History Characters / CodexEquusElternteilDeerPantheon

** He was also this to his unborn son, [[spoiler:High King Bogolenya]]. After having a prophetic dream about his unborn son potentially leading mortal Deerkind into a GoldenAge, Irminsul vicariously treated him as MyGreatestSecondChance, and persuaded his then-pregnant wife, Arvan, to let him "bless" his son with unparalleled compassion, purity, and virtue. What Irminsul intended to do was erase his son's inner evil so he'll be perfect and flawless, which not only killed his son, but irrevocably divided him into his good and evil halves. Irminsul tried making up for this by [[ParentalFavoritism lavishing Belyolen with love and praise for being pure]] while abusing Temnobog for being born "evil". Come the "Final Ragnarok Crisis", [[spoiler:Bogolenya emphatically disowns the Elternteil Deer Pantheon as his family right after Symvíosi fuses Belyolen and Temnobog together to fight High King Ragnarøkkr, and names himself after the Bogolenya Deer Pantheon to separate himself from Irminsul's ambitions]].

* SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome:
** His emotional abuse of Temnobog simply for being born 'evil' isn't a good idea. Irminsul hated Temnobog because he embodied the flaws he tried to purge from his unborn son, [[spoiler:High King Bogolenya]], and is a walking reminder of both his inability to get rid of his own flaws and his failures to defeat Grogar I. To make up for this, he tried grooming Belyolen into becoming his successor, and taught both him and his other children to treat Temnobog as an abomination that doesn't deserve to live. This backfired enormously as the abuse eventually caused the Elternteil Deer Pantheon to splinter into three sub-pantheons over time, especially after Irminsul's 'good' children discovered [[{{Hypocrite}} his role in Temnobog's creation]]. The abuse also influenced Temnobog into [[ThenLetMeBeEvil becoming genuinely evil]] for a time, and even after his HeelFaceTurn, he was left with multiple unresolved issues that took him a long time to heal from, even with Mentálne's help. Consequently, his fawnhood abuse birthed a huge grudge against Irminsul, with Temnobog trying to kill/sabotage his father whenever he he thinks he can get away with it.
** While he loved Belyolen, Irminsul essentially treated him as MyGreatestSecondChance since Belyolen was born without flaws or evil in him, and groomed his radiant son to be his successor so he can succeed where he himself failed. In a way, he also abused Belyolen by constantly separating him from Temnobog and giving him harmful teachings about Good and Evil so one day, he'll see his dark twin brother as an abomination that must be killed for mortal Deerkind's benefit. Thus, when Belyolen started opposing and fighting Temnobog, Irminsul was ''delighted''. Despite his upbringing as TheParagon, though, Belyolen eventually grew sick of his family's abusive hypocrisy and rebelled by [[CallingTheOldManOut shaming the entire pantheon for their behavior]], and leaving with Temnobog to start his own pantheon.
** He's [[FantasticRacism quite racist towards non-Deer individuals/groups]] due to experiences with Grogar and what he saw in the Second Age, and looks down on the Bogolenya Deer Pantheon for including both non-Deer divines and "bastard" hybrids. This got him in trouble with [[PapaWolf Golden Scepter]], who was ''enraged'' by the horrible things he said about Belyolen and Temnobog's families, and confronted him in front of everyone while in his true divine form. It's noted that the dressing-down Irminsul received was so ''vicious'' that he avoided visiting the Bogolenya Deer Pantheon out of fear of bumping into Golden Scepter again.

* {{Telepathy}}: One of his PsychicPowers is telepathy. As a Deer god of Animals, this allows him command even entire forests' worth of non-sapient animals, see/hear through their eyes, and tame the wildest beasts.

* ChildhoodFriends: He's a fawnhood friend of Hazel, whom he met during a diplomatic conference between their parents' kingdoms. When they were younger, they would both sneak out to have "grand, majestic adventures" whenever their parents weren't looking, [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome which naturally got them in trouble many times]]. Their friendship would later evolve to a ChildhoodFriendRomance as adults, and they would marry and have a son after founding the kingdom of Thicket in Equestria.

** They abused Naur for embodying Fire due to seeing his domain as a purely destructive force with no benefits for nature, and despite Naur trying to earn the pantheon's approval, both his family and peers remained disappointed that he wasn't born embodying Earth/Nature. This went a long way in Naur getting fed up with the pantheon's behavior and causing a 'Third Splintering', as no matter what he did, he would always be criticized or outright prevented from doing anything beneficial and meaningful for his Alvslog Deer subjects. Naturally, the abuse led to Naur developing some psychological issues as well, such as an inferiority complex and serious anger issues.

** Zmeniť, one of his daughters, was forced to hide most of her abilities and domains from Irminsul by her mother, Arvan, in a well-meaning attempt to protect her daughter from suffering the same abuse as Naur. Despite this, it still led to Zmeniť being expected to rigidly abide by the patriarchal Elternteil Deer Pantheon's ideals of a perfect Doe while having her more 'destructive' domains ignored. This forced her to essentially be little more than a living rain machine who wasn't expected to speak up, and her desire to please her family led to a falling-out with her brothers, especially Temnobog, as it led to her participating in their abuse. Suppressing her domains also made her [[IllGirl sickly]] because avoiding what she embodied actually sapped her of her physical strength. After millennia of playing by the rules while watching her own father [[{{Hypocrite}} break those same rules out of arrogance and stubbornness]], she eventually snapped and unleashed her rage upon Irminsul, nearly corrupting herself in the process... until she was successfully stopped by Blue Suede Heartstrings, who was sent by Naur to stop her after a pyromantic vision showed Zmeniť becoming a Fallen goddess. However, the damage was already done, and while Zmeniť is finally freed from her father's shadow, she was still affected by Irminsul's abuse in some ways, which she had been seeing Mentálne for.

* RebelliousPrincess: Because she grew up [[OutnumberedSibling the only daughter in her family]] with [[MassiveNumberedSiblings lots of older brothers]], she became as tomboyish, mischievous, and Hotblooded as them. Like Aspen, she would play pranks on her subjects and sneak off to go on adventures, but she also stole things and got into fights with other fawns. Naturally, this frequently led to her and Aspen being punished by each of their parents whenever they got caught. She grew out of this as she got older thanks to various factors, such as her parents' strict teachings and forcing herself to mature in order to help Aspen cope with losing much of his family to Hydianites.

* OutnumberedSibling: Prior to his birth, his parents kept bearing daughters, which made them pray to High Queen Arvan for a miracle. This would make him the only son in his family, as all of his siblings are his older sisters.

* {{Hypocrite}}: As pointed out by Belyolen, Rhiannon, and others, the Elternteil Deer Pantheon claims to be benevolent and wise, yet they abuse innocent people if they were born 'evil' or fell short of their standards, like [[GodOfEvil Temnobog]] or [[GodOfFire Naur]], despite doing nothing to warrant such mistreatment. They look down on non-Deer races for being 'impure' and being uncaring towards nature, while remaining blind to their own moral failures as divine sovereigns. And for all their extreme support of 'good' magic, they're willing to use it in ways that would be counted as 'evil', such as Irminsul using [[HolyHandGrenade purification magic]] to 'purify' his unborn son of his inner evil. As a result, the pantheon [[MirroringFactions became little better than the 'evils' they claim to oppose]], with many of Irminsul and Arvan's own children, relatives, and allies abandoning them in droves because of it. They also welcomed Scrappus into their divine realm after he somehow ended up digging his way there, despite their xenophobic views towards all non-Deer races.

* {{Hypocrite}}: As pointed out by both Belyolen and Rhiannon, the Elternteil Deer Pantheon in general claims to be benevolent and wise, yet they abuse innocent people if they were born 'evil' or falling short of their standards like Temnobog or Naur, despite doing nothing to warrant such mistreatment. They look down on non-Deer races for being 'impure' and devoted to nature like they are, while remaining blind to their own moral failures as divine sovereigns. And for all their extreme, fanatical support of 'good' magic, they're willing to use it in ways that would be counted as 'evil', such as using [[HolyHandGrenade purification magic]] to 'purify' someone of their inner flaws. As a result, the pantheon [[MirroringFactions became little better than the 'evils' they claim to oppose]], with many of Irminsul and Arvan's own children, relatives, and allies abandoning them because of it. They also welcomed Scrappus into their divine realm after he ended up digging his way there, despite their xenophobic views towards all non-Deer races.

* ArchEnemy: The evil Ascendant god, Grogar I, was this for the entire pantheon, as he was responsible for destroying large portions of Equus' forests, and killing/enslaving/corrupting several of the pantheon's divine children and thousands of their mortal people as well. Unfortunately, [[KarmaHoudini Grogar I escaped justice by fleeing to the Shadow Realm when Irminsul, Arvan, and Gaea finally had him cornered]]. It's eventually deconstructed in that Grogar I's escape led to much emotional trauma and bitterness, causing Irminsul and Arvan to do horrible things themselves in their quest to oppose everything they deemed "dark" and "evil", such as emotionally abusing [[GodOfEvil Temnobog]] for being born. Many of their children were also taught the same things, but later realize their parents' teachings are deeply toxic and hypocritical, and would leave the pantheon as a result of their newfound epiphanies. Rhiannon notes that ultimately, [[NotSoDifferent they became little better than Grogar himself]].

* {{Hypocrite}}: As pointed out by both Belyolen and Rhiannon, the Elternteil Deer Pantheon in general claims to be benevolent and wise, yet they abuse innocent people if they were born 'evil' or falling short of their standards like Temnobog or Naur, despite doing nothing to warrant such mistreatment. They look down on non-Deer races for being 'impure' and devoted to nature like they are, while remaining blind to their own moral failures as divine sovereigns. And for all their extreme, fanatical support of 'good' magic, they're willing to use it in ways that would be counted as 'evil', such as using [[HolyHandGrenade purification magic]] to 'purify' someone of their inner flaws. As a result, the pantheon [[NotSoDifferent became little better than the 'evils' they claim to oppose]], with many of Irminsul and Arvan's own children, relatives, and allies abandoning them because of it. They also welcomed Scrappus into their divine realm after he ended up digging his way there, despite their xenophobic views towards all non-Deer races.

* NotSoDifferent:

* FatalFlaw: Pride. It's the reason he hates the fact he's not perfect, which drives a lot of his actions towards his family, his people, and the world at large. His great-granddaughter, Vykup, implies deep down, he knows that he's dooming himself to DyingAlone, that he made many mistakes throughout his long rule as High King and ''wants'' to repent for his crimes... but his inflated pride won't allow him to admit that to himself. Blue Suede Heartstrings, now Prince Caerulus Melodia Equestria, notes that he's NotSoDifferent from the 'Prideful King' from the Old Malrègnarian Pantheon in that they were good rulers who let their own pride corrupt them and doom their own pantheons in the end.

* NotSoDifferent: He's called out on this InUniverse.

** Before that, Irminsul tried "erasing" his unborn son's inner evil by purifying him in-utero, which, according to Kúzelník, is equal to mutilation. True to form, the unborn god split into Belyolen and Temnobog, effectively killing him. This action would come back to haunt Iriminsul tens of thousands of years later as many of his children reacted badly to learning that [[{{Hypocrite}} the evil they were taught to hate was created by their own father]], with even some of Irminsul's 'loyal' children abandoning him in droves and (in the case of Rhiannon) calling him out for being NotSoDifferent from Grogar I. It also affected Arvan emotionally, as deep down she recognized that Irminsul was responsible for murdering her unborn son, but never really stood up against her husband until the 'Third Splintering', when she allowed a furious Naur to leave home and prevented Irminsul from going after their departing son and his followers. [[spoiler:High King Bogolenya, the FusionDance of Belyolen and Temnobg and Irminsul's son as he should've been]], also hates him for this, as [[spoiler:by trying to make him flawless and perfect, Irminsul irrevocably changed Bogolenya's destiny and robbed him of his chance to live]].

* WhatTheHellHero: A ''furious'' Luminiferous would call him out for mutilating and killing his unborn son by trying to erase his flaws, stating that he's NotSoDifferent from Morning Star, a Fallen Alicorn who tried enforcing his twisted standards of perfection onto others out of narcissism. It's noted that [[OOCIsSeriousBusiness this is one of the few times where Luminiferous was clearly angry instead of disappointed as he usually is]].

** Irminsul tried to get rid of his unborn son's flaws, which killed his son in-utero and resulted in Temnobog's birth instead. Disgusted, Irminsul constantly shunned and abused Temnobog, and taught his family to see him as an abomination that must be killed for mortal Deerkind's benefit. Temnobog did become evil, but only because of the treatment he experienced as a fawn.

* PerpetualFrowner: Her entry notes that she's constantly seen with a mournful expression. Given that she had lost many children to [[ArchEnemy Grogar I]] and continued losing more thanks to her and Irminsul's actions, it's hard to blame her.

* TroubledAbuser: Over time, she's shown to be this. Arvan is a grieving mother who was ''deeply'' affected by the loss of many of her divine children and mortal subjects during the wars with Grogar I, and she was [[CynicismCatalyst never quite the same after that]]. However, while less extreme than her husband, her traumas and experiences still made her develop the same haughty, xenophobic, reactionary, and puristic attitudes, turning her into a bad parent who abused those of her children who didn't fit her standards (like [[GodOfEvil Temnobog]] and [[PlayingWithFire Naur]]) and enabled the worst flaws of her other children. In addition, she's [[ExtremeDoormat extremely passive]] when it comes to Irminsul, whose pride and other flaws were enabled because of her fawnhood upbringing as a High Queen and consequential reluctance to speak against him, despite her own better judgement. It wasn't until Blue Suede Heartstrings' trial and seeing Naur and Irminsul get into a destructive fight that she ''finally'' stands up to Irminsul, permitting Naur to leave with his followers to carve their own future elsewhere, while restraining Irminsul with her own divine power to keep him from going after their son.

* ArmorPiercingQuestion: When he admonishes Prince Terrae Equestria for talking back to "[his] senior", Terrae asks him what's the point in respecting him when he himself wouldn't acknowledge his great-nephew due to his FantasticRacism. It rattles Aspen enough that he weakly tries defending himself to no avail.

Here is a list of characters from the Elternteil Deer Pantheon.\\\

** He also mistreated his great-nephew, Prince Terrae Equestria, for [[HalfBreedDibeing a Deer hybrid by encouraging his 'pure' Deer subjects to shun and be racist towards him, even though he was the one who allowed Terrae's parents to enter an interracial political marriage to seal an alliance with the Equestrians. [[LaserGuidedKarma This strains his alliance with Celestia and infuriates her enough to distance himself from him]].

* KarmaHoudiniWarranty: He eventually gets comeuppance for both his abuse of Blue Suede Heartstrings and his acts of eco-terrorism towards Ponyville when Prince Gicelig defects to the Equestrian Pantheon and publicly apologizes to the wronged parties, with the Leymits transmitting everything. This not only utterly humiliates him, he also can't rebuke Gicelig for it without making himself look bad in the process. The knowledge that Gicelig is watching him has also made him more careful as Gicelig is ready to out him if he steps out of line again.

* MiscarriageOfJustice: Despite being a god of Justice, he tried to punish [[Music/ElvisPresley Blue Suede Heartstrings]] for the 'crimes' of stealing the mortal Alvslog Deer Herds away from their 'traditional birthright' and tainting their racial purity, regardless of Blue Suede's innocence and the evidence supporting it. Fortunately, Belyolen intervened in the trial and saved Blue Suede, but the damage was done, as the abuse he suffered by the Elternteil Deer Pantheon's hooves later contributed to his near-Fall.
* MoralMyopia: He was enraged with [[CorruptCorporateExecutive Well-To-Do]]'s destruction of the Everfree Forest and was willing to go after people who were either forced to work for Well-To-Do or had nothing to do with him. However, he himself was willing to forcibly seize parts of Ponyville to restore the kingdom of Thicket, without disregard to the Ponies who live there. It's deconstructed as the fact that he got no punishment for doing what would be rightly seen as an act of war contributed to Prince Gicelig's decision to defect to the Equestrian Pantheon.

* MoralMyopia: This trope is ultimately caused Gicelig to defect to the Equestrian Pantheon out of disgust: they have zero tolerance for crimes (real or perceived) of outsiders, but are willing to ignore or overlook crimes by their own that may be even worse.

* StayInTheKitchen: Their traditionalist views on gender mean that Elternteil Deer goddesses (as well as their mortal followers) are expected to be supportive and intelligent, yet submissive, loyal, and deferential to their elders, especially their male counterparts. They also generally don't have any say outside of their roles, either. It's deconstructed in that this view is shown to be outdated, sexist, and psychologically harmful, and by making their females submissive, the Elternteil Deer Pantheon ended up encouraging and enabling toxic behaviors among themselves and their mortal Deer Herds.