God Is Evil: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

[[File:ShadowZeus2 5745.png|link=God of War (series)|frame|'''"I grow ''weary'' of you, my son."''']]

 

The supreme deity of a given setting is not just a mere [[Jerkass Gods|jerkass]]—he is actively [[Complete Monster|malevolent, a callous, sadistic, tyrannical monster]] who created the world or universe to be a miserable [[Crapsack World|sack of crap]].

 

{{examples}}

* Morganna from ''[[.hack]]''. She manifests as a godlike being; a disembodied voice and psychic presence.

* ''[[Angel Sanctuary]]''. Technically a spoiler, but between the state of Heaven and the [[Sorting Algorithm of Evil]], it's pretty obvious.

* The motivating idea behind all of the [[Monster Clown|Millennium Earl's]] actions in ''[[D.Gray-man]]''. Considering that said God seemingly allows the existence of someone as monstrously malevolent as the Earl, he may have a point.

* Deus Ex Machina from ''[[Mirai Nikki]]''. Sure, he's about to die and is taking the world down with him, but picking his successor by forcing mostly innocent people to fight a battle royale for the lulz? Not to mention telling a 4-year-old to kill (semi)-innocent people.

* Of all places, this appears in ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's]]'' in the form of {{spoiler|ZONE}}.

 

* [[Garth Ennis]]' ''[[The Punisher]]'': "Sometimes I'd like to get my hands on God."

* In the comic book ''[[Hellblazer]]'', The First of the Fallen (a leader of Hell) tells [[John Constantine]] that God is completely insane. John also works out that The First is actually God's conscience, removed at the dawn of creation because he kept nagging at Him.

* ''[[Cerebus the Aardvark]]'' crossed the line into [[First and Ten Syndrome]] when its author began proposing such theories [[Writer on Board|through the mouth of his barbarian-turned-intellectual main character]]. To be more precise (and yet dumb down the theories), Sim's argument isn't that God is evil, {{spoiler|it's that the YHWH of the Old Testament and God are two separate entities, and the conflict between them stems from the YHWH having a '''massive''' inferiority complex.}}

* Eppy Thatcher from ''[[Grendel]]'' subscribes to this trope, and has "God hates me" as his [[Catch Phrase]]. Then again, this is a guy who's so messed up that he believes {{spoiler|he ''killed'' God}} at the end of his run as Grendel.

* [[Darkseid]] of the [[New Gods]] is the "god of evil" and revels in it. He runs a hellish planet dedicated to this with all his lieutenants being other evil gods.

{{quote|[[Badass Boast|I AM THE NEW GOD.]]}}

* Loki of ''[[The Mighty Thor]]'' is often called and self-titled the "god of evil." Other gods or godlike beings from the [[Marvel Universe]] are very much about evil including the [[Omnicidal Maniac|Seth]] and the elder god Chthon.

* In ''[[Spawn]]'', God [[God and Satan Are Both Jerks|and Satan]] are portrayed as, though not exactly "evil," essentially the cosmic equivalent of spoiled teenagers who enjoy breaking each other's stuff. It's the fact that this includes ''us'' that causes this to become a problem. {{spoiler|Oh, and He's not actually the Creator}}.

 

* ''[[The Devil's Advocate]]'' (though, [[Unreliable Narrator|as given by]] [[Satan]]):

{{quote|''"Let me give you a little inside information about God. God likes to watch. He's a prankster. Think about it: he gives man '''''INSTINCTS'''''. He gives you this extraordinary gift, and then what does he do - I swear, for his own amusement, his own private cosmic gag reel - he sets the rules in opposition. It's the goof of all-time. Look, but don't touch. Touch, but don't taste! Taste; don't swallow. And while you're jumping from one foot to the next, what is he doing? He's laughing his '''''SICK, FUCKING ASS OFF'''''! He's a tight ass! He's a '''''SADIST!''''' He's an absentee landlord! Worship that? Never!"''}}

* Quoted from Riddick in ''[[Pitch Black]]'' when questioned about his belief in God;

{{quote|''"Think someone could spend half their life in a slam with a horse bit in their mouth and not believe? Think he could start out in some liquor-store trash bin with an umbilical cord wrapped around his neck and not believe? Got it all wrong, holy man. I absolutely believe in God... And I absolutely hate the fucker."''}}

* The [[Black Comedy]] ''[[A Serious Man]]'' implies that God may be malicious and/or utterly incomprehensible.

* In ''[[Fight Club]]'' the narrator and Tyler Durden discuss this when Tyler tries to 'enlighten' the narrator by means of {{spoiler|burning his hand with lye}}.

'''Narrator:''' It isn't?

'''Tyler Durden:''' We don't need Him! }}

 

* In [[Philip Pullman]]'s ''[[His Dark Materials]]'' trilogy, the Authority is {{spoiler|a feeble, senile old man who has been usurped by a more malevolent foe, and he's not even really the creator of the universe anyway}}.

* Steven Brust's novel ''[[To Reign in Hell]]'' doesn't have God as being necessarily evil as much as a bit thick and egotistical. Of course, that same novel has Satan as an [[The Devil Is a Loser|indecisive schlep]] until it's too late.

* In [[Dean Koontz]]'s earlier works, God Is Evil or at least God is Insane, as seen in ''Fear That Man'' and ''A Darkness in My Soul''. In ''Dragon Tears'', {{spoiler|the villain seeks to become the New God and his plans for the world is as horrific as this trope can imagine.}}

* [[Harlan Ellison]] plays with this trope (again) in his short story "Hitler Painted Roses." Another of Ellison's short stories, "The Death Bird" portrays the "Satan" character as a misunderstood savior and "God" as a malevolent alien bent on control. The main character, a reincarnation of Adam, is revived and sent to defeat "God" in order to bring Earth to an end and achieve rest for himself and humanity.

* Lester Del Rey's short story ''For I am a Jealous People'' has [[Scary Dogmatic Aliens|God's Chosen Aliens]] doing unto Earth what God's Chosen People used to do to other humans.

* ''Star Maker'' by Olaf Stapledon, one of the great classics of science fiction, paints a portrait of {{spoiler|God, or as he's referred to in the book the "Star Maker," who creates universes more out of a sense of aesthetics than anything else. Once he's done with one, he'll discard it and move on to another (no Heaven here, folks). The book gives fleeting descriptions of the final, perfect universe that will perfectly fulfill the Star Maker; even (or especially) in this universe, there will be beings who exist in a perfect state of eternal suffering and horror, without which the universe as a whole could not be perfect. Ugh.}}

* God in [[Anne Rice]]'s ''[[Memnoch The Devil]]''. Maybe. We only have what Memnoch showed Lestat to go on.

{{quote|'''Lord Vetinari:''' If there is any kind of supreme being, it is up to all of us to become his moral superior.}}

* K.J Parker:

* Eloat in [[Storm Constantine]]'s ''[[Burying the Shadow]]'' is an alternate-world interpretation of [[God]] that has gone power mad and refuses to give up power to his heir [[Satan|Sammael]].

 

* ''[[Supernatural]]'':

** God is a cruel, capricious being who is subjecting the protagonists (not to mention the rest of the world) to [[Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking|pain, horror and]] {{spoiler|[[Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking|bad writing]]}} [[For the Evulz|for his own sadistic entertainment.]] {{spoiler|[[Sarcastic Confession|He said so himself.]]}}

* Dewey in ''[[Malcolm in the Middle]]'' holds this view, and he uses the comparisons to god as humans killing ants for the fun of it.

 

* This trope, when applied to the Big Guy Himself, is a main source of [[Religion Rant Song]]s of the Type 1 variety.

* Pretty much the entirety of Gary Numan's musical catalogue from the album "Sacrifice" onwards (1994-) has dealt with his own image of God's cruelty, His servants' horrid actions and the barren, dead wasteland that is heaven.

* "Remnant (March of the Undead IV)" by [[Machinae Supremacy]] uses a [[Zombie Apocalypse]] as a metaphor to criticize religious followers who insist that God is benevolent despite doing nothing to keep horrible things from happening. The song even implies that God enjoys watching the destruction he causes through inaction.

* "God's Song (That's Why I Love Mankind)" by [[Randy Newman]] has several verses sung from God's perspective which show him to be quite a bit of a [[Jerkass]]. As is typical with Newman songs though, it's not entirely clear how serious he's being. It's also worth pointing out that the God in the song criticises humanity pretty severely ("I recoil in horror from the foulness of thee/From the squalor and the filth and the misery"), but his not intervening to prevent these things could still be regarded as [[Jerkass]] behaviour.

* Extremely common in [[Black Metal]] songs. Deathspell Omega in particular has basically made a career of this.

 

 

* Practically every ''[[Dungeons & Dragons]]'' setting features evil deities, though most settings primarily have those evil deities in conflict with good deities. Some [[Crapsack World|settings]], on the other hand, ''only'' have evil gods. Although it's unclear if they're gods or not, the [[Powers That Be|Dark Powers]] of [[Ravenloft]] are either out-and-out evil, or so inscrutable and/or indifferent to the innocents caught up in their playground that they might as well be.

* On top of this, the supplementary D&D book "Lords of Madness" takes this even further. Drawing heavily from the [[Cthulhu Mythos|Lovecraftian mythos]], the book heavily implies that the evil aberrations known as Aboleths predate the existence of the universe and the D&D deities themselves. Not only is the world born of this primal evil, but the book takes it a step further and goes on to explain that Mindflayers, Cthulhu-looking psychic humanoids that teleport between dimensions at will, see in complete darkness, paralyze opponents with sound, [[Brain Food|eat the brains of their victims]], and procreate by enslaving other <s>humanoids</s> organisms and infecting them with a parasitic larvae that takes control over an augment of the body, are the ultimate stage of evolution at the end of the universe. In fact, their existence in the medieval-like D&D era is explained as occurring simply because they utilized all of the resources by the end of the universe and reduced it to a cold barren wasteland. Afterwards, they decide to go back in time so they can fuck the universe over all over again. One of their goals is to destroy the sun, partially to fuck over the other species that rely on it but also because they just like it better that way.

** The "evil" (demi)gods are implied to be falling gods, going over to the demon side. The Nameless God didn't go over to the demons side, he just weakened creation, letting the demons in more easily, gaining control of some of them, and taking creation for himself.

 

* Played with in ''[[Angels in America]]'': God isn't evil ''per se'', but {{spoiler|he is a serious [[Jerkass]] who abandoned Heaven a couple decades back, leaving the Angels in disarray and despair. It takes Prior, who has had a similar bad experience recently with a man walking out on him, to knock some sense into them, and say "Screw him!".}}

* [[King Lear|"As flies to wanton boys are we to th'gods/They kill us for their sport."]] Though by the end of the play, Gloucester's had ANOTHER [[Heel Faith Turn]].

 

* ''[[Shin Megami Tensei I]]'' and 'II'' both use this trope faithfully, although how good Lucifer is by comparison varies between the games. But Lucifer can never seem to keep up in terms of absolute evil. Mostly because he swore never to abandon humanity. He does this, however, by guiding them into his vision of perfection...

** By the end of ''[[Shin Megami Tensei II]]'', {{spoiler|everyone basically wants God dead, from Lucifer to the angel Gabriel. The player takes care of this}}.

** The Seven Deities are a less powerful example of this. Of them, only Yasha, Deus and Augus are not outright sadistic, violent, arrogant beings who look down upon mortals and use them as they see fit, and Augus only because he cares not for domination but simply [[Blood Knight|a good fight]]. And even Yasha and Deus was willing to be [[Necessarily Evil]].

 

* In ''[https://web.archive.org/web/20120311100430/http://www.atom.com/channel/channel_stickman_exodus/ Stickman Exodus]'', the [[Gorn]]-doodling teenage owner of the notebook is effectively a cruel [[God]] to the two-dimensional cast.

 

* ''Locus'': Meittron was [https://web.archive.org/web/20091015044900/http://locus.keenspot.com/d/20091009.html driven] [https://web.archive.org/web/20091022105227/http://locus.keenspot.com/d/20091012.html to it]. Nor is [[Satan|Sammael]] an [[Unreliable Narrator]], as [[Word of God]] [http://forums.keenspot.com/viewtopic.php?f=129&t=107801 confirms his story].

* The titular [[The Water Phoenix King|Water Phoenix King]], Yamra, and his predecessor Gurahl, though this was, and to some extent still is, a contested belief in the story. Those who benefitted under his rule consider him to have been a benevolent deity, and the opposition to be immoral for rebelling against the [[Order Versus Chaos|Natural Order of the Universe]]; the rebellion considered him an awful tyrant, and the order that Gurahl imposed on the universe a harmful thing—as did Lady Luck, who killed Gurahl over his binding the sun-goddess Okidesha. "Pure" Yamrans seek to restore the strict caste system, with Hadrakahn priests and knights at the top of the heap, everyone else working for them, and witches and sorcerers cast into the outer darkness...for the [[Utopia Justifies the Means|Good Of All]], of course!

* ''[[Wondermark]]'' discusses maltheism, slightly tongue-in-cheek, in a series of strips starting [http://wondermark.com/804/ here].

 

* ''[[The Salvation War]]'' uses this as a fundamental premise. Yahweh, the entity that presented himself as the Christian god (and apparently Allah for the Islamic faith as well) is actually an immature douchebag who became drunk on the power he held over humanity until he reached the point where he became convinced of his own lie. He eventually became fed up with those parts of humanity that questioned him, and closed the gates of Heaven to mankind sometime around 1000 A.D., thereby condemning all of humanity to Hell, ''even the faithful''. The story gets kicked off when he decides that isn't enough, and gives Satan free rein to wipe out mankind forever so Yahweh could go to a different dimension to find some other species that might be more obedient. However, by the time this happened, humanity had become very technologically advanced, while Heaven and Hell were still at the Bronze Age. [[Curb Stomp Battle|You can predict]] [[Roaring Rampage of Revenge|what a pissed-off humanity]] [[Rage Against the Heavens|does next.]]

** Even the angels are pissed off at him! The Archangel Michael is running [[The Plan]] which basically saves the heavenly host while pointing an army of absolutely enraged humans at Yahweh, and eventually kills him himself, having killed off all of Yahweh's powerful supporters by stealth or by human. Except Jesus, really called Elhmas, who is mostly presented as a stoned out of his brains idiot, until it is revealed he faked his own death and is keeping an eye on Michael to prevent him from turning into another Yahweh.

** Michael's plot was apparently not the only one either.

* Proven in [[The Nostalgia Critic]]'s Old vs. New of ''[[The Ten Commandments]] vs. [[The Prince of Egypt]]'', where he smites the titular character for thinking he's kind and loving.

 

* The Canadian animated series ''[[Tripping the Rift]]'' (which is ''definitely'' '''not''' for kids) actually features a few appearances by God and the Devil. Though the latter is definitely evil, the former is kind of a dick. He's depicted as wagering on the main character's soul with the Devil because he's bored and unleashing a plague of locusts on a planet because they refused to worship him (thinking he's a con artist like the ones they had dealt with earlier in the episode). However, the most blatant example of the trope is in the episode where Chode and Gus travel back to the beginning of time. Their ship accidentally collides with God and kills Him. But when they return to their own time, they discover that they've actually made things BETTER. Without God, there's no concept of good and evil, and everyone is basically decent towards each other; there's no crime or war or sexual repression. Everything is going pretty well...until Chode and Gus let the cat out of the bag and introduce the concept of sin to the universe, sending it into chaos. They travel back in time to set things right and get killed themselves, and God walks away laughing at their deaths.

* Mostly averted by ''[[South Park]]'': the few times God has appeared in show, he's been portrayed as a decent guy. [[King of All Cosmos|A hippo-monkey-cat who's a practicing Buddhist for some reason]], but a nice guy. ''Mostly'' averted because of his long-time practice of only letting Mormons into Heaven... which meant everyone else went to Hell. Including Buddhists. [[Fridge Logic|Even though God himself is a Buddhist]]. South Park is ''weird''.

'''Stan''': I think I understand. }}

** In another episode, the local priest, during a eulogy for yet another person killed by geriatric drivers, takes the view that God just finds it funny, and leads the group in praying that God's had enough of a laugh and will stop killing people already.

* In ''[[Beast Machines]]'', Megatron has pretty much become the malevolent God of Cybertron, controlling just about every aspect of existence there. Of course, the last few Maximals alive aren't going to stop until he's taken down. Towards the end, {{spoiler|he decides to absorb all the sparks he stole, and was literally '''seconds''' away from turning Cybertron into "the perfect Technosphere" and becoming the new Primus.}}

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Evil Tropes]]

[[Category:Religion Tropes]]

[[Category:Villains]]

[[Category:God Tropes]]