39,327
edits
Gods Need Prayer Badly: Difference between revisions
update links
Derivative (talk | contribs) m (Fixing links to disambiguation pages) |
(update links) |
||
Line 12:
A subtrope of [[Clap Your Hands If You Believe]], which can be used to explain why [[The Powers That Be]] care whether or not anyone worships them. Or in games where you play as a [[Physical God]], this is often used as a game mechanic to explain why you can't just [[Deus Ex Machina]] your way through ''everything''. It can also be used by authors as a [[Take That]] against organized religion. Compare [[I'm Not Afraid of You]], where smaller [[Anthropomorphic Personification]]s can be [[Puff of Logic|disbelieved]].
Depending on the setting, of course, the gods can often provide incentives for people to worship them. The gods of most typical [[Dungeons
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.
Line 29:
* A key theme in ''[[Serial Experiments Lain]]''; {{spoiler|Masami Eiri}} defines godhood as this, and the main thrust of his scheme is ensuring he will have people believe him to be God, so that for all intents and purposes he will be.
* [[Fanon]] of [[Axis Powers Hetalia]] has it that the Nations are born when their national identity begins to develop, and "die" when no one identifies with them anymore.
* Shown in ''[[Nurarihyon no Mago]]'' when Senba, a god of healing, feared he would fade away and disappear because no one visted his shrine anymore.
* One chapter of ''[[Franken Fran]]'' shows the point when the [[Flying Spaghetti Monster]] finally gets enough worshipers to become real because of this trope. FF being [[Body Horror|the kind of manga it is]], it manifests by absorbing several of its followers into a single hideous mass.
Line 38:
== Comic Books ==
* Very, ''very'', '''very''' [[Depending on the Writer]] in both [[The DCU]] and the [[Marvel Universe]]. Sometimes the gods complain about this, sometimes they draw plenty of power from the ideas they're embodiments of even if people don't know about the [[Anthropomorphic Personification]]s as people, sometimes they flat don't care.
** In general this applies more to DC than Marvel. In Marvel the abstracts are not usually called gods and transcend them. More traditional gods like Thor and Ares have not been worshiped on a wide scale for centuries. They don't complain about loss of power or seek out new worshipers. They show no loss of power over time. Some writers have shown a connection between mortals and gods, but generally this is more a cultural connection that allows gods to interact on Earth instead of a dependency on faith.
** DC gods tend to be more vulnerable to this. It is usually use to justify Ares being a major threat to even the combined Olympian gods and why he constantly spreads war. Several storylines have had Ares and other gods be stronger than Zeus due to changes in worship and things mortals venerate. A lot less people are afraid of the sky or praying for rain than they used too. However, power tends to rely less on direct worship and more on how important the concept a god represents is to the mortal world. Ares can feed on conflict of any kind instead of that just dedicated to him. There are exceptions. The [[New Gods]] tend to stay strong without a race to draw strength from, but at times they have implied to be more gods of technology that draw power from across the universe.
** In fact, New God Orion was ''very emphatic'' about this in his series - when rather pathetically confronted by a defeated enemy with this notion, he replied "You have been reading too much fiction. Gods are not dependent on their worshipers - worshipers are dependent on their gods."
** In the ''Fear Itself'' crossover, [[Iron Man]] mocks, invokes, ''and'' turns this into one helluva [[Tear Jerker]]. He started screaming at Odin and the other gods (but mostly Odin), yelling that if they wanted a sacrifce he'd give them the "only thing he could give worth anything": his sobriety, by taking a huge swig of alcohol. Even though it was a [[Narm]] scene, it was effective to the fans who know how hard he works to stay sober.
** DC perhaps most notably has this apply to a modern-day god of recent birth, Uncle Sam, whose power is directly proportional to the American People's belief in freedom and liberty. Whether American protecterates like Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Virgin Islands' people's belief in freedom and liberty counts towards this is never specified.
* ''[[The Sandman]]'' had gods born from dreams and when they were forgotten they would return to the world of dreams to eventually fade away. ''[[Lucifer (comics)|Lucifer]]'' followed a similar idea. The goddess Bast is a shadow of her former shelf. Ishtar had to become a stripper. The Japanese gods absorb articles of faith from other pantheons and modern times to survive. The Norse gods appear to be doing pretty well though.
** In fact, [[Neil Gaiman]] frequently reminded readers that [[Anthropomorphic Personification|The Endless]] are not gods, because they do not care if they are remembered and will persist long after humanity is gone. They ''really are'' Death, Dream, Despair etc, and their existence depends on these aspects of the universe rather than mythology, and not just on Earth.
* In ''[[Knights of the Dinner Table]]'', after Bob's character, Knuckles III, dies, his next character (Knuckles IV) manages to get Knuckles III promoted to [[Phantasy Spelling|gawdhood]]. Temples to Knu-Kyle-Ra are now a recurring feature in the comic. Unfortunately, they don't owe Bob's other characters any favors.
Line 61:
* While God, angels and demons in ''[[Dogma]]'' apparently exist independantly of humans, they are still influenced by the way humans believe in them. This is made more explicit in some of the deleted scenes.
* In ''[[Elf]]'', Santa's sleigh is said to draw power from children's belief in him.
* Played with in the remake of ''[[Clash of the Titans]]''. Zeus and most of the Olympians sustain their immortality through the prayers of humans. This provides a problem when humans not only stop worshiping Olympus, but actively try and starve the gods of badly-needed prayers through blasphemy. As one would expect, [[Do Not Taunt Cthulhu|it doesn't go well...]]
* In ''[[Freddy vs. Jason]]'', Freddy needs people to fear him to be able to infiltrate their dreams, so he became powerless when the inhabitants of Springwood systematically eradicated any trace of his existence. He uses Jason as a pawn to reinvigorate the locals' belief in him so he can return.
Line 73:
* ''[[American Gods]]'' uses this as a central plot point. There's some major [[Fridge Logic]] (or perhaps [[Fridge Brilliance]]) at one point given the slighting way one of them refers to Jesus. Given that deities are powered by belief, he (probably along with Vishnu) would likely be the most powerful god around at present.
** There's also the implication that each nation has localised versions of gods: the American Kali mentions that there is a much more powerful Indian Kali, the protagonist briefly meets an Icelandic Odin and a powerless Jesus in Afghanistan is mentioned.
** At first glance, [[Magic A Is Magic A|the rules of the system]] could arguably have made Jesus ''so'' powerful in modern America that the conflict throughout the story would be beneath him. It's not his problem and neither side in the conflict would want him involved. On the other hand, note that gods in this setting don't actually need prayer itself, just belief. In that case, Jesus might not be all that powerful in modern America; see the premise of ''[[Discworld/Small Gods|Small Gods]]'' below.
* [[David Eddings]] uses it in the ''Elenium'' and ''Tamuli'' trilogies (the source of the page header quote). At one point, the goddess Aphrael becomes ill because her worshippers are being killed.
* [[Douglas Adams]]' ''[[The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul]]'': Old gods who have fallen out of belief become powerless destitutes, while a new god is actually spawned as a critical mass of Guilt builds up through the book.
* In ''[[The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy]]'', [[Hollywood Atheist|Oolon Colluphid]] says that the Babel Fish was used to prove the existence of God, but since God Needs Faith Badly, the concrete proof of his existence [[Puff of Logic|immediately caused his nonexistance]].
* [[Terry Pratchett]] uses this one a bunch throughout ''[[Discworld]]''. The Discworld is lousy with small gods, most of them just "a pinch of existence," barely sentient and incapable of much more than disturbing dust or influencing the minds of animals. But the right minor miracle in the right place at the right time...
** ''[[Discworld/Small Gods|Small Gods]]'' concerns the rise, fall, and return of the Great God Om, patron deity of the theocratic empire of Omnia. He left at the height of his power, promising to return during the rise of the next prophet. When he does come back from his godly vacation, he finds himself inexplicably trapped in the body of a small tortoise, unable to conjure more than a spark of static. As it turns out, his followers began to believe less in him and more in his church, or more specifically that showing proper commitment to the church [[Church Militant|was less likely to have you tortured to death for heresy]]. By Om's return, only a single lowly acolyte believes in the actual deity Om rather than Omnianism.
** ''[[Discworld/The Last Hero|The Last Hero]]'' introduces Nuggan, a minor deity hailing from Borogravia. An unpleasant god with an unpleasant mustache, he's a bossy little deity whose holy books are three-ring binders so he can constantly add to the list of Abominations that make life so miserable for his followers - when the Silver Horde brings a Borogravian bard to Dunmanifestan, they have to physically restrain the man from attacking his god. By ''[[Discworld/Monstrous Regiment|Monstrous Regiment]]'', the Abominations have helped cripple a war-torn Borogravia's economy (no more crop rotation) and have become so deranged (Abominating babies and the color blue) that citizens have taken to praying to the land's Duchess for succor. {{spoiler|In the end, Nuggan is revealed to have faded away, with the Abominations as a sort of echo, while Borogravia's faith in its Duchess has given the now dead woman a quasi-deity status, much to her consternation}}.
** In ''[[Discworld/Hogfather|Hogfather]]'', this fact is deliberately used in an attempt to kill the Disc's [[Crystal Dragon Jesus|Crystal Dragon Santa]] by using [[Mind Control]] to stop children from believing in him. When the Hogfather falls out of existence, all that belief goes into [[Clap Your Hands If You Believe|completely random concepts that never existed before]], such as [[Odd Job Gods|the Verruca Gnome; the Eater of Socks; and Bilious, the Oh God of Hangovers]]. [[The End of the World as We Know It|Oh, and it might mean the end of the world]].
Line 107:
** In this setting, it's especially clear that only ''worship'' will sustain a god: merely being acknowledged to exist doesn't suffice to keep them around. Thus, a pantheon of Chumash native deities can be dying out from lack of sincere prayers directed towards them, even though plenty of ''non''-worshipers in the EPA are aware of their existence and concerned for their welfare as "endangered gods".
* Averted in ''[[Percy Jackson and The Olympians]]'', the Greek Gods continue at seeming full strength despite virtually no following in the modern world. The series in some ways seems to substitute this for the idea that the Gods are tied to Western Civilization, rather than any kind of worship, though they do draw power simply from people remembering they exist, regardless of worship. Its implied to tie in both to things like their symbols of power and the existence of Olympus itself.
** If one goes by the Titans then worshiped is not needed at all. Despite being imprisoned for thousands of years none of the Titans try to work up cults or tie themselves into civilization. Power is based more on the factors mentioned and a few others.
** This seems to be Zigzagged a bit, as Helios and Selene faded because the Romans apparently didn't worship them. It also happens with Pan because no one respects nature.
** What seems to be is that the Gods survive as long as they have the will to survive, which they can lose when they are disrespected and unnecessary.
Line 115:
** Zeus is currently enjoying his retirement in the Caribbean.
* In Simon R. Green's ''The [[Nightside]] Series'', gods function rather like this. They even have harkers out on the Street of Gods trying to increase their base of worship to gain more power. Who often dissolve into shouting matches over who's dogma's right. It's a God eat God world out there...
* Averted in the short story ''The Food of the Gods'' by [[Poul Anderson]] (in collaboration with his wife Karen.) Here it is stated that while worship - or at least reverence - is needed in order to achieve Godhood, once that state is reached the resultant deity is immortal, and no longer requires active worshippers. Some degree of continuing respect, however, is necessary if a God (or pantheon) is to have any continuing major influence on the mortal world. As an example, it's related by the god Hermes that when Christianity displaced Paganism, a dark age followed because the Olympians held too much of civilization within themselves. It was only when the Christian Trinity allowed Greco-Roman mythology to be rediscovered that the Renaissance became possible.
* The Greek gods in Marie Phillips's ''Gods Behaving Badly'' have been holed up in a house in North London for a century or two, reduced to shadows of their former selves because the faith that made them powerful is now going to "[[Jesus|the upstart carpenter]]" and his father.
* C.S. Friedman's ''[[Coldfire Trilogy]]'' is set on a world where an occult force makes human imagination become real. Unsurprisingly, a number of god-beings start to appear who answer prayers in return for feeding on their worshippers' life-energy.
* The zealot species Yuuzhan Vong of the ''[[Star Wars Expanded Universe]]'' seems to think this way: "The gods may have created us, but it is we who sustain them through worship."
** Although with their creation myth (life was created through a terrible wound inflicted on its creator), this could instead refer to the ''expression'' of their worship through omnicide returning the gift of life to the gods.
Line 147:
** In the [[Christmas Special]] episode of season 3, the brothers run into two old Gods who are kidnapping people and sacrificing them to themselves. The couple boast that they use to be so powerful people would make sacrifices to them daily, but time moves on and they've assimilated themselves into modern culture and now only kidnap a couple people a year to sacrifice and keep themselves going.
** In the episode "Fallen Idols", one such old god can only survive on the sacrifices of people that worship it. Since belief in the old gods has all but died in the modern era [[Loophole Abuse|it transforms itself into whatever its intended victim happens to worship]], like becoming [[Abraham Lincoln]] to eat a Civil War historian, appearing as [[Ghandi]] to Sam, and shapeshifting into [[Paris Hilton]] to devour a teenage girl.
* The original ''[[Star Trek: The
* ''[[Heroes]]'' season 4 [[Big Bad]] Samuel Sullivan is a super whose [[Dishing Out Dirt|geokinetic powers]] become stronger if he is surrounded by other supers who believe in him. In theory he could ''break the world'' if he had a large enough crowd of supers nearby. His brother Joseph hid the true nature of Samuel's power from him and deliberately limited the size of their super carnival to prevent Samuel from becoming too dangerous {{spoiler|and Samuel killed him when he found out the truth}}. Samuel is eventually defeated when {{spoiler|his fratricide is brought to light, causing his fellow super carnies to lose faith in him, and Hiro teleports them away.}} Samuel is left all alone in an empty carnival as a powerless, broken, shell of a man.
Line 154:
* A Greek myth/folktale likely written in Christian times by Plutarch times tells of the death of the god Pan when people start thinking of him as only a made up story. One might wonder about the rise of Neo-Pagans, who have begun worshipping of Pan again. Have they resurrected him, or is their belief going unheard?
* [[Subverted Trope|Subverted]] ''hard'' in the [[The Bible|Judeo/Christian religions]] as seen in [http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=psalm%2050&version=NLT Psalm 50]:
{{quote|[[God|He]] calls on the heavens above and earth below
to witness the judgment of his people.
"Bring my faithful people to me—
those who made a covenant with me by giving sacrifices.”
Then let the heavens proclaim his justice,
for God himself will be the judge.
“O my people, listen as I speak.
Here are my charges against you, O Israel:
I am God, your God!
I have no complaint about your sacrifices
or the burnt offerings you constantly offer.
But I do not need the bulls from your barns
or the goats from your pens.
For all the animals of the forest are mine,
and I own the cattle on a thousand hills.
I know every bird on the mountains,
and all the animals of the field are mine.
If I were hungry, I would not tell you,
for all the world is mine and everything in it.
Do I eat the meat of bulls?
Do I drink the blood of goats?
Make thankfulness your sacrifice to God,
and keep the vows you made to the Most High." }}
* The Neopagan scholar Isaac Bonewits describes gods as functioning basically as the trope says. He's not alone; this theogony is quite common, especially among Wiccans and Asatru (Norse-pagan revivalists).
* This trope is fairly common in real-world polytheisms, especially those with a substantial animist or pantheist component. Among modern religions, it is especially significant in the religions of the African diaspora in the New World (Vodoun, Santeria, Candomble, Umbanda), and in the Shinto animism of Japan. Historically it was an important though implicit idea in Hellenic- and Roman-era syncretism.
* In a way, there's a "Person Needs Prayer Badly" in medieval European Catholicism... in order to go to Heaven (or reduced their time in purgatory) and join the Angels, the soul of the deceased needed to be prayed for. This led to the modern idea of the funeral, as well as other ideas.
** It is still part of the Catholic beliefs, but you only pray for the soul in Purgatory as man has no role in deciding the salvation of souls.
* While this trope is believed by few in real life concerning actual deities, there is no denying that a religion's influence and power increase with the number of followers.
** It would be interesting to know the source for this assumption, that only few do, as above mentioned examples of people who do believe so, seem to indicate a reasonable high number.
*** That is assuming that the above examples are correct and not based on faulty scholarship or plain misunderstanding. For example, as a Heathen (which includes Asatru) of 11 years I can say for a fact that this belief is not common among Asatruar even though an above troper says it is.
*** It could be that the claim was based on how religious beliefs affect politics, economics, etc. Like the persecution that followed with the change of reigns between Protestant and Catholic, the Puritans in the USA, Judaism and other religions in the Middle East, Russia/USSR, etc.
* Maltheists (those who believe in God, but believe that [[God Is Evil]]) often believe that God will die if nobody worships him. Which is what they hope will eventually happen, because they believe humanity cannot truly be free until God dies.
* The state religion of the Aztec or Mexica Empire believed the gods are always hungry—not for belief or prayer, but for human and animal sacrificial victims—and that if they were not fed a steady diet of the hearts of brave warriors, they would surely destroy the world, as they had many times before. The whole Aztec political system was designed to prevent this by waging enough wars that there would always be plenty of POWs to sacrifice; in some cases, Tenochtitlan and another city-state would stage a set-piece "Flower War" with no objective but giving each side a chance to capture some of other's soldiers for sacrifice. (Not every state the Mexica forced to participate in this seems to have shared their level or form of piety on the matter—a circumstance Cortez, when he arrived, found very useful to his purposes.)
Line 190:
== Tabletop Games ==
* ''[[Dungeons
** 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.
Line 197:
** In basic D&D, the Immortals need at least some worshipers or they fade away. They can come back if someone starts worshiping them again for some reason. A new Immortal can survive on power from his sponsor for his first year or so, but he'd better have found some worshipers by then.
** Averted in ''[[Dragonlance]]'', where the deities do not need any worshipers to maintain their power. They do need mortal followers to have much influence in the mortal world however, but they will not die from a lack of followers.
** ''[[Baldur's Gate]]'' being mostly canon to mainstream D&D shows us that a dead god can still excist if it's followers are still undead echoes, believing they must live for eternity guarding the temple of a dead god, ''which at the same time creates a demon of hatred'' to fight their dead God, time and time again in an endless cycle, akin to Ragnarok. The God wouldn't be without it's Guardians, and the Guardians wouldn't be without their God, thus both perpetually creating a [[Living Echo]] of each other.
* In ''[[Demon: The Fallen]]'' demons need faith to fuel their powers. They can either force steal it, which causes spiritual damage, or set up cults of various stripes to get a small but steady flow without necessarily hurting their worshippers (unless they ''want'' to be hurt).
* The ''[[New World of Darkness]]'':
** This setting has the Astral Realms, which include the Temenos, the collective consciousness of humanity. Among the conceptual archetypes present there are every god ever worshipped. In this case, since they are formed through human belief, their power is proportional to how much humans regard them, not necessarily through worship. For example, Anubis exists in the Temenos, and though not as powerful as he was when he was actively worshipped by a powerful nation, he is still a relevant and well known symbol, which means he still possesses the power of a minor god. Other gods are less fortunate. Since the Temenos is a focal point for all human knowledge and experience, even a completely forgotten god would still exist somewhere, albeit significantly weakened. Its also suggested that some Temenos gods might be based by humanity on truly divine beings (a theory particularly popular with devout mages who suffer crises of faith upon learning they can meet their deities in the Temenos).
** Similarly, various spirits in the Shadow realm are often shaped and empowered by human belief. Whether a particular one appearing as a god was an inspiration for human worship or was formed by human worship is often unclear.
* The Chaos Gods in ''[[Warhammer Fantasy Battle]]'' and ''[[Warhammer
** It is speculated that the Emperor of Mankind's almost militant atheism and denial of any superstitious talk of "daemons" was a direct attempt to starve the Chaos Gods of belief. While this effort obviously failed, the Imperium's faith in the God-Emperor of Mankind may have helped him become a proper deity himself, enhancing his already-formidable psychic presence and giving humanity a fighting chance.
* ''[[Exalted]]'': not only do Gods little and big benefit from worship as the currency of [[Celestial Bureaucracy|Yu Shan]], but ''anyone'' can earn [[Pure Energy|Essence]] if they get a Cult worshipping them. Something many player characters will find handy.
Line 241:
* This concept formed the premise of the 10th ''[[Touhou]]'' game, ''Mountain of Faith'' - goddess Kanako Yasaka, faced with fading away due to modern Japan's waning faith in the divine, decides to relocate the Moriya Shrine to [[Fantasy Kitchen Sink|Gensokyo]], where she ought to have an easier time finding worshipers. Unfortunately this muscles in on the local religious "authority," protagonist [[Miko|Reimu Hakurei]], and [[Danmaku]] ensues.
** [[Defeat Means Friendship|Once the]] [[Did We Just Have Tea with Cthulhu?|tea parties are over]], the Moriya Shrine becomes an established fixture in Gensokyo, surviving quite comfortably on the faith of the local kappa and tengu. That said, Kanako hasn't stopped in her efforts to increase faith, and has repeatedly attempted to introduce modern technology into [[Medieval Stasis|Gensokyo]] as a sort of "fire from the gods" ploy. This has met with mixed success - her plan to build a fusion plant sparked the events of ''Subterranean Animism'', in which a ditzy hell-raven went [[With Great Power Comes Great Insanity|mad with the power of a sun god]] and tried to turn the surface world into a new Hell.
** Fan works involving the Moriya Shrine's miko, Sanae Kochiya, often have her working to gather followers or otherwise ensure that her goddesses don't fade away.
* [[Lampshade Hanging|Lampshaded]] in ''Blood Omen: [[Legacy of Kain]]'' when Kain remarks, "The act had taken on the feel of ritual. Isn't it strange how we must bribe our gods to stay?"
* In ''[[Fate/stay night|Fate Stay Night]]'', the Heroic Spirits (not outright gods but at least a few levels of spiritualism above humans) mostly exist due to - and are partially sustained and empowered by - the belief they've inspired in humanity. Their strength appears based partly on their actual power and partly on pure [[Popularity Power]]. As Rin explains in the game prologue, even fictional characters count, what matters is the image created by the minds of the people. The game features two major explorations of this - {{spoiler|Assassin is a nameless samurai called forth to play the role of Sasaki Kojiro, an opponent of [[Miyamoto Musashi]]}}, who is entirely fictional in the [[Nasuverse]]. In other words, the pure belief that humanity has in the existence of said hero is so strong that it allows him to exist, {{spoiler|albeit through summoning a nameless spirit to take on his name and fill his role}}. On the flip side, {{spoiler|Archer is a hero from the future}}; nobody knows of his existence and he therefore owes neither his existence nor any of his powers from belief, persisting as a Heroic Spirit only through the connection all Heroic Spirits have with the earth itself. [[The Berserker|Heracles]], naturally, gets top billing either way you look at it.
* ''[[
** Subverted in the original ''Actraiser'' for the SNES. While you gain levels as your population grows, it turns out that your powers are dependent on the number of people on the planet, not their faith. At one point, a [[Path of Inspiration]] turns a lot of people in one country against you, but it doesn't lower your levels. Additionally in the end {{spoiler|your temples are empty because the people can stand on their own and no longer need you to handle their every need}}, but you don't fade away or anything.
** In ''Actraiser 2'', one of the towns you need to save is initially closed off, because the townspeople there don't believe in you (and thus you can't read their minds).
Line 260:
** WARNING! PLOT POINT AHEAD! {{spoiler|1=The creator of the Spirit-Eater curse that drives the plot of ''MotB'' is the now-dead god Myrkul, who created it to ensure his [[Immortality]] by abusing this principle: as long as there was a Spirit-Eater, there would be at least one person who feared and/or worshiped him, so he could never truly die. Then the game gives you the opportunity to [[Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?|finish him off]] [[Death by Irony|with the Spirit-Eater]].}}
* This is a plot point in ''[[Disgaea 4: A Promise Unforgotten]]''. The Netherworld and Celestia need fear and love from humans to maintain their power, but it's become difficult for demons to plant fear in humans since humans have become so [[Humans Are the Real Monsters|corrupt]] that they now fear themselves more than demons. As a result, this means they no longer have to pray to angels for protection and guidance.
* ''[[
** It should be noted that though hatred sustains Hazama/Terumi's existence, thus making it necessary for him to be the worst kind of [[Jerkass]] possible in order to stay alive, he is still as far from sympathetic as one can get. He has ''no'' shades of [[I Did What I Had to Do]], and has even openly admitted that he ''loves'' ruining other people's lives [[For the Evulz|for the sheer hell of it]].
Line 266:
== Webcomics ==
* In ''[[A Moment of Peace]]'' the gods of the universe eat human emotions to survive, like baked cheer or gruel made of sorrow.
* [[Played With]] to an epic extent in the (now completed) ''[http://indepos.comicgenesis.com/ Indefensible Positions]''. It took this to its logical extreme by having EVERY [[Me Me]] being a god powered by people's thinking about them. {{spoiler|One of the characters becomes a small god after her death this way.}}
* ''[[Fans]]'' has the occasional god make an appearance. These gods usually claim they were conceived by Roman clergy, during nights with a little too much wine. These gods include the god of gaming, and the anti-cupid (who shoots you with a tommy-gun and takes away your devotion to another person).
* The creators of [[Exterminatus Now]] have mentioned that this is how things work for the Gods in that world, though it is never explicitly stated in the comic.
Line 278:
== Web Original ==
* Seen in the ''[[Whateley Universe]]'' with the New Olympians. After escaping imprisonment (by whom hasn't yet been revealed) into the modern world, the old gods of Olympus find themselves greatly weakened and without worshippers to draw power from, and end up having to take mortal hosts. Who in the present day form their own loose school clique at Whateley Academy...
** It's also been mentioned in the canon background material that even simple spirits (basically considered randomly occurring self-motivated 'knots' of magical energy) may be able to evolve into 'gods' over time if given a source of worship to draw on.
* Used in ''[[Adylheim]]'': the less powerful gods require constant supplication and sacrifices to be made in their honour, whereas the more powerful ones merely use this as something of a divine power up. In return they're usually inclined to offer everything from providence to small miracles.
| |||