| 1 | ->''And at the ninth hour, Christ shouted in a loud voice, "Eloi Eloi lama sabachthani?" which is translated, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"'' |
| 2 | -->-- '''[[Literature/TheFourGospels Mark 15:34]]''', ''Literature/TheBible'' |
| 3 | %%One quote per page is sufficient; put the rest on the Quote tab. |
| 4 | |
| 5 | {{God}} [[GodIsGood may be good]]. [[GodIsEvil God may be evil]]. We'd like to give you a more concrete answer on this, but... well, we can't find Him. |
| 6 | |
| 7 | God (or [[CrystalDragonJesus some other deity]]) appears to have abandoned His station, and all the angels and the [[CelestialBureaucracy rest of the heavenly engine]] are in a tizzy. Did [[SealedGoodInACan something happen to Him?]] Is He [[TheGodsMustBeLazy too bored to do anything?]] Or did He just decide that it all wasn't worth it anymore? |
| 8 | |
| 9 | Generally, the absence of a deity serves one or more of several purposes: |
| 10 | * One, it falls upon the heroes' shoulders to find out what happened to said deity and set things right. |
| 11 | * Two, it may establish the setting as a CrapsackWorld when even the deity in charge of it [[GodIsDispleased gives up in disgust]]. |
| 12 | * It's just a way of [[GodlySidestep welching on which religion is right.]] Note, neither [[Literature/BookofExodus Moses]], Abraham, UsefulNotes/{{Jesus}}, nor [[UsefulNotes/TheProphetMuhammad Muhammad]] will be present either. |
| 13 | * It allows [[OurAngelsAreDifferent Angels]] to be full characters without having their boss's moral and philosophical baggage getting in the way. |
| 14 | * God wants the universe to save itself, the end result being AllAccordingToPlan––which, considering it's God, is not that big of a stretch. |
| 15 | * And finally, in any story with Angels, full Saints, or other such characters, it allows the heroes' actions to have weight without an obvious DeusExMachina to save them from themselves. |
| 16 | * Any combination of the above is also possible. |
| 17 | |
| 18 | In God's absence, the CouncilOfAngels may be running the show, but they aren't guaranteed to be doing a good job... |
| 19 | |
| 20 | Sometimes it's revealed that God decided to do it this way to allow free will, as micromanaging the Israelites in the Old Testament didn't turn out so well. Honestly, all this complaining about Him being a dictator, and now you're complaining He's letting you do it your way? Make up your minds! He'll show up from time to time as an adviser, but usually only [[GodWasMyCoPilot the interactee will only realize who it was after the events]]––if at all. If He's ''really'' good at it, [[InMysteriousWays it won't look like He did anything at all.]] One way to go about this is if there are PiecesOfGod in each of the characters. |
| 21 | |
| 22 | Compare AllPowerfulBystander, GodIsEvil, NeglectfulPrecursors and RageAgainstTheHeavens. Contrast DevilButNoGod. In polytheistic settings, it's possible for there not to be a god because the GodOfEvil ''[[GodIsDead killed Him]].'' |
| 23 | |
| 24 | See also CrisisOfFaith, where a single character's ''faith'' in God is what they can't find. Can be played out this way on a metaphorical level as that character's "search for God". Part of the criteria for a work falling in Class 2 on the SlidingScaleOfDivineIntervention. |
| 25 | |
| 26 | ---- |
| 27 | !!Examples |
| 28 | [[foldercontrol]] |
| 29 | |
| 30 | [[folder:Anime and Manga]] |
| 31 | * God spends most of ''Manga/AngelSanctuary'' holed up in a tower away from the rest of the universe. [[spoiler:Turns out to [[GodIsEvil be evil]], though]]. |
| 32 | * Mamoru Oshii's ''Anime/AngelsEgg'' is actually about God forsaking the occupants of Noah's Ark after starting the Flood but never allowing the waters to recede... [[MindScrew maybe]]. |
| 33 | * In the shonen-ai manga ''Innocent Bird'', God is not there, and the angels have taken over in the least likable manner. However the devil is still evil, yet everything in between appears to have a limited choice as in--they can act how they want but their side will try to punish them. |
| 34 | * The Transformers wind up finding their god/creator Primus midway through ''Anime/TransformersCybertron'' after who-knows-how-long. How they missed [[spoiler: the fact that their planet ''turns into a robot'']] is also unknown. |
| 35 | * ''Anime/AngelBeats'' takes place in the afterlife, and there's a violent Angel wandering around, but God doesn't show himself; whether he actually exists is unclear for most of the series. It's eventually revealed that [[spoiler:there used to be a God, but he seems to have [[MindScrew turned into an [=NPC=], or something.]] "Angel" is actually not an angel, but a regular person who has partially reprogrammed herself. The former God apparently deified himself in a similar way.]] |
| 36 | * In ''Anime/DeathParade'', after people die, they are sent to be judged by beings known as arbiters to determine if they will reincarnate or get sent to [[TheNothingAfterDeath the void]]. The most powerful of the arbiters, Oculus, claims that [[AGodAmI he is the closest thing to a god in the series]]. When another arbiter calls him out on this, he privately says to himself that God hasn't been around for quite some time. |
| 37 | * While Yashima of ''Anime/{{Kamichu}}'' is not ''the'' God but one of an enormously large number of Shinto gods, he goes missing some time prior to the start of the series, so that Yurie has to go looking for him in the second episode. |
| 38 | * In ''Manga/BloodyCross'', God has apparently disappeared or is otherwise gone and various "God candidates" are competing against each other to gather "[[PiecesOfGod God's inheritances]]", artifacts that contain some of God's power so that they can use that power to become the new God. |
| 39 | * God has not yet bothered to show Himself in ''Literature/ACertainMagicalIndex''. Given that Gabriel and the other angels have been shown to exist, it's reasonable to assume God does too. [[spoiler:Some [[EpilepticTrees speculation abounds]] that the hero, Touma, is God's unwitting SpannerInTheWorks in the conflict, since Touma's power seems to be a mystery to even the most knowledgeable characters in the series, and is speculated to be of divine origin.]] |
| 40 | * ''Literature/SundayWithoutGod'' introduces us to a world which was abandoned by God fifteen years ago. Because of this, no new human beings are born and people who die [[TheUndead don't stop living]] unless buried by a certain type of [[ArtificialHuman gravekeeper]]. The reason for His absence is still unknown. At least one character claims that this is just a story people made up to explain what happened. In fact, it seems what really happened is that [[TheMagicComesBack The Magic Came Back]] and everyone's wishes started coming true. |
| 41 | * In ''Anime/JewelpetKiraDeco'', the Jewelpets go on the quest to find the Deco Stones because they want their goddess out of her millenia-long depression-caused TakenForGranite state. |
| 42 | * ''Literature/SoImASpiderSoWhat'': |
| 43 | ** Evil God D got bored with her job administering the cycle of reincarnation and ran away to play video games on Earth. Given the Maid and her subordinates were looking for her, D tried to distract them with a [[spoiler:reincarnated spider, onto which she grafted a portion of her soul and mind, creating Kumoko]]. The distraction ultimately failed and the Maid eventually dragged D back to work when she got careless. |
| 44 | ** This is not the only position D has neglected. As its creator, she was in charge of maintaining the [[spoiler:Skill System]] and ensuring [[spoiler:Potimas]] didn't get out of hand. Eventually she got bored and stopped paying attention, resulting in [[spoiler:Potimas]] finding an opportunity for mischief. |
| 45 | [[/folder]] |
| 46 | |
| 47 | [[folder:Card Games]] |
| 48 | * ''TabletopGame/MagicTheGathering'': The closest thing the people of Innistrad have to a goddess, the archangel Avacyn, goes missing sometime before the story first visits the plane. Since she's the only thing keeping the local [[FurAgainstFang vampires and werewolves]] and other supernatural nasties in check, the entire plane stars going downhill pretty rapidly. Her [[BadAssPreacher priests]] try to keep up the slack, but it's a losing battle. |
| 49 | ** Literally done by the [[https://scryfall.com/card/isd/2/angel-of-flight-alabaster Angel of Flight Alabaster]]: |
| 50 | --->''She endures without Avacyn but secretly asks each soul she guides if it has seen her.'' |
| 51 | ** It turns out there's a good reason they can't find her: [[spoiler:She was drawn into the Helvault, a [[SealedEvilInACan can that she created for sealing demons she couldn't slay]], [[SealedGoodInACan by accident]].]] |
| 52 | [[/folder]] |
| 53 | |
| 54 | [[folder:Comic Books]] |
| 55 | * ''ComicBook/{{Preacher}}''. When God ends up creating something just as powerful as he is, he abandons ship, leaving Heaven to clean up the mess. When Jesse finds out about this, he decides to track down God and deliver the crunchiest of beatings. |
| 56 | * ''ComicBook/{{Spawn}}'' has God disappearing for four years, and the archangels keeping it secret. |
| 57 | * One arc of ''ComicBook/TheAuthority'' has God ''returning'' after an absence of billions of years. He's not too impressed to see his retirement home's been overrun by termites. Keep in mind, "God" in this setting is a gigantic, pyramid-shaped EldritchAbomination who physically created the Earth and moved it into its orbit around the sun, intending to use it as a home upon its return. However, it is NOT the creator of humanity, or life in general, as that is just the accidental result of an asteroid crash billions of years ago. [[spoiler: The Authority ends up having to lobotomize the being to keep it from destroying humanity]]. |
| 58 | * ''ComicBook/TheSandman1989'': |
| 59 | ** Morpheus is kept captive between the years 1916 and 1989. During that time, the dream world runs wild. |
| 60 | ** An entire arc is spent resolving the fate of Hell when Lucifer quits and gives Dream guardianship of the keys to the gates. In essence, Dream chooses the next ruler of Hell. [[spoiler: A pair of angels take over by direct command of God, and resume business as usual, except with the end goal of redemption, rather than punishment.]] |
| 61 | * In Mike Carey's ''ComicBook/{{Lucifer}}'' series, God admitted that He had set up ''all of history from Creation onward'' as training for His hand-picked replacements - Lucifer and Michael (ironically, Michael the Good Boy proved to be a disappointment to Him). When that didn't work, God abandoned the universe, which immediately [[NoOntologicalInertia began to disintegrate]] from lack of Divine Will maintaining its existence. The universe was saved by [[spoiler:Michael's daughter Elaine taking over as the new Supreme Being]]. |
| 62 | * In a rather surreal arc of ''ComicBook/{{The Spectre}}'', the titular angelic spirit finds the throne of God in Heaven empty, and later finds what is supposedly 'God' eating his own creations in a way remiscent of Kronos eating Zeus and the other Olympians in Greek Mythology. It turns out that this was all a test for the Spectre, or something. [[GainaxEnding It's not that clear.]] |
| 63 | * God in ''ComicBook/JohnnyTheHomicidalManiac'' admits to having done nothing since the creation of the Universe. |
| 64 | * In ComicBook/{{Bone}}, the dragons (which are not technically Gods, but they're the series' {{Big Good}}s and are very long-lived creatures well in touch with the spiritual forces of the ComicBook/{{Bone}} Universe) end up going underground to sleep instead of protecting the Valley people or attempting to do anything about [[spoiler: the Lord of the Locusts.]] |
| 65 | * In one ''Comicbook/GhostRider'' story it was revealed that {{God}}'s throne in Heaven is empty. Curiously, a ''Comicbook/FearItself'' tie-in of ''ComicBook/JourneyIntoMysteryGillen'' reveals that {{Satan}}'s throne is also empty. It is shown Lucifer is real, but Satan is more of a title no hell-lord is strong enough to claim. Instead, they judge themselves by how close to it they dare put their own thrones. |
| 66 | * Elsewhere in the Franchise/MarvelUniverse, there are many nigh-all-powerful cosmic beings, and even ''Scarlet Witch'' can rewrite reality and history at will on a good day. The "One Above All" seems to be Marvel's version of capital-G God. Meanwhile, if there's a DealWithTheDevil about, or someone after people's souls, or a master of a FireAndBrimstoneHell, it's always going to be the ComicBook/SilverSurfer's nemesis Mephisto. It's unknown where they fit into this (though sometimes the devil in Ghost Rider's origin story is Mephisto.) |
| 67 | * ''ComicBook/TheTick'' has Agrippa; Roman God of The Aqueduct. He was the last member of the Hellenistic pantheon to come into existance, and was told to report on Mt Olympus the next day, only to find the gates locked, with a note saying that all the other Gods had to try and "start something new on Jupiter". They havent been seen since, and Agrippa has just stuck around performing superheroics. |
| 68 | * ''Franchise/WonderWoman'' |
| 69 | ** ''ComicBook/WonderWoman1987'': Post-Flashpoint has had this happen several times as the Olympian pantheon has abandoned Earth more than once for various reasons (Zeus deciding to stay out of human affairs, fleeing ComicBook/{{Darkseid}}, etc.) though this doesn't really affect anyone other than Wonder Woman herself and the Amazons, since they're the only remaining Hellenistic worshippers on Earth. On at least one occasion they took the Amazons (other than Wonder Woman herself) with them. |
| 70 | ** ''ComicBook/WonderWoman2011'': The question of just what has happened to Zeus drives the first part of the tale, with the revelation that he's died leading to the rest of Creator/BrianAzzarello's arc. |
| 71 | [[/folder]] |
| 72 | |
| 73 | [[folder:Fan Works]] |
| 74 | * ''Fanfic/DigimonAdventureSideOrder'': Due to the apocalypse that destroyed human civilization, Homeostasis is notably missing (and possibly destroyed), as confirmed by Gennai, and Yggdrasil was destroyed by the previous generation of Digidestined at some point due to its KnightTemplar tendencies. [[spoiler:O.R.C.A. may have taken over both their roles.]] |
| 75 | * ''Fanfic/PercyJacksonSpirits'': No one has seen the Great Spirit of Air, Vayu, since the Air Nomad massacre, and the Fire Great Spirit, Agni, has isolated himself from the rest of the Spirit World. The Mother of Faces is in the human world and unaware of what's going on, the Ocean Spirit is still in mourning for Tui, and the Spirit of Earth is willing to help but slow to get going. Yue is willing to help, but thanks to Unalaq her ability to actually do so is rather limited. |
| 76 | * ''[[Fanfic/TeenTitansWitchHunt Teen Titans:Witch-Hunt]]'': Circe's motive for all the chaos she causes, from raising the dead to attacking Atlantis to nearly starting a civil war between Amazons, is to force her patron goddess Hecate, who's been missing for millennia, to show herself. [[spoiler:The truth is it's less a case of a follower seeking out her God than a daughter demanding an audience with her distant mother.]] |
| 77 | [[/folder]] |
| 78 | |
| 79 | [[folder:Film]] |
| 80 | * ''Film/{{Dogma}}'' puts the responsibility on the shoulders of the main characters after God seemingly vanishes from Heaven. Then again, it's not exactly as if it's [[spoiler:Her]] fault in this case. |
| 81 | * ''Film/TwoOfAKind1983'' begins with God coming back from one of these absences, discovering everything has gone to pot while he was gone, and deciding it's time to wipe the slate clean and start over again. |
| 82 | * ''Film/{{Begotten}}'' opens with the grisly scene of God Killing Himself (that's the character name according to the end credits) via disembowelment. Mother Earth emerges from his body and uses his sperm to impregnate herself, giving birth to Son Of Earth - Flesh On Bone. Mother and Son encounter faceless dwarves who first worship them and then brutally murder them. Plants sprout from their interred bodies, implying that life goes on but presumably without gods. |
| 83 | * ''Film/BruceAlmighty'': God takes a couple days off. The reason? Because he was sick and tired of Bruce moaning all the time. God only left Bruce's home city, though. It's implied that this isn't the first time that God did this-when Bruce commented on him taking a break he replied by saying "Ever heard of the Dark Ages?" |
| 84 | * '' Film/TheDevilsAdvocate'': Creator/AlPacino in his over-the-top speech accuses God of being "an absentee landlord." |
| 85 | * The resident Weird Religion Guy in ''Film/MajorLeague'' gets fed up asking his god for help, and prays the following before his last at bat in the big game: "I'm pissed off now, Jobu. Look, I go to you. I stick up for you. You don't help me now. I say 'Fuck you,' Jobu, I do it myself." He hit an impressive home run. |
| 86 | * In the first ''Film/MajorLeague'' movie, Pedro Cerrano is a voodoo practitioner and the best power hitter on the team, with the caveat that until the BigGame he can't hit a curveball to save his life. In the first sequel, it turns out that in between seasons Cerrano became a [[UsefulNotes/{{Buddhism}} Buddhist]], of the excessively pacifistic variety. Without his "edge" he can now barely hit at all let alone just missing curve balls, and is so peaceful doesn't seem to even CARE to improve. After some needling and comments about [[UnusualEuphemism his "marbles"]], he eventually "introduces" Jobu, his old voodoo deity, and Buddha, figures out how to channel his aggressive strength without losing his center. At that point he begins (as stated by the [[BigBad team's owner]]) "bashing the ball like the Cerrano of old." |
| 87 | * Creator/MartinScorsese's ''Film/{{Silence}}'' and the novel by Creator/ShusakuEndo from which it derives has several characters wondering why God is doing nothing while persecution is visited on true believing Christians. [[spoiler:Near the end, the main character Fr. Rodrigues hears a voice that tells him that God is suffering with Rodrigues and all his people]]. |
| 88 | * This is Sybok's motivation in ''Film/StarTrekVTheFinalFrontier'', and he drags the Enterprise to the center of the galaxy to find Him. He, however, is not who He seems to be, so it all ends in tears for him. |
| 89 | * Many of Creator/IngmarBergman's films were devoted to dealing with "the silence of God", wondering if God really exists in a modern world: |
| 90 | ** ''Film/ThroughAGlassDarkly'' has one character believe that [[spoiler:God [[EldritchAbomination is a spider]] utterly indifferent to human suffering]]. |
| 91 | ** ''Film/WinterLight'' deals with a priest losing his faith in his service and vocation after many years running a flock where fewer and fewer people attend church. |
| 92 | * In ''Film/WhatDreamsMayCome'' (much of which takes place in the Afterlife), we have the following exchange: |
| 93 | -->'''Chris Nielsen''': "Where is God in all of this?"\ |
| 94 | '''Albert''': "Oh, He's up there. Somewhere... shouting down that He loves us. Wondering why we can't hear Him. You think?" |
| 95 | [[/folder]] |
| 96 | |
| 97 | [[folder:Literature]] |
| 98 | * In ''Literature/TheBelgariad'', all the gods pick a people except Aldur (he gets a few disciples later on) because he loved the world itself too much to tie himself down. This leaves a whole bunch of people godless, and they do various stuff to fill the void. (Worshiping demons, that sort of thing) then one day one of the Godless finds out there's ANOTHER god that didn't pick a people, so he goes looking for him, and eventually embarrasses him enough so that he accepts him. |
| 99 | * It is hinted in ''[[https://thecrewofthecoppercoloredcupids.wordpress.com/2020/03/22/the-dark-cabaret/ The Dark Cabaret]]'' that God is no longer around in the Prime Universe of ''Literature/TheCrewOfTheCopperColoredCupids'', as the biblical Angels appear to be taking orders not from him, but from "Lord Samiel". |
| 100 | * In ''Literature/TheMalloreon'', this becomes much more nuanced. The Godless actually split into several different groups: The ones mentioned above became the Ulgos (followers of UL); the ones to the south became the Dals, who explore the more esoteric magical mysteries of the world; the ones to the north became demon worshipers (and split into the more 'civilized' Karands who gave it up partially and the Morindim who still do it extensively); finally, the Melcenes to the east were actually the first of ''any'' people to form a civilization, and they remain happily godless. At the end, it turns out that there was yet another deity who hadn't arrived yet, and this time he's supposed to be everyone's God. |
| 101 | * In ''Literature/DuneMessiah'' the Reverend Mother Gaius Hellen Mohiam asks Emperor Paul-Muad'dib Atreides if he believes in the God whose Word forms the basis of his right to rule. His answer comes out to "eh, maybe", as he (correctly) judged that they were trying to undermine his religion. Considering that the Bene Gesserit ''manufacture'' religions to suit their needs, they were being blatantly hypocritical. |
| 102 | * In ''Literature/TheLionTheWitchAndTheWardrobe'', every aspect of this is subverted. The heroes have to learn that it's not their business to find out what happened to said deity and that only Aslan can set things right; the setting is revealed not to be a CrapsackWorld despite the best efforts of the White Witch; there is no welching on which religion is right (though it does not become overly obvious until later books); the Narnian parallel to angels seem helpless until they regain "their Boss' moral and philosophical baggage"; Aslan does ''not'' want "the universe to save itself" but to recognize that it is incapable of saving itself; and finally, although the heroes' actions have weight, Aslan (and prophecy) remains as an obvious Deus ex Machina to save them from themselves, literally in the case of at least one character in every single book of the series. |
| 103 | * It's explained in passing in ''Literature/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxyTrilogy'' that God "vanished in a puff of logic" after man disproved his existence with a LogicBomb involving the [[TranslatorMicrobes Babel fish]] and GodNeedsPrayerBadly. ''Literature/SoLongAndThanksForAllTheFish'' has Arthur and Fenchurch traveling to a far-off planet to witness God's final message to his creation: "WE APOLOGISE FOR THE INCONVENIENCE", written in giant flaming letters. The characters do not question its divine origin. |
| 104 | * The ''Literature/HisDarkMaterials'' trilogy has the entity that everyone thinks is God--actually just the first angel, too old for anyone to contradict him--reduced practically to nonexistence after millennia of rule. Still, his followers fight on in his name, generally making a mess of things on Earth. |
| 105 | * The gods of Krynn in the ''Literature/{{Dragonlance}}'' novels abandon the material plane after the [[KnightTemplar knight templars]] start acting like they command the gods, rather than vice versa. They come back after being sought out, only to vanish again when someone steals the world ''from'' them. Naturally, that doesn't stick, either. On an interesting note, this plane is a ''lot'' more understanding to atheists than most ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' settings; because really, who can blame them? |
| 106 | * The TabletopGame/ForgottenRealms ''Literature/WarOfTheSpiderQueen'' novel series had Lolth apparently vanish. A crack team of freaks is sent to find out "What the ''hell'', woman? ...ma'am. Your Awesomeness." One of them wins divine ascension. One earns freedom. One gets a FateWorseThanDeath. The other one just gets death. |
| 107 | * ''Literature/GodsDebris'' has this as the origin of the central philosophy: [[spoiler: God destroyed himself in the Big Bang, and all matter, energy, and probability is [[TitleDrop God's debris]].]] |
| 108 | * In Alan Campbell's ''Literature/DeepgateCodex'' series, Ayen, mother and queen of the gods, has exiled all of the other gods from Heaven, and locked its gates against both gods and human souls. (The other gods claim she went insane, but then, we only have their side of the story, and most of them don't come across as the most trustworthy types.) One result of this is that, with Heaven closed, ''all'' human souls now go to Hell instead. (Apart from some that end up in [[FateWorseThanDeath even worse places]].) This has unfortunate consequences when people figure out that it no longer matters whether they were good or evil in life... |
| 109 | * Garth Nix's ''Literature/KeysToTheKingdom'' heptalogy features a universe missing its deity, The Architect. Turns out she [[spoiler:split herself into the protagonist and antagonists.]] |
| 110 | * Temporary variant: at the beginning of Creator/HollyLisle's novel ''Hell on High'', God announces he's taking his first vacation in, well, ever. Two angels take advantage of his not being around to go AWOL to Earth, so they can try to convince a demon they knew before the Fall to repent and return. At the end of the book, God comes back and reveals [[spoiler:he was giving them an opportunity to do just that]]. |
| 111 | * [[Literature/TheInquisitorCycle The Inquisitor Madderdin series]] by Jacek Piekara is set in an alternative medieval Christianity where Christ didn't die for our sins, but instead stepped of the Cross to punish the evil with a massacre of Jerusalem ("And give us the strength not to forgive our sinners" is part of the Our Father prayer). Even though Angels clearly exist and prayer works, at least in some ways, [[spoiler:God himself is reportedly missing and Angels have no idea how to even look for him. Well, some of them have a very strange idea which makes the main protagonist very uncomfortable...]] |
| 112 | * Creator/TerryPratchett's ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'': |
| 113 | ** ''Literature/SmallGods'': |
| 114 | *** [[InvertedTrope Inverted]]: the Great God Om has been reduced to an angry, powerless tortoise because, of all his millions of "worshipers," [[GodsNeedPrayerBadly only one person actually believes in him any more]]. Until Om finds Brutha, it's less "Have You Seen My God?" than "Have You Seen My Follower?" |
| 115 | *** There is the general idea that, if the Discworld universe has a Supreme Being, it's probably best ''not'' to attract his attention. |
| 116 | *** Brutha does this in a very specific way. In fact, it usually takes the form of [[RunningGag this exchange]]: |
| 117 | ---->'''Brutha''': Have you seen my tortoise? |
| 118 | ---->'''Any random character Brutha is addressing''': No. But there's good eating on a tortoise ... |
| 119 | %%** Something very similar to this trope happens in ''Literature/ReaperMan'' and ''Literature/SoulMusic'', in which Death goes missing, presumed...er... |
| 120 | ** Variation in ''{{Literature/Hogfather}}'', when the [[SantaClaus titular character]] goes missing [[spoiler: thanks to the Auditors]] and it's up to Susan to bring him back (with a little help from grandfather Death, of course). |
| 121 | ** In ''Literature/MonstrousRegiment'', Nuggan is basically the God of {{Strongly Worded Letter}}s and deity of the state religion of [[{{Ruritania}} Borogravia]]. [[spoiler: He turns out to be outright ''dead'', having suffered the fate that nearly befell Om in ''Small Gods''. [[AndThereWasMuchRejoicing Not many Borogravians were particularly sorry about this when they found out]].]] |
| 122 | * The main premise of Towing Jehova by James Morrow is that God's two-mile-long, naked corpse has dropped into the Atlantic. |
| 123 | * God isn't actually missing in ''Literature/GoodOmens'', but hasn't given anyone a straight answer or direct instruction since shortly after the creation. The angels think they are carrying out the divine will, but that's left rather ambiguous. |
| 124 | * Creator/PatriciaAMcKillip's ''Literature/TheRiddleMasterTrilogy'' has elementals and humans with elemental inheritance, the most powerful of whom is the High One. The problem is no one has any idea where he is or what he's doing. |
| 125 | * In [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stefano_Benni Stefano Benni's]] ''Spiriti'', a depressed God could only find solace in music. He quit his creation in disgust after Music/JohnLennon's assassination, and the world is now run by spirits. |
| 126 | * In Creator/RobertEHoward's "Literature/TheTowerOfTheElephant", Franchise/ConanTheBarbarian prefers the hands-off approach of his people's gods. |
| 127 | -->''His gods were simple and understandable; Crom was their chief, and he lived on a great mountain, whence he sent forth dooms and death. It was useless to call on Crom, because he was a gloomy, savage god, and he hated weaklings. But he gave a man courage at birth, and the will and might to kill his enemies, which, in the Cimmerian's mind, was all any god should be expected to do.'' |
| 128 | * ''Literature/PercyJacksonAndTheOlympians'': |
| 129 | ** In "The Titan's Curse" [[spoiler: Artemis]] goes missing. In ''Literature/TheHeroesOfOlympus'' [[spoiler: the gods close off Olympus and abandon mankind.]] In "The Lost Hero", [[spoiler: Hera is kidnapped.]] |
| 130 | ** A recurring plotline is the disappearance and/or death of Pan, the god of the wild. The satyrs loyal to the Olympians have spent millennia trying to find out why. By the end of book four, Grover finally finds what's left of him, but [[spoiler:he's on life support and as good as dead. Pan urges Grover to find another way to restore nature, as the wild is finally dead]]. |
| 131 | * ''Literature/TheHeroesOfOlympus'' series: |
| 132 | ** Subverted; Olympus has been closed and all the [[Myth/GreekMythology gods]] have gone MIA on the orders of Zeus himself. However, several of the other gods thought this was foolish, and so have continued to communicate with the mortal world, abet covertly. |
| 133 | ** In ''The Son of Neptune'' he seems to have changed his mind (or bowed to the inevitability of the others meddling making the plan moot), allowing Mars to order a quest. That or his more responsible Jupiter aspect can no longer ignore the situation and knows something must be done. |
| 134 | ** In ''The House of Hades'' the impending war between the Greeks and the Romans has caused the Greek and Roman sides of the gods to fight one another, rendering most major gods incapacitated unless one of their children does something particularly spectacular. |
| 135 | * The Church of Jesus Christ the Kidnapped from the Creator/KurtVonnegut novel ''Slapstick''. |
| 136 | * Shows up in Literature/TheBible: |
| 137 | ** Elijah is engaged in a spirit duel with 450 priests of Baal to see whose god will answer their prayers by igniting a sacrifice that has been prepared, but not lit aflame. The priests of Baal go first, and when Baal does not answer their prayers, Elijah starts mocking them, suggesting that they should pray louder because maybe Baal is sleeping or on a journey somewhere (one of his statements is sometimes translated as Baal having a PottyEmergency). Eventually, they give up and let Elijah have his turn. To showcase YHWH's omnipotence and utterly humiliate the posers, Elijah tells his servants to dump twelve buckets of water on the bull before he prays. YHWH then sends fire down from heaven to consume the sacrifice, water and all. The God of Israel neither slumbers nor sleeps. |
| 138 | ** A straighter example also occurs when Christ is on the cross: "My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?" |
| 139 | * In the short story "The Humanic Complex" by Ray Russell, God is not so much missing as suffering from the delusion that He is merely human. An angel is sent to Him in what amounts to a therapy session. It doesn't go well. |
| 140 | * In ''Literature/{{Mistborn}}'', the Terris Keepers have been actively looking for their religion and which god they worshipped for a millennium (since the setting is ruled by a tyrannical GodEmperor who tried his hardest to wipe out all other religions and had a particularly virulent hatred for the Terris for spoilery reasons). [[spoiler:Turns out that though all the religions they'd collected on the way had truth, the Terris religion was the only one to directly revere the real gods. What's more, at the end of the trilogy the last Keeper actually BECOMES the new God.]] |
| 141 | * In ''Siewca Wiatru'' (''The Wind Sower'') by Maja Lidia Kossakowska, God has left the Kingdom long ago, taking the Lady of the Angels, Metatron and the Seraphim with him. Between the Angel leaders hiding the truth from the heavenly populace, the Angel of Destruction going rogue and God's evil counterpart getting ready to return into existence, things go south very quickly. |
| 142 | * In Creator/LoisMcMasterBujold's [[Literature/TheSharingKnife Wide Green World series]], the gods are said to have left when the first of the [[EldritchAbomination malices]] showed up, so a common oath is "Absent gods!" |
| 143 | * In Creator/TimMarquitz's ''Literature/DemonSquad'' books, Lucifer and God both depart creation to preserve human free will. The problem is this means both their angel and demonic servants are ''very'' upset with mankind over this. |
| 144 | * Subverted in ''Literature/TheElenium'': unlike the many, many other deities in the setting, the Elene God never makes his presence known and doesn't deign to grant [[ReligionIsMagic magic]] to his followers, despite being incredibly powerful due to his huge number of worshipers. However, he's later confirmed to be present, albeit "stuffy" and happy to delegate; the minor goddess Aphrael complains about having to chat with him when she visits someone inside his church. |
| 145 | * In ''Literature/TheSpiritThief'', it eventually turns out the Creator vanished when he left the world in search of a way to [[spoiler:destroy demons]] and left his three children in charge. He promised them he'd be gone for some five hundred years, a millennium tops, but the story begins five thousand years after his disappearance and he's still nowhere to be seen. |
| 146 | * In Piers Anthony's ''Literature/IncarnationsOfImmortality'' series, both Heaven and Hell are very clearly and explicitly real, Satan is present and very active, and angels occasionally appear ... but God is mysteriously absent. It's finally revealed in the sixth book that [[spoiler: He is still around, but "indisposed" (read: entirely absorbed in contemplating His own perfection and effectively comatose), and the angels have basically been covering for Him when necessary]]. Satan wants to change this, but the Archangel Michael isn't convinced that would be a good idea and prefers to keep the status quo. God's predecessor JHVH is also still around (though all but powerless, and, by the time Satan meets Him, weak and sickly), and He and Satan are actually on pretty good terms. It helps that JHVH knows Satan is [[spoiler: a pretty nice guy rather than the asshole he seems to be to most of the other incarnations; said assholery is necessary due to a bet Satan made with Michael, but since JHVH already knows all about the situation re: God, Satan is allowed to help Him as long as nobody else finds out about it]]. In the end, [[spoiler:the other Incarnations impeach God, removing Him from office, and make a rather creative choice of a new God.]] |
| 147 | * ''Literature/CradleSeries'': [[CouncilOfAngels The Abidan]] speak of Adriel, the Judge of Creation, a being above even the current Judges, who could create Iterations outright instead of having to stitch them together out of fragments. He disappeared before the current Court was founded. In fact, it's not entirely clear if he ever existed at all, or if he is something of a myth to explain the presence of so many varied worlds. Regardless, there is no other higher, omnipotent being, leaving the ruling of reality to the incomprehensibly powerful but still human Judges. |
| 148 | * ''Literature/{{Inkmistress}}'': When Ina wins the throne without bonding to the gods, they leave Zumorda, abandoning the realm. |
| 149 | [[/folder]] |
| 150 | |
| 151 | [[folder:Live-Action TV]] |
| 152 | * ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'': |
| 153 | ** In Season 4, Dean Winchester gets recruited by the Angels on God's apparent orders to stop the Apocalypse. It is later revealed that only the four Archangels (one of whom is Lucifer, and another is missing) have even seen the man, and other Angels have to take it on faith that he even exists. God has in fact left Heaven long ago, and much of season 5 is spent trying to find a way to reach him. But except for a single DeusExMachina, he rejects the plea for help because he refuses to actively participate in creation any longer. |
| 154 | ** The season five finale throws us one more twist at the end, strongly implying that [[spoiler: [[AuthorAvatar Chuck]], the whiny prophet with a penchant for booze and prostitutes]], is actually God. If anything, God seems to work InMysteriousWays in this show before leaving for good after Lucifer is defeated. |
| 155 | ** In Season 11, [[spoiler: It is confirmed that Chuck is, indeed, God. He left because [[HumansAreBastards He lost faith in humanity]], but the return of his sister TheAntiGod forces him to take an active part again.]] |
| 156 | ** Season 14 reveals that it's even worse. [[spoiler:Chuck has created numerous worlds, but discards most of them as failed drafts of a story. He's really just a bored writer with an occasional nasty streak when his creations don't play along.]] |
| 157 | * In Creator/StephenColbert's Christmas special, he prays for a miracle and gets put on hold. |
| 158 | * In ''Series/{{Dominion}}'', God mysteriously vanished and Gabriel went to war with humanity under the assumption they were responsible for it. |
| 159 | * In ''Series/Preacher2016'', it is revealed using an angel phone that god is missing and none of the angels know where he is. Top level angels are currently pretending that he is in heaven in order to not start a panic. |
| 160 | [[/folder]] |
| 161 | |
| 162 | [[folder:Music]] |
| 163 | * Considering how wretched the world Music/TomWaits sings about is, it's no surprise that "God's Away on Business" from ''Music/BloodMoney'' |
| 164 | -->''Who are the ones that we kept in charge?''\ |
| 165 | ''[[AmoralAttorney Killers, thieves, and lawyers!]]'' |
| 166 | * Dan Le Sac vs. Scroobius Pip has ''Letter from God'' which starts with God saying "I know I haven't been around for a while / Because it didn't seem like you wanted me to be." |
| 167 | * In "God" from ''Under the Pink'', Music/ToriAmos bemoans "sometimes you just don't come through" and asks "why you always go when the wind blows"? |
| 168 | * Or in other words, this trope is something of a goldmine for ReligionRantSong material. |
| 169 | * The ConceptAlbum ''The Funeral of God'' by metalcore band Zao revolves around this trope. God, fed up with [[HumansAreBastards humanity's immorality]], decides to disappear and let mankind continue its existence without Him. [[FromBadToWorse Shit]] [[CrapsackWorld ensues]]. |
| 170 | * Music/AmonAmarth's song "Where Is Your God?" is essentially being told from the perspective of a Viking raider telling a Christian that his faith won't save him from being killed. |
| 171 | * Joan Osborne's "One of Us", while the TropeNamer for WhatIfGodWasOneOfUs, also has heavy shades of this trope, implying that God is not up on his throne in control and running things, but merely down here wandering around anonymously with humans, out of touch with the rest of the CelestialBureaucracy. |
| 172 | * The ''Film/SpiderMan1'' theme "Hero" opens with an invocation of this, though the "heaven" also means [[HoldingOutForAHero an earthly savior]]. |
| 173 | -->I am so high, I can hear heaven But heaven, heaven don't hear me |
| 174 | * The chorus of Music/{{Oasis}}' "Falling Down" has Noel Gallagher singing that he "tried to God to no avail", if only to say "If you won't save me, please don't waste my time". He made it clear that [[http://www.clashmusic.com/feature/noel-gallagher "I certainly don’t believe in religion, although I find it fascinating that it’s become so powerful in the world and it’s kind of dictated morals down through societies for thousands of years, but I don’t see the hand of God at work in the world anywhere."]] |
| 175 | * "God's Kitchen" by Blancmange comes down on the side of God's absence, but arrives there via some SurrealHumor involving the narrator physically looking for God hiding somewhere in his house. |
| 176 | * "Prayer" by Labi Siffre pulls a BaitAndSwitch: it starts off sounding like a genuine recommendation to pray for a better world, before pointing out that [[ChildrenAreInnocent innocent children]] still die all the time, and ultimately concluding that "maybe God has gone to sleep". |
| 177 | [[/folder]] |
| 178 | |
| 179 | [[folder:Podcasts]] |
| 180 | * Occurs in ''Podcast/TheAdventureZoneBalance'' when Pan [[spoiler: stops responding to Merle's prayers]]; shortly after that Kravitz [[spoiler: loses contact with the Raven Queen]]. This is because [[spoiler: when the Hunger invades a planar system, it severs the metaphysical Bonds connecting the planes together.]] |
| 181 | * ''Podcast/TheFallenGods'' deals with this on a worldwide level. The gods of [[Literature/{{Dragonlance}} Krynn]] hid themselves away to protect themselves from Chaos, and now the party has to find them again in order to keep the world from falling apart. Of course several gods disappearing has caused several unintended consequences as well, with dark clerics and sinister wizards running amok. |
| 182 | * One of the early subplots in ''Podcast/{{Jemjammer}}''. Jylliana has to contend with her connection to her goddess Ethla being interrupted due to her travels in wildspace, which causes her spells to falter and her to go through a crisis of faith (as she almost views Ethla as a surrogate mother). |
| 183 | ** This and the ''Fallen Gods'' plot both factor into the crossover between the two shows, as the combined parties have to fight a cleric who went mad when Mishakael disappeared and began worshipping the World Eater instead. It also seems to stabilizing Jylliana's connection to Ethla, as [[spoiler: her cleric abilities come back with a vengeance and she's able to summon her spectral wings]]. |
| 184 | [[/folder]] |
| 185 | |
| 186 | [[folder:Religion]] |
| 187 | * If God[[note]] of the Abrahamic -- Jewish, Christian, Muslim, and various others -- faith[[/note]] exists, He probably counts as this, since there's been no (undisputed) scientific proof of His existence yet. Same goes for every theistic religion. |
| 188 | * UsefulNotes/{{Deism}} is the belief that God set the universe in motion and now watches over it but does not intervene (or interfere) in daily events. A variation, UsefulNotes/{{Pandeism}} has God cease to exist (at least for a while) by actually ''becoming'' the universe. |
| 189 | * The 16th-century Catholic mystic St. John of the Cross argued in his book ''[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_Night_of_the_Soul Dark Night of the Soul]]'' that a sense of God's absence is a significant stage in the development of healthy spirituality, as it requires the believer to trust in God by faith rather than relying on subjective religious experiences. A number of other saints and mystics have written about similar periods of "[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spiritual_dryness spiritual dryness]]". |
| 190 | * For the Hittites, the "Missing God" theme was very popular. Gods would usually disappear in a fit of anger and leave humanity vulnerable. So, humanity would always have to appease them with special rituals to calm their anger and ask them to return, wherever they may be. |
| 191 | %%* A scary, scary version of this occurs in the [[http://www.miaminewtimes.com/1997-06-05/news/myths-over-miami/ La Llorona mythos]].%%ZCE |
| 192 | * According to Nietzsche, "God is dead", though it's fairly probable he meant that metaphorically since he followed up that statement with "And we have killed Him." |
| 193 | * The Epicureans believed gods were completely blissful, immortal beings with no needs, and thus took no interest in humanity, remaining in the void between worlds rather than interacting with us at all. |
| 194 | [[/folder]] |
| 195 | |
| 196 | [[folder:Tabletop Games]] |
| 197 | * ''TabletopGame/{{Champions}}'': In the ''Valdorian Age'' setting for ''Fantasy Hero'', the earth's level of ambient magic has fallen past the point required for gods to even exist. The problem is, people generally remember a time when the gods not only existed, but their priests had fantastic powers. Now that the priests have lost those powers, most people believe the gods have "turned their backs" on humanity in response to some horrific sin on mankind's part. |
| 198 | * ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'': |
| 199 | ** There's evidence that the original religion used in ''D&D'' was a form of Christianity with [[LawyerFriendlyCameo the serial numbers filed off]], but that Gary Gygax (himself a Christian), concerned that publishing it in that manner might open the game to charges of accidental blasphemy, declined to offer much of anything in the way of a cosmology at first -- actual details of a cleric's god(s) were left up to to individual {{Game Master}}s. This changed later, once the ''Greyhawk'' setting was published (and by this time a pantheon had organically grown in Gygax's home campaign anyway). |
| 200 | ** ''TabletopGame/DarkSun'': The gods are gone (either they were killed off or just left when the world went to hell) and clerics essentially don't exist. A couple of the Sorcerer-Kings ''claim'' to be gods, and have the power to enforce their worship in their own city-states. |
| 201 | ** ''TabletopGame/{{Eberron}}'': |
| 202 | *** The Sovereign Host and Dark Six compose one of the largest and oldest extant faiths in Khorvaire, and maybe the world. ''Nobody'' knows if any of the gods is actually real, not even the angels or demons of other planes (they ''claim'' that the gods exist, but when pressed sufficiently most will admit that they haven't ''personally'' seen or talked to any of them and that they're effectively "winging it"). The more philosophical believers treat it as a form of pantheism and dismiss the necessity of physical incarnation for a god to be meaningfully "real." |
| 203 | *** In Eberron, divine magic works on a "clap your hands if you believe" basis. There's at least one cult that is attempting to get around the problem of whether or not their god exists by ''building'' him. So how do their divine spells work if they know for a stone fact that their god doesn't exist yet? They believe that ''when'' he exists, he will retroactively grant his clerics divine spells, and in Eberron, that belief is sufficient ... and just more "proof" to them that they're right, because see, spells! He ''must'' exist (in the future)! |
| 204 | ** ''TabletopGame/ForgottenRealms'': The Time of Troubles was when all the gods were kicked out of their home planes and made to walk the world as (exceedingly powerful) mortals. Not just divine magic, but ''all magic'' went wonky (as the goddess of arcane magic was AFK with the rest). A few gods died. It was a whole thing. |
| 205 | ** ''TabletopGame/{{Ravenloft}}'': |
| 206 | *** While darklords are closer to damned souls than gods, their continued presence and attention is what sustains the cohesiveness of the domains to which they are bound. Domains have faded into the Mists because their darklords have died, and when Lord Soth ceased to notice his own surroundings, in favor of some obsessive navel-gazing via {{Magic Mirror}}s, his domain of Sithicus nearly broke into fragments. |
| 207 | *** A straighter example occurs in the form of the actual gods. Outlanders (people not born in Ravenloft) feel a sudden disconnection from their gods, and though they can cast spells they can no longer talk to their deities. This often causes severe crises of faith. |
| 208 | ** In the extremely difficult TabletopGame/{{Greyhawk}} module ''TabletopGame/IsleOfTheApe'', clerics receive spells on the island, but are cut off from communicating with their deity. |
| 209 | * ''TabletopGame/{{Exalted}}'': |
| 210 | ** The reason the Unconquered Sun hasn't paid any real attention to his chosen Solars is that he's too busy playing the Games of Divinity. The canonical reason for this is that he got disgusted with their behavior when the [[WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity Great Curse]] got out of control and crossed the DespairEventHorizon. |
| 211 | ** The Alchemical Exalted's patron Primordial Autochthon is also unavailable; in his case, it's because he's in hibernation thanks to his chronic illness. |
| 212 | ** Played with a bit. The original gods of Creation were the Primordials, also known as Titans. They were cast into a hell made of their king's body and became known as Yozi. The odd thing is that in the current setting, beings at large do ''not'' want the Primordials/Yozis to return to their posts as the world's rulers. |
| 213 | * In the ''TabletopGame/GURPSSteampunkSettingTheBrokenClockworkWorld'', it’s not clear what has happened to the many gods of what is now the Broken World; they used to be somewhat active, but since the event known as the Breaking, their priests can’t contact them any more (though some priestly powers still work). There seems to be a consensus that they are either dead or as good as dead, but it’s possible that they are just missing, and some people would doubtless clutch at that straw. |
| 214 | * ''TabletopGame/{{Infernum}}'': While the existence of angels is confirmed, and the most famous First Fallen do have names of fallen angels (Lucifer and Azazel being the primary), there's no detail on who God is or what he wants. Of course, the game revolves around fighting for survival in Hell, so traveling to Earth itself isn't (usually) covered, let alone Heaven, and the Fallen Angels that are player characters don't remember a thing before actually falling. What about the First Fallen, who didn't plunge through the memory-sapping Lethe Clouds? Oh, the demons ate them centuries ago -- it's how the Infernum was founded. The "Book of the Conqueror" sourcebook goes into a bit more detail: not only are a bunch of the First Fallen still around, hiding out in the leftover bits of the previous Creation, the First Fallen Azazel and the founder of House Astyanath actually cooperated, back in the day, to build the Machine City of Cacaphractus -- which nobody now remembers was actually meant as a device to ''torture God!'' So God's existence is fairly well confirmed, it's just that the sourcebooks explicitly and intentionally leave his motivations and proper role in the cosmos vague, to provide for a RageAgainstTheHeavens plot if so desired. |
| 215 | * ''TabletopGame/InNomine'', a TabletopRPG where the [=PCs=] are Angels and Demons has this; God isn't actually present in the first level of a classically structured Heaven, since he left His creation for the most part to its own devices shortly after the Fall. Lucifer's first overt act of rebellion was to murder God's voice, the Metatron, leaving no clear channel of communication to the big guy. Of course, every once in a while you get a [[DeusExMachina "divine intervention"]] which ''might'' be the secret handiwork of {{God}}, or maybe one of the Archangels. It's stated that {{God}} is still around in a ''higher'' Heaven, but it's either extremely rare or completely unheard-of for a PlayerCharacter to go up the stairs, and they don't come back. |
| 216 | ** In the third edition of ''TabletopGame/InNomineSatanisMagnaVeritas'', the French game on which ''TabletopGame/InNomine'' is based, God is on an hydrotherapeutic cure somewhere in France. |
| 217 | ** In ''Dieu est Mort'', a French Murder Party based on ''TabletopGame/InNomine'', God has disappeared and may have been murdered. The players play a group of the major Archangels and Demon Princes that have gathered to solve the murder mystery and figure out what to do with Earth. Eventually, it is revealed that [[spoiler:God was the victim of a failed assassination attempt, and re-incarnated in Yves (one of the players) to try and find the would-be assassin without using omniscience. He must also choose a regent/successor to manage things while He is otherwise occupied (or "dead" again).]] |
| 218 | * ''TabletopGame/{{KULT}}'': The Demiurge disappeared, and [[{{Satan}} Astaroth]] is looking for him, since only his counterpart can give a meaning to his existence. |
| 219 | * ''TabletopGame/OldWorldOfDarkness'': |
| 220 | ** ''TabletopGame/DemonTheFallen'', the player characters are fallen angels who've clawed their way out of Hell only to find that God and all his angels are nowhere to be found. The obvious question of "well, where did they ''go''?" is studiously left unanswered; it's up to every individual GameMaster to answer it or not as he or she likes. The final [=OWoD=] sourcebook, detailing Armageddon itself, suggests some possible answers, but they're just suggestions. |
| 221 | ** ''TabletopGame/WerewolfTheApocalypse'': Played with with Ananasa, a lieutenant of the Weaver and the creator and patron goddess of the Ananasi werespiders. Ananasa is AWOL because the Wyrm has imprisoned her in Malfeas. |
| 222 | * ''TabletopGame/{{Pathfinder}}'': Count Ranalc, a member of the [[Main/TheFairFolk Eldest]], who disappeared one day 8,000 years ago and has not been seen since. The only reason to think he's still alive is that his followers continue to be empowered. |
| 223 | * ''TabletopGame/RelicsAGameOfAngels'': A central mystery. God has disappeared, closing the Gates of Heaven behind Her, and the angels left on Earth now have no guidance from upstairs. |
| 224 | * ''TabletopGame/TrudvangChronicles'': The elven gods were collectively kicked out of the world by the Iron Dragons, and while the Illmalaina, or light elves, still worship them, their prayers are left unanswered; meanwhile, their Korpikalla brothers have turned their backs on the gods and worship nature spirits. |
| 225 | * ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'': |
| 226 | ** All but three of the old Eldar pantheon were killed before or during the Fall of the Eldar; the survivors are Cegorach, the Laughing God of the Harlequins, who hides in the webway; Khaine, the god of war, shattered into pieces (which sleep in each craftworld as Avatars of Khaine), and Isha, the mother goddess, imprisoned by the Chaos God Nurgle to test his plagues on. The Eldar are also attempting to create Ynnead, a new god of death, from the souls of dead Eldar stored in the Craftworlds' Infinity Circuits, the idea being that when the very last Eldar dies, Ynnead will be strong enough to rise and defeat Slaanesh. Hopefully. |
| 227 | ** The two Ork gods are hinted at that they are on par with the Chaos gods, and could take them if they tried, but rarely interfere with the rest of the Warp or the universe in general because they spend all of their time fighting each other.[[note]]Some fluff actually suggests that Ork Gods do protect Ork souls from predators of the Warp. Much more effectively than Emperor does (if he even does this sort of things at all). Neither Eldar, nor Chaos followers ever hope to get this kind of protection, because their gods are too busy being AlwaysChaoticEvil or dead.[[/note]] |
| 228 | ** A commonly held Eldar theory is that, should the Emperor die, it will be a cataclysmic event that will result in all manner of things including the Astronomican collapsing, preventing all Warp travel and isolating most of the Imperium, especially the far-flung worlds of Segmentum Ultimus to the galactic "east" of Terra; a warp rift even larger than the Eye of Terror opening and engulfing Segmentum Solar, the heart of the Imperium; the Emperor being reborn in either corporeal form, leading to a revival of the Imperium, or in non-corporeal form in the warp, leading to him {{curb stomp|battle}}ing the Chaos Gods; or all of the previously listed. |
| 229 | ** Both Chaos Gods and their immortal followers are very rarely seen directly affecting mortal plane. In universe it is explained by the concept of Great Game in the Immaterium. Daemons and their patrons devote all their attention, power and resources to never ending struggle for power between beings of the warp and anything besides that is mostly irrelevant to them. When something really important do happen in material universe (say, some megalomaniac attempts to ban all religion to starve creatures of the Warp), they do respond and results are not pretty. |
| 230 | ** C'tan were retconned out of existence when they were stuffed into pokeball-like shards and then reintroduced with the concept of escaped Transcendent Shards. Even still, all we have (and none of these was explicitly confirmed) is one appearance of Nightbringer[[note]]Did literally nothing before escaping.[[/note]], two appearances of Deceiver[[note]]Guided Abaddon to an immensely powerful daemon sword ensuing that he will become and will stay Warmaster of Chaos (which might be a bad thing for Chaos, because [[JustAsPlanned Abby sucks at his job]]) and was discovered to be governor of some minor Imperial world, killing Calidus Assassin during said discovery.[[/note]] and ever sleeping Void Dragon who might be getting a little less sleepy. All within 11 thousands years timeframe. Not the most active fellows. |
| 231 | * In ''TabletopGame/WarhammerAgeOfSigmar'', this is one of the happiest things that have ever happened in the Warhammer universe. The depraved god Slaanesh, after overindulging in souls, ends up getting kidnapped and imprisoned by elves to the horror of his followers and the joy of nearly everyone else in the cosmos. Sure another evil god has risen up to take his place, but that god doesn't hold a candle to the nastiness of Slaanesh. |
| 232 | * ''TabletopGame/WorldTreeRPG'': A downplayed example with Lenhirrik, the goddess of plant life. She's currently in the shape of a wooden Herethroy statue, completely unresponsive, and has been for thirty years. This isn't the first she's done so, but every previous occasion lasted a day or two at the most. There's currently a lot of worry and no hard information, and speculation ranges to her having fallen victim to another deity to just being in the middle of a god's equivalent of a nap. |
| 233 | * In ''TabletopGame/{{Godbound}}'', the theurgical empires of men decided to storm heaven to get the answers of the universe from God himself. After forcing their way through the pearly gates and slaughtering thousands of His angels, they found His throne... and it was empty. [[GodJob And then they decided that someone had to sit the throne...]] |
| 234 | * In the UrbanFantasy RPG ''TabletopGame/WitchCraft'', the Creator disappeared about 20,000 years ago. Leaving the various angels and gods unsure of what to do next. |
| 235 | [[/folder]] |
| 236 | |
| 237 | [[folder:Theater]] |
| 238 | * The play (and miniseries) ''Theatre/AngelsInAmerica''. God abandons Heaven on the day of 1906 San Francisco earthquake, and the angels are all convinced it's because humans are more interesting than they are. The angel of America tells Prior Walter to tell humanity to stop moving, in hopes that God will return to Heaven once humanity reaches a static state. |
| 239 | * This is OlderThanFeudalism: in Creator/{{Aristophanes}}' ''Peace'', the gods have grown tired with the Greeks' constant warmongering and have moved away to the other end of Heaven, leaving War in charge. |
| 240 | [[/folder]] |
| 241 | |
| 242 | [[folder:Video Games]] |
| 243 | * ''VideoGame/{{Bayonetta}}'': Jubileus (Dea), the creator of the the world, was forced into sleep in order to form the Trinity of Realities, but her mere presence is required to keep the world in balance. [[spoiler:Her destruction at the end of the first game has serious repercussions in [[VideoGame/Bayonetta2 the sequel]].]] |
| 244 | * ''VideoGame/BlackAndWhite2'' justifies the [[AGodIsYou player character deity]] having to bring its religion BackFromTheBrink by saying that it fell into a long slumber after the events of the first game. InUniverse texts mention that most of its missionaries [[CrisisOfFaith turned to drink]]. |
| 245 | * ''VideoGame/{{Darksiders}}'': The Abrahamic God, who in this series is known simply as the Creator, counts considering He hasn’t spoken to anyone in many eons. Even the Charred Council, who were specifically tasked by the Creator Himself the maintain the balance of reality, have not heard anything from Him in a very very long time. |
| 246 | * ''VideoGame/DemonHunterTheReturnOfTheWings'': According to Greed, [[spoiler:Gun is the AmnesiacGod of Akoron, or specifically of the nation where demons came from, but was rather [[TheGodsMustBeLazy neglectful of the world's problems]] and then for unknown reasons fled to Earth and erased his memories. Greed assumed that taking Gun back would shake up his memories, but seeing no progress he declares that Gun has abandoned his people and that Elen should take his place]]. |
| 247 | * ''VideoGame/{{Diablo}}'' is set in a CrapsackWorld in which the legions of hell take over Earth while the inhabitatants of heaven [[TheGodsMustBeLazy don't want to interfere]]. This also allows an angel, Tyrael, to play an important part in the games' affairs. It turns out, as of ''VideoGame/DiabloIII'', that [[spoiler:[[GodIsDead the supreme deity behind the universe is dead]]. Anu, the god in question, was a God of Order, while Tathamet was the Prime Evil and God of Chaos. Their fight to the death created the universe and their corpses became Heaven and Hell]]. |
| 248 | * ''VideoGame/{{Dominions}}'': The Ascension Wars began when the old Pantokrator, the supreme god of the setting, vacated his post for reasons unknown, opening the way for other divine powers to fight over the top spot themselves. Constant references to "''a'' previous Pantokrator" (rather than "''the'' previous Pantokrator") imply that it's happened at least once before, as well. The victory message in ''Dominions 4: Thrones of Ascension'' [[spoiler:has your god, after eons of rule, leave the world for the void, [[EternalRecurrence causing another Ascension War among those who are left behind]]]]. |
| 249 | * ''Franchise/DragonAge'' has multiple examples: |
| 250 | ** According to [[TheChurch the Andrastian Chantry]], the Maker abandoned humanity out of disgust when a group of mages tried to take over Heaven by force. Plus there was the whole "burning his mortal wife to death" thing. They worship the Maker in the hopes that if He ever comes back, He'll reward the suck-ups, but when someone like Leliana expresses a belief that the Maker hasn't abandoned His children and instead works InMysteriousWays, it makes her a [[AllOfTheOtherReindeer target of derision]]. |
| 251 | ** The [[OurElvesAreDifferent Dalish elves]] have stories that their gods, the Creators, were imprisoned by a trickster god and thus weren't able to [[EnslavedElves save them from]] invading humans. Apparently, at least some elves believe that regaining their immortality and proving they're real elves would bring their gods back. |
| 252 | ** The Elvish story about how their gods were lost and the Chantry story of how the dragon Old Gods were trapped in the earth and the source of the Darkspawn are suspiciously similar, and may be different accounts of the same event. |
| 253 | ** ''VideoGame/DragonAgeII'': In the {{DLC}} "Legacy", [[spoiler:Corypheus]] is visibly upset when he realizes he can't hear the voice of [[spoiler:Dumat, the first Old God to be corrupted into an Archdemon and slain by the first Wardens,]] anymore. |
| 254 | ** ''VideoGame/DragonAgeInquisition'': [[spoiler:Corypheus is so broken by the absence of Dumat and the Maker that he makes his own bid for godhood, driving the plot. On some level, he genuinely thinks this will be an improvement over no god whatsoever.]] |
| 255 | ** As far as the Elven gods go, the ''Trespasser'' DLC for Inquisition reveals that [[spoiler: the elven "gods" were actually extremely powerful mages who cruelly abused their subordinates and killed one of their own (Mythal) when she tried to help them. This so disgusted Fen Harel, the Dread Wolf (misunderstood by modern elves to be the GodOfEvil,) that he ''split the whole of reality'' into the physical world and the [[DreamLand Fade]], and erected the Veil to keep his fellow "gods" imprisoned away from their victims, effectively revealing that the entire cosmology of the Dragon Age universe has been completely misunderstood]]. True to this trope, we also find out exactly where two of the gods are: [[spoiler: the NotQuiteDead merciful Mythal is actually Flemeth, TheDreaded Witch of the Wilds, and the Dread Wolf is Solas, whose power has waned to the level of an ordinary mage until he reclaims it at the end of the game]]. |
| 256 | * ''Franchise/DragonQuest'': |
| 257 | ** ''VideoGame/DragonQuestVII'': There was a great battle between God and the Demon Lord, and it's ambiguous who won. In the game proper, you find out that the demon lord survived[[note]]disguised as God for a while to fake you out[[/note]] and, although it's clear that you are God's contingency plan, you never actually see any evidence of Him surviving. [[spoiler: Until the bonus dungeon, where it turns out He just up and retired, feeling that humanity and the Four Elemental Spirits could handle things without Him.]] |
| 258 | ** ''VideoGame/DragonQuestIX'': When [[spoiler:you return to the Realm of the Almighty]], this comes into question. Since your main character is a Celestrian (i.e. angel), it is a bit unsettling. The truth turns out to be...unpleasant. [[spoiler: God turned on humanity in disgust and was about to unmake them all, until his daughter stopped him and pleaded that he spare the humans. He agreed, but then left, leaving his daughter, known as Yggdrasil, to watch over them instead with her "children", the Celestrians. God is missing because he left, and the god the Celestrians have been worshipping is in fact God's daughter.]] |
| 259 | * ''Franchise/TheElderScrolls'' |
| 260 | ** This is frequently the case for the Aedra, "original spirit" beings who sacrificed much of their divine power to [[CreationMyth create Mundus]], the mortal plane, and are worshiped throughout Tamriel as the Eight (later Nine) Divines. This act left them in a greatly weakened state, unable to interfere with mortal affairs as freely as the Daedra (who maintain their full power). As such, they prefer [[InMysteriousWays a lighter touch]] when influencing mortal affairs, at most typically [[MissionFromGod acting through mortal agents]]. Any acts of [[DivineIntervention direct intervention]] are rare and [[GodzillaThreshold typically reserved]] for averting TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt. For this reason, the primary view of the Divines is as impersonal, generally benevolent spirits, worthy of worship and reverence but without any strong direct relationship. During the [[TimeOfMyths Dawn]] and Merethic Eras, the Aedra who would become the [[SaintlyChurch Eight Divines]] still had somewhat enough power to take limited manifestations on Nirn, so there are tons of legends of them directly interacting with mortals. However, by the time of the 1st Era, all of them had vanished except within shrines and temples, where they could perform limited actions. One source attributes this to [[TopGod Akatosh's]] pact with [[FounderOfTheKingdom St. Alessia]] and the [[BarrierMaiden Dragonfires]]; this pact, designed to keep Daedra from being able to walk into Mundus with all or most of their power (as [[OmnicidalManiac Mehrunes Dagon]] did at the end of ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIVOblivion Oblivion]]''), also greatly restricts the Divines. |
| 261 | ** The Nedes, human [[{{Precursors}} ancestors]] to most of the modern races of Men, had the study and worship of the [[StarPower stars]] as a major part of their culture. They also worshiped beings known as "celestials", though exactly who or what they were has been lost to time. As the Nedes began to evolve into the modern races of Men, the [[RacialRemnant last remaining group]] who identified themselves as Nedes survived deep in the deserts of Hammerfell. This group turned away from worship of the stars and celestials as they did nothing to help stop the decline of their race. (Eventually, the Redguards would arrive in Hammerfell and wipe out this remnant of the Nedes.) |
| 262 | * ''VideoGame/FallFromHeaven'': The Creator got decided to retire and leave the world to his angels. They promptly almost destroyed it in an argument. |
| 263 | * ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIII'': [[spoiler:The Fal'Cie's desire to bring back their creator The Maker, their own [[DeathSeeker death wish]], and the mass human sacrifice required to make it all possible]] are the driving forces behind the story. |
| 264 | * ''VideoGame/GenshinImpact'': Barbatos, the PatronGod of Mondstadt, the City of Freedom has been missing for hundreds of years. As the God of Freedom, he decrees his people to be free, but what is freedom if demanded by a god? Thus, he left and let the people take care of themselves. The people still revere Barbatos in return, and a select few knows he actually hangs around and keeps watch under the guise of [[spoiler:a wandering bard in green.]] |
| 265 | * ''VideoGame/GuildWars'': |
| 266 | ** The Human Gods once walked on Tyria but a thousand years ago departed in the Exodus after their war with Abaddon. Since then they have withdrawn more and more from the world. |
| 267 | ** The Five were suspiciously quiet in ''Nightfall'' when their imprisoned brother attempted to break free. Even when directly called, they claimed they would only grant their blessing, not direct aid. As Kormir realized, the Sunspears needed nothing more. |
| 268 | ** As of ''VideoGame/GuildWars2'', the Six Gods are all but absent, though most humans remain devoutly religious. Most believe that the Gods merely wish humanity to stand on its own. |
| 269 | *** ''Path of Fire'' explains that when Abaddon was destroyed, the magic he released began the awakening of the Elder Dragons. The Six foresaw that any war between them and the Dragons would inevitably lead to Tyria's destruction. Five chose to depart while Balthazar arrogantly refused to run from battle and was imprisoned. |
| 270 | ** Thruln the Lost claims that during the Age of Giants his people were blessed by the gods, which allowed them to build a grand and just civilization. After the gods chose to bless the humans instead, jotun civilization slid into decay and barbarism. How much of this is true is unknown due to the uncertainty of their failing oral tradition. |
| 271 | * ''VideoGame/DotHackR1Games'': The CrystalDragonJesus element in a (somewhat)non-religious toned example: after the events of the first four games, Aura, the de facto goddess of the internet (in reality a very powerful AI capable of basically manipulating the entire networks) disappeared. The execs of CC Corp, the makers of The World (an in-universe fictional best-selling MMO) wanted to have her back since her presence alone made The World into such an advanced piece of software. [[spoiler: To that end, they tried to summon her back using by the Restore Aura plan. Needless to say, it didn't quite work, and the catastrophic result actually forced them to completely close service to The World]]. Cut to GU era, and she's ''still'' missing. [[spoiler: You do find her eventually, but by then, she wished for all humans to make do without an intervening hand of a deity, considering she's a danger magnet of sorts.]] |
| 272 | * ''VideoGame/HarvestMoonAWonderfulLife'': The Harvest Sprites try in vain to bring back the Harvest Goddess. It's implied she's now living in the nearby [[VideoGame/HarvestMoonBackToNature Mineral Town]]. |
| 273 | * ''VideoGame/HeroesOfMightAndMagicV: Tribes of the East'': [[TheHero Zehir's]] goal in one of the last missions is to unite the Dwarves who are currently in the throes of a civil war. To do so, he needs to find their Dragon god Arkath. The irony of an atheistic wizard searching for a god [[LampshadeHanging is not lost]] on [[DeadpanSnarker Zehir]]. |
| 274 | * ''VideoGame/HollowKnight'': The Mosskin of the Greenpath worship Unn, a slug-like Higher Being who created the lush natural growth that covers most of western Hallownest. However, at some point before the Infection, Unn hid herself away. One of the Greenpath's lore tablets is a prayer by the Mosskin begging Unn to return to them. |
| 275 | -->"Hidden Unn, we need you now. We grow tired away from you. Our leaves are falling." |
| 276 | * ''VideoGame/JadeEmpire'': The reason there are so many ghosts and spirits hanging around and harassing humans is because the goddess in charge of reincarnation has vanished. Once again, not exactly her fault. |
| 277 | * ''VideoGame/TheJediMasters'': Inverted. The god in this equation, [[EldritchAbomination the D'arth S'yyth]], is desperately seeking a mortal champion, as it needs one to serve as a host. It wants [[VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublic Revan]] to be that host, but [[spoiler:eventually settles for Kannos, one of your party members]]. |
| 278 | * ''VideoGame/LostMagic'': The plot is basically that the Creator died and left a group of seven sages in charge, but then one of those sages decided to try to take over and become as powerful as the Creator had been. |
| 279 | * ''VideoGame/Lunar2EternalBlue'': The first half is devoted to Lucia's search for the local goddess to discuss the urgent matter of an awakening monster. Then [[spoiler: the woman claiming to be the goddess is unmasked as a fraud. The true goddess decided that mankind no longer needed her and chose to reincarnate as a mortal, and has been dead for centuries.]] |
| 280 | * ''VideoGame/MassEffectAndromeda'' has the sci-fi version of this, with the Remnant's creators, who while not gods are sufficiently advanced enough to be godlike in the setting, [[spoiler:what with creating an entire species and all]]. At least one species in Andromeda worshiped them, and the angara ''might'' have as well (it's very unclear, thanks to the angara's historical records going missing), [[spoiler:but four hundred years ago they ran off when their enemies dropped a FantasticNuke on them, and exactly where they've gotten to since and why they haven't come back is unknown.]] |
| 281 | * ''VideoGame/{{Okami}}'': The sun goddess Amaterasu was killed in battle while under the guise of a wolf 100 years before the start of the game, unbeknownst to the public. [[BackFromTheDead She gets better]], granted, but it turns out that a century-long absence of Nippon's chief deity isn't exactly a good thing when her power relies on [[ClapYourHandsIfYouBelieve the belief of her followers.]] |
| 282 | * ''VideoGame/{{Patapon}}'': All three games begin by showing this trope already happening to the titular tribe, just barely surviving extinction as a result. Justified in that AGodIsYou, so the patapon are only able to feel your influence again once you start the game and begin the story. Thus, this trope is in place ''only'' at the start. |
| 283 | * ''VideoGame/PillarsOfEternity'': The ancient Engwithans were wiped out by the gods when they overreached themselves. [[spoiler:Except that's the narrative they left behind. In reality, they used their animancy to try and find their world's gods, and were distraught when they could not find any. They were so broken by the idea of living in a world with no gods or greater purpose that they used their animancy to '''create''' an artificial pantheon of gods and committed mass suicide to empower them and to take the secret to their graves. The BigBad of the first game is the last surviving Engwithan whose mission is to protect this secret.]] |
| 284 | * ''VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiII'' played with the idea -- the Four Archangels, sent to Earth to oversee the conversion of souls for the case of YHVH, steadily got more and more confused about exactly what they were supposed to be doing (and quite crazy, too). The problem is that the ''Franchise/ShinMegamiTensei'' multiverse runs on GodsNeedPrayerBadly, and it really doesn't matter ''whose'' belief it is. So a Fake YHVH was born from the belief of three of four of the Archangels, a monstrously powerful puppet they made, and who they served without knowing what it was. The single exception was the ArchangelGabriel, who managed to hear the real YHVH's voice. |
| 285 | * ''VideoGame/SwordOfTheStars'': The Zuul have lost their "gods" (the race of AbusivePrecursors who created them) and are on a galaxy-spanning crusade to find out what happened to them. This is very much Not A Good Thing for any other species they happen to encounter on the way; the Zuul were made for the express purpose of exterminating their creators' enemies, and to the Zuul the act of genocide has become a holy purpose. In the sequel, the "Great Masters" (AKA the [[AbusivePrecursors Suul'ka]]) return, but a faction of the Zuul has broken off and allied with the enemies of the Suul'ka. |
| 286 | * ''VisualNovel/TearsToTiara'': The supreme diety Watos apparently vanished after creating the universe, leaving the angels in charge. It's not clear if he's dead or alive or what. He's still missing in the sequel ''VideoGame/TearsToTiara2''. The question of exactly where he is is a major theme of the story. |
| 287 | * ''Franchise/TouhouProject'': There are a number of gods running about the universe but there are two of extreme noteworthy: |
| 288 | ** [[OurDragonsAreDifferent Dragons]] are equated to [[http://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Dragon_%28God%29 some of the highest order of the divinities]]. The last dragon seen in Gensokyo [[spoiler:until Wild and Horned Hermit]] covered the sky just prior to the creation of the Great Hakurei Border. |
| 289 | ** The god of the Hakurei shrine is in seclusion due to lack of faith (which is quantifiable in this setting) and is rather bitter about it. Its own shrine maiden, Reimu, doesn't even know its name and it either doesn't even have enough power to tell her or is too displeased. |
| 290 | ** [[http://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Symposium_of_Post-mysticism Symposium of Post-mysticism]] delves a bit into with the nature of gods and what happens when they become forgotten. |
| 291 | * ''VideoGame/TreeOfSavior'' makes this one of the primary themes of its storyline. The Revelators (which include all player characters) are on a quest to find out what has happened to the Goddesses and if it's possible to bring them back. |
| 292 | * ''VideoGame/{{Ultrakill}}'': After [[NotSoInvincibleAfterAll losing]] to [[VillainProtagonist V1]] twice, [[OurAngelsAreDifferent Gabriel]] takes some time to ponder on it. If the will of God is absolute, then as one of His agents he could not have possibly been defeated by a mere [[KillerRobot machine]] even once. This can only mean one of two things: either [[NotQuiteTheAlmighty the will of God is]] ''[[NotQuiteTheAlmighty not]]'' [[NotQuiteTheAlmighty absolute]]... or [[GodIsDead He is gone]]. Gabriel concludes with grim resignation that it's the latter, and sets out to share his revelation with the rest of the citizens of Heaven -- by [[spoiler:slaughtering the CouncilOfAngels that rules in God's name]] in order to prove his point. |
| 293 | [[/folder]] |
| 294 | |
| 295 | [[folder:Webcomics]] |
| 296 | * ''Webcomic/DriveDaveKellett'': The Vinn, a warlike faction of alien species infested with a mind-wiping parasite, are devoted to a religion revolving around finding their "Lost Gods", which they believe were "lost to the blackness of space". In truth, their gods are an extinct race that accidentally created the Vinn parasite in an attempt to cure a disease that was killing them. It's a doomed quest -- the Vinn parasite killed its makers more effectively than the disease ever did, and the few survivors nuked themselves into oblivion in a failed attempt to destroy the Vinn. |
| 297 | * ''Webcomic/{{Goats}}'': Jon and Philip meet God, who inexplicably acts like a [[Franchise/PiratesOfTheCaribbean swishy pirate guy]]. Philip then suggests that he change himself into a pork chop. God does so, and Philip and Jon eat him. This ends up being a contributing factor to the state of the universe - It is destined to self-destruct pretty soon unless someone renews the warranty. |
| 298 | * ''Webcomic/HolyBibble'': God does exist and personally talks to the angels in the backstory, but in the present, he appears to be almost entirely absent. |
| 299 | * ''Webcomic/JesusChristInTheNameOfTheGun'' by [[WebComic/AxeCop Ethan Nicolle]] uses this as a kicking-off point: God isn't quite as omnipresent as the Bible would have us believe. Instead, he only swings by every couple of centuries or so to see how things are going, then wanders off to leave his son to watch all this nasty shit go down. Jesus eventually gets fed up with this lasseiz-faire attitude and Second Comings a few years after the turn of the 20th century so he'll be a grown man in time for World War II and punch the shit out of some Nazis. |
| 300 | * ''Webcomic/{{Kubera}}'': Three of the four [[TheOldGods Primeval Gods]] disappeared during the [[CataclysmBackstory Cataclysm]], leaving many things unfinished. |
| 301 | * ''Webcomic/{{Misfile}}'': God is entirely absent. According to [[UnreliableNarrator Rumisiel]] he set up the [[CelestialBureaucracy Celestial Depository]] in response to Lucifer's attempted coup d'etat to avoid that ever happening again and then disappeared. He supposedly knows about Rumisiel's actions but hasn't felt moved to intervene. At least, not yet. |
| 302 | * ''Webcomic/{{Nekyia}}'': Unlike his [[PhysicalReligion more interventionist]] siblings, [[GodOfThedead Hades]] left one set of instructions with his priests, left for the Underworld, and ignored the mortal world completely. He's outright confused when a priestess travels there in person to demand guidance; Hermes has to remind him that humans can't be expected to carry on unchanged for six hundred years without any active supervision. |
| 303 | * ''Webcomic/PerfectionEngine'': The Maker, the creator of the universe and all life in it, disappears for an unknown reason, leaving her creations, the Eidolons, to believe that she left out of disgust for them. This kickstarts their efforts to build a society based on perfect society as a means of penance. They believe she may return if they repent this way and perfect themselves. [[spoiler:Their efforts successfully bring The Maker back to their world... to purge them for the ''soul-purifying'' atrocities they committed.]] |
| 304 | * ''Webcomic/SlightlyDamned'' has a interesting case, as both Gaia and Syndel (two of the three major gods) are mysteriously absent. The third god, Death, is still around though. [[spoiler:Except that's not actually Death, but instead the rogue angel Darius Elexion, who is acting [[GodJob in Death's role]]. Death himself vanished after leaving to search for Gaia and Syndel.]] Most of Heaven seems to be unaware that Gaia is absent, and Hell is currently under the control of a person who claims to be Syndel, and a lot of the demons choose beleive them despite evidence to the contrary because the imposter seems to be impossible to kill. |
| 305 | * ''Webcomic/{{Suihira}}'': The main character is devoted to the goddess Akia, who the rest of the world thinks has abandoned humanity. |
| 306 | * ''Webcomic/{{Unsounded}}'': The titular Unsounded is the unmapped portions of the afterlife, deeper than any equipment can penetrate, and the supposed hidden sanctum where God(s) would reside, but nobody has reached it in millennia. [[spoiler:Near the end of Book 1, Ilganyag orchestrates a massive bloody gambit in a desperate attempt to bring a god back - ''and it appears to succeed''.]] |
| 307 | [[/folder]] |
| 308 | |
| 309 | [[folder:Web Original]] |
| 310 | * ''Blog/CodexInversus'': The Demiurge, the universe's creator god, vanished in the distant past when they left creation out of frustration at their inability to create a perfect world, and left the various orders of being to watch over and guard their creation in their stead. The apocalyptic war that destroyed the World before was caused by irreconcilable disagreement between the Angels and Devils over how to order the universe in the Demiurge's absence, and most modern religions center around waiting for the Demiurge's prophesied return and re-ordering of the world. The specifics vary beyond that -- the Angels and Devils both believe that the Demiurge will prove their side right and restore the old order of things, while other groups believe that the Demiurge will lead everyone to a new, perfect creation or reshape the universe into a new and perfected form. |
| 311 | * ''WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}'': An odd variation. [[spoiler:The Gods of Light and Darkness bailed on Remnant after the woman who'd become [[BigBad Salem]] rallied humanity against them to try and resurrect her former lover Ozma. However, before they left, they left four special items and gave Ozma ResurrectiveImmortality, charging him to prove humanity can be better and use the items to summon him with proof. However, with Salem with her own immortality and believing her to be unable to be truly defeated, Ozma decides on a war of attrition instead, trying to hide the items and make humanity better his own way before Salem can get the items and go for round two.]] |
| 312 | * ''Literature/WhateleyUniverse'': The Olympian gods have come to Whateley, but they can't find Poseidon and Dionysus. Phase points out that it's possible that they don't ''want'' to be found, and there's no guarantee that they're even at Whateley. |
| 313 | [[/folder]] |
| 314 | |
| 315 | [[folder:Western Animation]] |
| 316 | * ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'': |
| 317 | ** We can probably imagine that this is how most of the world regarded the Avatar's disappearance; he is the physical incarnation of the World Spirit, the lone master of all four elements and link to the spirit world. And then he disappears, an entire nation gets wiped out in genocide and war rules the world for one-hundred years. |
| 318 | ** ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'': On a smaller level, when Aang was alive, Republic City was mostly harmonious. Yes, there were gangs around causing problems but life between benders and non-benders wasn't that bad. In the 17 years after his death, the bending-gangs are exerting more power over non-benders, even amounting to killing the wife of a prominent citizen and the gang is still running around, the ruling council no longer has any non-benders on it, they do nothing to try and quell the rising distress of the poor non-bending population, they allow bending corruption to fill Pro-Bending, the police don't seem to have any non-benders working the streets leaving no one for the poor non-benders to talk to and hope for help from, thus making the city ripe for the extremist group the Equalists to come in and slowly take over the city. |
| 319 | * ''WesternAnimation/{{Disenchantment}}'': The high priestess of Dreamland's state church goes on a rambling monologue about whether or not their God even exists - ''during a royal wedding''! Odval remarks to the person next to him that this religion is "in its early stages". King Zog later calls off a quest to find the One True God because he considers finding the [[ImmortalityInducer Eternity Pendant]] to be a higher priority. It should be noted that Heaven, Hell, God and Satan (though not called that by name) are confirmed to exist in this universe. |
| 320 | * ''WesternAnimation/{{Hazbin Hotel}}'': Despite the prominence of Heaven and the creation myth, the man upstairs has yet to be acknowledged. |
| 321 | * ''WesternAnimation/TronUprising'': [[ThankTheMaker Flynn]] is nowhere to be seen, no mention is made of him fighting Clu or resisting the impending tyranny of the system as he claimed in ''Film/TronLegacy''. Either Argon was too far out in the sticks for Flynn to pay it any attention, or he had written off the Programs and buggered off to the Outlands to protect Quorra, abandoning them all ''(Tron included!)'' to Clu's dubious mercy. |
| 322 | [[/folder]] |
| 323 |
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