You say atheist, I say Cthulhu
by Terry on Mar.10, 2010, under Tom Lloyd and Joel Shepherd
Tom’s point about the idea of infallible & omnipresent gods being a relatively recent innovation in human history got me thinking about deities in fantasy that are no where near perfect or omniscient. Some of my favorites from the list I came up with are Galactus, Devourer of Worlds, Cthulhu who brings to light the insignificance of humanity, and the Authority from Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials Trilogy (the Authority happens to be my personal favorite fallible deity). Why do I love these deities? Because they’re not perfect. They’re destructive or frail or overwhelming or chaotic. I find them more compelling because they’re not perfectly knowledgeable or perfectly benevolent. I guess I want a little snap and pizazz and uncertainty from my deities.
Anyway, thinking about the last two also led me to this fun poll . . . Cage Match 2010.
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March 10th, 2010 on 7:59 pm
I think you’re looking at fantasy too narrowly - how about Zeus, Aphrodite, Athena, Hera, Ares, et al. in the Iliad? All very human gods, all very definitely nonbenevolent (although not evil either - just partisan), and all somewhat capricious…
March 11th, 2010 on 9:17 am
You’re absolutely right about the Greek and Roman pantheons being capricious. They’re much like humans except, as Tom says, the consequences of their actions are much more wide-reaching and destructive. I thought about mentioning them, especially with Clash of the Titans & Percy Jackson and the Olympians in or coming to theaters soon, because they do fall squarely into what I would call fantasy. Good call, Daniel.