Donaji

* Normal
* 9 year old
* Glyph

**Donaji** ("Great Soul") is the protagonist of *Codex Black*, along with Itzcacalotl.

A young Zapotec girl from the village of Quie Yelaag who left on a quest to find her father, who vanished 11 years ago. Wears a magical *poncho* inhabited by the god Chicahualizteotl.

She's also the protagonist of her own short animated film: *Donaji & The Magical Poncho* (2017) , which takes place 5 years before the events in *Codex Black.*

## Name

**Donaji** (pronounced *do.na.HEE*) is a Zapotec name meaning "Great Soul", probably originally spoken as *Tonaxii,* from *dona* or *tona* "soul", "spirit", and *jii* or *xii* "rich", "magnanimous", "wide", "thick". It is also the name of the legendary (historical?) princess Donaji, from the popular Oaxacan legend, although both characters are completely unrelated.

Her calendar name is **Bilachi** (10-Jaguar) in the Zapotec sacred calendar, *Píye*.

## Character

### Appearance

Donaji is a very short girl for her age (1.36 m), which makes her look even more childish. Has an overall slim figure, but strong legs and arms that don't appear delicate at all upon closer inspection.

Her long black hair falls down past her waist. She is easily recognizable because of her antennae-like cowlick, which often reacts with her when shocked or angry (it disappears when she's asleep, rumors say it's solar-powered).

She has a severe case of "permanent blush-stickers" (won't go away as much as you wash them).

All in all, most other characters agree that she's an extremely cute girl, although it does contrast with her strong personality.

#### Clothing

Donaji wears a variety of dresses. The first *huipil* she's seen wearing in Chapter 1, which has the same design as the one she's wearing as a kid in the animation, was made by Béelia, as Donaji has absolutely no skill when it comes to weaving (or cooking, or any household activities whatsoever). All the other dresses she owns are designed and woven by Itzcacalotl, who eagerly makes them for her. As mentioned by her mother, Donaji tends to be quite rough and usually ends up tearing and ruining her dresses in no time. She may not be careful with them, but even she enjoys dressing up from time to time, and deep down appreciates it whenever Itzcacalotl has a new outfit for her (although she's constantly afraid that someday he'll make her wear something as ridiculous as he does).
Donaji's various outfits maintain the same white and red color palette, with few variations, and often times display the glyph for *tonalli* ("soul") as a reference to her name's meaning.

Most of the time she's seen wearing her *poncho* on top of her regular clothing though.

She also wears a pair of green stone bracelets with golden rims and standard Mesoamerican sandals (*cactli*).

## Life

### Pre-Codex Black

#### Childhood

Born in 1478. Left by her father when she was 4.

#### Donaji & the Magical Poncho - 1488

Beat Itztlacoliuhqui but has trauma as a result.

## Trivia

* She likes her food **extra spicy**!
* Her favorite historical character is the Mixtec Lady 6-Monkey (doesn't know much about history though).
* She makes fun of Itzcacalotl for his poor drawing skills in Chapter 5, right after he presented a drawing of Chinapii. However, it is later revealed that Donaji's drawings are far worse to the point of being **disturbing**. She doesn't seem to be aware of it though and probably believes herself to be some sort of genius.

## Gallery

Donaji's character bioDonaji's various outfits, designed by ItzcacalotlDonaji kid, teen & adultFirst drawing of Donaji ever (2011)Donaji as seen in the maps.

1. ↑ Martínez Gracida, Manuel. *El Rey Cosijoeza y Su Familia: Reseña Histórica y Legendaria de los Últimos Soberanos de Zaachila*. Mexico, 1888. p. 164.
2. ↑ Alcina Franch, José. *Calendario y Religión entre los Zapotecos*. Mexico: UNAM, 1993.
3. ↑ As seen in the *MiniCodex* #2: https://tapas.io/episode/1402143
4. ↑ Both the bracelets and footwear were actually restricted for higher social classes, so it doesn't make sense for a peasant like Donaji to have them. They just sticked with her design from the earliest stages.