History Main / DivineIncest

* ''Franchise/StarWarsLegends'' series ''Literature/NewJediOrder'': The Yuuzhan Vong sect of the Undying Flame worships Yun-Q'aah and Yun-Txiin, deities whose domain includes "love and hate and all things opposite". Their usual titles are either "The Twins" or "The Lovers".

* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIV'': The Eorzean CreationMyth says that the first two members of [[FantasyPantheon the Twelve]] were [[FatherTime Althyk the Keeper]] and [[LadyLuck Nymeia the Spinner]], who were both born at seperate times from [[PrimordialChaos the Primordial Whorl]], technically making them [[BrotherSisterIncest brother and sister]]. Althyk taught and cared for Nymeia after she came to be, and over time the two fell in love and coupled, giving birth to [[GodOfLight Azeyma the Warden]] and [[GodOfTheMoon Menphina the Lover]].

* ''Webcomic/KillSixBillionDemons'': The Multiplicity, the FantasyPantheon of the universe, consists of 777,777 gods who were all the offspring of the primordial gods YIS and UN, who themselves [[CreationMyth were created through an act of 'holy division']] by TheMaker YISUN. Several of them are implied to have married each other, though on the other hand they are not implied to have viewed each other as family in a traditional sense anyway. Confusing the matter even further is how almost all legends of The Multiplicity shows YISUN interacting directly with several of them (including taking several of them as lovers), despite being their origin, and also long dead by the time The Multiplicity came into being.

* ''Webcomic/KillSixBillionDemons'': The Multiplicity, the FantasyPantheon of the universe, consists of 777,777 gods who were all the offspring of the primordial gods YIS and UN, who themselves [[CreationMyth were created through an act of 'holy division']] by TheMaker YISUN. Several of them are implied to have married each other, though on the other hand they are not implied to have viewed each other as family in a traditional sense anyway.

* Since ''WesternAnimation/{{Krapopolis}}'' depicts a dysfunctional family in Ancient Greece, this topic comes up quite a lot. Specific examples include Hephaestus being married to Aphrodite; and then when the family is reading the story of [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oedipus_Rex Oedipus]] as a news article, Deliria says it is hardly noteworthy because the idea of Incest and murder is described by her as most of her family tree.

* ''Videogame/EldenRing'': The demigod Mogh, Lord of Blood, is the son of Godfrey and Queen Marika, the latter of whom is a full goddess. Mogh developed an ''intense'' love for his half-brother, Miquella, who is the son of Queen Marika and Radagon, her second husband. Mogh kidnapped the unconscious Miquella from deep within the divine Haligtree and brought the unresponsive demigod to his home deep underground in the Moghwyn Palace and attempted to start a new dynasty where Miquella would be raised to full godhood with Mogh as his consort. Miquella has proven completely unresponsive to Mogh's advances, and in fact seems to be entirely comatose, though this does nothing to stop Mogh from "sharing his bedchamber."

* An EnforcedTrope in ''Literature/TheCampHalfBloodSeries'' due being based on Greco-Roman myths. Almost all of the main characters are demigod children of the Olympians, so they're all related after some fashion, and they do date each other. In ''[[Literature/PercyJacksonAndTheOlympians The Last Olympian]]'' it's {{handwave}}d with the following:
-->'''Percy's narration:''' And I know some of you might be thinking: aren't all demigods related on the godly side, and doesn't that make dating gross? But the thing is, the godly side of your family doesn't count genetically speaking, since gods don't have DNA. A demigod would never think about dating someone who had the same godly parent. Like two kids from Athena cabin? No way. But a daughter of Aphrodite and a son of Hephaestus? They're not related. So it's no problem.
* By the same author, ''Literature/TheKaneChronicles'' handwaves it by saying that the gods' relationships are based on the relationships of [[SymbioticPossession the humans hosting them at the time]] rather than being something innate to the gods themselves. Isis in particular has gone from Osiris' sister to his wife to his daughter, based on the relationship her host has with his.
* In ''Literature/{{Sirena}}'', gods and dumb animals are free to engage in incest, but humans are not. When the mermaids, who are the product of an InterspeciesRomance between Eros and a parrotfish, were hatched, Eros's lover Rhodope put a curse on them forcing them to live according to the human incest taboo. If a mermaid wants a lover, her only options are human men. Unfortunately, [[SirensAreMermaids the mermaids' attempts at seduction often end with the man drowning]].

* ''{{Literature/Tigana}}'' has a three-god pantheon: Adaon ([[LordOfTheOcean "of the Waves"]]) and Eanna ("of the Names" and [[GodOfLight "of the Lights"]]) are consorts and brother and sister. They have a daughter, Morian ([[GodOfTheDead "of Portals"]]), who is Adaon's second bride as well.

* In ''VideoGame/ColinaLegacy'', several notes make references to a heptad of [[TheOldGods cosmic entities]], among which a trio involved in divine incest: The Lady of the Golden Womb gives birth to the Son of the Moon, who rapes his mother and sires another deity named the Moonchild. Despite the [[CosmicHorrorStory Lovecraftian elements]] of the game, the mythopoeic narrative seems to be a {{foil}} to the protagonist Alex's [[spoiler:journey to [[RepressedMemories remember]] his mother's sexual abuse of him]].

* In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIV'', the Eorzean CreationMyth says that the first two members of [[FantasyPantheon the Twelve]] were [[FatherTime Althyk the Keeper]] and [[LadyLuck Nymeia the Spinner]], who were both born at seperate times from [[PrimordialChaos the Primordial Whorl]], technically making them [[BrotherSisterIncest brother and sister]]. Althyk taught and cared for Nymeia after she came to be, and over time the two fell in love and coupled, giving birth to [[GodOfLight Azeyma the Warden]] and [[GodOfTheMoon Menphina the Lover]].
* In ''Videogame/EldenRing'', the demigod Mogh, Lord of Blood, is the son of Godfrey and Queen Marika, the latter of whom is a full goddess. Mogh developed an ''intense'' love for his half-brother, Miquella, who is the son of Queen Marika and Radagon, her second husband. Mogh kidnapped the unconscious Miquella from deep within the divine Haligtree and brought the unresponsive demigod to his home deep underground in the Moghwyn Palace and attempted to start a new dynasty where Miquella would be raised to full godhood with Mogh as his consort. Miquella has proven completely unresponsive to Mogh's advances, and in fact seems to be entirely comatose, though this does nothing to stop Mogh from "sharing his bedchamber."

Regardless of the reason, the prevalence of incest in mythology creates an odd juxtaposition: So much of the world has incestuous gods, yet most of the world also has incest taboos for humans. This is less of a problem than you might think. The idea that gods are ''supposed'' to be moral ([[JerkassGods rather than just powerful]]) and that they should be bound to ''human'' morality specifically, is not universal. In [[Myth/ClassicalMythology Greek mythology]], for example, a stark difference can be seen between the treatment of divine incest (like Cronus and Rhea, or Zeus and Hera) and mortal incest (like [[Literature/TheMetamorphoses Byblis and Caunus]], or [[Theatre/OedipusRex Oedipus and Jocasta]]).

* ''Franchise/{{Transformers}}'': In the "Aligned" continuity (made up of ''VideoGame/TransformersWarForCybertron'', ''VideoGame/TransformersFallOfCybertron'', ''WesternAnimation/TransformersPrime'' and ''WesternAnimation/TransformersRescueBots''), the backstory includes the story of the Thirteen Primes, powerful demigods created by the Transformer creator-god Primus to battle his opposite [[GodOfEvil Unicron]]. Because of this shared origin, the Thirteen viewed each other as "brothers and siblings" [[note]]In-universe narrator Alpha Trion admits that this was the closest term he could come up with for a human audience, and himself is unsure whether or not divine origins really made them related[[/note]]. Solus Prime (the first female Transformer and the blacksmith of the Thirteen) and Megatronus (warrior of darkness) eventually fell in love with each other. DownplayedTrope in that the sibling relationship isn't brought up once Unicron is defeated and their romantic relationship begins to bloom. It's mentioned that Prima, the first Prime and the one closest to their creator Primus in terms of personality, was confused by the idea they could fall in love, but recognised it made them both happy and so let it be.

* ''Franchise/{{Transformers}}'': In the "Aligned" continuity (made up of ''VideoGame/TransformersWarForCybertron'', ''VideoGame/TransformersFallOfCybertron'', ''WesternAnimation/TransformersPrime'' and ''WesternAnimation/TransformersRescueBots''), the backstory includes the story of the Thirteen Primes, powerful demigods created by the Transformer creator-god Primus to battle his opposite [[GodOfEvil Unicron]]. Because of this shared origin, the Thirteen viewed each other as "brothers and "siblings" [[note]]In-universe narrator Alpha Trion admits that this was the closest term he could come up with for a human audience, and himself is unsure whether or not divine origins really made them related[[/note]]. Solus Prime (the first female Transformer and the blacksmith of the Thirteen) and Megatronus (warrior of darkness) eventually fell in love with each other. DownplayedTrope in that the sibling relationship isn't brought up once Unicron is defeated and their romantic relationship begins to bloom. It's mentioned that Prima, the first Prime and the one closest to their creator Primus in terms of personality, was confused by the idea they could fall in love, but recognised it made them both happy and so let it be.

[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/enuma_elish_opening_lines.png]]
[[caption-width-right:300:The UrExample: the family tree laid out in the opening lines of ''Literature/EnumaElish''.]]

** Manco Cápac is the legendary FounderOfTheKingdom for the Inca. He was married to his older sister, Mama Ocllo. They're semi-mythical figures--[[LegendFadesToMyth they may have been real historical figures, but if so they were heavily mythologized after their death]]. Mama Ocllo came to be worshiped as a fertility goddess. In some versions of their story, they're the children of Inti and Mama Quilla too.

** Manco Cápac is the legendary FounderOfTheKingdom for the Inca. He was married to his older sister, Mama Ocllo. They're semi-mythical figures--they may have been real historical figures, but if so they were heavily mythologized after their death. Mama Ocllo came to be worshiped as a fertility goddess. In some versions of their story, they're the children of Inti and Mama Quilla too.

* Myth/MesopotamianMythology: ''Literature/EnumaElish'' begins with Tiamat (salt water) and Abzu (fresh water), the the first gods at the dawn of the world who have no parentage to speak of. They get together and have Lahamu and Lahmu, sibling-consorts who have Anshar and Kishar, another set of sibling-consorts, who have a son, Anu.

A polytheism-only trope, as it requires at least two gods to exist. Found in {{Myth/Egyptian|Mythology}} and Myth/MesopotamianMythology, making it OlderThanDirt. More often that not, the gods in question have corresponding or complimentary domains, such as SolarAndLunar duos. More commonly BrotherSisterIncest, although ParentalIncest is not uncommon either.

*** Hades (a brother of Zeus, Poseidon, and Demeter) marries Persephone, his niece. They're a GodCouple, best known for having the most stable, loving relationship in the entire pantheon, as the RulingCouple of the underworld with a SeductionProofMarriage.

** Three generations of it in the mythology of the Great Ennead (Nine Gods) of Heliopolis/Iunu, being the eight great descendants of the [[GodOfLight sun god]] Ra:
*** Siblings and consorts Shu and Tefnut--born of [[TrulySingleParent Ra alone]]--are the father and mother of Nut and Geb. Their divine remits are a bit vague, though usually defined as "Air" and "Mist" respectively.

*** Nut (sky mother) and Geb (earth father) are siblings and consorts who {{Gender Invert|edTrope}} the MotherNature-Sky Father trope. In most stories and depictions, Shu stands on Geb and holds up Nut, keeping them separated, on Ra's orders. Nut and Geb have four kids: Nephthys, Set, Isis, Osiris. The bit about "Ra's orders" is important, because originally Ra decreed they would not have any children on any day of any month of any year, but [[{{Trickster}} Thoth]], their friend, played dice with the Moon to create five extra days that would not be part of any day of any month. Nut popped one out each day for four of these days. (This is apparently JustSoStory to explain why the solar year isn't ''exactly'' 360 days, and it reflects how the Egyptian calendar worked--there were 12 30-day months, plus 5 festival days at the end of the year that were not part of any month.)

** Three generations of it:
*** Siblings and consorts Shu and Tefnut are the parents of Nut and Geb.
*** Nut (sky mother) and Geb (earth father) are siblings and consorts who {{Gender Invert|edTrope}} the MotherNature-Sky Father trope. Nut and Geb have four kids: Nephthys, Set, Isis, Osiris.

** Manco Cápac is the legendary FounderOfTheKingdom for the Inca. He was married to his older sister, Mama Ocllo. They're semi-mythical figures--they may have been real historical figures, but if so they were certainly heavily mythologized after their death. Mama Ocllo came to be worshiped as a fertility goddess. In some versions of their story, they're the children of Inti and Mama Quilla too.

* UsefulNotes/{{Zoroastrianism}}: Occurs several times in succession in the religion's creation myth. Ahura Mazda, creator of the universe and representative of all good things, 'makes joyous action' with his daughter Spenta Armaiti, who represents devotion and the earth, and she gives birth to Gayomart, the perfect first human. When Gayomart lies dying, his seed falls on the earth, and Spenta Armaiti gives birth to the twins Mashya and Mashyana, who come together and give birth to fifteen sets of twins, who become the progenitors of the various races of mankind.

** Hathor (sky goddess) was simultaneously considered to be the mother, wife, and daughter of Ra (sky god). It's about rebirth, the cycle of constant regeneration as the sun rises and sets each day. She was also considered both Horus's mother and consort, depending on whether or not she was combined with Isis.