Chaos Entity

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A Chaos Entity is a Cosmic Entity such as an Anthropomorphic Personification, a God, or any other kind of being intimately connected to chaos. They represent chaos and anything related to it, like entropy. They may even be empowered by the chaos around them. Chaos is a force of change, and not all change is good; some such entities can be evil. They might be tricksters while being good in their own way. These beings might even find joy in seeing chaos unfolded by their own machination or just reality taking its natural course. However, their possible weakness in order that can counter chaos.

The concept of a being representing chaos is actually Older Than Dirt, which can be traced back to Mesopotamia. They are often depicted as causing some form of hardship in one way or another. This is related to Chaoskampf, which means "struggle against chaos" in German. Chaoskampf often has a heroic god fighting a monster related to chaos, usually a dragon or serpent. There is also the common concept of them being related to creation, destruction, and nature because natural phenomena, especially primordial deities, are viewed as one of their acts that can lead to creation or destruction.

Some Chaos Entities may be related to or even a source of Entropy and Chaos Magic.

Examples of Chaos Entity include:

Anime and Manga

  • Subverted with Nrvnqsr Chaos from Tsukihime, a Dead Apostle who is a living mass of chaos and doesn't identify himself as a physical being. This chaos allows him to birth various organisms and makes Nrvnqsr difficult to kill under normal conditions. Despite being made of chaos, he is not a being of chaos; otherwise, Nrvnqsr couldn't be killed at all.
  • In The Seven Deadly Sins, Chaos is a primordial entity that created the world and the five races from nothing. Chaos uses King Arthur as their physical vessel and awakens as the King of Chaos; this causes him to unconsciously alter reality due to lacking control over his power. He grows in proficiency while fighting Cath Palug, which leads him to accept his new power. After devouring King Arthur's arm, Cath Palug gains a fragment of Chaos, which gives him similar control over reality.
  • The Lord of Nightmares from the Slayers series is the creator of the four worlds. She is also the Sea of Chaos that makes up the universe, meaning she's omnipotent. There are even spells that use her power but are so powerful that a misfire can destroy the world.
  • Sailor Moon‍'‍s Sailor Stars arc in both the anime and manga have different explanations for what Chaos is:
    • The manga explains that Chaos is an abstract being that takes the form of different concrete villains to spread discord and destruction. It technically exists within the Cauldron of Stars, and destroying the Cauldron would destroy Chaos. Sailor Cosmos is supposed to be locked in an eternal battle with Chaos. Only she burned out and fled to the past to find another solution with Sailor Moon's help, posing as her little sister Chibi-Chibi.. Sailor Moon is urged to destroy the Cauldron, except it would also destroy new life. Instead, she opts to purify it, sacrificing her physical form and reviving everyone in Crystal Tokyo. Chaos is still out there but significantly more depowered.
    • The anime explains that Galaxia attempted to purify the universe by gathering all of its Chaos into her body, believing she could control it. That ended up not working; if you try to eliminate all Chaos, it will corrupt you from the inside out for its goals. When Galaxia realized she was becoming corrupted, she sent out her Star-seed, the Light of Hope, to find help before she destroyed the entire universe. This Star-seed would take the form of Chibi-Chibi after locating Sailor Moon. While Sailor Moon is urged to destroy Galaxia and Chaos with it, she certainly tries at first with her wand and then the Sword of Sealing. She realizes you can't destroy an inert force of evil without destroying its source: the sapient minds of humans and aliens. Instead, Sailor Moon uses her powers to purify Galaxia and dissipate Chaos and the Light of Hope. As she explains, humans need Chaos and hope in their hearts to share the burden rather than center it on one person.

Comic Books

  • The Marvel Universe:
    • Entropy is the son of Eternity and represents the Marvel Universe's entropy with powers stronger than his father, Eternity. His goal is to kill Eternity and end all of creation.
    • Lord Chaos is a being that personifies the concept of chaos through the universe and clashes with his opposite, Lord Order.
    • The In-Betweener is the embodiment of dualistic concepts such as order and chaos. He was created by Master Order and Lord Chaos and used his powers to resolve balances. He is compared to Galactus as his opposite, as he is a union of Eternity and Death; Galactus is the absence of both.

Fan Works

  • Toltiir, best known from The Bet cycle of fanfics from the late 1990s, is a former Elder God of Chaos, now enjoying semi-retirement as a much more relaxed God of Mischief. Originally created as a deity for author Gregg Sharp's The Fantasy Trip campaign and related fiction, he migrated into Sharp's fan writings, and from there became something of a Public Domain Character for the anime fanfiction community, later spreading outward beyond anime fic.

Literature

  • Eris from the Percy Jackson & the Olympians series is the Greek Goddess of Chaos, Strife, and Discord, who seems to work under Hermes.
    • The Egyptian God of Chaos is Set in the Kane Chronicles where his strength is tied with Osiris and Horus. He and his brothers are the only forces said to counter Apophis whenever the serpent rises. He can gain more power from anything that causes chaos, like storms, and become almost invincible.
    • Apophis is the manifestation of chaos and the main antagonist of the Kane Chronicles; he is the leader of the Forces of Chaos, an army made to fulfill his goal of swallowing Ra and plunging the world into eternal chaos.
  • Chaos appears in Magic Shop, posing as Mr. Elives's wife "Iris" actually Eris and sells Juliet Dove a Clingy MacGuffin necklace that makes guys interested in her. Juliet doesn't want this at all, especially since she's super-shy, which brings chaos into her life.
  • Azathoth from the Cthulhu Mythos is the ruler of the Outer Gods and is a symbol of chaos. He is said to be too horrible to describe and is the ancestor of the other deities, including Cthulhu, Yog-Sothoth, and Nyarlathotep. He is said to be the creator god but is a blind idiot who accidentally created everything. Reality is said to be Azathoth's dream, and if he wakes, it will be its end.
    • Nyarlathotep is known by many names, such as the God of a Thousand Forms, The Faceless God, and the Crawling Chaos. While most of the Outer Gods are more passive, he actively sows woe, madness, and chaos through the universe, which he accomplishes using his different forms and manipulations. He is vicious to the point that he delights in all the strife he causes. Even when he acts in kindness, there is a chance the person could lose their humanity at their cost.

Live-Action TV

  • Doctor Who: The Black Guardian embodies the force of chaos in the universe and uses this element throughout it.
  • The Sarah Jane Adventures: The Trickster is an extradimensional alien that feeds on chaos by making changes within the timeline, usually causing natural disasters.

Oral Tradition, Folklore, Myths and Legends

  • From Mesopotamian Mythology, Tiamat is the primordial goddess of the sea and is a symbol of chaos. She is said to have filled the cosmic abyss with her husband, Abzu, with primal waters and being the mother of monsters.
  • Egyptian Mythology:
    • Set or Seth is the god of deserts, storms, and chaos. He is considered one of the greatest gods of the Egyptian pantheon. He is also viewed as the god of foreigners and was equated to deities like Baal. The Greeks demonized him as evil, so he is regarded as antagonistic in later depictions. Set gets associated with the uncertainties and hardships of the desert, leading to his reputation becoming more ignoble. His conflicts with his mortal enemy, Apep, also lead him to be related to serpents. This is ironic because later interpretations led to him being seen as evil even though he is seen as one of the only gods who can defeat the chaotic serpent.
    • Apep, or Apophis in Greek, was the snake god of chaos, evil, and darkness. He was often seen as a serpent but later became seen as a dragon. Apep is said to try to eat the sun from under the horizon where the Dua t(the Egyptian Underworld) resides. He plagues Ra, tasked with raising the sun daily, but has guards, including his brother, Set.
  • Classical Mythology:
    • Chaos is the first thing that existed, and the Titans such as Gaia, Tartarus, and Eros were born from it.
    • Eris is the Greek goddess of discord and strife but wasn't known to have a temple in ancient Greece; thus, often, she acts more like a personification. She is famous for initiating the Trojan War using the Apple of Discord inscribed with the phrase “To the Fairest One” for the goddesses to argue over. Paris, the prince of Troy, was chosen by Zeus to choose Helen, the wife of Menelaus of Sparta, and doomed his city, which led to its destruction.

Tabletop Games

  • Warhammer 40,000: The four Chaos Gods are powerful beings made of Chaos, which derives from the negative emotions of intelligent species and holds influence over the extradimensional Realm of Chaos. Each god represents wrath, pleasure, death, and change. They often compete in the Realm of Chaos and the mortal world to gain more power.
    • Under their Chaos Gods, Daemons are beings made from Chaos but are weaker while under the command of the four gods.
  • Dungeons & Dragons
    • The Slaad Lords are the de facto (given the nature of Chaos) rulers of their kind and of Limbo, the Plane of Ultimate Chaos. While all are embodiments of Chaos, Chourst is the Trope most of all; while the others are embodiments of some concept related to Chaos, he is the Lord of Randomness, representing pure Chaos.
    • In the Elder Evils splat book, the Leviathan is a being created from "leftover" byproducts of the Chaos that created the the multiverse.
  • In the Dragonlance setting, Chaos is one of the primordial gods, representing disorder and destruction, and the antithesis of the High God. Arguably the Bigger Bad of the setting, he was the orchestrator of the notorious Chaos War.

Theatre

  • In the Hatchetfield franchise, namely in Black Friday, Wiggly is an abstract force of chaos, speaking through numerous Tickle-Me-Wigglys and Uncle Wiley. Wiggly had humanity orchestrate its birth onto the planet Earth. When that fails, thanks to sisters Hannah and Lex fighting back when the cultists capture them at different times in the play. Wiggly tricks the President into firing a nuclear missile at Russia and starting World War III. With that said, as the survivors of the Black Friday massacre gather and wait for midnight to pass, the clairvoyant Hannah sings that she sees a possible tomorrow, that it might come. The play ends before we know for sure if the world is ending..


Web Original

  • Zalgo, an embodiment of malevolent Chaos with godlike power.

Western Animation

  • GOLB from Adventure Time is a deity related to chaos from another dimension. He can create wraiths of discord from his breath and digest items in their original state, but GOLB is weak to harmony.
  • In Martin Mystery, the Chaos Beast is a manifestation of chaos sealed in an old box. It has several abilities that defy physics and cause various calamities that plagued the town in which it was unsealed.
  • Ahem, Chaos from the Aladdin TV series, a Trickster God who delights in unpredictability. He often pulls pranks along with cunning, though he doesn't like being ordered or insulted. He hates the concept of order or fate as it means things are predetermined, going against what he believes and represents.