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{{work}}
''Lord Of Light'' is a 1967 [[Hugo Award]]-winning novel by [[Roger Zelazny]].
The novel's basic premise (modern sci-fi characters in a Hindu/Buddhist world) is summed up in the opening lines:
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The book itself is divided into seven chapters in a jumbled-up order, depicting in anachronic order; Sam's return from Nirvana, Sam's campaign against the forces of Heaven, the Battle of Keenset, and the conclusion and consequences of the final clash.
Also inspired a song by [[Hawkwind]].
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{{tropelist}}
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* [[Anthropomorphic Personification]]: Yama believes that the gods have become truly divine by identifying themselves so thoroughly with a single concept, such as love, war, or death, that they become it. [[Shut UP, Hannibal|Sam thinks he's full of it.]]
* [[Ascend to a Higher Plane of Existence]]: Sam's exile to Nirvana: his ''atman'' is transmitted along self-perpetuating radio-waves. He's quite upset when he's brought back.
* [[Back
* [[Bad Habits]]: Sam privately admits that he's merely posing as the Buddha, and doesn't believe the dogma he preaches.
* [[Baleful Polymorph]]: The gods' favorite means of punishing dissenters in their ranks is to transfer the minds of the offenders into the bodies of animals, instead of people.
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* [[Clarke's Third Law]]: The whole idea of the book is to explore this from the perspective of the people using the sufficiently advanced technology.
* [[Combat Pragmatist]]: It would be easier to list the characters who aren't.
* [[Cool and Unusual Punishment]]: "The curse of the Buddha", inflicted on Taraka as a punishment for possessing Sam. {{spoiler|It's guilt - a human feeling, unfamiliar to the Rakasha, which Taraka contracted from Sam's mind.}}
* [[Corrupt Church]]: When one goes to apply for reincarnation, how much money one has tithed to the various temples is taken into account when determining how one reincarnates. Automated "pray-o-mats" are set up to receive these tithes.
* [[Crystal Spires and Togas|Crystal Spires And Saris]]: Heaven in a nutshell.
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* [[Death Glare]]: Yama, being the god of death, can [[Eye Beams|physically affect]] people with his, as well as just intimidating the hell out of them. He kills {{spoiler|Indra and Taraka}} with it.
* [[Deface of the Moon]]: Sam once mentions the time when Agni burned the face of all three moons with his wand built by Yama.
* [[Defector From Decadence]]: Subverted with Yama. Sam tries to convince him that he's too good for "the crew of drunken body-changers", but ultimately, he's pushed over the edge only because {{spoiler|he was ditched by Kali.}}
* [[Deity of Human Origin]]: This concept is explored in this one.
* [[Demonic Possession]]: Taraka, the first and most powerful Rakasha that Sam frees possesses him for a time.
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* [[Lady in Red]]: Kali wears a red sari and necklaces of skulls.
* [[Lost Colony]]: The setting. Earth is described as "lost Urath," although whether this means the book occurs [[After the End]], or it simply means they can't get back to Earth, is left an open question.
* [[Love Triangle]] - Yama loves Kali. Kali (in her [[Yandere|own unique way]]) loves Sam. Sam loves his cause, and apparently not much else.
* [[Master of Illusion]]: Mara.
* [[Master Swordsman]]: Yama, as well as Rild.
* [[Medieval Stasis]]: The gods keep the people of their realm permanently stuck in the Middle Ages, so as to keep them from eventually being able to challenge them. The gods who disagreed with this policy were called Accelerationists, and Sam is the only one left.
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* [[Our Souls Are Different]]: The ''atman'' can be transferred from one body to another, where it begins to slowly reshape the new body to match the original.
* [[Our Zombies Are Different]]: Nirriti the Black commands legions of robots constructed from dead bodies, which are referred to as zombies.
* [[Path of Inspiration]]: The gods use Hinduism to keep the rabble in line. For that matter, Sam admits that he doesn't believe in Buddhism, and is just using it to drum up followers.
* [[Physical God]]: The pantheon [[A God Am I|claims to be this]], but are actually just well-trained psychics who can [[Body Surf]].
* [[Pragmatic Villainy]]: The gods chose to exile Sam to Nirvana -- meaning beam his mental pattern out into a "magnetic cloud" -- because they couldn't kill him.
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* [[Schizo-Tech]]: Necessary, so that the gods can maintain their "divine" cover when dealing with their followers, who are still living in [[Medieval Stasis]].
* [[Sealed Evil in a Can]]: When he and the rest of the First conquered the planet, Sam bound the Rakasha inside Hellwell, a specially-created cavern inside a mountain. After he decides to embark on a campaign against Heaven, he releases them to serve in his army.
* [[Shapeshifter Guilt Trip]]: attempted during Mara's clash with Yama, resulting in Mara's death.
* [[Shock and Awe]]: Sam's power is the ability to redirect electrons, which has a surprising variety of uses, such as calling down lightning or controlling mechanical devices. It's very hard to zap him with an [[Energy Weapon]], because he can turn it off with his mind.
* [[Stop Worshipping Me!]]: Sam doesn't insist on it, but he certainly does nothing that would encourage it.
* [[Sufficiently Advanced Alien]]: Actually, sufficiently advanced ''humans''.
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* [[Woman Scorned]]: Kali brings this to exciting new levels, {{spoiler|resulting in (temporary) [[Death by Woman Scorned]] for Sam}}.
* [[The World Is Not Ready]]: The antagonists use this as a justification for keeping their vast technology restricted to a tiny portion of the population. The protagonist calls them on it by asking why they've been actively quashing the spontaneous invention of technology.
* [[A Worldwide Punomenon]]: The entire ''book'' was written for the single purpose of a single pun.
** {{spoiler|It's "Then the fit hit the Shan" if you were wondering.}}
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