Kill the God: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

[[wikipedia:Deicide|Deicide]], aka '''killing a god'''.

 

 

{{examples}}

* Almost happens to {{spoiler|Haruhi at the hands of Kuyo and Fujiwara}} at the climax of ''[[Suzumiya Haruhi|The Astonishment of Haruhi Suzumiya Vol. 2]]''.

* ''[[Bleach]]'' gets this pretty easily, considering the Soul Reapers are considered [[A God Am I|Death Gods]] by their own submission. {{spoiler|Aizen, on the other hand, was so ridiculously powerful and ranting about his godhood that the final set of chapters leading to his defeat is ''actually called'' Deicide.}}

* In ''[[Princess Mononoke]]'', Lady Eboshi kills the forest spirit, which is a sort of [[Physical God]]. The results, however, aren't quite what she intended.

* A variation occurs in ''[[Code Geass]]''. {{spoiler|Emperor Charles}} and {{spoiler|his brother, V.V.}}, having lost their parents to the machinations of their [[Deadly Decadent Court]], promised each other as children that if there was a god that made people fight and scheme against each other for power, they would kill him. By the time they are older and in a position to put their plan into action, their understanding of the situation has sufficiently evolved that they're no longer trying to ''kill'' the "god" they have discovered, but they are planning to ''use'' it to {{spoiler|enact an [[Assimilation Plot]] where all human consciousness, past and present, will unite so the fighting will stop and the dead will return.}}

* Since the gods' powers are sealed in ''[[Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon?]]'', killing one is as easy as pushing him or her off a ledge, or running a sword through the god's heart... and it's shown to have happened more than once. The god doesn't actually die, but is sent to (the setting's very boring) Heaven with no way to return to the (interesting) Lower World where the mortals live.

 

* It happens in ''[[Preacher (Comic Book)|Preacher]]''. {{spoiler|The Saint of Killers}} REALLY lived up to his name.

* In ''[[Thorgal]]'', Ogotai {{spoiler|gets shot in the back with his own plasma gun. He wasn't a real god, just a dangerously delusional and terribly powerful alien psychic, but from the characters' [[Physical God|power level]], he certainly counts. And he did have a [[Mayincatec]] civilization doing mass human sacrifices for him}}.

* The title character of ''[[Harry Kipling (Deceased)]]'' does this on a regular basis. He can do it because he's technically a god himself.

 

 

* ''[[Star Trek V]]'' has earned the [[Fan Nickname]] ''[[Star Trek]]: Shoot God in the Face'' since its climax involves going to the heart of the galaxy and meeting an [[Omnipotent]], godlike being in need of a starship, and then shooting it in the face.

* In the 2010 remake of ''[[Clash of the Titans]]'', various rulers are trying to do this to the Olympians by [[Gods Need Prayer Badly|destroying their temples and denying them worship]]. While it does weaken them, the gods are still powerful enough to inflict misery on the commonfolk, whose suffering their arrogant rulers ignore. It also doesn't do anything to weaken Hades, since he draws power from their fear of death.

* The climax of ''[[Dogma]]'' involves the protagonist finding and killing God, in order to allow Her to respawn at the place She needs to be to stop the villain from destroying the universe.

 

* In ''[[His Dark Materials]]'', this is Asriel's mission. There's also a knife which is properly called the [[Meaningful Name|god-destroyer]].

* In ''[[Percy Jackson and The Olympians]]'', Pan is killed because of [[Gods Need Prayer Badly|a lack of people who believe in him]], which also doubled as a [[Green Aesop]].

* The goal of Nicolae Carpathia's Global Community One World Unity Army at the battle of Armageddon in the ''[[Left Behind]]'' book ''Glorious Appearing'', and also that of The Other Light at the end of the Millennium Kingdom in ''Kingdom Come'' -- [[You Can't Fight Fate|neither of which was achieved]] [[Curb Stomp Battle|as God and Jesus wiped out both armies]].

 

* In ''[[Xena: Warrior Princess]]'', the title character gains the Power to Kill Gods in the season 5 finale, and uses it so often that she is actually billed as "[http://hercxena.wikia.com/wiki/Xena Xena of Amphipolis, the Warrior Princess, Slayer of Gods and Defender of the Elijans]."

** On the Hercules and Xena Wiki, there's a ''category'' on the trope "[http://hercxena.wikia.com/wiki/Category:Power_to_kill_Gods Power to kill Gods]{{Dead link}}".

* In season five of ''[[Supernatural (TV series)|Supernatural]]'', Lucifer wipes out a hotelful of gods in about five minutes. [[Death]] also claims he will reap God at the end of time.

 

* The third act of Fireaxe's epic four hour metal album [[Food for the Gods]] centers around [[Satan]] leading an army of demons and damned in a full-on assault of Heaven with this goal. {{spoiler|And it works! [[Pyrrhic Victory|Sort of]].}}

* The whole point of [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8-F3n_G_0O0 "Godwhacker"] by [[Steely Dan]].

* Similarly, [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GoC8OBjs7Iw&list=RDPnKxhbRqqx0&index=6 "Godhunter"] by [[Aviators]] is about a god acknowledging that he's marked for death by a godslayer -- and that he deserves it.

 

* [[Older Than Dirt]]: In [[Egyptian Mythology]], Set chopped up his brother Osiris and threw all the pieces into the Nile.

* Balder in ''[[Norse Mythology]]''. Killed by an arrow (or spear) through the heart shot by Hodr, but he was set up by Loki. He knew Balder's only weakness: [[Weaksauce Weakness|mistletoe]].

** At Ragnarok, Odin, Thor, Loki, Heimdall, Frey, and most of the Aesir bite it at the hands of giants, trolls, Fenrir, Jormungandr, and Surtr.

 

* ''[[Exalted]]'' is full of [[Exaggerated|exaggeration]], and this trope is no exception. You can trivially kill the vast majority of gods right out of chargen. And not only you can kill typical day-to-day house-spirit gods, you can also kill the Incarnae, who are the big bosses of the gods. And ultimately you can kill the [[Our Titans Are Different|Primordials]], who are ''the'' [[The Old Gods|gods of the gods]]. In fact, that last one was the very reason why the Exalted were created.

* For an RPG based on Gnosticism, this trope is [[Averted]] in ''[[Kult]]''. But only because ''[[God Is Dead]]''.

** Killing gods were a fairly trivial task (although it's rarely ''easy'') in 3.5e. 4E has a few deities statted up (Bahamut, Tiamat, Torog, Lolth at least), and usually require you meet some special condition to permanently beat them down (either affecting them in some way that violates their portfolio, using something against their iconic material, or getting a bunch of Primordials/Demon Lords and having them gang up on them).

 

* In ''[[The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind]]'', you can kill up to [[Rule of Three|three Gods]], with two being required to finish the story. They are [[Physical God|Vivec]], Almalexia in ''[[Expansion Pack|Tribunal]]'' (necessary to finish Tribunal's story), and Dagoth Ur (necessary to finish the main game's story).

* ''[[God of War (series)|God of War]]'', [[Up to Eleven|of course]]. [[Sociopathic Hero|Kratos]] goes on a killing spree in Olympus as well as many other legends from [[Greek Mythology]]. Of course, killing the gods that govern the elements or the guy that guards the souls of the dead may have [[The End of the World as We Know It|small inconveniences]], but hey, no plan is perfect!

* The ending of the first and third ''[[Silent Hill]]'' games.

* Overlapping with [[Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?]], this is the entire reason the Grey Wardens were created in the ''[[Dragon Age]]'' [[The Verse|'verse]]: the [[Big Bad|archdemons]] are the slumbering gods of the [[The Empire|Tevinter]] [[Vestigial Empire|Imperium]], awoken by darkspawn. If killed by a normal mortal, they'll come back to life via [[Body Surf|body surfing]] to the nearest darkspawn. If a Grey Warden is in proximity, however, it'll jump to the Warden and their souls will [[Mutual Kill|mutually annihilate]].

* The second half of the plot of ''[[Star Ocean: Till the End of Time]]'' deals with the party trying to stop [[The Maker|The Creator]] from destroying the galaxy. {{spoiler|[[Subverted Trope|Subverted in that he's actually a computer programmer]], but he's still the closest thing to a god that the Star Ocean universe has}}

 

* Attempted twice in ''[[Bob and George]]'' with the Author, who is essentially the God of the comic's universe. At the end of the first game storyline Dr Wily captures and seemingly kills the Author, erasing the comic from existence. It was quickly established the Author was only injured and recovered (at the time this was done because the Mega Man strips were meant to be filler and the Author did intend to stop them, but then wound up going back to them and they became the main story).

** In the final storyline, Bob attempts the same plan but takes it [[Up to Eleven]] by arranging for the Author to get killed in three time periods, ensuring his destruction. When George points out that Wily already tried killing the Author and failed, the Shadowy Author reminds him that since it's already known the comic is coming to an end there's no guarantee Bob's plan will fail this time (it does, but the point is still valid).

* ''[[Sluggy Freelance]]'': The talking sword Chaz can kill just about anything when powered by innocent blood. It claims it could easily kill the Demon King, a [[God of Evil]]. {{spoiler|We don't get to see this happen, but less direct contact with Chaz does scar the Demon King.}}

 

* This article from ''[[The Onion]]'': [http://www.theonion.com/articles/nasa-completes-52year-mission-to-find-kill-god,19263/ Nasa Completes 52-Year Mission to Find, Kill God].

* ''[[Tales of MU]]'' gives us Gillian "Gottmorder" Callahan.

'''Imperial Agent''': We don't have a law that covers successful deicide. }}

* Perhaps the ultimate example would be ''[[The Salvation War]]'' series. The first story has humanity go to war with Hell ''and win so hard that it is later referred to as the [[Curb Stomp Battle|Curbstomp War.]]'' Then we kill Satan with cruise missiles. The next story, we go to war with Heaven. The only reason that we don't personally kill God there... well... {{spoiler|[[The Starscream|someone]] beat us to it.}}

 

* Admiral Zhao in ''[[Avatar: The Last Airbender]]''' declares his ultimate goal to be the death of the Moon Spirit. {{spoiler|1=He does succeed in this, but the Moon Spirit is quickly replaced/resurrected.}}

 

{{reflist}}