Is a Navajo Spirit Haunting Season 3 of 'Dark Winds'?

Dark Winds is back on AMC for a third season with the fantastic Zahn McClarnon as Lt. Joe Leaphorn. The first two seasons were rooted firmly in the sometimes harsh realities of Navajo reservation life and Native American activism in the 1970s. Leaphorn’s quest to uncover the truth behind the death of his son drove much of the plot. In season three, Leaphorn may be dealing with the repercussions of using “Diné Justice” to punish B.J. Vines, the rich white man responsible for the explosion that killed him.

Lt. Leaphorn seems at peace with his decision and his actions from last season. But he’s having visions of a mythical Navajo entity called Ye’iitsoh, which might mean there’s more going on beneath his calm surface. Is it a manifestation of his guilt and the grief he’s still processing over the death of his son? Or is there really a malevolent spirit kidnapping children from the reservation?

According to this site, Ye’iitsoh’s literal translation to English is “I don’t know what is going on.” If Ye’iitsoh looks anything like it does on Dark Winds, I don’t know what’s going on with it either. It’s a terrifying creature from Navajo folklore—the equivalent of La Llorona—sometimes described as “a towering giant whose perverse hunger threatened to extinguish all human life itself.”

In one version of the story, Ye’iitsoh is defeated by the twins Monster Slayer and Born for Water.

In an apocalyptic clash, the holy twins’ sacred lightning arrows and eternal wisdom were put through the grisliest tests of endurance against their nemesis’s ferocious onslaught. Though pushed to the very brink of their limits, the twins ultimately defeated the giant through a series of purifying rituals. Ye’iitsoh’s colossal, malformed body imploded into searing cosmic dust as balance was restored across the lands.

As season three starts, Leaphorn and Officer Jim Chee (Kiowa Gordon) are told Ye’iitsoh is to blame for the disappearance of two boys from their homes on the reservation. It’s easy for them to dismiss the idea as silly superstition—until Leaphorn starts catching glimpses of a mysterious creature at crime scenes. And in episode three, the monster seems to reveal itself to Leaphorn quite clearly while he’s searching an abandoned hunting cabin.

Maybe Ye’iitsoh has taken the two boys to exact revenge on them as avatars of the twins who destroyed it in the mythology. Maybe someone is trying to throw Leaphorn and Chee off the trail—or distract them from the truth—with a costume or a prop made to look like Ye’iitsoh. Before the startling confrontation in episode three, Leaphorn had only seen the creature out of the corner of his eye, in the dark, and in a moment of duress. While it’s fun to think Dark Winds might be taking a hard left turn into Supernatural territory, it seems unlikely.

The creators of Dark Winds have introduced us to aspects of Navajo spiritual practices and beliefs over the last two seasons. But the show has always remained grounded in realism, focusing on how those expressions of faith connect the Navajo as a community. The resolution to the kidnapping plot will most likely turn out to be mundane—but for now, we’re along for the ride as the characters dip their toes into the phantasmagorical this season.