a psychological tool, showing that he is still emotionally tortured over his actions.
New episodes of Dark Winds stream Sundays on AMC+ in the U.S.
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