Mictlantecihuatl (left) and Mictlantecuhtli jointly rule over Mictlan, the Underworld, at the center of the Earth. They are the Lord and Lady of the dead. On the way to the Underworld, the dead are transformed to Mictlantecuhtli's image, a skeleton, by a wind of knives. After this, and numerous other ordeals in Mictlan, a soul was permitted to go to the home of the death gods where life went on happily and there was good company and much feasting and dancing.