History Main / JerkassGods

* The [[NorseMythology Norse Gods]]. ''All'' of them. Especially Thor, strongest of the Norse gods, as the old myths are full of him being a complete dick. He went on a fishing trip with Hymir, Tyr's father, after he cut the head off Hymir's finest ox to use as a fishing lure, he almost dragged the Midgard Serpent into their boat, which would've sunk them had Hymir not cut the line. Later he threw a cup at his head -- it just keeps going like that. And this was a guy Thor needed a favor from. In one old myth, Thor got annoyed with the dwarf, Litr, and kicked him into a pyre. Baldur's ''funeral pyre''.

** It is worth to note that, in many myths, Odin is actually as bad as Loki (if not worse; the Norse already recognised him as a backstabbing sadist), and that Baldur himself was not as inoccent in the non-[[HijackedByJesus hijacked]] myths; in a different myth depicting his death, Baldur was the rival of a mortal trying to marry the man's love interest, and the subsequent death cause by a sword the hero found in the underworld was far more deserved.
*** Among Odin's most noteworthy nicknames, there's Oathbreaker, which is {{Exactly What It Says on the Tin}}. Odin was famous for breaking oaths, which is considered the BIGGEST sin that you can commit in Norse Mythology. Even murder is considered less evil than breaking an oath (as long as you don't break an oath committing it). This is even more horrendous than it seems, since anything immaterial is supposed to be unbreakable, meaning that GODS SHOULD NEVER BE ABLE TO DO THAT. [[GameBreaker He even gained most of his power by obtaining two sets of magic, one exclusively intended for men, and the other exclusively intended for women.]] [[PowerAtAPrice To do so, he let himself be hanged from Yggdrasil for ten days, and sacrificed one eye, and because of that, he gained greater power than all the other gods combined.]] It's questionable as to whether it was actually Loki who refused to cry for the resurrection of Baldur, or it was Odin disguised as Loki disguised as someone else, since it was prophesied that when Baldur returned from the dead, he'd be granted the throne of Asgard, something that Odin really wouldn't want to happen (why do you REALLY think Odin left one weakness for Baldur? To have a way to take him out if he ever challenged Odin's authority).

Compare and contrast AbusivePrecursors, and for cases where {{Jerkass}} doesn't really cover it, GodOfEvil.

[[folder: Anime and Manga ]]

* The gods in ''SaintSeiya'', unsurprising considering they're based on the Greek Pantheon. Poseidon wanted to [[UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans drown the world to fix it]] (well, it worked [[TheBible the first time]], didn't it?), Hades just plain wanted to kill everyone "[[MotiveDecay Just]] [[ForTheEvulz Because]]", ditto Abel/Lucifer and Apollo. The big exception is [[MessianicArchetype Athena]]. Lesser non evil gods are Odin (whose avatar-priestess was corrupted by Poseidon's men) and Artemis, being more a LawfulNeutral type devoid of her peers' narcisistic megalomania. Poseidon also gets an honorable mention as being not so evil that, even though he was SealedEvilInACan, helped thwart Hades' plot.

*** Of course, mythologically, Odin ''is'' trying to keep Ragnarok from coming, whereas Loki is scheduled to lead the forces of evil in the final battle, so... GoodIsNotNice and AffablyEvil? GreyAndGreyMorality?
**** Actually, that would be the forces of Chaos. The Norse moral scheme was arguably more focused on order/chaos than good/evil per se.
* Many of the various gods in {{Kurohime}} are assholes to pretty much everyone, including their own [[{{Mooks}} allies]] and worshippers. Except for two so far, the head god who we haven't actually seen do or say anything yet and one other... Shirohime, who is Kurohime's love for humanity personified.
** Never mind about the head god. When we next see her, she is[[spoiler: [[NightmareFuelUnleaded eating the sun,]]]] which, in this world, is made of LifeEnergy and [[OurSoulsAreDifferent spirits.]]
*** As it turns out, '''ALL''' of the High Gods are jerks. [[spoiler: And {{Planet Eater}}s]]

** Though [[spoiler: he seemed to be quite happily congratulatory towards Edward when he discovered the pseudo-loophole that let him get Alphonse's body back without sacrificing any more life or limbs -- giving away the internal gate that let him practice Alchemy.]]
*** [[spoiler: Your Milleage May Vary. He might just be faking his displeasure that a mere human bested him. Or he was glad to take Edward's powers, but not as glad as he would be if he could take more of his limbs or life.]]

[[folder: Comic Books ]]

[[folder: Live Action TV ]]

* In the ''{{Farscape}}'' episode ''Prayer'', Aeryn mentions an ancient myth about how the ancient Sebaceans used to worship a goddess named Tenka Bru, until she suddenly destroyed the seven main planets they lived on. When her dying worshippers asked why she had done this after they did their best to honor her, she replied, "Because I can." Apparently, this is why the modern-day Peacekeepers refuse to believe in any religion.
* God is messes with Al Bundy a few times in ''MarriedWithChildren''. Al is a bit of a jerkass too though.
* HerculesTheLegendaryJourneys usually doesn't care about accuracy, going for RuleOfFun every time, and AnachronismStew doesn't cover the half of it. They do believe, though, in doing the Greek gods' characters correctly by showing them as the jerks they are, well, except for Hades, who is dark but the only decent one.
* The StargateVerse is ''built'' on this trope, specifically StargateSG1. The Goa'uld take on the identities of all sorts of gods (or perhaps were the origin of the myths; it's never specified) and often rule with an iron fist. They view humans as disposable slaves and potential host bodies. In the episode "Pretense," Zipcana compares humans to cattle.
** In seasons nine and ten, the Ori come into the picture. They're Ascended beings who want to convert every single mortal into worshipping them. If you refuse, they denounce you as evil and burn you alive for heresy. Unlike the Goa'uld, who rely on technology to make them seem godlike, the Ori actually have supernatural powers to reinforce the belief of their followers, producing incredibly devoted soldiers who are willing to kill every single person who doesn't accept Origin.
** Similarly, the Ancients themselves might qualify. Sure, they're the "good guy" counterparts of the Ori, but despite their power and Ascended status, they have rules against interfering with the affairs of mortals, up to and including letting a half-Ascended Goa'uld run around slaughtering billions and gaining a foothold into destroying the ''entire galaxy'' just to punish one of their own for helping him Ascend on accident.

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Literature ]]

'That's what they're for,' he said.

** The Cataclysm was actually justified- the mortal in question was the theocratic ruler of ''a continent'' who was so insanely charismatic that if it came to him versus the gods, the people would have backed ''him''. This means that if they'd just killed him, someone else would have come to power who would have continued his policies. They needed to destroy half the continent to make ''dead sure'' no one would ''ever'' look fondly on him again. (OmniscientMoralityLicense? You bet, but that ''is'' one of the perks of godhood). Also keep in mind that ''all'' the gods (including the evil ones) were in on it- they would have demanded somethng ''really'' nasty anyway.

* ''All'' of the Gods in ''TheElricSaga'' by MichaelMoorcock. ''Especially'' Arioch, the titular character's patron, the Lord of Chaos.
* Every god created by HPLovecraft.
** Technically just Nyarlathotep. The others aren't least bit concerned about humans, or maybe don't even know of our existence, being mostly mindless, chaotic abstractions. But Nyarlathotep seems to love to dick around with humans, typically demanding human sacrifices when summoned, even though he almost certainly doesn't need them for anything, and occasionally giving humans some extra chances to destroy ourselves, even though he could destroy us effortlessly if he really wanted. It seems that he doesn't care about outcomes - he just likes to dick around.
*** This is the approach used in the AffectionateParody webcomic ''The Call of [[strike:Chtu]] [[strike:Clut]] [[strike:Ctutu]] [[TheCallOfWhatever Whatever]]'', and once humanity starts jerking Nyarlathotep around in turn (thanks to Occultech's helpline boosting cultist survival/success rates), he quits his job. [[ItGotWorse This was more Jerkassish than you would think.]]

* Lord Khersis, the primary human god in ''TalesOfMU'', once smote a confused little girl who was praying to him for guidance just because she was half-demon. And he's one of the nicer deities.
* Amusingly justified in ''PercyJacksonAndTheOlympians''. The capricious, thoughless attitudes of gods & demigods are at least partly due to the fact that, by human standards, they're all suffering from [[AttentionDeficitOohShiny ADD]].
* Not only are the gods of the ''BookOfSwords'' jerkasses, but several of the swords have jerkass qualities themselves. I'm looking at you Coinspinner and Wayfinder.
* The demon Xanth in the {{Xanth}} novels.

[[folder: Tabletop RPG ]]

* Many gods in ''{{Exalted}}'' have grown corrupt and complacent without anyone to answer to.
* ''{{SenZar}}'' offers too many examples of this trope to count (including, potentially, evil player characters who ascend to godhood), but the prize for ''most'' jerkassness goes to the Eternals, the only type of gods who actually gain (even more) power for being complete jackasses.
* In the ForgottenRealms, the Time of Troubles led to all of the gods banished to the material plane in [[PhysicalGod avatar form]], screwing up the Realms pretty much wherever they went. Many of them used this as an opportunity to expand their power base, using human armies as pawns to take down other gods. The kicker is that the whole thing started because they upset the overgod, [[DungeonMaster Ao]], by stealing the [[MacGuffin Tablets of Fate]]. However, the fancy-looking Tablets of Fate with every god's name inscribed on it [[TheGogglesDoNothing don't actually do anything]]! And somehow, because we have a new [[AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence Mystra]] and [[CompleteMonster Cyric]], the "balance is restored". To his credit, Ao does require that deities actually be worshipped to get their power in the future. And hey, we got a [[ContinuityReboot new edition]] out of it.

[[folder: Video Games ]]

* The [[spoiler:Occuria]] of ''FinalFantasyXII'' fit the bill perfectly. Most of the plot of the game turns out to be an [[spoiler:attempt to overthrow]] them and [[spoiler:return control over Ivalice to humanity]]. To put it in perspective: Venat, one third of the game's [[BigBadDuumvirate Big Bad Triad]] is the [[{{Satan}} fallen angel]] figure among them, who they try to convince you to kill at one point, and he acts completely in line (ie, [[DealWithTheDevil getting others to help him as he himself cannot act in the human realm directly]])...[[spoiler:and he ''still'' is the primere AntiVillain of the game, because you can tell he had ''very good reasons'' for wanting to rebel]]. Beyond his motivations, he's made more sympathetic by default by Gerun ([[spoiler:the Occuria's leader/spokesperson]]) being [[CompleteMonster an utter bastard]].

* The KingOfAllCosmos of ''KatamariDamacy'' gets his very own subtrope!

* The Sinistrals in the {{Lufia}} series of games fit this trope to a T.

* Xom in ''DungeonCrawl''.
** To a lesser extent, Xom's fellow chaos god Makhleb also qualifies. He not only awards power and favor to his worshipers for killing everything under the sun (thus making life more miserable for ''non''-worshipers), but he also grants the ability to summon demons (up to and including the most powerful non-unique demons in the game)... which have a chance of spawning hostile to the summoner!

[[folder: Webcomics ]]

* ''OrderOfTheStick'': the Gods created the world it seems for their own amusement as much as anything. Their squabbles the first time created the Snarl and ended up killing 1/4 of them and unmaking reality before they locked it up in the current world. When they remade it they made Clerics and a lot of cool monsters for them to help fight, but needed CanonFodder for them to kill for experience. All goblin races were created to be nothing more than easy experience points and defined as AlwaysChaoticEvil for the purposes of alignment and spells, no matter their actions. Killing a Goblin child unable to comprehend good and evil is not an evil act. The motivation of TheDragon Redcloak stems from him trying to give his people an equal footing.

-->'''Jirix:''' "Don't screw this up."
-->'''Red Cloak:''' Well, as theological revelations go, I guess that's refreshingly direct.
-->'''Jirix:''' But then he added "no pressure though," which I thought was nice.
* TheGodsOfArrKelaan can sometimes slide into this, but theres a general consensus that as bad as the Traveler Gods could be they are still better than the old gods. The old Gods being Jerkasses is what kicks off the "God War."

[[folder: Web Original ]]

* The WhateleyUniverse has these in spades. There are, of course, all the various Lovecraftian 'gods'. There's the Tao with its shamelessly invoked OmniscientMoralityLicense. The Christian Heaven and Hell (or good facsimiles thereof) apparently exist and are locked in a [[BalanceBetweenGoodAndEvil carefully balanced stalemate]] with neither side actually ''trying'' to win too much, which works okay for the entity claiming to be Satan but casts a dim light on his counterpart. (Let's not even go into their respective treatment of Merry, later Petra, who by this point is a fully appointed knight of the Catholic church... even if she ''does'' also carry Sara's demon mark.) And the New Olympians school clique? Are some of the old Greek gods in new human host bodies, with at least some of them already up to their old tricks and none too happy that [[GodsNeedPrayerBadly nobody worships them anymore]].
* Parodied by [[http://www.collegehumor.com/video:1924722 this]] recent CollegeHumor video.

* The telling of the Pandora's Box story in ''TheGrimAdventuresOfBillyAndMandy'' fits the trope and the original story rather well.

[[folder:Mythology and Religion]]
* The Abrahamic God [[YourMilageMayVary occasionally]] [[http://skepticsannotatedbible.com/cruelty/long.html lapses]] [[http://www.thebricktestament.com/judges/punishment_for_incomplete_genocide/jg02_01a.html into this]] in the eyes of some critics of Christianity. ''[[RuleOfCautiousEditingJudgement More detail is not needed]].'' But your average Jew would just think that [[OurGodsAreGreater He may be a bastard, but He's OUR bastard]].
* The [[NorseMythology Norse Gods]]. ''All'' of them.
** Especially Thor, strongest of the Norse gods, as the old myths are full of him being a complete dick. He went on a fishing trip with Hymir, Tyr's father, after he cut the head off Hymir's finest ox to use as a fishing lure, he almost dragged the Midgard Serpent into their boat, which would've sunk them had Hymir not cut the line, later he threw a cup at his head -- it just keeps going like that, and this was a guy Thor needed a favor from. In one old myth, Thor got annoyed with the dwarf, Litr, and kicked him into a pyre. Balder's ''funeral pyre''.
** Loki, the trickster-god of firelight, is certainly not the most admirable god in the pantheon. But many consider him a MagnificentBastard or LoveableRogue on account of his antics and tricks generally causing more trouble and indignity for the other gods than for humans. Stories of him are often humorous [[spoiler:- at least, until [[MoralEventHorizon he caused the death of fellow god Baldur out of pure jealousy]].]]
*** YourMileageMayVary: [[spoiler:The gods had been playing a game that involved throwing spears and axes at Baldur and watching them harmlessly bounce off due to his new [[ProtectiveCharm protection charm]]. Loki tricked a blind god into using a dart made of Baldur's kryptonite. This was perfectly in line with what you could expect from a chaotic TricksterGod, and it's pretty amusing if you weren't attached to Baldur.]]
*** [[spoiler: "If you weren't attatched to Baldur" being only Loki. ''Every other being in the world'' wept for him to get him back; only Loki refused (and was too cowardly to do so openly, he pretended to be someone else when he refused). And every being in the world short of Mistletoe had promised never to hurt Baldur (Mistletoe being exempt only because it looked too young to hurt him). So yes, it was a extremely jerkass thing to do, was done purely because Loki felt like being a jerkass, and Loki got what he fucking deserved for it.]]
*** It is worth to note that, in many myths, Odin is actually as bad as Loki (if not worse; the Norse already recognised him as a backstabbing sadist), and that Baldur himself was not as inoccent in the non-[[HijackedByJesus hijacked]] myths; in a different myth depicting his death, Baldur was the rival of a mortal trying to marry the man's love interest, and the subsequent death cause by a sword the hero found in the underworld was far more deserved.
**** Among Odin's most noteworthy nicknames, there's Oathbreaker, which is ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin. Odin was famous for breaking oaths, which is considered the BIGGEST sin that you can commit in Norse Mythology. Even murder is considered less evil than breaking an oath (as long as you don't break an oath committing it). This is even more horrendous than it seems, since anything immaterial is supposed to be unbreakable, meaning that GODS SHOULD NEVER BE ABLE TO DO THAT. [[GameBreaker He even gained most of his power by obtaining two sets of magic, one exclusively intended for men, and the other exclusively intended for women.]] [[PowerAtAPrice To do so, he let himself be hanged from Yggdrasil for ten days, and sacrificed one eye, and because of that, he gained greater power than all the other gods combined.]] It's questionable as to whether it was actually Loki who refused to cry for the resurrection of Baldur, or it was Odin disguised as Loki disguised as someone else, since it was prophesied that when Baldur returned from the dead, he'd be granted the throne of Asgard, something that Odin really wouldn't want to happen (why do you REALLY think Odin left one weakness for Baldur? To have a way to take him out if he ever challenged Odin's authority).
** Actually, Freya has a fairly good reputation overall - unlike most deities associated with love/sex, she could take no for an answer without killing/cursing people.
* '''[[ClassicalMythology GREEK MYTHOLOGY]]'''. Just about every Greek god was a total asshole, and ''every'' single one, without exception, behaved like a spoiled mortal with fancy powers. Zeus was probably [[AnythingThatMoves the biggest]] [[IncrediblyLamePun dick]] of the bunch, but even Athena (the goddess of wisdom) made her share of stupid, petty decisions. The various demigods were like the full gods, just less powerful.
** Zeus was a ''huge'' dick (in both senses), but he PetTheDog occasionally and had a number of [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome awesome moments]]. Ares, [[CompleteMonster on the other hand...]]
** Hera and Zeus argued about whether men or women took more pleasure from sex. To resolve the matter they consulted Tiresias, who had been both ([[NoodleIncident long story]]). Tiresias sided with Hera, and to thank him she struck him blind for revealing women's secrets to a man.
** Except for Hephaestus, Hermes, Dionysus and Hades. And they even delved into it at times. Hephaestus tried to rape Athena, Hermes killed Argus (the hundred-eyed champion that slew Echidne, the Mother of All Monsters) on behalf of Zeus because he was following Hera's orders, Dionysus tricked King Pentheus' mother into killing him (admittedly, he was asking for it) and Hades kidnapped Persephone. Some might say it says something about a society that the god of the underworld was one of the good ones, but others would counter by pointing out ValuesDissonance.
*** Actually, it makes sense that the God of the Underworld would be one of the good ones. Would YOU want anyone but a nice, calm, reasonable guy, to handle how people are treated in the Afterlife?
** Hermes is the messenger and constantly moving since even the gods know all the trouble--irascable scamp--he would cause if he had his own free time.
*** Even then other gods were huge dicks to Hephaestus, seeing as he wasn't as pretty as they were. ''Seriously?'' Come ''on!''
** Their predecessors, the Titans, weren't very nice either - or at least their ruler Kronos wasn't. We're talking about the guy who [[GroinAttack castrated]] his father Uranus ([[AssholeVictim also not a nice guy]]), refused to free his siblings the Cyclopes and the Hecatonchires, and ''[[EatsBabies swallowed his own children whole]]'' to keep them from being a threat. Said children would grow up to become the first Olympians, and all others are their children. Being a Jerkass must be InTheBlood with these deities.
** The only true exception to the rule was the goddess Hestia, the eldest and kindest Olympian. Needless to say, there aren't that many myths that star her because [[JossWhedon "happy people make for boring television"]].
*** The same goes for Hephaestus, Hermes, and Hades. Hephaestus is only important during the story of his birth and when other gods need armor or magical weapons, Hermes is only vaguely important when he needs to deliver a message (even then, come on, "messenger to the Gods" doesn't carry a lot of importance) and Hades is only important in stories where a hero goes to retrieve a soul from the Underworld, like Orpheus.
*** As Messenger of the Gods, Hermes got SuperSpeed out of the deal. He is also the patron of theives, pranksters, and con artists.
** The character Medea might be a LampshadeHanging on this. After death, she (a demi-god) was welcomed into the pantheton [[strike:in spite of]] because of her several cruel murders.
** With a bit of {{Fridge Brilliance}}, this is justified as apparently the Greeks believed that fallible gods were more believable than infallible gods like Jesus, as the concept of perfect beings making imperfect beings didn't make sense to them.
* The [[JapaneseMythology Shinto pantheon]] wasn't free from its share of jerks. Given that there's around 8 million gods in the Shinto pantheon, that's not exactly surprising...
** When the goddess Izanami died, her husband, Izanagi, traveled to [[FireAndBrimstoneHell Yomi]] to save her against her wishes. When he saw that his wife had turned into a rotted corpse, Izanagi ran away in fear with [[HystericalWoman an enraged Izanami]] pursuing him, and pushed a boulder into the mouth of the cave which led into Yomi, trapping Izanami inside. Out of anger, Izanami declared that she would kill 1,000 of his people everyday.
** Tsukuyomi was invited to a feast by Uke Mochi, the goddess of food, who made the food by turning into the ocean and spitting out fish, then facing the forest and wild game came out of her anus, finally she turned into a rice paddy field and vomited up a bowl of rice. Tsukuyomi, disgusted by the repulsive way the delicious meal came to be, killed Uke Moshi.
** Amaterasu and her brother Susanoo had an [[SiblingRivalry antagonistic relationship]]. After being ordered to leave the heavens by Izanagi, Susanoo bid his sister farewell before challenging her to prove his sincerity. They each took an item from another to birth gods and goddesses from them. From Susanoo's sword, Amaterasu birthed 3 women and Susanoo birthed 5 men for her necklace and declared himself the winner since he had produced men. Susanoo, being the Storm God, became restless after a brief period of peace and went on a drunken rampage destroying his sister's rice paddies, defecating in her irrigation ditches, throwing fecal matter at her temple, and last but not least- he threw a flayed horse at her loom which splintered into hundreds pieces killing all her hand-maidens.
** Ookuninushi, while generally seen in positive light, is actually quite the jerkass. When Amaterasu requested that he hand over the country to her descendants, he seemed alright with it and agreed to do it. Then, several generations later, he caused a plague during emperor Suujin's reign, demanding a new temple to end it. Doing so stopped the plague, but the god was apparently still angry, because he then made the next emperor's son dumb, requiring the emperor to build another temple to him.
* Indra from HinduMythology fits this trope. Whenever someone - be it human, God or demon - gained too much power, Indra would send the beautiful [[HelloNurse Dancing Girls]] from his court to upset their prayers. He also has bad habit of raping sage's wife by disguise as her husband.
[[/folder]]

* Indra from HinduMythology fits this trope. Whenever someone - be it human, God or demon - gained too much power, Indra would send the beautiful [[HelloNurse Dancing Girls]] from his court to upset their prayers.

* Too many examples in the Bible to even begin to enumerate. See the entry starting "The Abrahamic God" under Mythology and Religion for a delicate treatment of the subject.

* The Abrahamic God [[YourMilageMayVary occasionally]] [[http://skepticsannotatedbible.com/cruelty/long.html lapses]] [[http://www.thebricktestament.com/judges/punishment_for_incomplete_genocide/jg02_01a.html into this]] in the eyes of some critics of Christianity. ''[[RuleOfCautiousEditingJudgement More detail is not needed]].'' But your average Jew would just think that [[OurGodsAreGreater He may be a bastard, but He's OUR bastard]].

->-- ''HerculesTheLegendaryJourneys''

[[folder: Western Animation ]]

* Neptune of SpongebobSquarepants acts this way.

[[folder: Mythology and Religion ]]

** Loki, the trickster-god of firelight, is certainly not the most admirable god in the pantheon. But many consider him a MagnificentBastard or LoveableRogue on account of his antics and tricks generally causing more trouble and indignity for the other gods than for humans. Stories of him are often humourous [[spoiler:- at least, until [[MoralEventHorizon he caused the death of fellow god Baldur out of pure jealousy]]]].
*** YourMileageMayVary: [[spoiler: The gods had been playing a game that involved throwing spears and axes at Baldur and watching them harmlessly bounce off due to his new [[ProtectiveCharm protection charm]]. Loki tricked a blind god into using a dart made of Baldur's kryptonite. This was perfectly in line with what you could expect from a chaotic TricksterGod, and it's pretty amusing if you weren't attached to Baldur.]]
*** [[spoiler: "If you weren't attatched to Baldur" being only Loki. ''Every other being in the world'' wept for him to get him back; only Loki refused (And was too cowardly to do so openly, he pretended to be someone else when he refused). And every being in the world short of Mistletoe had promised never to hurt Baldur (Mistletoe being exempt only because it looked too young to hurt him). So yes, it was a extremely jerkass thing to do, was done purely because Loki felt like being a jerkass, and Loki got what he fucking deserved for it.]]

** Their predecessors, the Titans, weren't very nice either - or at least their ruler Kronos wasn't. We're talking about the guy who castrated his father Uranus ([[AssholeVictim also not a nice guy]]), refused to free his siblings the Cyclopes and the Hecatonchires, and ''swallowed his own children whole'' to keep them from being a threat. Said children would grow up to become the first Olympians, and all others are their children. Being a Jerkass must be InTheBlood with these deities.

*** YourMileageMayVary: [[spoiler: The gods had been playing a game that involved throwing spears and axes at Baldur and watching them harmlessly bounce off due to his new protection charm. Loki tricked a blind god into using a dart made of Baldur's kryptonite. This was perfectly in line with what you could expect from a chaotic TricksterGod, and it's pretty amusing if you weren't attached to Baldur.]]

* Zeus in ''GodOfWar'', particularly the second game. In fact, every other Olympian is a Jerkass of some sorts save for [[OnlySaneMan Athena]], [[TheWoobie Hephaestus]] and perhaps Hades (who by the third game has plenty of reasons to hate Kratos).

* Many gods in ''{{Exalted}}'' have grown corrupt and complacent without anyone to answer to.

* The [[JapaneseMythology Shinto pantheon]] wasn't free from its share of jerks.

* In ''Spawn'', God and Satan are twin omnipotent entities who are depicted as utterly amoral children.

** When the goddess Izanami died, her husband, Izanagi, traveled to [[FireAndBrimstoneHell Yomi]] to save her against her wishes. When he saw that his wife had turned into a rotted corpse, Izanagi ran away in fear with [[HystericalWoman an enraged Izanami]] pursuing him and pushed a boulder into the mouth of the cave which lead into Yomi, trapping Izanami inside. Out of anger, Izanami declared that she would kill 1,000 of his people everyday.

** Ookuninushi, while generally seen in positive light, is actually quite the jerkass. When Amaterasu requested that he hand over the country to her descendants, he seemed alright with it and agreed to do it. Then, several generations later, he caused a plague during emperor Suujin's reign and demanding a new temple to end it. Doing so stopped the plague, but the god was apparently still angry, because he then made the next emperor's son dumb, requiring the emperor to build another temple to him.

This trope is OlderThanDirt. The (literally) Ur-example might be Inanna, Sumerian goddess of getting laid and ultraviolence. As might be expected from someone of that description, she took exception to being spurned by the hero Gilgamesh and summoned a heavenly bull to go on a rampage through his city. It did not help that as he turned her down he listed all her exes and how she arranged their terrible deaths.

** And yet the greeks, the norse and the japanese got their turn... I'd say [[DoubleStandard cautious editing judgement has already been thrown out the window]].

** Hera and Zeus argued about whether men or women took more pleasure from sex. To resolve the matter they consulted Tiresias, who had been both ([[NoodleIncident long story]]). Tiresias sided with Hera, and to thank him she... struck him blind?
*** What? [[BlindSeer Tiresias]] sided with ''Zeus'', that's why Hera threw a fit and blinded him. Not that it makes her less of a jerkass.

Perhaps they view all of life as a cosmic game, with humans as mere pawns and tools. Perhaps they're hungry for worship, either [[GodsNeedPrayerBadly literally]] or figuratively and are willing to resort to manipulation to get it. Maybe it's the age old adage "[[AGodAmI power corrupts]]", but whatever the case, the deities are just ''jerks''. They view human life as a source of entertainment, or an inconvenience.

* The Abrahamic God [[YourMilageMayVary occasionally]] [[http://skepticsannotatedbible.com/cruelty/long.html lapses]] [[http://www.thebricktestament.com/judges/punishment_for_incomplete_genocide/jg02_01a.html into this]] in the eyes of some critics of Christianity. ''[[RuleOfCautiousEditingJudgement More detail is not needed]].'' But your average Jew would just think that [[OurGodsAreGreater He may be a bastard, but He's OUR bastard]].
** And yet the greeks, the norse and the japanese got their turn... I'd say [[DoubleStandard cautious editing judgement has already been thrown out the window]].

->And Zeus said, "No,
->You better let me
->Use my lightening, like scissors,
->Like I cut the legs off the whales
->And dinosaurs into lizards."
->Then he grabbed up some bolts
->And he let out a laugh,
->Said, "I'll split them right down the middle.
->Gonna cut them right up in half."
->-- [[HedwigAndTheAngryInch Hedwig and The Angry Inch]], ''The Origin of Love''