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War God: Difference between revisions
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This character is regarded as a deity or manifestation of war (or battle, murder, conflict, etc.). They're most likely a member of the setting's ruling pantheon, but could be any character (including a mortal) who is regarded by other characters as a god(dess) of war. The [[War God]] in question often exemplifies either the physical or strategic aspects of war, although they can embody both.
They're often the only god that [[Blood Knight|Blood Knights]] would bother to worship, [[Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?|if they don't want to fight it themselves]].
There's also a tendency in various works of fiction to pair a [[War God]] and [[Love Goddess]] together in something of an [[Opposites Attract]] manner, either as [[Odd Friendship|unlikely friends]] or [[God Couple|romantic partners]]. Considering [[Classical Mythology|Ares and Aphrodite]] were lovers, this makes this aspect [[Older Than Feudalism]]. Also, some of these figures (usually goddesses) were [[Interplay of Sex and Violence|gods of both fertility/love and war]].
{{examples
== Mythology and Religion ==
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* In [[The Bible]] one of the titles of [[God]] is [[Four Star Badass|Lord of Hosts]].
** God is believed by some scholars to be a [[Composite Character]] of the [[Top God]] El of Canaanite religion, and the actual Semitic [[War God]] Yahweh. This may explain some of his more... Morally ambiguous acts.
** While he is decisively not a god, [[
* In [[Egyptian Mythology]] there was Neith, Sekhmet, Set, Horus, and a slew of lesser-known gods associated with war, due to different gods being worshiped from town to town.
* Armenian mythology had Vahagn, a dragon-slaying god, and Aray, or "[[Ara the Handsome (Literature)|Ara the Handsome]]".
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** Both settings have Khaine, the war god of the Elves and the Eldar.
** To say nothing of Gork and Mork, Orcish/Orky gods of brutal cunning and cunning brutality (one hits you when you're not looking, the other hits you ''really hard'' when you are.. Arguing over which is which is yet another excuse to fight each other.
* ''[[Pathfinder]]'' has several deities associated with war. The first is Gorum, the actual god of war and battle. He's [[Chaotic Neutral]] and cares nothing for the causes that people fight for; as long as there is war, Gorum will be there to aid the good and the evil alike. He is chiefly concerned with the physical aspects of battle, and is worshipped by frontline soldiers in particular. Torag is the Dwarven god of [[The Strategist|strategy]]; where Gorum is the footsoldiers' god, Torag is the generals' god. [[Lawful Good|Iomedae]], [[Church Militant|militaristic]] [[Lady of War|goddess]] of [[The Paladin|honour and justice]] is often worshipped as the patron of just wars, though she herself would prefer to lose that title. [[The Brute|Moloch]], [[Demon Lords and Archdevils|archdevil]] of war, fires, and [[Lawful Evil|obedience]] is the [[Four Star Badass|general]] in charge of [[The Legions of Hell]], and is concerned with the regimented nature of the army itself, while [[Chaotic Evil|Demon Lord]] Nurgal governs senseless wars that should not have been fought in the first place. Finally, there is [[Fallen Angel|Szuriel]], [[Neutral Evil|archdaemon]], and [[Horsemen of the Apocalypse|Horseman of War]]. Essentially what happens when a divinity adopts the mentality of a [[Psycho for Hire]], Szuriel represents war's [[War Is Hell|most negative aspects]]--societal breakdown, [[Obligatory War Crime Scene|war crimes]], [[Rape, Pillage and Burn|rape and looting]], and [[Final Solution|genocide]]. Essentially the personification of [[War Is Hell]], her few followers are inevitably [[Sociopathic Soldier|Sociopathic Soldiers]], [[General Ripper|General Rippers]], or fellow [[Psycho for Hire|Psychos For Hire]].
* In the ''[[Mutant Chronicles (Tabletop Game)|Mutant Chronicles]]'' universe, Algeroth is the Dark Apostle of War and Technology.
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* There's a whole ''pantheon'' of them in the form of The Second Circle from ''[[Lusternia]]''. They range from noble [[Combat Aestheticist|combat aesthetes]] like Terentia the Even-Bladed, who glory in the poetry of warfare, to [[Blood Knight|bloodthirsty]] hunters like Shikari the Predator, who is described as fond of "playing with his prey".
* ''[[Age of Wonders]]'' lets you build a shrine of war and worship the Spirit of War, portrayed as an empty red helmet with red skeleton arms. He sends you on missions about killing and destroying.
* In ''[[Princess Maker 2]]'', Olive can fight the war god. [[Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?|If she beats him]], she gets his sword, which is rather useless (No defense bonus in a game where defense optimization rules, and you've already killed everything hard at this point).
* There's a web browser game on Facebook called ''[[Castle Age]]''. A character from there, called Malekus, would qualify.
* ''[[Nethack]]'' features [[Horsemen of the Apocalypse|Death, Famine, and Pestilence]] in its endgame, leading one to question where exactly War is. {{spoiler|It's the player.}}
* Balthazar in ''[[Guild Wars]]''.
* In ''[[Soul Calibur]] 3'''s ''Chronicles of the Sword'' mode, one chapter begins with the player character museing about how they heard someone call them War God(dess) once ([[One
* Morrighan of the ''[[Mabinogi (Video Game)|Mabinogi]]'' universe is the Goddess of War and Vengeance.
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