History Main / LoveGoddess

* The ''VideoGame/WildArms'' series has Raftina, the Guardian of Love and one of the Guardian Lords [[FantasyPantheon that rule over the other Guardians]].
* As you might expect, a number of these appear in ''Franchise/ShinMegamiTensei''. In ''VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiStrangeJourney'', you actually look one up to get a friend of yours some romantic advice.

* Both Aphrodite and Cupid (the Roman god of love, not simply the more popular name for the Greek god Eros) are playable deities in ''VideoGame/{{Smite}}'', Aphrodite being a Support Mage whose gameplay revolves around forming and breaking soulmate bonds with a teammate as her 'lover', while Cupid is a marksman/ADC with love-based themes and can toss out life-restoring hearts to help his allies.
** The game also features Freya, but her Love Goddess aspect is downplayed in favor of her status as Queen of the Valkyries.

* In ''VideoGame/LegendOfMana'', the Goddess of Mana is often said to be this, or sometimes even [[AnthropomorphicPersonification stated to be love itself]]. [[spoiler:And as the game will show you through its story, [[LoveMakesYouEvil this is NOT a good thing]].]]

* In ''VideoGame/{{Hades}}'', Aphrodite is one of the Olympian gods who can offer boons to Zagreus to help him escape. Her boons are focused around applying either the Weak status effect, which reduces damage dealt by enemies, or the Charm effect which makes enemies briefly fight alongside Zagreus. Her boons also offer very high damage boosts to Zagreus' attacks. She is explicitly described as one of the most dangerous of the Olympians, and if Zagreus angers her she will bombard him with very accurate and persistent projectiles.

* The goddesses are untypically treated as villainous in ''Literature/{{Victoria}}'', which presents a PathOfInspiration that worships pagan goddesses of this type as a recurring villain -- both as a subversive entity within the Confederation and as a bloodthirsty ReligionOfEvil ruling an enemy state. Isis and Astarte are specific examples, with their idols venerated together with a debased Christianity in syncretistic ceremonies. The cult is eventually exposed and outlawed in the Confederation, and apparently suppressed after a female Episcopalian bishop who was a ringleader of sorts is condemned and executed.

Contrast WarGod, this trope's polar opposite.[[note]]Or so you’d think. [[Myth/MesopotamianMythology Ishtar]] might disagree. And [[Myth/NorseMythology Freya]]. And Aphrodite Areia. And [[Myth/CelticMythology]] The Morrigan.[[/note]] Mythology and media in general [[OddFriendship tend to]] [[OppositesAttract pair these two]] [[GodCouple up regardless]], in a sort of cosmic example of AllGirlsWantBadBoys.

Contrast WarGod, this trope's polar opposite.[[note]]Or so you’d think. [[Myth/MesopotamianMythology Ishtar]] might disagree.[[/note]] Mythology and media in general [[OddFriendship tend to]] [[OppositesAttract pair these two]] [[GodCouple up regardless]], in a sort of cosmic example of AllGirlsWantBadBoys.

** ''TabletopGame/{{Eberron}}'': Arawai is the most traditional love goddess, being the Sovereign of Life and Love, patron of fertility. However, just as the Sovereigns and the Dark Six have the [[WarGod Three Faces of War]], they also have the Three Faces of Love: Arawai is the love that brings life, Boldrei (Sovereign of Hall and Hearth) is the love the binds, and The Fury (Dark Sovereign of Rage and Revenge) is the love that ''burns''.

* ''Literature/{{Gate}}'' has Rory Mercury, who is the oldest demigod (961 years) in that world under the god of destruction, chaos and war, and she [[BloodKnight loves fighting]] with actual ecstasy just by being close to a battlefield (or simply people fighting). She wanted to become the goddess of love when she upgrades to the god status (at the 1000 year mark of becoming a demigod.) seemingly no other gods have taken up the place in their world.

*** Some theorists (notably UsefulNotes/{{Plato}}) divided Aphrodite into two aspects or personas, Aphrodite Urania, the "heavenly Aphrodite" of sublime love, and what in the Roman version was called Venus Vulgivaga, the "Venus of the people" who was in charge of purely sexual love. In some versions Aphrodite had a dark aspect, for instance in Sparta she was portrayed wearing armour and one of her epithets was ''Androphonos'' "the man-killer".

*** Some theorists divided Aphrodite into two aspects or personas, Aphrodite Urania, the "heavenly Aphrodite" of sublime love, and what in the Roman version was called Venus Vulgivaga, the "Venus of the people" who was in charge of purely sexual love. In some versions Aphrodite had a dark aspect, for instance in Sparta she was portrayed wearing armour and one of her epithets was ''Androphonos'' "the man-killer".

* ''Literature/PercyJacksonAndTheOlympians'':
** In ''The Titan's Curse'', Aphrodite shows up to tell Percy to [[AlwaysSaveTheGirl rescue Annabeth]], and that while [[ShipperOnDeck she wants them to get together]], she's going to arrange a lot of indecision and confusion beforehand [[ItAmusedMe to make things more interesting]]. Notably, she [[AppearanceIsInTheEyeOfTheBeholder changes her appearance]] to whatever the viewer finds most beautiful; to Percy, she looks like a mix between Annabeth and a TV actress whom he used to have a crush on.

* ''Manga/FantasyBishoujoJunikuOjisanTo'': The main characters were brought to another world by its Goddess of Love, a [[HotGod very attractive]] woman [[LittleBitBeastly with rabbit ears]]. Her followers are shown to worship physical beauty, wearing {{Stripperific}} clothing as ceremonial garments, and her chosen champion, the {{Gender Ben|der}}t Tachibana, is so beautiful that men will fall over him due to his presence alone, and he has to use a PerceptionFilter to avoid causing chaos everywhere he goes.

* ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'' has two gods of love: One god of sexual love (eros), and one god of parental love (storge). These gods are named Slaanesh and Nurgle, and with ''Warhammer 40K'' being the CrapsackWorld that it is, both gods are genocidal soul-devouring demon-lords with maximized {{Squick}} factor (Slaanesh is a hermaphroditic incarnation of desire spawned by millennia of depraved hedonism by a psychic species; Nurgle feels love for ''everything'', it's just that germs, bacteria and vermin outnumber sentient species, and they need love too...).

* Several Indo-European dawn goddesses, such as the Hindu Ushas and baltic Aushrine, a function that was probably inherited by the common Proto-Indo-European goddess from which they descend, [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hausos Hausos]]. Eos from Myth/ClassicalMythology may have also been a love goddess (see below).

->''Such'' '''power!'''

** Such ''power!''

* ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'' has two gods of love: One god of sexual love (eros), and one god of parental love (storge). These gods are named Slaanesh and Nurgle, and with ''Warhammer 40K'' being the CrapsackWorld that it is, both gods are genocidal soul-devouring demon-lords with maximized {{Squick}} factor (Slaanesh is a hermaphroditic incarnation of desire spawned by millennia of reckless hedonism by a psychic species; Nurgle feels love for ''everything'', it's just that germs, bacteria and vermin outnumber sentient species, and they need love too...).

%%* Myth/EgyptianMythology has several, including Bast and Hathor.

* Literature/ArsGoetia has multiple ''demons'' that cause love.

* Myth/NorseMythology has Freyja. Like Ishtar and Inanna (see below), she is a goddess of sex and war.
* Myth/EgyptianMythology has several, including: Bast, Hathor.

** Aphrodite in Greek Mythology. As much a goddess of lust as of love--or as we put it in describing [[UsefulNotes/TheTrojanWar the war she started]], the goddess of mad hot sexx0rs-- encouraging people to get it on as much as possible whenever and wherever they can, which is how she started UsefulNotes/TheTrojanWar.

*** It should be noted that the ancient Greeks (or at least some of their philosophers) didn't view "love" between a man and woman as a good thing. Partially because it was considered an animal's instinct and a distraction from more important things such as war and philosophy depending on the area, and partially because they believed women to be objects, and therefore loving them was inferior to their "people" centered loves of agape and philia. This led the ancient Greeks (or, again, at least certain mythographers and poets) to see Aphrodite as a villainous figure.
*** Venus (in the Roman version)
** Eros (or Pothos) in Greek Mythology. Aphrodite's son, sent (sometimes reluctantly) to put his mother's nefarious plots in action. Portrayed much more sympathetically than his mother.
*** Depends on who tells the story. In Hesiod's Theogony, Eros is one of the primal gods (brother to Gaia and Tartaros) and thus older than Aphrodite. Also in most myths Eros engages in all kinds of mischief without needing Aphrodite's orders to do so. The story of Eros and Psyche, where he is portrayed as her reluctant servant, is so late that it can be considered literature more than actual mythology.
*** Amor (or Cupid(o)) (in the Roman version)

* The East Semitic[[note]]Akkadian, Assyrian, and Babylonian[[/note]] Ishtar - and her Sumerian predecessor Inanna - was a goddess of love ''and'' war. Cynics might argue that [[InterplayOfSexAndViolence those aren't all that inappropriate together]], though; and as would Shakespeare and a number of others say, "All's fair in love and war."

* Armenian pagan mythology had the goddess Astghik.
* [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oshun Oshun]] from the Yoruba religion.
* Etruscan mythology has [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turan_(mythology) Turan.]]

* UsefulNotes/{{Buddhism}} has an interesting version: the demon king is named Mara, which means "death," but can also be called Kama or Mara-Kama, with ''kama'' meaning "love." He basically symbolizes everything that can keep someone from enlightenment, and tried to tempt the Buddha from meditation with his three daughters, Taṇhā (Craving), Arati (Boredom), and Raga (Passion). However, the Buddha only saw them as decrepit old hags, and his resilience was enough to earn their praise.
** Although Mahayana/Vajrayana forms of Buddhism also have a more straight example on Tara, a female Buddha with many atributes, granting love among them.

* Idra in the ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' setting ''TabletopGame/ScarredLands''
* The ''Dungeons and Dragons'' TabletopGame/ForgottenRealms setting has several Goddesses of Love, including:
** Sune (humans)
** Hanali Celanil (elves)
** Sharindlar (dwarves)
** Sharess - the goddess of lust, love, sensual fulfillment and cats (she apparently used to be Bast, but got hit by wanderlust in the distant past and fell out of the Mulhorandi pantheon and semi-warrior goddess status and into the Faerûnian pantheon). Almost fell under Shar's influence, but was busted out around the Time of Troubles, and ended up as an exarch (semi-divine assistant, more or less) of Sune by 4E.
* Generic ''Dungeons and Dragons'' (works not specific to any certain setting) have a lot of them:
** Ai Ch'hing: Kara-Turan goddess of love, marriage
** Evening Glory (Libris Mortis), lesser goddess of love, beauty and immortality through undeath.
** Iallanis, lesser goddess of good giants, love, forgiveness, mercy and beauty.
** Isis (also known as Ishtar): Mulhorandi goddess of weather, rivers, agriculture, love, marriage, good magic.
** Kiltzi: Maztican god of health, love, happiness, children
** Lastai (Book of Exalted Deeds), demigoddess of pleasure, love, and passion.
** Sehanine: Unaligned goddess of Illusion, Love and the Moon. Seasonal god of autumn and patron of elves.
** Sheela Peryroyl: Halfling goddess of nature, agriculture, weather, song, dance, beauty, romantic love.
** Sheyanna Flaxenstrand, intermediate gnome goddess of love, beauty and passion.
** Wee Jas, Sune goddess of love, beauty, death, magic and law. The combination of law and love makes her the goddess of PerfectlyArrangedMarriage.
* ''TabletopGame/{{Pathfinder}}'''s Shelyn is basicly the main Love Goddess of its pantheon.
** Any God/Goddess/Deity with the Love subdomain could count.
* The ''TabletopGame/{{GURPS}}'' "Dungeon Fantasy" sub-line features classic dungeon fantasy-style clerics and holy warriors, and allows for the possibility of them worshiping a range of deities. ''GURPS Dungeon Fantasy 7: Clerics'' offers different spell lists and special powers for different types of deity served, and "Gods of Love and {{Fertility|God}}" are an option, if an odd one.
-->''It may be harder to explain why their priests should get involved in dungeon delving. If the god has a desire to preserve communities, their interest in fertility makes them hate any “blight on the land.” Alternatively, priests (or their gods) may well be romantics at heart – keen to help enact good stories with happy endings – or tricksters – amused by anything that makes fools of mortals. More simplistically, such clerics may venture into dungeons because their deities are gods of life and thus opposed to undeath, or gods of beauty and thus enemies of ugly monsters.''
* ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'' has two gods of love: One god of sexual love (eros), and one god of parental love (storge). These gods are named Slaanesh and Nurgle, and with ''Warhammer 40K'' being the CrapsackWorld that it is, both gods are genocidal soul-devouring demon-lords with maximized {{Squick}} factor (Slaanesh is a hermaphroditic incarnation of desire spawned by millennia of reckless hedonism by a psychic species; Nurgle feels love for ''everything'', it's just that germs, bacteria and vermin outnumber sentient species, and they need love too...).

* ''TabletopGame/{{Exalted}}'' has Venus, the Maiden of Serenity. Love is only one of the many things she's goddess of - she handles health, positive emotions, and pleasure in general - but it's one of the more focused-on. (Venus also wears blue, which is why brothels in the Exalted setting are associated with blue instead of red.)

* Idra in the ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' setting Scarred Lands.

Contrast WarGod, this trope's polar opposite.[[note]]Or so you’d think. [[Myth/MesopotamianMythology Ishtar]] might disagree.[[/note]] Mythology and media in general [[OddFriendship tend to]] [[OppositesAttract pair these two]] [[GodCouple up regardless]].