God Job: Difference between revisions

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{{quote|My dear Son Goku... Won't you take my place? The two of you will be very happy in heaven as god and goddess.|Kami-sama, attempting to retire in ''[[Dragon Ball]]''}}

There's all sorts of odd jobs in the world, and some odd jobs have a job requirement of being a god, making them ~~[[God Job|~~God Jobs]].

There's all sorts of odd jobs in the world, and some odd jobs have a job requirement of being a god, making them '''God Jobs'''.

In certain settings, the various god(s) and other mythical beings are not a single entity, but rather someone (who was at one point mortal and or a [[Muggle]]) who holds a job or a title. Something like a mix between [[Anthropomorphic Personification]] and [[Legacy Character]], where said personification is not an entity but a job being filled. May come with literal [[Contractual Immortality]] for as long as the mortal still holds the office. Occasionally the original holder of the job was a literal [[Anthropomorphic Personification]]; circumstances (or [[You Kill It, You Bought It|its death]]) forced it to pass on its powers to a (deserving) mortal, who now occupies the office.

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A specific subtrope of this deals with [[Santa Claus]], who is often a normal person who has to take the job of "Santa". Many Christmas specials deal with a new Santa gaining the job, or the old Santa looking for a replacement. Another common subtrope is for Death, and the period between the old death and a new death assuming the role often leads to [[Death Takes a Holiday]].

See Also: [[Someone Has to Do It]], when supernatural forces are making sure that such a post is filled, sometimes via [[You Kill It, You Bought It]]. Also, people who ascend to such a [[God Job]] inevitably qualify as [[Physical God~~|Physical Gods~~]]. If you become a god of an unimpressive thing, your [[God Job]] might make you one of the [[Odd Job Gods]].

See Also: [[Someone Has to Do It]], when supernatural forces are making sure that such a post is filled, sometimes via [[You Kill It, You Bought It]]. Also, people who ascend to such a '''God Job''' inevitably qualify as [[Physical God]]s. If you become a god of an unimpressive thing, your '''God Job''' might make you one of the [[Odd Job Gods]].

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*** Nowadays it's heavily implied that the post of Death will ''eventually'' get passed on to Susan (the key word there being "eventually"), just as the post of Time was passed onto Time's son. There has been a lot of the [[Old Guard]] passing their jobs and duties onto the new though, or at the very least changing with the times (Kaos, anyone?)

** In ''[[Discworld/Hogfather|Hogfather]]'', Death himself takes on the role of the Hogfather (Santa Claus) when the Hogfather {{spoiler|gets disbelieved out of existence}}, and his granddaughter Susan must both take on his role temporarily AND figure out just what's going on and stop it.

* In the ''Mythology of the Modern World'' stories on ''Banter Latte'', some of the [[Anthropomorphic Personification~~|Anthropomorphic Personifications~~]] (such as the Neighborhood Coordinator) work this way, while others are supernatural beings that were never mortal.

* In the ''Mythology of the Modern World'' stories on ''Banter Latte'', some of the [[Anthropomorphic Personification]]s (such as the Neighborhood Coordinator) work this way, while others are supernatural beings that were never mortal.

* ''[[Tasakeru]]'' explores the various complications of {{spoiler|an outcast being selected to fulfill the role of a God.}}

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* Gods in the ''[[Forgotten Realms]]'' work this way: Being a god is a matter of having a god's portfolio (essentially a god's authority over a specific domain). Many if not most of the gods of the realms used to be mortals at some points. On occasion, they even switch portfolios around or murder other deities to take over their job as well.

** A prime example is Cyric, who was a mortal who allied himself with the god of thieves, who had assumed the physical form of a sword. With it he killed the god of murder and the godess of illusion and took over both jobs.

* While note, strictly speaking, Gods (though many mortals worship them), being an Archetype of [[Unknown Armies]] is definitely a [[God Job]]. To qualify, you need to be a supremely empathic person with a strong soul, and behave in strict accordance with a specific idea of what a human being can be, like [[The Fool]], [[The Trickster]], or [[The Hecate Sisters|The Mother]]. Archetypes can be deposed by other people who walk a similar (but not identical) path to theirs and symbolically demonstrate their superiority to the reigning Archetype. Alternately, if most of humanity stops imagining an Archetype, then that Archetype disappears and whatever mortal held that office is cast down. The latter doesn't happen often, though; for an Archetype to exist in the first place, it has to be universally ingrained in the collective unconscious of humanity as a "thing," and ideas like that don't disappear easily.

* While note, strictly speaking, Gods (though many mortals worship them), being an Archetype of [[Unknown Armies]] is definitely a God Job. To qualify, you need to be a supremely empathic person with a strong soul, and behave in strict accordance with a specific idea of what a human being can be, like [[The Fool]], [[The Trickster]], or [[The Hecate Sisters|The Mother]]. Archetypes can be deposed by other people who walk a similar (but not identical) path to theirs and symbolically demonstrate their superiority to the reigning Archetype. Alternately, if most of humanity stops imagining an Archetype, then that Archetype disappears and whatever mortal held that office is cast down. The latter doesn't happen often, though; for an Archetype to exist in the first place, it has to be universally ingrained in the collective unconscious of humanity as a "thing," and ideas like that don't disappear easily.

== [[Video Games]] ==