History Main / GodOfTheMoon

* ''VideoGame/{{Pokemon}}'': Lunala from ''VideoGame/PokemonSunAndMoon'' and ''VideoGame/PokemonUltraSunAndUltraMoon'' is a lunar guardian deity resembling a giant spectral bat. In ''Moon'' and ''Ultra Moon'', it takes center stage as the final form of the [[OlympusMons cover legendary]], but in ''Sun'' and ''Ultra Sun'', its solar counterpart Solgaleo (a sun god resembling a metal lion) does so instead.

-->-- dogma of the Church of Selûne, ''TabletopGame/ForgottenRealms'' [[TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons 3rd Edition]] supplement ''Faiths and Pantheons''

* Myth/MayanMythology: Depending on the story, region and time period the moon is usually either conceptualised as male (one of the herot wins in ''Literature/PopolVuh'') or as female. In the later case the popular goddess Ix Chel became conflated with the moon, much like Artemis started off unrelated to the moon but became conflated with Selene later on.

* ''WesternAnimation/KuboAndTheTwoStrings'': The BigBad is the Moon King, a deity who is ''literally'' blind to the good in humanity.

* ''WesternAnimation/KuboAndTheTwoStrings'': The BigBad is the Moon King, a deity who is ''literally'' blind to the good in humanity.

* ''Franchise/WonderWoman'': The goddess Artemis doesn't show up often in Wonder Woman comics, partly due to her [[OneSteveLimit sharing her name]] with the more popular Amazon character, but has a major role as an antagonist and later ally in ''ComicBook/WonderWoman2011'', where her association with the moon is played up compared to her other appearances.

* Proto-Indo-European Mythology: The UrExample. The moon is personified by the female deity Meh Not, who is opposite of Sehur (the Sun) and Hewsos (Dawn). Like the other gods, Meh Not was created from the body parts of the creator god Yemo -- in this case, his "mind". Her name forms the basis for later moon deities such as the Greek Mene (an alternate name for Selene), the Norse Mani, the Persian god Mah, and many others. Even the ''word'' "Moon" is derivative of her name.

* ''TabletopGame/MagicTheGathering'': Svyelun is the goddess of Dominaria's Pearl Moon, worshipped by the merfolk. She is a distant goddess, and holds herself aloof from her people like the moon hangs unreachably far above the sea.

** Selene is the personification of the Moon itself. Mirroring her brother, the sun god Helios, she was described as driving a shining chariot across the sky every night, representing the movement of the Moon. Even today, Selene is the Greek word for the Moon.

* Myth/AboriginalAustralianMyths: Most lunar deities are male. A common motif in the south is for the male moon [[AbhorrentAdmirer to be chased]] by the sun goddess. Bahloo of the Kamilaroi religion in particular was once a friend to mankind, but after humans refused to walk his snakes as they walked their dogs he decided to curse humanity with snakes. [[AustralianWildlife This was not a light sentence.]]

* Myth/AboriginalAustralianMyths: Most lunar deities are male. A common motif in the south is for the male moon [[AbhorrentAdmirer to be chased]] by the sun goddess. Bahloo of the Kamilaroi religion in particular was once a friend to mankind, but after humans refused to walk his snakes as they walked their dogs he decided to curse humanity with snakes.

* ''LightNovel/IsItWrongToTryToPickUpGirlsInADungeon'': Artemis is a goddess of the moon and the hunt who only appears in ''VideoGame/MemoriaFreese'' and the ''Arrow of Orion'' movie. She's described as an aloof goddess who is skilled enough to fight monsters alongside her familia.

* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'': Just like her elder sister Celestia has control over the sun, Princess Luna controls the rising and setting of the moon as well as [[DreamWalker being able to enter the dreams of ponies, usually to help those suffering from nightmares]]. Her feeling that the ponies she and her sister ruled over weren't properly appreciating what she was doing for them would lead into her transformation into [[SuperpoweredEvilSide Nightmare Moon]], who desired to bring about eternal night.

* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'': Just like her elder sister Celestia has control over the sun, Princess Luna controls the rising and setting of the moon as well as [[DreamWalker being able to enter the dreams of ponies, usually to help those suffering from nightmares]]. Her feeling that the ponies she and her sister ruled over weren't properly appreciating what she was doing for them would lead into her transformation into [[SuperpoweredEvilSide Nightmare Moon]], who desired to bring about EternalNight.

The moon is a major feature of the night sky, and the second most notable feature in the heavens. Thus, fiction and mythology alike often personify it or associate it with a patron deity. Mirroring the moon's nature as a luminous body in a time of darkness, lunar deities can have complex relationships with the night and dark forces. On one hand, they may themselves be associated with darkness, the nighttime hours, and the things that dwell within them. On the other, they may instead be portrayed as standing against these things, providing safety and illumination during an otherwise dark and terrifying time and warding away the terrible things that lurk during the dark hours.

See also {{Lunacy}} and TheSacredDarkness. Not to be confused with TheManInTheMoon, which refers to the Moon itself being personified and anthropomorphized. See also MoonRabbit. Compare and contrast GodOfLight; in cases where lunar and solar gods are counterposed, LightDarknessJuxtaposition, NightAndDayDuo and SolarAndLunar are all often in play. In cases where lunar deities are paired with solar ones.

* ''Literature/TolkiensLegendarium'': The Sun and Moon are vessels carried across the sky by angelic Maiar spirits. Tilion, guardian of the Moon, is said to be a reckless driver who sometimes strays off-path. [[JustSoStory This is used to explain both why the moon sometimes appears by day instead of by night and why it has phases]], with the latter being causes by its being scorched when Tilion wanders too close to the Sun.

** Tecciztecatl was originally chosen by the gods to be the sun of our era (it's complicated). However, he was a coward and refused to jump into the fire until another god did so, becoming the sun. Jealous, he went in, but the other gods were displeased at his cowardice and gloryhounding, so they threw a rabbit at his face. This is why the moon is dimmer than the sun.
* Myth/BrazilianFolklore: Native Brazilians used to worship the Moon as a god called Jaci. According to the legends, one woman fell hopelessly in love with the deity and tried to touch its reflection in a river, drowning in the process. Moved by her actions, Jaci transformed her spirit into a water lily, a moon-shaped plant which only blossoms at night.
* Myth/ChineseMythology: The immortal Chang'e is associated with moon, to which she was lifted after drinking an immortality elixir. In the modern day, she's the namesake of the Chinese lunar exploration program.

* Myth/InuitMythology: The moon, Igaluk (also known as Anningan), was once a human brother to the girl that would become the sun. After they were seperated he ventured into the women's cabin and raped her. After she found out she run to the heavens to become the sun, while he followed, depending on the version either to apologise or force himself on her again. Either way he's not a good god by the standards of the Inuit, and is associated with the underworld and death.
* Myth/JapaneseMythology: Tsukuyomi is the god of the Moon and brother to Amaterasu, the goddess of the Sun. According to one legend, Tsukuyomi killed the goddess of food and Amaterasu was so offended by his violent act she demanded to never see him again. Thus, the sun and the moon now rise separately.
* Myth/MesopotamianMythology: Sin (also known as Nanna) is the god of the moon, who, with his consort Ningal (goddess of reeds) sired the sun god Utu, the love and war goddess Inanna, the storm god Ishkur, and the goddess of the underworld, Ereshikgal.
* Myth/NorseMythology: Mani is the moon god. He and his sister Sol were once kids whose father compared them to the sun and moon[[note]]don't ask how he knew those things if they didn't exist yet[[/note]]; for this arrogance Odin made them so, and now they are chased by demonic wolves who want to devour them. Mani however still helps mankind, with one story recounting him saving two children from an abusive father.

** Tsukiyo, the Prince of the Moon, is the Tian god of the moon, nighttime and spirits. He is the lover of Shizuru, the goddess of the sun, but their relationship is complicated by the fact that they can never meet except during solar eclipses. His sacred animal, the hare, is also a reference to the MoonRabbit. He was once murdered and resurrected, and his brush with death has left him mentally changed; he's thus also associated with people marked by trauma or unusual mental states. His priests are charged with providing comfort and guidance to troubled people, especially those themselves suffering from trauma, mental illness or fear of the dark, as well as defending the living from malicious spirits and serving as brokers between the material and spirit worlds.
** Acavna was the Azlanti goddess of the moon, and perished during Earthfall when she physically pulled the moon out of orbit in order to intercept the meteorite heading towards Golarion. She successfully shattered the projectile, but perished under the strain of doing so.

** The Bretons believe that Masser and Secunda (the lesser of the two visible moons) were once a pair of mortal StarCrossedLovers named Mara (who was named after the goddess Mara) and Shandarr. The pair ascended to godhood after Shandarr died battling an Orc that had captured the mortal Mara; Shandarr's soul prayed the goddess Mara after that, and though the goddess held no domain over death she desired to keep the pair's love going, so she instead decided to place them in the sky, and tasked them with illuminating the night to keep away evil.

* ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'': Tui, the Moon Spirit, resides in the Spirit Oasis of the North Pole along with its counterpart, the Water Spirit La. Tui and La where among the first spirits to migrate to the human world, and have maintained balance in an eternal dance of "push and pull". In the Season 1 finale, [[spoiler:when Tui is killed, Princess Yue surrenders her life to become a moon spirit in its place]].

Lunar deities often have close ties to [[GodOfLight solar gods]]. They are often depicted as [[NightAndDayDuo equals but opposites]], typically as siblings or spouses, who maintain opposing halves of the cosmic balance. [[MaleSunFemaleMoon This will often cast the lunar deity as a goddess and the solar one as a male god.]] However, the nature of their domains means that they can also find themselves separated from one another, as they enter the world during alternating and non-overlapping periods of the day. In some cases, however, these deities may be depicted as enemies or rivals, struggling for control of the sky and for worshippers. If the lunar deity is not opposed to the solar one, they may instead be enemies with a deity of darkness.

** Night elves worship a moon goddess named Elune. She takes the form of the White Lady, the larger of Azeroth's [[WeirdMoon two moons]]. She is one of the few true deities to exist in ''Warcraft'', as a divine force that has never been seen but has had actual effect on the world.

* ''Franchise/{{Digimon}}'': The [[https://digimon.fandom.com/wiki/Olympos_XII Olympos 12]] are a group of OlympusMons modelled after the Roman Pantheon. Dianamon is based on the Roman moon goddess Diana and is known as the "Moonlight God".

* ''WesternAnimation/KuboAndTheTwoStrings'': The BigBad is the Moon King, a deity who is ''literally'' blind to the good in humanity.

* ''Literature/WatershipDown'': In lapine theology, Inlé, the moon, is the brother (or son, it varies) of Frith the sun, the creator god. Frith keeps watch over the world by day, while Inle keeps watch by night. Neither Frith nor Inle can be bargained with. Inle is also said to come to Earth as the Black Rabbit, a lapine version of the Grim Reaper.

* ''Literature/WatershipDown'': In lapine theology, Inle, the moon, is the brother (or son, it varies) of Frith the sun, the creator god. Frith keeps watch over the world by day, while Inle keeps watch by night. Neither Frith nor Inle can be bargained with. Inle is also said to come to Earth as the Black Rabbit, a lapine version of the Grim Reaper.

* ''TabletopGame/ForgottenRealms'': Selune, called Our Lady in Silver and the Moonmaiden by her followers, is Faerun's primary lunar deity. She is also associated with stars, navigators, non-evil lycanthropes, and cycles -- the phases of the moon itself, the rising and falling of the tides, the reproductive cycles of living beings, and the shifting of lycanthropes' forms. This is reflected in her physical appearance as well; she appears in a number of forms, primarily as one of the three stages of the [[TheHecateSisters maiden/mother/crone]] triad, and if observed for long enough she can be seen to gradually age and fade before just as gradually rejuvenating. Her greatest enemy is her twin sister Shar, the evil goddess of darkness and the night, and the two are locked into a constant struggle for control of the nighttime hours.