History Characters / ShinMegamiTenseiYHVH

* FinalExamBoss: To stand a chance against Shekinah, one must not only recruit and/or fuse at least 3 demons of every alignment to counter her Torah barriers, but also take advantage of Demon Co-Ops (via her ever-changing weaknesses or scoring a CriticalHit on a physical attack) to whittle her massive HP down during the battle.

* FinalExamBoss: To stand a chance against Shekinah, one must not only recruit and/or fuse at least 3 demons of every alignment to counter her Torah barriers, but also take advantage of Demon Co-Ops to whittle her massive HP down during the battle.

* LesserOfTwoEvils: Though definitely ''not'' the case for most of his appearances, YHVH occasionally ''is'' this compared to Lucifer or the Chaos faction, notably in ''IV'' where Mastema is the BigGood of the backstory supposedly on his behalf. In ''I'', while YHVH himself is a bigger jerk than Lucifer, Law is a better ideal for building a functional society than Chaos (since "a functional society" is not really something Chaos values).

* LesserOfTwoEvils: Though definitely ''not'' the case for most of his appearances, YHVH occasionally ''is'' this trope compared to Lucifer or the Chaos faction, notably in ''IV'' where Mastema is the BigGood of the backstory supposedly on his behalf.

** In the ''Redux'' UpdatedRerelease of ''Shin Megami Tensei Strange Journey'', allowing Metatron and Demiurge's fusion results in Refined Voice, who is YHVH in all but name, and in the NewGamePlus New Law Route he is perfectly okay with [[spoiler:taking out Shekinah]] and achieving the New Law ending where the world doesn't [[spoiler:doesn't mindlessly worship him]]. In this case he really is more of an utopian, or at least a pragmatist given that [[spoiler:the Old Law ending retroactively reveals it would be Shekinah and not YHVH being worshipped]].

* GreaterScopeVillain: Of the Law faction and the entire franchise. This is especially true in the universe of ''Shin Megami Tensei I'' and ''II'', where [[spoiler:he actually shows up at the end of ''II'' after acting through Michael in ''I'' and Zayin/Satan in ''II'']]. In [[spoiler:''IV'' and ''Apocalypse'', he and Satan are also behind the Chaos faction. However, he does not qualify as a Big Bad until the final battle in ''II'' and the final dungeon in ''Apocalypse'', as he uses proxies far too much to be considered an active villain until those points]].

* AsLongAsThereIsEvil: At least in ''VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiII'', he will never truly die so long as even a single mortal still believes in him.

* AlternateSelf: Zigzagged. It is established that an instance of a demon in a single continuity isn't connected to another instance of the same demon elsewhere (barring exceptions such as PastLifeMemories in ''VideoGame/DigitalDevilSaga''); however, YHVH is a possible exception because his incarnations are generally manifestations of the Great Will, who oversees and exists ''as'' reality itself [[note]]depending on how one interprets it, the fact [[CallBack YHVH's later appearances often have lines which reference his earlier appearances]], as well as how nearly all instances of YHVH mention the Great Will support the notion at least ''some'' incarnations of YHVH are aware of or connected to each other through the Great Will[[/note]]. However, this is never fully clarified and only hinted at.

The most recurring entity among agents of the Great Will, YHVH is [[{{God}} the Abrahamic God]]. However, he is far from the kindly god you'd expect; instead, most incarnations of this being tend to be a selfish, megalomaniacal, totalitarian tyrant obsessed with forcing warped standards upon the world; often by brutally slaughtering those who oppose him or those he deems unclean and unworthy of his salvation, and/or forcibly converting all mortal life into worshiping him. In extreme cases, the lives of his followers -- even his angels -- are no more than means to keep himself in power; caring for nothing but himself.

* AlternateSelf: Zigzagged. It is established that an instance of a demon in a single continuity isn't connected to another instance of the same demon elsewhere (barring exceptions such as PastLifeMemories in ''VideoGame/DigitalDevilSaga''); however, YHVH is a possible exception because instances of God are generally manifestations of the Great Will, who oversees and exists ''as'' reality itself[[note]]depending on how one interprets it, the fact [[CallBack YHVH's later appearances often have lines which reference his earlier appearances]], as well as how nearly all incarnations of YHVH mention the Great Will support the notion at least ''some'' instances of YHVH are aware of or connected to each other through the Great Will[[/note]]. However, this is never fully clarified and only hinted at.

* GeniusLoci: While he would claim otherwise, YHVH is just as much a demon as his angels are (by MegaTen definition of the word). The distinction is that as a demon, YHVH embodies the world and existence itself, and the forces which perpetuate it, effectively making him its SentientCosmicForce. This is why he sometimes claims his destruction would be a RealityBreakingParadox.

* GodInHumanForm: Twofold. YHVH in most if not all of his appearances is just a single part of the omnipresent AboveTheGods entity known as the Great Will manifests itself in a specific world; while YHVH himself likes to use "bunrei" (Japanese concept for divided spirits born from a single entity, which is typically translated as "avatars") to act on his behalf, which tend to be various names of God or entities related to God such as Metatron and the Three Wise Men, usually designated with the in-game race "Shinrei" (Godly Spirit, translated to just Godly, Spirit, or Root depending on the game).

* TheMaker: Many games have characters imply or outright claim humanity and TheMultiverse are God's creation. In fact, this is stated even in games where demons and gods from older traditions claim YHVH was originally one god out of many who became all-powerful due to human worship or other factors [[note]]in the UpdatedReRelease of ''II'', a mysterious voice claims God is everything, everything is God and can potentially become the face of God; in ''Strange Journey'' while the God of Light is stated to have risen into prominence through human worship, it is implied in the main game and confirmed by side materials that ThereIsAnother incarnation of the One God who preceded humanity, and thus human worship, whom Lucifer claims to be the creator of humanity[[/note]]. Seeing as every incarnation of YHVH who was once a lesser deity before being worshipped into prominence claims to act on behalf of the Great Will, it can explain why YHVH is credited as the creator of everything in its name, which would make them subversions. Still, it is unclear how this applies to incarnations of YHVH who are not stated to be once a lesser deity (''Megami Tensei II'', ''Majin Tensei'', ''Nocturne'') or unambiguously predate humanity (''Strange Journey'').

* GodsNeedPrayerBadly: The reason why gods are so obsessed with controlling humanity when they have better things to do is because human observation and reasoning is what dictates what is real and what is unreal, so it's in their interest to MAKE humanity believe in their strong existence, no matter how much power it costs. For instance, [[DeityOfMortalCreation humanity created YHVH]]. [[NiceJobBreakingItHero Oops]].