History Main / JerkassGods

* Zig-zagged with TheGodsMustBeLazy in ''Literature/TheSilmarillion'' with both ''Valar'' and the supreme god, Eru Ilúvatar. The only active god is Morgoth, who is GodOfEvil and ''actively'' corrupts everything around, including Elves and Men. The other ''valar'' are just ''lethargic'' at best - and they have their own golden children, Elves - and could not care less about Men. Eru Ilúvatar is ''downright genocidal'' when it comes to Men, as witnessed with the fate of Númenor. Later editions clarified that the Valar's indifference was borne out of fear that their intervention in Middle Earth would flat out [[ApocalypseHow destroy the world due to their vast power]] and they had to instead send intermediaries, like the Wizards, to help the residents of Middle Earth.

Marika, the TopGod and mother of most of the rest, was by all accounts a ruthlessly pragmatic woman with very little sympathy to spare for even her own children. The Golden Order she presided over was extremely racist and prone to enslaving those it deemed undesirable (such as Misbegotten and Omens), and is genocidally discriminatory against anything that uses fire (ask the Fire Giants... oh wait, they're all dead), and while Marika's personal feelings on the matter aren't elaborated, she at very least publicly approved of the persecution. [[spoiler:She also shattered the Elden Ring, leading to most of the horrors that have plagued the Lands Between ever since.]]

** The Maker can also fall into this, depending on the speaker, to the point where the interpretations of the Maker that make Him seem actually decent (such as Leliana's) tend to be semi-heretical. Chantry dogma holds that the darkspawn exist because the magisters of Tevinter invaded Heaven and got smacked down and turned into monsters; [[spoiler:most of it seems to be true ''except'' the Maker's involvement, which is still ambiguous]]. In other words, countless humans and dwarves have been killed in horrible ways or turned into monsters because of the admittedly abhorrent actions of a small group of Tevene magisters, none of whom even ''could'' have been dwarven because dwarves can't do magic. Then there's the Chantry explanation for demons existing, which is that the Maker screwed up when making spirits by not giving them the capacity for creation, dumped them like a sack of hot bricks, and dedicated all His attention to mortals instead, leading many of the spirits to fester in resentment and turn evil. Most of His relationship with mortals seems to consist of turning His face from them, looking back for thirty seconds and then returning to a stance of "no, screw you guys", meaning he is, at best, very passive-aggressive and deeply indifferent towards collateral damage.

* The demigods of ''VideoGame/EldenRing'' are on a spectrum. [[TheAce Godwyn]] and [[NotGrowingUpSucks Miquella]] were the closest to white morality, being beloved by all who knew them and never doing anything questionable we know of. The grayer ones ([[CosmicKeystone Marika]] [[PrinciplesZealot Morgott]], [[GravityMaster Radahn]], [[WalkingWasteland Malenia]], [[PuppetPermutation Ranni]], [[TheGoodKing Godfrey]], [[spoiler:possibly [[FieryRedhead Radagon]] if he still has free will when trying to prevent the Tarnished from mending the Ring]]) are WellIntentionedExtremist types with many noble attributes who nonetheless still cause tons of collateral damage in pursuit of their goals. Finally the morally black ones are purely power-hungry butchers with no higher goal than personal gain, and are completely unapologetic about it ([[AppendageAssimilation Godrick]], [[SnakesAreSinister Rykard]], [[BloodMagic Mohg]]).
** From a normal human being's perspective, none of [[spoiler: the [[EldritchAbomination Outer Gods]] seem to have good plans for humanity, despite their BlueAndOrangeMorality: The [[KillItWithFire Frenzied Flame]] wants to [[OmnicidalManiac destroy every living thing]], The [[TheCorruption Scarlet Rot]] wants to [[MakeThemRot spread and corrupt everything]], the [[CombatSadomasochist Formless Mother]] wants her followers to [[HumanSacrifice commit murder to empower themselves and her]], [[DarknessEqualsDeath Destined Death]] is causing a ZombieApocalypse with corrupting Deathroot, and what little we know of the Fire Giant's [[{{Cyclops}} Fell God]] [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast doesn't sound good]]. Even the [[GodOfOrder Greater Will]], the one most widely viewed as conventionally "good", [[HaveYouSeenMyGod abandoned the Lands Between the moment the Shattering started]], leaving humanity to the predations of rampaging demigods fighting for power. As for the [[{{Lunacy}} Dark Moon]]... it's an EnigmaticEmpoweringEntity that may unintentionally spread AlienKudzu, but may be [[DarkIsNotEvil overall benevolent]]; it never fully controls people directly, but instead guides them to their own path of self-dscovery. The Dark Moon seems to want people to [[ScrewDestiny be free from the constraints of other powers]], and able to walk their own paths.. at least according to Ranni]].

* The Aesir are not exactly shown at their best in ''VideoGame/AsgardsWrath''. Týr is a BloodKnight who toys with the lives of mortals even those that worshipped him, Thor is a boisterous and easily angered oppressor of the Giants, Hel wishes to unleash her undead army on Midgard, and al of them regard the New God as an upstart, with Odin even [[spoiler: banishing them to Jötunheim when they are found with the stolen Mjolnir.]] [[AffablyEvil Loki]] is the sole god, besides Heimdall, who treats the New God with any decency, [[spoiler: and of course that turns out to all be an act by the trickster.]]

* ''Literature/{{Campione}}'': Heretic Gods are born when a divine being rebels against their legend and manifests in the mortal world. Their mere presence brings disaster which is bad enough, but few Heretic Gods care about the deaths of humans and many actively revel in the chaos they bring.

* [[MeaningfulName Deus ex Machina]], the God of Time and Space in ''Manga/FutureDiary'', needed to pick a successor after he began dying. So how does he pick his successor? He chooses a bunch of random people from his city, gives them future-predicting diaries, and tells them that they all have to kill each other before the world ends, and the last one standing gets to be the new God of Time and Space. Why pick such a needlessly violent method that really doesn't prove any sort of qualification of being a ''deity''? [[ItAmusedMe Because he can.]]
* ''Manga/FruitsBasket'': Akito Sohma is controlling and ''extremely'' abusive to her fellow Zodiac members and the Sohma family in general, believing that as [[GodInHumanForm God of the Zodiac]], she can do whatever she pleases and no one has any right to stop her. This attitude was most likely instilled in her by the head maid, her ParentalSubstitute, who [[PushoverParents enabled her behavior]] for that very reason.

* ''Literature/IzureShinwaNoRagnarok'' has gods possessing human bodies to wage war with each other, which results in a lot of destruction to Eurasia. While they eventually make rules to limit their destruction, this is mainly done out of pragmatism and many of them are still callous towards human collateral damage.
* ''Manga/ThusSpokeKishibeRohan'':
** The [[NatureSpirit Gods of the Mountain]] created the Millionaire Village, a cursed land in which those who enter have to follow unreasonably strict etiquette guidelines. Those who succeed become rich while those who fail [[spoiler: [[DisproportionateRetribution lose a loved one for every rule they break]]. Rohan and his editor Izumi enter, believing it to be an ordinary village, and Izumi unknowingly breaks three obscure rules so the gods kill her mother, fiance, and the baby bird she encountered in the beginning. When Rohan uses his [[GuardianEntity Stand]] on the CreepyChild working for them to get answers, they give Izumi a heart attack and he has to cheat at their game to get them to undo everything.]]
** Later on, Rohan's gym rival Yoma is [[DemonicPossession possessed]] by the [[Myth/ClassicalMythology Greek god Hermes]], who turns him into a musclebound, murderous psychopath.
* ''Literature/SoImASpiderSoWhat:''
** Evil God "D" is [[ItsAllAboutMe completely self-centered]] and watches Kumoko's desperate attempts to survive for her own amusement. If Kumoko tries to ignore or thinks badly of her, "D" responds with threats of annihilation or "punishment" consisting of debilitating agony. Worst of all, she created [[spoiler:Kumoko by attaching a piece of her soul and some shoddily modified memories to a house spider]]. "D" expected [[spoiler:Kumoko]], who was essentially her ''child'', would die quickly and confuse the other gods so "D" could continue slacking off. Her status is cemented when it's revealed "D" [[spoiler:created the System not to save the world but to ''amuse'' herself by watching the mortals kill one another in an interesting way, and that it's heavily implied she could have come up with a much less bloody way if she actually cared]]. And then she got ''bored'' and left the whole thing to spiral into disaster.
** This is apparently a common trend among gods. Their status makes them supremely arrogant and they view dominating the mortal races as only proper. It's hinted that the god-slaying Angels were brought into existence by the {{Lifestream}} of the many planets suffering due to their actions. "D" just so happens to stand out because [[TopGod she's one of the strongest gods out there]] and thus above even direct retribution from her fellow deities in most cases. [[spoiler:The only one known to be powerful enough to threaten "D" is Meido, a WarGod who inexplicably dresses like a maid, but Meido has absolutely no non-combat powers and thus "D" can easily hide from her.]]

* ''Manga/OnePiece'''s God Eneru. Granted, their "God" (Kami) is merely the title of the ruler of Skypiea, but his [[ShockAndAwe Logia powers]] and seeming omniscience justifies his status.

* In ''Literature/TheRisingOfTheShieldHero'', this is the case for the majority of the [[AGodAmI self-proclaimed gods]]. They like to play games with less-advanced worlds, abusing the populace either for their own game or simply amusement. [[spoiler:The final villain is the goddess Medea Pideth Machina, who engineered the Waves as a way of both amusing herself with the suffering of the people and harvesting energy, and (in the web novel) whose fragment in Malty S. Melromarc resulted in her being such a sociopathic villain.]]
* ''Literature/TheSagaOfTanyaTheEvil'' has "Being X", as Tanya calls him; a rather off-put god who is tired of people not being faithful and praising him as often as he'd prefer. Thus, he decides to take the biggest, most staunch atheist he could find and put them through the wringer with the intent of making a believer out of them, reincarnating a JerkAss atheist {{Salaryman}} as a young girl forced to fight in an alternate version of World War I with a weapon that will kill her outright if she doesn't pray to him, though she usually does so in a bored monotone voice to reflect the fact that she is eternally against him in the long run. As such, she still retains her original mindset of seeking to rid the world of Being X's horrid influence, since while Tanya does act devilish, it's a freakin' pat on the back compared to the ruthless influence that Being X exerts on those too weak-willed to resist becoming completely influenced by him.

* While Cain isn't exactly unbiased, ''ComicBook/TheGoddamned'' lands credence to the idea that the Biblical God is, at-best, apathetic to humanity's suffering, [[GodIsEvil is an actively sadistic monster at worse]].
--> '''Cain:''' He hears everything. Every scream. Every cry, every whimper. Every plea for mercy. For death. He hears. He just doesn't give a fuck.
* Zeus in {{Creator/Marvel}}'s ''ComicBook/TheIncredibleHercules'' justifies this by claiming that gods ''need'' to be jerks so that humans have someone to blame when everything seems to be going wrong. Stretched to unsurprisingly baleful extremes with his wife Hera, who, after ascending Olympus's throne, went so far as to attempt to erase reality through a washover of antimatter saving only those most faithful to her religion and selfish whims. Even then she was a cruel, abusive, and self-obsessed paranoiac who treated her own flesh & blood kids like throw rugs whenever she'd throw a hissy fit.
* The Marvel version of Odin runs the whole gamut from merely grumpy but basically nice to outright misogynist dick or even genocidal monster DependingOnTheWriter. His jerkiness is usually to provide contrast with his children: the heroic, Midgard-loving [[ComicBook/TheMightyThor Thor]] and the villain-turned-WildCard ComicBook/{{Loki}}.
* In one ''ComicBook/Thor2014'' arc, we meet the gods of the [[GalacticSuperpower Shi'ar Empire]]. Jealous of Thor's fame and renown, they force her into a contest of powers that is quickly shown to be a BodyCountCompetition, with events such as "who can kill the most people with a plague" and "who can make the worst natural disasters". Upon their defeat, they unleash [[EnemyToAllLivingThings The Mangog]] to destroy Asgard, and possibly all gods everywhere.
* The DCU version of Zeus, on the other hand, is more or less identical to his mythological counterpart, which is to say an abusive rapist and total sociopath who, among other things, tried to rape ComicBook/WonderWoman. He can occasionally act in a moderately acceptable manner, but he always slides right back into his old ways in due time.

* Continually toyed with in ''ComicBook/TheWickedAndTheDivine'' and in fact a driving thematic question about the nature of star power and the toll of celebrity. Most of the gods are decent enough to mortals, as they all used to be mortal themselves, but as disaster after epic disaster piles up, the pantheon's individual ways of coping become increasingly unhealthy and problematic, not to mention dangerous to the rest of the world and each other. [[JerkWithAHeartOfJerk Woden is just genuinely an asshole though]].
** Ananke is perhaps a better example; as the gods' immortal caretaker and mysterious benefactor, she is the closest most of the pantheon have to parents, and sets herself up to the media as the only one capable of [[MurderIsTheBestSolution stopping a godly rampage]]. And given she's a manipulative liar who [[WouldHurtAChild wouldn't hesitate to sacrifice the thirteen-year-old Minerva]], it can be safe to say that regardless of her still-opaque motives, she falls squarely into this territory.

* In ''ComicBook/OdyC'', a space opera retelling of ''Literature/TheOdyssey'', the Olympians mainly regard the mortals as toys for their amusement or tools in their intrigues against each other.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheSpongeBobSquarePantsMovie'': King Neptune is presented as such, even more so than his counterpart in the actual ''[=SpongeBob=]'' series, being willing to dish out harsh punishments for incredibly petty reasons. For starters, he threatened to imprison the royal crown polisher for ''20 years'' for simply touching his crown, the job he was ''hired'' to do, and if his daughter Mindy's statements are correct, he can barely go a single day without trying to execute someone. That being said, at the end of the movie, he gets AnAesop on how important it is to have love and compassion when you're in a position of leadership.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Fantasia}}'':
** Zeus, in the ''[[{{Arcadia}} Pastoral]]'' Symphony, disrupts Bacchus' party with a storm and deliberately threw lightning bolts at them. It's even worse if one goes by the myths, in which Bacchus is Zeus' ''son''.
** Chernabog incinerates or crushes his demonic minions simply for a moment's amusement.

* Downplayed in ''Film/OhGod''. While God (Creator/GeorgeBurns) is not particularly malicious, He also doesn't seem to care about the difficulties that His messiah Jerry (or his family) goes through in delivering His message.
-->'''Jerry:''' "I lost my job, you know."\\
'''God:''' "Lose a job, save a world. Not a bad deal."

* Calypso of ''Franchise/PiratesOfTheCaribbean'', goddess of the sea, fell in love with a mortal man, who was then offered the position of captain of the Flying Dutchman. The conditions of the captaincy are that you do the job for ten years, and if, after that time, your love is waiting for you when you get your one day on land for the decade, you can go free and someone takes your place; otherwise you've gotta keep doing the job until someone kills you. Calypso didn't wait and Davy Jones was stuck being the captain of the Flying Dutchman. She claimed that Davy shouldn't have expected anything else from her because she's the embodiment of the capricious and treacherous sea. The fifth movie reveals that Will had to continue being the captain even after his love ''did'' wait for him on his day: one can assume Calypso pulled the entire stipulation out of her godly ass just to get a captain for the Dutchman.

* Bruce Nolan in ''Film/BruceAlmighty'' ''thinks'' God is like this, and his actions, despite how they're presented, back this up. After all, he was perfectly willing to let thousands of people suffer at Bruce's hands just to teach him a lesson. And he's not exactly nice to Evan in the sequel either.
** Bruce himself is one when he gets God's powers. A lot of the problems he causes are basically just negligence, but he does have a few intentional acts of malice, such as the butt monkey, getting Evan fired and getting some reporters busted for drug possession. His girlfriend Grace is basically the only person he actually tries to do something nice for (Excluding the prayer-answering, which God made him do), in giving her "pleasure", and even that is debatable whether he was doing it for her benefit or his own ego and arousal. Really, you don't want to make Bruce mad. You'll regret it.
* [[MeaningfulName John Milton]]'s [[RageAgainstTheHeavens flamboyant diatribe against God]] at the climax of ''Film/TheDevilsAdvocate''. ("He's a ''tight-ass!'' He's a ''sadist!'' He is an ''absentee landlord!''")[[note]]That last bit might sound like ArsonMurderAndJaywalking, but [[SeriousBusiness absentee landlords are hated deeply in many parts of the world]], roughly on a par with [[IntimidatingRevenueService tax gatherers]]. And that goes double for anyone with Irish ancestry.[[/note]]
* ''Film/{{Immortals}}'' is a rare subversion of this featuring the [[Myth/ClassicalMythology Greek Gods.]] The gods do not interfere with humanity to let it develop on its own. They are so disgusted with Hyperion's actions that they want to kill him and his entire army. [[TopGod Zeus]] flip flops. He prevents the other gods from intervening until the Titans are freed in the name of free will and faith in humanity, but is force to indirectly interfere to raise a hero to lead humanity against Hyperion. Several times the gods are forced to interfere to save Zeus' [[TheChosenOne hero Theseus.]] He kills [[WarGod Ares, the God of War]] for his interference, but spares Athena. His stubborn refusal to interfere allows the Titans to obtain freedom and starting another which he could have easily prevented.
* Thor [[AdaptationalVillainy of all people]] in ''Film/{{Vikingdom}}'' is depicted as a bloodthirsty madman who is furious that humanity (well, the Norsemen at least) turned his back on the old gods and began gathering many artifacts that would merge the mortal realm, Hel and Valhalla, effectively destroying all that exists to punish humans. He is also a BadBoss too, when his mortal followers (who initially joined him in the belief they would restore the good old days) realize what he intends to do and protest, he says he doesn't care what happens to them and violently puts them in their place when they attempt to turn on him.

* All the gods in ''Divine Misfortune'' by A. Lee Martinez fall under this trope except for Gorgoz and [[OnlySaneMan Quetzalcoatl]]

* In ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'', pretty much every deity seen is callous at best, plain evil at worst.
** As a series about two brothers fighting creatures from all myth's and folklore, pagan gods occasionally crop up (so far they've had Odin, Zeus, Osiris, Mercury, Chronos, Baron Samedi, and Kali to name a few) and they're always portrayed (normally quite accurately according to the myths, except for Kali whose portrayal is something of a {{Flanderization}} of some of her scarier myths, and Ganesha, which is straight-up AdaptationalVillainy) as arrogant, greedy and uncaring, regarding humans as little more than food and entertainment, savagely slaughtering them or encouraging others to slaughter them for them. Although Chronos at least had a sympathetic motive, since he just wanted to get back to his loved one but [[PowerIncontinence constantly found himself unwittingly teleporting through time]] and [[LoveMakesYouEvil could only get back to her timeline by sacrificing someone]]. It wasn't until the Eighth Season that they introduced the first truly benevolent pagan god, Prometheus.
** The Trickster demi-god from "Tall Tales" and "Mystery Spot" also known as Loki [[spoiler:and Gabriel]] is more of a jerkass demi-god. His victims, especially the Winchesters and definitely Sam, probably wish he was a lazy god [[spoiler:rather than an archangel.]] Yet, [[spoiler: when it comes down to it, he's willing to stand up to his older, stronger brother, the guy who taught him everything he knows, to try and help. This leads to his death.]]
** It's implied that the real God (the actual creator, who does exist in the supernatural universe) has shades of this, as it's commonly pointed out, especially by Dean Winchester, that despite being all-powerful and all-knowing, he idly sits by letting so many horrors occur every day to innocent people and it turns out he actually [[DisappearedDad abandoned his children]] (the angels) shortly after Lucifer's rebellion, leading the majority of them who were still (the equivalent of) children in the ruins of heaven. This probably also explains why his three eldest (Lucifer doesn't count as he was already evil before this) have so many problems, Gabriel ran off and pretends to be a Pagan, Raphael is a completely uncaring jerk who doesn't even care for his own kind, and Michael is a fanatic who is [[WellDoneSonGuy obsessed with pleasing his absent father]].[[spoiler:It turns out that the real reason that he doesn't intervene is that he regards the suffering of humans as entertainment and that he's been manipulating the Winchesters their entire lives because their adventures are his [[BreakingTheFourthWall favorite show]].]]
* In the ''Series/{{Farscape}}'' episode ''Prayer'', Aeryn mentions an ancient myth about how the ancient Sebaceans used to worship a goddess named Djancaz-Bru until she suddenly destroyed the seven main planets they lived on. When her dying worshipers asked why she had done this after they did their best to honor her, she replied, "[[ForTheEvulz Because I can.]]" Apparently, this is why the modern-day Peacekeepers refuse to believe in any religion.
* God messes with Al Bundy a few times in ''Series/MarriedWithChildren''. Al is a bit of a jerkass too though.

* Animus from ''Series/PowerRangersWildForce'' is ultimately good, but is more offended by human pollution than by the evil demon things. This is because the pollution is what ''gave rise'' to the evil demon things so he thinks the planet is a lost cause and took his kids [[note]]that season's zords and the source of the rangers' powers[[/note]] to find another planet to live on. He later explains that this was a SecretTestOfCharacter.
** Daizyujin is this to an extent in ''Series/KyoryuSentaiZyuranger'', notably in regard to Burai. But he's not nearly as bad as Daijinryuu in ''Series/GoseiSentaiDairanger'', who among other things ''compels several people to jump to their deaths from tall buildings''.
** Daizyujin is pretty much based on the gods of a lot of religions, being better than the ultimate evils that are around but wouldn't know the meaning of the word "fair." In Burai's case, [[spoiler: Burai was only needed to awaken Dragon Caesar, and, though they could probably save his life, which is LivingOnBorrowedTime, they don't because "it is not needed for him to survive."]] This is far from the only instance of Guardian Beast {{Jerkass}}itude in the series - the fact that the Rangers were working for such {{Bad Boss}}es is responsible for most of the dark aspects of an otherwise LighterAndSofter series.
* In ''Series/Charmed1998'', [[ArtisticLicense the Greek gods were mortals who got turned into gods by a magical mist]]. True to the mythology, however, it's stated that the old gods ''forced'' people to worship them. In fact, once Piper finally declares herself a goddess and realizes her full powers, she starts acting like it, causing a massive storm in order to vent her own personal problems out on the rest of the world.
* ''Series/TheMagicians2016'' has Reynard the Fox, a trickster god who rapes, butchers, and eats anyone who tries to summon Our Lady Underground, [[spoiler:Persephone]]. He also purposefully spread word on how to perform the summoning so he could find more faithful. It's eventually revealed he's targeting these people as [[spoiler:a form of RevengeByProxy on his mother, Persephone, for abandoning him]].
** Ember helps Quentin and Julia prepare to fight the Beast but then tears off the psychic equivalent of a bandaid, causing Julia to remember her traumatic [[spoiler:rape by Reynard]]. After that he takes a dump in [[spoiler:the Wellspring]], weakening the Beast while causing significant problems for the multiverse. [[spoiler:He then starts randomly transforming and destroying parts and people of Fillory [[ForTheLulz to amuse himself]], leading up to flat out destroying it]].
** In addition to The Monster being a soul-devouring PsychopathicManchild, the reason he's so pissed off is that [[spoiler:four Librarians [[DeityOfHumanOrigin broke their code and performed an infant sacrifice (on The Monster's sister) to become gods]], and then cursed their ForScience leader to prevent him from revealing what they did or how to fix it]], effectively creating one of the multiverse's greatest threats for their own gain and then doing everything in their power to imprison The Monster with a bunch of other (unfortunate) monsters and one very unfortunate knight. This convinces the Magicians to stop shedding tears for 'those four assholes who deserved their deaths'.
* ''Series/AmericanGods2017'':
** Anansi tells the slaves on the ship that even hundreds of years from then, the only possible future for a black man in America is to suffer and die, and the only thing to do to make their life worth anything is to just kill all the slavers and themselves as sacrifices to Anansi. He even shoots down the suggestion that they kill the slavers and ''steal'' the ship.
** Vulcan owns a gun manufacturing plant in which NoOSHACompliance is in full effect. It's cheaper to settle with the families of the average of two people a year that die after falling into the vats than it is to bring the place up to code (which is by the way an intentional case of TruthInTelevision - when Gailman got wind of this story, he considered this the closest thing to HumanSacrifice the modern age has). What's more, he explicitly gains power from mass shootings. Any time that someone is killed with his guns, it counts as a human sacrifice to him. Also, [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking he's mean to Shadow]].
* Subverted in ''Series/Lucifer2016''. [[UnreliableNarrator The titular character]] claims that God is an abusive parent who threw him out of Heaven for no reason to run Hell, and the series seems to show that he's a case of GoodIsNotNice, at best. When he finally shows up, however, he turns out to be a flawed, but well-meaning figure who's InnocentlyInsensitive and just bad at relating to people because of his omnipotence.

* The deities in ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer}}'' & ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}''. '''All''' of them. Canon does ''sometimes'' seem contradictory on this point, though.
** Khorne wants to see people fight battles, the bloodier and more gruesome the better. In the Warhammer universes, simply being a god of war makes him a possible good guy, while the fact that ''your'' viscera would be just as pleasing to him as your enemies makes him one of the bad guys.
** Slaanesh might want to help you to experience every positive sensation that you can, even turning negative sensations into new kinds of pleasure... but he/she/it '''definitely''' wants to ''force'' you to experience ''everything'', as a kind of torture-orgy.
** Papa Nurgle either wants you to help you to accept the pain and suffering of existence in the Warhammer universes, even nullifying some of the effects for you... so that you will be grateful enough to help him "spread the love" by infecting healthy people with incurable diseases and unhealing wounds to help them see how bad the universe is so that they will turn to Grandfather Nurgle and he can help ''them,'' too. Oh, and he's holding the lone subversion of this trope - Isha - captive, and experimenting with plagues on her.
** Tzeentch ''definitely'' is a Jerkass God, because he is the god of scheming to such an extent that ''anything'' good ''or'' bad in the Warhammer universe is his doing. His grand master-plan was responsible for every single happy moment of your life... and every single moment of negativity of any kind.
** Bloody-handed Khaine is the Eldar god of [[WarGod war and conflict]] ''and murder''. He was a reckless and brutal jerk of a god who was cursed to have blood forever drip from his hands after he murdered a mortal Eldar hero. In any other setting, he would be a candidate for BigBad. Here, he's one of the closest things the Eldar have to a ''BigGood'', as the actual BigGood of the Eldar Pantheon is dead.
** Cegorach the Laughing God is pretty much the {{Troll}} god of deception, stealth, creativity, art and trickery. He was the CourtJester of the Eldar Pantheon, spending all of his time mocking everything. On the other hand, he's also one of the closest things the Eldar have to a BigGood since he and his servants the Harlequins guard the secrets of the Black Library from the forces of Chaos, and most of the targets of his trolling really deserve it. He's a bit like Tzeentch, albeit with a slightly better sense of humor.
** The God Emperor of Mankind may or may not have been a true deity (he denied it but the present-day Imperium worship him as one anyway) but he was an example of GoodIsNotNice ''at best''. During his campaign to unite the galaxy under human rule he caused the deaths of billions, xeno and human alike. He also had a lot of trouble relating to others as actual people and had a tendency to keep secrets even when it was a bad idea. His inability to be a proper parent to many of the Primarchs such as Angron, Lorgar, and Magnus, played a huge part in ending the Imperium's golden age. Also, because the beliefs of large groups of sentient beings tends to become the truth in the Warp, he may be a true god yet.
** Gork and Mork are just a pair of thugs. One likes to hit people when they aren't looking, and the other hits people really hard whether they're looking or not. Fortunately, their worshipers are Orks, a race of thugs whose lives center around hitting people and wandering the cosmos to look for new people to hit. By their standards, their gods are perfectly reasonable. Nobody else in the galaxy would agree with them.
** The C'Tan are evil star gods who gave the Necrons the means to conquer the galaxy while simultaneously enslaving them. The Night Bringer instilled the fear of death into the sentient races, the Outsider is a MadGod that anybody in their right mind would steer clear of, the Deceiver is another malevolent trickster who helped with the destruction of most of his own brethren, and the Void Dragon is a DraconicAbomination who would rupture the Imperium if he were ever released from his prison on Mars.
** Subverted with Isha, the Eldar Mother Goddess, who survived the Fall as Nurgle's prisoner/disease Guinea pig. However, whenever he isn't looking, she whispers the cures to Nurgle's plagues to mortals. Now imagine the Hell that must be her life: she's in literal Hell, held captive by her antithesis, who routinely infects her with every malicious sickness that he can think of, then he waits until she cures herself, then uses his observations upon whatever methods she used to cure herself to make his next disease "harder to cure". And all she can do is watch. Whenever Nurgle glances away, she does everything in her power to tell mortals how to cure all of the horrible diseases and plagues that he's developed and released with "her help", however unwilling. Then remember the state of the galaxy as a whole, and guess how often she isn't brushed off as a demon trying to subvert them.

* ''TabletopGame/SenZar'' offers too many examples of this trope to count (including, potentially, evil player characters who ascend to godhood), but the prize for ''most'' jerkassness goes to the Eternals, the only type of gods who actually gain (even more) power for being complete jackasses.
* In the ''TabletopGame/ForgottenRealms'':

** At least according to some sources, Ao was getting tired of the gods goofing off to play power games against each other instead of doing their actual jobs, anyway. The theft of the Tablets was simply the straw that broke the camel's back (and made for conveniently collectible {{Plot Coupon}}s at the same time). And the Kicker? The Tablets of Fate were just symbolic. Ao ground them to dust in front of the other Gods just to show that all that suffering was for nothing.

* ''TabletopGame/PlayingGods'' gets this trope right. You play as one of the five major gods from the major religions (Christianity, Buddhism, Islam, Hinduism, and Judaism) or you can use the sixth stand and insert a sticker or [[AGodAmI a photo of yourself]] or use a key ring or action figure or whatever as a god too. You convert other gods' sects, spread believers, or massacre every other deity's sects. It's PlayedForLaughs though, and it's really a satire of fundamentalism and religious warfare and how it's better to be at peace with your fellow religions rather than attack them.
* ''TabletopGame/{{Scion}}'' makes use of this trope. In general, if the mythology portrays a god/dess as a jerkass, then he/she is the same in Scion. The ValuesDissonance between modern culture and mythology is also given a few subtle nods, the most obvious of which is that, by the "God" sourcebook, the official sample Aztec character is depicted as disgusted by and disdainful of his native pantheon.
* In ''TabletopGame/IronKingdoms'', Menoth, creator god of the human race, is such a massive jerk that two humans became gods just to overthrow him. It's not hard to see why as he supports AllCrimesAreEqual (most punishments [[KillItWithFire having something to do with fire]]) and the fact that if you're too awesome ''he will kill you''. Why? So you can fight for him in his heavenly army because he's attacking the other gods' cities. Why? Because he's a jerk. The few followers he has left view him more as a Stern Father, like the time when he refused to help the humans out when the Orgoth invaded because of the above overthrowing.

* The Titans of ''TabletopGame/ScarredLands'', while not technically gods, really give the Greek gods a run for their money in the "treating their creations horribly" department.

* ''Theatre/AngelsInAmerica'': God is a serious JerkAss who [[spoiler:abandoned Heaven a couple decades back, leaving the Angels in disarray and despair. It takes Prior, who has had a similar bad experience recently with a man walking out on him, to knock some sense into them, and say "Screw him!".]]

%%* From ''VideoGame/EpicBattleFantasy'', we have Godcat.

* ''VideoGame/KnightsOfAmbrose'': The book "Of Gods and Men" and various clergy describe Zamas as a cruel deity who wants to wipe out mortals for their potential for chaos and for gaining Helena's affections. In ''VideoGame/FindingLight'', [[spoiler:the party meets him face-to-face and he's just as condescending to them as one would expect and makes it clear that he will never give up on his genocidal goals. And he's responsible for all the [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking confusing looping rooms]] in the Black Tower and Heaven's Door]]. While he is worshipped by the Kingdom of Zamaste, this is less because of any benevolence on his part and more because the nation considers his victory inevitable and hopes he'll spare them.
* ''VideoGame/TheWorldEndsWithYou'': The Composer, [[spoiler:Joshua]], definitely counts. His behavior is downright dickish right from his introduction, and [[spoiler:he constantly spouts condescending remarks for all to hear]]. However, despite [[spoiler:looking like a scrawny fifteen-year-old, he is still basically the god of Shibuya and has such a nihilistic mindset he wants to destroy the city, with the entire plot revolving around him manipulating Neku in order to achieve this]]. [[spoiler:Luckily, by the end, his faith in humanity is restored and he decides against destroying everything. Though, he's still not very well-liked]].
* Mentioned above, Myrkul from ''VideoGame/NeverwinterNights2: Mask of the Betrayer'', the former god of the dead. People don't worship you or any other god? Sew their souls onto a wall that ''utterly destroys'' them when they die, [[spoiler:including one of the player's former companions]], and for extra evulz make the process '''slow'''. One of your old priests tries to take his beloved off that wall? [[spoiler:Stick ''him'' on it, then remove him right before he's DeaderThanDead so you can turn him into an EldritchAbomination and inflict him on the world.]] The PlayerCharacter wants to know [[spoiler:how to end the curse and thus put the man out of his misery]]? [[spoiler:Lie to them and nearly let their soul be destroyed.]] Delivering a [[spoiler:KarmicDeath]] to the guy is, needless to say, ''very'' satisfying.
** The kicker? [[AllThereInTheManual In the fluff]] Myrkul's much nicer successor did away with the bloody wall but was forced to reinstate it by the rest of the Pantheon. Apparently rewarding people for the virtue they displayed in their lives regardless of what god they worshipped was starving [[GodsNeedPrayerBadly them of followers]] implying that many people ''wouldn't worship them'' unless they had no choice.
* Subverted by ''VideoGame/TalesOfSymphonia.'' You do become relatively well-acquainted with some minor and major deities of the world religion, like Remiel and [[spoiler: Kratos,]] and in the first arc of the game they do turn out to be ''utter'' jerks, using and abusing their power over the protagonists. It's only later on that you find out [[spoiler: that they're not really angels - they're more of an AncientConspiracy club run by a few [[Really700YearsOld 4000-year-old]] guys and both their immortality and their power come from [[HumanResources Exspheres.]] They're not really gods, but they're still basically jerks running the world.]]
* In the game ''VideoGame/BlackAndWhite'', you play a god who can be benevolent and giving, or this.

* Like his Norse counterpart, Odin in ''VideoGame/ValkyrieProfile'' is kinda a dick too.
* [[VideoGame/{{Utawarerumono}} Wisitarnea, both versions,]] definitely ''mean(s)'' well. Unfortunately, this tends to involve killing lots of people, binding souls into eternity for the hell of it, causing natural disasters by fighting and manipulating everyone into wars.
* ''Franchise/TheElderScrolls'':
** Throughout the series, the [[OurGodsAreDifferent Daedric Princes]] qualify (when they aren't crossing into full-on GodOfEvil territory). The Daedric Princes are the most powerful of the Daedric beings, immortal entities who existed prior to the creation of Mundus, the mortal plane, and who did not sacrifice any of their power to help create Mundus (as the Aedra did). While your average denizen of Tamriel (along with less knowledgeable fans of the series) may see them as being [[OurDemonsAreDifferent Demons]], scholars in-universe and out are quick to point out that they are really beings AboveGoodAndEvil who operate on a BlueAndOrangeMorality in line with their spheres of influence. Whether they are seen as "good" or "evil" by mortals really boils down to how benevolent or malevolent their actions toward mortals are. Some seem to genuinely care about their mortal followers (but may not [[GoodIsNotNice always be "nice" toward them]]) while others see them as little more than disposable playthings.
*** Azura, Daedric Prince of Dusk and Dawn, is generally seen as one of the most benevolent of the Daedric Princes. She is known to [[BenevolentBoss watch over]] her loyal and obedient followers and acts largely as a BigGood in the main quest of ''Morrowind''. However, she is known to have a petty streak and is a big fan of gaining DisproportionateRetribution. In the past, when the advisors of her champion, Nerevar, went against her wishes by using the profane [[ArtifactOfDoom Tools of Kagrenac]] on the [[GodIsDead Heart of Lorkhan]] to become the {{Physical God}}s of the Tribunal, she cursed the entire race of the Chimer ("shining elves") by turning them into the red-eyed, ashen-skin Dunmer ("dark elves"). She also prophesied the {{reincarnation}} of Nerevar who would cast down the "false gods". In the plot of ''Morrowind'', [[spoiler:it's revealed that [[PlayerCharacter the Nerevarine]] may not actually be Nerevar's reincarnation, but simply a convenient UnwittingPawn for Azura [[ManipulativeBitch to get her revenge on the Tribunal]]]]. Due in no small part to the actions of the Nerevarine (as guided by Azura), a series of disasters strike Morrowind, rendering much of it uninhabitable with the rest [[TheDogBitesBack taken over]] by the Dunmer's long time SlaveRace, [[LizardFolk the Argonians]]. [[GoodIsNotNice "Good" Is Not Nice]] with Azura, indeed. Further, there is evidence that Azura is more of a TrueNeutral, concerned with maintaining some sort of metaphysical balance. Her actions just happen to benefit mortals more often than not by stopping divine threats.
*** Meridia, the Daedric Prince associated with the "energy of living things," is another who is generally considered "good," but has some very jerkass qualities as well. She has a hatred of all things undead and seeks to rid them from the world, which is usually a good thing for living mortals. Additionally, she's a main opposer of Molag Bal, probably the closest to an actual GodOfEvil among the Daedric Princes, and his motives are ''never'' benevolent toward mortals. Despite this, she can be a bit of a KnightTemplar in her actions, is a fan of DisproportionateRetribution for those who wrong her, backed the ObviouslyEvil Umaril the Unfeathered in the {{backstory}} and in the ''Knights Of The Nine'' expansion, and is a seething {{Narcissist}} about it all.
*** Sheogorath, [[MadGod Daedric Prince of Madness]], is every bit as unpredictable as his title may imply. He may be the Daedric Prince most active in aiding his followers, and in every appearance is shown to care about them deeply. However, he ''is'' completely insane. Seemingly at random, he can fluctuate between being this, a GreatGazoo, an IncrediblyInconvenientDeity, and an OmnicidalManiac. He's been known to [[ColonyDrop hurl celestial bodies]] at those who've offended him, or simply make cheese rain from the sky on a whim. In The Oblivion expansion ''The Shimmering Isles'', Sheogorath has been known to sentence people to death for growing beards, played jump rope with the entrails of someone who had his undying loyalty, and immediately threatens a subordinate he suspects of betraying them with ripping out their eyes. Thankfully by the time of ''Skyrim'' Sheogorath has mellowed out significantly [[spoiler: due to being the probably-heroic Champion of Cyrodiil who ascended to godhood and [[FisherKing became the new Sheogorath]]]], in fact he even helps repair the mentality of a former emperor he cursed with madness, allowing his spirit to finally rest in peace.
** ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIIIMorrowind Morrowind]]'':
*** Vivec, one of the aforementioned [[PhysicalGod Tribunal deities]] of the Dunmer, is one. While he has used his powers to help and protect the people of Morrowind in the past and is the main opposition for [[BigBad Dagoth Ur]] which makes him into a BigGood and SupportingLeader, he has his jerkass tendencies as well. In the distant past, Sheogorath hurled a "rogue moon" at Vivec's new {{Egopolis}}. Vivec used his power to stop it in mid-air above the city, [[SwordOfDamocles saying that it is held in place by the people's love for him]]. He also spends much of the game's main quest trying to have [[PlayerCharacter the Nerevarine]] killed, but this one is possibly justified. (He is a believer in YouCantFightFate, and he knew that all attempts to stop the true Nerevarine would be destined to fail, confirming his identity.)
*** In the ''Bloodmoon'' expansion, Hircine, the Daedric Prince of the Hunt, is a Downplayed example. He does kidnap the greatest warriors on Solstheim for his [[HuntingTheMostDangerousGame "hunt"]], but he also gives plenty of warnings, prophecies, signs, and such that it is time for the hunt. When a finalist emerges from his hunting grounds to challenge him directly, he also [[WillfullyWeak gives that person a sporting chance]] by fighting him at significantly reduced (but [[BroughtDownToBadass still incredibly strong for a mortal]]) strength. He also offers a legendary artifact as a reward for defeating him.
** In ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim Skyrim]]'', the Dragons technically qualify, due to possessing Aedric souls unbound by time, rendering them immortal and able to resurrect even after death (unless their soul is [[YourSoulIsMine consumed]] by a [[AlwaysABiggerFish Dragonborn]]). Furthermore, their ability to use [[LanguageOfMagic the Thu'um]] allows them to [[RealityWarper bend reality]] to their very will. During the Merethic Era they caused untold destruction across all of Tamriel before they were driven to extinction and their leader, Alduin is prophesied to be the one to ultimately destroy the world. Multiple characters make the point that Alduin's destruction of the world and consumption of everyone's souls is an inevitability, it's unfortunate but it's a natural part of the world's lifecycle, but he has no excuse to be enslaving people instead of killing them, and he's thousands/hundreds of thousands of years too early and killing time by tormenting humanity to begin with.
* ''Franchise/TouhouProject'':
** Kanako Yasaka not only waged a war in ages past to usurp another god and was introduced attempting to have all of Gensokyo worship her, her machinations were the initiator for two subsequent games. Her aim was to [[GodsNeedPrayerBadly gather faith]] at the expense of ''possibly destroying Gensokyo'', since she was trying to take it from the Hakurei Shrine, who maintain the boundary that protects the last sanctuary of magic from ''the real world where magic is dead'' (admittedly, Kanako being a goddess from said outside world, [[ObliviouslyEvil she might not have realized the importance of the Hakurei Border]])... Later on, her jerkass traits are played with. While pretty manipulative, she has every reason to be seen as a positive influence and is actively introducing outside world technology into Gensokyo.
** Okina Matara, one of the great sages who founded Gensokyo, made her introduction by starting an incident that threw the seasons out of whack for the alleged purpose of finding new assistants. Her actual reason was not much better as she actually just wanted to cause an incident for the sake of shaking things up, generating faith in the process, and [[AttentionWhore reminding her fellow sages that she was still around.]] In subsequent appearances, she's almost ruined [[{{Joshikousei}} Sumireko]]'s life, and on one occasion also invited Hecatia Lapislazuli, the goddess of hell, to freely rampage throughout Gensokyo. WordOfGod has it that she is an old-fashioned god of the kind who is cruel to those who slight her, and Reimu herself more commonly refers to Okina as a youkai than a goddess (to Okina's frustration). Complicating matters are the facts that Okina herself admits to intentionally trying to self-style herself as a villain while everything she does is ultimately for the sake of the realm.
** The {{Lunarians}} are a race of Celestial Gods (as opposed to Okina and Kanako who are both Native Gods) whose society runs on a [[BlueAndOrangeMorality purity and impurity-based morality]]... And that would be fine and dandy, if it weren't for the fact that they also exemplify PureIsNotGood, are ''huge'' elitist jerks and regularily consider "purifying" the impure planet Earth just so the Earthlings' impurity will never be able to reach them. Also, the Lunarians created the ThingsThatGoBumpInTheNight specifically to cull the number of Earthlings.
* The Sinistrals in the ''VideoGame/{{Lufia}}'' series of games fit this trope to a T. Arek (the true leader of the Sinistrals who is IntriguedByHumanity) and Erim [[spoiler:who becomes so attached to humanity (mostly due to Maxim) that she repeatedly reincarnates herself as a human girl who falls in love with a hero of Maxim's bloodline]] are the only exceptions. The rest are total jerks.

* Unsurprisingly (if you're versed in Myth/ClassicalMythology) [[ShockAndAwe Zeus]] is the BigBad of ''VideoGame/WillRock'': He resurrected all the monsters and undeads of Greece in order to take over the world and want to marry (or have as a sacrifice) Will's girlfriend.
* [[spoiler:Zanza]] from ''VideoGame/XenobladeChronicles1'' constantly destroys and rebuilds the universe. Why? Well, he claims it's because he's a god, [[ForTheEvulz why the hell not]]; but in reality, it's because he needs the energy of dead people to feed on, and if they decided to explore off to the stars, he would wither away and die. [[ItsAllAboutMe And he's not having that.]] Needless to say, he gets [[LampshadeHanging called out on this]] a ''lot''; and not even his own disciples try to justify his actions, they just ignore the topic.
* [[spoiler:Ashera]] from ''VideoGame/FireEmblemRadiantDawn''. While she isn't exactly an immature jerk like most examples, she proves to have an extreme view of how the world should be and [[spoiler: ends up turning almost everyone to stone when she awakens and sees the world doesn't match her vision.]] Ironically, she was considered a benevolent goddess before that event, while [[spoiler:her other half, Yune was considered evil, but ends up being much nicer and less extreme, though also a lot more emotional and childish]].
* Most of the Eastern Gods from the ''{{VideoGame/Izuna|LegendOfTheUnemployedNinja}}'' duology (especially their leader, Takushiki) are none too happy with Izuna and her clan trespassing on the sacred Kamiari Shrine, and take their frustrations out on the villagers by placing them under various {{curse}}s.
* The gods in ''VideoGame/RuneScape'', for the most part, see their followers as little more than tools they can use to gain an advantage over the other gods. Even Saradomin, who is worshipped by most of the characters in-game, doesn't really seem to care much about his worshippers and was actively participating in the God Wars without a second thought. The closest thing there is to a 'good' god is Guthix, the god of nature and balance, who created Gielinor and was powerful enough to stop the God Wars.
** The cruelty of the gods in the [[{{Retcon}} retconned]] history of the universe is the roundabout reason for the populating of Gleinor, the world the game takes place in. Guthix was born a mortal but [[RageAgainstTheHeavens killed a God]] who had killed his daughter through gross negligence. After he accidentally became a god, Guthix populated Gleinor with the hopes that it would be free of the fighting between the gods.[[spoiler: His death allows many gods to come to the realm and wage war again.]]
** Most of the gods tend to be well-intentioned extremists, though several are more caring about the mortals who worship them. Seren committed suicide to prevent her elves from dying out, while Armadyl had a HeroicBsod when he thought his followers were wiped out.
* Dark Sun Gwyndolin from ''VideoGame/DarkSouls'' is the only god in the setting who managed to avoid suffering a horrible fate, and is in the best position to help fix the CrapsackWorld. Instead, he selfishly manipulates everyone else in a bid to increase his own power.
** Subverted in that Gwyndolin is the leader of the Darkmoon Blades, assassins who specifically target sinners in Lordran. Doubly subverted in that a sinner can be a player who kills friendly NPC's, a player who invades and kills other players, [[spoiler: or anyone who has discovered the illusion of Anor Londo. To be fair, though, Gwyndolin only seeks to punish you for even having the audacity to attack the illusion of his long-gone sister, Gwynevere.]] The rest of his godly family has either abandoned him, died, [[spoiler:or gone insane.]]
** And it turns out ''Gwyn, Lord of Sunlight'' is the biggest jackass of them all. [[spoiler:In the distant past, he and the other Lord Soul bearers fought against the dragons. Among these, the Dark Soul was unique in that it was a conduit to the Abyss, which existed in direct opposition to Gwyn's First Flame. Uncaring that their bearers, the Pygmy Lords, were [[UndyingLoyalty completely loyal]] to him, he had them all rounded up and sealed in the Ringed City, using his own youngest child as a CosmicKeystone to keep it sealed in time. Then he fed the Pygmy Lords' descendants, humanity, a sanitized version of history which placed him as King of the Gods and included nothing about the Dark Soul. When the First Flame started fading, the Dark Soul within the humans started reacting and created the Undead Curse in an effort to ensure the natural order Gwyn defied was upheld, and without the Abyss knowledge of the Lords, this led to era after era of suffering and misery.]]
* Inverted in ''VideoGame/{{Bloodborne}}''; the {{Eldritch Abomination}}s responsible for most of the world's problems are, in fact, ''well-intentioned'' eldritch abominations who wish to guide humanity with dreams. Unfortunately, most people GoMadFromTheRevelation due to an inability to [[YouCannotGraspTheTrueForm comprehend them]], and the ones who ''don't'' go mad [[HumansAreTheRealMonsters use the eldritch gods' good-will for their own self-serving agendas]]. The sole exception who plays this straight is [[GiantSpider Amygdala]], who along with the [[{{Necromancer}} School of Mensis]] flip out on the world for no apparent reason.
* ''Every single god and goddess'' in ''VideoGame/KidIcarusUprising''. BigBad Hades tricks humans into going at war with each other so he can use their souls to make his army of monsters. Viridi, goddess of nature, believes humans have abused nature far too long and wants to wipe them all (though she thinks TheSociopath Hades is even worse). Even the BigGood GodOfGood [[{{Manchild}} Palutena]] isn't immune, [[AtLeastIAdmitIt admitting that she does abuse her powers at times]] and [[PsychopathicManchild frequently messing with Pit]]. [[spoiler: Dark Pit eventually calls them all out on their selfish nature when they comment about how bad the humans are.]] The game is ''very'' loosely based on Greek Mythology listed above, with countless liberties being made like [[EverybodyHatesHades Hades being a Devil analogue]].
* Played around with quite interestingly throughout ''VideoGame/AsurasWrath''. The Demi-gods treat humans as a lower class, but most of them didn't act like jerks towards humans (with the possible exception of Wyzen post becoming a guardian general). This changes after Asura is betrayed by his fellow guardian generals, who act like this to a degree even by Jerkass God standards. [[spoiler: They turn humanity into a MartyrdomCulture by having them pray to them before they get killed and have their souls taken any to be converted into mantra, specifically used to power the Brahmastra. Only Yasha and Deus have regrets for what they do.]] [[spoiler: Chakravartin, who is this from start, goes beyond even them by proxy of being the reason why the Guardian generals turned into Jerkass Gods in the first place, and is even more arrogant then them.]]
* The Gods of ''VideoGame/DungeonMakerIITheHiddenWar'' take this to an extreme, to the point that they're nearly evil through [[AMillionIsAStatistic indifference]]. It's stated at one point that the gods would gladly exterminate most or all of humanity to defeat one rebellious demon. At one point they defeated a large army of demons, and 90% of humanity that happened to be in the way.
** Although, it turns out [[spoiler: the gods didn't do squat. The "gods" that wiped out most of the world were also demons, just demons that were a little higher up on the ladder than the ones they killed.]]
* Aquaticus, dragon god of water in ''VideoGame/RuneFactory3'', though you only find this out in after the final boss battle: [[spoiler: He is the one who stripped Micah of his memory and plunked him into the middle of Sharance Village, as part of a GambitRoulette to reunite the village with the non-human Sol Terrano settlement - setting a bunch of dangerous monsters loose in the process. When he reveals this to Micah, he gives him an opportunity to regain his full memory, but at the cost of having to leave his new life behind - including the fiancee he'd just fought Aquaticus to rescue - and returning to his old one. And this is ''after'' Aquaticus had revealed that you had fulfilled every one of the requirements for his plans. So Micah's rewards are a happy life in Sharance, but with most of his past lost, probably forever, or regain that past at the cost of his present, also probably forever.]] Dragon Gods are Jerks.
* Nyarlathotep and, depending on one's point of view, Philemon from the ''Franchise/{{Persona}}'' series. They are the {{Anthropomorphic Personification}}s of humanity's creative and positive urges (Philemon) and humanity's self-destructive urges (Nyarlathotep). They treat the fight between them as a game, using people as agents and pawns to act out their eternal war. Nyarlathotep wants nothing more than to kick over the table and ruin everything, but Philemon holds him back. But then, for all Philemon empowers the heroes, all he really cares about is saving humanity in the aggregate and lets his agents go through hell without so much as a note of sympathy. There's a reason a lot of players like to [[spoiler:have Tatsuya punch Philemon in the face rather than thank him]] at the end of ''[[VideoGame/Persona2 Innocent Sin]]''.

* ''VideoGame/SheepHappens'' starts off when Perseus buys some magic sandals from the Greek god Hermes to win a race. However, the sandals turn out to be cursed and Perseus can't stop running; explaining why the game is an endless runner. Hermes also taunts Perseus occasionally while he's chasing him.
** In the Christmas event, Hermes and his flying black sheep attack Santa's sleigh and steal all the presents. It's up to Perseus to collect the presents and save Christmas.
* ''VideoGame/{{Sacrifice}}'' almost all of the gods are jerks. Charnel enjoys bringing pain and death to anyone and demotes his Necromancers for someone better. Pyro is a power-hungry warmonger. Stratos [[spoiler: set the whole apocalypse in motion, hoping that he would be the only god left]]. Persephone is self-righteous, HolierThanThou, and just as blood-thirsty as her fellows. Only James, the God of Earth, is an all-around decent, honest fellow.
* PlayedForLaughs in ''VideoGame/HalfMinuteHero'', where the Time Goddess is loved and praised by everyone, but is actually a [[ItsAllAboutMe narcissistic anarcho-capitalist]] who gives her ChosenOne as little help or guidance as she can get away with and makes him pay huge amounts of cash for anything he gets, even aid needed to save his soul from a demon. She seems to be concerned with the planet, but likely only because destroying it would also destroy all of the money.
** She's outdone by far by the villains of the sequel's ''Ragnarok 30'' scenario, the God Nine. [[spoiler:While they actually had helped Hero save the world long ago]], they turned when they checked up on the world and discovered demons living there... even though [[spoiler:after their overlord was destroyed]] they were able to in harmony with humans. Their solution to this "problem"? Descend to earth and simply ''massacre'' human and demon alike. Of particular note is Varach of the Wars, who brags about how he keeps the world in cycles of war and peace so that the gods can harvest the energy of [[TheLifestream the Timestream]] from those who die, then give them time to reproduce before starting again. [[spoiler:Of course, even they are beaten in jerkassery by Fate...]]

* Implied in the first two ''VideoGame/{{Disciples}}'' games but really shown in the third. At least, in the first two games, they are dicks to one another. In the third game, though, they have [[spoiler:decided to destroy the world and start over, not caring about all the mortals there]].
* ''Franchise/DragonAge'':
** [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast The Dread Wolf]] Fen'Harel, maybe. He's nominally an elven TricksterGod, but many of the stories paint him as cruel and manipulative, rather than comically mischievous. And if the legends are to be believed, he not only locked both the [[GodOfGood Creators]] and the [[GodOfEvil Forgotten Ones]] away but was enough of a JerkAss that the latter, who themselves were true [[GodIsEvil Evil Gods]], counted him among their numbers. [[spoiler:Things get a little bit grayer in ''VideoGame/DragonAgeInquisition''. Not only do you meet him, but he actually ends up ''joining your party to help''. Granted you don't learn who he really is until TheStinger, but as Solas, he seems to lack many of the more sinister traits the elves ascribe to him. Codex entries found at the Temple of Mythal even go so far as to suggest that he was actually a God of Rebellion who got a HistoricalVillainUpgrade, meaning he might lean closer to {{Neglectful Precursor|s}} or GodIsFlawed than previously believed. However, you then find out that he's plotting TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt in order to create a better world for elves, [[SequelHook leaving it up to the Inquisition (or what remains of it) to save the world. For the third time]].]]
** Some of the information revealed in ''Inquisition'' heavily implies that the rest of the Elven Pantheon were not as benevolent as Dalish stories claim either. Mythal was pretty much the OnlySaneMan, [[spoiler:which is why the rest of them killed her: she worried too much about the well-being of their people and got in the way of their desire for more power. And even Mythal has a rather significant NiceJobBreakingItHero moment to her name.]]
** The true nature of the Old Gods of the Tevinter Imperium is ambiguous, but each of them apparently tricked their high priests into invading the Golden City on his behalf, with negative consequences for everyone (including themselves).
** The main reason Solas approves of the idea of The Maker without believing in it is that The Maker ''doesn't do anything''. True gods don't need to flaunt their power.
** The Maker can also fall into this, depending on the speaker, to the point where the interpretations of the Maker that make Him seem actually decent (such as Leliana's) tend to be semi-heretical. Chantry dogma holds that the darkspawn exist because the magisters of Tevinter invaded Heaven and got smacked down and turned into monsters; [[spoiler:most of it seems to be true ''except'' the Maker's involvement, which is still ambiguous]]. In other words, countless humans and dwarves have been killed in horrible ways or turned into monsters because of the admittedly abhorrent actions of a small group of Tevene magisters, none of whom even ''could'' have been dwarven because dwarves can't do magic. Then there's the Chantry explanation for demons existing, which is that the Maker screwed up when making spirits by not giving them the capacity for creation, dumped them like a sack of hot bricks, and dedicated all His attention to mortals instead, leading many of the spirits to fester in resentment and turn evil. Most of His relationship with mortals seems to consist of turning His face from them, looking back for thirty seconds and then returning to a stance of "no, screw you guys", meaning he is, at best, very passive-aggressive and deeply indifferent towards collateral damage.
* Of the gods of ''VideoGame/DesktopDungeons,'' one has been [[MadGod insane]] for centuries and another is halfway there, one is a BloodKnight and another a GodOfEvil, one is a TricksterGod who rewards the use of "dirty tricks" and punishes mortals for being ''boring,'' and the sole GodOfGood is also [[LawfulStupid ludicrously strict and unforgiving.]] It's also suggested that they're constantly at each other's throats, as they reward the player for destroying the others' altars.
* The gods in ''VideoGame/PillarsOfEternity'' tend towards this. Even the generally benevolent Eothas ([[GodIsDead while he still lived]]), Hylea and Berath are absolutely ''[[DisproportionateRetribution brutal]]'' if crossed, leaving significant collateral damage in their wake. The rest tend towards sometimes-inscrutable BlueAndOrangeMorality, with special credit going to Skaen, the god of hate, who rewards his followers for petty cruelty and engages more or less routinely in HumanSacrifice, and Woedica, goddess of vengeance, [[spoiler:the GreaterScopeVillain who has been devouring unborn souls for power]]. The kicker? [[spoiler:All of the gods were ''man-made'' through animancy. The Engwithans apparently believed that a world run by these was preferable to a world with no gods at all.]]
* ''VideoGame/{{Smite}}'', being a crossover between Gods from various mythologies, naturally have a lot of high-and-mighty jackass Gods here and there. But worth mentioning is Ra from the Myth/EgyptianMythology. He used to be a bonafide GodOfGood, but after he was poisoned by Isis in her bid to save Egypt, [[StartOfDarkness he went mad from the pain]] and nearly had his daughter Hathor obliterate Egypt before he changed his mind, and then settles in the middle road: Being a condescending bird-God.

* ''Franchise/ShinMegamiTensei'': YHVH, the Hebrew name of the Christian God, is portrayed as a condescending, patronizing paternal figure at best and as an amoral, despotic dictator who cares little to nothing about mankind at worst. Seeing living beings as merely source of faith, YHVH's sole objective is to force the entire universe to worship Him and Him only, threatening divine punishment upon any who defy his will. ''VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiIVApocalypse'' takes this to the logical extreme with the revelation that [[spoiler:He split Satan into Merkabah and Lucifer to lead the forces of Law and Chaos into a ForeverWar with no winner in order to keep himself into power until the end of time]]. He's so reviled by gods and humans alike, to the point that Pagan gods had gathered in an attempt to rebel against him and humans are capable of denying his existence just by words alone. This is reflected in the final battle [[spoiler: where His true form is actually a massive serpentine demon to display how far he has actually fallen from his prime times]].
* The entire human race [[spoiler:is created by [[DeusEstMachina "God"]] to be replacement organic components for a malevolent interstellar weapon]] in ''VideoGame/{{Xenogears}}''.
* While the gods of ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'' are, for the most part, [[GodIsGood good]], they've also done some extremely questionable things in the past. It's [[DiscussedTrope discussed]] particularly in ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTheWindWaker''. After [[BigBad Ganondorf's]] first defeat at the hands of [[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime the Hero of Time]], he eventually managed to return to the world and attacked again. Since Link wasn't around to assist, the denizens of Hyrule desperately prayed to the gods in a bid to save them--and the gods responded by choosing a few people to escape the land's highest mountains, then sending a massive rainstorm to drown all the rest. Ganondorf outright points out that "Your gods ''destroyed you!''", and it's hard to argue with that logic--civilization is all but dead, as there are only a few settlements left on the Great Sea, and they seem to have very little contact with each other. It's somewhat [[JustifiedTrope justified]] with the reveal that these gods [[GodNeedsPrayerBadly require prayers to function]], but even so, you'd think all-powerful deities would be able to devise a solution beyond "Drown 95% of the world's population."

* DIO from ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventure'' was already one of the biggest {{jerkass}}es alive who had an extremely unhealthy [[AGodAmI God complex]], but ''[[VideoGame/JoJosBizarreAdventureEyesOfHeaven Eyes of Heaven]]'' sees himself becoming Heaven Ascension DIO, who absorbed 36 souls of sinners, successfully became God in his universe, and [[BreadEggsMilkSquick murdered]] the entire [[HeroKiller Joestar Group]], putting an end to the Joestar Bloodline. Now that he's conquered his universe, DIO's new goal is to conquer the entire ''multiverse'', and with the ability of The World Over Heaven, he now has the ability to rewrite the events of ''history'' to bend Fate in his favor. He even considers [[Manga/JojosBizarreAdventureStoneOcean Enrico Pucci]], his closest disciple, [[WithFriendsLikeThese a disposable tool]]. DIO already brought misery to the original timeline via murdering dogs and cats, forcefully causing parents to commit [[OffingTheOffspring filicide]] for his entertainment, and giving his minions [[ShellShockedVeteran PTSD]], but Heaven Ascension DIO makes it his goal as God to erase ''every'' shred of goodness in the universe so he can rule over the bad.
* The [[spoiler: [[SentientStars Judgements]]]] of ''VideoGame/FallenLondon'' are [[spoiler: massive stellar {{Eldritch Abomination}}s that decide what Is and Is-Not in the universe. They enforce their laws by the light they shed, one of the laws being the Great Chain, a heirarchy that has them at the top and renders them nearly unkillable by non-Judgements, as well as effectively condemning those below them on it to a life of servitude and suffering. In addition to this they created life for one purpose: To eat their souls. When you die there's no afterlife, no paraside or hell, just the hungry maw of a star that only permits your existence because you're edible.]]
* ''VideoGame/TheFinalFantasyLegend'' [[spoiler: The Creator is revealed to be responsible of all the events of the game, although his motivations vary between versions.[[note]]In the Japanese version, he was simply bored of overseeing a peaceful realm, so he created the tower, Ashura and the demons to spice up the setting a bit. Then he got bored of them as well and created the legend of the heroes climbing up the tower and meeting God, all for his own amusement. In the localized version, he thought that mankind lacked the valor and determination to vanquish evil. He created the tower to test humanity's mettle and then gleefully watched the unfolding spectacle.[[/note]] In either version, the heroes rightfully calling him on treating everything like a game. The Creator simply brushes the accusations aside, claiming that as the maker of all, he's free to do as he wishes before engaging the protagonists as the FinalBoss.]]
* ''VideoGame/LittleMedusa'' kicks off with the vengeful Goddess Fiora and the Titans cursing the little Olympian Goddess Artemiza into becoming a Gorgon as revenge against Zeus and the other Gods over the death of her husband and the banishment of the Titans.
* In ''VideoGame/{{Noita}}'' damaging the terrain of one of the Holy Mountain zones will anger the gods and cause them to send an overpowered Stevari monster to kill you. If the damage was caused by a [[SandWorm rock-boring]] Mato worm tunneling through the area before you even set foot in the Holy Mountain? The gods are still angered and will try to kill you.

* ''Webcomic/{{Twokinds}}'': The Masks, fervently worshiped by the Keidran, are jerkasses who use their worshipers as pawns in their war for dominance. Humanity's god is a warmonger who seeks total genocide of the other races [[note]]whether or not so his rivals will starve is unclear[[/note]] and has allowed ExtremeSpeculativeStratification among the humans themselves. Meanwhile, Ephemural, the supposed 'goddess of balance and neutrality', treats individual mortals as pawns in her quest for an eternal ColdWar, and willfully drains the souls of her hosts to sustain herself. It's unknown what happened to the Basitins' god, but the PoliceState of the West and the tribal society of the East, both locked in a Cold War themselves, implies that said god is either a jerkass or long dead.

* ''Webcomic/InWilysDefense'' features Sphere. He's basically a lazy, irresponsible, and petty {{Jerkass}} who is apathetic towards the actions of his destructive children. He shows more concern over a random guy calling himself the "God Of Flames" than he does over the angels of death and destruction going to war with each other.

* Zod from ''Roleplay/OpenBlue'' is a drunken bastard who would rather fart up hurricanes, go on beer parties, and arm-wrestle with an expy of Cthulhu rather than answer the hundreds of millions of prayers directed at him.
* The ''Literature/WhateleyUniverse'' has these in spades. There are, of course, all the various Lovecraftian "gods". There's the Tao with its shamelessly invoked OmniscientMoralityLicense. The Christian Heaven and Hell (or good facsimiles thereof) apparently exist and are locked in a [[BalanceBetweenGoodAndEvil carefully balanced stalemate]] with neither side actually ''trying'' to win too much, which works okay for the entity claiming to be Satan but casts a dim light on his counterpart. (Let's not even go into their respective treatment of Merry, later Petra, who by this point is a fully appointed knight of the Catholic church... even if she ''does'' also carry Sara's demon mark.) And the New Olympians school clique? Are some of the old Greek gods in new human host bodies, with at least some of them already up to their old tricks and none too happy that [[GodsNeedPrayerBadly nobody worships them anymore]].

* Although ''WebAnimation/ZeroPunctuation'' does not contain examples of the trope, it does have a rather appropriate summary of it:
-->"The root problem with Christianity is that their god is supposed to be all-powerful and benevolent. It sounds like an easy sell but when life turns completely to shit you have to come up with [[InMysteriousWays all kinds of whacked-out reasons]] for why kindly old Jehovah saw fit to run over little Timmy with a combine harvester and leave him in [[AndIMustScream a state of vegetative limbless agony]] for eighteen years. Ancient cultures didn't have that problem; they knew their gods were a bunch of drunken lunatics who ran around boning their close relatives and turning their goolies into fruit-bearing trees. Consequently, they tend to make for much more interesting stories."
* An episode of WebVideo/RedLetterMedia's ''Best of the Worst'' includes a discussion of ''Gary Coleman For Safety's Sake'' in which they describe [[AsHimself Gary Coleman's character]] as "[[AlternativeCharacterInterpretation an all-powerful deity]]" whose safety tips come at the expense of two children whom he remotely almost chokes to death, causes to slip and sustain cranial injury and antagonizes with invading pedophiles - all for the sake of [[ItAmusedMe amusing himself]] and trying to impress [[HospitalHottie a hot nurse]].
* In ''Monster Girl Encyclopedia'':
** From various profiles, we can conclude that while the Chief God really loves humans, she hates monsters. It's possible that she created them with the intent of having an enemy for mankind to fight. On the other end, we have the Fallen God who believes in pleasure above all other things, and forcefully converts both human women and angels into its followers the same way as a succubus, causing them to desire the ultimate "reward" of being locked in eternal coitus with their mate in Pandemonium. Finally, the cyclopes were once deities, but fellow deities cursed them into monsters simply because ''they have only one eye''.
** Translations of the official background material have also shown that Poseidon (who is a goddess in this setting) turned against the other gods and sided with the demon lord in part at least because the other gods were forcing her to make storms to reduce human populations and make them fear the sea.
** Also from the settings material, it turns out that the monsters are living creatures the Chief God created so that the population of humans could be easily controlled. The previous Demon Lords were control devices so that the gods could control the monsters. Whenever the population of humans got too high, the monsters would become incredibly vicious and begin killing large numbers of humans. Then when humans started to die out and the monsters became too numerous, the Chief God would grant humans incredible power, creating “heroes”, and send them to slay the Demon Lord. With the Demon Lord slain, the monsters would kill each other to decide the next Demon Lord, causing a rapid decrease in the monster population. This would go on until humans again became too prosperous, at which point a new Demon Lord would be born and take control of the Monsters. This process ran for several cycles until a Succubus fought her way to becoming the current Demon Lord, and started messing with the system.
* A rather tragic example with the Storyteller from Blog/OffThePageAndIntoLife. Watching all her creations die one by one, and failing to reincarnate them to be her friends has taken its toll on her attitude and empathy.
* In ''Roleplay/TheGamersAlliance'', the [[PhysicalGod gods]] are quite often amoral and manipulate mortals for their own ends. Gods like Artemicia the Goddess of Healing, Hephaestus the God of Smithing, Nergal the God of War, and Shakkan the God of Beasts have all done things that have affected the world and the people living in it in a negative way do to their personal rivalries and opposing ideologies.

* ''WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}'': The Two Brothers -- the Gods of Light and Darkness -- created the world of Remnant as an experiment but descended into quarrelling over how the world would manifest by using their own creations as weapons against the other: the God of Light would create things that he liked, such as plants and animals, but his brother would destroy everything he disliked and eventually created the Creatures of Grimm to help him do that. When they settle their feud by creating humanity together, they lose pride in their experiment over time. [[spoiler:After resurrecting and killing Salem's deceased lover [[BigGood Ozma]] multiple times during an argument, they [[BarredFromTheAfterlife punish her]] for seeking it in the first place. When she [[RageAgainstTheHeavens incites rebellion]], they destroy humanity and abandon her on an empty world. Light [[ResurrectiveImmortality reincarnates]] Ozma, telling him to redeem humanity or the entire planet will be destroyed, [[WhoWantsToLiveForever locking]] Ozma and Salem into a tragic ForeverWar for the fate of humanity. Oscar becomes [[LegacyOfTheChosen Ozma's newest host]] at the age of fourteen, [[ItSucksToBeTheChosenOne instantly encumbered]] with trying to solve a problem Oz [[DespairEventHorizon secretly believes is impossible]] because the gods won't intervene to fix their mistake.]]
* [[Myth/NorseMythology Thor]] in ''WebVideo/EpicRapBattlesOfHistory'' takes [[Myth/ClassicalMythology Zeus and the rest of the Olympians]] to task for being abusive and ruthless towards humans.
-->''"Your crew is like the [[Film/ClashOfTheTitans2010 Clash of the Douches]]!"''
* ''Website/SCPFoundation:'' PlayedForLaughs by [[http://www.scp-wiki.net/scp-1541 SCP-1541]], an ancient, forgotten deity that harassed the descendants of its followers. Via text message. While drunk.
** [[Myth/EgyptianMythology Anubis]] is portrayed as this in [[http://www.scp-wiki.net/scp-3359 SCP-3359]]; after a man cheats death by bribing Osiris with his lost phallus, Anubis goes behind his back and sabotages his immortality by [[VampiricDraining turning him into a dried-out corpse that eternally thirsts for the blood of the living]].
** And then there's [[Myth/ClassicalMythology Eris]] who in [[http://www.scp-wiki.net/scp-5721 SCP-5721]] takes control of the messaging app Discord by [[KillAndReplace impersonating its creator]] and [[ReadTheFinePrint tricks the userbase into signing over their souls to her]], before [[TakingYouWithMe threatening to kill them all]] if the Foundation interferes.
* God from ''WebVideo/PuppetHistory'' admits to tormenting the people of Strasbourg for years before creating the Dancing Plague for a laugh. He returns in [[spoiler: "The Great Molasses Flood"]], where he outright admits to causing the titular event, seemingly ForTheLulz.

** Neptune's son Triton in "Spongebob and The Clash of Triton" on the other hand actually did care about mortals and their affairs before his father locked him in a cage because he felt that trying to improve the lives of mortals was not befitting of a god. The thousands of years he spent locked away eventually turned Triton into a jerkass god as well.

** [[Characters/FriendshipIsMagicDiscord Discord]] from ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic''. He's an [[TheOmnipotent all-powerful]] RealityWarper who can do pretty much anything he pleases. And just what does he use this power to do? [[SugarApocalypse Turn Equestria into]] a [[RealityIsOutToLunch chaos-stricken version]] of its former self and [[WorldGoneMad drive everypony insane]] for [[ItAmusedMe his own amusement]]. His initial appearance paints him more as a GodOfEvil than just a jerkass, but his characterization in "Keep Calm and Flutter On" falls squarely in line with this trope (unless you consider "spirit of chaos and disharmony" not close enough to explicitly stated godhood, but there's no denying the "jerkass" part).

* On ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddParents'', Cupid is the God of Love (at least, according to him). He can be easily bribed to set a couple up, and if he's a ShipperOnDeck to someone you don't want to be with, he won't care in the least.
* The nomadic Speakers of ''WesternAnimation/Castlevania2017'' consider God (the Abrahamic one) to be petty and cruel, pointing to the Tower of Babel as an example of His pettiness; Humanity's greatest accomplishment, a tower that would reach unto the heavens themselves, struck down by a jealous god who would not let His creations rival Him. She later clarifies that while the Speakers may abhor God, they have [[JesusWasWayCool nothing but reverence for the Christ, Yeshua]], who sacrificed himself for us so we could learn bottomless love and devotion.

This trope is OlderThanDirt. The UrExample might be Inanna, Sumerian goddess of getting laid and ultraviolence. As might be expected from someone of that description, she took exception to being spurned by the hero [[Literature/TheEpicOfGilgamesh Gilgamesh]] and summoned a heavenly bull to go on a rampage through his city, and if her father denied her that bull, she would have caused a ZombieApocalypse. It did not help that as he turned her down, he [[{{Yandere}} listed all her exes and how she arranged their terrible deaths]].

* Continually toyed with in ''Comicbook/TheWickedAndTheDivine'' and in fact a driving thematic question about the nature of star power and the toll of celebrity. Most of the gods are decent enough to mortals, as they all used to be mortal themselves, but as disaster after epic disaster piles up, the pantheon's individual ways of coping become increasingly unhealthy and problematic, not to mention dangerous to the rest of the world and each other. [[JerkWithAHeartOfJerk Woden is just genuinely an asshole though]].

* In ''Comicbook/{{Lucifer}}'', God is an aloof and dickish meddler. As is Lucifer, who wants nothing more than to be his own creation.

** Despite [[TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}} Golden Scepter]]'s good intentions and efforts as a ruler, PTSD, loneliness, and other untreated issues would gradually bring out his worst flaws and influence him to become little more than a divine tyrant during the Imperium Era. The departure of his old lover, Midday Messenger, didn't make him snap out of it - it only made his downward spiral worse. Eventually, his terrible mistakes would provoke his closest subordinates to launch a bloody coup against him, leading to him being sealed away and his Imperium collapsing under its own weight. When he was found in the Second Age by Luminiferous and Dazzleglow, he was essentially a broken stallion who still acted unpleasant to a degree at times but was able to realize the error of his ways and atone for his sins thanks to Luminiferous' [[MoralityPet positive influence]]. By the time the Fourth Age started, Golden Scepter has averted this trope, having atoned for his past and sought psychiatric help from Mentálne that allowed him to heal from his traumas. He is now a truly benevolent god and ruler of the Terran Empire, and the loving father of nineteen demi-divine sons, whom he helped Ascend at some point in each of their lives. [[spoiler:It also became the reason why he rejected his Alicorn name, Auriolus Scaeptrum. As he explains to Twilight/Amicitia Sparkle years later, he committed so many atrocities as Auriolus that he later saw his Alicorn name as everything wrong with the ancient Alicorns and their civilization, motivating his decision to [[ThatManIsDead go by his birth name as Golden Scepter]] from now on]].

* ''VideoGame/TheWorldEndsWithYou'': The Composer, [[spoiler:Joshua]], definitely counts. His behavior is downright dickish right from his introduction, and [[spoiler:he constantly spouts condescending remarks for all to hear]]. However, despite [[spoiler:looking like a scrawny fifteen-year-old, he is still basically the god of Shibuya and has such a nihilistic mindset he wants to destroy the city, with the entire plot revolves around him manipulating Neku in order to achieve this]]. [[spoiler:Luckily, by the end, his faith in humanity is restored and he decides against destroying everything. Though, he's still not very well-liked]].

** By ''Videogame/GodOfWarPS4'', Kratos has nothing but contempt and mistrust for all gods. He believes they are all monsters who do nothing but cause misery for mortals. He is most ashamed of himself and what he did with his power when he was a god. This strains his relationship with his son Atreus because he has tried to keep Atreus' heritage hidden from him. It doesn't help that the Aesir don't seem to be any better than the Olympians and may actually be worse - while the Greek gods' behavior was partially explained by the evils of Pandora's Box corrupting them, the Norse gods have no such excuse for their brutal cruelty. Just about every story Mimir shares can be summed up as "Odin and/or Thor is a jerk."

* ''VideoGame/{{Touhou}}'':

* Aquaticus, dragon god of water in ''VideoGame/{{Rune Factory 3}}'', though you only find this out in after the final boss battle: [[spoiler: He is the one who stripped Micah of his memory and plunked him into the middle of Sharance Village, as part of a GambitRoulette to reunite the village with the non-human Sol Terrano settlement - setting a bunch of dangerous monsters loose in the process. When he reveals this to Micah, he gives him an opportunity to regain his full memory, but at the cost of having to leave his new life behind - including the fiancee he'd just fought Aquaticus to rescue - and returning to his old one. And this is ''after'' Aquaticus had revealed that you had fulfilled every one of the requirements for his plans. So Micah's rewards are a happy life in Sharance, but with most of his past lost, probably forever, or regain that past at the cost of his present, also probably forever.]] Dragon Gods are Jerks.
* Nyarlathotep and, depending on one's point of view, Philemon from the ''Franchise/{{Persona}}'' series. They are the {{Anthropomorphic Personification}}s of humanity's creative and positive urges (Philemon) and humanity's self-destructive urges (Nyarlathotep). They treat the fight between them as a game, using people as agents and pawns to act out their eternal war. Nyarlathotep wants nothing more than to kick over the table and ruin everything, but Philemon holds him back. But then, for all Philemon empowers the heroes, all he really cares about is saving humanity in the aggregate and lets his agents go through hell without so much as a note of sympathy. There's a reason a lot of players like to [[spoiler:have Tatsuya punch Philemon in the face rather than thank him]] at the end of ''[[VideoGame/{{Persona2}} Innocent Sin]]''.

** [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast The Dread Wolf]] Fen'Harel, maybe. He's nominally an elven TricksterGod, but many of the stories paint him as cruel and manipulative, rather than comically mischievous. And if the legends are to be believed, he not only locked both the [[GodOfGood Creators]] and the [[GodOfEvil Forgotten Ones]] away but was enough of a JerkAss that the latter, who themselves were true [[GodIsEvil Evil Gods]], counted him among their numbers. [[spoiler:Things get a little bit grayer in ''VideoGame/DragonAgeInquisition''. Not only do you meet him, but he actually ends up ''joining your party to help''. Granted you don't learn who he really is until TheStinger, but as Solas, he seems to lack many of the more sinister traits the elves ascribe to him. Codex entries found at the Temple of Mythal even go so far as to suggest that he was actually a God of Rebellion who got a HistoricalVillainUpgrade, meaning he might lean closer to [[NeglectfulPrecursors Neglectful Precursor]] or GodIsFlawed than previously believed. However, you then find out that he's plotting TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt in order to create a better world for elves, [[SequelHook leaving it up to the Inquisition (or what remains of it) to save the world. For the third time]].]]

* The [[spoiler: [[SentientStars Judgements]]]] of ''VideoGame/FallenLondon'' are [[spoiler: massive stellar [[EldritchAbomination Eldritch Abominations]] that decide what Is and Is-Not in the universe. They enforce their laws by the light they shed, one of the laws being the Great Chain, a heirarchy that has them at the top and renders them nearly unkillable by non-Judgements, as well as effectively condemning those below them on it to a life of servitude and suffering. In addition to this they created life for one purpose: To eat their souls. When you die there's no afterlife, no paraside or hell, just the hungry maw of a star that only permits your existence because you're edible.]]

* ''WebComic/{{Oglaf}}'':

* ''WebComic/{{Twokinds}}'': The Masks, fervently worshiped by the Keidran, are jerkasses who use their worshipers as pawns in their war for dominance. Humanity's god is a warmonger who seeks total genocide of the other races [[note]]whether or not so his rivals will starve is unclear[[/note]] and has allowed ExtremeSpeculativeStratification among the humans themselves. Meanwhile, Ephemural, the supposed 'goddess of balance and neutrality', treats individual mortals as pawns in her quest for an eternal ColdWar, and willfully drains the souls of her hosts to sustain herself. It's unknown what happened to the Basitins' god, but the PoliceState of the West and the tribal society of the East, both locked in a Cold War themselves, implies that said god is either a jerkass or long dead.

* ''Fanfic/KingdomHeartsTheAntipode:'' [[WesternAnimation/{{Hercules}} Hades]] implies that the Greek Gods in this continuity are [[TruerToTheText more akin]] to their [[Myth/ClassicalMythology mythological counterparts]].

* Freaking every single one of them in Myth/AztecMythology (except [[TokenGoodTeammate Quetzalcoatl]], and even he had his moments). When your ''rain and fertility god'' likes his [[HumanSacrifice food]] young and crying, and one of two rulers is literally the god of {{Magnificent Bastard}}s, there's little wonder why they thought it was a CrapsackWorld. Even Quetzalcoatl kinda sucks, since he would be much nicer to humanity than the current top god in the pantheon if he was to retake that place...but retaking that place would also completely destroy the world and kill every living thing, forcing him to start from scratch.

** It is telling that the companion book Percy Jackson's Greek Gods has a whole paragraph reminding the readers that the gods do not, in fact, give a damn about us. Sure we might be useful at times to get around the rules and stipulations they are supposed to live by (no going to each other's territory without being invited for example), but their attitudes range from "that kid who enjoys burning ants with a magnifying glass", through "the kid watching ants march by peacefully" (with us being the ants), up to "the class in general towards the class gerbil: kinda cute at the start, but gets old real quick, in more ways than one" (with us being the gerbil.) Sometimes, gods will genuinely try to help mortals and demigods...and then forget about them entirely, having done their Good Deed for the century. Apollo recounts how, during the French Revolution, he wanted to check in on his son Louis XI, then remembered that Louis had already been dead for decades.

*** The birth of Sleipnir was a result of Odin forcing Loki to...ahem...''distract'' a Jotunn builder's horse after Odin nearly lost a bet to the Jotunn that he could complete the walls of Asgard within a season.

*** Unlike most deities, Susanoo actually faced repercussions for this—after the other gods managed to pry Amaterasu out of her cave, they then proceeded to happily kick him out of heaven until he proved he wasn't completely worthless. This managed to get through to him, and he later slew the dragon Orochi as penance...and to score a wife. He's still a jerk, he's just a ''mature'' jerk now. And after slaying Orochi, Susanoo took a sword from inside its body and gave it to Amaterasu as a conciliatory gift, suggesting that he at least became a JerkWithAHeartOfGold. [[note]]This sword later became one of the three royal treasures of Japan.[[/note]]

** Tzeentch ''definitely'' is a Jerkass God, because he is the god of scheming to such an extent that ''anything'' good ''or'' bad in the Warhammer universe is his doing. His grand master-plan was responsible for every single happy moment of your life...and every single moment of negativity of any kind.

** This is a conflicting issue. Yes, gods can be assholes caring only about themselves... and they can be absolutely fair and nice protectors of humanity. Zeus is [[ReallyGetsAround hell-bent on getting all women]] (and some men) into bed, but also honorable. Hades is either honest and lawful or morbidly misanthropic. Ares is [[BloodKnight addicted to battle]], but one of the few gods that protect their demigods and has a reputation for hunting rapists. Aphrodite has two aspects, Pandemos-aspect of lust and sex, and Urania-[[TrueLove aspect of deep spiritual love.]] In other versions of the myth, Hermes fell in love with Lara (and did not rape her) and disobeyed his father's orders, instead hiding her from him in a cottage in the woods. Titans either started a golden age of humanity or we didn't exist when they were around. And given that both first of Olympians and Titans were eaten by their father, whose mother ([[ParentalIncest and wife]]) rose out of primal Chaos well...Greek Mythology is heavy on [[DependingOnTheWriter inconsistencies, different approaches to characters]], [[BigScrewedUpFamily fatal family issues,]] and [[CycleOfRevenge long-spanning vendettas.]]

* In ''Literature/EmperorMolluskVersusTheSinisterBrain'', The Twelve Gods of Venus are not only real, but they enforce a strict CodeOfHonour that, if violated, leads to a particularly awful smiting. Non-Venusians are exempt, Mollusk free not to follow their commandments without DivinePunishment. In fact, [[PalsWithJesus Mollusk has had dinner with them and they're apparently on good terms]].
* ''Literature/HelenAndTroysEpicRoadQuest'': All the gods seem to be fickle and selfish at the best of times.
** The Lost God curse Helen and Troy where [[{{Geas}} if they don't go on his quest, they die]], and the quest itself is basically "find some things and take them to a place" while refusing to actually give any specifics as to the what, where and why. [[spoiler:Even worse, their quest is the kind that guarantees that one or both questers die in the end anyway because "the gods love melodrama."]]
** Orc religion dictates that unless you can kill one of their gods in a duel after your death, you'll spend the rest of eternity as a corpse on the Mound of Unworthy Bones. The closest anyone has ever come to succeeding is Rork Orabrork, who managed to crack the toenail of Grog (who's described as being a giant orc with five heads) before his skull was used to decorate the top of the Mound.
* Zig-zagged with TheGodsMustBeLazy in ''Literature/TheSilmarillion'' with both ''Valar'' and the supreme god, Eru Ilúvatar. The only active god is Morgoth, who is GodOfEvil and ''actively'' corrupts everything around, including Elves and Men. The other ''valar'' are just ''lethargic'' at best - and they have their own golden children, Elves - and could not care less about Men. Eru Ilúvatar is ''downright genocidal'' when it comes to Men, as witnessed with the fate of Númenor. Later editions clarified that the Valar's indifference was borne out of fear that their intervention in Middle Earth would flat out [[ApocalypseHow destroy the world due to their vast power]] and they had to instead send intermediaries, like the Wizards, to help the residents of Middle Earth.
* ''Literature/{{Hurog}}'': In ''Dragon Bones'', the god Aetherveon is not above using girls' bodies as a means of talking to humans. Without asking for consent beforehand. Ward is ''quite'' disgruntled about this use of his sister, and the pain the god inflicted on Oreg, who tried but failed to protect Ciarra from this. It's even noted that Aethervon chose Ciarra specifically to trigger Oreg's RestrainingBolt in order to put him in his place. As gods are gods, Ward's only means of showing his anger is to not pray to that specific god anymore.
* While not true of all the pantheons that appear in the ''Franchise/ConanTheBarbarian'' pulp stories, Conan's pantheon itself seems to qualify. The only god ever named by Conan out of his own pantheon (though he is happy to take the names of other pantheons' gods in vain) is Crom. Conan explains it in detail in "Literature/QueenOfTheBlackCoast":
-->He dwells on a great mountain. What use to call on him? Little he cares if men live or die. Better to be silent than to call his attention to you; he will send you dooms, not fortune! He is grim and loveless, but at birth he breathes power to strive and slay into a man's soul. What else shall men ask of the gods?
* Most ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' gods, who have a habit of going to atheists' houses and throwing rocks into the windows, and consider lightning bolts to be the answer to any theological debate. They also play games with the lives of men, but first they have to get the board out, and look all over the place for the dice.
** Special mention goes to [[Literature/TheLastHero Nuggan]], a small, unimportant bureaucratic god most notable for being [[Literature/MonstrousRegiment Patron God of Borogravia]]. Even the other Gods [[EvenEvilHasStandards wince in horror]] upon hearing that his worshippers are forbidden from eating mushrooms, garlic, and ''chocolate'', and generally think of him as a fussy, odious little oik.
*** By ''Literature/MonstrousRegiment'', Nuggan is effectively dead, but new Abominations keep being created out of his "echoes". Even his most sincere worshippers have to ignore some of them since they include crop rotation, babies ("I take it people still make them here?"), and the colour blue ("The ''sky'' is blue!" "Devout Nugganites try not to look at it these days.")
** In ''Literature/SmallGods'', Om, who's had his conscience raised, points out to some of the other gods that a lot of people are going to get killed in the battle that's shaping up.
--->A Tsortean God of the Sun did not even bother to look round.\\
"That's what they're for," he said.
** It's revealed in ''Literature/TheLastHero'' that the home of the Gods (Cori Celesti) cannot be destroyed without destroying the Discworld, so they have nothing to fear while they remain relevant.

* Pagan gods in ''Literature/DoraWilkSeries''. Loki is willing to start interracial, genocidal war to win a bet with Badb, who, in turn, sends the protagonist bad dreams and scares her with visions of her dead friends (not that Badb cares, she just want to win the bet). Cahan (werewolf goddess) shoehorns Dora into almost taking over entire werewolf clan and forces reluctant werewolves to bow to her. Anubis kidnaps and mummifies young women to "keep them with him" forever. List goes on.
* ''All'' of the Gods in ''Literature/TheElricSaga'' by Creator/MichaelMoorcock. ''Especially'' Arioch, the title character's patron, the Lord of Chaos.

* Lord Khersis, the primary human god in ''Literature/TalesOfMU'', once smote a confused little girl who was praying to him for guidance just because she was half-demon. And he's one of the nicer deities.
* In ''Literature/PercyJacksonAndTheOlympians'', the Greek gods can often fulfill this trope, though some still manage to be sympathetic, via Freudian Excuse. (Hades, for example, has spent three millennia as the target of all the gods' Jerk-Assness and ostracism for ... drawing the unluckiest straw). It's also somewhat noticeable that more than a few of them are less jerkish than they used to be, with Poseidon and Artemis in particular coming off as much less jerkish than they classically are (though not without the implication they can in fact be jerks if need be), with even Ares and Hera having moments showing themselves to be less jerkish than in classical mythology (though with Hera, that's ''really'' not saying much. Hestia, a NiceGirl in the myths, remains as such, but she's definitely an exception to the general rule.
** The demigods, who are the protagonists of the series, also sometimes resent their parents for being Jerk Asses and ignoring them; the gods are eventually called out on it and forced to acknowledge all their children. (Whether this had any effect on how many affairs the gods have remains to be seen). Hermes also implies that the gods are constrained by the Fates from being able to spend too much time with their kid.
** Zeus takes the cake, though. Zeus (and Poseidon, to be fair) pressure Hades into a pact that they will no longer have demigod children due to the destruction their kids caused in UsefulNotes/WorldWarII... and also 'cause there's a prophecy saying one of them will choose to either save or destroy the world upon turning sixteen. Once the pact is made, Zeus attempts to kill Hades' two remaining children who are under sixteen-- Hades protects them, but Zeus does succeed in killing their mother and presumably any other bystanders. Fast forward about sixty years: Zeus is the first to break the pact and, because he's the god of justice and king of the gods, ''gets none of the comeuppance.'' His daughter, Thalia, is punished instead: she is under constant monster attack and makes her final stand mere feet away from safety, holding the monsters off so her friends can escape. Zeus turns her into a pine tree as she dies. (Although she is accidentally resurrected later.) Hades, ironically, turns out to be the only one of the three to honor the pact-- all of his children seen in the series were born in the 1930s and either placed in a time warp or brought back from the dead.
** In the sequel series when someone asks why the gods even need the demigods, all the gods look like they just ate something terribly sour and bitter and rancid, and Aphrodite answers "Don't you think we've been asking that ourselves for millennia?"
** It is telling that the companion book Percy Jackson's Greek Gods has a whole paragraph reminding the readers that the gods do not, in fact, give a damn about us. Sure we might be useful at times to get around the rules and stipulations they are supposed to live by (no going to each other's territory without being invited for example), but their attitudes range from "that kid who enjoys burning ants with a magnifying glass", through "the kid watching ants march by peacefully" (with us being the ants), up to "the class in general towards the class gerbil: kinda cute at the start, but gets old real quick, in more ways than one" (with us being the gerbil.) Sometimes, gods will genuinely try to help mortals and demigods...and then forget about them entirely, having done their Good Deed for the century. Apollo recounts how, during the French Revolution, he wanted to check in on his son Louis XI, then remembered that Louis had already been dead for decades.
** The Egyptian gods in Rick Riordan's next series ''Literature/TheKaneChronicles'' are petty backstabbers who squabble and fight with the main characters even though they are the only ones in a position to stop all of reality from descending into Chaos, which would destroy them too. But it is mostly due to lacking a strong king. Once the divine power struggle is over the gods quickly come together to fight Apophis from the nicest of them to the worst of them. Unfortunately, the magicians themselves are still heavily divided and Apophis has vast armies of demons to aid him.
** The Gods of the ''Literature/MagnusChaseAndTheGodsOfAsgard'' series are, similarly to the Egyptians above, less jerkish than the Olympians. However they can come off as 'Hush kids, the grownups are talking' at times, though it is somewhat entangled with YouCantFightFate and they, unlike Zeus, will thank and reward you much easier and quicker (since, unlike the Greek gods, they know they're going to die).
* Not only are the gods of the ''Literature/BookOfSwords'' jerkasses, but several of the swords have jerkass qualities themselves. I'm looking at you Coinspinner and Wayfinder.
* The demon Xanth in the ''Literature/{{Xanth}}'' novels, at first. All of the greater demons (of which Xanth is one) in general; they are involved in a complex game with more similarities to Nomic than the classic Chess, and people are only rarely used as pawns in certain rounds - most of the time, they're not considered at all. Xanth actually undergoes CharacterDevelopment and becomes less of a {{Jerkass}} over the course of the novels, eventually even falling in love.
* All of the "new" gods in ''Literature/AmericanGods'' are vicious, backbiting, and desperate for worship, and a few of the old gods (especially [[spoiler: Odin and Loki]]) are, too.
* Almost all the Greek gods in Anne Ursu's ''Literature/CronusChronicles'' (with the exception of [[spoiler: Persephone]]). The BigBad is a demigod who wants to enslave humanity, and most of the other gods either don't care or are actively trying to revenge themselves on the heroes for standing up to them. In the end the heroine [[spoiler: blackmails the gods into leaving humanity alone]].
* While [[JesusWasWayCool Jesus is way cool]] in Christopher Moore's ''Literature/{{Lamb}}'' his father's reaction to Joshua's pleading for humanity is "Screw 'em".
* The first chapter of Creator/GlenCook's ''Surrender to the Will of the Night'' has one survivor of a scouting party return to report to the god that sent the party out--although the survivor had been driven mad by his experiences. "His god rewarded him as gods do. It devoured him."
* A number of Creator/TomHolt's novels have jackass deities. In particular, {{God}} is portrayed in ''Literature/{{Grailblazers}}'' as being not so much evil as prone to MoralMyopia and DisproportionateRetribution, with two people being cursed to immortality for the incredibly minor sins of giving Jesus a pair of socks instead of frankincense or myrrh and failing to wash up for Him at the Last Supper. Other deities aren't treated a hell of a lot better; for example, the Greek pantheon in ''Literature/YeGods'' play "The Great Game", which seems to resemble Monopoly (with Earth as the board). At one point Demeter avoids paying tax assessments by flooding a major city. Wars, earthquakes, etc. are also just part of the Game.

* In Creator/CSLewis's ''Literature/TillWeHaveFaces'', much like the Greeks, the people of Glome think of their gods as petty brutes and try to do as little to attract their attention as possible. The Fox, a Stoic philosopher from Greece, dismisses these ideas as "lies of poets" and considers the Divine to be above such pettiness. [[spoiler:In the end, both views are wrong, in different ways]].
* The FantasyPantheon of ''Literature/{{Shadowmarch}}'' is heavily inspired by Myth/ClassicalMythology (to the point that the three head gods are clear expies of Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades), and as such, the majority of them are portrayed this way. [[spoiler: Or rather, were- Kupilas, the Hephaestus-analogue, eventually got fed up with them and succeeded in tricking them all into hibernation- only a few demigods and [[MagnificentBastard Zosim the trickster]] are still active]].

** The Morrigan is a bit of a mixed bag. She's got a lot of the markings of a Jerkass God (temperamental, tendency to cause pain for various reasons, turned on by being feared) but is actually pretty nice and personable when she wants to be and is Atticus' oldest and most consistent ally.
** It is later revealed that the gods are pretty much stuck with the personalities that their worshippers attribute to them. The Morrigan becomes aware of this and actually wants to change for the better but cruelty and pain are so strongly associated with her worship that she is unable to see the world through any other metric. It is quite tragic and causes the Morrigan to [[spoiler: go out and get herself killed in battle.]] The few times she manages to get around the "chains of belief", she's actually pretty sweet.
** This makes one wonder why Thor is such a sadist since all the stories about him were him being a hero and protector of the common people severely lacking his jerkish qualities.
* ''Literature/ChroniclesOfChaos'' explains this trope thusly: in this universe, moral laws and destinies have supernatural weight, and breaking or bending them carries penalties. [[Myth/ClassicalMythology Olympians]], however, have the power to change those moral laws, which mean they aren't bound by them. At all.
* The gods of the ''Literature/TortallUniverse'' try to make an impression of being humanity's guardians, but in reality, they spend most of their time using them in battle with each other. In this universe, if the kings of a country worship a god over others, that god is the most powerful over all other gods in that region. The exception is [[DontFearTheReaper The Black God]], who rules over the afterlife. He cares deeply about mortal souls, and when [[spoiler: Beka is forced to carry on despite wanting desperately to give the bodies a proper burial, he buries them for her and calls her his most faithful priestess]]. Of course, it might be because he already owns an entire realm and has no reason to be greedy.
* In Fiona Patton's ''[[Literature/TalesOfTheBranionRealm The Granite Shield]]'', a young Seer witnesses the Gods in a vision playing strategy with their human pawns. The brother of one of those pawns, he gradually realizes they will play until no one is left, and seeks a way to avoid that.
* In ''[[Literature/ThursdayNext 'The Woman Who Died a Lot]]'' once God is forced out of hiding He starts smiting towns. It is not entirely random, there is a plan to redirect the smiting by placing some axe-murderers and child-rapists and so on in a conveniently empty space near the town. Which would apparently work. The protagonists disapprove, they consider the plan unethical. God has some ValuesDissonance.
* All the gods in ''Divine Misfortune'' by A. Lee Martinez fall under this trope except for Gorgoz and [[OnlySaneMan Quetzalcoatl]]
* ''[[Literature/ZeusIsDead Zeus Is Dead: A Monstrously Inconvenient Adventure]]'' has multiple instances, including:
** The gods sink Iceland in order to raise Atlantis just so they can return to the world with some style.
** Dionysus, purely for kicks, tosses a minotaur into the mix during the running of the bulls in Spain.
** Aphrodite collapses a supermodel's clifftop home in retribution for her trying to sue the goddess over a botched facelift.
%%* Juno frequently interferes with Lucifer's quest in ''Literature/TheVaginaAssOfLuciferNiggerbastard''.
* In the ''Literature/RepairmanJack'' series, the great unseen entity/force known as the Ally is only regarded as such because it's opposed to the Otherness, a similar entity/force that's inimical to life as we know it. Both of them regard Earth as an extremely minor token in their ongoing multiverse-spanning game for control of big-E-Everything, and the Ally sees nothing wrong with abandoning Earth to the Otherness if it happens to lose contact with the planet for a short time, [[spoiler: or with systematically killing off Jack's parents, siblings, and unborn baby just so he'll be free of distractions if he should be needed as the ''backup'' Chosen One.]]
* In ''Literature/TheShatteredKingdoms'', Jachad feels that the two deities his people worship are being unnecessarily unpleasant to Meiran, who was inadvertently given to both of them for blessing — they've been "warring" over her ever since, giving rise to a magical illness which strikes her down every dawn and dusk.

* In ''Literature/TheSpiritThief'', the Shepherdess is less jerkass-y and more actively neglectful. Not only does she apparently not care about spirits nominally under her protection, she picks favourites and rains her blessings upon them even when it interferes with her actual job. And beware those who dare critique her approach! Unless they're her "stars" or can sweet-talk their way out, they're usually never heard from again.

* ''Literature/TheCosmere'':
** The Shard Odium, the GreaterScopeVillain, is a lying, self-centered asshole who [[LackOfEmpathy doesn’t care at all about the damage he’s indirectly caused throughout the Cosmere]]. He wants to [[spoiler:kill the other Shards in order to make himself the supreme deity]]. He claims to be [[spoiler:the Shard of passion and emotion, the only Shard that thinks and feels like mortals do, yet he’s also one of the only Shards who sees no problem with using and tormenting those same mortals.]]
** [[{{Literature/Mistborn}} The Lord-Ruler]] is a brutal GodEmperor who flits between imposing brutal laws [[CruelToBeKind for the ostensible greater good]] and being utterly apathetic towards his duties. He also [[spoiler:deliberately lets a rebellion start and flare out of control, purely to scare his followers and make them more dependent on him.]] There's also [[spoiler: Ruin]], who wants to [[spoiler: destroy everything]], ostensibly as a gift, but engages in obvious sadism along the way.
** Most of [[{{Literature/Warbreaker}} the Returned]] are lazy jerks, more concerned with wasting the day away than helping their subjects. Lightsong bitterly remarks that the way the Returned’s powers work (they can only perform ''one'' miracle, which instantly kills them) means that most of the good ones have already sacrificed themselves, while the bad ones cling to their godhood for as long as possible. The court is now mostly made up of selfish, scheming Returned who never perform miracles.
* ''Literature/TheCityAndTheDungeon'': The Eidolons have special gear that turns anyone, regardless of power, into a violet-level special class that mimics the Greek gods and monsters. They're all assholes (except Hermes), and if one of them dies they collect the gear and abandon the now-powerless normal person while they find someone else to elevate to godhood. Notably, the Eidolon Arachne is the one who went around buying all the clothing in the City for no apparent reason.
* The Greek pantheon in both ''Literature/TheIliad'' and ''Literature/TheOdyssey'' have their moments. The Gods, after all, support the genocide of an ''entire people'', the Trojans, simply because Athena and Hera lost a beauty contest that was judged by the Trojan Prince Paris. Poseidon also hounds Odysseus across the ocean for 20 years because he blinded Posedein's son. It doesn't sound too bad until you realise that said son is a monstrous cyclops who ate Odysseus' friends and deserved what was coming to him.
* In ''Literature/TheAeneid'', the Roman equivalent to The Odyssey, the hero Aeneas is hounded by Juno. However, whereas Neptune was only seeking revenge for his son, Juno is simply obsessed with wiping out ALL Trojans, ''especially'' Aeneas, whose descendants will destroy Carthage, Juno's favourite city. Only, her actions cause '''more''' damage to Carthage and start ''another'' war in Italy. Juno simply doesn't care about any mortals, and the other Gods don't do much to stop her.
* In Jay Lake's ''Trial of Flowers'', the first book of ''The City Imperishable'' series, Bijaz the Dwarf is a midget councilor to the city and he attempts to petition the gods in their gambling den to save the city from invaders. The gods of the city are explicitly said to be evil and they're not so much worshipped as placated and bargained with. Bijaz interrupts their game and not only do they reject his petition, they arrange for him to get kidnapped by a thug and gang-raped when the thug [[SexSlave sells him to a gang of perverts]].
* Averted in ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'' where the only two gods we've seen so far, Odin and Hades, are pretty nice guys overall (heck, Odin is actually [[spoiler: Santa Claus!]] and admire our protagonist, though both are ''definitely'' GoodIsNotSoft and Hades by his own admission isn't a "people person."
* ''Literature/JourneyToTheWest'': Sun Wukong was such a jerkass god that even the other gods went to Buddha and begged him to put a stop to the [[{{Pun}} monkey business]]. On the other hand, most of his jerkass tendencies were directed at the other gods-he cared for his monkey brethren and didn't bother humanity before being sealed in the mountain-and that was because they were jerkasses towards him. It didn't excuse his behavior and he became a much better individual throughout his journey.
* ''Literature/RavellingWrath'' seems to have this in spades, considering that the two main characters are chosen to act as avatars of two principal gods of their religion–and one historically kills the other–despite the fact that [[StarCrossedLovers they are in a relationship]].

* ''Literature/TheBurningKingdoms'': Neither the mothers nor the yaksa come off as nice, since the former grant {{magic fire}} in return for {{human sacrifice}}s (which then gets used for killing, whether justifiable or not), the latter coerce their worship by threatening [[{{Transflormation}} dire punishment]] if refused while openly saying they don't care about human life but also grant their servants magical gifts.
* ''Literature/TheFrugalWizardsHandbookForSurvivingMedievalEngland'': Woden's wife came and helped the Anglo-Saxons in their hour of need but was killed doing so, and this frightened and enraged Woden, who forbade the people from writing and withdrew favor from them. Woden's faithful fear but don't love him and are divided on whether their suffering and any sacrifices they make of themselves will regain his favor, while still empowering the Hordamen who worship him and make increasingly bloody incursions on them. Logna says he favors winners and has abandoned them.
* ''Literature/ToReignInHell'' doesn't have God as being evil as much as a bit thick and egotistical. Of course, the same novel has Satan as an [[TheDevilIsALoser indecisive schlep]] until it's too late. The whole split between them seems to be an easily avoidable mistake.