| 1 | %% Image selected per Image Pickin' thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1298078301030260100 |
| 2 | %% Please do not change or remove without starting a new thread. |
| 3 | %% |
| 4 | [[quoteright:321:[[VideoGame/GodOfWar https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ShadowZeus2_5745.png]]]] |
| 5 | [[caption-width-right:321:"'''I created you, and I will be your END!'''"]] |
| 6 | %% |
| 7 | %% This is plenty of quote. Add others to the quotes page. |
| 8 | %% Press the quotes button at the top of the page. |
| 9 | %% |
| 10 | |
| 11 | %%The examples on this page have been alphabetised. Please keep examples in order, thank you! |
| 12 | |
| 13 | ->''"Not even a thousand deaths would be fitting punishment for thy sins! I shall smite thee, and in Hell I shall torture thee over and over! After an aeon, I shall reincarnate thee, and thy lives shall be those of endless torment, thy bodies tortured in life and thy souls in death! The same shall come to thy children, and thy children's children, throughout all eternity until the end of time!"'' |
| 14 | -->-- '''[[{{God}} YHVH]]''', ''VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiII'' |
| 15 | |
| 16 | %% Quote changed per General Page Quote Discussion: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1327331003042025100&page=478 |
| 17 | |
| 18 | This trope comes into play when the supreme deity of a given setting is not just a mere {{jerkass|Gods}} -- they are ''actively malevolent'', a jealous, callous, sadistic, monstrous tyrant who created the world or universe to be such a miserable CrapsackWorld, preparing DisproportionateRetribution and an EasyRoadToHell for everybody else. |
| 19 | %% |
| 20 | %% Enough already. We get the idea. No rants or Real Life examples on the main page please. For rants by various notable philosophers in Real Life, see the Quotes page. |
| 21 | %% |
| 22 | |
| 23 | The classic problem of evil tends to be invoked in this trope, along with the irrationality of [[TheFundamentalist religious extremism]]. People foolish enough to try a ReligiousRussianRoulette to get a god like this to answer their prayers are unlikely to like the result. |
| 24 | |
| 25 | In some works, this being is the [[TopGod supreme deity]] of a FantasyPantheon, while in others, the being is a powerful monotheistic deity, with some works casting the [[{{God}} Big Guy]] himself -- or his [[CrystalDragonJesus nearest fantasy analogue]] -- in the role. Sometimes, the being [[AGodAmI calling itself a god]] (or ''the'' God) isn't one (often to lessen the offense that religious readers might obviously feel when this trope comes in play); its powers are just so close to [[TheOmnipotent omnipotent]][[note]]whether it's due to being a SufficientlyAdvancedAlien or, in the case of those claiming the identity of "God", being a god who is vastly more powerful than any and all of the other ''known'' gods combined (while implicitly leaving the door open for the '''real''' God to come in and show the interloper the error of their ways).[[/note]] that it makes no difference. |
| 26 | |
| 27 | Narratives about a God that is both omnipotent and malevolent, and how we puny humans can cope with its abominable existence, can result in a CosmicHorrorStory, which is based on the complete helplessness and {{despair|EventHorizon}} of us PunyEarthlings under the powers of an alien reality-warping madness-inducing entity. But while the {{Eldritch Abomination}}s of your average CosmicHorrorStory will at least leave you alone if you don't seek them out (most of the time, anyway), a malevolent supreme god can be an absolute nightmare, [[BigBrotherIsWatching scrutinizing our every thought]] and [[CosmicPlaything toying with us against our will]], with us having [[YouCantFightFate little to no hope in doing anything about it]]. |
| 28 | |
| 29 | The video game variants of this trope, however, lean on LovecraftLite and RageAgainstTheHeavens, offering a hope of the [[DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu ability to kill this "omnipotent"]], probably thanks to [[AppliedPhlebotinum narrativium]] that somehow serves to [[AntiMagic negate the Omnipotent's omnipotence]], or with help from a good opposite. If God Is Evil, then TheAntiGod may well be the BigGood. |
| 30 | |
| 31 | In settings that take the controversial stance of God being evil, it is not uncommon for [[SatanIsGood his infernal opposite to be good]]. Or for his [[UsefulNotes/{{Jesus}} Son]] to be [[JesusWasWayCool way cool]]. Other times, Satan may simply be TheStarscream. This [[GodAndSatanAreBothJerks isn't strictly necessary]], however, especially in darker {{Crapsack World}}s whose authors take a [[BlackAndGrayMorality more humanistic and/or existential stance on things]]. |
| 32 | |
| 33 | Ninety-eight times out of one hundred, where an evil supreme god is in charge of things, you will also find a KnightTemplar. Whether or not that person (or group) follows this evil supreme deity is entirely dependent on [[BlackAndGrayMorality the Knight's]] [[GreyAndGrayMorality alignment]]. |
| 34 | |
| 35 | TruthInTelevision: This viewpoint is OlderThanFeudalism. Some Greek philosophers considered the Olympian deities [[JerkassGods to be nothing but malevolent bullies]]. Lucian (2nd century AD) wrote a lengthy essay on why the Greco-Roman deities were evil, to boot. Likewise, the Norse sagas were full of description of Vikings who were ''goðlauss'' (godless) -- they actively disdained the Norse deities, instead relying on themselves. |
| 36 | |
| 37 | This trope can also be called ''dystheism,'' or ''maltheism''; these are beliefs that a monotheistic god is, respectively, not wholly good or outright evil. This trope is often found in RageAgainstTheHeavens plots (and will likely invoke ''misotheism'' -- hatred of God or the gods), and is a common belief of {{Nay Theist}}s. Note, however, that characters merely ''believing'' God is evil is not this trope; the TopGod must actually appear and prove them right. |
| 38 | |
| 39 | Compare and contrast UsefulNotes/{{Gnosticism}} and the DemiurgeArchetype, [[note]]In short, Gnostics believed that the God worshiped by Jews and by the other early Christian sects was evil...but that he also wasn't really God, just a lesser celestial being with delusions of godhood.[[/note]] EverybodyHatesHades, GodOfEvil[[note]]which this trope is not to be confused with; a God of Evil is a deity, not necessarily the chief deity of the setting, that represents the concept of evil, while the trope God is Evil is about a deity that is the chief deity of a setting that is evil but whose domain is not necessarily specifically the concept of evil[[/note]], GodIsInept, GodIsFlawed, OrderIsNotGood. The flip side is SatanIsGood. See also: GodAndSatanAreBothJerks, DevilButNoGod, NeglectfulPrecursors, JerkassGods for when the deities are not really evil but just neglectful, AbusivePrecursors for when this so called creator is beyond just guilty. Definitely the polar opposite of GodIsGood. May or may not happen with a CorruptChurch - with that, the god is not guaranteed be evil (or exist), but those who serve (or claim to serve) him are. UnfeelingHeavens is where God is incapable of understanding or feeling mortal suffering. |
| 40 | |
| 41 | ---- |
| 42 | !!Examples: |
| 43 | %% |
| 44 | %% Administrivia/ZeroContextExample entries are not allowed on wiki pages. All such entries have been commented out. Add context to the entries before uncommenting them. |
| 45 | %% |
| 46 | %% If your example begins with "He's not exactly evil but..." it's not an example. See if Jerkass Gods is a better fit. |
| 47 | %% |
| 48 | [[index]] |
| 49 | * GodIsEvil/{{Literature}} |
| 50 | * GodIsEvil/VideoGames |
| 51 | [[/index]] |
| 52 | |
| 53 | [[foldercontrol]] |
| 54 | |
| 55 | [[folder:Anime and Manga]] |
| 56 | %% Morganna from ''Franchise/DotHack''. She manifests as a godlike being; a disembodied voice and psychic presence. |
| 57 | %% ''Manga/AngelSanctuary''. Technically a spoiler, but between the state of Heaven and the SortingAlgorithmOfEvil, it's pretty obvious. |
| 58 | * ''Literature/ArifuretaFromCommonplaceToWorldsStrongest'': [[spoiler:Ehit is the main, final antagonist Hajime and his party must fight in order to save the world. Being the one behind most of the horrible things that happen in the story, he kickstarts the plot by having Hajime and his class kidnapped so he could possess Kouki and use his body to destroy Tortus and travel to other worlds to start over - as he entertains himself with the suffering of mortals, considering them mere toys for him to use and throw away.]] |
| 59 | * ''Manga/{{Berserk}}'': [[spoiler:In a semi-de[[{{canon}} canonized]] chapter, which was removed for reasons of revealing too much, God was revealed to be behind everything that happens in Berserk's CrapsackWorld, and it was created out of humanity's desire for there to be an ultimate reason to blame for human suffering; which resulted in the creation of the Idea of Evil, [[TheHeartless a grimdark version of Plato's Theory of Forms]], whose purpose in life was ''to literally be responsible for everybody suffering so much''. And it's ''very good at it'', having conspired to drive Griffith into his ascension as the fifth Godhand, Femto, through the workings of Causality, which leads to the series theme of [[ScrewDestiny Fighting Fate]]. It can be seen as an inversion though; in this case, evil is God]]. |
| 60 | * God in ''Anime/CatSoup'' is pretty much only concerned about eating, [[spoiler:even fucking up with time and space to do so]]. |
| 61 | * ''Manga/DeadRock'': God is the ruler of the three realms and is believed to be the most evil being there is and judging from his actions he shows it. |
| 62 | * Creator/GoNagai did this all the time in his works. |
| 63 | ** [[BigBad The God]] of ''Manga/DemonLordDante'' was an evil [[AliensAreBastards space being]] who demanded that the humans living on Earth worship him. When they didn't, he torched their cities, inadvertently turning the entire human race into demonic beings by having God's energy merge them with various objects (the main character merges with a jet plane and dinosaurs to turn into a giant demon), and split himself up into pieces and inserted himself into apes, becoming modern man as a result. He further becomes even more of a bastard when it is revealed at the end that the entire war between God and demons was done on purpose [[ForTheEvulz just because it was entertaining to him]]. |
| 64 | ** ''Franchise/{{Devilman}}'' implies that God exterminated and sealed away the demons because he disapproved of the way his first shot at creating life turned out. And he's basically an EldritchAbomination that [[TakenForGranite turns humans into pillars of salt]] [[BrownNote from merely looking upon him]]. Interestingly enough, however, in the original manga and the original manga alone, God wasn't really portrayed as evil in the Devilman Universe (or at least a completely and utterly irredeemable asshole yet). He originally created the world, left for a while, then found the Demons, who were not part of his plans, and considered them abominations. [[AlwaysChaoticEvil And in all brutal fairness, it's very easy to see why he hated them]], even if he's in the wrong for hating them just because it wasn't part of the plan, but seemed content to just let the tides of fate roll out once they began to free their icy prison. In what could have been seen as a massive PetTheDog and even HopeSpot for humanity in such a CrapsackWorld, God personally intervened in the story by saving the human race from a [[spoiler:nuclear holocaust launched by a Demon possessing the president of Russia, who had launched Russia's entire nuclear payload in an attempt to destroy all of humanity,]] [[AMillionIsAStatistic albeit at the cost of turning every last human in Russia (or the USSR in the original manga) into salt with his mere presence.]] He may not have been friendly, but at least it might have seemed like he actually wanted the human race to win and survive the conflict against the Demons. But then... |
| 65 | ** In ''AMON: Apocalypse of Devilman'', it's revealed that [[spoiler:God has put the entire world into a time loop so all humans and demons live and die for nothing over and over, just to make Satan suffer the loss of his beloved repeatedly for all eternity]]. Just in case we weren't already aware of how much of a ''dick'' he is. This also makes it likely his aforementioned PetTheDog for humanity was likely only done to [[spoiler: prolong the end of the world as Satan had yet to lose his beloved at this point, thus prolonging his suffering.]] |
| 66 | * The motivating idea behind all of the [[MonsterClown Millennium Earl's]] actions in ''Manga/DGrayMan''. Considering that said God seemingly allows the existence of someone as monstrously malevolent as the Earl, he may have a point. |
| 67 | * ''Franchise/{{Digimon}}'': |
| 68 | ** ''Anime/DigimonTamers'' has Zhuqiaomon, a phoenix god who is one of the four Holy Beasts that rule the Digital World. He sent his servants, the Devas, to the human world, to wreak havoc and eventually kidnap one of the heroes' friends, a small Digimon with the power to trigger evolution. However, this trope is inverted once the other Holy Beasts intervene, and explain that Zhuqiaomon was only trying to use their friend's special powers to fight the [[BigBad D-Reaper.]] Of course, Zhuqiaomon really dislikes humans as it is and isn't very apologetic to the children, so while not evil per se, he's still kind of an ass. |
| 69 | ** Another ''Digimon'' god is Yggdrasil, a master computer that, in some incarnations of the Digital World, created the world and controls it. In every media it appeared it, whether it is the X-Evolution movie or the ''Anime/DigimonDataSquad'' anime, it always ends up trying to destroy its own creation (and in the case of ''Data Squad'', the human world as well). He has a highly variable morality though-in X-Evolution, he's an enigmatic terror who has motives no one knows, in ''Anime/DigimonDataSquad'' he's an AntiVillain with a easily justifiable [[HumansAreBastards hatred of humanity]], in ''NEXT'', he's a victim of DemonicPossession, and in ''Anime/DigimonAdventureTri'' he just plans on destroying humanity for no reason. |
| 70 | * ''Literature/FateZero'': |
| 71 | ** Played with a curious case with Ryuunosuke. He believes that God loves good ''and'' evil, therefore he thinks that God loves his mass-murdering. In his eyes, why else would God allow crimes and wars to keep happening and make blood and guts so pretty? |
| 72 | ** The central conflict of the story rests around priests and magi trying to gain control of the Holy Grail, which will grant their greatest wish. It turns out towards the end that [[JackassGenie the Grail has a will of its own]] and may do anything from twist your wish to outright refuse it. That said, the church has their doubts that this artifact is actually ''the'' Grail ([[spoiler:according to background materials, it is ''not'']]), and other works in the Franchise/{{Nasuverse}} establish that [[spoiler:the Grail has been corrupted ever since the entity Angra Mainyu was sealed in it.]] So, it may be a subversion. |
| 73 | ** Within the larger franchise, while not quite God, Gaia is the creator of the earth gods and by extension humanity, and is the [[MotherNature manifestation of the planet itself]]. She also [[GaiasVengeance wants to knock humanity back to the Stone Age]], if not [[KillAllHumans outright obliterate them]], for daring to rise above the natural order. |
| 74 | * Many of the various gods in ''Manga/{{Kurohime}}'' and one of its central themes. When we finally meet the creator of man (not the BigBad Yashahime by the way, just some goddess lazing around), she abandons her creations outright to kill the titular heroine. She fails of course, which brings up [[DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu ANOTHER]] of the manga's central themes. |
| 75 | * In ''Literature/LegendOfTheGalacticHeroes'', while he never exhibited overt religiosity, Oskar von Reuenthal mused during the occasion where he was framed for the second time that if a Creator exists, He must be a malicious one. |
| 76 | * ''Manga/OnePiece'': |
| 77 | ** In a "not quite" case, the Straw Hat crew travels to another society in the sky and is forced to battle a lightning-flinging man identifying himself as god; his subjects even have (seemingly nonfunctional) wings! Turns out in this society "God" is just the title given to their ruler... |
| 78 | ** While the aforementioned 'god' had the power level to back it up, later on the Celestial Dragons are revealed. They see themselves as living gods with an OmniscientMoralityLicense. Thankfully they are much more punchable, if you can avoid the consequences. |
| 79 | * In ''Webcomic/OnePunchMan'', God gives monsters and people his power to destroy humanity, and free him from his dimensional prison, and has no concerns with taking those powers back, along with the lives of those he granted power to, to ensure that they cannot reveal his presence. |
| 80 | * ''Literature/TheRisingOfTheShieldHero'': In the webnovel version, the final antagonist (and the one behind most of the catastrophes in the story) is [[spoiler:Medea, a self-proclaimed goddess that causes the waves by merging multiple worlds together, so she can drain their energy for their own use, and causes untold levels of suffering for her own entertainment, especially through fragments like Malty, the twisted sadist Naofumi and company have had to deal with for much of the saga]]. |
| 81 | * A major plot point in episode 9 of ''Anime/SevenMortalSins'' [[spoiler:revealed that God plans on purging both Earth and Hell and banished Lucifer after she protested against it]]. |
| 82 | * In ''Literature/SwordArtOnline'', while he's only a "god" in the sense that he created the cybernetic world of Aincrad, Akihiko Kayaba's god complex causes him to trap ten thousand people in his world, where if they die they're dead in real life as well, just so that he could rule over a world of his own creation. |
| 83 | * The last episode of ''Manga/YouAreBeingSummonedAzazel'' seems to indicate that in the universe of that series, the God of the Bible rules, and he is clearly depicted as every bit as loathsome as atheists usually contend that he is -- vengeful and petty, with unreasonable standards and demands on others. He also likes to subject people to really, really bad dirty jokes, but since he surrounds himself with irredeemable toadies who pretend that his jokes are funny, he isn't aware that they aren't. |
| 84 | * Of all places, this appears in ''Anime/YuGiOh5Ds'' in the form of Z-One, the last human of the BadFuture. He somehow got divine powers and he's worshipped by Yliaster. After losing hope and his friends, Z-One sends android copies of his friends to the past to correct the past, but some of their actions made things worse and didn't bring the results he hoped for. After several failures, he decides as his final plan to destroy the entirety of Neo-Domino City to prevent the BadFuture from happening, even at the cost of thousands of lives. |
| 85 | [[/folder]] |
| 86 | |
| 87 | [[folder:Comedy]] |
| 88 | * Creator/PattonOswalt talks about an Evil God in his [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iq10bz3PxyY Christmas Shoes]] routine. Also one with the [[JesusWasWayCool Jesus isn't evil]] variety. |
| 89 | -->'''God:''' What's this? Someone in a bad mood on my son's birthday? Bullshit! [[MoralEventHorizon Give that kid's mom cancer!]] Make sure he's in front of him in line, make him seven cents short for the shoes! This guy'll buy them, then he'll be in a good mood!\ |
| 90 | '''Jesus:''' I don't think we need to give the mother cancer...\ |
| 91 | '''God:''' You shut the fuck up! This is gonna be the best birthday you ever had! |
| 92 | [[/folder]] |
| 93 | |
| 94 | [[folder:Comic Books]] |
| 95 | * The ''ComicBook/DoomPatrol'' once battled Red Jack, a sadistic and utterly psychotic HumanoidAbomination who claimed to be both the Supreme God and UsefulNotes/JackTheRipper. Although as he/it/whatever was clearly batshit crazy neither of these were necessarily true. |
| 96 | * In ''ComicBook/GhostRider'', and thus the Franchise/MarvelUniverse as a whole, the evil angel Zadkiel finally succeeded in his violent coup to seize the throne of Heaven. The horrors of a Heaven run by Zadkiel are so great that many who are in the know would sooner kill themselves and take their chances in Hell. |
| 97 | * ''ComicBook/TheGoddamned'' features [[CainAndAbel Cain]] as the main character, who espouses this trope at every opportunity, having been cursed with CompleteImmortality for his crime, unable to die from even the most horrific injuries, as his body simply regrows (he mentions having jumped into a ''volcano'' at one point). Earth is little more than a wasteland, with every human shown having been reduced to cannibalistic savagery, and a massive army led by Noah pillaging what little is left, claiming to be under divine orders to construct a great Ark for the coming deluge that will drown the Earth and all it's sin, enslaving anyone they don't murder as laborers. [[spoiler: the series ends with the MoralityPet being murdered by her own son, who has been driven insane by his suffering, Cain killing Noah, and the Ark being burned as the slaves revolt. Cain walks away as it begins to rain...]] |
| 98 | ** The second series centers around the origin of the Nephilim, with a LadyLand cult raising young girls to become pure brides of God (those who are not chosen are trained as warriors to protect the mountain they live on). Two friends begin to question their society just as they start to reach maturity... [[spoiler: The girls are actually stolen as babies from wild tribes of humans living beneath the mountain. The girls chosen as brides are whisked away from a mountaintop into the heavens where...something is implied to rape them. They're returned to earth pregnant, and give birth to horrifically malformed giants, crossbreeds of the mortal and divine, with most of them dying in childbirth.]] |
| 99 | * O'ne the Creator in ''Comicbook/TheGreatPowerOfChninkel''. The Almighty Creator is willing to annihilate an entire planet and its life but not willing to just kill the three warring immortals Itself. [[spoiler: O'ne actually ''does'' kill almost all life (save a few tawals living underground) by raining fire on the planet's surface. The reason? The heretic king N'om [[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech called It out on Its dickery]] and how everything was a conspiracy to make everyone worship It for all eternity. Though at the very least he kept his promise not to destroy Darr.]] |
| 100 | * Loki of ''ComicBook/TheMightyThor'' is often called and self-titled the "god of evil." Other gods or godlike beings from the Franchise/MarvelUniverse are very much about evil including [[OmnicidalManiac Seth]] and the elder god Chthon. However, the actual highest being of the Marvel Universe is almost certainly benevolent, and is usually referred to as The-One-Above-All, though it's [[TheUnseen debatable if he's ever actually been seen]] (though an entity that may or may not have been Him bore a striking similarity to Creator/JackKirby). His higher subordinates (whom all three of the above characters would be like dust mites to) have been known to drift into LawfulNeutral JerkassGods on occasion, though. |
| 101 | ** The times when [[Characters/MarvelComicsThanos Thanos]] of Titan has acquired omnipotence (Heart of the Universe, Infinity Gauntlet, the Cosmic Cube) the situation is similar to this. "How can you cope with a universe where God is truly mad." |
| 102 | * [[Characters/NewGodsDarkseid Darkseid]] of the ComicBook/NewGods is the "GodOfEvil" and revels in it. He runs a hellish planet dedicated to this with all his lieutenants being other evil gods. |
| 103 | ** And by ComicBook/FinalCrisis, when he's the only New God left, he gives us this little gem (as well as ample proof of statement): |
| 104 | --->[[BadassBoast I AM THE NEW GOD]]. |
| 105 | * ''[[ComicBook/RedSonja Red Sonja - Wrath of the Gods]]'' depicts Odin from Norse Mythology at its most villainous, being a genocidal tyrant out to exterminate a [[PerfectPacifistPeople pacifist tribe]] out of pure racism and intends to reassert Norse Pantheon dominance over Hyboria once more. Loki serves him as TheDragon and they were both responsible for slaughtering Thor's human family after hearing of a prophecy that he would one day dethrone him. And as if that wasn't bad enough, he is also a DirtyOldMan that [[IHaveYouNowMyPretty tries to claim Sonja as his own]]. |
| 106 | * In ''ComicBook/{{Preacher}}'' ([[RuleOfThree also by Ennis]]), God is a pathetic narcissist who has a pathological addiction to being worshipped, and is willing to destroy anyone who turns their back on Him. [[spoiler:As it turns out, He isn't even omnipotent; it's His ''throne'' that gives Him limitless power, and in the final issue He's tricked into leaving it and ends up reaped by His own [[TheGrimReaper Grim Reaper]].[[note]]For bonus points, the current Grim Reaper WasOnceAMan whom God had ''massively'' screwed over in his mortal life so that he'd replace the previous Angel of Death[[/note]].]] |
| 107 | --> "[[BlatantLies I am a Loving God]], Tulip... But ''don't push it''." |
| 108 | ** What started the plot in the first place? [[spoiler:God created a creature as powerful as Himself... so He could be loved by it. He gets a kick out of people worshipping Him despite the crap-tastic nature of the world, and actively makes it worse for that reason.]] |
| 109 | |
| 110 | * In the "World's End" storyline in ''ComicBook/TheSandman1989'', one of the nested stories is a take on ''[[ComicBook/Prez1973 Prez: First Teenage President]]''. In this version when Prez Rickard dies, Death takes him to meet the Prince of the World (although she says he didn't ''create'' the world, he just "runs the local franchise"). Prez is horrified to discover this is Boss Smiley, the corrupt politician he's been fighting against his whole career. Instead of taking his place at Smiley's right hand, he goes off to find other Americas with Morpheus. |
| 111 | * There was an arc of ''ComicBook/TheSpectre'' that featured God apparently going [[MadGod completely insane]] and ''cannibalizing'' the ArchangelMichael in a scene right out of Creator/FranciscoDeGoya's {{painting|s}} ''Art/SaturnDevouringHisSon''. However, it's eventually revealed that a). GodIsGood, b). Michael was in on it, and c). the entire thing was a SecretTestOfCharacter for the Spectre. |
| 112 | * ''ComicBook/{{Supergod}}'': The concept of God or gods, and especially the desire for them to exist, is described as a glitch caused by human sapience, and the creation of superhumans is a modern substitute. Even the ones that could even be remotely described as benevolent such as Krishna or Jerry Craven (J.C, get it?) are BlueAndOrangeMorality at best. Krishna was created with the purpose to "save India", which he did... by massacring 90% of it's population, then rebuilding the entire country to allow the survivors to live in a technological utopia. And that's not even touching on the ones that could be described as actively malevolent such as Gajjial [[spoiler: who destroys the world and dooms mankind because he can see alternate timelines and Krishna and J.C's utopia would be boring]]. |
| 113 | %% The premise of the post-Rapture graphic novel ''ComicBook/ThereforeRepent''. |
| 114 | * ''Franchise/WonderWoman'': This has been played with over the decades, with Zeus and the other Olympians being at best JerkassGods. |
| 115 | ** In ''ComicBook/TheLegendOfWonderWoman2016'' Zeus tries to pass himself off as the BigGood in opposition to Ares as the BigBad but Diana is proven right in her distrust when he proudly commands that she help him massacre most of humanity and subjugate the remnants, proving that even though Ares is a jerk he's not nearly as cruel or self obsessed as Zeus. |
| 116 | ** In the ComicBook/New52's ''ComicBook/WonderWoman2011'', Zeus is missing and presumed dead so his children fight over his throne, the callous Apollo ends up king of Olympus before being killed and overthrown by "The First Born", who is bloodthirsty and unapologetically evil. |
| 117 | [[/folder]] |
| 118 | |
| 119 | [[folder:Fan Works]] |
| 120 | %%* [[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/12942137/1/Attero-Dominatus Attero Dominatus]], in which an Israelite soldier sees what he and his people are doing to God's enemies, and strives to put an end to it. |
| 121 | * ''Fanfic/{{The Games We Play|TheGamerRWBY}}'': [[spoiler:Malkuth]] might not actually be omnipotent or omniscient, but he's close enough to it that there's little practical difference as far as the Huntsman on the ground is concerned... and unfortunately for all, he's a massive dick. ''The'' massive dick, in fact, being [[spoiler:the creator of the Grimm]] and all. |
| 122 | * [[https://archiveofourown.org/series/1114584 Finishing the hat]] does this with [[LightIsNotGood Haruki]], the {{Yandere}} BigBad and resident DemiurgeArchetype... The Problem of Evil and Maltheistic theology are discussed heavily in the fic. This is a case of AdaptationalVillainy, what with him being [[spoiler:the AnthropomorphicPersonification of the Force. [[VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublicIITheSithLords Looks like Kreia was right, after all]]...]] |
| 123 | * The ''Series/Lucifer2016''/''Series/ChillingAdventuresOfSabrina'' series "[[https://archiveofourown.org/series/1561111 Morningstar Family Values]]" features a plot point where Lucifer reveals to Chloe that his mother drowned the last generation of grandchildren; with Chloe still assuming Lucifer's talk of being the Devil is a weird delusion, she interprets his words as him being part of a cult and contemplates trying to find a way to identify said cult and prosecute Lucifer's parents. When she finally receives evidence of Lucifer's true nature, Chloe is left lost about how to feel about the idea that she was contemplating trying to prosecute God Himself, but further research leads her to the conclusion that Lucifer's father has done such a bad job that He shouldn't be responsible for a lemonade stand, much less all of existence. |
| 124 | ** While Trixie is only a child and potentially ignorant of the scale of what she's saying, at one point she is faced with being sacrificed by a cult if she doesn't reject Lucifer and Sabrina and proclaim her love for God, but Trixie counters that she won't say she loves God after he was "mean" to Lucifer and Amenadiel. |
| 125 | * [[spoiler: [[PhysicalGod Notch]]]] in [[http://kleinerkiller.deviantart.com/gallery/41037509/Minecraftia-Saga Yognapped Minecraftia Saga: Yognapped]] is a petty {{Jerkass God|s}} who [[spoiler: murdered his fellow gods -- his brother and sister, no less -- and covered it up from the people of Minecraftia]], rubs shoulders with a [[GlasgowGrin constantly smiling]], [[TheSociopath sociopathic]] [[TheDragon demigod]], and uses his holy AmazonBrigade to hunt down anyone who knows how bad he is. [[WellIntentionedExtremist He has his reasons, though.]] |
| 126 | * ''Fanfic/TheShapeOfTheNightmareToCome'', a ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}'' fic, has a particularly horrifying take on the "Star Child" theory: the Astronomicon fails and the Emperor dies, causing his immensely powerful soul to go into the Warp and become the so-called Star Father, a ''[[EldritchAbomination Chaos God]]''. '''''[[LawfulEvil Of Order]]'''''. The Star Father is so ridiculously powerful that with his birth it took the combined efforts of the other four Chaos Gods just to stop him from crushing them all outright, and he has a vast army of [[OurAngelsAreDifferent Angyls]] with [[spoiler:the ascended head of the Grey Knights, Kaldor Draigo]] at its head. Also, his catchphrase: "OBEY!!" |
| 127 | %% ''Fanfic/WithThisRing'': Paul already had a poor view of the Abrahamic God from his original life in our reality (where it's heavily implied He didn't even exist since Paul didn't originally have a soul), and it doesn't improve one bit once he ends up in the DC-verse where ''all religions'' are true. While The Presence never appears "in person", Christianity does NOT come off good in the series, and only gets worse when he's drawn into some of the angels trying to pull off a coup in Heaven. |
| 128 | [[/folder]] |
| 129 | |
| 130 | [[folder:Film -- Animated]] |
| 131 | * This trope is [[ShowDontTell shown rather than told]] in ''WesternAnimation/TheAdventuresOfMarkTwain'' through the presence of Literature/TheMysteriousStranger. Although the Stranger is explicitly {{Satan}}, he nontheless represents a malevolent God-figure as opposed to the benevolent God featured in an earlier segment. When the children meet him, he brings a civilization of clay figures to life on his planet. However, when he notices a few of the clay figures [[HumansAreFlawed having a petty argument over property]], he grows angry, and kills them all in a rage. The children are horrified, but the Mysterious Stranger [[LackOfEmpathy doesn't show any remorse at all]], since he can always make more clay people if he wishes. His musings as the children leave are [[ExistentialHorror especially creepy]]: |
| 132 | -->'''The Mysterious Stranger:''' [[StrawNihilist Life itself is only a vision. A dream. Nothing exists, save empty space and you. And you... are but a thought]]. |
| 133 | |
| 134 | * ''WesternAnimation/KuboAndTheTwoStrings'': While he isn't stated to have created the universe, [[BigBad Raiden the Moon King]] is nonetheless the ruler of {{Heaven}} and is characterized as a cold, [[FantasticRacism human-hating]] totalitarian. [[DatingWhatDaddyHates Angry that his daughter married a human]], he tries to take their son, Kubo, to live with him in Heaven ([[HellOfAHeaven portrayed here as cold and uncaring, especially towards humans]]), which requires him to ''[[WouldHurtAChild tear out]]'' ''[[EyeScream Kubo's eyes]]'' to make him blind to humanity. At one point, Raiden actually refers to Earth as "[[CrapsackWorld hell]]". He even [[GrandpaGod looks]] like an ElderlyImmortal, albeit without a beard. [[spoiler:At the film's end, Raiden is [[HumanityEnsues magically transformed into a human]], [[AmnesiacGod loses his memory]], [[HeelFaceBrainwashing and is convinced by everyone else that he has always been good]].]] |
| 135 | |
| 136 | * ''WesternAnimation/TrollhuntersRiseOfTheTitans'': [[spoiler:Bellroc, Keeper of the Flame, is revealed to be this trope in the movie, being the leader of the Arcane Order[[note]]which is equivalent with the Holy Trinity in [[Literature/TheBible the Bible]], with Bellroc representing God the Father[[/note]] who created the universe alongside Skrael and Nari, with the Titans as their handmaidens. Her goal is to unite the Fire Titan with the Heartstone to [[OmnicidalManiac annihilate the universe]], which would kill everything and everyone in existence, and then rebirth the world as a LethalLavaLand.]] |
| 137 | [[/folder]] |
| 138 | |
| 139 | [[folder:Film -- Live-Action]] |
| 140 | * ''Film/TheBinding'' is about a minister who claims that God has ordered him to murder his infant daughter. In the end, the minister is unable to go through with it and instead commits suicide, so God appears to kick start the End of Days in a fit of rage over the minister's lack of devotion. |
| 141 | * ''Film/TheDevilsCarnival'' implies and ''Film/TheDevilsCarnivalAlleluia'' outright depicts their version of God as being petty, lustful, and wrathful, and with Heaven as his seemingly-cheerful personal [[InfernalParadise dictatorship]]. He even sings about causing one of the worst dust storms in U.S. history. The Devil and his [[IronicHell Carnival]] are only little better...maybe. |
| 142 | * Downplayed in the GDR children film ''Film/GodfatherDeath'', retelling the fairy tale of the same name. A husband searches a godfather for his child, but he rejects God, who offers himself, on socialist grounds (dealing fate unequally), justifying the motive already present in the fairy tale. Evidently he wouldn't go as far as declaring God as straightly evil, and tells the Devil who gladly offers his service to sod off straight to hell. He agrees to the offer of Death, who he sees as an absolutely just Lawful Neutral. |
| 143 | * ''Film/GodOnTrial'': This is the conclusion of the titular trial. The Jews were ''not'' discussing God's character - such banter was irrelevant to the trial, and stripped from the record. The jury ultimately decides God is in breach of contract, although whether they find him evil is dismissed. The final monologue, however, features a Rabbi who is unequivocally of this position: that God was ''never'' good, and only on the side of the Hebrews. He essentially lists all of God's unjustifiable actions in the Torah, such as committing genocide and punishing people by having their children brutally murdered. Ultimately, this sways the jury to decide that God has indeed abandoned them. |
| 144 | * In the 2010 film, ''Film/{{Legion}}'', God comes to the conclusion that the human race is no longer worthy of Him, and decides to end their existence. ArchangelMichael fights the angelic army, and tells ArchangelGabriel that he (Michael) did what God needed, not what God wanted, thus giving humanity another chance. The weird thing about that is that the baby the pregnant woman is carrying is implied (if not outright stated) to be the second coming of Christ. Who is God. Who is trying to end the world. [[MindScrew By stopping himself from being born and saving the world...]] |
| 145 | * Played with in ''WesternAnimation/TheLegoMovie'': [[spoiler:"The Man Upstairs", who is revered as a god among the Master Builders, is actually the father of Finn, the child who played with his dad's Legos against his constant instructions to leave them be so he can keep all of his Lego sets seperate. In the story that Finn weaves, he bases the villain Lord Business on his father. Thankfully, "The Man Upstairs", and by extension Lord Business, has a change of heart and decides to let Finn build whatever he likes with his Legos.]] |
| 146 | * The Architect in ''Film/TheMatrixReloaded'' and ''Film/TheMatrixRevolutions'': Not only is he named "The Architect" (the name that Freemasons use for God), he sits in a throne, watching everything that happens in his realm and is an old man with a white beard and a deep voice. Clearly an allusion. He's also incapable of empathy (he creates the program Oracle for that) and feels no love at all for the humans. His sole purpose is to facilitate the proper functioning of the Matrix by manipulating the Resistance indirectly. He might not be the creator of the humans or the universe outside the Matrix, but is a very similar concept of God that certain religions have like the Demiurge in Gnosticism or the role of Brahma in Buddhism (Buddhist and Gnostic themes are prevalent in the films). |
| 147 | * ''Film/TheRapture'': The film does explore this question, as Sharon is embittered and disillusioned by a God that chose not to intervene when her husband was murdered and her child was killed by her own hand. In the end, God is benevolent enough to save anyone who accepts faith into their life, including lifelong atheists, but Sharon chooses to stay in purgatory forever because she cannot accept God's allowance of pain and suffering. |
| 148 | * The BlackComedy ''Film/ASeriousMan'' implies that God may be malicious and/or utterly incomprehensible. |
| 149 | * The rather [[AssPull demented]] twist ending to ''Film/{{Urge}}'' reveals that the "[[PsychoSerum designer drug]]" that is causing everyone to go insane and kill each other and themselves was created and distributed by God... played by Creator/PierceBrosnan. |
| 150 | * ''Film/TheVoormanProblem'': Voorman, a crazed prison inmate interviewed by psychiatrist Dr. Williams, turns out to actually be God. He tells Williams that wars amuse him. At the end he switches places with Williams, leaving to have sex with Williams's wife while Williams is locked in prison. Oh, and he literally wipes Belgium off the map. |
| 151 | * The eponymous ''Film/{{Zardoz}}'' promotes violence among the Brutals giving them weapons and encourage them to kill, rape and enslave other people just to keep them under control for the sake of the SecretCircleOfSecrets. He is, however, in reality [[spoiler:TheManBehindTheCurtain]]. |
| 152 | [[/folder]] |
| 153 | |
| 154 | [[folder:Live Action TV]] |
| 155 | * On the re-imagined ''Series/{{Battlestar Galactica|2003}}'' and ''Series/{{Caprica}}'', the One God not only allows its worshipers to go on genocidal rampages, but it actually appears to take actions to prompt individuals to carry out actions that will ensure the perpetual cycle of human/Cylon conflict. The Messenger beings that supposedly represent it appear to specific people to make sure certain things happen. Most notably, [[spoiler: one of the Messengers guides Zoe Graystone in creating the software needed to create artificial intelligence, which will later make the Cylons of the Twelve Colonies sentient]]. |
| 156 | |
| 157 | * ''Series/GameOfThrones'': Davos accuses the ''Lord of Light'' of being evil when he lashes out at Melisandre. Assuming that her acts (including {{human sacrifice}}s) are something that the Lord approves of, he may be right. [[spoiler:Eventually downplayed when the Lord of Light plays a pivotal part in preventing the world from ending, although Davos states they can still only speculate about what this god really wants.]] |
| 158 | |
| 159 | * Dewey in ''Series/MalcolmInTheMiddle'' suggests that God is merely indifferent instead of outright evil. He even suggests that people should enjoy themselves and stop fighting over trivial things such as religion, since it hardly matters when God can simply whip out a magnifying glass at ''anytime?!'' |
| 160 | |
| 161 | * ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'': |
| 162 | ** God is a cruel, capricious being who is subjecting the protagonists (not to mention the rest of the world) to [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking pain, horror and]] [[spoiler: [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking bad writing]]]] for [[ForTheEvulz his own sadistic entertainment.]] [[spoiler:He [[SarcasticConfession said so himself.]]]] |
| 163 | ** Due to the Season 6 finale, [[spoiler: Castiel]] also falls into this category, since a combination of [[WellIntentionedExtremist well-intentioned extremism]] and phenomenal cosmic power seems to have made him more than a little [[AGodAmI prideful/nuts]]. Though in season 7 it turned out that [[spoiler: this was at least partly due to TheCorruption, and by the time he truly goes off the deep end he's fallen victim to a full-blown DemonicPossession.]] |
| 164 | ** The season 10 finale introduces [[TheAntiGod the Darkness]], "a horribly destructive amoral force" that existed before God and would later act as TheCorruption on Lucifer himself, possibly reducing the blame on God as it means evil was not his creation. Although, [[TheGrimReaper Death]] also reveals that, after God and the angels defeated the Darkness, it was God who [[SealedEvilInACan sealed]] it with the Mark of Cain and put the Mark on Lucifer, making him complicit in Lucifer's fall. |
| 165 | ** The Season 14 finale [[spoiler: finally confirms all the above allegations -- God treats reality as only existing for his entertainment, with the Winchesters' suffering in particular being his "favorite show". When they refuse to keep playing along, he decides to murder his own grandson Jack and tear open Hell.]] |
| 166 | ** Throughout season 15, [[spoiler:Chuck keeps looking for ways to force the Winchesters to take part in his plotline and truly starts to give in to pure evil, from toying with Becky and her family before snapping them out of existence, murdering everybody at a casino, terrorizing people into serving him, torturing Sam until he gives up all hope, and ultimately ''[[OmnicidalManiac going on an omnicidal rampage to destroy the entire multiverse]]''. It gets so bad that Billie, the new Death, decides to break her own rules on ''raising the dead'', and decides to form an alliance with [[EldritchAbomination the Shadow]] allowing Jack to come back to life, so she can give him instructions to become strong enough to ''[[KillTheGod Kill God]]''.]] |
| 167 | [[/folder]] |
| 168 | |
| 169 | [[folder:Music]] %%Sorted by general, then music/artist, where given |
| 170 | |
| 171 | * ''The Dragonland Chronicles'' storyline by power metal band Music/{{Dragonland}} details how "The Gods" pit the Armies of the Light (Humans, Elves and Dwarves) against the Hordes of the Night (Orcs, Goblins and Trolls) in a semi-apocalyptic battle once every century for entertainment; if the Light Side wins, the Hordes of the Night are driven back to whatever unholy place they crawled out of and peace endures until the next Battle of the Ivory Plains. If the Dark Side wins, Dragonland is plunged into a century of darkness and pestilence. One century after the triumph of the Dark Side, a hero emerges to defeat the Hordes of the Night decisively, ascends to the Heavens to slay The Gods who have been driven mad with power, and proceeds to become "one with the universe", achieving apotheosis and becoming the new, benevolent God of known existence. |
| 172 | |
| 173 | * God in Music/{{Fireaxe}}'s four hour epic "Music/FoodForTheGods" depicts how his influence on the world creates numerous wars and atrocities which culminates with Satan leading the demons of hell (and humans who were condemned there) to storming and destroying heaven. There Satan puts it best when Jesus proclaims how he suffered for Humanity's sins. |
| 174 | -->''You may have suffered for the sins of man, but I have suffered for the sins of God.'' |
| 175 | |
| 176 | * "God's Song (That's Why I Love Mankind)" by Music/RandyNewman has several verses sung from God's perspective which show him to be quite cruel toward humans. As is typical with Newman songs though, it's not entirely clear how serious he's being (since Newman is a "devout atheist" it's possibly serious). God in the song seemingly despises humanity ("I recoil in horror from the foulness of thee/From the squalor and the filth and the misery"), and likes that living in these conditions makes people turn to him. |
| 177 | -->I burn down your cities-how blind you must be\ |
| 178 | I take from you your children and you say how blessed are we\ |
| 179 | You all must be crazy to put your faith in me\ |
| 180 | That's why I love mankind\ |
| 181 | You really need me\ |
| 182 | That's why I love mankind |
| 183 | |
| 184 | * In "Prayer," ReligionRantSong by Music/{{Disturbed}}, God makes humans suffer for no good reason. |
| 185 | -->Another nightmare about to come true\ |
| 186 | Will manifest tomorrow\ |
| 187 | Another love that I've taken from you\ |
| 188 | Lost in time, on the edge of suffering\ |
| 189 | Another taste of the evil I breed\ |
| 190 | Will level you completely\ |
| 191 | Bring to life everything that you fear\ |
| 192 | Live in the dark, and the world is threatening |
| 193 | |
| 194 | * Nitheful: |
| 195 | ** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FjU5PH5xVng&ab_channel=SLAMWORLDWIDE "Sacramentum ov Filicide"]] portrays God as being responsible for the ills of man so He can receive their unyielding supplication and worship as their supposed "savior" while doing nothing to save his son [[MessianicArchetype Jesus]] from his crucifixion just to satisfy His sadistic pleasure. |
| 196 | ** Their second full-length album ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-8zavnXv0p0&ab_channel=SLAMWORLDWIDE The Creation ov God]]'', which the aforementioned track comes from, is a ConceptAlbum dedicated to this trope, with each and every song based on atrocities that God committed Himself or ordered His followers to carry out in His name as depicted in the Bible. |
| 197 | |
| 198 | * Much of Music/GaryNuman's musical catalogue from the album "Sacrifice" onward depicts God as cruel and delighting in humanity's suffering. |
| 199 | |
| 200 | * "Smithereens" by rapper El-P features the line "Why should I be sober when God is so clearly dusted out his mind?/With cherubs puffin' a bundle, trying to remember why he even tried" |
| 201 | |
| 202 | * Music/SageFrancis has a song called "Sun vs Moon", where he sings "God's not a woman/He's a big white guy in the sky/In the desert, saw reflections of his eyes/He doesn't cry for us/But when he does, it's cause he's drunk." |
| 203 | |
| 204 | * Music/TheBlackDahliaMurder's song "Their Beloved Absentee" off of ''Everblack'' portrays God as a twisted and perverted voyeur who takes fiendish amusement in silently watching [[HumansAreBastards mankind turn on and destroy themselves]]. |
| 205 | |
| 206 | * In one of the songs that are a part of the [[https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLKOY6La9LWix2oIPzL_z_mAHTcx_oHLC2 Happiness Series]] of Music/{{Vocaloid}} songs, Music/HatsuneMiku is a goddess, and while she seems nice at the beginning of the song, it quickly turns into her being an egotistical and sadistic goddess who enjoys humanity's suffering, wants the praise of humanity, and eventually wants to kill all humans. |
| 207 | [[/folder]] |
| 208 | |
| 209 | [[folder:Mythology and Religion]] %%Sorted by work, where available, then topic/religion (if mentioned), then, absent all others, alphabetical order, starting from the first letter |
| 210 | * UsefulNotes/CarlJung's most controversial essay, ''Answer to Job'', portrays God as Evil. In Literature/TheBible's ''Literature/BookOfJob'' God sanctions the destruction of Job's life in a horrible manner. Jung describes a story where UsefulNotes/{{Jesus}} was born to make {{God}} less evil and more conscious. Jung also makes it clear that these were his own personal understandings of the text from which he worked. |
| 211 | |
| 212 | * Maybe not evil per se, but clearly misguided according to some Buddhists; in Buddhist cosmology Brahma is the King of Devas and as such the most powerful being in the material Universe (Samsara) other than, of course, Boddhisatvas. Some believe that Brahma mistakenly thinks he is a Creator and is the inspiration of the monotheistic religions. Nevertheless, this may contradict certain Buddhists' scriptures that say that Brahma actually accepted Buddha’s supremacy and teachings. It should be noticed that Devas in Buddhist cosmology are very powerful beings often praised as gods by many cultures but in any case not divine or eternal, just another life form like humans and animals. Buddhist philosophers were among the first who argued that no all-good, all-powerful deity exists based on the amount of evil which we find in the universe, related to this trope. |
| 213 | |
| 214 | |
| 215 | * UsefulNotes/{{Gnosticism}} holds that the God of the material universe, a being that the Gnostics call the Demiurge, is a petty, [[ItsAllAboutMe self-centered]] tyrant who believes himself to be the absolute God, when he's in fact the creation of a greater (and more benevolent) being known as Sophia, who is herself a wayward angelic servant of the true God of the spiritual universe. Of course, opinions differ somewhat on whether the Demiurge *really* qualifies for this or TheDevilIsALoser, and whether he can be qualified as truly malicious rather than just really, really misguided and really, really, ''really'' stupid. |
| 216 | * Luciferianism holds very similar beliefs to Gnosticism; basically Luciferians think that Lucifer is the true God of Light, the bringer of Wisdom (Light) and pure spirituality, and superior to the evil and materialistic god Yaveh who is only another deity, or sometimes even inferior to Lucifer like the Gnostic Demiurge. In some versions both the Serpent in the Garden of Evil is Lucifer bringing knowledge to Humanity to spite Yaveh, and Jesus himself is actually Lucifer in disguise or Lucifer's son also trying to bring down the Demiurge's religion. Is essentially Gnosticism but with a more active and less abstract "God of Light". |
| 217 | |
| 218 | * Neopaganism, as presented by ''The Spiral Dance'', makes the case that Abrahamic god is a jerk. |
| 219 | |
| 220 | * There is a particular branch of Satanism (which in most variants has little to nothing to do with [[Literature/TheBible THAT]] Satan despite stereotypes) known as Theistic Satanism which takes this view in regard to the Adam & Eve story. The interpretation here is that God deliberately forbade eating from the Tree of Knowledge to keep humanity blinded, ignorant, and subservient, [[AlternativeCharacterInterpretation while the serpent freed them from this and thus gave humans the capacity for knowledge, learning, science, higher thought and true sentience.]] Of course, the cost of humanity's higher knowledge (and morality, sentience, deeper consciousness, complex thought processes, science and technology, and all the other baggage that comes with it) may or [[DumbIsGood may not]] have been worth it. |
| 221 | |
| 222 | * Rene Descartes' conceptual Evil Genius counts, given that Descartes questioned whether he was responsible for creating the world and all its strange drudgery as an illusory plane of existence with the sole purpose of deluding people like him. He then argued that {{God is good}} based on first principles to dismiss this possibility, though not everyone buys his argument, naturally. |
| 223 | |
| 224 | * Several theological and philosophical concepts involve a belief in an evil, incompetent or indifferent God: |
| 225 | ** ''Dystheism'' ("ungodly") is the belief that God is not wholly good, and possibly (though not necessarily) evil. It differs from maltheism in that it draws no conclusions about whether said God is worthy of worship - a maltheist is always a dystheist but a dystheist is not always a maltheist. Many ancient religions were dystheistic in nature-Hellenistic and Norse mythology, with jealous Gods who interfere in mortal affairs (and mortal bedrooms) but who still demanded respect and sacrifice being the best-known examples. Since UsefulNotes/WorldWarII, more specifically the Holocaust, [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holocaust_theology some Jewish theologians]] have proposed a dystheistic approach to God. Compare UsefulNotes/{{Deism}}. |
| 226 | ** ''Maltheism'' (from ''mal'', meaning bad/sickness and ''theism'' meaning theism) is the belief that a God or Gods exist, but they are malevolent or incompetent. Few religions have a wholly maltheistic view of the world, though several include maltheistic strands - for example, gods of evil, such as Ate (the Goddess of Evil, Folly, and Destruction) in Hellenistic mythology. Abrahamic belief in the Devil can be seen as a variant - although the exact nature (or even his existence) of the devil is not universally agreed on in Abrahamic theology, he is often construed as a supernatural agency with malicious intentions for humans. A related concept is ''Hypothetical Maltheism'', used as a criticism of religion by agnostics and atheists, which holds that, if God exists, he would be unworthy of worship due to the ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Problem_of_evil Problem of Evil]]'' (which asks how and why a benevolent, omnipotent God even allows evil to exist) and the ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Problem_of_hell Problem of Hell]]'' (which addresses {{Hell}} and questions the justice and necessity of [[DisproportionateRetribution eternal torment as punishment for the sins of a single mortal lifetime]]). Unsurprisingly, [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Problem_of_hell#Annihilationism several]] [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Problem_of_hell#Free_will religious]] [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Problem_of_hell#Universal_reconciliation responses]] exist to such a line of thought. |
| 227 | --->'''Rational Wiki''': Maltheism is the idea that God... is like a kid who keeps removing pool ladders in VideoGame/TheSims. |
| 228 | ** ''Misotheism'' ("hatred of Gods") is a related concept to ''Maltheism'', but is more active in its meaning -- rather than mere belief in a malevolent God, misotheism is an outright hatred of said God, regardless of its actual nature (i.e. it can be that GodIsGood, and yet is hated by a particular person despite or even because of said goodness). OlderThanFeudalism, misotheistic positions and characters appear in Icelandic sagas and in some Hellenistic sagas. It is distinct from maltheism in the sense that, whilst maltheism is the position that God is unworthy of worship, misotheism is ''active hatred'' for God. Frequently leads to [[HollywoodAtheist Hollywood atheism]]. Several Norse saga characters, e.g. Hrafnkell on ''Hrafnkell's saga'' were called ''goðlauss'' (godless) because of their disdain of the Norse deities and rather relying on themselves. |
| 229 | --->'''[[Film/PitchBlack Riddick]]''': I absolutely believe in God... And I absolutely hate the [[PrecisionFStrike fucker]]. |
| 230 | --->'''ComicBook/ThePunisher''': There are times I'd like to get my hands on God. |
| 231 | * Some atheist philosophers like Christopher New and Stephen Law posit this as a thought experiment to criticize traditional arguments for God's existence by arguing they're equally compatible with an all-evil, all-knowing and all-powerful god. |
| 232 | [[/folder]] |
| 233 | |
| 234 | [[folder:Newspaper Comics ]] |
| 235 | %% [[ComicStrip/CalvinAndHobbes Calvin]] delights in imagining God this way, most notably in [[http://media.heavy.com/media/2013/03/bill4.gif this]] strip. |
| 236 | [[/folder]] |
| 237 | |
| 238 | [[folder:Tabletop RPG]] |
| 239 | * ''TabletopGame/TheDarkEye'' at first glance has a "gods = good; demons = evil" divide. Apart from the Nameless God, who was a traitor to the good gods. Then you find out about some more obscure (demi)gods, particularly the bloodthirsty Kor, who is the patron of mercenaries and likes to get cut off fingers of slain foes as sacrifice. Of course the fact that some misguided people worship demons as gods doesn't mean anything. Until [[spoiler:you get deeper into the ancient history/mythology and find out that at least some of the Archdemons that rule Hell used to be gods, and are only demons now because their number of worshippers diminished and they were supplanted by newer, more popular gods. Or they just did it ForTheEvulz.]] |
| 240 | ** Plus, the gods really only care about the existence of creation. Mortals are only interesting for them for their effect on creation and for reaping their souls (every god gets the souls of mortals that live by his ideals) to strengthen the armies of creation in the last battle when the aforementioned Nameless God rips the outer sphere open, letting in the hordes of uncreated demons. Some of them seem to be curious about mortals that live by their ideals, like Phex (essentially god of tricksters) or Hesinde (goddess of wisdom and art), but that could be a ruse to get more souls. Others, the hard liners, were ready to nuke a region to stop a renegade from damning all mortals (signing their souls over to the demons), even if it meant reaping tens of thousands of souls prematurely. Luckily the largest army of mortals in the last age stopped the renegade before that. |
| 241 | ** The "evil" (demi)gods are implied to be falling gods, going over to the demon side. The Nameless God didn't go over to the demons' side, he just weakened creation, letting the demons in more easily, gaining control of some of them, and taking creation for himself. |
| 242 | |
| 243 | * God in Creator/WhiteWolf's ''TabletopGame/DemonTheFallen'' is made out to be a psychotically ungrateful megalomaniac. Then again, the entire point of that RPG is that [[SatanIsGood Lucifer is a sympathetic protagonist]]. What the Demons say about God in that game comes from an obviously biased source. God's actual intentions and motivations are far more ambiguous in the game as a whole; the whole Reconciler faction of Demons believes that God must have been good after all, mysterious as His ways may seem... and Lucifer himself expresses doubts about his rebellion and a desperate desire to be reconciled with God at the end of the Time of Judgment game fiction. |
| 244 | ** Its successor game, ''TabletopGame/DemonTheDescent'' muddies the waters a good deal with the God-Machine. The only things known for certain about it are that it possesses godlike power, creates angels to serve it, and that it's not so much malicious as apathetic; for all its power, it's still ''a computer'', and sees everything as inputs and outputs. Yes, it might drive someone to suicide for some occult algorithm or protect a mass-murderer, but these are just side-effects for its real, inscrutable goals. |
| 245 | |
| 246 | * Practically every ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' setting features evil deities, though most settings primarily have those evil deities in conflict with good deities. Some [[CrapsackWorld settings]], on the other hand, ''only'' have evil gods. Although it's unclear if they're gods or not, the [[PowersThatBe Dark Powers]] of TabletopGame/{{Ravenloft}} are either out-and-out evil, or [[BlueAndOrangeMorality so inscrutable and/or indifferent to the innocents caught up in their playground that they might as well be]]. |
| 247 | |
| 248 | * ''TabletopGame/{{Exalted}}'': All the major gods are addicted to the Games of Divinity. What the Games are is left up to the individual ST but it is known that they are incredibly addictive, with only the original makers of the world, the Primordials, immune. Thus a common Internet meme states "The Unconquered Sun is on Celestial Crack". Then again, so are Luna, the Five Maidens, several of the head divisions, many God-Blooded (children of major gods, minor Gods don't get access) and even '''anyone who has seen the Games of Divinity Form of the Prismatic Arrangement of Creation Style of Sidereal Martial Arts.''' |
| 249 | * In ''TabletopGame/MagicTheGathering'', the gods that are worshipped by the people of Zendikar -- Cosi, Ula, and Emeria -- were actually inspired by distorted memories of Kozilek, Ulamog, and Emrakul, the three [[EldritchAbomination Eldrazi]] [[OmnicidalManiac titans.]] One cleric has a crisis of faith [[http://magiccards.info/roe/en/5.html when the truth is revealed.]] |
| 250 | --->'''Ayli, Kamsa cleric:''' I believed in a beautiful god. But this is the true face of the divine. |
| 251 | |
| 252 | * Creation is also used as a prison for evil gods in Monte Cook's d20 setting ''TabletopGame/{{Ptolus}}''. At least there, the Chaos Gods are also [[SealedEvilInACan sealed away in a pocket dimension]] contained within our larger universe, thus making mankind not involuntary fellow inmates but instead involuntary ''prison guards''. |
| 253 | |
| 254 | * ''TabletopGame/{{Scion}}'': The [=PCs=] are the half-human offspring of various deities from (mostly) abandoned mythologies. While their divine parents have an aspect of all-too-human dickery about them (the game is quite faithful to how mythology originally presented them), only a couple of them are outright evil. The Abrahamic deity is not ''explicitly'' present, but the sole avatar of one of the evil Titanic Primordial Forces is a shining bearded guy who wants everything in existence to sacrifice their free will and be absolutely devoted to him. ''Scion Companion'' presents, as a possible antagonist, a group of people who are manipulating Fate to force all gods into an Abrahamic mold. It's heavily suggested that if they pulled it off, it would fit this trope. |
| 255 | |
| 256 | * ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}'': |
| 257 | ** '''All''' ''[=WH40K=]'' gods are evil. In ''[=WH40K=]'' the only really relevant gods (as in, the ones controlling [[TheLegionsOfHell the endless hordes of ravenous daemons]] and who have the ability to spread their "[[TheCorruption blessings]]" liberally upon their mortal followers as opposed to simply being a generally ineffectual focus of worship) literally embody the worst parts of sentience. |
| 258 | ** Disturbingly, the Gods of Chaos also embody positive qualities: |
| 259 | *** Khorne is the embodiment of rage, so both berserkers and honorable warriors fall under his purview. Trying to gain favor with him by slaughtering the defenseless is not going to get you a lot of points. |
| 260 | *** Slaanesh is desire incarnate, and while hedonists are the most represented among his followers, artists and musicians can follow him as well. |
| 261 | *** Nurgle is one of the few gods to be [[AffablyEvil actually nice]], and is a FriendToAllLivingThings... literally, ''all'' living things. He loves plague-causing bacteria just as much as he loves his followers, and sees infecting the latter with the former to be a good reward. |
| 262 | *** Then there is Tzeentch, a God of {{Manipulative Bastard}}s...who is the Warhammer universe's God of ''Hope''. |
| 263 | ** The Gods of Chaos are entities created by the Warp, which is psychically connected to the minds of sentient species throughout the universe (not ''all'' of them, but several enough). The Warhammer universe is a CrapsackWorld at best, outright {{Dystopia}} at worst, a place of perpetual ultraviolent warfare and every second alien race is AlwaysChaoticEvil- even the three "good" factions (Imperium, Eldar and Tau) are each an unhealthy mixture of AbsoluteXenophobe, ManipulativeBastard, [[ScaryDogmaticAliens Scary Dogmatic Aliens / Humans]] and MoralMyopia on an intergalactic scale, all perfectly willing to eradicate entire planets and races that get in their way (or just on principle). So, essentially, this is a cosmic case of CreateYourOwnVillain- the reason the Gods of Chaos are evil is because they are shaped by the emotions of the peoples of the universe at large, and the universe at large is Hell. In a nicer Warhammer verse, [[BloodKnight Khorne]], [[TheChessmaster Tzeentch]], [[PlagueMaster Nurgle]] and [[DepravedBisexual Slaanesh]] might actually be somewhat benevolent- of course, since they arent, the universe is even ''worse'' that it normally would be, making this and its consequences a SelfFulfillingProphecy to boot. |
| 264 | ** There is/was also [[OmnicidalManiac Malal/Malice]] who is considered too dangerous [[EvenEvilHasStandards even by Chaos Gods.]] |
| 265 | ** Gork and Mork, who are slightly less bad. Slightly. Since they are Gods of Orks, it by default means [[AlwaysChaoticEvil strong homicidal tendencies]]. However, in fact they don't actually do much, save for protecting the souls of Orks in the Warp and occasionally butting heads with Chaos Gods. So from the Ork point of view, even by human standards they look almost benevolent. They're more active in ''Fantasy'', and not nearly as nice there. |
| 266 | ** The C'Tan? They're arguably not ''real'' gods (they're just hideously powerful EnergyBeings with the power of gods, [[SufficientlyAdvancedAlien to whom the laws of physics aren't even guidelines]]), but they're active at the moment... and make the Chaos Gods look good by comparison. The Chaos Gods at least have positive traits even if they're, at the moment, almost totally overshadowed by vile evil. The C'Tan are a bunch of self-serving, duplicitous, genocidal bastards who want to wipe out all life in the galaxy because life energy tastes better than stars. Also, they reduced their entire race of worshipers into near-mindless [[strike:cyborg]] [[NinjaPirateZombieRobot undead robotic]] slaves. There are four of them left: the [[GrimReaper Nightbringer]], the personification of death who [[MindRape burned his image into the psyche]] of virtually all life (big exception: the Orks) as such and made life be afraid of death; the Deceiver, {{Chessmaster}} par excellence; the Outsider, currently [[AxCrazy batshit bonkers]] and [[SealedEvilInACan locked away in a cosmic prison]]; and the [[DeusEstMachina Void Dragon]], currently napping. Information on the Void Dragon is sketchy, but he is said to be the most powerful C'Tan of them all, is believed to have total control over machines of all sorts, lightning, and may be the Machine God worshipped by the Adeptus Mechanicus -- conveniently assumed to be sleeping under Mars. |
| 267 | ** The Deceiver in particular is one of the only entities so nasty that he's evil in both {{Canon}} ''Warhammer 40k'' and the fan-made MirrorUniverse ''Brighthammer 40k''. In the latter, he's known as the Soothsayer, and specializes in telling dangerous and harmful truths, and dispelling even the most harmless or beneficial lies. |
| 268 | ** The Eldar used to have a nice, normal, stable pantheon with many nice gods. Guess which ones survived the [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt Fall]]? [[AxCrazy Khaine the Bloody-Handed]] and [[ManipulativeBastard Cegorach the Laughing God]]. |
| 269 | ** And Isha the god of fertility and love, who seems to be the only [[AvertedTrope total aversion]] in the series. Of course, she's kind of busy being [[ColdBloodedTorture held prisoner and tortured]] by the Chaos God Nurgle, who is otherwise a rather AffablyEvil god. |
| 270 | ** What about the [[GodEmperor God-Emperor of Man]]? OK, he wasn't as bad as several of the above examples, but he regularly ordered [[EarthShatteringKaboom Exterminantus]] of entire planets, including human planets that refused to join the Imperium on his terms or just weren't human enough, [[UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans all in the name of reuniting the fragmented human empire and creating utopia]]. Not to mention that he also came up with the idea to [[AbsoluteXenophobe wage wars of extermination against all aliens]]. And of course, the fact that half the Primarchs fell to Chaos in the first place can be directly traced to his complete ineptitude at seeing them as anything but tools in his conquest of the galaxy. Did we mention that a thousand humans are sacrificed to him ''every day'' to keep him alive on the [[PoweredByAForsakenChild Golden Throne]]? |
| 271 | *** Funnily enough, back when the Emperor was alive/awake, he was a FlatEarthAtheist who outlawed all worship ([[StopWorshippingMe including worship of him]]). He tried to [[DefiedTrope Defy]] this trope and tried to fight it by banning any and all forms of religion. But since the Chaos gods are made of emotion, not faith, this failed spectacularly. Thus he was put on life support on the Golden Throne, worshiped as a God against his will. |
| 272 | ** The more powerful Daemon Princes reach PhysicalGod levels, making them this trope to their enemies (though they depend on their patron god not changing their mind if they're killed). |
| 273 | |
| 274 | * While ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer}} Fantasy'' has the same Chaos gods, many of its other gods are much more benevolent, if a bit more subtle. They tend to act more by creating or empowering a champion to fight back chaos, most recently Voltan. |
| 275 | ** Though the Fantasy version of [[AxCrazy Khaine]] has [[AdaptationalVillainy no redeeming qualities]] at all. |
| 276 | ** In WHFB, the gods are not necessarily outright evil as in [=WH40K=]; they are [[JerkassGods much more subtle]]. Chaos deities, however, are completely immoral. Likewise, [[GoodIsNotNice goodness does not equate niceness]] - TheEmpire professes all the decandent, fanatic, militaristic and intolerant ingredients of the historical Holy Roman Empire, while Bretonnia is a [[TheDungAges feodalistic hellhole]]. Even so, the world of Warhammer is [[AWorldHalfFull a world half empty]], and its [[JerkassGods deities reflect that]]. |
| 277 | ** Even the Chaos Gods could be called misunderstood on a good day. Ever since his ascension, however, [[spoiler:Nagash has become a god of death and has not a single ounce of goodness or morality in his undead bones.]] |
| 278 | * ''TabletopGame/YuGiOh'' has a weird example based vaguely off Gnotism. In the World of Duel Terminal a being known as Sophia repeatedly resets the universe via the Vylons and until Sombre Lapis and Kerykion stopped her. But as it turns out she was actually doing this to stop Tierra from blowing up the word, so it's more or less [[PlayingWith played with]]. |
| 279 | [[/folder]] |
| 280 | |
| 281 | [[folder:Web Animation]] |
| 282 | * In ''[[http://www.atom.com/channel/channel_stickman_exodus/ Stickman Exodus]]'', the {{Gorn}}-doodling teenage owner of the notebook is effectively a cruel {{God}} to the two-dimensional cast. |
| 283 | [[/folder]] |
| 284 | |
| 285 | [[folder:Web Comics]] |
| 286 | * It's kind of hard to deny that ''Webcomic/TheBrickTestament'' has this angle going for it; it was pretty much intended as a way of pointing out the questionable points of the Bible. [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt The Book of Revelation]] in particular is stuffed to the gills with this trope, right down to sardonic titles and cutting commentary by the Franchise/{{LEGO}} minifigures suffering the whole time. |
| 287 | |
| 288 | %% ''Webcomic/{{Locus}}'': Meittron was [[http://locus.keenspot.com/d/20091009.html driven]] [[http://locus.keenspot.com/d/20091012.html to it]]. Nor is [[{{Satan}} Sammael]] an UnreliableNarrator, as WordOfGod [[http://forums.keenspot.com/viewtopic.php?f=129&t=107801 confirms his story]]. |
| 289 | |
| 290 | %% ''Webcomic/{{Oglaf}}'' [[http://oglaf.com/howtheygetyou proves the point]]. (SFW page on site where most pages are NSFW.) |
| 291 | %%% And again: "[[http://oglaf.com/assorted-fruits/ God is on their side. But I've been reading their holy book, and I think that God may be a psycho.]] (SFW) |
| 292 | |
| 293 | * In ''Webcomic/{{Sinfest}}'', subverted; God can seem this way to some of the characters, but is generally just obnoxious and somewhat childish, with [[http://www.sinfest.net/view.php?date=2000-07-24 occasional]] PetTheDog moments. Even these are decreasing with the LighterAndSofter touch -- most appearances now feature him playing catch with Jesus. |
| 294 | ** Jesus, on the other hand, is [[JesusWasWayCool an awesome guy]]. |
| 295 | ** So is the Buddha. The Dragon of Eastern Religion is generally awesome also. |
| 296 | ** One point against Sinfest's God, however, is the way the classic Problem of Evil is eventually resolved... turns out, God CREATED The Devil, and made him do what he does. Presumably just to make himself look good by comparison. When The Devil finds out, he outright quits and [[DeathTakesAHoliday goes on a tropical vacation]]... only to then apparently forget all about it and come back, continuing where he left off. As such, all of The Devil's (unquestionably evil) deeds can be laid squarely at God's feet in this universe... or, at least, at his hand.. |
| 297 | * The titular [[Webcomic/TheWaterPhoenixKing Water Phoenix King]], Yamra, and his predecessor Gurahl, though this was, and to some extent still is, a contested belief in the story. Those who benefitted under his rule consider him to have been a benevolent deity, and the opposition to be immoral for rebelling against the [[OrderVersusChaos Natural Order of the Universe]]; the rebellion considered him an awful tyrant, and the order that Gurahl imposed on the universe a harmful thing -- as did Lady Luck, who killed Gurahl over his binding the sun-goddess Okidesha. "Pure" Yamrans seek to restore the strict caste system, with Hadrakahn priests and knights at the top of the heap, everyone else working for them, and witches and sorcerers cast into the outer darkness...for the [[UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans Good Of All]], of course! |
| 298 | |
| 299 | %% ''Webcomic/{{Wondermark}}'' discusses maltheism, slightly tongue-in-cheek, in a series of strips starting [[http://wondermark.com/804/ here]]. |
| 300 | [[/folder]] |
| 301 | |
| 302 | [[folder:Web Original]] |
| 303 | * In ''Bartleby Tales'', God is a megalomaniac who constantly changes His rules to ensure the maximum amount of people go to Hell. [[EasyRoadToHell It's so easy to be damned]] that in a given year, out of a universe with uncountable numbers of sentient beings, ''six'' might get into Heaven. '''''Jesus''''' is in Hell in this setting, because God wasn't amused when He preached love and tolerance instead of unthinking obedience to divine law. |
| 304 | * {{Downplayed|Trope}} in the ''WebVideo/DreamSMP'': |
| 305 | ** [=DreamXD=] is the TopGod (as far as we know) of the DSMP universe and [[PoweredByAForsakenChild draws his power from death]], so he actively encourages the [[CrapsackWorld wars and deaths and all-round shitty conditions on the server]] so as to stay powerful. For example, as the spin-off series ''Tales From the SMP'' reveals, he grants [[spoiler:time-travelling]] powers to certain people, but ItSucksToBeTheChosenOne as [[spoiler:their memory deteriorates the more their powers activate (they can't control to when and where they travel) until they undergo LossOfIdentity, then XD has them ''[[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness killed]]'' after that point]]. He does PetTheDog on occasion, making him a ''bit'' of a {{downplayed|Trope}} example, but not by much. |
| 306 | ** It's also been stated that there are other {{Physical God}}s on the server, with most of them being ''relatively'' more benevolent as far as our knowledge goes, but they are either minor characters at best (Mumza, Drista, possibly [=MotherInnit=] if we take her WordOfSaintPaul for it[[labelnote:*]]All three of them are either played by server guests or only make cameo appearances[[/labelnote]]), or are nowhere near as powerful as XD and thus are unable to challenge him (Foolish). |
| 307 | %% [[spoiler:The Archangel]] from ''Franchise/TheFearMythos''. [[spoiler:He ''is'' the afterlife. The whole damn thing.]] |
| 308 | * The {{Creepypasta}} "I Was Dead for Six Minutes and Saw Heaven. I Would Rather Go To Hell." revolves around a man who has a near-death experience and enters Heaven. He then finds that the angels are robotic slave drivers forcing the righteous to work eternally (as they can't physically tire) [[BrokenAngel constructing chains to restrain God]] to keep Him from destroying mankind. Soon after He made humans He tried to unmake them, which acted as a LogicBomb to the angels who were created to protect humanity, resulting in a case of TurnedAgainstTheirMasters. Rather than a FireAndBrimstoneHell, {{Hell}} is described as TheNothingAfterDeath, [[AHellOfAHeaven which the narrator views as preferable]]. |
| 309 | * Another {{Creepypasta}} titled "In Heaven" features a reverend dying and meeting God... [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin well, in Heaven]]. God turns out to be a FauxAffablyEvil egotist, who created humans just to worship Him, going so far as to [[GodGuise masquerade as every other deity humanity ever worshipped]]. He also turns anybody who enters Heaven (which, in this story, is ''[[OnlyOneAfterlife everybody]]'') [[AHellOfAHeaven into mindless slaves, incapable of independent thought]]. [[DownerEnding He then does this to the aforementioned reverend]]. |
| 310 | * ''WebOriginal/LeftBeyond'' is a Roleplay-by-post that takes place in the Left Behind universe, where God has set the bar for Hell extremely high and bent it to yes-men; anyone who doubts or opposes God goes to Hell, and the most vicious, abusive believers in God automatically get into Heaven. Attempts to make the world a nicer place to live in before the apocalypse are constantly besieged by God's forces, and angels periodically commit mass-genocide. [[spoiler:'God' is actually a metaphysical belief parasite that powers its reality warping with the faith of its believers, and it has become completely deluded by its addiction to human belief]]. |
| 311 | * ''WebVideo/LifeSMP'': In Martyn's "Eyes and Ears" continuity, [[spoiler:the Watchers]] are the closest known equivalent of deities to the Life series, who [[spoiler:kidnapped the players from their home worlds and forced them into a nigh-endless loop of {{Deadly Game}}s to [[EmotionEater actively feed off of their suffering]]]]. |
| 312 | * Proven in WebVideo/TheNostalgiaCritic's Old vs. New of ''Film/TheTenCommandments1956 vs. WesternAnimation/ThePrinceOfEgypt'', where he smites the titular character for thinking he's kind and loving. |
| 313 | -->'''God:''' You were wrong. I'm not a loving God, I'm a vengeful God. Your ass is grass. |
| 314 | * ''Literature/TheSalvationWar'' uses this as a fundamental premise. Yahweh, the entity that presented himself as the Christian god (and apparently Allah for the Islamic faith as well) is actually an immature douchebag who became drunk on the power he held over humanity until he reached the point where he became convinced of his own lie. He eventually became fed up with those parts of humanity that questioned him, and closed the gates of Heaven to mankind sometime around 1000 A.D., thereby condemning all of humanity to Hell, ''even the faithful''. The story gets kicked off when he decides that isn't enough, and gives Satan free rein to wipe out mankind forever so Yahweh could go to a different dimension to find some other species that might be more obedient. However, by the time this happened, humanity had become very technologically advanced, while Heaven and Hell were still at the Bronze Age. [[CurbStompBattle You can predict]] [[RoaringRampageOfRevenge what a pissed-off humanity]] [[RageAgainstTheHeavens does next]]. |
| 315 | ** Even the angels are pissed off at him! The Archangel Michael is running ThePlan to save the heavenly host while pointing an army of absolutely enraged humans at Yahweh. When Yahweh denounces one of his armies of diehard fanatics for failing to win, even though they wholeheartedly sacrificed themselves in His name, that's the final straw, and Michael and his party kill Yahweh themselves. |
| 316 | ** Michael's plot was apparently not the only one either. [[spoiler:Ehlmas, the sponsor and mentor of Jesus, had his own plan to 'let humanity do their thing', having realized the source of humankind's evils was being ''forced'' by God to be perfectly good until they snapped. At the end of Book 2, Ehlmas decides to keep an eye on Michael so he doesn't become another Yahweh.]] |
| 317 | %% [[http://wanderers-library.wikidot.com/collected-excerpts-on-the-sea-mother The Sea Mother]] from Website/TheWanderersLibrary [[spoiler:Or maybe she's just insane from feeling us moving through her "skin".]] |
| 318 | * God in ''WebVideo/{{Starpocalypse}}'' is a deranged, perverted monster who gets sexually aroused by killing humans, making humans kill humans, watching humans have sex, and caused various social problems imposing arbitrary and insane rules on early humans for fun. It had a great time during the Inquisition. |
| 319 | |
| 320 | %%* There is a creepypasta that combines this trope with DevilButNoGod, where a soul finds himself in Hell despite a virtuous life, and is met by Satan himself who reveals that ''he'' is our creator, and spread the myth of a benevolent God for the sole purpose of creating a HopeSpot he could destroy to further our torment. %%No name provided for example (what does this refer to? |
| 321 | [[/folder]] |
| 322 | |
| 323 | [[folder:Western Animation]] |
| 324 | * In ''WesternAnimation/BeastMachines'', Megatron has pretty much become the malevolent God of Cybertron, controlling just about every aspect of existence there. Of course, the last few Maximals alive aren't going to stop until he's taken down. Towards the end, [[spoiler:he decides to absorb all the sparks he stole, and was literally '''seconds''' away from turning Cybertron into "the perfect Technosphere" and becoming the new Primus.]] |
| 325 | ** [[spoiler:Unicron]] from ''WesternAnimation/TransformersPrime'' also counts. [[spoiler:As Optimus puts it he is, metaphorically speaking, the parent of humanity and all life on Earth. He agrees with Optimus on this, and then Unicron declares all life he created as parasites unworthy of living]] |
| 326 | * ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' |
| 327 | ** Exaggerated in an ''JustForFun/TheItchyAndScratchyShow'' episode [[ShowWithinAShow seen]] in [[Recap/TheSimpsonsS7E18TheDayTheViolenceDied The Day The Violence Died]]." In it, the traditional Judeo-Christian God, is depicted as a {{Sadist}}ic madman that answers the PrayerOfMalice from Itchy, a SerialKiller, by personally murdering Itchy's escaped victim, Scratchy, the show's hero. Not only that, God also sends Scratchy to {{Hell}} along with a bunch of other random innocent people [[ForTheEvulz for no reason other than his sick amusement]]! |
| 328 | ** This appears to be the case in the Joan of Arc segment in the episode "[[https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Recap/TheSimpsonsS13E14TalesFromThePublicDomain Tales from the Public Domain]]." |
| 329 | --> '''God:''' I told this maiden to lead the French to victory.\ |
| 330 | '''English Soldier (Willie):''' Wait a minute, you two-timing spot of light. You told me to lead the English to victory!\ |
| 331 | '''Joan (Lisa):''' *gasp* Is that true, Lord?\ |
| 332 | '''God:''' Well, I never thought the two of you would be in the same room, actually. This is a little embarrassing. [[ScrewThisImOuttaHere Goodbye now.]] |
| 333 | * The Canadian adult animated series ''WesternAnimation/TrippingTheRift'' actually features a few appearances by God and the Devil. Though the latter is definitely evil, the former is kind of a dick. He's depicted as wagering on the main character's soul with the Devil because he's bored and unleashing a plague of locusts on a planet because they refused to worship him (thinking he's a con artist like the ones they had dealt with earlier in the episode). However, the most blatant example of the trope is in the episode where Chode and Gus travel back to the beginning of time. Their ship accidentally collides with God and kills Him. But when they return to their own time, they discover that they've actually made things BETTER. Without God, there's no concept of good and evil, and everyone is basically decent towards each other; there's no crime or war or sexual repression. Everything is going pretty well...until Chode and Gus let the cat out of the bag and introduce the concept of sin to the universe, sending it into chaos. They travel back in time to set things right and get killed themselves, and God walks away laughing at their deaths. |
| 334 | [[/folder]] |
| 335 |
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/context.php
FollowingContext Main / GodIsEvil
Go To
- Show Spoilers
- Night Vision
- Sticky Header
- Wide Load
