History Main / DividedDeity

** ''VideoGame/Persona3'': In the process of experimenting on it to attain the power of Shadows for themselves, the Kirijo Group caused [[spoiler:[[DestroyerDeity Nyx]]]] to be split into thirteen pieces. [[spoiler:Nyx]]'s body was split into the twelve Arcana Shadows, while [[spoiler:Nyx]]'s mind was sealed inside of [[spoiler:a then-child [[TheHero Protagonist]]]], assuming the identity of [[spoiler:Pharos]]. Destroying all of the Arcana Shadows [[spoiler:reforms Nyx's body]], while [[spoiler:Pharos getting to bond with the Protagonist]] causes him to be set free as a human in the form of [[spoiler:Ryoji Mochizuki, the Nyx Avatar]]. [[spoiler:On New Year's Eve, Ryoji ends up reuniting with the Arcana Shadows, and exactly one month later, the thirteen pieces form back into Nyx to bring about [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt the Fall]].]]

** ''VideoGame/Persona3'': In the process of experimenting on it to attain the power of Shadows for themselves, the Kirijo Group caused [[DestroyerDeity Nyx]] to be split into thirteen pieces. Nyx's body was split into the twelve Arcana Shadows, while Nyx's mind was sealed inside of a then-child [[TheHero Protagonist]], assuming the identity of Pharos. Destroying all of the Arcana Shadows reforms Nyx's body, while Pharos getting to bond with the Protagonist causes him to be set free as a human in the form of Ryoji Mochizuki, the Nyx Avatar. On New Year's Eve, Ryoji ends up reuniting with the Arcana Shadows, and exactly one month later, the thirteen pieces form back into Nyx to bring about [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt the Fall]].

* ''Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog''

* ''Manga/RecordofRagnarok'': The Japanese god of fortune, Zerofuku, attempted to alleviate humanity of its suffering by absorbing their misfortunte. The massive pain, coupled with the exposure to human vice, caused him to spiral into madness, and then, split into the Seven Lucky Gods before he could punish humanity. [[spoiler:In the present, the Seven fuse back into Zerofuku for the fight against Buddha. Ultimately, Zerofuku's spirit ascends along with his other aspects to the afterlife.]]

* ''Manga/RecordofRagnarok'': The Japanese god of fortune, Zerofuku, attempted to alleviate humanity of its suffering by absorbing their misfortunte. The massive pain, coupled with the exposure to human vice, caused him to spiral into madness, and then, split into the Seven Lucky Gods before he could punish humanity. [[spoiler:In the present, the Seven fuse back into Zerofuku for the fight against Buddha. Ultimately, Zerofuku's spirit ascends along with his other aspects to the afterlife.]][[/folder]]

* ''VideoGame/PokemonBlackAndWhite'': The story behind Zekrom and Reshiram, the main [[OlympusMons legendary Pokémon]] of the games, is that they used to be one being until the twin brothers who commanded it began to argue whether to fight for truth and ideals. Thus the original dragon split into two, with Zekrom embodying yin and siding with the ideals-focused brother, and Reshiram embodying yang and siding with the truth-focused brother. [[spoiler:There is a third Pokémon, Kyurem, embodying void, who is said to be what remains of the original dragon. Kyurem can merge with either Zekrom or Reshiram.]]

* ''VideoGame/LeagueOfLegends'': Played with for the [[TheGrimReaper Kindred]], a pair of deities comprised of the peaceful, bright [[EmotionlessGirl Lamb]] and the brutal, shadowy [[BloodKnight Wolf]]. It is implied that the two were once a single entity - the Gray Man, originally death itself, who split himself into two to have a friend. Although technically two spirits, the Kindred always appear together and consider themselves as a single entity.

* ''Manga/RecordofRagnarok'': The Japanese god of fortune, Zerofuku, attempted to alleviate humanity of its suffering by absorbing their misfortunte. The massive pain, coupled with the exposure to human vice, caused him to spiral into madness, and then, split into the Seven Lucky Gods before he could punish humanity. In the present, the Seven fuse back into Zerofuku for the fight against Buddha. [[spoiler:After the round finishes, Zerofuku's spirit ascends with his other aspects to the afterlife.]][[/folder]]

* ''VideoGame/LeagueOfLegends'': Played with for the [[TheGrimReaper Kindred]], a pair of deities comprised of the peaceful, bright [[EmotionlessGirl Lamb]] and the brutal, shadowy [[BloodKnight Wolf]]. It is implied that the two were once a single entity - the Gray Man, originally death itself, who split himself into two to have a friend. The two represent the dualities of death: [[FaceDeathWithDignity acceptance]] of a peaceful and painless death if one chooses Lamb, or a violent one from Wolf for attempting to flee.

[[/folder]]

* The titular character of ''Anime/GoLion'', is basically one of these. Once a matchless robotic warrior-type being, he challenged a goddess and was split into five robotic lions, whose chosen pilots can reform them into [=GoLion=] once more.

* In ''VideoGame/GenshinImpact'', this turns out to be the truth behind [[spoiler:Focalors, the Archon ruling over Fontaine. As part of a centuries-long plot to fool the Heavenly Principles and save her people, she divided herself into two beings, one mortal and one divine. Her physical form became Furina, an ordinary mortal tasked with serving as a BodyDouble to distract both the world and the Heavenly Principles. Meanwhile, her divinity was sealed within the Oratrice Mecanique d'Analyse Cardinale and worked to gather enough power to destroy the throne of the Hydro Archon. As the prophecy reaches its final stage, the divine half emerges to carry out her own execution, finally allowing Furina to live as her own person]].

* ''Franchise/ShinMegamiTensei'' and ''Franchise/{{Persona}}'': There is the demon/Persona known as Ardha (coined from Hindu deity Ardhanarishvara), who can be obtained by fusing its individual components together: Shiva and Parti. The original meaning of Ardhanarishvara is the Lord Who is Half Woman, with the male half having aspects of Shiva while the female half is represented by Parti. In some Hindu texts, Ardhanarishvara is an androgynous incarnation of Shiva, while in others it is the form of Shiva and Parvati, who loved each other so deeply that they joined as one being rather than stay apart.
** The multiple shards of the original YHVH fit even better. ''VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiStrangeJourney'' mentions the elder mother goddesses fought back when He originally sealed them, and while they were unable to stop him, they managed to shatter him into several pieces, particularly Metatron, which has a fraction of the original's will, and the Demiurge, which is nothing but raw power and a demented need to be worshipped.

* ''VideoGame/XenobladeChronicles'': Shows up with [[BigBad Zanza]] and his opposite number in the sequel [[BigGood The Architect]]. Both are two halves of the same entity, but split across two universes, each having part of their predecessor's personality traits. In fact, the sprite for the Architect is actually only half a body because his other half (Zanza) is elsewhere.

* The titular character of Anime/GoLion, is basically one of these. Once a matchless robotic warrior-type being, he challenged a goddess and was split into five robotic lions, whose chosen pilots can reform them into [=GoLion=] once more.

* ''VideoGame/FireEmblemRadiantDawn'': The two goddesses of the world are actually the same goddess who has been split in half by [[PrecursorHeroes ancient heroes]]. The goddess of chaos must journey to confront her sister [[OrderVersusChaos the goddess of order]].

* Myth/EgyptianMythology: The war goddess Sekhmet was created by Ra to enact divine retribution on a populace that had stopped worshiping and respecting him. Sekhmet nearly wipes out humankind, which forces Ra and the other deities to get her drunk enough that she passes out, after which she is divided into two different gods. Sekhmet remains, but depending on the source, the offshoot deity is either Hathor, goddess of motherhood, or Bastet, goddess of fertility and cats.

* ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog2006'': Two of the game's main villains -- Iblis, a mindlessly destructive fire demon, and Mephiles, a cunning, manipulative creature of darkness -- are actually split aspects of Solaris, a god of light and time. They eventually recombine for the TrueFinalBoss of the game.

* ''Literature/ThatTimeIGotReincarnatedAsASlime'': [[spoiler:True Demon Lord Dagruel and his "brothers" Glassord and Fenn are the three-thirds of the original Mad King of the Giants, Ashura. This "Wicked God" was born as the very incarnation of the earth and rampaged through the world until [[TheMaker Veldanava]] came along and defeated him, splitting him into the three brothers. While Dagruel and Glassord eventually repented of their evil ways, Fenn did not and so Veldanava imprisoned him in the Star Palace while tasking the other two with watching over the entrance to the palace and his chief angel Feldway served as his jailor directly. However, long after Veldanava's death, Feldway, who grew increasingly vengeful at the world for said death, freed Fenn, who in turn had formed a VillainousFriendship with the angel and proceeded to brainwash Dagruel and Glassord to the villain's side, and ultimately the three would recombine into Ashura to fight Veldora, Shion, and Luminous during the final arc before Veldora managed to separate them again.]]

[[folder:Anime and Manga]]

* ''Literature/ThiefOfTime'': Turns out to be the secret of the anthropomorphic personification of Time's two sons Jeremy Clockson and [[spoiler: Lobsang Ludd]]. Both were originally one entity, but a particularly painful contraction and a small mistake by their mother split them in two. Recombining allows them to assume their mother's mantle when she retires (as well as help save the world.)

[[folder:Live Action TV]]
* ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'': It's eventually revealed that [[GodInHumanForm Chuck/God]] and [[TheAntiGod Amara/The Darkness]] were once a single primordial being before they separated, which is what CausedTheBigBang. [[spoiler: Near the end of Season 15, [[GodIsEvil Chuck]] manipulates Amara into performing a FusionDance to merge themselves back together, albeit with Chuck solely in control.]]

* In ''VideoGame/GenshinImpact'', this turns out to be the truth behind [[spoiler: Focalors, the Archon ruling over Fontaine. As part of a centuries-long plot to fool the Heavenly Principles and save her people, she divided herself into two beings, one mortal and one divine. Her physical form became Furina, an ordinary mortal tasked with serving as a BodyDouble to distract both the world and the Heavenly Principles. Meanwhile, her divinity was sealed within the Oratrice Mecanique d'Analyse Cardinale and worked to gather enough power to destroy the throne of the Hydro Archon. As the prophecy reaches its final stage, the divine half emerges to carry out her own execution, finally allowing Furina to live as her own person]].

[[quoteright:750:[[VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehoh2006 https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/img_6346.jpeg]]]]

Such a split can come about for a variety of reasons. A conflict of inner thoughts, something like an extreme case of an EnemyWithout or a LiteralSplitPersonality, may cause a god to split apart into independent parts. In settings where GodsNeedPrayerBadly, multiple faiths with different intepretations of a shared god could affect the deity by splitting into multiple versions to match each interpretation.

Typically, the resulting deities will either seek reunion into the original whole or become bitter enemies instead. One of those deities may confront the other in [[TheUnderworld the underworld]] as part of a self-actualization story. Not to be confused with PiecesOfGod, where all of humanity (or whatever applicable mortal species) has a small part of {{God}} inside of them.

* ''[[Literature/EndoAndKobayashiLive Endo and Kobayashi Live! The Latest on Tsundere Villainess Lieselotte]]'': The CreationMyth of the ''[=MagiKoi=]'' universe involves this; the entity that created the universe is unity in form but, when they descends to the universe's equivalent of Earth, it was divided into a GodCouple, Kuon and Lirenna.

* ''Literature/ThatTimeIGotReincarnatedAsASlime'': [[spoiler:True Demon Lord Dagruel and his "brothers" Glassord and Fenn are the three thirds of the original Mad King of the Giants, Ashura. This "Wicked God" was born as the very incarnation of the earth and rampaged through the world until [[TheMaker Veldanava]] came along and defeated him, splitting him into the three brothers. While Dagruel and Glassord eventually repented of their evil ways, Fenn did not and so Veldanava imprisoned him in the Star Palace while tasking the other two with watching over the entrance to the palace and his chief angel Feldway served as his jailor directly. However, long after Veldanava's death, Feldway, who grew increasingly vengeful at the world for said death, freed Fenn, who in turn had formed a VillainousFriendship with the angel and proceeded to brainwash Dagruel and Glassord to the villain's side, and ultimately the three would recombine into Ashura to fight Veldora, Shion, and Luminous during the final arc before Veldora managed to separate them again.]]

* UsefulNotes/{{Christianity}}: Most mainstream denominations (i.e. subscribing at least to the Council of Nicea) admit the doctrine of the trinity, of a single deity with three separate persons inside -- the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit -- that are concurrently three beings and one.

** The halflings' patron deity Yondalla is known as a squeaky-clean, LawfulGood goddess of family and protection, but one of the race's biggest secrets is that she has a dark twin of sorts. Yondalla waited to create her race until she'd seen the other deities make their own, and was so impressed that she borrowed some of what made them each special to put into her halflings -- a bit of the elves' grace and speed, a pinch of the dwarves' devotion to community, some of the humans' ambition, and so forth. The other gods were annoyed, but were willing to let Yondalla's offense slide if she got rid of her larcenous streak. When she did so, these darker impulses coalesced into the ChaoticNeutral goddess Dallah Thaun, a deity of secrets and trickery. Rather than an EnemyWithout, Dallah Thaun complements Yondalla as a separate aspect of the same whole -- they can hear each others' prayers and have the same dedication to the halflings' well-being, they just differ in their methods. When a halfling needs healing or a plentiful harvest he prays to Yondalla, but when it's time to relieve others of their wealth or seek vengeance against those that would harm the little folk, halflings pray to Dallah Thaun.
** ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragonsFourthEdition'': The dragon god Io was cut in two by the King of Terror, Erek-Hus. The two halves then rose up as a pair of new deities, Bahamut and Tiamat, who then killed Erek-Hus. All Io's evil qualities, his hubris, arrogance, and envy, were embodied in Tiamat, while his good qualities, his desire to protect and his sense of equality, were embodied in Bahamut. Both gods inherited Io's preference for working alone, and became bitter enemies after the battle. In previous editions, Bahamut and Tiamat were instead the children of Io.

* ''VideoGame/BaldursGate'': One of the lore books that the player can read describes how Jergal, Lord of the End of Everything, became bored of his role and allowed his power to pass on to three adventurers who challenged him -- but since they couldn't agree on who should rule, his power was split between them instead. Bane became the god of Strife, Bhaal became the god of Murder, and Myrkul became the god of the Dead. Jergal himself remained to serve as their seneschal, retired from godhood and happy about it.

* ''Franchise/BlazBlue'': There are two examples, both of them are similar yet different. Interestingly for this trope, while the deity is divided, the god in question is still technically active.
** First there's the Susano'o. Before the start of the series, the Susano'o Unit was without a soul, meaning that anyone, provided they had the will and strength to use it, could use it and become the new Susano'o. That's how one incarnation of [[JerkAss Jin Kisaragi]] became [[ATrueHero Hakumen]]. But that's the ''body''[[note]]The body does have a will, but lacks true sentience[[/note]], what happened to the original soul? [[spoiler:Well as it turn out you've been fighting against him the entire time. He's [[BigBad Yuuki Terumi]]]].

* ''VideoGame/PokemonBlackAndWhite'': The story behind Zekrom and Reshiram, the main [[OlympusMons legendary Pokémon]] of the games, is that they used to be one being, until the twin brothers who commanded it began to argue whether to fight for truth and ideals. Thus the original dragon split into two, with Zekrom embodying yin and siding with the ideals-focused brother, and Reshiram embodying yang and siding with the truth-focused brother. [[spoiler:There is a third Pokémon, Kyurem, embodying void, who is said to be what remains of the original dragon. Kyurem can merge with either Zekrom or Reshiram.]]

* ''VideoGame/GenshinImpact'': In Fontaine [[spoiler:we learn Folcalor divided her divine self and her mortal body into two separate entities]].

** First there's the Susano'o. Before the start of the series, the Susano'o Unit was without a soul, meaning that anyone, provided they had the will and strength to use it, could use it and become the new Susano'o. That's how one incarnation of [[JerkAss Jin Kisaragi]] became [[ATrueHero Hakumen]]. But that's the ''body''[[note]]The body does have a will, but lacks true sentience[[/note]], what happened to the original soul? [[spoiler:Well as it turn out you've been fighting against him the entire time. He's the BigBad]].
** Second there's Amaterasu. The Amaterasu Unit (Master Unit) is piloted by someone known as the Origin. While she still resides inside the Master Unit, the [[SoulFragment manifestation of her soul]] lives on earth living as [[spoiler:Saya]]. Unfortunatel, because of the torture at the hands of Yuuki Terumi and Relius Clover, her soul split into two. One half would become [[spoiler[[LittleSisterHeroine Noel Vermillion/Mu 12]], [[KillTheGod Kusanagi the Godslayer]]]] and the other would become [[spoiler:Izanami [[GodOfTheDead the Goddess of Death]]]].