History Main / LoveGoddess

* In Voudun/Voodoo, Erzulie Dantor is the lwa of love. (There is one God in the Voudun pantheon, and the lwa are intermediaries between him and the mortal world: they have distinct, multifaceted personalities, like the Greek Gods, but are considered more like the equivalent of angels).

*** It should be noted that the ancient Greeks 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 to see Aphrodite as a villainous figure.

TheMatchmaker is her GodJob; her role in any given plot is most likely to put characters into a relationship. Thus, she is a [[DefiedTrope walking defiance of tropes]] such as WillTheyOrWontThey and TwiceShy. Naturally, this does not preclude a MatchMakerCrush.

* The proposed divinity of Yuri in ''Manga/AnatoliaStory'' is linked to Ishtar (see mythology below).

* In a ''Dungeons and Dragons'' FanFic, even ''orcs'' [[http://www.reocities.com/Area51/Vault/9974/orcgods.htm have love goddesses.]]

* The ''FanFic/PonyPOVSeries'' takes the approach that Cadence ''isn't'' the Alicorn that represents love as canon implies (see Western Animation below), with that role falling to her older sister Venus instead (it's just that Cadence's powers are similar enough that she can ''remind'' ponies that they're in love). At one point, Entropy, the goddess of nothingness, claims that love comes from nothing, so she also represents love.

* ''Franchise/TheElderScrolls''

* 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.

* 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.

-->--'''Shocking Blue''', "Venus" (later CoveredUp by '''Music/{{Bananarama}}''')

[-[[caption-width-right:200:[[OtherwordlyAndSexuallyAmbiguous God? Goddess?]] Doesn't matter, [[Music/TheBeatles love is all you need]].]]-]

[-[[caption-width-right:200:God? Goddess? Doesn't matter, [[Music/TheBeatles love is all you need]].]]-]

* ''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.

* In the ''Mai Hime'' fic ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/6726668/1/Theogony Theogony]]'', Shizuru is [[LoveGoddess the goddess of charm, persuasion and seduction]]. Hade's daughter Natsuki catches her eye.

* ''TabletopGame/{{Pathfinder}}'''s Shelyn is basicly the main LoveGoddess of its pantheon.

** The game also features Freya, but her LoveGoddess aspect is downplayed in favor of her status as Queen of the Valkyries.

* In Disney's ''Disney/{{Hercules}}'' animated series, Aphrodite appears as a secondary character once in a while. Her main trait is her ThemeTune.

Contrast WarGod, this trope's polar opposite. Mythology and media in general [[OddFriendship tend to]] [[OppositesAttract pair these two]] [[GodCouple up regardless]].

[[folder:Film]]

* ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'' has two gods of love: One god of sexual love, and one god of parental love. 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...).

* In Disney's ''Disney/{{Hercules}}'' animated series, Aphrodite appears as a secondary character once in a while. Her main trait is her EarWorm ThemeTune.

* The Hallmark version of ''Film/JasonAndTheArgonauts'' leaves out Aphrodite but has Hera ordering Eros to shoot Medea with one of his arrows and make her fall in love with Jason. This version portrays Eros as being made completely of fire.

* 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/GreekMythology may have also been a love goddess (see below).

* In [[Myth/CelticMythology Irish myth]], Aengus Og is a male example, associated with love and sexuality as well as youth and beauty. The Morrighan is primarily a war goddess, but has strong elements of fertility and sexuality, similar to Ishtar.

* {{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.

* Aphrodite appears in the third ''VideoGame/GodOfWar'' game. Naturally, it includes a sex scene between her and the player character, Kratos.

These deities will often need ThePowerOfLove to live and function while ThePowerOfHate can outright kill them.

[-[[caption-width-right:200:God? Goddess? Doesn't matter, [[Music/TheBeatles love is all you need.]]]]-]

->A goddess on a mountain top\\

At your desire

* Aphrodite appeared in ''ComicBook/TheIncredibleHercules'', but resigned because she no longer felt she could serve in that role. She was succeeded by the siren [[ComicBook/AgentsOfAtlas Venus.]]

[[folder:Fan Fiction]]

* Freya appears in ''Literature/MagnusChaseAndTheGodsOfAsgard.'' She shines with so much light that it illuminates her entire realm of Folkvanger, and her smile is so beautiful that Magnus thinks that he would give up his own life to keep it fixed on him. Which is a little weird when you find out that [[spoiler:she's his aunt]]. Also, she's the mother of his [[NonHumanHumanoidHybrid half-dwarf]] friend, Blitzen.

[[folder:Live Action TV]]

* Myth/EgyptianMythology has several, including:
** Bast
** Hathor

* ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}'' has two gods of love: One god of sexual love, and one god of parental love. 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...).

* ''Literature/{{Everworld}}'' gave a cameo to Aphrodite when the group went to Olympus. She basically strutted out, sexfully supported her lover Ares in an argument, and then strutted away, having made the male protagonists temporarily forget their own names. Meanwhile Eros hovers nearby and makes lewd comments at April.

** In ''The Titan's Curse'', Aphrodite shows up to tell Percy to [[AlwaysSaveTheGirl rescue Annabeth]]. She tells him that she will mess with his love live just for fun, [[ShipperOnDeck though she wants him and Annabeth to get together]]... she just thinks it should happen in the most dramatic way possible, with lots of indecision and confusion. Her appearance also changes to become closer to Percy's ideal of beauty.

** In ''[[Literature/TheHeroesOfOlympus The House of Hades]]'', Jason and Nico meet Cupid. [[spoiler: He isn't quite as nice as his mother.]]

* ''Series/{{Charmed}}'':

* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'': Princess Cadence has an unique power to spread love to those around her. Her introductory episode shows a flashback where she patched a bickering couple's relationship.