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As a Whole
The Pantheon are a family of divine beings, with each member of the group having jurisdiction over a species of animal with whom they share similar traits. Their agendas are shadowy and enigmatic, with most of them influencing and controlling the lives of mortals in order to manipulate global events in their own favor. Additionally, each Pantheon member's sphere of influence seems to correspond to a geographical location (Kitsune—Japan, Chi-You—China, Rat King—Europe, Aka—Southwestern North America).
Furthermore, they are all the progeny of an older, more powerful being known as "the Dragon." His origins and motivations are shrouded in mystery, but it is implied that his reign was harsh and authoritarian, as many in the Pantheon would prefer that he never return...
- Animal Motifs: Each of them has traits of some species of animal - birds for Aka, foxes for Kitsune, and so on.
- Been There, Shaped History: This trope is in effect as The Pantheon members agreed to a game to see who could regain control of Earth. Rules were drafted and only mortals could be used as their pawns.
- Big, Screwed-Up Family: Despite being siblings, it's implied by Aka during an argument between Kitsune and Jagwar that most of the time, the members of the Pantheon have trouble standing each other's company. Rat King snarks that this is pretty much proof that they are family.
- Blue-and-Orange Morality: With the exception of Kitsune, Aka and eventually Rat King, most of them have agendas that could be seen as morally grey at worst, even if they tend to look down on mortals and their concerns.
- Composite Character: Three of their members are Rat King, Jagwar and Manmoth. The first is a recurring figure in TMNT media, and the other two hail from the Archie run on the comics.
- God Is Flawed: They are arguably the closest thing the IDW continuity has to gods, and most of them have their own unique flaws.
- My God, You Are Serious!: Almost all of Kitsune’s siblings had this reaction when they heard her plan to revive their father.
- Resurrective Immortality: Aka reveals that any member of the Pantheon who dies will be reborn with all their memories intact a short while later. This is one reason why Chi-You's continued absence is so suspicious to them...if Kitsune had merely killed him he'd have been back centuries ago.
Aka
- Been There, Shaped History: When she warned some mortals about Gothano's plan to flood the world thousands of years ago, she probably didn't expect the event to end up in several major religious texts.
- Big Good: In stories related to the Pantheon, she's the one most likely to be on the Turtles' side.
- Cool Big Sis: While she opposes Kitsune's actions against the Turtles, she still loves her younger sister dearly.
- Cool Old Lady: Her most preferred guise is that of an old woman, and she's quite friendly compared to many of her siblings in the Pantheon.
- The Heart: She seems to be the moral compass of the Pantheon, as seen with Toad Baron being courteous to her without a drop of the sarcasm he has for his other siblings.
- Humans Are Special: Unlike most of her siblings, Aka is fond of humans and mutants, considering them to be the Pantheon's true children.
- Killed Off for Real: She ends up slain by Kitsune for her divine blood as part of the ritual to bring back the Dragon. However, it's ambiguous whether Aka expected this or not, given that she handed Kitsune the weapon for the task. Though it is all subverted as later on it is revealed that she is alive though now in a younger form revealing that when a member of the Pantheon that isn’t the Dragon dies they are resurrected in a younger form.
- The Older Immortal: She's explicitly stated to be the eldest of the Pantheon.
- Only Sane Woman: As the most level-headed of her Big, Screwed-Up Family, she finds her patience stretched sometimes when dealing with their infighting.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: Of all the Pantheon, she shows the most patience for mortals. When the Turtles sneak into a feast/strategy meeting for the Pantheon, she demands that the Turtles not be put to death like several of her siblings initially demand.
- Winged Humanoid: She appears mostly human, except for the wings that emerge from the sleeves of her robes.
Manmoth
- Adaptational Badass: the original one was just a caveman mutated to a mammoth. Here he is a divine being who is both a "savage hunter" and "survivalist extraordinaire".
- The Aloner: He prefers to keep to himself in the wildest, most remote parts of the world. He tries to encourage Raphael to embrace a similar philosophy.
- Big Eater: When he's not hunting or fighting, he's eating. He's been known to interrupt both activities for a light snack too...
- Blood Knight: In contrast to an enraged Jagwar, a gleefully sadistic Rat King, and a quietly furious Kitsune, Manmoth's reaction to the Turtles crashing the Pantheon's private party is one of amusement - in his own words, there's nothing he loves more than a brawl after his latest meal.
- Extreme Omnivore: not particularly choosy about what he eats; after shooting one of the Rat King's rats, he immediately devours it.
- Graceful Loser: When the turtles incapacitate him with a trap of their making, he heartily congratulates them on the well-laid ambush and agrees to hear them out over a meal.
- Odd Friendship: Strikes one up with the Turtles (Especially Michelangelo) after they defeated him with ingenuity.
- The Pig-Pen: Given his survivalist ways, he doesn't bother with baths, let alone shampoo. Aka has to stand downwind of him thanks to his strong odor.
Gothano
- Been There, Shaped History: He was responsible for the biblical Great Flood, which he admits got a little out of hand.
- Combat Tentacles: When he deigns to get involved when the Turtles gate-crash the Pantheon's party, he uses his tentacles to grab Raphael by the throat and lift him off the ground.
- Cthulhumanoid: Least human-like of all his siblings, not even being anthropomorphic in shape. Rather, he is a cloak-like mass of hair and tentacles - or, alternatively, a shadowy octopoid figure draped in a shroud, with his tentacles emerging from beneath it.
- Eldritch Abomination: A borderline example, given his Cthulhumanoid body, mysterious nature, and domain over secrets and lost knowledge.
- The Great Flood: Unleashed the biblical flood in an attempt to win the Pantheon's Game once and for all. He ended up destroying the mortal kingdoms they all depended on for their power bases instead and the Game had to be put on hold until humanity managed to claw back some semblance of civilization.
- In the Hood: He's draped in a black cloak that hides most of his body.
- Nice to the Waiter: Compared to some of the other members of the Pantheon, his quiet "Pardon me" when passing Toad Baron's servants at their feast comes off as remarkably polite.
- Pet the Dog: The vision he shows Splinter in issue #89 seems to be his way of warning Splinter of how bad things could get if he continues on his slow slide down a darker path.
- The Quiet One: Speaks the least and most quietly of all his siblings, but his words are given great import as a result.
- Secret-Keeper: Gothano's domains are secrets and hidden knowledge.
Chi-you
- Crossover-Exclusive Villain: His sole appearance to date is in the first Ghostbusters crossover, in which he is the Big Bad.
- The Ghost: No one's seen him for centuries. Kitsune tricked him into being trapped in another reality.
- Long Bus Trip: At the end of the crossover mini-series that features him, he is captured by a ghost trap, and then transported back into the Turtles' universe, but intentionally set 4.2 light years away from Earth. Despite the hint that he patiently awaits his eventual return, he has yet to come back, and due to IDW having lost the Ghostbusters license, it's uncertain that he ever will.
- War God: He serves as this for the TMNT pantheon.
- World's Strongest Man: Said to be the most fierce warrior out of all the pantheon.
Rat King
- Adaptational Badass: A god-like being in this continuity with the 2012 mind control capability (But doesn't just control rats).
- Bald of Evil: More like balding, but he's still capable of some nasty business.
- Big Bad: Takes over the role after Kitsune gives up on her apocalyptic plan at the last moment. With the rest of his siblings no longer showing any interest in their "game" he decides to get his entertainment elsewhere...by setting mortals against each other in a maelstrom of violence and chaos. Recruiting Baxter Stockman, Madame Null and Krang to his side (along with several minor villains), he launches what he rather ominously calls The Armageddon Game...
- Blue-and-Orange Morality: He seems to genuinely think he's doing a bunch of orphans a favor by trying to make them commit suicide under hypnosis, viewing the whole thing as a Mercy Kill.
- Character Development: At start, while sadistic, he was primarily a chaotic trickster with hints that he might be more neutral than outright evil. After Dragon dies and his siblings lose their interest in Pantheon’s game, he goes on a soul-searching quest. He ultimately decides that even chaos isn’t fun without some goal and that rather than just playing, he should win a game. It all leads to him recruiting villains for The Armageddon Game, with his definition of winning being destruction of the world.
- Devoured by the Horde: One of his preferred methods of attack is sending out a wave of his rats to messily eat those he deems his enemies.
- Didn't See That Coming: He wasn't expecting Leonardo to be capable of hurting him on the astral plane, or that Stockman's Mousers would show up to devour his rats.
- Even Evil Has Standards: Wants to stop Kitsune plans of releasing their father, as even he notes that if Dragon was to be released, it would be catastrophic.
- Excuse Me While I Multitask: He's perfectly capable of fighting Leonardo on the astral plane while his body takes on the other three Turtles on auto-pilot.
- Extreme Omnivore: Will eat his own rats.
- The Fair Folk: Out of all his siblings, he's the most Fae acting.
- The Gadfly: If he's around, expect him to get on somebody's nerves.
- Know When to Fold 'Em: After the events described in Didn't See That Coming, he decides to disappear rather than risk taking lasting harm from his opponents.
- Paranoia Fuel: The first first time he appeared, he wiped Splinter and Leonardo's memories of the encounter afterwards while flashing a Nightmare Face and dropping this bone chiller of a line
- Rat King: In a moment, you will not remember me, but know this... ...I will not forget you.
- Puny Humans: His thoughts on mortals, seeing them as little more than pawns to use and discard.
- Red Eyes, Take Warning: His eyes are blood red, and while he's not a direct antagonist, he's still no one to take lightly.
- Trickster Mentor: He acts as the Pied Piper of Hamelin, at times using his powers to both reward and punish mankind.
Toad Baron
- Adipose Rex: The absolute ruler of his domain, and a rather corpulent fellow. Despite his Blue-and-Orange Morality, however, he's closer to Big Fun than being a Fat Bastard.
- Beleaguered Assistant: Not him, but his frog servants. Aside from the rigorous effort involved when it comes to preparing grand festivities, they tend to put up with a lot in the service of their master - comforting the Baron when he laments over his misfortunes, being freaked out by the antics of the rest of the Pantheon, being ordered to fight the Turtles, and so on.
- Benevolent Boss: Despite snarking at the neurotic antics of his toad servants, he doesn't go out of his way to punish them, either.
- Beware the Nice Ones: He may be jovial and bombastic, but Toad Baron is not defenseless - when Raphael threatens him, he invokes some kind of power that leaves the red-masked turtle vomiting helplessly.
- Big Fun: He always tries to be this. At his best, he even succeeds.
- Blue-and-Orange Morality: Despite not showing much consideration for the ways of mortals (as seen when he "invited" Alopex and Nobody to his Den of Delights), his alignment isn't necessarily evil - he's more concerned with throwing the finest parties that mortals and immortals alike have ever enjoyed.
- Butt-Monkey: The feast he throws for the Pantheon to discuss their interference with mortal affairs ends with the Turtles crashing the party, with the ensuing fracas between them and the other members of the Pantheon (namely Manmoth and Jagwar) demolishing several priceless antiquities.
- Deadpan Snarker: Best witnessed when he invites the Pantheon to his Den of Delights for their once-a-century planning session, where he snarks at many of their usual antics.
- Den of Iniquity: Has a massive stone palace called the Den of Delights, with many halls and corridors, and is filled with tacky precious items. It is impossible to leave the Den of Delights without the express permission of the Toad Baron; while it has many doors, they all simply lead to other chambers, with none to the outside.
- The Hedonist: And proud of it. The sole reason he threw his lot in with the Turtles is due solely to the fact that he realizes if Kitsune bring their father back, he'll lose his treasured life-style of partying all the time.
- Large Ham: Even in text form, it's easy to tell that he likes to chew the scenery, swallow it, and call for seconds.Toad Baron: ALBERTO! TO ME...NOW!!
- Pet the Dog: He's not above being openly cordial and humble to people he respects, like Aka.
- He also gives Splinter some sage advice (in his own way) about the rift between himself and his sons in issue #89, when taking the role of The Spirit of Christmas Present.
- Despite the fact the turtles had interrupted his parties in the past, he does seem to express genuine sympathy (or at least understanding) for Michelangelo's grieving over Slash's death.
- This Is Gonna Suck: His assessment of Rat King preparing to sic his pets on Michelangelo.Toad Baron: This is going to leave a stain. I just know it.
- Vomit Indiscretion Shot: Among his powers is the ability to invoke this on others. Particularly those who threaten or disrespect him directly.
Jagwar
- Adaptational Badass: Zig-zagged. She's part of an immortal pantheon of demi-gods, but hasn't been seen demonstrating the same variety of powers as her siblings just yet.
- Composite Character: Seems to be a mixture between the original Jagwar, his mother, and father (A jaguar spirit).
- Cool Sword: Technically, her weapon seems to be a macuahuitl - an ancient aztec "sword" that consists of a flat-bladed wooden club whose twin edges are lined with sharpened obsidian blades.
- Gender Flip: The Archie version is male, but this one female.
- I Resemble That Remark!: When Kitsune insults her by suggesting she rarely thinks matters through beyond smiting any problems with her sword, Jagwar suggests getting her sword so she and Kitsune can "discuss" the matter further.
- Knight Templar: While devoted to matters of honor and justice, she will punish any insults to either with death. When the Turtles are caught snooping during a meeting of the Pantheon, she resolves to slaughter them for the perceived crime.
- The Paladin: Described as a "valiant warrior of strict honor and swift justice," and tends to be blunt and straightforward in her opinions. This often brings her into conflict with Kitsune, whom she has deep contempt for.
Kitsune
A mythical fox-goddess and master of trickery, illusion, and deception. For more information, see her entry in the Foot Clan page.
