God in Human Form: Difference between revisions

 

{{quote|''"You can see for yourselves. She is a god. A god who does not know she is a god."''

 

When some form of spiritual being, or deity, becomes [[Reincarnation|encased in a mortal shell]], usually causing them to have [[De-Power|no or limited access to their powers]]...sometimes [[Willfully Weak|of their own design]], sometimes [[Sealed Inside a Person-Shaped Can|forced upon them]].

* Doctor Donald Blake. When he hits his cane upon the ground, it is replaced by Mjolnir and he by [[The Mighty Thor]].

* "Mary" from ''[[The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen]]''. While she at first seems to be a [[Captain Ersatz]] of [[Mary Poppins]] (who would fit in well in this series where the main characters include [[Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea|Captain Nemo]] and [[H. Rider Haggard|Alan Quarterman]]), she is later highly implied to be this Trope.

 

== [[Fan Works]] ==

* The [[Ur Example]] of this trope is oldest known work of fiction, ''[[The Epic of Gilgamesh]]''. Gilgamesh is a demigod, and Enkidu is made by the gods to keep him in check. Not sure if that makes them gods themselves or just [[Cursed with Awesome]].

* Emmanuel, the main character in the novel ''The Divine Invasion'' by [[Philip K. Dick]], is, in actuality, the Judeo-Christian [[God]] - and he lost his memories in a car accident.

** Well, in Lovecraft's canon he appears in human form once (''The Dream-Quest of the Unknown Kadath''), and possibly pseudo-human form in ''The Dreams in the Witch-House''. It's also briefly mentioned that he once took human form in the ancient Khem, better known as Egypt for modern readers.

* Margaret Weis's ''[[Dragonlance|The Dark Disciple]]'' series, Mina turns out to be a goddess of light, who was tricked into believing she was a human girl. She becomes a necromancer of death god, Chemosh.

** The Death of [[Discworld]] isn't a god by the standards of his universe, but he does occasionally self-limit his powers and go [[Walking the Earth|walking the Disc]] disguised as a human. Usually fails miserably because: a) in spite of hanging around humans for millennia, he's no good at ''being'' one, and b) some supernatural crisis inevitably drags him back to work.

* In the ''[[Young Wizards]]'' series the most powerful of the [[Powers That Be]] exist [[Time Dissonance|mainly outside of time]] and, to be able to do anything to that which exists inside of time, not only need to insert fragments of themselves into the time stream(s), but also to put that fragment into a physical body. This is usually done by the fragment hitching a ride in an already living being (usually without the mortal host being aware), which limits the amount of power they can use. However, if the host dies they can slap together a blob of physical matter and shove the fragment into that, giving them much greater access to their powers (and in a few instances the [[Big Bad]] starts out that way).

* The Devil from Glen Duncan's ''[[I, Lucifer]]'' is given the choice by God to redeem himself by taking over the body of Declan Gunn. He retains his devilish characteristics, but spends much of his time utterly overcome by the power of his human senses.

* A character in the ''[[Well World]]'' series claimed to be this, more or less.

* The group of so-called "wizards" in [[J. R. R. Tolkien|JRR Tolkien]]'s ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]'', while appearing as old human men, are actually five ''Maiar'', a kind of angelic spirit, who are themselves incorporeal but can usually clothe themselves in any form they like. The five have been sent on a mission to help the peoples of Middle-earth against Sauron, during which they are bound in their physical form, unable to change it, and also limited in their powers and knowledge. (When Gandalf the Grey dies and comes back as Gandalf the White, it's hinted that he regained his Maia powers in "death" and this allowed him to rebuild his body. [[Alternate Character Interpretation|It might also have been a near-death experience: the text never explicitly says he died.]])

* In [[John C. Wright]]'s ''[[Chronicles of Chaos]]'', {{spoiler|the children.}}

* In ''The [[Wheel of Time]]'', the [[Sealed Evil in a Can|Dark One]] can manifest in the form of a [[Eyeless Face|Myrddraal]] called Shaidar Haran after the seals on his prison begin to weaken. He mainly uses this to spy on and terrorize [[Quirky Miniboss Squad|the Forsaken]].

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Otherness Tropes]]

[[Category:Characters As Device]]

[[Category:Religion Tropes]]

[[Category:God Tropes]]

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