A God I Am Not

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.

"Janey tells me she's afraid; she says I'm like a god now. I tell her I don't think there is a God. And if there is, I'm nothing like Him."

Doctor Manhattan, Watchmen

The Opposite Trope to A God Am I.

This is a character who is godlike, yet dislikes the comparison and firmly identifies themself as a mortal. They may be a godlike Flying Brick a la Superman, a Reality Warper like Doctor Manhattan, a Physical God like Tom Bombadil, or someone who somehow got the powers and duties of an actual god. The crux of their rationale is usually that they are still mortal, human, and terrestrial in enough ways that they don't want to make the claim. Maybe they still think in mortal terms about time and morality, and aren't a Time Abyss or Above Good and Evil. Maybe they don't want the responsibility all that power entails. Then again, it may just be the thought of being actively worshipped that's squicky to them.

Where this gets interesting is when a character who fits all the criteria for a god (and may even be one in the setting's cosmology) still chooses not to think of themselves that way because it would drive them mad. With all that power Samaritan Syndrome could make them take responsibility for every bad thing that happens. On the other end, power corrupts, and the Pride in claiming godhood might make them evil. Then again, they could develop a Blue and Orange Morality from the sheer alien experience of it and grow divorced from their mortal roots, which they adamantly oppose.

Generally, this character is someone who can be trusted not to let omnipotence go to their head, and may even actively seek to get Depowered or pass on the mantle because it's too much of a hassle. Usually this character was at one point a mortal who got Super Empowered into the job, though an actual god may take this position out of disdain for their peer's Jerkass God behavior.

A heckuva lot of Mary Sue characters fit this bill. See also Humble Hero. See also Unwanted False Faith, when a regular Joe becomes the target of religious adoration and is firmly opposed to it.

Compare Stop Worshipping Me!, which is specifically about anyone who discourage being worshipped for any of a number of reasons.

Examples of A God I Am Not include:

Anime and Manga

  • Anthy from Revolutionary Girl Utena is the Rose Bride: the immortal or possibly undying holder of the all-powerful Sword of Dios. She just wants to be a normal girl and is generally depressed about being the Rose Bride.
    • Inverted by her power-mad and also immortal or possibly undying brother Akio, who wants the power of Dios for himself.
  • Medaka from Medaka Box. Numerous characters including her siblings remark on her being the pinnacle of perfection. Yet she sees herself as just another flawed being (which admittedly is true) though this may be through a desire to convince herself of that rather than anyone else.
  • Zig-zagged in Osamu Tezuka's Black Jack. On the one hand, people often refer to Black Jack as 'the surgeon with the hands of God'; but on the other many of this series' stories revolve around how doctors can't fix everything, and that even the most brilliant surgeon in the world can occasionally lose patients to arbitrary causes.
  • Yurie from Kamichu! is completely unassuming and seems vaguely uncomfortable about the obligations of her new divine status.
  • In One Piece, most of the Celestial Dragons are Upper Class Twits who claim to be gods; the only two with any redeeming qualities - Homing and Mjosgard of the Donquixote family - are also the only ones to publicly admit they are only human.

Comic Books

  • Watchmen has Dr. Manhattan himself.
  • The Mighty Thor is a borderline example. Generally speaking, he's fine with calling himself a god, or being called such (being part of a pagan pantheon helps), but doesn't encourage actual worship. This attitude contrasts with Superman's, who actually does deny that he's a god actively, but usually has more "worshippers" than Thor does.
  • Superman has been the recipient of worship, and even the odd church or two set up in his name. He's been described as an angel on a number of occasions. This makes him very uncomfortable, though his discouragement has often times only increased the faith of his followers.
  • During The Clone Saga, in one encounter with Judas Traveler, Spider-Man goes postal on him and shouts that he's "not God"; Traveler quickly responds by saying that no, he is not. As Spider-Man eventually learns, Traveler doesn't have godlike powers, or even come close; he simply has the power to alter people's perceptions so that they believe he does.
  • Galactus has powers that rival those of actual gods like Zeus and Odin, but despite his massive ego, he denies being a god and scoffs at the mortal belief that having incredible power gives one the right to call himself one. As he tells the Sphinx:

Galactus: You share the folly of all your lowly species. You believe that power itself makes one a God! But even Galactus, to whom all is possible, even Galactus whose every passing whim becomes reality — even Galactus is no God.

  • In the Captain Mar-Vell's mini-series, the hero is not happy that there's a cult worshipping him:

Cult Leader: Oh my God...
Mar-Vell: I hope you don't mean that literally.

Fan Works

  • Link feels this way after reclaiming his godhood in The Legend of Link: Lucky Number 13, preferring to retain his mortal mindset (and family). He hates the flippancy of the other gods, especially his three aunts, and refuses to behave the way they do.
    • Much later in the story he finally embraces the orderly, precise mindset of a god - but makes it clear that he can go back and forth between the two at will.
  • In the Nobody Dies side story Six AI's, One Continent, the Reego (or at the very least Una) are not entirely pleased with the humans they've been rescuing and looking after forming a cult and worshipping them. Except for Tres, who milks this for all its worth with a race of sapient arachnids who mistook her for a god.
  • Pops up near the end of Ponies Make War: Twilight taps into the full power of the Elements of Harmony during the Final Battle, and acknowledges to herself that she's become a Physical God... and she's horrified by the concept, stating that nopony should have that much power.
  • Combined with Unwanted False Faith in the Mega Crossover No Tendo, where the former Jaffa and slaves of Apophis worship Hotaru "Sailor Saturn" Tomoe as a goddess. Perversely, her protests that she isn't a goddess and her requests that they not worship her, combined with her sweet and kind nature, make them worship her all the more.

Literature

  • Just because Matthew Swift came back from the dead supercharged and full of Electric Blue Angels does not mean he's anything like God. Please stop asking.
  • The Eschaton, from Charles Stross's novels Singularity Sky and Iron Sunrise.
  • Lightsong from Warbreaker is a Returned, a person who died and got raised from the dead by some unknown force, the Returned are worshiped as gods by people in the country of Hallandren, where the story takes place, but Lightsong doesn't see things that way.
  • Also from Brandon Sanderson, in The Alloy of Law, part of Harmony's sacred book that sets forth his religion is an explicit prohibition against actually worshipping Harmony. Of course, if you've read the original Mistborn trilogy, you'll know that this is because Harmony is Sazed.
  • Borderline example in Percy Jackson and The Olympians, where Percy is offered godhood as thanks for saving Olympus from the Titans, but turns it down, instead asking that the Gods recognise all of their Half-Blood children.
  • Ardneh denied being a god at the end of the Empire of the East trilogy by Fred Saberhagen, and instructed Rolf that humanity must cease to worship limited beings. It didn't really help, because thousands of years later, at the time of the Books of Swords series, he was still being worshiped, despite having been dead for thousands of years.
  • Arthur Penhaligon from Keys to the Kingdom keeps insisting he's not planning on acting as the Heir to the Architect (that 'verse's God) but no one believes him, and he keeps having to conquer more and more of The House in self-defense.

Live-Action TV

  • The Ancients from Stargate SG-1 do this. Making them a direct contrast to just about every sufficiently advanced race, and if I recall the Tauri on more than one occasion.
    • Granted the Tauri have also used this trope their fair share.
  • In Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "Who Watches the Watchers", when the advanced technology of the Enterprise causes a planet's primitive inhabitants to believe Picard is a god, to the point where they start to form a crude religion worshipping him (an extreme member believing he might want blood sacrifices) some colleges from Star Fleet suggest he humor them, hopefully encouraging a benevolent faith among them. But Picard adamantly refuses, claiming such lies would cause far more problems than they would solve. Unfortunately, defying godhood seems surprisingly difficult here, and only when he is injured - proving his body is mortal - do they realize their mistake.

Tabletop Games

  • The God-Emperor of Warhammer 40,000, although his countless followers would say otherwise.
    • Specifically, he tried to construct an Imperium based on complete atheism, despite the fact that he knew full well about Chaos gods and demons. Of course, since Chaos gets even stronger with DIRECT worship he had good reason. There's speculation that he didn't want the temptation that being the object of all that affection would bring... Not that there was much difference between the "reverence" of the days of the Crusade and the "worship" of the later Imperium.
  • The Lady of Pain from Planescape has apparently limitless ability to enforce her rules within Sigil (to the point where actual deities obey her dictum that keeps them out). She doesn't have many of these rules, but one of them is that you absolutely must not worship the Lady of Pain as anything remotely approaching divine.
    • It's speculated that her rejection of worshippers is the reason the actual gods stay out: they'll respect her territory as long as she respects theirs.

Video Games

  • Final Fantasy II's Emperor Mateus is like this, though he eventually ascends to godhood.
  • In Terranigma, Ark essentially invokes this by not responding to A God Is You.
  • The geth in Mass Effect worship Sovereign as a god, but Sovereign is kind of insulted by the comparison. Evidently gods have nothing on Reapers.
  • Advent Rising: Even though humans are worshiped as gods by some of the alien races (for a darn good reason too), Gideon (MC) always denies it whenever he is called one. However, much later he comes to realization what this image still entails some consequences. Also, one of the surviving humans jokes that he "[is]n't the only demigod around here" when she demonstrates her powers for the first time.
  • Asura from Asura's Wrath is openly disgusted when humans begin bowing and scraping to him, and is infuriated when he learns that his former comrades are using their "divine" status to harvest souls for Mantra, declaring that there is no need for gods "that only take". But the pinnacle of this attitude comes about when Chakravartin tries to convince him to become an all powerful god. His answer is succinct and pointed: "I refuse."

Web Comics

  • In Homestuck, Doc Scratch states that he has powers and wisdom far surpassing a god, but is not one. He's only the herald, after all.
    • Also, Gods are a specific type of immortal, who can be killed if their death is either righteous or just. Scratch does not have this limitation.

Web Original

  • The SCP Foundation has SCP-2662, which zigzags this Trope. It seems to be a teenage version of Cthulhu, and like its more famous relative, attracts cults of worshipers. (This might actually be a curse it is afflicted with, or some ability to compel humans to worship it, an ability it cannot control.) However, it finds this attention unwanted and disgusting, only wanting them to leave it alone. It has even suggested they try other, more respected religions. However, it also has suggested it might be open to such things when it gets older, the likely reason it is classified as a Keter.

Western Animation

Katara: Why didn't you tell us you were the Avatar?
Aang: Because I never wanted to be.

  • Princess Celestia from My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic is a powerful alicorn who controls the sun, but prefers to be treated as a normal person. It's the same with Luna, although her outdated mannerisms make her seem more haughty and intimidating than she actually is.
  • In the Grand Finale of Generator Rex, Rex gains the full power of the Meta-Nanites as his family always intended and he becomes a Physical God. He only uses that power once to initiate a global Cure event before deciding that he doesn't want godhood and orders the Meta-Nanites to shut down so that no one, including himself, can access such power ever again.