History Main / JerkassGods

* In ''Literature/DragonBones'', the god Aetherveon is not above using girls' bodies as a means of talking to humans. Without asking for consent beforehand. Ward is ''quite'' disgruntled about this use of his sister, and the pain the god inflicted on Oreg, who tried but failed to protect Ciarra from this. It's even noted that Aethervon chose Ciarra specifically to trigger Oreg's RestrainingBolt in order to put him in his place. As gods are gods, Ward's only means of showing his anger is to not pray to that specific god anymore.
* While not true of all the pantheons that appear in Robert E. Howard's Franchise/ConanTheBarbarian pulp stories, Conan's pantheon itself seems to qualify. The only god ever named by Conan out of his own pantheon (though he is happy to take the names of other pantheons' gods in vain) is Crom. Conan explains it in detail in ''Queen of the Black Coast'':

* In ''Literature/DragonBones'', the god Aetherveon is not above using girls' bodies as a means of talking to humans. Without asking for consent beforehand. Ward is ''quite'' disgruntled about this use of his sister, and the pain the god inflicted on Oreg, who tried but failed to protect Ciarra from this. As gods are gods, Ward's only means of showing his anger is to not pray to that specific god anymore.

** ''VideoGame/GodOfWarRagnarok'' recontextualizes most of the above since we actually get to meet more Aesir when they're not being antagonist, and it turns out the situation is more like "Odin is a jerk and is a [[TheCorrupter really bad influence]] on the others, Thor in particular." Atreus even befriends Thor's daughter Thrud, who is a kind girl and aspiring Valkyrie who's only on Odin's side because she's been raised on pro-Odin propaganda. The only gods who are jerks ''without'' redeeming qualities or CharacterDevelopment are Odin and Heimdall.

** [[spoiler: Defied by Fire God Liu Kang in [[VideoGame/MortalKombat1]]. By being more proactive and being more helpful to most of the realms, he wanted to prevent both this and [[TheGodsMustBeLazy laziness]] from occuring like it did in the previous timelines.]]

* Chapter nineteen of ''Manga/OmujoOmutsuJoshi'' is a flashback to three of the main characters, Ichigo, Shouta, and Morei, at age six writing wishes for Tanabata. Orihime-sama, the goddess who chooses whether or not to grant such wishes, is just about to grant Ichigo's wish that her bedwetting would stop until she sees Shouta's wish to get to meet Ichigo again. Bitter over being unable to ever see her ''own'' love, Orihime-sama nearly rejects Shouta's wish out of hand until she has another idea. She decides to grant Shouta's wish but, in exchange, she ''worsens'' Ichigo's wetting problems by making her wet herself anytime she interacts with the opposite gender. Orihime-sama's stated goal: To make it so that even if Ichigo and Shouta ''do'' reunite, which they do in high school, she will forever elude him. After that, Orihime-sama sees little Morei's wish, "Allways wanna bee wit Shoota", and gets so angry she makes Morei wet herself on the spot, wishing Shouta's loathing on her. After causing PottyFailure in one six-year-old, cursing another with wetting problems so severe she needs diapers in the present day, and doing so only to guarantee future problems for a third, Orihime-sama decides to go home and play games, tired from actually working for once.

** [[VileVillainSaccharineShow Discord]] from ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic''. He's an [[TheOmnipotent all-powerful]] RealityWarper who can do pretty much anything he pleases. And just what does he use this power to do? [[SugarApocalypse Turn Equestria into]] a [[RealityIsOutToLunch chaos-stricken version]] of its former self and [[WorldGoneMad drive everypony insane]] for [[ItAmusedMe his own amusement]]. His initial appearance paints him more as a GodOfEvil than just a jerkass, but his characterization in "Keep Calm and Flutter On" falls squarely in line with this trope (unless you consider "spirit of chaos and disharmony" not close enough to explicitly stated godhood, but there's no denying the "jerkass" part).
** Tirek, the demonic centaur, from the same show as well, could qualify as well if not more so. He's pretty much Equestria's equivalent of {{Satan}}, especially when he drained everypony in Equestria of their magic. He rules over Equestria with an iron hoof, destroys Twilight's beloved tree home, and tries to murder the mane six ForTheEvulz. He's eviler than Discord as shown by him betraying Discord in a heartbeat and nearly ''succeeding'' in destroying Equestria.
** SorcerousOverlord King Sombra seems to be this for the Crystal Empire. A millennium ago, he came seemingly out of nowhere and magically converted the entire place into a {{Mordor}}; oppressed the Crystal Ponies as his blatant, personal SlaveRace; and then, once Princesses Celestia and Luna came and overthrew him for the Crystal Ponies' sake, cursed the Empire to vanish as both spite for his imprisonment and PragmaticVillainy to preserve "his" domain until his inevitable return. And in the Season 5 finale, one of the {{Bad Future}}s shows what would've happened if said return had gone off without a hitch: He would've inflicted FromBadToWorse on the Crystal Ponies by magically brainwashing them into becoming his soldiers in a war against the rest of Equestria. As a confirmed {{Expy}} of [[Literature/TheLordOfTheRings Sauron]], he can't even be mentioned without an aura of complete unpleasantness.

* ''Literature/TheBurningKingdoms'': Neither the mothers nor the yaksa come off as nice, since the former grant {{magic fire}} in return for {{human sacrifice}}s (which then gets used for killing, whether justifiable or not), the latter coerce their worship by threatening [[{{Transflormation}} dire punishment]] if refuse while openly saying they don't care about human life but also grant their servants magical gifts.

** ''VideoGame/GodOfWarRaganrok'' recontextualizes most of the above since we actually get to meet more Aesir when they're not being antagonist, and it turns out the situation is more like "Odin is a jerk and is a [[TheCorrupter really bad influence]] on the others." Atreus even befriends Thor's daughter Thrud, who is a kind girl and aspiring Valkyrie who's only on Odin's side because she's been raised on pro-Odin propaganda. The only gods who are jerks ''without'' redeeming qualities or CharacterDevelopment are Odin and Heimdall.

** By ''Videogame/GodOfWarPS4'', Kratos has nothing but contempt and mistrust for all gods. He believes they are all monsters who do nothing but cause misery for mortals. He is most ashamed of himself and what he did with his power when he was a god. This strains his relationship with his son Atreus because he has tried to keep Atreus' heritage hidden from him. It doesn't help that the Aesir don't seem to be any better than the Olympians and may actually be worse - while the Greek gods' behaviour was partially explained by the evils of Pandora's Box corrupting them, the Norse gods have no such excuse for their brutal cruelty. Just about every story Mimir shares can be summed up as "Odin and/or Thor is a jerk."

* ''Literature/JourneyToTheWest'': Sun Wukong was such a jerkass god that even the other gods went to Buddha and begged him to put a stop to the [[IncrediblyLamePun monkey business]]. On the other hand, most of his jerkass tendencies were directed at the other gods-he cared for his monkey brethren and didn't bother humanity before being sealed in the mountain-and that was because they were jerkasses towards him. It didn't excuse his behavior and he became a much better individual throughout his journey.

* From the Pacific/Polynesian culture we have Pele. Maybe not that jerkassery per se, but too often her [[IncrediblyLamePun volcanic]] temperament gets the better of her, and you then better stay away ten miles from her [[HurricaneOfPuns hothead]] until she has [[RuleOfThree blown off steam]].

[[caption-width-right:316:"Really, the only surprising thing was that it didn't happen sooner."]]

* ''Fanfic/RubyPair'': The Gaol Master is [[DimensionLord essentially the god]] of the [[MagicAmpersand Gaols & Ghouls]] world, and it ultimately turns out that [[spoiler: he doesn't intend to return the group when they complete their quest, instead planning to make them do more adventures [[ItAmusedMe for his amusement]]]].

* The plot of ''Fanfic/GazsHorribleHalloweenOfDoom'' is entirely driven by the Celtic god Samhain [[WindsOfDestinyChange manipulating events]] to give Gaz a HumiliationConga on Halloween night because she spitefully destroyed an offering Dib was making to him for good luck to use against Zim. While this might seem [[KickTheSonOfABitch justified]], it's worth noting that it's specifically stated by the narration that Samhain wouldn't have given Dib good luck even if he ''had'' completed the offering, but is happy to punish Gaz anyway.

** There was this one time where a dwarf(who, in this mythos, turn to stone if sunlight hits them) wanted to marry Thor's daughter. Rather than just dealing with it and being happy for his daughter, or even just forbidding it, or refusing it (ValuesDissonance) Thor told him that he could, but only if he beat him in a battle of wits. The dwarf agreed, not knowing that Thor had specifically set up the battle of wits at such a time that it would last until sunrise, outside. Guess who turned to stone? Hint: not Thor. In some versions, the dwarf was considered powerful due to knowing the [[IKnowYourTrueName names of all things]] in creation -this was a big deal in several ancient cultures. Thor kept him naming things until the sun came up.

** This is a conflicting issue. Yes, gods can be assholes caring only about themselves... and they can be absolutely fair and nice protectors of humanity. Zeus is [[AnythingThatMoves hell-bent on getting all women]] (and some men) into bed, but also honorable. Hades is either honest and lawful or morbidly misanthropic. Ares is [[BloodKnight addicted to battle]], but one of the few gods that protect their demigods and has a reputation for hunting rapists. Aphrodite has two aspects, Pandemos-aspect of lust and sex, and Urania-[[TrueLove aspect of deep spiritual love.]] In other versions of the myth, Hermes fell in love with Lara (and did not rape her) and disobeyed his father's orders, instead hiding her from him in a cottage in the woods. Titans either started a golden age of humanity or we didn't exist when they were around. And given that both first of Olympians and Titans were eaten by their father, whose mother ([[ParentalIncest and wife]]) rose out of primal Chaos well...Greek Mythology is heavy on [[DependingOnTheWriter inconsistencies, different approaches to characters]], [[BigScrewedUpFamily fatal family issues,]] and [[CycleOfRevenge long-spanning vendettas.]]

* Magic[[note]]Never actually called a god, but what else do you call an unknowable sentient being with virtually unlimited power to reshape reality?[[/note]] in ''Webcomic/ElGoonishShive'' is, in the words of Elliot, "a needy drama geek [[DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment with a flair for the dramatic]]," which grants power based mainly on aesthetic sensibilities and, every few hundred years, abruptly withdraws it from almost everyone on Earth and changes how to get it to keep from becoming too prominent on the world stage. [[spoiler:This turns out to be a case of limited social development; the sapient force regulating magic can only peer into the human world when someone uses sufficiently powerful magic. Most mages only use sufficiently powerful magic when they're under extreme personal drama, like worshiping their egos or on the verge of madness, which greatly limits perception.]]

* ''Webcomic/{{Unsounded}}'': The Ssaelism faith is grounded in the belief that the four gods of the original pantheon were apathetic jerkasses who created the world for their personal amusement, made ''plenty'' of horrifying mistakes they refused to resolve (and ''literally'' buried most of them under the second generation of creations), and demand yearly child sacrifice with ''cannibalism''. Supposedly, [[CrystalDragonJesus Ssael]] responded by [[RageAgainstTheHeavens finding a way to murder the gods and take their thrones for himself]]. Meanwhile, the Gefendur believe Ssael was a cult nut and their gods are flawed but good.

-->''"Your crew is like the [[Film/ClashOfTheTitans Clash of the Douches]]!"''

** Ra could be quite stubborn and cruel to those who talked poorly of him or threated his power.

->'''Pit''': But you would never abuse your power, right?\\
'''Palutena''': Of course I would! That's part of the goddess job description.

[[folder:Films--Animated]]

[[folder:Films--Live Action]]

* In ''Series/{{Charmed|1998}}'', [[ArtisticLicense the Greek gods were mortals who got turned into gods by a magical mist]]. True to the mythology, however, it's stated that the old gods ''forced'' people to worship them. In fact, once Piper finally declares herself a goddess and realizes her full powers, she starts acting like it, causing a massive storm in order to vent her own personal problems out on the rest of the world.
* ''Series/TheMagicians'' has Reynard the Fox, a trickster god who rapes, butchers, and eats anyone who tries to summon Our Lady Underground, [[spoiler:Persephone]]. He also purposefully spread word on how to perform the summoning so he could find more faithful. It's eventually revealed he's targeting these people as [[spoiler:a form of RevengeByProxy on his mother, Persephone, for abandoning him]].

* Subverted in ''Series/{{Lucifer}}''. [[UnreliableNarrator The titular character]] claims that God is an abusive parent who threw him out of Heaven for no reason to run Hell, and the series seems to show that he's a case of GoodIsNotNice, at best. When he finally shows up, however, he turns out to be a flawed, but well-meaning figure who's InnocentlyInsensitive and just bad at relating to people because of his omnipotence.

* Manhwa/DoomBreaker has gods that don't care for humanity and just wanted entertainment.

[[folder:Web Comics]]

* ''LightNovel/{{Campione}}'': Heretic Gods are born when a divine being rebels against their legend and manifests in the mortal world. Their mere presence brings disaster which is bad enough, but few Heretic Gods care about the deaths of humans and many actively revel in the chaos they bring.

* ''LightNovel/IzureShinwaNoRagnarok'' has gods possessing human bodies to wage war with each other, which results in a lot of destruction to Eurasia. While they eventually make rules to limit their destruction, this is mainly done out of pragmatism and many of them are still callous towards human collateral damage.

* ''Literature/SagaOfTanyaTheEvil'' has "Being X", as Tanya calls him; a rather off-put god who is tired of people not being faithful and praising him as often as he'd prefer. Thus, he decides to take the biggest, most staunch atheist he could find and put them through the wringer with the intent of making a believer out of them, reincarnating a JerkAss atheist {{Salaryman}} as a young girl forced to fight in an alternate version of World War I with a weapon that will kill her outright if she doesn't pray to him, though she usually does so in a bored monotone voice to reflect the fact that she is eternally against him in the long run. As such, she still retains her original mindset of seeking to rid the world of Being X's horrid influence, since while Tanya does act devilish, it's a freakin' pat on the back compared to the ruthless influence that Being X exerts on those too weak-willed to resist becoming completely influenced by him.

** From a normal human being’s perspective, none of [[spoiler: the [[EldritchAbomination Outer Gods]] seem to have good plans for humanity, despite their BlueAndOrangeMorality: The [[KillItWithFire Frenzied Flame]] wants to [[OmnicidalManiac destroy every living thing]], The [[TheCorruption Scarlet Rot]] wants to [[MakeThemRot spread and corrupt everything]], the [[CombatSadomasochist Formless Mother]] wants her followers to [[HumanSacrifice commit murder to empower themselves and her]], [[DarknessEqualsDeath Destined Death]] is causing a ZombieApocalypse with corrupting Deathroot, and what little we know of the Fire Giant's [[{{Cyclops}} Fell God]] [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast doesn't sound good]]. Even the [[GodOfOrder Greater Will]], the one most widely viewed as conventionally "good", [[HaveYouSeenMyGod abandoned the Lands Between the moment the Shattering started]], leaving humanity to the predations of rampaging demigods fighting for power. As for the [[{{Lunacy}} Dark Moon]]... it's an EnigmaticEmpoweringEntity that may unintentionally spread AlienKudzu, but may be [[DarkIsNotEvil overall benevolent]].. at least according to Ranni]].