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| 4 | %% This list of examples has been alphabetized. Please add your example in the proper place. Thanks! |
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| 8 | %% Image and caption selected per Image Pickin' thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1365361366075360100 |
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| 12 | [[quoteright:349:[[TabletopGame/Warhammer40000 https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/khornecrop.png]]]] |
| 13 | [[caption-width-right:349:"BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD!\ |
| 14 | SKULLS FOR THE SKULL THRONE! LET THE GALAXY... '''BUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUURN!!!!!!!"''']] |
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| 16 | ->''"I am called a villain, but mine is a doctrine reflected in the unspoken truths behind all other philosophies. Recognize that truth, my child: Strife is the single element most essential to meaning and existence. Without conflict, without struggle, all of creation might as well be so many unmoving, unfeeling stones. Without me to hate, who would have cause to call themselves holy or just?"'' |
| 17 | -->-- '''The Book of Charnel''', ''VideoGame/{{Sacrifice}}'' |
| 18 | |
| 19 | In a polytheistic religion each God and Goddess serves a specific role and fills a certain niche: {{love|Goddess}}, life, {{war|God}}, [[{{Psychopomp}} death]], and everything in between; be it Aardvarks or Zebras. One such incredibly vital purpose, believe it or not, is Evil. |
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| 21 | Please allow us to play as (uncomfortably) literal Devil's Advocates. On the one hand, the BalanceBetweenGoodAndEvil must perforce have Evil to balance Good, lest the latter become [[GoodIsBoring an intolerant conformist theocracy]]. Likewise, it also serves as a definition of what ''not'' to do for worshipers of all the Good and Neutral gods. Most importantly for purposes of this Wiki, it also serves as an excellent plot enabler and antagonist for the heroes and forces of good to fight against. |
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| 23 | Being the absolute apex of the SlidingScaleOfVillainThreat, TheChosenOne can spend an entire series fighting their way up from the ReligionOfEvil, the [[HighPriest Black Pope]], its DarkMessiah, and then fight the God of Evil itself... or at least enable a good god that was a SealedGoodInACan to do so. |
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| 25 | This God/dess Of Evil can take any shape or form... not just as a master [[ManipulativeBastard tempter]] and [[ShapeshiftingTrickster deceiver]], but--because evil includes a [[EvilTastesGood heady]] and [[EvilTropes large portfolio]]--as Characters they can have as varying a range of personalities as any normal villains. |
| 26 | |
| 27 | Here are a few popular variants: Standard Gods Of Evil can [[SatanicArchetype take after Satan]], [[TheParagonAlwaysRebels being rebels]] from [[LightIsGood The Light]] or GodOfGood and tempting peasant and king alike. Kind of a non-denominational counterpart of CrystalDragonJesus. However, most aren't futile rebels; they are very real and threats often motivated by goals other than rebellion for its own sake. TheGrimReaper is at times [[EverybodyHatesHades represented as a God of Evil]], wanting nothing but the death of every living thing, and [[EnemiesWithDeath the protagonist in particular.]] War too may be shown this way, desiring to bring about a world where AsskickingLeadsToLeadership and the weak are killed just for being weak... which does raise the question of whether or not it's ironic for heroes to vanquish them by fighting. If they have any philosophy, ethos, or commandment, it's usually that MightMakesRight, that ethics and morality are mere shackles for TheFettered masses of {{Muggles}}, and that Evil represents the path to power. |
| 28 | |
| 29 | Not surprisingly, they tend to be cruel, dominating and treacherous. If there is more than one God of Evil in a setting, they usually engage in EvilerThanThou, betraying each other before any lasting headway against the forces of good can be made. Their metaphysical home, where worshipers and non-worshiping sinners end up, is usually akin to {{Hell}}. Given the above, why would anyone [[GodsNeedPrayerBadly worship them?]] Well, they usually offer worshipers power in life via a DealWithTheDevil, [[ReadTheFinePrint fine print]] and afterlife be damned (literally). Plus, just because they'll go to hell [[ImmortalityImmorality if/when they die,]] doesn't mean they'll be tortured souls... they might become the ''[[AHellOfATime torturers]].'' Provided they don't [[YouHaveFailedMe fail their dark lord]] first, that is. And of course, most gods of evil are worshipped out of fear of [[TrappedInVillainy what would happen if they]] ''[[TrappedInVillainy stopped]]'' [[TrappedInVillainy worshipping]]. Is it any surprise their pawns in the DivineChessboard are usually unwitting or unwilling? |
| 30 | |
| 31 | Their followers include {{Cult}}s, the ReligionOfEvil and PathOfInspiration. {{Necromancer}}s and Infernalists usually get their powers by worshipping them. Expect them to forge many an ArtifactOfDoom as a source/repository of their power. When they or their agents are actively recruiting, expect them to be TheCorrupter. They're a CardCarryingVillain by definition and sometimes the God of Evil is also [[MadeOfEvil literally Evil.]] Likely candidate for AsLongAsThereIsEvil. A [[TheTheocracy theocracy]] to one of these is probably TheEmpire. May be creator of an AlwaysChaoticEvil race. May have a [[DecadentCourt court]] of DemonLordsAndArchdevils, or if they exist at all these may be upstarts or otherwise in opposition. Gods of evil may have TheLegionsOfHell at their command. |
| 32 | |
| 33 | Often, there is a GodOfGood who stands in opposition to the God of Evil; the two are locked in an [[ForeverWar eternal]] DivineConflict that dictates the BalanceBetweenGoodAndEvil. The GodOfGood has his own agents or agent to fight against the God of Evil. |
| 34 | |
| 35 | Compare and contrast EldritchAbomination, which, as horrifying as it may be and act, are most often completely amoral and not malicious - though there can be some overlap. Compare GodIsEvil, where the supreme God of the whole fictional universe (or explicitly the Judeo-Christo-Islamic One God) is a nasty piece of work. If a God of Evil exists in a setting where the BigBad who actually drives the plot is a mortal, they'll be the GreaterScopeVillain. May overlap with or also be a MadGod. May be TheAntiGod if it's powerful enough. If there is a personified representation of evil in a world with no other deities, that's case of DevilButNoGod. |
| 36 | |
| 37 | There are some examples in real-world pantheons, but sometimes more morally-ambiguous or outright decent gods get depicted as Gods Of Evil in SadlyMythtaken fiction just because they are [[DarkIsNotEvil dark]] or [[ProudWarriorRaceGuy associated with violence]]. For various reasons, this happens often enough with [[EverybodyHatesHades death gods]] to create a subtrope. It's worth noting that evil gods from real world religions (i.e. [[UsefulNotes/{{Zoroastrianism}} Angra Mainyu]], [[Myth/MesopotamianMythology Lamashtu]], [[Myth/AboriginalAustralianMyths Marmoo]], [[Myth/EgyptianMythology Apep]]) were never worshipped, and in Apep's case, were even worshipped ''against''. So the concept of a ReligionOfEvil is relatively unrealistic ([[Administrivia/TropesAreTools not that fiction needs to be]]). |
| 38 | |
| 39 | '''To avoid FlameBait and Administrivia/{{Edit War}}s, note that this trope isn't about gods who simply ''are'' evil, it's about gods ''of'' evil.''' JerkassGods that are petty, vain, or prone to DisproportionateRetribution do not qualify. |
| 40 | |
| 41 | ---- |
| 42 | !!Examples: |
| 43 | [[foldercontrol]] |
| 44 | |
| 45 | [[folder:Anime and Manga]] |
| 46 | * ''Manga/{{Berserk}}'': [[spoiler: The Idea of Evil is made [[GodsNeedPrayerBadly from our need]] for there to be a God of Evil, and thus is formed from [[TheHeartless the negative emotions of humanity's collective]].]] |
| 47 | ** Subverted by the [[DemonLordsAndArchdevils Godhand]], who profess that despite their [[RealityWarper immense powers]] and [[YouCantFightFate observance of causality]], openly state that they are not gods, and cannot predict everything. |
| 48 | ** The [[EldritchAbomination Sea God]] is a Lovecraftian monster as big as an island who [[TheAssimilator assimilates lifeforms within itself to become stronger]]. It's more primal and discordant than anyhting humanity can create, and was only released from its slumber after [[spoiler: the Great Roar of the Astral World]]. |
| 49 | * ''Literature/LostUniverse'': Dark Star Dugradigdu is named after one of the Dark Lords from ''Anime/{{Slayers}}'', and is sometimes believed to be one and the same as him. |
| 50 | * ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'': Jashin means [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin "Evil God"]]. He/she/it is mostly an excuse to allow his follower Hidan to practice his ReligionOfEvil BloodMagic (read: fight and kill people). Whether Jashin actually exists is never clarified, but Hidan's unique powers are ''very'' real and quite different from ninjutsu so it's possible he really was empowered by his god. |
| 51 | * ''Anime/PuellaMagiMadokaMagicaTheMovieRebellion'': [[spoiler:Homura becomes a goddess of evil and suppresses Madoka's powers as the [[GodOfGood goddess of good]] in order to bring her back to earth and erase her memories. She actually comes off as an AmbiguouslyEvil WellIntentionedExtremist given that she just [[IWantMyBelovedToBeHappy wants Madoka to be happy]]...which means making everyone else happy.]] |
| 52 | * ''Literature/RecordOfLodossWar'': This would be Kardis, goddess of destruction and madness, patron deity of the [[TheEmpire forces of Marmo]]. |
| 53 | * ''Anime/SailorMoon'': [[spoiler: Chaos]] and its [[HumanoidAbomination humanoid]] incarnation [[spoiler: Sailor Chaos]]. |
| 54 | * ''Literature/{{Slayers}}'': Ruby-Eye Shabranigdo, along with three other Dark Lords that exist in TheMultiverse it features. Before the world as everyone knows it existed, Shabranigdo started a war against the Lords of Light. The war almost destroyed existence itself, but the Lords of Light prevailed and the world was created. |
| 55 | * ''Anime/YuGiOhArcV'': Zarc is one whose power was unstoppable and destroyed the world. [[spoiler:The kicker comes when he's been split into four pieces, one of which is the protagonist, Yuya.]] Though downplayed as the cast calls him demon instead. |
| 56 | [[/folder]] |
| 57 | |
| 58 | [[folder:Comic Books]] |
| 59 | * For Creator/DCComics: |
| 60 | ** {{ComicBook/Darkseid}}, the BigBad of Creator/JackKirby's ''ComicBook/NewGods'', has been called the God of Evil by many people in the DCU- and in point of fact, he's the literal God of Tyranny, so close enough. And in ''ComicBook/FinalCrisis'' he is revealed to be a full-blown EldritchAbomination -- [[spoiler:his very ''existence'' is causing reality to die]]. Just to bring this point home, here's what Boss Dark Side says: "There was a war in Heaven. ''I won''." He is the poster boy for DystopiaJustifiesTheMeans- his goal is to turn the entire universe into an even more hellish version of Apokolips, a world of perpetual enslavement and burning fire pits where the only purpose you are told to have is to endlessly worship Darkseid. |
| 61 | ** However, Darkseid wasn't always the GodOfEvil, his father Yuga Khan was his predecessor and was considered [[EvilerThanThou even WORSE]] than he is. |
| 62 | ** [[ComicBook/TeenTitans Trigon the Terrible]] isn't just referred to as a god, but the literal manifestation of ALL evil that has ever existed. Think Dormmamu, but in the DC Universe instead of Marvel. |
| 63 | * And for the Franchise/MarvelUniverse: |
| 64 | ** Loki, foster brother and ArchEnemy of ComicBook/TheMightyThor, is the God of Mischief and Evil in Marvel's Norse pantheon, a powerful magician and ManipulativeBastard extraordinaire who seeks to conquer Asgard and kill his heroic sibling. He is the father of various evil creatures as well as Hela, Goddess of Death. |
| 65 | *** Subverted post-''Siege'', where Loki gets sick of being a cackling villain and decides to reinvent himself as a LovableRogue. He's a god of lies and mischief, but there's no reason he has to stick with the Evil bit. |
| 66 | ** Set is the God of Evil for the Heliopolitan (ie. Egyptian) pantheon, based on the mythological Set but, in-universe, taking the name of the Elder God for its badass connotations. Like Set and Loki, he uses magic and soul-stealing to enhance his powers, to the point he now rivals Odin, arguably the most powerful god in any pantheon. |
| 67 | ** Knull, the progenitor deity that created the Symbiotes and predates the entire known universe, having created the god-slaying All-Black the Necrosword for the purpose of slaying the Celestials and their creations, which he feels have ''polluted'' the void of nothingness he used to rule over. |
| 68 | ** Shuma-Gorath is a high-end example, dwarfing the likes of Mephisto and Dormammu by a significant margin and having enslaved hundreds if not thousands of other realms. Out of all of Marvel's evil gods, he is likely the most powerful. Which goes a long way to explaining why he both appears very sparingly and only manages to partially manifest small fractions of himself at any given time. |
| 69 | ** Chton, Marvel's resident [[Franchise/CthulhuMythos Chtulhu]] {{Expy}}, is a recurring foe of Doctor Strange and the Avengers, and the [[TomeOfEldritchLore Darkhold]] he wrote continues to plague the universe to this day. |
| 70 | ** Amatsu-Mikaboshi is one of the ComicBook/IncredibleHercules's worst foes. He's the Japanese god of evil and once murdered Herc's papa Zeus himself. Turns out Amatsu-Mikaboshi is even worse than thought, he's actually [[EldritchAbomination the Chaos King]] which is one of the worst avatars of the embodiment of [[CosmicEntity Oblivion]], who's so powerful that Death fled rather than face him. The Japanese gods capturing him ages ago and transforming him into their god of evil was a fairly successful attempt to [[SealedEvilInACan contain his harm]]. |
| 71 | * ''ComicBook/JudgeDredd'': Judge Death happens to be worshipped as a God of Evil by the Mortarian Death Cult with some aspects of EvilOverlord thrown in. |
| 72 | [[/folder]] |
| 73 | |
| 74 | [[folder:Fan Works]] |
| 75 | * ''Fanfic/TheBridgeMLP'': |
| 76 | ** The BigBad, [[spoiler:Bagan]], who is explicitly referred to several times as the [[OmnicidalManiac God of Extinction]], and is shown to be leagues beyond even the most powerful {{kaiju}} in power, to the point that only the BigGood, [[spoiler:[[GodOfGood Harmony]]]], is able to match him in a fight. [[spoiler: And even then, just barely.]] He used to be a God of Life, but then fell from grace and dedicated his existence to killing everything. |
| 77 | ** [[spoiler:Grogar]] is said to be the nexus of all dark magic in Equestria and on par with the BigBad. [[spoiler:He was originally part of a GodCouple with Harmony and played a constructive role as a god of ''Destruction'', but over time, he started believing that as a god, everything he does is good so therefore he ''cannot'' be wrong. This leads to his separation from Harmony and his fall into villainy]]. |
| 78 | * ''Fanfic/CodexEquus'': There are many evil gods in the world of Equus, though some are simply amoral to be truly evil. |
| 79 | ** Grogar, the ancient tyrant of Tambelon from the First Age is a Fallen Deity of Dark Magic, a ControlFreak who believes mortals are too incompetent to rule themselves and thus seek to take over and control the world, starting by taking over Tambelon whilst still a mortal necromancer. A consummate master of Dark Magic with powers themed after the SevenDeadlySins. He has not been seen since the First Age and is believed to had been defeated or destroyed, but time will tell... |
| 80 | ** Subverted with Temnobog. While unapologetically evil, reveling in causing suffering, he operates on a unique philosophy which rationalizes evil as [[BalanceBetweenGoodAndEvil an integral part of the world, as much as good]], and that [[GoodNeedsEvil both good and evil are needed to define one another and balance each other out]] for the world to function properly. As such, he's perfectly fine with co-existing with his good twin brother, Belyolen, with whom they co-rule the Bogolenya Deer Pantheon. He embodies evil as a testing force, driving the good and worthy to rise up against it while weeding out the evil and unworthy, whom he would then torment/devour in the afterlife. The only outright villainous thing he is up to is trying to destroy his father, High King Irminsul of the Eltenteil Deer Pantheon, whom he understandably hates for abusing him as a fawn and treating him as nothing more than Belyolen's unwanted "cast-off". |
| 81 | ** The Four Terrors, then known as the "Eight Terrors", were sired by Temnobog with Ispita, who was originally a constructively evil goddess. However, after Ispita's [[FaceHeelTurn fall into destructive evil]], four of the Terrors either sided with their mother or committed crimes so heinous that Temnobog punished them by devourment and stripping them of their names and domains, respectively. The other surviving four (Yarost, Bolezn, Phykti, and Pokhot) remained "good" in that they stayed loyal to their father. While they're unapologetic with their evil, they use their natures for constructive purposes, spreading evil as a way to test the strength and will of heroic mortals. They respect those who manage to defeat them, and if the heroes die trying, they let their souls pass on to the afterlife instead of dragging them down to hell as evil gods typically do. Despite their bad reputation, most of their family members and fellow gods tolerate and even respect them for the roles they play. |
| 82 | ** Orochi, the eight-headed Dragon god of evil, tyranny and darkness takes the cake. He broke with his Parents after being refused a Dragon Lord title (Reserved for mortal dragons), descended upon Neighpon (Right after the Warring States period), and apart from being briefly driven away by a mortal samurai, Neighgi, wielding a magic sword, proceeded to conquer the Eight Great Islands and plunge it into a time of suffering and tyranny. He demanded sacrifices in form of innocent daughters that he would devour just ForTheEvulz, have armies of evil mortals and yokai terrorize and rule the place in his name, allied himself with other Fallen Deities like Rabia, and generally made life in Neighpon miserable for everyone. It took the combined might of Princess Celestia (who disguised herself as [[VideoGame/{{Okami}} Amaterasu]]), the Neighgi's descendant Susaneigho wielding his ancestor's sword, the Neighponese deities and their followers, and even ''Nightmare Moon'' indirectly helping to finally see his defeat and destruction. |
| 83 | ** Zkáza, one of Ispita's brothers, is a Fallen Draconequu of Pollution, Decay and Destruction who had come to love destruction and ruin for its own sake, especially by tricking mortals into doing it to themselves and feeding upon the results. During Discord's reign he followed his sister Ispita to join Discord's side, though was forced to rein in his desires to bring down all civilizations as Discord wanted them around to toy with. Like Ispita, he was eventually [[SealedEvilInACan sealed away by Pakak]] with the help of the Deer Pantheons and other trickster deities, being sealed inside a great tree where he remains to this day. WordOfGod is that he is basically a mix of Hexxus of ''WesternAnimation/FernGullyTheLastRainforest'' with Zarm from ''WesternAnimation/CaptainPlanet''. |
| 84 | ** Rabia in this universe is a Goddess, namely of Primordial Darkness. |
| 85 | ** The Tyrannos Pantheon is composed of Gods representing various aspects of tyrannical regimes. |
| 86 | ** Prince Dissonant Tune of the Kerajaan Pantheon is an Alicorn god who embodies Vice and Corruption, as well as the wicked/unfettered aspects of Music and Revelry. His entry describes him as TheQuincyPunk who acts like a loud, wild, and rebellious {{Jerkass}} to people, and is unapologetically evil. However, it's subverted as he is a follower of '[[NecessarilyEvil constructive Evil]]', and much of his behavior is a front he puts up to test/motivate heroes. He did indulge in '[[ForTheEvulz destructive Evil]]' for a time, but it was thanks to being wrongly judged and mistreated by many people for being a musical prodigy and one of War Rock's illegitimate children, which convinced him that [[ThenLetMeBeEvil he might as well be evil]] if his parentage made him such. What pushed him into 'constructive Evil' was meeting Luminiferous, which made him aware of other, better paths he could take, and learning of Moon Ray Vaughoof's life story and struggles with drug/alcohol addiction. When not playing the villain, he's actually much nicer, empathetic, and loving than he initially appears, [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold albeit still rough around the edges]]. |
| 87 | ** Zigzagged with the Deti Uzhasov, the children of the Four Terrors. Like the Four Terrors themselves, many of the Deti Uzhasov are {{Noble Demon}}s, but are also unapologetically depraved and evil. However, some like Queen Krásná Tradice and Prince Lenost are more moderate in their evil than their infernal siblings/relatives. And then there are others like Stækka who are born with domains like Life and Fertility, which are 'good' in concept but can be used to commit evil when pursued to unfettered extremes. |
| 88 | ** The Dark Purveyors are infernal deities who either embody the unfettered/wicked aspects of Music itself, or embody concepts that are related to the genre of music they each specialize in. For example, Prince Dühroham Erobreseg embodies the unfettered aspects of music, technology, strength, and fury, while Princess Voľná Láska embodies the unfettered aspects of the Hippie movement like addiction, nature, love, and enlightenment. |
| 89 | * ''Fanfic/EmpathTheLuckiestSmurf'': |
| 90 | ** In the story "Smurfed Behind: The Other Side Of The Mirror", the MirrorUniverse version of Tapper worships the evil counterpart of {{God}}, as Empath discovers from his reading of the Book of Evil, which is that universe's counterpart of ''Literature/TheBible''. |
| 91 | ** Ares, the God of War, is considered this, though he likes to fancy himself as a God of Order. |
| 92 | * ''Fanfic/PonyPOVSeries'': |
| 93 | ** [[{{Satan}} Morning Star]] is the literal Personification of Evil. He was originally the Alicorn of Perfection, but eventually his ControlFreak tendencies and his views on what was "perfect" started showing up. [[spoiler:Cadence enabling his bad behavior was what partially cemented his fall into evil, and she regrets for not speaking up sooner]]. |
| 94 | ** Subverted with the divine Draconequui. They're treated as chaotic and malicious, though most of the information on them comes from Princess Celestia, who doesn't have the best impression of Draconequui in general due to her experience with Discord. The Draconequui are actually the part of Nature's Balance, where they are Nature's Fury to contrast the divine Alicorns, who are Nature's Law. A lot of the things they represent in nature are treated as malicious concepts, such as Destruction, Desire, Anarchy, Fear, Oblivion, and Survival, but they are extremely necessary in order for ponykind and all other creatures to live. |
| 95 | ** Nyarlathotrot is best described as the God of Horror, Tragedy, and [[DarkFic Grim Dark]]. He corrupts worlds until they are twisted messes where no one but the bad guys can ever get a happy ending. |
| 96 | ** Abandon is the God of Sadomasochism. He corrupts worlds until all are sex-crazed maniacs who enslave and torture each other. |
| 97 | ** This trope is also {{Deconstruct|ion}}ed with all examples: everyone hates Nyarlathotrot and tolerates him at best, Abandon is considered similarly, and Morning Star is justifiably treated as a criminal [[SealedEvilInACan and imprisoned for eternity]]. |
| 98 | [[/folder]] |
| 99 | |
| 100 | [[folder:Film - Animated]] |
| 101 | * ''WesternAnimation/{{Hercules}}'': [[EverybodyHatesHades Hades]], the BigBad of the film and the Greek god of the underworld. He is portrayed as an EvilOverlord that schemes and plots to betray his brother Zeus, who is essentially the GrandpaGod, [[TheUsurper by overthrowing him and taking over Mount Olympus, i.e. Heaven]]. This is contrary to Greek mythology and more in line with a Christian line of thought, as he's more of a SatanicArchetype in the movie than in the myths, where he was benign. |
| 102 | * ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitansGoAndDCSuperHeroGirlsMayhemInTheMultiverse'': Cythonna, the Kryptonian goddess of darkness, plague and suffering, and the BigBad of the film. She is portrayed as [[TheCorrupter the corrupter]] capable by stuffing the hearts of her victims with evil in order to become stronger, control the minds of her victims and turn them their servants, and can possess people and make them her hosts. |
| 103 | [[/folder]] |
| 104 | |
| 105 | [[folder:Film - Live-Action]] |
| 106 | * ''Film/HellboundHellraiserII'': Leviathan, Lord of The Labyrinth, God of flesh, hunger, and desire. Leviathan rules over {{Hell}} and decides its very nature, including the very torture of any unlucky soul that wanders into its domain (whether [[TheWoobie they]] deserve it or not) [[AndIMustScream for all of eternity]] or [[spoiler:[[BeingTorturedMakesYouEvil turning them into]] [[DemonOfHumanOrigin cenobites]]]]. |
| 107 | * ''Film/TheMummy2017'': Ahmanet, the eponymous Mummy, makes a DealWithTheDevil with Set, the Egyptian God of the Desert (symbolizing chaos, storms, death, and the like). While Set is portrayed as somewhat more benign in the original myths, this does get the title for the Egyptian God of Evil a lot closer than works that promote [[EverybodyHatesHades Anubis]] to this role. |
| 108 | [[/folder]] |
| 109 | |
| 110 | [[folder:Gamebooks]] |
| 111 | * ''Literature/LoneWolf'': Naar, the God of Darkness. Naar is the source of all evil in the universe and is in eternal war with Kai and Ishir, the SolarAndLunar pair of GodOfGood. Nearly every villain in the series is either created by, sponsored by, or worships Naar. |
| 112 | [[/folder]] |
| 113 | |
| 114 | [[folder:Literature]] |
| 115 | * ''Literature/TheAfterward'': The Old God was sadistic, always tormenting his creatures just for the hell of it. Later when he's been brought back, he threatens to harm the loved ones of Sir Erris' if she won't worship him. |
| 116 | * ''Literature/TheChroniclesOfNarnia'': Tash is described this way in ''Literature/TheLastBattle'', with CrystalDragonJesus Aslan outright stating that Tash is his antithesis. (It is left somewhat unclear, though, whether Tash is a "real" god by the standards of Narnia, or simply a powerful demon.) Interestingly, while Tash is very much a CardCarryingVillain, his own religion is ''not'' a ReligionOfEvil, given that it apparently includes a number of sincere followers who believe Tash to be a just and righteous god. It gets better -- Tash is so evil that you cannot commit a good act in his name -- they automatically are assumed as your service to Aslan. The opposite is also true: if you do something terrible in the name of Aslan, you're really serving Tash. |
| 117 | -->'''Aslan:''' No service which is vile can be done to me, and none which is not vile can be done to him. |
| 118 | * ''Literature/TheChroniclesOfThomasCovenant'': Lord Foul the Despiser was imprisoned with Time by his opposite, the Creator, for planting various sources of evil magic into the universe shortly following the creation, and he's been trying to get out ever since- and because he's [[TheChessmaster super-intelligent]] and [[ForTheEvulz unrepentantly horrible]], this generally means misery for everyone else unlucky enough to be stuck in the Land with him. |
| 119 | * ''Literature/TheCosmere'': |
| 120 | ** The setting as a whole features "Shards", the leftover parts of the original god Adonalsium after it was shattered into sixteen pieces, each with a specific Intent (EG: Preservation, Cultivation, Honor, Autonomy) and nigh-infinite power, but which need to be fused with a sentient mind to guide their actions. After a Shard is claimed, there is a struggle between the personality of the Vessel and the Shard's Intent to get anything done which the Shard always eventually wins, gradually wearing down the Vessel's personality until only the parts aligned with the Intent are left. As a result even the 'good' Shards have some BlueAndOrangeMorality, and the worst are almost entirely evil. |
| 121 | ** ''Literature/MistbornTheOriginalTrilogy'': Ruin is the Shard of death, decay, and destruction. Apparently Ati, Ruin's Vessel, was originally quite selfless and generous, and even as Ruin there are some shades of that shining through, as he talks about the beauty of destruction and how [[MonoNoAware an eventual end is what gives meaning to life]]. [[spoiler:He even helped create Scadrial, the world where ''Mistborn'' takes place, although part of the agreement is that he eventually gets to destroy the world]]. He's not exactly evil, but he is actively trying to destroy the world simply because he's literally not capable of doing anything else. He enjoys killing and destruction immensely and the only times he doesn't decide to destroy something immediately is if he believes that doing so will cause more destruction later. He doesn't seem to be malicious, however, and genuinely seems to see death and destruction as a positive force. ''Secret History'' expands on this, revealing that part of what Ruin represents is [[WeAllDieSomeday being at peace with the idea that everything must end]], and that his counterpart Preservation would freeze all of Scadrial in time to prevent anything from changing if Ruin wasn't there to stop him. |
| 122 | ** ''Literature/TheStormlightArchive'': Odium is the Shard of Hatred and the BigBad of ''Literature/TheStormlightArchive''. He is, essentially, a force of living hatred, and has already begun [[spoiler:murdering all his fellow Shards in order to become the supreme deity of the entire Cosmere; notably he doesn't claim the other Shards for himself, as taking multiple Shards would [[FusionDance combine them to create a new one]] and dilute the "purity" of Odium's Intent, so instead he ''destroys'' the other Shards so that no-one can have them]]. His pastimes include creating [[EldritchAbomination cosmic horrors]] and roving about the Cosmere, causing chaos everywhere he goes. According to Odium himself, he's actually the Shard of ''passion and emotion'', not just hatred, and he's the only Shard that actually understands and cares for mortals. Evidence suggests he's wrong if not intentionally lying, as other Shards have shown considerable concern for mortals, in their own strange ways, and do at least somewhat understand them, if incompletely. According to Hoid, Rayse was already a selfish asshole ''before'' he became the Vessel of the nastiest of all the Shards, which made him even worse. |
| 123 | *** In ''Literature/RhythmOfWar'' we see him from the perspective of one of the [[EldritchAbomination Unmade]], who believes that he is correct: Odium ''is'' passion and emotion, not merely hatred, but its Vessel is emphasizing its worst aspects, and there is some sign that the Shard itself is dissatisfied with this. It's also noted that Hoid is more concerned about the Vessel when he arguably should be paying more attention to the Shard. |
| 124 | *** At the end of ''Rhythm'', [[spoiler:Taravangian manages to kill Rayse and take his place as Odium's Vessel. He discovers that yes, it is all emotions... but mostly hatred. It doesn't take long for it to amplify his existing flaws as WellIntentionedExtremist into a desire to destroy the other Shards and conquer the entire Cosmere, because they clearly aren't doing as good a job running it as he would]]. |
| 125 | ** Autonomy, ostensibly the Shard of rugged individualism and going it alone. Except [[TheSocialDarwinist she doesn't exactly live up to the most positive reading of that ideal...]] She believes in a DieOrFly mentality, where she pushes her followers to make big plays with great rewards for succeeding and likely death if they fail. In her eyes, you must continually earn your right to continue existing. Whilst she certainly desires to stand apart from the other Shards and do her own thing, even going so far as to close the borders of her home planet [[ComicBook/WhiteSand Taldain]] so no outsiders can interfere with it, she isn't willing to afford the same respect to anyone else, and meddles in other worlds constantly. While every other Shard seen so far only acts on one world, Autonomy has spread her influence everywhere, manifesting semi-autonomous avatars on other worlds (or just elevating a mortal to that status) that function as that world's Shard, and thus is relevant to multiple series. As such, she's the best candidate at the moment for the GreaterScopeVillain of the entire Cosmere. |
| 126 | *** Though she makes no direct appearances in ''ComicBook/WhiteSand'' despite it being set on her primary home planet, WordOfGod has confirmed that the Sand Lord worshipped by the locals is one of her avatars. Confusingly, the Sand Lord is credited with both creating the Sand Masters and decrying them as an abomination that must be destroyed to two different groups; presumably, Autonomy figures whichever side wins is the more worthy to rule. |
| 127 | *** ''Literature/SixthOfTheDusk'': The Pantheon is a chain of islands that are [[EverythingTryingToKillYou extremely dangerous in basically every possible way]], but are the only place where the superpower-granting [[BondCreatures aviar]] can be found. The islands themselves are worshipped as gods, and it is confirmed that Patji, the KingOfTheGods and the most dangerous island of all, is another one of Autonomy's avatars, though it is unknown how far that extends to the other islands. Dusk comes to believe that Patji was teaching his people harsh lessons on how to survive in a universe where you control a valuable resource but lack the strength to stop people from just taking it. |
| 128 | *** ''Literature/WaxAndWayne'': Autonomy is at least the ArcVillain after Ruin in the second Mistborn era. She doesn't get directly named until the last book, ''Literature/TheLostMetal'', but she was the one behind the Set; Trell is yet another one of her avatars. [[spoiler:She is concerned about Scadrial's fast advancement after the Lord Ruler stopped holding the planet in MedievalStasis, and desires to either replace Harmony as its god or destroy it before it can become a threat. She's stopped on both counts and is forced to retreat, though no-one involved has any doubts that she'll try again in the future.]] |
| 129 | * ''Literature/CradleSeries'': The Dreadgods are four impossibly powerful beasts that exist for no other reason than to devour everything in the world. Every few centuries they wake up, and the [[PhysicalGod Monarchs]] have to work together to defeat them. Just ''defeat'' them--killing them is absolutely impossible. One Dreadgod awakening is a regional catastrophe and generally dealt with by evacuating half a continent, but the last time all four woke up at once, the previous generation of Monarchs died defeating them. And of course they have legions of cultists worshiping them as an easy path to power, which usually involves killing everyone they meet. |
| 130 | * ''Literature/DarkHeart'': Vraxor, one of the three gods of Caliel, is a demon who rose to divinity. His religion is run by a sinister, all-powerful priesthood and is centered around human sacrifice. |
| 131 | * In the post-Lovecraft Franchise/CthulhuMythos, Nyarlathotep is frequently portrayed as this, constantly pulling sadistic schemes to torment humanity for his own amusement, or suckering people into a DealWithTheDevil for fun. This is arguably the result of {{Flanderization}} from his more subtle and less ForTheEvulz original characterization, but it has become basically the predominant depiction of him in popular culture. |
| 132 | * Creator/StephenKing: |
| 133 | ** ''Franchise/TheDarkTower'': The Crimson King definitely qualifies. Before he got nerfed he was depicted as an invincible anti-God that had always existed, but was trapped on a balcony near the top of the Dark Tower. Even trapped his avatar "The Court of the Crimson King" was so powerful that almost no force in King's multiverse could stand against it. Supposedly if his physical body was free he would become utterly infallible, and so he planned to bring the Tower (and by proxy all of existence) crashing down. Later King retconned him into a senile half-god that was not nearly so imposing. |
| 134 | ** Mother in ''Literature/{{Revival}}'' is an EldritchAbomination that absorbs the souls of everyone who dies and seem to be worshiped as a god by its ant-like minions. |
| 135 | * Creator/DavidEddings likes this one: In ''Literature/TheElenium'', Azash is an elder evil that verges on EldritchAbomination if he didn't manipulate human desires so often (though it's clear his understanding of humanity is imperfect, and largely based on the cultural group most of his worshipers come from). In the sequel series ''Literature/TheTamuli'', Cyrgon is a straight example and Klael is ''the god'' of Gods of Evil. |
| 136 | * ''Literature/IncarnationsOfImmortality'': |
| 137 | ** The universe has this as one of its offices. However, the particular office holder in the series averts this; he's less interested in being a relentless evil and more interested in simply being a fair evil - that is, separating good and evil people through temptation so that they can go to Heaven or Hell rather than stuck in Purgatory. |
| 138 | ** In the initial five books, there's no indication that he's an Incarnation; he (and God) are treated as being eternal constants, and while he generally presents himself as AffablyEvil, he's quite tricky and it seems to be just an act. In the sixth book, it's revealed that the Satan of the previous books has had the job for less than a millennium, and is a basically decent person with a legitimate reason for opposing God (and therefore the other Incarnations). |
| 139 | * ''Literature/TheElderEmpire'': The Great Elders, most obviously Nakothi, the Dead Mother. She is a queen of the undead, who wishes for nothing more than to kill everyone and remake them as her "children." Even the Sleepless, the cult dedicated to worshiping the Elders, is very careful when dealing with anything related to Nakothi. |
| 140 | * ''[[Literature/KushielsLegacy Kushiel's Avatar]]'' by Jacqueline Carey: The series involves Angra Mainyu, taken from real-life Zoroastrianism. (See the Real Life section below for more details.) |
| 141 | * L. Jagi Lamplighter's ''[[Literature/ProsperosDaughter Prospero Lost]]'': Theo recounts how the ''Orbis Suleimani'' eradicated knowledge of the supernatural. This was to prevent people from trying to solve problems by appealing to supernatural beings, many of which demanded worship and some of which were evil. Success resulted in the Industrial Revolution. |
| 142 | * ''Literature/MalazanBookOfTheFallen'': The Crippled God Deconstructs this trope. He essentially fills this niche, but he's more like a god of ''suffering'' than evil- and while he certainly inflicts more than his fair share of suffering on the world, he also [[WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds continually suffers himself]]. [[spoiler: In the end, after a bunch of {{AbusivePrecursor|s}} {{Knight Templar}}s hijack his power, he ends up becoming a more sympathetic deity who empathizes with those who suffer]]. |
| 143 | * ''Literature/{{Mithgar}}'': Gyphon is both the overarching BigBad of the series and its primary God of Evil. Specifically, he represents tyranny, since he holds to the belief that the strong should use their powers to control the weak and in fact opposed giving mortals (and non-divine immortals) free will in the first place. Other, lesser Gods of Evil who follow him are namedropped occasionally, but none of them ever do anything directly and very little is ever revealed about them. |
| 144 | * ''Literature/SecondApocalypse'': Mog-Pharau, the No-God, is essentially the antithesis of life. The Consult create him to reduce the world's population to fewer than 144,000 souls, which will sever the world from the Outside forever and save them from damnation. During the first apocalypse, the No-God appeared as a [[EldritchAbomination black whirlwind]] and spoke through the throats of [[SpeakInUnison one hundred thousand scranc]]. All births were stillborn while Mog-Pharau lived. |
| 145 | * ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'': |
| 146 | ** The Great Other is this to the worshippers of R'hllor. While R'hllor represents light, warmth, and life, the Great Other represents cold, darkness, and death. |
| 147 | ** The Ironborn religion has the Storm God as its Devil equivalent. Since the Ironborn live by the sea, they naturally fear storms during their voyage. |
| 148 | * ''Franchise/TolkiensLegendarium'': |
| 149 | ** Morgoth in ''Literature/TheSilmarillion''. Though really, he bears more similarities to {{Satan}} than he does a polytheistic God of Evil, being the former servant of Eru Ilúvatar, the actual {{God}} of the setting, who generally doesn't interfere in the temporal world. Still, Morgoth essentially invented the concept of evil because of his malign influence when him and his fellow celestials helped the creator in making the world. He will continue to exist AsLongAsThereIsEvil, and since the world itself is the source of all evil because of him, he cannot die unless the world is unmade. |
| 150 | ** In ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'', Sauron, a lesser type of angel-like being who started out in Morgoth's service, ''tries'' to ascend to this level and fully emulate his former master as the new EvilOverlord, but is more of a ''demi''god of evil. |
| 151 | * ''Literature/SwordOfTruth'': The Keeper of the Underworld. He rules over the souls of the dead, but his goal is to unleash himself on the living so they can be killed and tortured forever in the afterlife. |
| 152 | * ''Literature/TollTheHounds'': The Dying God, aka [[spoiler:Bellurdan Skullcrusher]], is the trope more or less played straight, [[TheCorruption corrupting]] people with his toxic blood into becoming his [[ReligionOfEvil followers.]] Although due to being both a new god and a dying one, he doesn't have much power outside his own temple or through his followers. |
| 153 | * ''Literature/{{Videssos}}'': Skotos is the cosmic lord of all evil, and the opposite and ArchEnemy of the GodOfGood, Phos (both of whom are considered deities by the Zoroastrian-esque religion which dominates the Videssian Empire, though the precise nature of their relationship is a matter of rather heated - and often violent - debate). [[EvilSorcerer Avshar]] is the series' BigBad and Skotos's HighPriest, and [[ReligionOfEvil Skotos-worship]] tends to follow in his wake, but it's left ambiguous if Skotos himself is a real being or a philosophical abstraction... [[spoiler: at least until the climax of the last book; when Avshar gets DraggedOffToHell, ''something'' unutterably vast and powerful is there to receive him...]] |
| 154 | * ''Literature/TheWarGods'': The series comes with a whole pantheon of them. [[SatanicArchetype Phrobus]] is the most powerful, a renegade from the main pantheon, and the GreaterScopeVillain of the entire series; his wife is the goddess Shigu (originally a demon he elevated to become his consort), and their children fill out the evil pantheon - Fiendark is a god of violence and destruction and TheDragon to his father, Carnadosa is the goddess of BlackMagic and TheEvilGenius of the pantheon, Krahana is the goddess of TheUndead, Krashnark is a WarGod and fancies himself a NobleDemon, and his twin brother Sharna is the DirtyCoward god of murderers and torturers. |
| 155 | * ''Literature/TheWheelOfTime'': The Dark One, whose [[TheScottishTrope real name]] is [[spoiler: Shai'tan]] is both this and TheAntiGod; cosmic antithesis of the Creator, bound at the moment of creation, partially unsealed and barely defeated at the end of the past age, and whose attempts to finish the apocalypse it started forms the backbone of the series' plot. Subverted by the Dark One's elite minions, the Forsaken, who are perceived as godlike figures by the people of the present age, but are really just very powerful, very evil human [[FunctionalMagic channelers]]. |
| 156 | [[/folder]] |
| 157 | |
| 158 | [[folder:Live-Action TV]] |
| 159 | * ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'': The First Evil exists AsLongAsThereIsEvil, and is ultimately responsible for every evil being and act in the series. |
| 160 | * ''Series/Charmed1998'': The Source of All Evil (usually just referred to as The Source), who was the ruler of the underworld and the GreaterScopeVillain for the first half of the series' run. It was later revealed that "The Source" was actually a primordial force that lived inside whatever demon was currently the leader of the underworld at the time. |
| 161 | * ''Series/DoctorWho'': Uses BroadStrokes continuity, but has (in order of appearance on the series) the Black Guardian, Fenric and possibly the Beast (but he's more equivalent to {{Satan}}). Only the Black Guardian has an equivalent GodOfGood. |
| 162 | * ''Series/LegendOfTheSeeker'': The Keeper of the Underworld, who caused all death, suffering and darkness, in contrast to the Creator. He did this to spite her when the Creator lavished so much on human beings (they were lovers, and the Keeper was jealous). |
| 163 | * ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'': Subverted by [[{{Satan}} Lucifer]]. He's revered by the demons as an actual god of evil, but in reality he's "just" an archangel who is several orders of magnitude below his heavenly Father. Though he ''can'' mop the floor with just about any pagan god, possibly because GodsNeedPrayerBadly. |
| 164 | * ''Series/TrueBlood'': ZigZagged with Lilith. She is worshipped as a God in vampire society, and she's set up as the personification of evil for vampires. Other characters like Godric and Eric describe her as "A Godless God" and a "Mad God" who will lead everyone to destruction. However, when she appears to Bill in season 6, she claims that she isn't a God, and that "There is no God but {{God}}." According to her, God created her as the first vampire, which makes her more of a MonsterProgenitor. |
| 165 | * ''Series/XenaWarriorPrincess'' and ''Series/HerculesTheLegendaryJourneys'': Dahak is said to be the source of all darkness, destruction, and evil. |
| 166 | [[/folder]] |
| 167 | |
| 168 | [[folder:Music]] |
| 169 | * On Music/{{GloryHammer}}'s second album, ''Space 1992: Rise of the Chaos Wizards'' EvilSorcerer Zargothrax tries to unleash Korviliath the Elder God from the 18th Hell Dimension, which will destroy all life in the Universe. |
| 170 | [[/folder]] |
| 171 | |
| 172 | [[folder:Mythology and Religion]] |
| 173 | * Myth/AboriginalAustralianMyths: |
| 174 | ** Marmoo is the evil spirit to the Gamilaraay[=/=]Kamilaroi. His claim to fame was a SuicidalCosmicTemperTantrum when the other gods created the world, prompting him to create insects and spiders to kill everything. |
| 175 | ** Wambeen is the Arrernte god of evil. He also doubles as a GodOfThunder by trying to kill everyone with lightning bolts. |
| 176 | ** Droemerdene is the EvilTwin of Moinee, the Tasmanian GodOfGood. Not much is known about him (you can thank genocidal British people for the destruction of most of Tasmanian culture), but he seems to have been associated with the [[VolatileTasmanianDevil tasmanian devil]] and to have a role in sending plagues. Otherwise, the [[BlowYouAway west wind]] god Rageowrapper takes this role, often being the one to lead dark spirits to torment humans at night. |
| 177 | * ''Literature/TheBible'': |
| 178 | ** Meta-subversion. {{Satan}} is [[TheAntiGod often portrayed this way in Western media]], as a direct EvilCounterpart of {{God}}. This is the result of WordOfDante however and in contrast to most Christian doctrine, where Satan [[TheDevilIsALoser is recognized as being a far lesser power than God and has no chance of succeeding in his cosmic takeover bid]]. He's never described as being a ''representation'' of evil, merely [[FallenAngel an evil angel]]. However, while angels are nothing compared to YHWH, that's because He's an [[TheOmnipotent omnipotent]] CosmicEntity beyond all space-time, and angels still have god-like power (in the lesser sense). A comparison would be that Zoroastrianism portrays Ahriman as an EvilOverlord of a hostile empire, while Christianity portrays Satan as a terrorist. Furthermore, the Literature/BookOfEzekiel and Creator/ThomasAquinas both suggest that Satan was a [[CelestialParagonsAndArchangels cherub]] before he fell, meaning he wasn't even the most powerful ''angel'', let alone an equal to God. |
| 179 | ** The word ''satan'' literally just means adversary. In the early Jewish writings, ''ha-satan'' (using the definite article) wasn't evil, but [[HeavensDevils a sort of divine prosecutor]], testing Creation. Thus in the Literature/BookOfJob, he plays the role of adversary testing Job's fidelity to see if it's genuine. The title of ''satan'' was later used specifically to refer to the FallenAngel who made himself the adversary of God. |
| 180 | * Mara in UsefulNotes/{{Buddhism}} is a Deva and is also the "King of Demons". Devas in Buddhism are not exactly like gods in other religions as they're not immortal (though they do have very long lifespans, as in millennia-long) and although most Buddhists believe that they inspire the gods of other religions, should not be praised as they are not really different from humans and not only have karma of their own, they can't really change a person's karma either. Nevertheless, they are still very powerful, making Mara particularly dangerous as he is the only really "evil" Deva (the other Devas are not evil, just generally [[UpperClassTwit very arrogant and materialistic]], with some exceptions (as some --very few of them-- are Buddhists). Mara attempted to tempt Buddha away during his pursuit of enlightenment and will still do this to others in Buddhist teaching. |
| 181 | * Myth/ClassicalMythology has Kakia, the goddess of vice, whose name even ''means'' evil. In Xenophon's ''Memorabilia'', she appeared to Herakles at a crossroads and attempted to seduce him to a life of empty and worthless pleasure. He chose otherwise. |
| 182 | ** There is also Eris, goddess of discord. On top of having a hand in causing the Trojan War, she was also known for causing strife among mortals, gods, and nations alike for her own amusement. She was said to dance in the burning ruins of cities even after all the other gods and spirits of war and death had grown tired of the carnage. Eris was also known as the mother of demons (called kakodaimons in Greek), having birthed the spirits and minor gods of pain, murder, lies, war, carnage, and anarchy, among a host of others. |
| 183 | ** Atë, daughter of Zeus and the aforementionned Eris, is the personification of the TragicMistake. She once conspired with Hera to delay Heracles' birth to make him the subject of his cousin Eurystheus. Casted out of Olympus by Zeus, Atë since then walks on the head of men and leads them to their sufferings and ruins. Her benevolent sisters called the Litae (the "Prayers") follow her in her wake but Atë always outruns them. |
| 184 | * Myth/EgyptianMythology: |
| 185 | ** Apep (or Apophis) is the monstrous serpent that tried to eat Ra every night and wasn't so much worshipped as worshipped ''against'', straddling the line between God of Evil and EldritchAbomination. It's little wonder that, when it comes to naming astronomical objects after mythological figures, ''his'' name was reserved for [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/99942_Apophis an asteroid]] that was (at the time) thought to be making a beeline straight for Earth, [[ColonyDrop potentially causing a dinosaur-level impact catastrophe]].[[note]]More calculations have been done since then that say Apophis will miss Earth entirely, but its name's history still stands.[[/note]] |
| 186 | ** Set is portrayed as this to a degree in later versions of the mythology, though contrary to popular opinion he ''wasn't'' a snake god, and was actually a ''good guy'' in earlier myths; Set lost ground as the Horus cult gained it in later centuries, and became more identified with foreigners and the desert, even becoming identified sometimes with the chaos-serpent he had used to fight. By the time Plutarch recorded the most familiar-to-moderns versions of the Egyptian gods, he was bidding fair for this role. But even at his most evil, [[EvilVersusOblivion Set still comes to Ra's aid to prevent Apep from destroying the world]]. |
| 187 | * The Demiurge of Gnosticism is a giant [[EldritchAbomination snake-lion-sun thing]] who created the physical world and all life in it. He is usually portrayed as prideful, destructive, myopic and dangerous. Interestingly, he is often depicted as thinking himself to be not only a good god but the only god period. |
| 188 | * Medieval Maori religion gives us Whiro, who manages to some way or another cause practically every problem we have while locked in the underworld. He will eventually escape and destroy everything besides himself and the ashes. |
| 189 | * Myth/MesopotamianMythology: |
| 190 | ** Lamashtu was a goddess (or sometimes just a demon, depending on the account) who caused miscarriages and sought to capture children to drink their blood and consume their bones. She was often depicted in a monstrous form too, with the head of a lioness, the feet of a bird of prey, and a donkey's ears and teeth. The demon Pazuzu was thought to be her most hated rival, so, even though he was a demon who brought about plagues of locusts and storms, [[EvilVersusEvil his image was thought to ward off Lamashtu.]] |
| 191 | * In Shinto, Ama-no-Kagaseo is the AnthropomorphicPersonification of Amatsu-Mikaboshi, which is essentially TheDarkSide. So it is the personification of Evil, or at least discord, destruction and chaos, and destructive impulses. |
| 192 | * Some more dualistic forms of UsefulNotes/{{Zoroastrianism}} claim Angra Mainyu (better known by the Persian name ''Ahriman'') is the EvilCounterpart to [[GodOfGood Ahura Mazda]]. In other words, he is essentially the anti-God, or the god of evil. Angra Mainyu isn't so much a name as a title alluding to his nature. Angra can be translated as "destructive" or "malign", while Mainyu can mean "spirit" but also "mind", "concept" or "thought". [[FridgeBrilliance Which means]], Angra Mainyu is ''the'' [[Manga/{{Berserk}} Idea of Evil]]. |
| 193 | * Originally just a GodOfTheDead, Erlik in Turkic mythology turned into the God of Evil and ruler of hell after the Turks entered in contact with the more monotheistic faiths of the West. It is believed that their originally shamanistic polytheist religion become more dualistic like Zoroastrianism with a good god Tengri and a bad god, Erlik. |
| 194 | [[/folder]] |
| 195 | |
| 196 | [[folder:Tabletop Games]] |
| 197 | * ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'': Each setting usually has at least one (or three, for each evil alignment), but often more. |
| 198 | ** ''Literature/{{Dragonlance}}'', being almost entirely about the BalanceBetweenGoodAndEvil, divides all its gods into gods of good, gods of evil, and gods of neutrality. Obviously, each of them does have the own unique spheres of influence above and beyond their alignment. |
| 199 | ** ''TabletopGame/ForgottenRealms'': |
| 200 | *** Cyric the MadGod is the god of of lies, trickery, and strife, and for a while also had domain over murder, tyranny and illusion. (The previous gods in those roles turned out to be NotQuiteDead.) Cyric has an Archangel of Lies. The twist is the archangel was put under a [[CannotTellALie geas to only tell truths.]] When he complained to his god how could he be the archangel of lies when all he can say is truth, Cyric simply said that's ''[[CassandraTruth exactly]]'' [[CassandraTruth why he's perfect for the role.]] Cyric's paranoia and megalomania eventually reached the point where he refused to acknowledge the other gods were even divine. |
| 201 | *** Bane, who was god of tyranny before and after Cyric was seen as ''the'' God of Evil in Faerun before Cyric ascended, and regained the role after Cyric was imprisoned for his role in the Spellplague, having always viewed the Mad God as an upstart pretender. (Notably, Zhentil Keep's ReligionOfEvil was originally the Church of Bane, then the Church of Cyric after Bane's apparent death in the Time of Troubles, but following Bane's resurgence, Cyric-worshippers found in the city were put to death -- the ''only'' evil deity they won't even tolerate as a minority faith.) |
| 202 | *** Bhaal, Bane's former adventuring partner when they were still mortal godhood seekers was the god of Murder before and after Cyric.[[note]]Their other partner Myrkul wasn't a god of evil (his domain was Death) but he was an evil god[[/note]]. |
| 203 | *** Jergal ''was'' this as the Lord of the End of Everything, being the original deity who held the portfolios of Murder, Strife, and Death. He himself wasn't actually evil though, being a Lawful Neutral deity who treated godhood as an accounting job. Jergal actually handed these portfolios off to the Dead Three so that they'd stop pestering him, then became a seneschal to Kelemvor, a much more noble god of death (and, funnily enough, Cyric's old adventuring buddy). |
| 204 | *** GodOfDarkness Shar acts as the poster girl for DarkIsEvil. She's an OmnicidalManiac who as one of TheOldGods existed before all of creation, and hated existence itself from the moment it came into being. Her followers are all murderous {{Straw Nihilist}}s who she instructs to [[HopeCrusher snuff out hope, joy, trust and love wherever possible]]. In spite of her trying to put the entire pantheon out of work, the TopGod Ao just lets her do her thing in order to maintain the BalanceBetweenGoodAndEvil. |
| 205 | ** SatanicArchetype Asmodeus is probably the biggest, although he wasn't technically a god until 4e, where he became the god of indulgence by absorbing the divine essence of another god. He's the literal ruler of Hell, and, according to some sources, was one of the creators of the multiverse (representing evil, whereas his sister Jazirian was good). |
| 206 | ** ''TabletopGame/LaNotteEterna'': |
| 207 | *** Garod, the god of tyranny, is listed as LawfulEvil. He is worshiped by the evil races like the vampires and the Karevi, but, in the absence of the sun and moon gods, his influence has grown to the point that even non-evil races worship him in his capacity as a god of order. |
| 208 | *** Demien, a lesser god, presides over evil as a concept. His cult is full of nihilists who see the unending night as an inevitability. |
| 209 | * ''TabletopGame/{{Exalted}}'': The Ebon Dragon, as a Primordial, decided to add certain qualities to Creation -- like betrayal, suffering, and antitheses. The Unconquered Sun, generally the BigGood of the setting, came into existence just so that the Ebon Dragon would be stronger by having something to contrast against. After being defeated, turned into a Yozi, and cast into Malfeas, the Ebon Dragon was one of the beings behind the idea of Reclamation, which means escaping Hell by making Creation so equal in quality to Hell that the Yozis can move in without technically violating the terms of their imprisonment. |
| 210 | * ''TabletopGame/InNomine'': Downplayed. Some demons worship Lucifer as a dualistic evil counterpart to God. Lucifer himself doesn't mind this (especially if it keeps his minions too scared to try anything), but he personally knows better. |
| 211 | * The concept of the game ''TabletopGame/Midnight2003'' is fighting hopelessly against the Evil God Izrador who rules the world. However, Izrador is not the Creator, but merely the evil member of a pantheon exiled to the mortal world. However Izrador, being a god of chaos and corruption, screwed up the seal that locked him into the world. Instead of being a world where every being except Izrador could enter and leave at will (by normal ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' standards), nobody is free to enter or leave, not even the other gods of the pantheon. |
| 212 | * ''TabletopGame/{{Pathfinder}}'' has a few, of different evil {{Character Alignment}}s: |
| 213 | ** Rovagug is probably the worst, a ChaoticEvil universally misanthropic OmnicidalManiac DestroyerDeity. |
| 214 | ** Lamashtu is Rovagug's mother and an awful creature herself, essentially a stand-in for D&D's Tiamat but with very different methods and personality. She is TheCorruptor, wanting to spread madness, nightmares, and mutation throughout the world and fill it with monstrosities. In keeping with her mythological inspiration (see above), she's associated with children (here it's because she's a mother of monsters) and enemies with Pazuzu (she betrayed him to become a goddess). |
| 215 | ** Zon-Kuthon, LawfulEvil god of envy, pain, torture, and loss, is far less of an existential threat but makes up for it with creative sadism. |
| 216 | ** Asmodeus also qualifies as the LawfulEvil god of tyranny and Lord of Hell, although since ''Pathfinder'''s version of Asmodeus is a WellIntentionedExtremist VisionaryVillain he's a less straightforward example than some other versions of the character. |
| 217 | ** Downplayed with Norgorber, the NeutralEvil divine patron of thieves, poisoners, murderers, and assassins. He's less a god of Evil in the metaphysical sense than the God of Crime. |
| 218 | * ''TabletopGame/{{Ponyfinder}}'': Apep is a deity of chaos and wanton destruction, and delights in nothing more than spreading misery and death throughout creation. Nobody worships him except the insane and a few people with great ambition and no morals. |
| 219 | * The ''TabletopGame/ShadowOfTheDemonLord'' RPG from Schwalb Entertainment, has TabletopGame/WarhammerFantasy as one of its biggest influences. In this CrapsackWorld, CosmicHorror DarkFantasy RPG, the universe is under threat from the all-consuming, near omnipotent Demon Lord, the most powerful being in existence. The Demon Lord is [[spoiler:actually God himself, but with his best bits removed by ambitious genies when he was taking a break after creation. Sure he's a lot less powerful now, but he's all spite and rage with plenty of sadism mixed in too.]] |
| 220 | * ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'', ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer}}'', and ''TabletopGame/WarhammerAgeOfSigmar'' have this as integral parts of their settings, in the form of the Gods of Chaos, and (only in ''Warhammer 40,000'') the C'Tan. The Gods of Chaos ''technically'' have positive parts of their portfolios, but [[DependingOnTheWriter sometimes they are totally forgotten]], and even in the best cases [[CrapsackWorld the world is so terrible that they're not really focused on]]. |
| 221 | ** [[BloodKnight Khorne]] is the God of Blood and War, and is shown in the image on this trope's page, along with his follower's signature BattleCry. He's also the God of Martial Prowess and Honour. Depending on the story, his followers are either [[TheBerserker Berserk Killers]] who revel in violence for its own sake, or [[ProudWarriorRaceGuy Honourable Opponents]] who care about honorable combat and will spare the defenseless. In general it leans towards the first though. |
| 222 | ** [[TheChessmaster Tzeentch]] is the God of Ambition and Change. His followers are usually Psykers and those touched by the powers of the [[HyperspaceIsAScaryPlace Warp]]. He's all about [[GambitPileup long, complex plans]] that are often mutually exclusive and have no real long-term goals, plus his followers generally end up [[OutGambitted screwed out in the bargain.]] He is also the God of Hope, although this rarely comes up. |
| 223 | ** [[{{Plaguemaster}} Nurgle]] is the God of Death, Decay and Contentment. He's infamous for spreading [[TheVirus disease]] to every corner of the galaxy, and embodies the emotion of being happy with one's lot in life. His followers are generally those who turn to him [[DeathIsTheOnlyOption when there is no other choice]], [[SadisticChoice or if they're already nuts to begin with]] because of disease, starvation or any of the myriad things that CAN happen in the universe of [[CrapsackWorld Warhammer 40,000]]. His followers become [[IdealIllnessImmunity immune to all disease]] and are [[MadeOfIron unbelievably tough]], but mutate so [[BodyHorror grotesquely]] and with [[LovecraftianSuperpower such effects]] that even the [[TheCorruption ground rots under their feet]], and their very presence is [[WalkingWasteland lethal to anyone within a 50-mile radius.]] Special mention to the fact that his followers generally consider all of this [[NightmareFuelStationAttendant enjoyable]] and [[DissonantSerenity delight]] in [[NauseaFuel spreading]] the "[[{{Squick}} blessings]]" of Nurgle wherever they go. Nurgle is also the God of Life, Growth, and Acceptance. |
| 224 | ** [[TheHedonist Slaanesh]] is the God(-ess?) of Pleasure and Perfection. Their followers are usually drawn with promises of Pleasure and Perfection in all things, so they're as likely to be [[MadArtist Artists]] and [[MadScientist Scholars]] as well as [[TheHedonist Hedonists]] and [[ReallyGetsAround Harlots.]] The drawback is that Slaanesh has a [[BlueAndOrangeMorality very different idea]] of perfection and pleasure, and the followers will normally [[BodyHorror end]] [[AndIMustScream up]] [[NightmareFuel as]] [[EldritchAbomination something]]... [[LovecraftianSuperpower else]]. Positive aspects include the desire to improve and perfect ones self, of course. While other followers are {{Sadist}} madmen, who revel in infliting pain on others, and even themselves. |
| 225 | ** ''Fantasy'' and ''Age of Sigmar'' has the Great Horned Rat, a minor Chaos God and patron god of the [[RatMen Skaven]]. He combines a few traits from Nurgle and Tzeentch, being a malevolent schemer who encourages the spreading of plague and destruction by his followers. He even takes Slaanesh's spot as the fourth major Chaos God following Slaanesh's capture at the hands of the Aelfs, but the other three Gods despise the Horned Rat as a venemous upstart and non-Skaven Chaos worshippers spit on him and his "gifts". |
| 226 | ** ''Fantasy'' and ''Age of Sigmar'' also has Hashut, the Father of Darkness. He's a relatively minor Chaos God of [[LawfulEvil Greed, Oppression, and Tyranny]], and is worshipped almost exclusively by the [[EvilCounterpartRace Chaos Dwarfs]]. He is depicted as [[BrutishBulls a brazen bull wreathed in smoke and shadow]]. He gives their sorcerers the ability to use dark magic in exchange for sacrifices, although since Dwarfs weren't meant to wield magic all Chaos Dwarf Sorcerors [[TakenForGranite end up turning to stone]]. Due to mostly being constrained to the Chaos Dwarfs and them being located in the [[{{Mordor}} Dark Lands]] far away from the Old World, Hashut is a rather minor threat. |
| 227 | ** In 40k, there are the C'Tan Star-Gods, [[TimeAbyss as old as the universe itself and far older than the Chaos Gods]]. Originally diffuse {{Energy Being}}s the size of solar systems, they were given bodies of living metal by a mortal race in need of allies, which the C'Tan promptly betrayed and turned into the Necrons, a race of [[MechaMooks Mecha-]]SlaveMooks without free will. They used to eat stars, but they later found [[YourSoulIsMine mortal souls]] to be much more appetizing, and world after world was sacrificed to their hunger. Individual C'Tan were near as unpleasant as the Chaos Gods: the Nightbringer {{Mind Rape}}d organic life into fearing death [[EmotionEater to feed on their terror and despair]]; the Void Dragon, a being of oblivion and utter destruction, had absolute control over technology and tried to sever the warp from realspace, which would have torn the souls out of every living thing; the Burning One just wanted to ''[[OmnicidalManiac burn everything]]''. And not to mention the Outsider, who although is crying in the void of dark space because it committed cannibalism to a ridiculous degree, is still supposed to be more dangerous than the rest of the C'tan. They were eventually cast down and [[PiecesOfGod shattered]] by rebellious Necrons and the gods of other races, but the pieces are still out there, and should they reunite... |
| 228 | * ''TabletopGame/{{Zweihander}}'' has a pantheon of the evil gods modelled after beings in ''TabletopGame/WarhammerFantasy'' and ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'', they are: |
| 229 | ** Foremost are the Abyssal Princes of Chaos to correspond to main 4 Chaos Gods plus one. They are the Prince of Change, the Prince of Decay, the Prince of Pleasure, the Prince of Chaos and the Outsider. They are clearly based on Tzeentch, Nurgle, Slaanesh, Khorne and Malal. |
| 230 | ** The Ancient Ones are based on the Old Ones and are likewise worshipped the Slann equivalent Aztlan. However unlike the Old Ones, these beings are evil having the morality of Creator/HPLovecraft's Great Old Ones. |
| 231 | ** The Black Lodge are daemon-possessed corpses and fallen old gods who are the ancestors to the Fey and trapped in exile largely in outer space but many escaped and rejoined their old bodies in the Lodge just outside the afterlife. The Fey worship them as ancestor gods though the cruel ruling Sidhe Lords such as Oberon and Titania seek to replace them. They are based on the fallen pantheon of the Elves/Eldar. |
| 232 | ** The Gilded Pharoah was in ancient times, the first person to develop necromancy and grew to become a god in his own right. He's clearly based on Nagash. |
| 233 | ** The Thirteen is a daemon composed of 13 ideal type souls of the rat men, Skrzzak which are based on the Skaven. Clearly he's based on the Horned Rat. |
| 234 | ** The Tusked One is the demonic god of the Orx (Orcs with an alternate spelling), Goblins, Trolls, Ogres and Dvergar (similar to the Chaos Dwarfs). Accounts of its appearance varies depending on race, Orx think of it as a giant maw while the Dvergar think of its as the billowing Hell Furnace. It's essentially an amalgamation of the Great Maw and Hashut. |
| 235 | ** Finally there's the Witch Queen, a frost and blood magic using elven crone who was struck down by her fellows within the Black Lodge but came back to life again to go to a frozen wasteland and bringing her exiled followers the Siabra (expies of the Dark Elves) and created the Fomorians (expies of the Fimir). She's a mix of Morathi and Tsarina Katarin, the Witch Queen of the Kislev. |
| 236 | [[/folder]] |
| 237 | |
| 238 | [[folder:Toys]] |
| 239 | * ''Franchise/{{Transformers}}'': Some versions of Unicron have him as one of these (or treated as one by anything unfortunate enough to be in his path). His very first origin story had Unicron recounting how he led a legion of dark gods, with Primus as his opposing number. The second has him as the ''last'' dark god, trying (and succeeding) in taking the universe down with him. Most depictions since have him as Primus' direct opposite, the evil to Primus' good (if not necessarily nice). |
| 240 | * The Makuta race in ''Franchise/{{Bionicle}}'' styled themselves as these, especially after the managed to evolve past the need for physical bodies and became EnergyBeings made out of pure antidermis. However, only one actually managed to accomplish this in truth; [[spoiler:Makuta Teridax, the BigBad of the franchise, managed to accomplish this at the climax of the Karda Nui arc by slotting himself into the control systems of the Great Spirit Robot during the brief period between Mata Nui's death and his revival by Matoro using the Kanohi Ignika, the Mask of Life. When the Toa Mata activated the Codrex in the heart of the GSR to bring Mata Nui fully back to life, the GSR activated with Teridax at the helm, giving him complete control over the ''entire Matoran universe.'' To fully cement his control he shunted Mata Nui's spirit into the Ignika and jettisoned it out into space, where it landed on the desert world of Bara Magna. Mata Nui eventually was able to drive Teridax out of his former body, but it took pulling an entire ''moon'' (the former planetoid that the franchise had actually taken place on up to that point) out of orbit and slamming it into the back of his head to finish him off.]] |
| 241 | |
| 242 | [[/folder]] |
| 243 | |
| 244 | [[folder:Video Games]] |
| 245 | |
| 246 | * ''VideoGame/AdventureQuest'': Falerin is an interesting subversion; he is the God of Evil, but he is not malevolent and bloodthirsty. He's quite gentlemanly and passive; in fact, he helps the protagonists indirectly against the actual BigBad. |
| 247 | * ''VideoGame/AgeOfMythology'': Greek, Egyptian and Norse mythology are simplified somewhat from the original myths for the sake of the campaigns. As a result, Set becomes this for the Egyptian, Loki for the Norse (especially notable for turning up as an antagonist in person, and serving a much more direct role than Set), and Poseidon for the Greek. However, the ultimate God of Evil is Kronos, from the Atlanteans, since the other three are ultimately subservient to him, and his master scheme of breaking loose and causing TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt. All the Titans except Gaia also qualifies, while Cerberus and Ymir are more [[EldritchAbomination Eldritch Abominations]] anyway. The game is notable for averting EverybodyHatesHades though, Hades is somewhat neutral, and his only contribution is helping the heroes escape Erebus when they are trapped there by Gargarensis, the servant of Kronos. |
| 248 | * ''VideoGame/AncientDomainsOfMystery'': The game built around ChaosIsEvil, so Andor Drakon, the [=ElDeR cHaOs GoD=], is the God of Evil. And the player can kill him to take his place. |
| 249 | * ''VideoGame/ArcRiseFantasia'': Deconstructed ''horrifically''. [[TakeOverTheWorld Prince]] [[ForTheEvulz Wei]][[RageAgainstTheHeavens ss]] accuses the god Eesa of being one of these. The other gods, Real and Imaginal are an OmnicidalManiac and a [[FantasticRacism racist]] [[JerkassGods jerkass]], so the party doesn't really have any other frame of reference... [[spoiler:until it's revealed that Eesa is actually [[BreakTheCutie an emotionally-broken]] WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds. ''How'' she became one is pure TearJerker material]]. |
| 250 | * In ''VideoGame/Bayonetta2'', there is Loptr, who is [[spoiler:the evil side of Aesir, Creator-God of the mortal world. Created when Aesir decided to divide his powers and give them to humanity so humans would have free will, he wants to take control of reality back from them by any means necessary.]] |
| 251 | * ''Franchise/DragonQuest'': The final bosses of ''VideoGame/{{Dragon Quest}}s [[VideoGame/DragonQuestIII 3]]'', ''[[VideoGame/DragonQuestV 5]]'', ''[[VideoGame/DragonQuestVI 6]]'', ''[[VideoGame/DragonQuestVII 7]]'', and ''[[VideoGame/DragonQuestVIII 8]]''. |
| 252 | ** The offshoot ''VideoGame/DragonQuestBuilders2'' has some fun subverting this. The main antagonists are a ReligionOfEvil trying to resurrect their dead god, the Master of Destruction. It's assumed that this is a God Of Evil, but the game takes great pains to point out that the forces of creation and destruction are both inherently amoral and inextricably linked. |
| 253 | * ''VideoGame/ChronoTrigger'': Lavos is a weird form of this. Lavos is worshipped as a god by several beings (among them the Queen of Zeal), and its power can be drawn upon by mortal beings. That power ''is'' inherently evil, [[TheCorruption destroying the morality of those who use it]] and sometimes [[OneWingedAngel transforming them into monsters]]. However, Lavos itself is a StarfishAlien EldritchAbomination and isn't really evil, itself - it doesn't really seem to be sentient on a level that humans can comprehend, and the corrupting aspects are simply how its power affects humans who channel it. |
| 254 | * In the CrapsackWorld of ''Videogame/DemonsSouls'', Magic is explained as power that comes from the human (Or demon) will, and Faith is explained as a power that comes from God. For this reason, Faith-users are usually pretty rude toward ungodly mages. This is all well and good, but in multiple places in the game you can discover that [[spoiler:the "god" that faith users actually get their power from is the world-destroying BigBad Demon Overlord, the Old One, and that faith users are not aware of this. Whether the religion is completely wrong, or whether (even worse) the Old One actually IS God is not revealed. However, faith coming from the Old One is implied by Sage Freke in an optional conversation, and confirmed by the item description of the Talisman of Beasts.]] |
| 255 | * ''VideoGame/EarthBound1994'': Many hints given throughout the game indicate that [[BigBad Giygas]] has essentially become this. [[spoiler: Porky's statement during the final battle even says that he ''is'' evil itself.]] |
| 256 | * ''VideoGame/EldenRing'' has the [[EldritchAbomination Outer Gods]], which are different shades of malicious: |
| 257 | ** The Scarlet Rot is a sentient magical plague, taking the form of an AlienKudzu that corrupts the land and everyone in it - first by devolving them into mindless creatures of instinct, before eventually assimilating them into itself. Becoming infected with the Rot is considered as a FateWorseThanDeath - except for the [[ReligionOfEvil Order of Rot]], which is almost exclusively made up of centipede-like abominations born from corrupted lands and consider the Scarlet Rot a 'blessing' to be spread - everyone else firmly disagrees. |
| 258 | ** The Formless Mother is, as the name implies, a formless entity that entered into a covenant with [[SatanicArchetype Mohg, Lord of Blood]] for the sole purpose of spreading bloodshed and pain in the material realm - and delights in being harmed too, as some of the Bloodflame spells involve reaching into a portal, clawing at the [[MindScrew formless body of the Mother]] and throwing her burning blood at your enemies. |
| 259 | ** The Flame of Frenzy is an ancient power in conflict with the [[TopGod Greater Will]]. It represents maddening knowledge, yellow flames and destruction - it believes that the Greater Will creating life and individuality was a mistake, and its solution to that is [[OmnicidalManiac kill every living being]] and melt them down [[AssimilationPlot to reform the 'One Great']], the origin of all life. All of its worshippers are nihilistic madmen or have been forced into servitude after the flames burrowed its way into their eyes and metaphorically melted their minds. |
| 260 | * ''Franchise/TheElderScrolls'': The series' mythology contains [[OurGodsAreDifferent many deities]], some more benevolent while others are more malevolent. Even the worst of these deities tend to act within the BlueAndOrangeMorality of the [[AnthropomorphicPersonification spheres over which they govern]], but several stand out as almost irredeemably "evil". To note: |
| 261 | ** The elves in general view Lorkhan, the god who initially came up with the idea to create the universe, to be a god of malicious evil and trickery, as they hold that prior to the creation of the universe their souls were all glorious immortal spirits, and the world they live in now is a prison in which their spirits are trapped in a perpetual cycle of reincarnation. That Lorkhan seems to protect and guide humanity, who are perpetual enemies of the elves, only affirms this belief. Other elves, most notably the Dunmer, hold that Lorkhan is indeed an evil god, but his deceptions and trickery exposed the "lies" of the Aedra, the gods that most of the rest of the world revere, and thus they view Lorkhan as a god of [[NecessarilyEvil necessary evils]]. |
| 262 | ** Molag Bal, the Daedric Prince of Domination and Corruption (spheres which include Enslavement, Violation, Defilement, and Rape), is the only entity who absolutely ''everyone'' agrees is absolutely evil and devoid of redeeming qualities. His realm, Coldharbour, is the closest thing to Hell in the Elder Scrolls universe. While all the other Daedra have at least a few redeeming qualities or rule over things that are beneficial to mortals, Molag Bal is entirely evil and does nothing with his powers but cause strife and pain. Other than vampires (which in this universe came to be because of a rape committed by Bal and whose souls he owns), the only people in Tamriel who see Molag Bal as anything other than a being of pure evil that must be avoided are the Dunmer, and even in their mythology, he isn't seen as benevolent, but a creator and manipulator of obstacles that they must learn to overcome, and never to be trusted. |
| 263 | ** Mehrunes Dagon, the Daedric Prince of [[DestroyerDeity Destruction]], often gets this label in-universe (due to his actions typically resulting in the death or ruin of many mortals) and by fans, but theologically speaking he really isn't. He's ''dangerous'', sure, is indisputably the BigBad or GreaterScopeVillain, and many of his ''followers'' are outright evil, but Dagon is merely acting according to his nature; he's only as evil as an earthquake or forest fire, and like most natural disasters, his sphere does have positive aspects, such as revolution and change. |
| 264 | ** Sithis, referred to as a "[[PowerOfTheVoid great void]]", is a force representing chaos, change, and limitation. Sithis may be one by default, as Sithis is said to be an equal but opposite force to Anui-El, the "soul of all things". Sithis is essentially the ''antithesis'' of all things. [[MindScrew Sithis Is Not]]. |
| 265 | ** Mannimarco, the God of Worms, is the [[DeityOfHumanOrigin ascended god form]] of Mannimarco, the King of Worms. Mannimarco is the infamous and highly [[TheDreaded dreaded]] [[OurLichesAreDifferent Lich]][=/=]{{Necromancer}} who has terrorized Tamriel since the early 2nd Era, all as part of his quest to [[GodhoodSeeker become a god]]. Following a failed attempt during the events of ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsOnline'', he succeeds as a result of the [[TimeCrash Warp in the West]] at the end of ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIIDaggerfall Daggerfall]]''...sort of. The [[RealityWarper Reality Warping]] Warp in the West [[MergingTheBranches merged]] ''Daggerfall''[='s=] numerous MultipleEndings, but none [[BroadStrokes occurred to the same extent they would have individually]]. As such, he did ascend to a form of godhood as the God of Worms, but it is in a rather minor station. It also seems to have created another version of him which did not ascend, remaining on Tamriel as a Lich who leads a cult that worships the God of Worms, who seems to be treated as a different entity. |
| 266 | ** Alduin is a zig-zagged example. He is essentially the [[BeastOfTheApocalypse God of the Apocalypse]], and he ''is'' evil, but much like Mehrunes Dagon, his divine position isn't so much evil as an unfortunate necessity. There's even in-game argument on whether he ought to be stopped that's never conclusively answered, but Paarthurnax (who's probably the closest thing there is to an authority on the matter) admits that 'I like this world and don't want it to die just yet' is as good enough reason for opposing Alduin as any, so it seems that being the god of the Apocalypse makes Alduin evil ''from a present perspective'' in which the world is still salvageable. [[JerkassGods He's also kind of a dick]] and tries to kill the Dragonborn, which is another 'eh, good enough' reason to beat him up. |
| 267 | * ''VideoGame/{{Fable}}'': Skorm, who the PC can make human sacrifices to, [[spoiler:doesn't actually exist]]. More important than Skorm is the Corruption, as well as the Queen of Blades, who had the position in the setting's backstory. |
| 268 | * ''VideoGame/FantasiaOtomeGameSeries '': The God of Death Oswald Leingold from ''Fantasia - Realm of Thanos'', who much prefers to be called the Demon Lord. |
| 269 | * ''VideoGame/FireEmblemGenealogyOfTheHolyWar'' has Loptous, the dark dragon who founded the EvilEmpire of centuries past after forming a blood pact with a power-hungry human, demanding worship and HumanSacrifice. After the Empire was thrown down, the surviving nobility were forced into hiding to escape the continent's vengeance and continued to revere Loptous as a god. They sought out the descendents of the human emperor's kin so that they could breed a suitable vessel for him to enter and restore the Empire. |
| 270 | * ''VideoGame/LegacyOfKain'': [[spoiler:The Elder God]] is eventually revealed to be this in ''Defiance'', following truckloads of {{Foreshadowing}} in ''Soul Reaver 2''. |
| 271 | * ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'': |
| 272 | ** ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaMajorasMask'': It's left ambiguous as to what exactly Majora is, but "unspeakably powerful" and "incredibly evil" are some of the only things we know about it. Through its mask, Majora is able to end all life on Termina by crashing the moon to the surface. |
| 273 | ** ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaSkywardSword'': The Demon King Demise is set in direct opposition to the GodOfGood Hylia. [[spoiler:He also curses Hylia and the hero with his death, telling them that an "incarnation of his hatred" would follow them for all eternity, making him responsible for all the evil in the entire series]]. |
| 274 | * ''VideoGame/MightAndMagic'': The Demon Sovereign from the rebooted series (''VideoGame/HeroesOfMightAndMagic V'' and VI as well as ''VideoGame/DarkMessiahOfMightAndMagic'') is the setting's Crystal Dragon Satan equivalent. ''[=HOMM 6=]'' shows that he was a regular demon lord who ascended to the position through politics and conquest. |
| 275 | * ''Franchise/MortalKombat'': The Elder God Shinnok is more or less this after his fall from grace, going as far as overthrowing Lucifer himself to take over the [[FireAndBrimstoneHell Netherrealm]]. |
| 276 | * ''VideoGame/NexusClash'': There are several contenders for the title, but the sanest and most focused is [[ManipulativeBastard Tlacolotl]], an ancient mortal warlord who managed to ascend to godhood by seizing the death and rebirth of an entire universe in his own megalomaniacal name. He ''requires'' his followers to do evil and is thus ironically just as bound to the notion of Good and Evil as his angelic archrival [[KnightTemplar Namm]]. Tlacolotl's real personality and goals are loathsome enough that he's become totally reliant on goodly moral systems to brand people as Evil (thus leaving him as their [[DarkMessiah only refuge]]) in order to secure recruits for his forces. |
| 277 | * [[spoiler:The Black Goat]] from ''VideoGame/NightInTheWoods'' [[spoiler:is an ancient EldritchAbomination that [[MaybeMagicMaybeMundane (maybe)]] lives within the mines of Possum Springs. In the trifecta of possible gods mentioned, it is the one who is "Vicious and Roaming". The Black Goat offers to bring prosperity and good fortune back to Possum Springs, but only in exchange for [[HumanSacrifice sacrifices]]. And if it stops getting sacrifices, it brings misfortune and disaster instead. Even so it isn't clear what sort of prosperity is on offer since Possum Springs [[DyingTown doesn't seem to be doing so well regardless]].]] |
| 278 | * ''VideoGame/{{Painkiller}}'': The series started out with {{Satan}} in the role, but he was killed in the first game, and a veritable conga line of successors would pop up in the expansion packs one after the other to claim the title (first Alastor, then [[spoiler: Eve]], then [[spoiler: Samael]]). |
| 279 | * ''VideoGame/PillarsOfEternity'': |
| 280 | ** Skaen. The god of silent hate, resentment and rebellion, he can also be described as the god of DisproportionateRetribution and ChronicBackStabbingDisorder. His followers may rise up against cruel masters, but they do so in [[TheRevolutionWillNotBeCivilized violent ways]] that frequently harm innocents, his [[ReligionIsMagic priests]] are rewarded for being cruel and penalized for benevolence and he abandons any followers who achieve their goals, because all he cares about is the act of the underdog rising up. [[ReligionOfEvil Worship of Skaen]] is understandably banned in many places, and his worshippers frequently end up working as torturers or executioners when it isn't. |
| 281 | ** Rymrgand is a more complicated case, though he's definitely not as evil as Skaen; he's the god of cold, death, and entropy, so a lot of his "evil" is [[NecessarilyEvil a necessary part of life]]. However, he takes a little ''too'' much glee in his job, actively working to end things just for the sake of it (even when their time hasn't necessarily come) and openly acknowledging that [[OmnicidalManiac he looks forward to the planet dying]]. In the second game, he's the only god to have zero complaints or objections to [[spoiler:Eothas destroying Berath's Wheel and wrecking the whole divine system, killing thousands in the process]]; to Rymrgand this is completely okay because it would've eventually ended on its own anyway. In fact, he tries to convince you to make the damage ''[[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt even worse]]'', because hey, may as well get it all done at once right? Needless to say, worship of Rymrgand isn't met with much more acceptance than Skaen worship. |
| 282 | ** Woedica is an interesting case. Nominally a god of law, justice, and oaths, her own rather flexible moral compass saw her eventually cast down from the role of TopGod. Perhaps as a consequence, she has extremely cynical views about mortal capabilities and frequently recommends courses of action that are aggressive and/or fatalistic. |
| 283 | * ''VideoGame/RiseOfTheKasai'': Kri. Neither it nor its followers make any attempt to hide or justify it. |
| 284 | * ''VideoGame/RomancingSaGa'' has a trio of evil gods, all three siblings: [[EveryoneHatesHades Death]], the eldest and warden of the underworld, [[LadyOfBlackMagic Schirach]], goddess of dark magic, and [[BigBad Saruin]], god of all that is evil. |
| 285 | * ''VideoGame/{{Sacrifice}}'': Charnel is a CardCarryingVillain God of Evil who is well aware of how important his place is in the pantheon. Amusingly, Charnel is publicly the most fervent opponent of the game's FinalBoss, OmnicidalManiac Marduk, as he doesn't like competitors. [[spoiler:It remains ambiguous just how much he knows about who's ''really'' responsible for summoning Marduk and whether his lines of reasoning for siccing you on the other gods are genuine or simply him using you to settle his old grudges.]] |
| 286 | * ''Franchise/{{Persona}}'': |
| 287 | ** Nyarlathotep, an EldritchAbomination AnthropomorphicPersonification of ''the entirety of Humanity's collective evil''. He was cast away at the end of ''VideoGame/Persona2''. |
| 288 | ** Other than Nyarlathotep, there are other god-like beings born out of malice in the ''Persona'' universe: [[VideoGame/Persona3 Erebus]] is a two-headed four-legged beast of darkness born out of humanity's suicidal thoughts that is desperately trying to awaken [[EldritchAbomination Nyx]] in order to die, along with humanity itself, and [[VideoGame/Persona4 Izanami]], who embodies lies and deceit and wants to envelop the world in fog and turn all humans into Shadows, because that's what she thinks humanity wants. |
| 289 | ** Nyx itself subverts this trope, as it's not malevolent, but due to its existence as an incarnation of death itself and how alien and incomprehensible it is, its very physical presence causes the world to end. |
| 290 | * ''Franchise/SilentHill'': The God of Silent Hill. Her angels are {{Humanoid Abomination}}s (see Valtiel), her followers are almost unquestionably murderous nutcases, and, as revealed in [[VideoGame/SilentHill3 the third game]], her idea of "Paradise" happens to involve bringing HellOnEarth. |
| 291 | * ''VideoGame/{{Smite}}'': Most of the gods, even those whose main theme is [[GodOfTheDead death]], can be considered neutral at worst. The closest one to this trope, however, is Ah Puch of the Mayan Pantheon, who rules over the deepest layer of Hell and is pretty much a SorcerousOverlord who wants to drag all living beings into a pit of eternal torment, especially those who are already sick or injured. This isn't a case of SadlyMythtaken; even real-life Mayans, who were generally more fearful of death than other Mesoamerican cultures, tended to avoid praying to him.. |
| 292 | * ''VideoGame/{{Okami}}'' has Yami, God of Darkness as the true villain of the game who happens to be a foil to Amaterasu in almost all the ways that matter. While Ammy is a nature goddess who represents the Sun and whose powers revolve around healing and creation, Yami is a God of Science responsible for granting mortals technology represented by the [[{{Lunacy}} cold and lifeless moon]] who adopts a [[MechanicalAbomination mechanical body]] and whose powers are wholly destructive. |
| 293 | * ''VideoGame/AVeryLongRopeToTheTopOfTheSky'': The Eater is "a fictional deity" that's "a representation of pure evil" as said by Genevieve in her history lessons. |
| 294 | * ''VideoGame/XenobladeChronicles'': |
| 295 | ** ''[[VideoGame/XenobladeChronicles1 Xenoblade Chronicles]]'': [[spoiler:Zanza]] turns out to be this retroactively; ''VideoGame/XenobladeChronicles2'' confirms that he was the half of [[spoiler:Professor Klaus]] who retained his unfettered ambition and malevolence, whereas [[spoiler:the Architect]] retained his hopes for humanity and benevolence. |
| 296 | ** ''VideoGame/XenobladeChronicles3'': Moebius Z is a much more straight example than [[spoiler:Zanza]], as Z is the embodiment of the negativity, fears, and selfishness of the people of Aionios, and exhibits this by expressing amusement in watching the denizens of Aionios suffer and continuously kill each other in a ForeverWar. |
| 297 | [[/folder]] |
| 298 | |
| 299 | [[folder:Visual Novels]] |
| 300 | * ''VisualNovel/FateStayNight'': Played with. During the Third Holy Grail War the Einzberns tried to guarantee a victory by summoning [[spoiler:the [[SuperRinger Zoroastrian god of evil, Angra Mainyu]]]]. It turns out that [[spoiler:the Grail can't actually summon gods]], so the Grail grabbed the closest thing it could find: [[spoiler:an ancient villager who was sacrificed by his people as the ''[[TheScapegoat representation]]'' of all their sins, who eventually became known in legend as Angra Mainyu. Having no special abilities he was quickly killed and absorbed by the Grail. But because this man represented the ''wish'' of those ancient villagers for there to exist a singular source of evil, the Grail [[BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor attempted to grant that wish]]. Had there been a victor in either the [[Literature/FateZero Fourth]] or [[VisualNovel/FateStayNight Fifth]] Grail Wars, he would have become a PhysicalGod]]. |
| 301 | [[/folder]] |
| 302 | |
| 303 | [[folder:Web Animation]] |
| 304 | |
| 305 | * ''WebAnimation/SockSeries'': The titular evil hamster is worshipped by his cult as this, rampantly murdering and torturing people seemingly for kicks... [[JerkassGods Not that the other gods]] [[EvilVsEvil are much better]]. In ''Empire'' we get a look at the Cult of Sock's creation myth, depicting Sock descending from a crack in the firmament with the other gods, implying some rather disturbing things about them all. ''Genesis of Sock'' confirms him to be an EldritchAbomination inimical to reality itself. |
| 306 | |
| 307 | [[/folder]] |
| 308 | |
| 309 | [[folder:Web Original]] |
| 310 | * Till from {{Creepypasta}} is a being created from the collective evil of all beings in the universe, be they angels, demons, humans and any other, even God. He was created by an "angel", quotation marks needed because he was very different from his siblings after Lucifer's rebellion. He accidentaly found the prison of the sins, an [[EldritchLocation Eldritch Location]] which held the evil, madness and worst parts of all beings in the universe and God punished him by trapping him inside, unable to handle the energies he created [[AnimalisticAbomination Till]], something capable of absorbing the evil indefinitely, and after absorbing enough, [[EldritchAbomination Till most definitely]] [[PhysicalGod fits this trope]]. |
| 311 | * The Website/QuestDen series ''Nice Save!'' has Quincy the god of [[ForTheEvulz gratuitous]] evil. His core precept is being an asshole to everyone, while [[SensoryAbuse wearing garish colors]]. He doesn't even empower his cultists, which makes even ''worshipping him'' an act of gratuitous evil in itself. This made him the ''only'' god to be targeted by ''all'' other gods with a KillOnSight order. |
| 312 | [[/folder]] |
| 313 | |
| 314 | [[folder:Webcomics]] |
| 315 | |
| 316 | * ''Webcomic/{{Digger}}'': "[[MadnessMantra Black Mother, pass us by! We are not here!]]" |
| 317 | * ''Webcomic/{{Oglaf}}'': Parodied. At one point, two preachers appear trying to convert everyone to their belief of a hateful angry god Sithrak promising an eternity of pain even to its followers. When one of them actually dies and meets him, the god tells them that the book they were reading was his old poetry book from when he was going trough a [[EmoTeen Teen]] {{Angst}} phase and that he doesn't really have any interest in hatred and pain like that, even sending the man back to warn the other followers. When the man does so, they believe Sithrak just hates them so much he is messing with their heads. |
| 318 | * ''Webcomic/SluggyFreelance'': The Demon King is worshiped by his demon followers and was powerful enough to defeat the Goddess of Goodness. He even sealed her away in a plastic baggie, which he kept in his refrigerator. |
| 319 | [[/folder]] |
| 320 | |
| 321 | [[folder:Western Animation]] |
| 322 | |
| 323 | * ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'': Vaatu, Book 2's BigBad. The spirit of chaos and darkness (not just ''a'' spirit, ''the'' spirit), he likes nothing better than corrupting spirits and letting them go on rampages, and [[EvilOnlyHasToWinOnce if he wins]] during Harmonic Convergence then he'll bring about TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt. |
| 324 | * ''WesternAnimation/SamuraiJack'': [[Characters/SamuraiJackAku Aku]], who is the incarnation of all evil and seeks to rule not just the world, but the entire universe. Interestingly, he is merely a small part derived from a mindless straight-up EldritchAbomination that was almost entirely destroyed by a pantheon of good gods. It took millions of years and a magic spell before he gained sentience and became the demon god of evil. |
| 325 | * ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans2003'': Trigon who, like his original comic book counterpart, is supposed to be the incarnation of all evil. |
| 326 | * ''WesternAnimation/MightyMax'': Lockjaw, who is specifically the god of violence, who's mere presence fills the mind of everyone near him with extreme rage. |
| 327 | * ''WesternAnimation/{{Tutenstein}}'': The recurring BigBad of the series is Set. He regularly hatches plots to take over the world. One episode also features him betraying Ra to Apep, the true Egyptian God of Evil, as a plot point. |
| 328 | * ''WesternAnimation/{{Villainous}}'': Lord Black Hat, a purely evil being with no clear limit to his power. He is so powerful, in fact, that he got [[NoChallengeEqualsNoSatisfaction bored of winning all the time]], and ultimately decided to start a business on earth in order to help other villains. |
| 329 | [[/folder]] |
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