Top God: Difference between revisions

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If there's an entire class of beings that are above the gods, see [[The Old Gods]].

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=== Kings of the gods: ===

=== Kings of the gods ===

== [[Literature]] ==

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== [[Tabletop Games]] ==

* Most of the nonhuman pantheons in ''[[Dungeons and Dragons]]'' have their own "leader" ~~deity--Corellon~~ for the elves, Moradin for the dwarves, Garl for the gnomes, Yondalla for the halflings, Gruumsh for the orcs, Maglubiyet for the goblins, and so on.

* Most of the nonhuman pantheons in ''[[Dungeons and Dragons]]'' have their own "leader" deity—Corellon for the elves, Moradin for the dwarves, Garl for the gnomes, Yondalla for the halflings, Gruumsh for the orcs, Maglubiyet for the goblins, and so on.

== [[Web Original]] ==

* Th God King, from [http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/580320 this] video.

=== Gods of gods: ===

=== Gods of gods ===

== [[Comic Books]] ==

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** In ''[[The Belgariad]]'' from the same author, UL is the father of the other gods and is far more powerful than them, though he's usually pretty hands-off; he was intended as roughly analagous to the Judeo-Christian God. [[Big Bad|Torak]] ''thinks'' he's this, but it's all in his head- really, it's about as close as an actual god can come to declaring [[A God Am I]].

* The ''[[Young Wizards]]'' series has [[God|The One]], who is ultimate source of everything, although he [[Divine Delegation|delegates quite a bit]]. This applies because his most immediate agents, The [[Powers That Be]], are godlike in power and have been worshiped as deities; in fact, one of them has been known as Athena [[All Myths Are True|and other pagan figures]].

* Played with in [[Lord Dunsany]]'s short story "[http://www.readbookonline.net/readOnLine/36997/ The Sorrow of Search]": a prophet has a vision of gods mightier than those his people worships, and goes in search of them with his followers. They find them, and they settle down to their new religion, but then the prophet has another vision of gods even beyond those. This repeats several times, with fewer and fewer followers accompanying the prophet each time, until his last vision brings him alone to gods mightier than any so far ~~encountered--who~~ turn out to be the same as the gods he started with.

* Played with in [[Lord Dunsany]]'s short story "[http://www.readbookonline.net/readOnLine/36997/ The Sorrow of Search]": a prophet has a vision of gods mightier than those his people worships, and goes in search of them with his followers. They find them, and they settle down to their new religion, but then the prophet has another vision of gods even beyond those. This repeats several times, with fewer and fewer followers accompanying the prophet each time, until his last vision brings him alone to gods mightier than any so far encountered—who turn out to be the same as the gods he started with.

* ''[[The Deed of Paksenarrion]]'' has two: the High Lord, whom {{spoiler|Paks eventually becomes a paladin of}}, and Liart, the High Lord's [[Evil Counterpart]].

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== [[Literature]] ==

* The ''[[Inheritance Trilogy]]'' has the Maelstrom, the primordial creative force which birthed the universe and may or may not be sentient, as a variation God of Gods, and also the Three (Nahadoth, god of darkness and chaos; Itempas, god of light and order; Enefah, goddess of balance) who collectively function as Kings and Queen of the gods. When the Three fall out of harmony, or any time the Maelstrom's attention is drawn to the physical world, ''bad'' things happen...

* In ''[[The Silmarillion]]'' there is Eru Iluvatar (who is meant to be the Christian God), who rules over the Ainur (angels equivalents to "lesser gods"). This was one of the ways that ~~Tolkien--a~~ devout ~~Catholic--reconciled~~ his fictional world to his deeply-held religious beliefs. There's also Manwe, who is the leader and most powerful of the Valar (the 14- 15 if you count [[God of Evil|Morgoth]]- strongest Ainur) and functions as a King of Gods under Eru's ultimate lordship.

* In ''[[The Silmarillion]]'' there is Eru Iluvatar (who is meant to be the Christian God), who rules over the Ainur (angels equivalents to "lesser gods"). This was one of the ways that Tolkien—a devout Catholic—reconciled his fictional world to his deeply-held religious beliefs. There's also Manwe, who is the leader and most powerful of the Valar (the 14- 15 if you count [[God of Evil|Morgoth]]- strongest Ainur) and functions as a King of Gods under Eru's ultimate lordship.

== [[Live-Action TV]] ==

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* From [[Japanese Mythology]], there's Amaterasu, a relatively rare example of a ''Queen'' of gods being supreme (rather than a consort, if a powerful one). But...

** There's also [http://eos.kokugakuin.ac.jp/modules/xwords/entry.php?entryID=38 Ame-no-minakanushi], who may or may not count as a God of Gods.

* [[Chinese Mythology]], specifically Taoism, has the Jade Emperor and his [[Celestial Bureaucracy]]. However, in some cases, the [[Buddhism|Buddha]] shows up as a God of Gods to deal with problems that even the Jade Emperor cannot ~~handle -- most~~ memorably at the beginning of ''[[Journey to the West]]''. In very early Chinese religion a god named Shang Di was worshipped, who was considered the highest possible deity, but worship of Shang Di fell out of practice early on in dynastic China.

* [[Chinese Mythology]], specifically Taoism, has the Jade Emperor and his [[Celestial Bureaucracy]]. However, in some cases, the [[Buddhism|Buddha]] shows up as a God of Gods to deal with problems that even the Jade Emperor cannot handle—most memorably at the beginning of ''[[Journey to the West]]''. In very early Chinese religion a god named Shang Di was worshipped, who was considered the highest possible deity, but worship of Shang Di fell out of practice early on in dynastic China.

* Egyptian religion had different kings of the gods in different periods of their history. Re, Amun, Atum, Amun-Re, Ptah, and Isis all had their turn at the pinnacle of the pantheon.

** The Egyptian religion also included the concept of a deity "mightier than the gods," though more as a matter of theology than actual worship. This deity was rarely depicted iconographically, and writers had no fixed name to refer to him/her. Attempts to illustrate the god beyond the gods generally involved combining the iconography of several deities together into a hermaphroditic, multi-armed, multi-headed, multi-winged entity somewhat reminiscent of Hindu deities.