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Gods Need Prayer Badly: Difference between revisions
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Possibly, the deity was originally conceived and shaped by the needs and desires of one small group. But like any good [[Me Me]], this 'idea' grows with each new person who responds, then spreads the word of this great new 'god on the block'. Soon, the deity has enough collective belief behind their 'name brand' that they actually come into existence, and use that power to fulfil the needs of their worshippers.
But the opposite is also true: As a deity's power base of worshippers shrinks, their divine strength fades; if all worship of them ceases, they may completely fade out of existence in a [[Puff of Logic]]. The tragedy here is that worshippers who leave the god because [[Religious Russian Roulette|he/she didn't grant their miracle]] will continuously weaken the god until they can't grant ''any'' miracles. Kind of like a [
In a similar manner, the well-being of an [[Anthropomorphic Personification]] is often tied to whatever concept they personify. Big concepts like Fate or [[The Grim Reaper|Death]] are pretty safe, but [[Deader Than Disco|Disco]] is in critical condition.
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Depending on the setting, of course, the gods can often provide incentives for people to worship them. The gods of most typical [[Dungeons and Dragons]] settings grant divine spells to their priests, which give them all kinds of fancy powers. Mortals and gods end up in a symbiotic relationship, with the humans providing belief and worship to the gods and the gods providing assorted divine miracles in return.
This trope is related to [[Emotion Eater]], but doesn't imply evil, vampirism, or even negative emotions unless the god is tied in with those by nature. In belief systems of this kind, the empowered god often gives power back to his worshipers. Contrast [[Stop Worshipping Me!]], for when the god hates the worship they do get.
This trope is of course dependent on a [[Physical Religion]] to entice prayer in the first place.
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== Fanfics ==
* There's a [[Buffy the Vampire Slayer (TV)|Buffy the Vampire Slayer]] fic that deals with the gang visiting a realm that serves as a home for the forgotten gods to seek help from Ares. While there Ares comments that two of the gods don't really belong there since they seem to have plenty of followers, a South American god still worshiped by natives, and even more strangely, a [[The Mighty Thor|norse god]] who seems to have gained power in the last century.
* Discussed and generally averted in ''[[Undocumented Features (Fanfic)|Undocumented Features]]''. Corwin, a recently ascended [[Physical God]], seems to have no need for anyone to worship him, but that doesn't deter Chip, his self-proclaimed first worshiper, from doing so. Corwin's admonishments of [[Stop Worshipping Me!]] have gotten to the point of gentle admonishment/RunningGag.
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* ''[[Dungeons and Dragons]]'':
** In the [[Forgotten Realms]], a god's power is determined by his/her number of worshippers, and needs at least one worshipper to maintain Divine status (albeit at a demigod level). The only exception is the overdeity Ao, who needs no worshippers to maintain power because he rules over all of the universe. This is a relatively recent development, as the deities were independently powerful before the Avatar Crisis, when Ao got fed up with nobody doing their duties or taking care of their worshippers any more.
*** Ao actually ''[[Stop Worshipping Me!|punishes]]'' anyone who tries to worship him by inflicting them with bad luck until they stop.
*** The post-Avatar Crisis fluff tended to suggest, when the subject came up, that the Gods ''did'' gain power from being prayed to and having followers before the Crisis. What Ao did after the Crisis was, essentially, toning down the power you gained from your Portfolio, and ramping up how much power you gained from belief<ref>this may explain how Myrkul got the idea for [[Neverwinter Nights 2 (Video Game)|the Spirit-Eater Curse]] failsafe despite the Avatar Crisis not having occured yet at that point</ref>.
** In the ''[[Planescape]]'' setting, this mechanic is explained via the fact that the Outer Planes (where the gods live) is [[Clap Your Hands If You Believe|shaped entirely by belief]].
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** Becomes a plot point in ''[[Skyrim]]'', where the Thalmor, a faction of elven supremacists, have forced the empire to ban the worship of Talos, leading to the Stormcloak rebellion. The stated reason for this is that the Thalmor refuse to accept that a human could achieve godhood, although it is suggested that {{spoiler|destroying Talos by depriving him of worship is one stage in the Thalmor's grand pland to destroy Mundus and [[Ascend to A Higher Plane of Existence]].}}
* Prayer is the source of [[Mana]] in ''[[Black and White]]'', and determines the size of your territory.
* Power-ups in ''[[Okami (Video Game)|Okami]]'' come from the praise you get for performing miracles. {{spoiler|And at the end, Ammy becomes gets an [[Eleventh
** This mechanic returns in the sequel, ''[[Okamiden (Video Game)|Okamiden]]''.
* In ''[[Age of Mythology (Video Game)|Age of Mythology]]'', the player literally generates favour for their gods to produce miracles. Greeks pray at temples, Egyptians build monuments, Norse go to war, and Altanteans control town centers to generate favour.
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[[Category:Urban Fantasy Tropes]]
[[Category:Gods Need Prayer Badly]]
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