Split: God Guise

There's a difference between impersonating a god and being mistaken for one.

I propose the impersonation remain God Guise, and being mistaken for one be something like Mistaken For Deity.

I'm on the internet. My arguments are invalid.

Seems like a case of The Same But More to me, especially since I suspect there would be a lot of overlap between the two — such as when Alice and Bob get mistaken for gods, Bob decides to play along and exploit the misunderstanding, despite Alice's protests.

—R.J.

How is that The Same But More? I think you're not understanding what overlapping tropes actually is.

I'm on the internet. My arguments are invalid.

We have Cargo Cult. Or did that get redefined?

Cargo Cult is when an object is worshipped as a god. I believe this is when a person is mistaken/poses as one.

I think that there is a clear difference between the two. It's one thing to set out to pretend to be a good. It's another to be mistaken for one even if you eventually go along with it because it seems like a good idea at the time.

Reality is that, which when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away. -Philip K. Dick

Hmm, looking at some of the examples, most of them are pretty clear, but there's a couple where it's simply stated that X was worshipped as a god, with no information about whether it was because of an honest mistake or deliberate deception. I've seen stories where the distinction was never made clear. Especially in the case of Sufficiently Advanced Aliens who may or may not have even noticed the worship.

I think it might be best to have Mistaken For A God as the supertrope. Obviously, Pretending To Be A God will only work if you end up Mistaken For A God. (The pretense can fail, but the intent to be Mistaken For A God will still be there.)

We could start with a soft-split, and see what it looks like at that point. But I agree that a hard or soft split is a good plan.

Speaking words of fandom: let it squee, let it squee.

Split or not it seems like this article would be better served by emphasizing simply being taken for a god rather then focusing on deliberate deception. Its a rather hostile description for potentially accidental, unintentional, or comedic cases

Its a little odd to equate C-3PO and the Ewoks, with the Goa'uld from Stargate.

Wow, that's not quite what Cargo Cult means in real life. As I understand it, it does overlap heavily with the hypothetical Mistaken For Deity (usually with a dash of Clarke's Third Law thrown in).

The words above are to be read as if they are narrated by Morgan Freeman.

I don't know, seems about par for a lot of tropes around here. But I think a soft split to start might not be a bad idea.

—R.J.

A (mildly) funny scenario that only goes on for what a couple days versus a deceptive systematic system of oppression?

Thats quite the thematic gap. Not that this is exactly about good and evil but you need a pretty high amount of arrogance/delusion to actively claim you are a god, what character is going to use both options within the length of a story. (Yeah they might start accidental and then drink their own Kool-Aid but as that would be character development its not that compelling a ground to me)

It even gets into how you shake off the trope. Someone claiming to be a deity invites a God Test to be failed and be revealed, being mistaken for one its not likely to come up as whatever primitive screw heads have already concluded you passed said God Test.

Look at Mistaken for Aliens or Mistaken for Dying; there are examples which involve accidental interpretations as well as deliberate attempts at fakery. Should we split those as well?

—R.J.

The thing is, we already have tropes for "mistaken". Unwanted False Faith, Stop Worshipping Me, All Hail the Great God Mickey!, Cargo Cult, and Sufficiently Advanced Alien come to mind. I'd just move examples where they weren't trying to pass for gods but were considered anyway to be moved to the appropriate page and have this tropes description edited to make the difference clear.

edit:Do Americans spell worshiping differently? I'm seeing two different spellings in my spell check but only one pot holes.

edited 27th Oct '11 5:49:09 PM by Cider

Modified Ura-nage, Torture Rack

Good point. This trope should be about deliberate deception.

Are there enough examples of that?

Yes, there are, including real life cases.

Modified Ura-nage, Torture Rack

I would like to ask everybody to consider seriously now: should this really have a Real Life section?

Oppression anywhere is a threat to democracy everywhere.

Clocking due to lack of activity.

Waiting on a TRS slot? Finishing off one of these cleaning efforts will usually open one up.

Locking up.

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