And there was a fracas in which Captain Cook was killed by at least one Hawaiian. We know this from journals kept by various crewmen, but the historical controversy arises from the details and interpretation of his death. Why, in short, was Cook killed? The traditional view is that Cook was killed for some religious reason, although what isn't always clear. One of the most fleshed out versions of this story comes from the anthropologist Marshall Solins in his book Islands of History. So in the Hawaiian religious system, Ku, the god of war and human sacrifice, rules for eight or nine months out of the year. The other months are reserved for the fertility god, Lono.