Sơn Tinh vs Thủy Tinh
With a civilization almost as old as China, Vietnam has also amassed quite a collection of stories and mythos about gods, heroes and monsters throughout the ages. Unfortunately, just like with Norse Mythology, not all of them survived the ages due to centuries of wars and social upheaval, with modern Vietnamese myths being mostly derived from historical records such as Lĩnh Nam Chích Quái (Strange Tales in Lingnan) and Việt Điện U Linh Tập as well as many, many different oral traditions across the country. The myth also changed a lot throughout the years as a result of syncretization and adoption of elements from Hindu, Buddhism, Taoism, Confucianism and even Chinese Folk Religion, creating a rather large and diverse pantheon that unfortunately won't all be listed here.
See the pages for the Filipinos, Malaysians and Thai to find out more interesting information about the religions and the mythologies of the other Southeast Asian civilizations and the Chinese, Koreans, and Japanese for the other countries of the Sinosphere.
Tropes featured include:
- Action Girl: Most notably Liễu Hạnh who is a Lady of War along with many others.
- Adaptational Villainy: If we go by the older versions, then Lạc Long Quân essentially kidnap Âu Cơ and made her his wife during a diplomatic visit and killed her relatives who tried to get her back.
- Adaptational Wimp: The Jade Emperor of Vietnam is much more of a wimp than the original Chinese interpretation with many stories depicting him being scared of powerful humans and even animals like frogs despite being a creator and ruler of the world.
- The Almighty Dollar: A lot of Chinese gods of fortune are also popular in Vietnam. Chử Đồng Tử also have wealth as part of his domain within the four immortals.
- And I Must Scream: Diêm Vương will sentence any evil souls upon their death to Hell to be punished and tortured for a really long time before being allowed to pass into the underworld.
- Animalistic Abomination: In addition to the more famous monsters in the Character page, Vietnamese myths have chockful of stories about some kind of animal monsters terrorizing humans.
- Anthropomorphic Personification: Before the Chinese came, many Vietnamese gods were essentially this in regards to the elements with there being a chief god for each one such as the God of the Sky, a Goddess of Fire, a God of Thunder, etc. When Vietnam was incorporated into the Sinosphere, these kind of gods were placed into their own category called "nhiên thần" to separate them from celestial gods and humans-turned-deities.
- Back from the Dead: Averted. Usually when something died in Vietnamese mythology they stay dead, unless they got promoted to a heavenly god in which case they just go back to Heaven.
- Beak Attack: The Jade Emperor once punished Thiên Lôi with this when the latter accidentally struck down innocents on the job.
- Best Her to Bed Her: Khổng Lồ had to compete with his wife in multiple challenges until he finally beat her to marry her.
- Beware the Nice Ones: Even the nicer gods will have no problem ruining someone's life if they deserve it.
- Blasphemous Boast: A general named Cường Bạo under the Đinh dynasty after having broken Thiên Lôi's leg ansd stealing his hammer, scared away Long Vương water gods and defeated minions of Diêm Vương boasted that Heaven's no match for him. Cường Bạo would subsequently be killed by a tiny crab under Long Vương's order.
- Bolt of Divine Retribution: Thiên Lôi's job usually consist of hurling these at evildoers and monsters.
- Canon Immigrant: The Vietnamese pantheon adopted a lot of other gods and elements from Chinese, Hindu, Buddhist and Taoist myths.
- Canon Welding: The modern Đạo Mẫu worship is basically this as they tied together various beliefs about female goddesses across the country into one cult.
- Celestial Bureaucracy: Like China, the Vietnamese pantheon is run by one of these.
- Coins for the Dead: Vietnamese, like other countries in East Asia, often burn paper money (known as hell money) to the dead so that they can spend them in the underworld.
- Continuity Nod: Modern versions of the story Sơn Tinh-Thủy Tinh have Hùng Vương XVIII stated that he "only had one (unmarried) daughter" which led to the following debacles despite having three daughters meaning that the event of Sơn Tinh-Thủy Tinh happened after the story of Chử Đồng Tử and the marriage of the other daughter.
- Continuity Snarl: A lot of gods have widely different versions of their backstory with some being entirely unrelated as a result of different regions/dynasties telling different versions of the same story.
- Cool Sword: The divine sword, Thuận Thiên, given to Lê Lợi by the gods to drive the Chinese out of Vietnam during the Lam Sơn Uprising. Said to grant him the strength of ten men and is essentially Vietnamese Excalibur.
- Create Your Own Villain: Hùng Vương XVIII snubbed an offer to marry a young Thục Phán to Mỵ Nương in favor of Sơn Tinh and Thủy Tinh. Years later, Thục Phán (now known as An Dương Vương) would invade Văn Lang and ended the ancient Hồng Bàng dynasty for good.
- Cue the Sun: Some monsters such as Bạch Kê Tinh are weakened under the sun, as such they tend to operate during the night.
- Dark Is Not Evil: Sure, Thiên Lôi and Diêm Vương look so menacing that children would probably cried at the sight of them, but they're still good people who are only doing their job.
- Deity of Human Origin: Just like in Japan and China, in Vietnam regular humans can become deities if they are worshipped after their death.
- Diabolus ex Nihilo: Nobody knows the origins of all the monsters that fought Lạc Long Quân. Even worse is Thủy Tinh whose backstory was lost in time despite older records stating that it did exist.
- Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?: The entire Cường Bạo story above.
- Another story involves a primordial giant named Vồm who once kidnapped a daughter of the Jade Emperor as the latter refused to make it rain for mortals. He then proceeded to slap to death a giant eagle, a phoenix and a fire dragon sent by the Jade Emperor as retaliation.
- Divine Conflict: The war between Sơn Tinh and Thủy Tinh devastate Văn Lang to such an extent that they were forced to rebuild everything from scratch and couldn't put up a serious fight when Thục Phán began his invasion. Moreover, the conflict also resulted in the extinction of all kinds of legendary beasts and monsters both on land and under the sea as well as the death of many nature gods.
- Divine Parentage: The entire Vietnamese people consider themselves to be descended from dragons and fairies through Lạc Long Quân and Âu Cơ.
- Do Not Taunt Cthulhu: Unless you're a strong god or really strong human, taunting the Jade Emperor is generally a bad idea.
- Dragon Ancestry: Lạc Long Quân, and by extension the Vietnamese people.
- Dragons Are Divine: Just like other countries in the Sinosphere, the Vietnamese considered dragons to be gods who rule the sea, rains, rivers, storms and generally anything that has to do with water and weather.
- Driven to Suicide: After losing his country to Thục Phán, Hùng Vương XVIII committed suicide.
- The same happened to Thục Phán after he killed his daughter Mị Châu. Other versions stated that Kim Quy opened a path for him to escape to the Underwater Palace.
- Also happened to Trọng Thủy, son of Zhao Tuo and Mị Châu's husband. After his stealing of the divine crossbow Nỏ Thần enabled Zhao Tuo to conquer Âu Lạc, he found Mị Châu's lifeless body and committed suicide by jumping into a well in Cổ Loa Citadel.
- Elite Four: The Four Immortals, a group of gods said to embodied the spirit of the Vietnamese people.
- Face–Heel Turn: Thủy Tinh who, despite once being best friend with Sơn Tinh, turned against him over a mortal girl and for a perceived slight.
- Fluffy Cloud Heaven: Ngọc Hoàng's palace Thiên Đình is generally depicted to be standing on top of clouds.
- A Form You Are Comfortable With: Some gods would take human form to reassure whatever mortal they're talking to at the time.
- God in Human Form: A lot of gods and monsters like to assume human form even if they're not really humans such as Long Vương or Cá Ông.
- The Great Flood: As mentioned above, the flood by Thủy Tinh was essentially this to Văn Lang.
- Grouped for Your Convenience: Vietnamese gods are divided into four categories.
- Thiên Thần: Heavenly gods who reside in Heaven and work for the Celestial Bureaucracy.
- Nhiên Thần: Nature gods who are in charge of mountains, forests, rivers, oceans, etc.
- Nhân Thần: Deified humans such as Trần Hưng Đạo or Guan Yu.
- Imported gods from other cultures such as Diêm Vương, Cá Ông and Thiên Y a Na.
- Half-Human Hybrid: The Vietnamese people considered themselves to be carrying both fairy and dragon blood inside their veins.
- Heaven Above: In Vietnamese mythology, all heavenly gods reside in a giant palace above the sky in Heaven named Thiên Đình.
- Hijacked by Jesus: When Catholics missionary arrive in Vietnam, they tried to attach many elements of the Abrahamic God to Ngọc Hoàng.
- Karma Houdini: Averted, no matter how the law of men judge them all dead souls would eventually face the judgement of Diêm Vương where their deeds, good or evil, are laid bare for all to see. The Jade Emperor would often have Thiên Lôi strike down evil people who have escape the laws to quicken the process.
- I Have Many Names: Side-effect of people referring to the gods by title instead of name with Ngọc Hoàng having at least 3 different names.
- I'm a Humanitarian: Almost all Vietnamese monsters like to eat humans.
- Immortal Immaturity: Thủy Tinh. For a deity who's hundreds of years old, he sure can hold a grudge over a single girl.
- Jerkass Gods: Despite being the ruler of the world and creator of all living things, a lot of stories depict Ngọc Hoàng as having a Hair-Trigger Temper and prone to Disproportionate Retribution over the slightest mistakes or mishap.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Ngọc Hoàng is a bit of a jerk, but he still cares about humanity and loves his daughters very much (even if he once temporarily exiled one of them over a broken plate)
- Judgement of the Dead: When someone dies, they are sent to Cõi U Minh (Vietnamese Underworld) to be judged by Diêm Vương for their actions during life. If they are an evil person they will be sent to Địa Ngục/Diyu (Vietnamese Hell) to be judge by one of the other nine Diêm Vương who will decide their punishment.
- Legions of Hell: Diêm Vương commands one of these though he rarely if ever has to use them.
- Lord of the Ocean: Long Vương, Thủy Tinh, Mẫu Thoải, Cá Ông and every other minor water deity in all the lakes, rivers and sea of Vietnam.
- Love at First Sight: Ancient Vietnamese seemed to really love this trope.
- After Lạc Long Quân saved Âu Cơ from a monster when they first met, they fell in love with each other and had 100 kids. Deconstructed when they divorce afterward over their differences.
- Best demonstrated in the story of Chử Đồng Tử where he married Tiên Dung in their first meeting with no outside interference (i.e. arranged marriage).
- Killed Off for Real: There's no resurrection in Vietnamese myth. Once you died you stay dead and/or are reincarnated into something else.
- Mana: In Vietnamese myth, linh is the the power of a deity to affect the world of the living. The linh power of an entity resides in mediation between the two levels of order and disorder which govern social transformation. The mediating entity itself shifts in status and function between one level and another, and makes meaning in different contexts.
- Linh has also been described as the ability to set up spatial and temporal boundaries, represent and identify metaphors, setting apart and linking together differences.
- Massive Numbered Siblings: Lạc Long Quân and Âu Cơ have 100 kids from their marriage, including Long Vương, the first Hùng King and possibly Sơn Tinh.
- Meaningful Name: Vietnamese deities usually aren't referred to by name but instead by titles bestowed upon them by local worshippers or whatever imperial dynasty in power at the time.
- Mother Goddess: A lot. So much so that there is currently a religion that focus on worshipping the many mother goddesses of Vietnam known as Đạo Mẫu.
- Night and Day Duo: The Jade Emperor has two daughters, Mặt Trời and Mặt Trăng, who represent the sun and the moon respectively.
- Odd Job Gods: Since Ngọc Hoàng, Long Vương and Diêm Vương all have their own Celestial Bureaucracy, this is unavoidable.
- Offing the Offspring: An Dương Vương killed his daughter Mỵ Nương out of anger after finding out that she indirectly aided his enemy into conquering his kingdom.
- Overly Long Name: A lot of these names are long and confusing by modern Vietnamese standards since they use many Sino-Vietnamese words that has since fell out of use.
- Our Giants Are Bigger: The race of primordial giant gods and goddess that created the universe and the world.
- Sacred Bow and Arrows: Sacred crossbow that can fire a hundred/thousand of arrows in a single shot, to be specific. Crafted by the blacksmith and general Cao Lỗ from the claw of the turtle god Kim Quy, it is used by Thục Phán (better known as An Dương Vương) to repulse numerous invasions from Triệu Đà/Zhao Tuo. Its full name is Linh Quang Kim Trảo Thần Nỏ (roughly translated as Sacred Shining Crossbow of the Golden Claw God or Sacred Shining Golden Claw Divine Crossbow) but was later shortened to Nỏ Thần (Divine Crossbow).
- In 2010, modern Vietnamese have tried and successfully created a prototype crossbow that can shoot 10 arrows at once but whether it's anything close to the one in the legends remains to be seen.
- Sea Monster: Ngư Tinh, not everyday you see a fish with centipede's legs.
- Solitary Sorceress: Mụ Chằn is one. Âu Cơ could also be considered a non-villainous example of this trope.
- Superpower Lottery: For some reason, the children of Lạc Long Quân and Âu Cơ don't seem to have anything in common like how Long Vương is a dragon, Sơn Tinh is an immortal mountain god while Hùng Vương I were fully mortal and eventually died while the rest of their siblings faded into obscurity.
- The Old Gods: Ancient Vietnamese believe that the world was inhabited by primordial giants who are responsible for shaping the world into what it is today with some being active even in 1000 CE during the Later Ly dynasty.
- Thunder Drum: Thiên Lôi generally depicted to wear one on his back.
- Top God: Unlike in Chinese stories like Journey to the West, the Jade Emperor and Buddha are generally depicted in Vietnamese myth to be equals with neither being more powerful than the other with modern Vietnamese including both in their prayers.
- Underwater City: Long Vương ruled over the South China Sea from his underwater palace named Thủy Cung.
- Voluntary Shapeshifting: Anybody who knows how to transform will certainly do this at least once with some even prefer to use alternate forms over their true one like the whale god, Cá Ông.
- War God: The most prominent two are Thánh Gióng and Trần Hưng Đạo, the latter after he was deified following his death.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: Vietnamese myth have a lot of loose ends:
- Nobody knows what happened to the primordial giants who created the world.
- Lạc Long Quân and Âu Cơ, despite being the ancestors of the Vietnamese people, never shown up again in the myth after their divorce.
- Also the fate the other ninety-something of their 100 children who didn't even get a mention in future stories.
- Youngest Child Wins: Long Vương is said to be the youngest of the 50 children who went with Lạc Long Quân to the sea. He went on to become the supreme ruler of the entire South China Sea.
