History Main / FantasyCounterpartMyth

*** To stop one of the [[EldritchAbomination Elder Elemental Evils]], Kezef the Chaos Hound, the Gods challenged him that he could not break free of bonds made by Gond. Kezef agreed to challenge, but, sensing a foul play, only if one of the Gods places their hand in his jaw. Tyr, God of Justice, took on this challenge. After realizing he cannot break the bonds and the Gods plan to just leave it like this for eternity, Kezef furiously bit off Tyr's hand. If that sounds a look like a story of Norse WarGod Tyr and [[BeastOfTheApocalypse Fenrir the Wolf]], good. Bonus points of it being ambigious whenever or not this is the same Tyr as Norse one, or just his namesake.

* Played with in ''LightNovel/KonoSuba'', where there are references to mythical items and creatures like the sword Excalibur and the Winter Shogun (i.e. the Japanese personification of winter) despite taking place in a different world. However, it's mentioned that many people from Earth (Japan in particular) were sent over to that world in the past, with protagonist Kazuma Satou merely being the latest one, so it's entirely possible these previous transplants simply brought those references with them.

** While different in appearance, the Old Gods themselves are thinly veiled references to the Lovecraft Mythos, in both name and role. C'tuhn is one to Chtulhu, Yogg-Saron is one to Yog-Sotothon.

* The concept of the Shezarrines in ''VideoGame/TheElderScrolls'' series, a physical manifestation of a supreme deity that appears when the world is in turmoil, is similar to Vishnu's Avatars in Myth/HinduMythology.

* ''{{Franchise/Pokemon}}''

** Most Discworld gods, especially in the main pantheon, are based on real world archtypes. Blind Io is Zeus with a few elements of Odin, Bilious the God of Wine is Dionysius (in ''Literature/{{Hogfather}}'', he even has maenads), the Tezumen god Quetzovercoatl in ''Eric'' is [[Myth/AztecMythology Quetzalcoatl]], the various Djelibeybian gods in ''Literature/{{Pyramids}}'' are the [[Myth/EgyptianMythology Egyptian pantheon]], and so on.

!Examples:

* The Urn of Sacred Ashes in ''VideoGame/DragonAgeOrigins'' is a religious artifact containing the ashes of the prophetess Andraste -- herself a mix of UsefulNotes/{{Jesus}} and UsefulNotes/JoanOfArc -- who was burned at the stake, before becoming the center of a new Christianity-like religion of Andrasteanism. The Urn is an obvious reference to the legend of the Holy Grail, though, unlike the latter, you can actually find and touch it, and its contents ''do'' have miraculous healing powers (though the game deliberately leaves open whether it's because of their holiness or due to a random magical fluctuation).

MostWritersAreHuman, which is why when we create fantasy worlds we tend to rely on things we're familiar with. The most common practice is creating cultures [[FantasyCounterpartCulture reminiscent of real life]] or fuse several real-life ones together to [[CultureChopSuey create something new]].

SisterTrope to FantasyCounterpartReligion and its subtrope CrystalDragonJesus, which are where where a ''religion'' is based on a real-world one, and SuperTrope to MessianicArchetype, SatanicArchetype (which are this trope applied to Christianity in particular), DemiurgeArchetype, GrandpaGod and all StockGods.

* The Urn of Sacred Ashes in ''VideoGame/DragonAgeOrigins'' is a religious artifact containing the ashes of the prophetess Andraste -- herself a mix of UsefulNotes/{{Jesus}} and UsefulNotes/JoanOfArc -- who was burned at the stake, before becoming the center of a new Christianity-like religion of Andrasteanism. The Urn is an obvious reference to the legend of the Holy Grail, though unlike the latter, you can actually find and touch it, and its contents ''do'' have miraculous healing powers (though the game deliberately leaves open whether it's because of their holiness or due to a random magical fluctuation).

** Godfrey is a counterpart to the Greek demigod Herakles and, predictably, the Norse god Frey: On Herakles' side, he's a BarbarianHero with a supernatural amount of strength even before ascending to the title of Elden Lord, with a heavy dose of bloodlust and MightMakesRight mentality. Just like Herakles wore the coat of the Nemean lion, Godfrey wears a ''living spiritual lion'' on his back [[spoiler: which acts as his violence inhibitor]]. He's generally considered to be the WorldsStrongestMan and several characters still look up to him for his prowess, just like how in real life Herakles was considered a paragon of savage, unparalleled strength and masculinity. On Frey's side, he takes his name (which literally means "[[IronicName God (of) Peace]]") and surprisingly, Frey's aspects as a god of peace and prosperity, as after the constant wars Godfrey was expected to rule over an age of prosperity and peace (at least, before he got exiled). Frey was also the god destined to fight and die against Surtr, king of the Fire Giants, while Godfrey took the lead against the Fire Giants and slaughtered them all.

** Despite being considered the TopGod of the setting, Marika the Eternal doesn't initially have a clear reference to any real-life deity, especially of Greek or Norse origin like the others. She's associated with scholarly learning, golden light, the Erdtree, and the very concept of 'order' which the titular Elden Ring embodies, which makes it all the more bizarre as later revelations make her most associated with [[spoiler: ''Loki'', trickster god in Norse myth. First of all is the fact that, as the one who shattered the Elden Ring, she was the fundamental cause of the Shattering and all the destruction and suffering therein, just like how Loki would be the fundamental cause of the start of Ragnarok. Then there's the fact that Marika is technically both a woman ''and'' a man, as she (at least in present times) shares her body with Radagon, and it can shift and change to fit the form of whoever is in control, just like how Loki would shift and change, even across the boundaries of species and sex, for his plans and schemes. And just like Loki, Marika's morality, motivations and goals are shrouded in mystery and ambiguity.]]

** The Original One, the divine entity responsible for the creation of the multiverse, is a mishmash of various different creation gods such as [[Myth/HinduMythology Brahma]] and the Christian God. Born at the beginning of everything, the Original One used its 1000 arms to create the universe, and split itself into multiple forms to create the concepts of reality such as Time (Dialga), Space (Palkia) and Dark Matter (Giratina). Its implied even Arceus, the being closest to the description of the Original One, is merely just another fragment of it, which is why it's 'merely' one of the strongest Pokemon and not, say, omnipotent.

* ''[[WesternAnimation/DuckTales2017 [=DuckTales=] (2017)]]'': Storkules is the bird equivalent of Greek demigod Hercules (though his fellow gods, Zeus, Selene, and Poseidon, curiously keep their real-world names despite now being in bird form).
* ''WesternAnimation/WinxClub'': The Great Dragon is a [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin humongous dragon]] made of fire that is the first thing to be born from the beginning's nothingness. His first action is to breathe fire and therefore create a universe full of planets, living beings, and magic. Then, one day, he gets tired and decides to rest on Domino, infusing the planet with its [[WhiteMagic divine magic]]. This creation myth has some parallels with the one from UsefulNotes/{{Christianity}}, where God has always existed but has his first action as separating light from darkness and also rested when he got tired of creating the universe. So it's a {{downplayed}} example.
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