In the cosmogony of the Humangili, a community located on the island of Ataúro in Timor-Leste, there is continuity between the living world and the world inhabited by the spirits of nature and ancestors. Physical death does not correspond to the end of individual existence, but only marks the separation between the immortal soul and the perennial and transient body. The Isik Runguk – the soul located in the head – once free from the body, can assume different forms and incorporate itself into other beings. One of the mythemes of the Humangili mythology is the belief that spirits maintain contact and interfere with people's lives and the social dynamics of the community. Its all-embracing influence can be noted, for example, in curing diseases, in the intensity of rain, in conflict resolution, in the results of harvests and fish catches, in dreams, and in punishments for transgressions. Based on these premises, in this essay I aim to investigate some of the possible points of contact between the belief in spirits of nature and ancestors and the meaning of the hero among the Humangili.