Sawerigading is the great hero of the Bugis La Galigo cycle and its central human figure, a prince of Luwuq descended in the third generation from the sky: he is the grandson of Batara Guru and We Nyiliq Timoq (through their son Batara Lattuq) and thus the great-grandson of the supreme god Patotoqe. Coming of age, he falls in love with his twin sister We Tenriabeng, but their union is forbidden as an incest that would destroy the realm; the twins are parted, and Sawerigading vows to seek a bride who resembles her. To this end the colossal tree Welenrengnge is felled — the episode Ritumpanna Welenrengnge — and from its timber his great ship is built, in which he voyages as far as China to win the princess We Cudai, who is said to resemble We Tenriabeng. Their son is I La Galigo, after whom the whole epic is named. As a seafaring, restless, formidable captain who crosses the upper, middle and lower worlds, Sawerigading became the archetypal Bugis culture-hero, and is associated in tradition with the founding line of the kings of Luwuq.