Iktómi

Accounts vary by community. In several Lakota strands Iktómi appears among the earliest divine genealogies: one tradition names him as the first-born son of Inyan (the Rock), while some Oglala and other accounts present Iktómi as a later or degenerate manifestation of Ksa (the spirit or god of wisdom) after a sequence of mimicry and confusion involving figures called Gnaski/Ksapela. These variant narratives place Iktómi among primordial beings who shape language, stories and social technologies rather than as a single unified origin across all sources.

Iktómi's primary form is that of a spider; many stories explicitly describe his appearance as a spider. He is also a shapeshifter and is said to take human form on occasion; when described as human he is reported to wear red, yellow and white paint with black rings around his eyes. Narrative descriptions attribute spider-associated traits to him in stories (weaving, strings, puppetry) though sources indicate these are motifs in tales rather than a fixed physical trait of every human guise.

Stories portray Iktómi as a trickster-teacher who invents or transmits cultural goods (stories, names, games, and language in some strands) and as a being whose cunning both instructs and misleads. He is a shapeshifter, can use strings to control humans like puppets according to tale motifs, and in some accounts is said to make potions that can change gods or gain control over people. He alternately aids people with protective knowledge and brings harm; many tales emphasize that his intricate schemes often backfire, underlining his ambivalent moral valence.