Jerkass Gods: Difference between revisions

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These gods aren't [[The Gods Must Be Lazy|lazy]], but you really wish they were.
 
Perhaps they view all of life as a cosmic game, with humans as mere [[Cosmic Plaything|pawns and tools]]. Perhaps they're hungry for worship, either [[Gods Need Prayer Badly|literally]] or figuratively, and are willing to resort to manipulation to get it. Maybe it's the age old adage "[[A God Am I|power corrupts]]", or maybe they're just [[Troll|trollstroll]]s, but whatever the case, the deities are just ''jerks''. They view human life as a source of entertainment, or an inconvenience.
 
This trope is [[Older Than Dirt]]. The ([[Genius Bonus|literally]]) Ur-example might be Inanna, Sumerian goddess of getting laid and ultraviolence. As might be expected from someone of that description, she took exception to being spurned by the hero Gilgamesh and summoned a heavenly bull to go on a rampage through his city. It did not help that as he turned her down, he [["The Reason You Suck" Speech|listed all her exes and how she arranged their terrible deaths]].
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{{examples}}
== Anime &and Manga ==
 
== Anime & Manga ==
* Kami-sama in ''[[Ah! My Goddess]]'' frequently doles out unnecessarily harsh punishments and will wipe out an entire planet to preserve the integrity of the Yggdrasil with little hesitation.
* The gods in ''[[Saint Seiya]]'', unsurprising considering they're based on the Greek Pantheon. Poseidon wanted to [[Utopia Justifies the Means|drown the world to fix it]] (well, it worked [[The Bible|the first time]], didn't it?), Hades just plain wanted to kill everyone "[[Motive Decay|Just]] [[For the Evulz|Because]]", ditto Abel/Lucifer and Apollo. The big exception is [[Messianic Archetype|Athena]]. Lesser non-evil gods are Odin (whose avatar-priestess was corrupted by Poseidon's men) and Artemis, being more a [[Lawful Neutral]] type devoid of her peers' narcissistic megalomania. Poseidon also gets an honorable mention as being not so evil that, even though he was [[Sealed Evil in a Can]], helped thwart Hades' plot.
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* Many of the various gods in ''[[Kurohime]]'' are assholes to pretty much everyone, including their own [[Mooks|allies]] and worshippers. Except for two so far, the head god who we haven't actually seen do or say anything yet and one other... Shirohime, who is Kurohime's love for humanity personified.
** Never mind about the head god. When we next see her, she is {{spoiler|eating the sun,}} which, in this world, is made of [[Life Energy]] and [[Our Souls Are Different|spirits.]]
*** As it turns out, '''ALL''' of the High Gods are jerks. {{spoiler|And [[Planet Eater|Planet Eaters]]s.}}
* ''[[Fullmetal Alchemist (manga)|Fullmetal Alchemist]]'' has The Truth, a mysterious godlike entity that exacts an "equal toll" on those who attempt human transmutation. While he is supposed to be a neutral party, he seems to take an almost sadistic joy in his "fines". The fact that he tends to act smug and playful about it doesn't exactly help.
** He even shows some very unfair (or at least indiscriminate) tendencies when he takes away {{spoiler|Mustang's sense of sight}} as punishment for performing human transmutation even though {{spoiler|Mustang had been literally forced to do it with no way to stop the transmutation}} and the person who was ultimately responsible had received no punishment at all.
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* The Beast Gods of ''[[Fushigi Yugi]]'' really do only care about prolonging their existence by absorbing the souls of their priestesses.
 
== Comic Books ==
 
* In ''[[Preacher (Comic Book)|Preacher]]'', God is a pathetic, needy, abusive, enraged creature. So are his angels.
== Comics ==
* In ''[[Preacher (Comic Book)]]'', God is a pathetic, needy, abusive, enraged creature. So are his angels.
* In ''[[Lucifer (comics)|Lucifer]]'', God is an aloof and dickish meddler. As is Lucifer, who wants nothing more than to be his own creation.
** Part of this is caused by the filter we see things through. When God finally shows up he's more out of touch than anything else.
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* God (and Lucifer) in ''[[Crimson]]'' are surprisingly moral individuals, the prior spending time doing good deeds and giving the latter a standing invitation to get his old job back. The archangels on the other hand are all over the slippery slope, with a few being downright sadists. Driven home when they put Alex on trial in a diner... after first killing the occupants ''painfully'' for their sins. (God resurrects and forgives the victims when the angels aren't looking.)
* Zeus in ''[[Incredible Hercules]]'' justifies this by claiming that gods ''need'' to be jerks so that humans have someone to blame when everything seems to be going wrong.
 
 
== Fan Works ==
* The Dalns gods in ''[[With Strings Attached]]''. Although the one time a god actually appears it's entirely benign, and they seem to be the only force that gets Baravadans to do anything useful, the Fans mention that the Dalns gods are responsible for trashing C'hou in the past.
 
 
== Film ==
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* Calypso of ''[[Pirates of the Caribbean]]'', goddess of the sea, fell in love with a mortal man, who was then offered the position of captain of the Flying Dutchman. The conditions of the captaincy are that you do the job for ten years, and if, after that time, your love is waiting for you when you get your one day on land for the decade, you can go free and someone takes your place; otherwise you've gotta keep doing the job until someone kills you. Calypso didn't wait and Davy Jones was stuck being the captain of the Flying Dutchman. She claimed that Davy shouldn't have expected anything else from her because she's the embodiment of the capricious and treacherous sea.
* Loki in ''[[Thor (film)|Thor]]'' and ''[[The Avengers (film)|The Avengers]]'' hopes to [[Disproportionate Retribution|exact revenge]] on his [[The Unfavourite|brother Thor]] by first taking over the throne of Asgard and then [[Big Bad|subjugating the entire population of Earth.]] Along the way, he causes a lot of chaos and manages to make pretty much everyone really angry on a [[It's Personal|personal level.]]
 
 
== Literature ==
* Most ''[[Discworld]]'' gods, who have a habit of going to atheists' houses and throwing rocks into the windows, and consider lightning bolts to be the answer to any theological debate. They also play games with the lives of men, but first they have to get the board out, and look all over the place for the dice.
** Special mention goes to [[Discworld/Monstrous Regiment|Nuggan of Borogravia]]. Even his own sincere worshippers had to ignore some of his commandments, since they named as Abominations such things as babies ("I take it people still make them here?") and the color blue ("The ''sky'' is blue!" "Devout Nugganites try not to look at it these days.")
*** Though granted, it's implied most of the absurd Abominations are mere echos of Nuggan's will since it's stated he's ''dead''.
*** This is only in Borogravia, mind, where he can't thrive because his followers now worship the religion rather than the god (this is also what happened to Om, see below). Elsewhere on the Disc he's alive and kicking, as a minor god of paperclips, small things in their correct places in desktop stationery sets, and unnecessary paperwork.
** In ''[[Discworld/Small Gods|Small Gods]]'', Om, who's had his consciousness raised, points out to some of the other gods that a lot of people are going to get killed in the battle that's shaping up.
{{quote|A Tsortean God of the Sun did not even bother to look round.
"That's what they're for," he said. }}
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* While Minshus in ''[[Stationery Voyagers]]'' is the essence of good, he will occasionally let his angels dish out [[Cool and Unusual Punishment]] on [[Hoist by His Own Petard|victims]] [[Asshole Victim|who]] [[Moral Event Horizon|really]] [[Call It Karma|deserve it]]. Maurice, being the angel of death, has been known to abduct some of his victims. [[Gaia's Vengeance|Filforth]] tries to avoid having any contact with [[Depraved Homosexual|gay]] [[Where Everybody Knows Your Flame|bars]] [[The Tokyo Fireball|for a reason]].
* ''All'' of the Gods in ''[[The Elric Saga]]'' by [[Michael Moorcock]]. ''Especially'' Arioch, the title character's patron, the Lord of Chaos.
* Amongst the [[Eldritch Abomination]] gods created by [[H.P. Lovecraft]], technically just Nyarlathotep counts. The others aren't least bit concerned about humans, or maybe don't even know of our existence, being mostly mindless, chaotic abstractions. But Nyarlathotep seems to love to dick around with humans, typically demanding human sacrifices when summoned, even though he almost certainly doesn't need them for anything, and occasionally giving humans some extra chances to destroy ourselves, even though he could destroy us effortlessly if he really wanted. It seems that he doesn't care about outcomes -- heoutcomes—he just likes to dick around.
* This is somewhat [[Flanderized]] description used by later writers. In Lovecraft's original works Nyarlathotep stands in the way of humans who seek forbidden knowledge more often than not, although he can be persuaded to be little more lenient with human sacrifices. On the other hand, his first appearance, before Lovecraft had figured out what to do with him, he was basically the embodiment of scientific progress, and drives humanity mad by overwhelming them with cosmic knowledge.
** This is the approach used in the [[Affectionate Parody]] webcomic ''[[The Call of Whatever]]'', and once humanity starts jerking Nyarlathotep around in turn (thanks to Occultech's helpline boosting cultist survival/success rates), he quits his job. [[It Got Worse|This was more Jerkassish than you would think.]]
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* Almost all the Greek gods in Anne Ursu's ''[[Cronus Chronicles]]'' (with the exception of {{spoiler|Persephone}}). The [[Big Bad]] is a demigod who wants to enslave humanity, and most of the other gods either don't care or are actively trying to revenge themselves on the heroes for standing up to them. In the end the heroine {{spoiler|blackmails the gods into leaving humanity alone}}.
* While [[Jesus Is Way Cool]] in Christopher Moore's ''[[Lamb]]'' his father's reaction to Joshua's pleading for humanity is "Screw 'em".
* The first chapter of [[Glen Cook]]'s ''Surrender to the Will of the Night'' has one survivor of a scouting party return to report to the god that sent the party out -- althoughout—although the survivor had been driven mad by his experiences. "His god rewarded him as gods do. It devoured him."
* A number of [[Tom Holt]]'s novels have jackass deities. In particular, [[God]] is portrayed in ''Grailblazers'' as being not so much evil as prone to [[Moral Myopia]] and [[Disproportionate Retribution]], with two people being cursed to immortality for the incredibly minor sins of giving Jesus a pair of socks instead of frankincense or myrrh and failing to wash up for Him at the Last Supper. Other deities aren't treated a hell of a lot better.
* Most of the ''[[Everworld]]'' gods seem to be this way, or at best they're a bit petty and tend to overreact. This isn't helped at all by the fact that they're pretty much stuck in that mindset with literally no way to change.
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* ''[[Chronicles of Chaos]]'' explains this trope thusly: in this universe, moral laws and destinies have supernatural weight, and breaking or bending them carries penalties. [[Classical Mythology|Olympians]], however, have the power to change those moral laws, which mean they aren't bound by them. At all.
 
== Live -Action TV ==
* In ''[[Supernatural (TV series)|Supernatural]]'' the trickster demi-god from Tall Tales and Mystery Spot {{spoiler|also known as Loki and Gabriel}} is more of a jerkass demi-god. His victims, especially the Winchesters and definitely Sam, probably wish he was a lazy god {{spoiler|rather than an archangel.}}
* In the ''[[Farscape]]'' episode ''Prayer'', Aeryn mentions an ancient myth about how the ancient Sebaceans used to worship a goddess named Tenka Bru, until she suddenly destroyed the seven main planets they lived on. When her dying worshippers asked why she had done this after they did their best to honor her, she replied, "Because I can." Apparently, this is why the modern-day Peacekeepers refuse to believe in any religion.
* God is messes with Al Bundy a few times in ''[[Married... with Children]]''. Al is a bit of a jerkass too though.
* ''[[Hercules: The Legendary Journeys]]'' and ''[[Xena: Warrior Princess]]'' usually don't care about accuracy, going for [[Rule of Fun]] every time, and [[Anachronism Stew]] doesn't cover the half of it. They do believe, though, in doing the Greek gods' characters correctly by showing them as the jerks they are, well, except for Hades, who is dark but (usually) the only decent one.
** Sometimes, they make Hades sorta a dick too actually. And not all other Greek Gods were ALWAYS portrayed negatively. Sometimes they're even [[The Atoner]], especially for former [[Big Bad|Big Bads]]s like Hera or Ares. Others are just kinda out of touch, like Zeus.
* The [[Stargate Verse]] is ''built'' on this trope, specifically ''[[Stargate SG-1]]''. The Goa'uld take on the identities of all sorts of gods (or perhaps were the origin of the myths; it's never specified) and often rule with an iron fist. They view humans as disposable slaves and potential host bodies. In the episode "Pretense", Zipacna compares humans to cattle.
** In seasons nine and ten, the Ori come into the picture. They're Ascended beings who want to convert every single mortal into worshipping them. If you refuse, they denounce you as evil and burn you alive for heresy. Unlike the Goa'uld, who rely on technology to make them seem godlike, the Ori actually have supernatural powers to reinforce the belief of their followers, producing incredibly devoted soldiers who are willing to kill every single person who doesn't accept Origin.
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** Mind you, the pollution is what gave rise to the evil demon things.
** Daizyujin is this to an extent in ''[[Kyoryu Sentai Zyuranger]]'', notably in regard to Burai. But he's not nearly as bad as Daijinryuu in ''[[Gosei Sentai Dairanger]]'', who among other things ''compels several people to jump to their deaths from tall buildings''.
** Daizyujin is pretty much based on the gods of a lot of religions, being better than the ultimate evils that are around but wouldn't know the meaning of the word "fair." In Burai's case, {{spoiler|Burai was only needed to awaken Dragon Caesar, and, though they could probably save his life, which is [[On Borrowed Time]], they don't because "it is not needed for him to survive."}} This is far from the only instance of Guardian Beast [[Jerkass|Jerkassitude]]itude in the series - the fact that the Rangers were working for such [[Bad Boss|Bad Bosses]]es is responsible for most of the dark aspects of an otherwise [[Lighter and Softer]] series.
* This is how God comes off in the ''[[West Wing]]'' episode "Two Cathedrals", especially in the wake of President Bartlett's tirade in the National Cathedral.
{{quote|'''Jed Bartlett:''' (to God) "You're a son of a bitch, You know that? She bought her first new car and You hit her with a drunk driver. What? Was that supposed to be funny? 'You can't conceive, nor can I, the appalling strangeness of the mercy of God,' says Graham Greene. I don't know whose ass he was kissing there, 'cause I think You're just vindictive."}}
* In ''[[Charmed]]'', [[Artistic License|the Greek gods were mortals who got turned into gods by a magical mist]]. True to the mythology however, it's stated that the old gods ''forced'' people to worship them. In fact, once Piper finally declares herself a goddess and realizes her full powers, she starts acting like it, causing a massive storm in order to vent her own personal problems out on the rest of the world.
 
== Oral Tradition, Folklore, Myths and Legends ==
 
* As mentioned under Anime, Sun Wukong, from ''[[Journey to the West]]'', was such a jerkass god that even the other gods (many of whom weren't exactly nice themselves -- casethemselves—case in point, kicking one of their own out of heaven and turning him into a river-dwelling, man-eating monster because he accidentally broke one of the Heavenly Emperor's vases/teacups) went to Buddha and begged him to put a stop to the [[Incredibly Lame Pun|monkey business]].
== Myths & Religion ==
* '''[[Classical Mythology|GREEK/ROMAN MYTHOLOGY]]'''. [[Trope Codifier|Trope Codifiers]]s. The Greek gods are widely remembered today for being spoiled children with fancy powers at best and at worse total assholes. Part of this is due to [[Flanderization|flanderizing]] their jerk side and ignoring their benevolent side combined with [[Values Dissonance]]. They were held to different standards than humans and were the center of the universe instead of humans. The other reason is they often were just massive jerks because they could be. Even the best of them have one or two stories with few exceptions.
* As mentioned under Anime, Sun Wukong, from ''[[Journey to the West]]'', was such a jerkass god that even the other gods (many of whom weren't exactly nice themselves -- case in point, kicking one of their own out of heaven and turning him into a river-dwelling, man-eating monster because he accidentally broke one of the Heavenly Emperor's vases/teacups) went to Buddha and begged him to put a stop to the [[Incredibly Lame Pun|monkey business]].
* '''[[Classical Mythology|GREEK/ROMAN MYTHOLOGY]]'''. [[Trope Codifier|Trope Codifiers]]. The Greek gods are widely remembered today for being spoiled children with fancy powers at best and at worse total assholes. Part of this is due to [[Flanderization|flanderizing]] their jerk side and ignoring their benevolent side combined with [[Values Dissonance]]. They were held to different standards than humans and were the center of the universe instead of humans. The other reason is they often were just massive jerks because they could be. Even the best of them have one or two stories with few exceptions.
** The only exceptions tended to be Hades, Hermes, Demeter, Hephaestus, and Hestia. Hades due to hanging out in the underworld all the time and being one of the most law abiding. Hermes tends to punish only the unjust and gets by on [[Rule of Cool]]. Hestia was the most peaceful and is hardly involved in any myths. Hephaestus also tends to be one of the nicer ones considering all the crap his fellow gods put him through. Demeter is also a good mother and even acted as a nanny at one point to a mortal baby.
*** [[Sadly Mythtaken|Though oddly enough,]] [[Everybody Hates Hades|Hades]] [[Sadly Mythtaken|is often portrayed as being like]] [[Satan]], due to him ruling the Underworld.
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* Abrahamic God lapses into this, especially in the Old Testament. His treatment of Job, for example, can easily be seen this way. ''[[Rule of Cautious Editing Judgement|More detail is not needed]].''
* The [[Norse Mythology|Norse Gods]]. ''All'' of them tend to have their moments depending on the version of a story. Often this is justified by the other party being a huge dick first, the action being somehow necessary for the good of the world, or just plain the other party can fight back unlike defenseless mortals. They also tend to get held accountable for their actions more than the Greeks.
** Thor, strongest of the Norse gods, as the old myths are full of him being a complete dick. He went on a fishing trip with Hymir, Tyr's father, after he cut the head off Hymir's finest ox to use as a fishing lure, he almost dragged the Midgard Serpent into their boat, which would've sunk them had Hymir not cut the line. Later he threw a cup at his head -- ithead—it just keeps going like that. And this was a guy Thor needed a favor from. In one old myth, Thor got annoyed with the dwarf, Litr, and kicked him into a pyre. Baldur's ''funeral pyre''.
*** To his defense, Litr did spit into Baldur's pyre, so he had it coming.
** On the other hand, Thor was one of the most benevolent gods toward humanity and respected as an honest, hard working god who represented the common people.
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*** Unlike most deities, Susanoo actually faced repercussions for this-after the other gods managed to pry Amaterasu out of her cave, they then proceeded to happily kick him out of heaven until he proved he wasn't completely worthless. This managed to get through to him, and he later slayed the dragon Orochi as penance...and to score a wife. He's still a jerk, he's just a ''mature'' jerk now.
** Ookuninushi, while generally seen in positive light, is actually quite the jerkass. When Amaterasu requested that he hand over the country to her descendants, he seemed alright with it and agreed to do it. Then, several generations later, he caused a plague during emperor Suujin's reign, demanding a new temple to end it. Doing so stopped the plague, but the god was apparently still angry, because he then made the next emperor's son dumb, requiring the emperor to build another temple to him.
* Indra from [[Hindu Mythology]] fits this trope. Whenever someone -- besomeone—be it human, God or demon -- gaineddemon—gained too much power, Indra would send the beautiful [[Hello, Nurse!|Dancing Girls]] from his court to upset their prayers. He also has bad habit of raping sage's wife by disguising as her husband.
** We ought to note here that according to scholars of comparative linguistics and mythology, Indra is cognate to Thor and Zeus. Explains a lot, don't you think?
*** Unlike Zeus though Indra actually has to pay for it by being [[Humiliation Conga|humiliated time and again]]. Either he loses his throne, cursed by a sage, his greatest victory rewritten so Vishnu saves him and does all the real work, or something else. In the end he went from being the Lord of the Universe to a minor weather god and lord of the elements.
* Ishtar, according to [[The Epic of Gilgamesh|Gilgamesh]], is highly untrustworthy, and has the tendency of turning her lovers in moles and beasts when she's tired of them. And when Gilgamesh refused to sleep with her, she sent a huge, [[A Load of Bull|angry bull to ]] destroy Ur.
** Enlil caused [[The Great Flood]] because humanity annoyed him with their sounds.
* Freaking every single one of them in [[Aztec Mythology]] (except [[Token Good Teammate|Quetzalcoatl]], and even he had his moments). When your ''rain and fertility god'' likes his [[Human Sacrifice|food]] young and crying, and one of two rulers is literally the god of [[Magnificent Bastard|Magnificent Bastards]]s, there's little wonder why they thought it was a [[Crapsack World]].
 
 
== Tabletop Games ==
* The deities in ''[[Warhammer Fantasy Battle]]'' & ''[[Warhammer 4000040,000]]''. '''All''' of them. Canon does ''sometimes'' seem contradictory on this point, though.
** Khorne wants to see people fight battles, the bloodier and more gruesome the better. In the [[Warhammer Fantasy Battle]] universes, simply being a god of war makes him a possible good guy, while the fact that ''your'' viscera would be just as pleasing to him as your enemies, makes him one of the bad guys.
** Slaanesh might want to help you to experience every positive sensation that you can, even turning negative sensations into new kinds of pleasure... but he '''definitely''' wants to ''force'' you to experience ''everything'', as a kind of torture-orgy.
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* Many gods in ''[[Exalted]]'' have grown corrupt and complacent without anyone to answer to.
** The Usurpation came to be because the Golden Age Solars had turned into this, as well.
** And even before becoming the Yozi and Neverborn, most of the Primordials were selfish [[Jerkass|Jerkasses]]es who, when they weren't playing the Games of Divinity while the Gods did all the actual work, amused themselves by tormenting the inhabitants of Creation or their ugly brother Autochthon.
* ''[[Sen Zar]]'' offers too many examples of this trope to count (including, potentially, evil player characters who ascend to godhood), but the prize for ''most'' jerkassness goes to the Eternals, the only type of gods who actually gain (even more) power for being complete jackasses.
* In the ''[[Forgotten Realms]]'', the Time of Troubles led to all of the gods banished to the material plane in [[Physical God|avatar form]], screwing up the Realms pretty much wherever they went. Many of them used this as an opportunity to expand their power base, using human armies as pawns to take down other gods. The kicker is that the whole thing started because they upset the overgod, [[Dungeon Master|Ao]], by stealing the [[MacGuffin|Tablets of Fate]]. However, the fancy-looking Tablets of Fate with every god's name inscribed on it [[The Goggles Do Nothing|don't actually do anything]]! And somehow, because we have a new [[Ascend to a Higher Plane of Existence|Mystra]] and [[Complete Monster|Cyric]], the "balance is restored". To his credit, Ao does require that deities actually be worshipped to get their power in the future. And hey, we got a [[Continuity Reboot|new edition]] out of it.
** At least according to some sources, Ao was getting tired of the gods goofing off to play power games against each other instead of doing their actual jobs, anyway. The theft of the Tablets was simply the straw that broke the camel's back (and made for conveniently collectable [[Plot Coupon|Plot Coupons]]s at the same time).
** You don't know even half the story on how [[Jerkass]] some of the gods were until you've played ''[[Neverwinter Nights 2]]: Mask of the Betrayer'' and gotten the scoop on Myrkul.
* ''[[Playing Gods]]'' get this trope right. You play as one of the five major gods from the major religions (Christianity, Buddhism, Islam, Hinduism, and Judaism) or you can use the sixth stand and insert a sticker or [[A God Am I|a photo of yourself]] or use a key ring or action figure or whatever as a god too. You convert other gods sects, spread believers or massacre every other deities sects. It's [[Played for Laughs]] though, and it's really a satire of fundamentalism and religious warfare and how it's better to be at peace with your fellow religions rather than attack them.
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* The Gods in ''[[Once On This Island]]'' are completely cruel to the humans for no apparent reason, except Asaka. Agwe likes to lash them with storms [[For the Evulz|for the hell of it]], Papa Ge is, well, [[Exactly What It Says on the Tin|a demon of death]] who also happens to be a complete [[Jerkass]], and Erzulie manipulates Ti Moune and Daniel solely so that she can prove that she's right. They were even worse in the original book - the musical tries to make them a bit more sympathetic, whereas in the book Agwe delivers a speech about how much humans deserve to die, and Erzulie kills a completely innocent woman.
* Athena (see [[Greek Mythology]] above) is one in ''[[Ajax]]'', causing the main character to go mad and slaughter sheep, resulting in his utter humiliation and downfall. The play opens with her gloating to Odysseus about it. Odysseus is put off.
 
 
== Video Games ==
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* Like his Norse counterpart, Odin in ''[[Valkyrie Profile]]'' is kinda a dick too.
* [[Utawarerumono|Wisitarnea, both versions,]] definitely ''mean(s)'' well. Unfortunately, this tends to involve killing lots of people, binding souls into eternity for the hell of it, causing natural disasters by fighting and manipulating everyone into wars.
* Daedric Princes are close to gods in the ''[[The Elder Scrolls]]'' and most of them view humanity as nothing more than amusement. This contributes to Hircine fighting the Nerevarine in ''Bloodmoon'' (Although he does give plenty of warnings, prophecies, signs and such, and the fight is set up to be a fair fight when he could crush you in a second). Molag Bal is the embodiment of this trope, though Mehrunes Dagon is more active. Azura ,<ref>Is claimed to have turned the Chimer (shining elfs) into the Dunmer (dark elves) as a curse, and it is implied that the player character of Morrowind was not actually the reincarnation of Nerevar, but rather a pawn used by Azura to destroy the Tribunal, who betrayed her in the backstory</ref>, Meridia,<ref>all that is really known is that she hates the undead</ref>, Peryite ,<ref>little is known about him; most significant thing is the apparently just quest to rescue his worshippers' souls</ref>, and Sheogorath <ref>called the Lord of Madness</ref> are probably the most benign of the Princes (and yes, we mean "most". As in, relative. Check the hottips). See [[God Is Evil]].
** Hence why the Daedra are typically stated to be the [[Elder Scrolls]] version of demons. Most inhabitants of Tamriel worship the Aedra, who are "usually" much less jerkassish.
* The [[King of All Cosmos]] of ''[[Katamari Damacy]]'' gets his very own subtrope!
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* Used as a gameplay mechanic in ''[[Bastion]]'': there are ten Gods; choosing to pray to one will make enemies tougher to defeat, but increase the experience and money you get from beating them. The narrative suggests that the Gods don't look too kindly on humanity since they stopped being worshipped.
* {{spoiler|Ashera}} from ''[[Fire Emblem Tellius|Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn]]''. While she isn't exactly an immature jerk like most examples, she proves to have an extreme view of how the world should be and {{spoiler|ends up turning almost everyone to stone when she awakens and sees the world doesn't match her vision.}} Ironically, she was considered a benevolent goddess before that event, while {{spoiler|her other half, Yune was considered evil, but ends up being much nicer and less extreme, though also a lot more emotional and childish}}.
* Most of the Eastern Gods from the ''[[Izuna]]'' duology (especially their leader, Takushiki) are none too happy with Izuna and her clan trespassing on the sacred Kamiari Shrine, and take their frustrations out on the villagers by placing them under various [[Curse|cursescurse]]s.
* The gods in [[RunescapeRuneScape]], for the most part, see their followers as little more than tools they can use to gain an advantage over the other gods. Even Saradomin, who is worshipped by most of the characters in-game, doesn't really seem to care much about his worshippers, and was actively participating in the God Wars without a second thought. The closest thing there is to a 'good' god is Guthix, the god of nature and balance, who created Gielinor and was powerful enough to stop the God Wars.
* One of the structures you can build in [[Bastion]] is a shrine containing idols representing the gods. You can invoke as many of them as you like, which makes your journey ''harder'' (but you get better rewards in turn; invoking all of them nearly doubles your spoils). Although in this case it's justified; before the cataclysm that kicked off the plot, your culture had lost most of its reverence for the gods, and turned them into toys and architectural decorations, so they're a little hacked off at you right now. On the other hand, if you should decide to reject them, they won't begrudge you that, because they think you're just pussing out.
* Dark Sun Gwyndolin from ''[[Dark Souls]]'' is the only god in the setting who managed to avoid suffering a horrible fate, and is in the best position to help fix the [[Crapsack World]]. Instead, he selfishly manipulates everyone else in a bid to increase his own power.
* Every single god and goddess in [[Kid Icarus: Uprising]]. Even [[Troll|Palutena]] isn't immune. {{spoiler|Dark Pit calls them all out on their selfish nature when they comment about how bad the humans are.}} Justified as all of the Gods are based on Greek Mythology listed above.
 
 
== Web Comics ==
* ''[[The Order of the Stick|Order of the Stick]]'': the Gods created the world it seems for their own amusement as much as anything. Their squabbles the first time created the Snarl and ended up killing 1/4¼ of them and unmaking reality before they locked it up in the current world. When they remade it they made Clerics and a lot of cool monsters for them to help fight, but needed [[Cannon Fodder]] for them to kill for experience. All goblin races were created to be nothing more than easy experience points and defined as [[Exclusively Evil]] for the purposes of alignment and spells, no matter their actions. (Well, according to Redcloak anyway.) As a result, killing a Goblin child unable to comprehend good and evil is not an evil act. The motivation of the aforementioned Redcloak stems from him trying to give his people an equal footing.
** It's never stated that goblins are [[Exclusively Evil]]; it goes by the ''Monster Manual'', which says they are ''Usually'' Chaotic Evil. Likewise, the paladin killing kids example should be noted to take place from the POV of an [[Unreliable Narrator]], and [[Word of God|the author]] has hinted that it's not ''quite'' as bad as Redcloak makes it seem. This trope still applies in spades, of course.
** The Dark One (the [[Ascend to a Higher Plane of Existence|previously-mortal]] god of the goblins) averts this, sending a message back with one of his resurrected clerics:
{{quote|'''Jirix:''' "Don't screw this up."
'''Red Cloak:''' Well, as theological revelations go, I guess that's refreshingly direct.
'''Jirix:''' But then he added "no pressure though," which I thought was nice. }}
** A later strip reveals that {{spoiler|goblinoids and other 'cannon fodder' races were created by Fenris, who foolishly believes he just needs to create races that age quickly and breed a lot to out-compete races created by other gods, and refuses to try anything else even after countless failures.}}
* [[The Gods of Arr-Kelaan]] can sometimes slide into this, but there's a general consensus that as bad as the Traveler Gods could be they are still better than the old gods. The old Gods being Jerkasses is what kicks off the "God War".
 
 
== Web Original ==
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* Zod from ''[[Open Blue]]'' is a drunken bastard who would rather fart up hurricanes, go on beer parties, and armwrestle with an expy of Cthulhu rather than answer the hundreds of millions of prayers directed at him.
* The ''[[Whateley Universe]]'' has these in spades. There are, of course, all the various Lovecraftian "gods". There's the Tao with its shamelessly invoked [[Omniscient Morality License]]. The Christian Heaven and Hell (or good facsimiles thereof) apparently exist and are locked in a [[Balance Between Good and Evil|carefully balanced stalemate]] with neither side actually ''trying'' to win too much, which works okay for the entity claiming to be Satan but casts a dim light on his counterpart. (Let's not even go into their respective treatment of Merry, later Petra, who by this point is a fully appointed knight of the Catholic church... even if she ''does'' also carry Sara's demon mark.) And the New Olympians school clique? Are some of the old Greek gods in new human host bodies, with at least some of them already up to their old tricks and none too happy that [[Gods Need Prayer Badly|nobody worships them anymore]].
* Parodied by [https://web.archive.org/web/20110226001142/http://www.collegehumor.com/video:1924722 this] recent ''College Humor'' video.
* Although ''[[Zero Punctuation]]'' does not contain examples of the trope, it does have a rather appropriate summary of it:
{{quote|"The root problem with Christianity is that their god is supposed to be all-powerful and benevolent. It sounds like an easy sell but when life turns completely to shit you have to come up with all kinds of whacked-out reasons for why kindly old Jehovah saw fit to run over little Timmy with a combine harvester and leave him in a state of vegetative limbless agony for eighteen years. Ancient cultures didn't have that problem; they knew their gods were a bunch of drunken lunatics who ran around boning their close relatives and turning their goolies into fruit-bearing trees. Consequently they tend to make for much more interesting stories."}}
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== Western Animation ==
* The telling of the Pandora's Box story in ''[[The Grim Adventures of Billy and& Mandy]]'' fits the trope and the original story rather well.
** And, of course, there are plenty of gods that make guest appearances, such as Eris, the goddess of discord and strife.
* Neptune of ''[[SpongeBob SquarePants]]'' acts this way.
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{{reflist}}
[[Category:Jerkass Gods{{PAGENAME}}]]
[[Category:Religion Tropes]]
[[Category:Double Standard]]
[[Category:Villains]]
[[Category:Jerkass Gods]]
[[Category:The Jerk Index]]
[[Category:God Tropes]]