Fantasy Counterpart Myth

Most Writers Are Human, which is why when we create fantasy worlds we tend to rely on things we're familiar with. The most common practice is creating cultures reminiscent of real life or fusing several real-life ones together to create something new.

Thus it's completely expected that when creating a Fantasy Pantheon or in-universe mythological hero that the writer would take some inspiration from the countless myths and stories across human history. These characters aren't literally that mythological being, but take great inspiration from their specific stories, or even multiple stories and figures fused into one. Whereas the Fantasy Counterpart Religion is more bothered with the aesthetics and beliefs of an organized religion, this trope is more about the deity or figure itself, what they represent, and what they did.

Sister Trope to Fantasy Counterpart Religion and its subtrope Crystal Dragon Jesus, which are where a religion is based on a real-world one, and Super-Trope to Messianic Archetype, Satanic Archetype (which are this trope applied to Christianity in particular), Demiurge Archetype, Grandpa God, and all Stock Gods.

---

Examples:

Anime & Manga

• Princess Resurrection: Nakua, a Spider-deity that initially seeks human sacrifices from the school, is based on the H. P. Lovecraft creation of Atlach-Nacha.

Literature

• Discworld:
  • In Eric, Rincewind and Eric travel back in time to the Tsortean War, an obvious parody of The Trojan War.
  • The Last Hero opens with a retelling of the Disc's version of the Prometheus myth, with the hero Fingers Mazda stealing fire from the gods.
  • In Carpe Jugulum, Bishop Horn is mentioned as the Omnian equivalent of Noah, although the Quite Reverend Mightily Oats has noticed that a lot of cultures on the Disc, as on our world, have some kind of flood myth.
  • In Men at Arms, legend has it that the sword of the Kings of Ankh-Morpork was pulled out of a stone by the first king, thus proving his worthiness. Although the Disc tends towards All Myths Are True, this one is a misinterpretation: it turns out the true king can drive his incredibly sharp but extremely unmagical sword into a stone.
  • Most Discworld gods, especially in the main pantheon, are based on real world archetypes. Blind Io is Zeus with a few elements of Odin, Bilious the God of Wine is Dionysius (in Hogfather, he even has maenads), the Tezumen god Quetzovercoatl in Eric is Quetzalcoatl, the various Djelibeybian gods in Pyramids are the Egyptian pantheon, and so on.
  • The Hogfather himself is the Discworld counterpart of Santa Claus, but with more of a focus on pork products.
• Eldraeverse: The eldrae have an equivalent to the legend about the man and his dog denied admittance to Heaven. Their version is the origin story of Tárvalén, god of loyalty.
• The Faraway Paladin: Volt, the Top God of the Fantasy Pantheon, is very much drawn in the vein of Zeus, being the god of lightning and rulership, though he has a significantly better relationship with his wife Mater than Zeus ever did with Hera.
• Played with in KonoSuba, where there are references to mythical items and creatures like the sword Excalibur and the Winter Shogun (i.e. the Japanese personification of winter) despite taking place in a different world. However, it's mentioned that many people from Earth (Japan in particular) were sent over to that world in the past, with protagonist Kazuma Satou merely being the latest one, so it's entirely possible these previous transplants simply brought those references with them.

Tabletop Games

• Dungeons & Dragons
  • Forgotten Realms
    • To stop one of the Elder Elemental Evils, Kezef the Chaos Hound, the Gods challenged him that he could not break free of bonds made by Gond. Kezef agreed to challenge, but, sensing a foul play, only if one of the Gods places their hand in his jaw. Tyr, God of Justice, took on this challenge. After realizing he cannot break the bonds and the Gods plan to just leave him like this for eternity, Kezef furiously bit off Tyr's hand. If that sounds a lot like a story of Norse War God Tyr and Fenrir the Wolf, good. Bonus points of it being ambigious whenever or not this is the same Tyr as Norse one, or just his namesake.

Video Games

• Dark Souls has Gwyn, the Lord of Sunlight. Being the ruler of the gods and a warrior-king with control over lightning make him a clear parallel to Zeus. Like Zeus, he and the other gods fought against an ancient primordial race over control of the planet, though Ancient Dragons instead of Titans, and, when victorious, ruled over the world, creating a large family in the process. He's also a major counterpart to Odin, specifically through his implied wisdom and cunning, such as rewarding Seath, an Ancient Dragon he would otherwise hunt for sport, with a title of nobility and power for the betrayal of his kin, and 'rewarding' the Pygmies, the progenitors of humanity, with a crown, a city, and one of his daughters...and having that city be at the edges of the world, and his daughter to act as a Barrier Maiden for the entire city. But perhaps the most important trait he shares with Odin is their defiance against fate: just like Odin tried (and failed) to avert Ragnarok, Gwyn tries to avert the inevitable fate of the First Flame dying by throwing himself in it, and devising a plan so that a 'chosen one' would do the same thing he did when the Flame would begin to flicker out again.
• The Urn of Sacred Ashes in Dragon Age: Origins is a religious artifact containing the ashes of the prophetess Andraste — herself a mix of Jesus, Boudica and Joan of Arc — who was burned at the stake, before becoming the center of a new Christianity-like religion of Andrasteanism. The Urn is an obvious reference to the legend of the Holy Grail, though, unlike the latter, you can actually find and touch it, and its contents do have miraculous healing powers (though the game deliberately leaves open whether it's because of their holiness or due to a random magical fluctuation).
• Elden Ring is heavily inspired by Norse and Greek Myth.
  • The Fire Giants are an obvious counterpart to the giants of Muspelheim in Norse Myth: gigantic beings who have dominion over fire with the power to potentially burn the World Tree and raze the world. Their depictions in-game are even reminiscent of the painting The Giant with the Flaming Sword by John Charles Dollman. However, while the Fire Giants of myth only appear at Ragnarok at the end of everything, here they were defeated long before the game starts.
  • Godfrey is a counterpart to the Greek demigod Herakles and, predictably, the Norse god Frey: On Herakles' side, he's a Barbarian Hero with a supernatural amount of strength even before ascending to the title of Elden Lord, with a heavy dose of bloodlust and Might Makes Right mentality. Just like Herakles wore the coat of the Nemean lion, Godfrey wears a living spiritual lion on his back which acts as his violence inhibitor. He's generally considered to be the World's Strongest Man and several characters still look up to him for his prowess, just like how in real life Herakles was considered a paragon of savage, unparalleled strength and masculinity. On Frey's side, he takes his name (which literally means "God (of) Peace"), and surprisingly, Frey's aspects as a god of peace and prosperity, as after the constant wars Godfrey was expected to rule over an age of prosperity and peace (at least, before he got exiled). Frey was also the god destined to fight and die against Surtr, king of the Fire Giants, while Godfrey took the lead against the Fire Giants and slaughtered them all.
  • Radagon is a counterpart to Thor: As a tall, incredibly muscular, long-haired, redhead warrior god who wields a hammer charged with supernatural lightning (actually holy bolts in Radagon's case) and has a strong association with sacred trees and an adversarial relationship with the Giants.
  • Godwyn, firstborn of Marika and Godfrey, is a counterpart to Baldr: both are associated with golden light, both were known for their radiant beauty and benevolence, and both were killed through an Immortal Breaker weapon, bringing about the twilight of the gods.
  • Despite being considered the Top God of the setting, Marika the Eternal doesn't initially have a clear reference to any real-life deity, especially of Greek or Norse origin like the others. She's associated with scholarly learning, golden light, the Erdtree, and the very concept of 'order' which the titular Elden Ring embodies, which makes it all the more bizarre as later revelations make her most associated with Loki, trickster god in Norse myth. First of all is the fact that, as the one who shattered the Elden Ring, she was the fundamental cause of the Shattering and all the destruction and suffering therein, just like how Loki would be the fundamental cause of the start of Ragnarok. Then there's the fact that Marika is technically both a woman and a man, as she (at least in present times) shares her body with Radagon, and it can shift and change to fit the form of whoever is in control, just like how Loki would shift and change, even across the boundaries of species and sex, for his plans and schemes. And just like Loki, Marika's morality, motivations, and goals are shrouded in mystery and ambiguity.
  • Ranni is the clearest nod to Loki. She's a ruthless and conniving mage-god who champions chaos (in contrast to her overlord) and who seeks to overthrow the God of Order, and engineers the murder of the beloved god Godwyn (as Loki engineered the death of Baldr; both even did it the same way, enchanting a mundane object and giving it to another so they could kill the normally-immortal target). Both she and Loki cause their setting's version of Götterdämmerung in their scheming, leading to mass death. Both also have a loyal wolf as a family member (Loki's son Fenrir and Ranni's stepbrother Blaidd) who aids in their plots, work through false identities and forms, and rely on trickery partly because they're small and dainty compared to their more martial relatives.
• The concept of the Shezarrines in The Elder Scrolls series, a physical manifestation of a supreme deity that appears when the world is in turmoil, is similar to Vishnu's Avatars in Hindu Mythology.
• Pokémon:
  • The Original One, the divine entity responsible for the creation of the multiverse, is a mishmash of various different creation gods such as Brahma and the Christian God. Born at the beginning of everything, the Original One used its 1000 arms to create the universe and split itself into multiple forms to create the concepts of reality such as Time (Dialga), Space (Palkia), and Dark Matter (Giratina). It's implied even Arceus, the being closest to the description of the Original One, is merely just another fragment of it, which is why it's 'merely' one of the strongest Pokemon and not, say, omnipotent.
  • Kyogre and Groudon from Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire are thematically based on the Leviathan and Behemoth from Hebrew mythology. Leviathan is a giant sea monster, Behemoth is a giant land monster, and it is said they will kill each other in battle at the end of time. Similarly, Kyogre is believed to have created the sea, Groudon is believed to have created the land, and they fell into slumber after a cataclysmic battle with each other.
• World of Warcraft:
  • The majority of the Titanic Keepers in Northrend are thinly-veiled references to Norse Mythology. They're ruled by Odyn, who is the husband of Freya and the father of Thorim and Loken. Other important figures include Hodir, Tyr, and Helya. Loken was even corrupted by an Old God and betrayed his fellow Keepers, a clear parallel to Ragnarok.
  • The Keepers in Uldum similarly are based on Egyptian Mythology although not nearly as fleshed-out, with the main council of Isiset, Setesh, Ammunae, and Rahj serving as the final bosses of the Halls of Origination. Their master, Highkeeper Ra, is a dual shoutout since the mogu know him as Ra-den, a reference to Raijin/Raiden.
  • While different in appearance, the Old Gods themselves are thinly veiled references to the Lovecraft Mythos, in both name and role. C'tuhn is one to Chtulhu, Yogg-Saron is one to Yog-Sototh and so on.
  • The troll loa Bwonsamdi takes after Baron Samedi in both name and appearance, but his role as a Psychopomp borrows from Papa Legba instead. Also, the Gurubashi blood god Hakkar the Soulflayer is a more evil version of Quetzalcoatl.
  • Several of the realms in the Shadowlands are very strongly based on real-world mythology:
    • Bastion is based off Greek mythology, i.e. Mount Olympus and the Elysian Fields. Most of the characters and places have Greek-inspired names, and the whole aesthetic is very strongly Ancient Greek.
    • Ardenweald is most recognizably inspired by the Celtic mythology of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Nights Dream. It's an enchanted, mystical forest populated by light-hearted fauns, centaurs, and fairies whose childlike demeanor nevertheless belies their great power. They are ruled over by a fairy queen who presides over a royal court.
    • Revendreth is based off stereotypical vampire mythos, i.e. Dracula, etc. It's a dark realm of shadowy forests and cemeteries. At the center is a giant castle called "Castle Nathria" with towering gothic spires and bat-like architecture. Among its denizens are gargoyles and gremlins, as well as the venthyr - grey-skinned, fanged humanoids who drain souls of their life force, but are otherwise outwardly elegant and sophisticated beings.

Webcomics

• Sleepless Domain: The people of the City celebrate the winter festival of Crimmus, whose central figure — a Magical Girl named Holly Jolly — is modeled after the modern legends surrounding Santa Claus. According to the myth, every Crimmus Eve she uses her Bag of Holding and her power to walk through walls in order to leave presents around each family's Crimmus bush.

Western Animation

• DuckTales (2017): Storkules is the bird equivalent of Greek demigod Hercules (though his fellow gods Zeus, Selene, and Poseidon curiously keep their real-world names despite now being in bird form).
• Winx Club: The Great Dragon is a humongous dragon made of fire that is the first thing to be born from the beginning's nothingness. His first action is to breathe fire and therefore create a universe full of planets, living beings, and magic. Then, one day, he gets tired and decides to rest on Domino, infusing the planet with its divine magic. This creation myth has some parallels with the one from Christianity, where God has always existed but has his first action as separating light from darkness and also resting when he got tired of creating the universe. So it's a downplayed example.

---