The Gods Must Be Lazy/Playing With

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


Basic Trope: The higher power(s) who created the universe are conspicuously absent, sometimes even in situations where His/Her/Their intervention would seem to be most urgently needed.

  • Straight: The Divine Ones are too lazy to help with anything, even when they're needed.
  • Exaggerated: The Divine Ones sleep through The End of the World as We Know It
  • Downplayed: The Divine Ones only fight if the Big Bad is a Omnicidal Maniac.
  • Justified: The Divine Ones live by self-imposed rules against meddling in the mortal realm any more than what is absolutely necessary.
  • Inverted: The Divine Ones are so effective at battling evil that the mortal heroes sit back and watch
  • Subverted: They might seem lazy at first, but do something helpful later on.
  • Double Subverted: This something is delivering a Holy Hand Grenade. Its still up to the mortals to actually use it.
  • Parodied: The Divine Ones are sitting on couches and watch the Puny Humans fight from the sidelines, with popcorn
  • Zig Zagged: In one battle the Divine Ones help, but the next they don't, the following one they're more advisors then actually helpers but in the fourth they do everything.....
  • Averted: The gods get off their divine butts and actually do something helpful.
  • Enforced: How to Stop the Deus Ex Machina
  • Lampshaded: "Why don't the gods ever help us when we need their help!?"
  • Invoked: ???
  • Exploited: The Genre Savvy Big Bad launches his plan on the presumption that the Divine Ones will not interfere.
  • Defied: He's wrong.
  • Discussed: "Are you sure we won't get in trouble for us?" "Of course not, the Divine Ones are lazy."
  • Conversed: "Here comes the handwave."

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