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Here is a list of characters from the Elternteil Deer Pantheon, the ruling pantheon of the Alvslog Deer Realms.

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Elternteil Deer Pantheon

The Elternteil Deer Pantheon was once a unified group of divine Deer, led by High King Irminsul and his beloved wife, High Queen Arvan. Originally, many of its members were part of a preceding Deer Pantheon that existed in the First Age. But when its leaders died in a great crisis, their adoptive children, Irminsul and Arvan, rallied their surviving adoptive kin and peers together under a new banner, and taught mortal Deerkind the skills necessary to survive, such as druidism and nature magic.

The Elternteil Deer Pantheon consisted of benevolent members who devoted themselves to helping Deerkind prosper, and when Arvan became pregnant with another son, it was expected that her unborn child would become a benevolent deity, too. To ensure this, Irminsul performed a divine ritual that would get rid of Belyolen's darker urges and flaws, but unfortunately, it only resulted in Belyolen being born alongside a dark-furred twin, Temnobog. Disgusted by Temnobog's tainted nature, Irminsul, Arvan, and their friends shunned Temnobog for being born, while showering Belyolen with love and praise. This would result in Temnobog holding a grudge towards his favored brother for a time, until certain truths caused him to reconcile with Belyolen.

At some point in history, disagreements over the mistreatment of Temnobog, and how they should handle the future of Deerkind caused a great schism into two sub-pantheons: the Hoyklan pantheon, and the Bogolenya pantheon, founded by Belyolen and co-ruled by him and Temnobog. With the loss of so many divine Deer, the Elternteil Deer Pantheon became much smaller and less significant than it used to be.
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    General 
  • Arch-Enemy: 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, 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 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, they became little better than Grogar himself.
  • Balance Between Good and Evil: Subverted and defied. Like the Poenans they adamantly refuse to accept Evil of any kind (mostly those they think are Evil) in their presence, seeing them as corrupting 'taints' or unnatural 'impurities' in a 'perfect' and 'natural' world that must be removed. This stems from their traumatic conflict with Grogar, the Shadow King of Tambelon and informed their abusive treatment of Temnobog, as well as their puristic, reactionary and xenophobic beliefs and actions in general. Of course, this runs contrary to how Equus is shown to actually work, which is often depicted to require both Good and Evil, Light and Dark, Right and Wrong and other forms of moral/natural dualities existing in dynamic balance to function properly.
  • Big, Screwed-Up Family: What the Elterneteil Deer Pantheon became over time. Heavy losses and PTSD from the wars with Grogar made Irminsul and Arvan extremely intolerant of anything they deemed 'evil' and 'impure', leading to Irminsul's fateful decision to purify his unborn son High King Bogolenya of his evil in-utero. Bogolenya's death led to Temnobog being constantly abused since fawnhood for being born, while his brothers and sisters become Jerkass Gods who are as bad as their parents. Learning of Temnobog and Belyolen's true nature caused many to realize Irminsul and Arvan's hypocrisy, causing the pantheon to fracture and creating feelings of boiling anger, resentment, and bitterness in those left behind. The leaders of the sub-pantheons that rose from these fracturings, the Bogolenya, Hoyklan, and Caearnarian Deer Pantheons, have strained relations with their parents. Many more leave after witnessing Blue Suede Heartstrings being mistreated and convicted for no other reason than his race. Understandably, because of how they were raised, those who left are suffering from trauma themselves, and have been visiting Mentálne to help overcome it.
  • Black-and-White Insanity: Much like the Alvslog Deer Herds, many of the Elternteil Deer deities are this, Irminsul and Arvan especially. The horrors they witnessed in their wars with Grogar I, and their successes as rulers beforehand slowly turned Irminsul and Arvan into arrogant, puristic, reactionary, and xenophobic people who see anything "dark" and "evil" as things that need to be destroyed for the good of mortal Deerkind. It's deconstructed as their toxic beliefs led to the death of High King Bogolenya when Irminsul tried purifying him of his evil in-utero, and influenced their other children to become Jerkass Gods themselves. When Temnobog was born, he was constantly abused for being born "evil" despite doing nothing to truly deserve it. The abusive environment led to many Elternteil deities leaving and the pantheon fracturing into various sub-pantheons, each with their own take on what would help mortal Deerkind prosper. The pantheon also influenced their mortal worshipers to act like them, causing the Alvslog Deer Realms to become increasingly stagnant and corrupt through ignoring the importance of allowing Good to co-exist with Evil.
  • Cain and Abel: Invoked and exploited. Irminsul and Arvan's influence led to Belyolen being encouraged to treat Temnobog as an abomination that must be destroyed. When Belyolen started fighting his brother, many Elternteil Deer deities were delighted and taught the Alvslog Deer to portray this as heroic and righteous. However, the truth is that the entire conflict stemmed from unwarranted child abuse, extremely toxic and intolerant attitudes, and Irminsul and Arvan's hypocrisy. While Belyolen eventually rebelled and took Temnobog with him, their conflicts continued until they learned of their true natures as High King Bogolenya's 'good' and 'evil' halves, due to how they were both raised. Killing Temnobog also would have backfired anyway since Temnobog being one half of High King Bogolenya means that if he dies, Belyolen will die, too.
  • Calling the Old Man Out: Many of Irminsul and Arvan's children, starting with Belyolen, have taken to calling out both of them on their toxic hypocrisy, whether directly or indirectly, following their departures from the pantheon. Because they were taught to hate things that Irminsul and Arvan were personally responsible for, they naturally started hating their parents once they realized they had been lied to and encouraged to act in ways that the outside world deems reprehensible.
  • Deity of Human Origin: A few recorded examples of Ascendant Elternteil Deer deities are Prince Golden Ash, King Aspen, and Queen Hazel. All of them are seen as great heroes and rulers by the Alvslog Deer Herds because in their society, Ascending to godhood is considered one of the greatest honors an Alvslog Deer can receive. However, Golden Ash fled the pantheon when he discovered the extent of the pantheon's corruption and hypocrisy from Arvan, and Hazel was so shaken upon learning the truth of Arvan's unborn son's fate that she wasn't the same afterwards.
  • Evil Reactionary: Many members of the pantheon are extremely reactionary to anything that might "ruin" their way of life, and staunchly resist any attempt to make any significant changes to their ruling methods. This applies to Irminsul and Arvan especially, as they have successfully ruled over mortal Deerkind in the First Age since their rise to power. It's deconstructed as their refusal to change ended up hurting many of Irminsul and Arvan's children and/or influencing them to become as bad as their parents. The Bogolenya, Hoyklan, and Caearnarian Deer Pantheons were born largely from their frustrations and anger with the reactionary behavior of both their family and mortal subjects, and even some previously loyal members later left the pantheon after getting sick of it themselves.
  • Fantastic Racism: Deconstructed. Many Elternteil deities are deeply xenophobic towards non-Deer and Deer hybrids, who they call "interlopers", which largely stems from their horrific experiences with Grogar I in the First Age. However, their racist behavior has led to them being hated by the world at large, harmed innocent people by virtue of their existence, and alienated and drove away pantheon members who grew sick of said behavior. It also paints them as Hypocrites as while they're staunch protectors of life and nature, they refuse to acknowledge that 'life and nature' includes all sapient creatures, not just Deerkind.
    • This is also the reason why their relations with the Bogolenya Deer Pantheon are strained - the Bogolenya deities are racially tolerant and have allowed both non-Deer and hybrid deities to interact with them. Belyolen also tries to keep his Elternteil Deer family at arm's length to protect his pantheon from their racism. When Irminsul spouted horrible things about the non-Deer/hybrid Bogolenya deities during a heated argument with Belyolen and Temonbog, a visiting Golden Scepter overheard and furiously confronted Irminsul in his true divine form before publicly humiliating him with a epic dressing-down. This terrified Irminsul so much that he avoids visiting the Bogolenya Deer Pantheon out of fear of bumping into Golden Scepter again.
    • The Elternteil Deer also caught, imprisoned, and horribly abused Blue Suede Heartstrings because of their racist beliefs. To them, it didn't matter if he was innocent, he was an interloper who must be punished for 'stealing away' their Alvlsog followers and 'tainting' their purity. While Blue Suede was saved by Belyolen and the incident made a few Elternteil Deer deities leave the pantheon in disgust, the pantheon's actions also contributed to Blue Suede's psychological downward spiral until he snapped from three Ages worth of repressed trauma and flaws.
  • Good Is Not Nice: Deconstructed. To their Alvslog Deer subjects, the Elternteil Deer deities are benevolent, kind, and wise... but only their subjects. To everyone else, they're a bunch of arrogant, xenophobic, reactionary, and self-righteous divines who look down on non-Deer for not being "pure" and devoted to nature. While their behavior has sympathetic reasons behind it, it still doesn't excuse their horrible actions and treatment of everyone else, as they had opportunities to recover and move on. The toxicity of the pantheon's behaviors have gradually caused many of Irminsul and Arvan's children to realize how wrong they were to act that way, which inevitably leads to them leaving home.
  • Good Powers, Bad People: Downplayed. The Elternteil Deer Pantheon as a whole are mostly populated with Earth, Nature, and/or Animal deities, though other 'good' domains like Justice, Prophecy, Art, Fertility, and Protection aren't unheard of. Unfortunately, the majority of the pantheon are haughty, puristic, and xenophobic assholes despite being on the heroes' side. Irminsul and Arvan in particular are well-meaning yet horribly Abusive Parents whose behavior directly led to many of their children abandoning them in droves. It's deconstructed as their attitudes led to their pantheon splintering into three main sub-groups (and many smaller ones), their children and mortal followers abandoning them in disgust and anger, and the larger world hating them.
  • Half-Breed Discrimination: Deconstructed. In addition to their Fantastic Racism, they also hold Deer hybrids in great contempt, believing mortal Deerkind must remain 'pure' and good in order to remain successful over all non-Deer races. This makes them the most intolerant of the four main Deer pantheons when it comes to the existence of hybrids, and their beliefs influenced the Alvslog Deer Herds to persecute and kill any Deer hybrid children they find among their people. It's also another reason why no one, including genuinely tolerant Deer deities, really likes the Elternteil Deer Pantheon.
    • In one notable incident, an Elternteil Deer deity made Bolezn cry by calling him a "walking, talking trash can" among other insults. The Bogolenya Deer Pantheon barely managed to restrain the now enraged Terrors from going after the offender and inflicting a horrible fate for their transgression (though Yarost managed to punch the deity in the face).
    • This is another reason why Belyolen prefers to keep the Elternteil Deer Pantheon as far away from the Bogolenya Deer Pantheon as possible, as some of its residents are hybrid offspring. Irminsul got himself in hot water in one incident when a visiting Golden Scepter overheard him spouting racist things about his hybrid Bogolenya grandchildren during an argument with his twin sons, which led to the High King being utterly humiliated in front of everyone by an enraged Alicorn Emperor.
  • Holier Than Thou: Deconstructed. Many of them see themselves as benevolent and 'pure' due to a combination of factors like the destruction of nature by non-Deer individuals/races, a long and successful reign as divine sovereigns of mortal Deerkind, and their mortal followers' praise going to their heads. This led to them abusing a few of their own children, like Temnobog and Naur, for not fitting their high standards, despite them not doing anything to deserve it. Eventually, the pantheon's puristic haughtiness became a main factor in the pantheon splintering into three sub-pantheons, as the genuinely benevolent Elternteil deities grew disgusted with this behavior and left to guide their own mortal Deer Herds without the toxic influence of their leaders. Their actions also led to both mortal and divine non-Deer individuals hating the Elternteil Deer Pantheon in general thanks to the efforts of Codex Equus researchers in recording their history, with King Strazha in particular referring to them as deluded extremists who use noble goals to justify selfish desires. It's rather telling that many people see it as a sign of redemption whenever someone decides to leave the pantheon.
  • Horrible Judge of Character: Deconstructed, as their extreme opposition towards anything/anyone perceived as "dark" and "evil" has led to some extremely bad calls of judgement.
    • They abused Temnobog simply for being born, believing that his dark nature would "taint" the pantheon's benevolence despite him not doing anything to truly warrant it. This later disgusted and upset his older twin brother, Belyolen, so much that he called out the entire pantheon for their arrogant, abusive hypocrisy and left to form his own pantheon, with several of his siblings following him out of regret. Their treatment of Temnobog gave them a bad reputation in the eyes of many non-Deer mortals/divines once Codex Equus researchers published entries detailing the pantheon's actions, and are rightly disgusted with the abuse despite knowing of Temnobog's evil nature.
    • After catching Scrappus in their divine realm, they welcomed him because they could sense no malice from him, despite him being a non-Deer and him essentially breaking into their house. This would bite them hard in the collective flank, as Scrappus turned out to be such a Bratty Half-Pint that he left his hosts battered, injured and/or emotionally traumatized. Because of this, Temnobog is one of few individuals who has a good opinion of Scrappus.
    • They abused Naur for embodying Fire due to seeing his domain as a purely destructive force with no benefits for nature note , 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.
    • They horribly abused Blue Suede Heartstrings for "stealing" their mortal Alvslog Deer subjects away and "tainting" their purity, when he was actually convincing them to abandon their toxic mindsets to avoid a great catastrophe he foresaw. When Naur tried saving Blue from being falsely convicted, he was replaced with the xenophobic King Aspen. Belyolen intervened and pointed out that hurting Blue over a baseless reason would anger a lot of people, including Blue's best friend, Prince Stoltur Skjöldur, and Golden Scepter, who is friends with the Bogolenya Deer Pantheon. Having learned from a previous encounter with Golden Scepter that angering an ancient Alicorn god who's more powerful than them is a bad idea, the Elternteil Deer deities decided to drop the case and let Blue Suede go free.
  • A House Divided: The deities of the Bogolenya, Hoyklan, and Caearnarian Deer Pantheons were originally members of the Elternteil Deer Pantheon. But after millennia of putting up with Irminsul and Arvan's toxic, hypocritical, and abusive behaviors, they grew disgusted and angry enough to leave and pursue their own path. This left the Elternteil Deer Pantheon a shell of its former self, though it's noted that it's slowly regaining its numbers through either divine births or Alvslog Deer Ascending to godhood.
  • Humiliation Conga: The pantheon's is currently undergoing a gradual process of this. An unfortunate combination of wars with the First-Age Grogar (who escaped punishment for all the atrocities he inflicted on everyone) and their successes as rulers contributed to the Elternteil Deer Pantheon becoming very haughty, xenophobic, reactionary, and self-righteous. Their emotional abuse of Temnobog contributed to the pantheon splintering into two as Belyolen, Temnobog's older twin brother, grew sick of his family's abusive hypocrisy and left after calling everyone out, influencing others to leave as well. The fallout of Belyolen's rebellion can still be felt, as a few otherwise loyal members began realizing that their family's beliefs are deeply toxic. The failed trial of Blue Suede Heartstrings, which was largely rooted in pride and xenophobia, served as the catalyst for this realization - Kúzelník, the Deer god of Sorcery, fled home after witnessing Blue's mistreatment and going through a nasty falling-out with his father, Irminsul. Kúzelník's older brother, Cernunnos, went on the hunt for him and later came back a changed god after learning certain horrible truths about Irminsul, who he is becoming cold and distant towards, and became one of many factors in his decision to go back into the outside world in order to understand himself.
  • 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 Temnobog or 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 purification magic to 'purify' his unborn son of his inner evil - which is treated In-Universe as mutilating a child. As a result, the pantheon 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.
  • Irony: The Eltenteil Deer Pantheon's influence has a major role in causing the Alvslog Forest Realms and people to become zealously protective of their forests, becoming puristic and xenophobic towards anything that might harm them. Yet it's heavily implied through other entries that this obsession with protecting natural life is doing more harm then good to the very things they protect and to their mortal worshipers, causing stagnation, overabundance, and other kinds of evil that would have catastrophic consequences for the forests and the Alvslog Deer alike.
  • Jerkass Gods: Deconstructed. While presenting themselves as 'good', the Elternteil Deer Pantheon's experiences with non-Deer individuals/races under Irminsul and Arvan's co-reign (especially Grogar I) slowly transformed them into a group of haughty, puristic, reactionary, and xenophobic Deer deities. They're extremely traditional and devoted to nature to the point of fanaticism, and they're extremely intolerant of anything they consider 'evil' or short of their standards. As a result, Deer who leave the forests are seen as abandoning their birthright as 'children of the forest', while hybrids and 'evil' beings are treated with extreme hostility, regardless of what they actually did. They also support 'good' magic to the point of being willing to use it in 'evil' ways. These attitudes caused many of Irminsul and Arvan's children to be abused for not fitting their standards, such as Temnobog and Naur, and eventually it splintered into sub-groups after said children grew sick of their parents' behavior and left. The pantheon itself also developed an extremely poor reputation among both divines and mortals, who are disgusted and outraged with them for various reasons.
  • Know When to Fold 'Em: In one incident, after catching a disguised Blue Suede Heartstrings in the Alvslog Deer Realms, the Elternteil Deer deities horribly abused him, and later tried to get him convicted on false crimes out of xenophobia. They didn't count on Blue Suede being empathically linked to his older twin brother, Bossa Nova Heartstrings, who informed Belyolen of what happened due to the pain he was suffering. Belyolen intervened, and revealed that Blue Suede is connected to the Bogolenya Deer Pantheon through his friendship with Prince Stoltur Skjöldur, one of Temnobog's grandsons. And since Golden Scepter is friends with Temnobog, the Elternteil Deer Pantheon will suffer his wrath if word of the trial gets out. The entire pantheon dropped the case and let Blue Suede go free to avoid provoking Golden Scepter.
  • Laser-Guided Karma:
    • The 'First Splintering' and 'Second Splintering' occurred because of how Irminsul and Arvan - and by extension the entire pantheon, abused Temnobog for being born 'evil'. The sheer misery Temnobog felt attracted the Alicorn goddess Amour-De-Soi to the pantheon, and was so disgusted that she encouraged an upset Belyolen to do the right thing by asking him what he would do if he sees someone in Temnobog's situation. This led to Belyolen angrily calling out his entire family (including himself) for abusing Temnobog and acting like hypocrites, causing many of said family to depart in shame. According to Canteros, Amour-De-Soi's oldest brother, watching the haughty leaders of the Elternteil Deer Pantheon get verbally humiliated by their own favored son was "very satisfying".
    • Years later, they would end up babysitting the young divine Diamond Dog, Scrappus, who was such a Bratty Half-Pint that he left half of their divine realm in ruins, with some of the Deer deities and their servants left battered/injured in embarrassing ways, and the kind and gentle High Queen Arvan being left in tears. While the incident did serve as karma for Scrappus, who had a Jerkass Realization and changed his ways, it also served as karma for the Elternteil Deer Pantheon, who abused and severely misjudged Temnobog simply because of what he embodied, only to later end up with a real brat that they couldn't sense any malice from. It's because of this incident that Temnobog is one of few people who has a highly positive opinion of Scrappus.
    • The 'Third Splintering' occurred because of their treatment of Naur. Since fawnhood, Naur was abused and looked down upon for embodying Fire, and his attempts to serve as a genuine Reasonable Authority Figure for the Alvslog Deer Herds were complicated by his family and people's arrogance, traditionalism, and stubbornness. The final straws were when his father, Irminsul, outright prevented him from clearing Blue Suede Heartstrings of falsely-convicted crimes, and refused to listen to Naur's prophetic warnings of a potential disaster that eventually did happened thanks to his neglect. Understandably, Naur snapped, and after confronting and fighting Irminsul, he disowned both of his parents as family and left, taking yet another portion of the pantheon with him.
  • Meaningful Name: Elternteil means "parent" in German. It refers to how the Elternteil Deer Pantheon created the Alvslog Deer Herds and, through a slew of monumental mistakes on their part, the various Deer sub-pantheons such as the Hoyklan, Bogolenya, and Caearnarian Deer Pantheons.
  • Moral Myopia: This trope is what 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.
  • "Not So Different" Remark:
  • Principles Zealot: Deconstructed. Their staunch adherence to tradition and opposition of Evil has made them inflexible and reactionary to anything that might ruin their way of life; in other words, mortal Deerkind had been successful for eons because of them, so why bother changing? This ultimately proves costly in the long run - their abuse of Temnobog for being born "evil" leads to the pantheon splintering into three after Belyolen rebels against his parents in disgust; their xenophobia-fueled mistreatment of Blue Suede Heartstrings has sullied their reputation as "benevolent" deities in the eyes of many even further; Irminsul and Arvan's willingness to resort to extreme measures to ensure the pantheon's benevolence (such as purifying someone of their inner evil) killed their unborn son and warped him irreversibly in the womb; and their toxicity and hypocrisy as a pantheon has led to even their loyal children abandoning them out of disgust and/or fear, such as Kúzelník, Cernunnos, and Rhiannon.
  • Psychic Powers: Some of the Elternteil Deer deities have strong psychic abilities - Irminsul and Arvan got theirs through their shared domain of Deerkind, while Kúzelník is an even stronger psychic due to embodying Sorcery (though Kúzelník sees his best friend, Prince Crimson Star, as the stronger psychic). Cernunnos and King Aspen are also examples as they both have telepathic and empathic abilities stemming from his domain of Animals. However, they all pale in comparison to Golden Scepter, who embodies Psionics and is far older than even Irminsul and Arvan.
  • Rage Against the Heavens: The Elternteil Deer Pantheon would be on the receiving end of this. Despite Naur warning them of a future disaster that might affect an ancient Alvslog Deer Realm, everyone refused to listen to him because they had grown complacent with their way of life, confident the forests they watched over will stand eternal. Sure enough, their neglect caused the disaster to happen anyway. The disaster caused one of their divine champions to become a Fallen Hero who sided with the Hydianites out of fury, grief, and resentment over losing everything, while the rest of the survivors became understandably resentful towards their divine patrons for not preventing the disaster sooner. Said survivors would defect from the Alvslog Deer Herds and side with Naur during the 'Third Splintering', becoming the foundations of the mortal Caearnarian Deer Herds.
  • Rightly Self-Righteous: Deconstructed. A combination of a long, successful rule, being praised by their mortal followers, witnessing the destruction of nature by non-Deer races, and the wars against Grogar turned Irminsul and Arvan into haughty, puristic, and reactionary people who look down on non-Deer races and staunchly oppose anything they deemed dark and evil. While they're benevolent and wise, only the Alvslog Deer Herds see them as such, while everyone else hates them for being Jerkass Gods. Worse, they influenced their children to act this way, believing their family and mortal Deerkind must remain pure and good, and even tried "purifying" their then-unborn son to turn him into a completely benevolent god. Their emotional abuse of Temnobog for being born "evil" led to the "First/Second Splintering" when Belyolen, encouraged by Amour-De-Soi, called out everyone on their arrogance and abusive hypocrisy, stating that they became no different than the evils they opposed by abusing someone who didn't warrant such mistreatment, while shaming himself for letting his own family shape his views on what is Good and Evil and not protecting Temnobog from them. Several of Belyolen's brothers and sisters regretted their actions and left to form the Bogolenya and Hoyklan Deer Pantheons, while those who stayed behind took longer and left upon seeing their parents' toxic behavior for themselves.
  • Royally Screwed Up: The Elternteil Deer Pantheon is a royal family of ancient Deer gods and goddesses, led by High King Irminsul and High Queen Arvan. While they were once genuinely benevolent, a tragic combination of complacency brought on by a long, successful rule, the horrors of Grogar's actions, and untreated issues on Irminsul and Arvan's part gradually influenced their behavior to become extremely toxic. This in turn influenced the children they had after the wars with Grogar ended. Irminsul's attempt to purify his unborn son of his inner evil to make him a perfect and flawless god created Belyolen and Temnobog, and the abuse Temnobog endured created three sub-pantheons as many of Irminsul and Arvan's children left in different directions out of guilt and disgust, thanks to Belyolen's defiance. Those who stayed behind, such as Kúzelník, Cernunnos, and Rhiannon, eventually left anyway once they couldn't stomach their family's behaviors anymore. Even after leaving home, many of said children were left with serious mental issues thanks to their parents' abuse and needed help from Mentálne to fully recover.
  • Self-Fulfilling Prophecy: They saw Temnobog as Belyolen's evil cast-off, and shunned and emotionally abused him for what he embodied and not what he did to warrant it. True to form, Temnobog eventually snapped from eons of abuse and became the evil deity he was believed to be... at least for a time.
  • Stay in the Kitchen: Their traditionalist views on gender mean that Elternteil Deer goddesses (as well as their female 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.
  • Warrior Prince: Many of Irminsul and Arvan's sons are competent fighters, presumably thanks to their parents teaching them how to fight. A prime example would be Cernunnos, the Deer god of Hunting and Masculinity, who is a powerful warrior and has inspired many Alvslog Deer stags to become heroic warriors and hunters themselves. Cernunnos' deceased older brother, Orion, was implied to be one as well when he was alive.
  • We Have Become Complacent: A huge problem of theirs. In the First Age, their long and successful rule over mortal Deerkind caused them to become complacent and stagnant, which made Grogar's encroachment upon their forest realms and subsequent attacks all the more devastating. It also what partially led to the pantheon's fracturing, as it was so full of benevolent divine Deer that they eventually developed haughty, patronizing attitudes with extreme intolerance for anything they consider "evil", with no one to keep their behavior in check. The Deer god of Evil, Temnobog, was emotionally abused for being born because of this, and it's what led to his hatred of overly Good societies since the absence of Evil causes them to become stagnant (the same thing could be said about overly Evil societies as well).
  • Well-Intentioned Extremist: Deconstructed. While they're seen as wise and benevolent by the Alvslog Deer Herds, their extreme dedication to Good corrupted them to the point where they became arrogant, self-righteous, puristic, and reactionary. This caused them to abuse Temnobog for being born the embodiment of Evil despite not doing anything to warrant it at the time, which ultimately splintered their pantheon into two sub-groups, the Bogolenya and the Hoyklan Deer Pantheons. King Strazha of Bitaniya also has a low opinion of them due to his hatred of extremists in general, since in his eyes they're no different than selfish, lazy, and insane people who use flimsy excuses to justify their horrible actions.
  • What the Hell, Hero?:

    High King Irminsul, Father of All Deerkind 

Classification: Elemental/Ethereal

Portfolio: Deerkind, Life, Animals, Purification

Rank: Divine (Tier IV/Greater)

"Be stalwart; the forests will protect and provide all. As it always had and shall."

High King Irminsul (his entry here) is the Elternteil Deer god of Deerkind, Life, Animals, and Purification, the father of Belyolen and Temnobog, and the beloved husband of High Queen Arvan.
  • Abusive Parents: Despite being a well-meaning father to his scores of children, his treatment of them was emotionally abusive at best.
    • He was this to Temnobog. Because Temnobog embodies mortal Deerkind's evils, and is a living reminder of both the horrors Grogar created and of his failure to get rid of his own flaws, Irminsul abused him and treated him like an unwanted "cast-off" of his radiant twin brother, Belyolen, including giving him a name so horrible that Temnobog cast it aside from his own memory once he left home. Irminsul also encouraged his other children to abuse and bully Temnobog by teaching them to despise their brother for being 'evil'. Eons of mistreatment that he never truly earned caused Temnobog to become genuinely evil out of spite and vent his anger on Belyolen. Though he and Belyolen eventually reconciled, Temnobog still harbors a murderous hatred for his father to the point where he refuses to forgive Irminsul, instead seeing Golden Scepter as his 'true' father upon being adopted by the Alicorn Emperor. Irminsul's entry makes it very clear that had he not treated Temnobog so horribly, he would not have ended up with a splintered pantheon and a greatly diminished family.
    • He was also this towards Belyolen, but in a different way. While Irminsul loved his radiant son, most of his love came from his desire for a perfect and completely flawless heir and High King. He showered Belyolen with love and praise that he never gave Temnobog, and taught Belyolen to see and oppose his dark-furred twin as an evil abomination that must be destroyed. He kept Belyolen from even seeing Temnobog for fear of the latter 'corrupting' the former, and was delighted when Belyolen started fighting Temnobog. Belyolen himself secretly disapproved of the abuse and eventually gathered the courage to call out his father thanks to Amour-De-Soi, but it took him and Temnobog a long time to reconcile because of how Irminsul's abuse impacted them both. Belyolen still loves Irminsul to a degree, but finds him intolerable and was quite shaken when Golden Scepter raises the possibility that Irminsul only loves him for being born radiant and pure. He also becomes one of Golden Scepter's sons through his adoption of Temnobog, which many agree might have been better for the two.
    • He was also this towards Kúzelník. Though proud of Kúzelník's magical talent and accomplishments, Irminsul feared his son's potential to become an Evil Sorcerer like Grogar. To avoid this, he only taught Kúzelník the "good" side of his Sorcery domain and discouraged him from learning his domain's "evil" side. This gave Kúzelník a lot of insecurities, especially after discovering that his own father was responsible for creating the evils he was taught to hate, and struggled to reconcile the good and bad parts of his Sorcery domain for years. During a very nasty argument between them, Irminsul implied that he wouldn't hesitate to purify his own children of their flaws should they fall below his standards; though it was by accident, it gave Kúzelník the absolute worst impression of his father, and led to him running away from home and developing a deep fear of Irminsul afterwards. Irminsul's treatment of Kúzelník also led to him seeking parental solace in Golden Scepter, who is a much better father figure than Irminsul ever was and even adopted Kúzelník as his son.
    • He was also this to his unborn son, High King Bogolenya. After having a prophetic dream about his unborn son potentially leading mortal Deerkind into a golden age, Irminsul vicariously treated him as My Greatest Second Chance, 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 lavishing Belyolen with love and praise for being pure while abusing Temnobog for being born "evil". Come the "Final Ragnarok Crisis", 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.
    • He was also this to Rhiannon, even though he was less involved in her upbringing than Arvan. Irminsul's extremely traditionalist mindset influenced Rhiannon to follow her family's beliefs and traditions out of duty despite her better judgement, in turn enabling her family's worst flaws and behaviors. But however, when she learns from Cernunnos what Irminsul had done to their unborn brother and why Kúzelník ran away from home in fear, she is understandably terrified by the idea of being "purified" of her own flaws the moment she stops following her family's traditions. It's this moment that she finally decides to leave the pantheon for good and settle down in the Grittish Isles.
    • He was also this to Cernunnos. A combination of Parental Favoritism and extremely harmful teachings led to Cernunnos becoming just as bad as his father, which in turn influenced Cernunnos' antagonistic relationship with Temnobog as they grew up. Years later, after being sent on an ultimately failed hunt for the runaway Kúzelník, Cernunnos came back physically and mentally changed as a result of fusing with the spirit of his dead older brother Orion, and gaining the domain of Rebirth from him. Irminsul was excited over having one of his dead sons come back through a living one, which, combined with learning the truth of his unborn brother's fate, strained relations with Cernunnos and made him incredibly cold and distant towards his father. Eventually, Cernunnos leaves home for good, taking Rhiannon and many of his children with him, in order to figure out his own identity.
    • He was also this to Phoenix King Naur. Irminsul was extremely disappointed with his son for embodying Fire, and expressed that by discouraging Naur from using his Fire domain at all. Naur tried earning his father's approval at first, but witnessing Temnobog's abuse and learning the truth behind his 'evil' brother's existence kicked off a series of events that left Naur angry, bitter, and disillusioned with his family. The last straws were when Irminsul rigged Blue Suede Heartstrings' trial by replacing Naur with the xenophobic King Aspen for trying to judge Blue Suede fairly, and refused to listen when Naur warned him of a disaster that eventually happened because of Irminsul's arrogance. When Naur snapped and expressed his desire to leave, Irminsul outright tried to restrain his son with his divine power, and the ensuing fight destroyed much of their divine realm after Naur retaliated in extreme rage. Arvan intervened and let Naur go, while restraining Irminsul herself to keep him from going after their son. Although Naur was able to lead his mortal/divine followers to prosperity in Caearnar, the fact that he still suffers from serious anger issues and an inferiority complex shows how much Irminsul impacted him. Naturally, this drives him into the hooves of Emperor Golden Scepter, who truly loves/accepts him for who he is and adopts him as his son. High King Kaldr was horrified upon reading about Irminsul's treatment of Naur.
      High King Kaldr: Wow, Irminsul... you’ve really outdone yourself this time...
    • 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 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 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.
  • Anthropomorphic Personification: He's a Deer god who embodies Deerkind, Life, Animals, and Purification.
  • Anti-Mentor: His entry notes that he personally mentored many Alvslog Deer who showed promise and upholds the ways of the Alvslog Deer Herds, hoping to raise them to greatness so they can lead their mortal children to greatness in turn. Problem is, High King Irminsul is not exactly the nicest or wisest mentor there is, with his experiences and beliefs making him an extremely unpleasant person in the eyes of many. This, combined with his own pride making him unable to see or acknowledge his own flaws, has led to him infecting those he mentors as well, making them just as haughty, stubborn, puristic, reactionary, xenophobic as he is. The Alvslog Deer Herds themselves are blind to how flawed their divine patron/mentor is, however, and continue to praise him, contributing to Irminsul's inflated ego and potentially leading everyone down paths that could ruin them in the long run.
  • The Beastmaster: His entry notes that as the Deer god of Animals, his psychic influence over animals is unparalleled, being able to psychically communicate with any animal and form mental links with them to see and hear through them. However, this leaves him vulnerable to psychic pain if the animals he's linked to are hurt. His telepathy and empathy are so potent that he could influence almost the entire population of animals within an entire forest, and make even the most ferocious monsters and beasts bend to his will. He can also amplify the emotions of animals and make them focus on certain targets with his rage. Many of Irminsul's mortal subjects are also skilled "beast-masters", as he had personally taught them those skills as part of living harmoniously with nature.
  • Big Good: Subverted. Due to being the leader of the Elternteil Deer Pantheon, Irminsul was considered the supreme patriarch and patron for all of Deerkind. However, underneath his veneer of benevolence is a flawed person who hates himself for being unable to get rid of his own flaws - when he tried purging his then-unborn son of his flaws and ended up creating both Belyolen and Temnobog, he emotionally abused the latter for being evil and a reminder of his failure, and encouraged his family and peers to do the same. Later, disagreements over how to handle Deerkind's future caused the Elternteil Deer Pantheon to split into two independent sub-pantheons: The Hoyklan Deer Pantheon and the Bogolenya Deer Pantheon. The Splinterings especially hit hard when Beloylen, his favored elder son, decided to rebel against him and leave with Temnobog because he was disgusted with his brother's mistreatment.
  • Bio Manipulation: His entry notes that as the Deer god of Life, he holds incredible power and mastery over all living things. He can manipulate the biological age of something/someone, including himself, and has strong healing powers to the point where he can fully restore someone to perfect condition and bring them back from death. He can manipulate the fertility of something, making barren lands sprout trees and flowers while increasing their production of fruit and vegetables, but he can also make something infertile indefinitely or steal away a person's life to punish those who exploit and/or harm innocents and the natural ecosystem. His domain of Life gives him some control over plants by manipulating the life energy within them, though Arvan surpasses him in this area due to embodying Earth and Nature. It's also noted that many forests within the Alvslog Deer realms are sanctuaries for animal species that have existed in past Ages, protected from extinction by his blessed followers and champions.
  • Bright Is Not Good: He's described as a divine Deer stag with soft white patches on his bright blue pelt, and a pair of pure gold antlers that resemble slender tree branches. He's also a haughty, xenophobic, and puristic ruler, and a well-meaning yet horrible father to many of his children.
  • Broken Pedestal: He was initially nigh-universally beloved by all of mortal Deerkind for being a good leader, mentor, and father, but his toxic, bigoted, and hypocritical beliefs, as well as the reveal of his true character and more questionable actions, drove much of his family and worshipers away in disgust and anger. This is what caused the First/Second Splinterings when the truth behind Temnobog and Belyolen's origins were revealed, and what caused the Third Splintering when his refusal to heed prophetic warnings caused a prosperous Alvslog Deer Realm's destruction. As many of his actions and true character have been revealed, Irminsul become this in the eyes of many. This is the exact thing that begins causing the Splinterings of the Pantheon and deerkind.
  • Cool Crown: He wears a 'crown' made of small branches, with healthy green leaves nestled with in. One of the Codexverse writers has stated that she was inspired by King Thranduil while writing Irminsul's entry.
  • Create Your Own Villain:
    • Had he not tried to purify his unborn son High King Bogolenya of his inner flaws so he could have a completely perfect and virtuous heir, Temnobog wouldn't have been born. And it's his horrific abuse of Temnobog that made the latter to snap and nurse a very deep grudge against Irminsul, even long after he stopped acting genuinely evil, and caused his family to leave and/or splinter into different pantheons just to get away from him.
    • He caused one of his pantheon's divine champions to become a Fallen Hero because his negligence and refusal to heed prophetic warnings caused a prosperous Alvslog Deer Realm to fall, killing thousands. Said divine champion allied himself with Hydianite Covens so he could corrupt everything the Elternteil Deer Pantheon treasured, including their forests. On the flipside, it led to the Ascension of Prince Golden Ash as a demigod after he tried purifying the Fallen champion's foul magics by himself.
    • His xenophobic actions towards Blue Suede Heartstrings contributed to the latter becoming increasingly psychologically unstable due to the abuse he suffered reawakening old wounds, which would have led to him transforming into a Fallen Alicorn. Thankfully, Blue Suede's friends snapped him out of it just in time.
  • Didn't See That Coming: When his son High King Bogolenya was still in-utero, Irminsul tried purging his unborn son's dark urges and flaws, hoping Bogolenya would would become a benevolent god that would shun evil and corruption like the other Elternteil Deer gods. What he didn't expect was his unborn son dying in the womb and the birth of Temnobog, as well as Belyolen, Bogolenya's good side, rebelling by leaving and forming his own pantheon over disgust towards his younger twin brother's mistreatment.
  • Didn't Think This Through: For a supposedly wise and benevolent god, he made a lot of mistakes that bit him in the ass later.
    • His plan to make his unborn son completely pure and flawless. Not only did it effectively kill his son in the womb, it also led to the birth of Temnobog, and the emotional abuse he suffered at their hooves turned him genuinely evil for a time until he reconciled with Belyolen, his older twin. Irminsul's actions also enraged Luminiferous, who called Irminsul out on enforcing his twisted ideas of perfection onto his child and compared the stag to the narcissistic, evil Alicorn, Morning Star, stating that they're both similar in believing perfection is the absence of flaws. It's stated that this incident was one of few times Luminiferous became clearly angry instead of just disappointed as usual. Come the "Final Ragnarok Crisis", he would receive a "The Reason You Suck" Speech from High King Bogolenya, the Fusion Dance of Belyolen and Temnobog and the son he could've had, for messing with his future to satisfy his own selfish desires for a perfect, flawless heir.
    • He, his wife, and some of his children seriously considered killing Temnobog so they can prevent his evil from "tainting" the Elternteil Deer deities' benevolence. Neither of them knew (including Belyolen and Temnobog themselves at first) that Belyolen and Temnobog were born two halves of the person they would've been thanks to Irminsul's actions towards his unborn son, and since they both embodied mortal Deerkind's 'good' and 'evil' aspects, killing Temnobog would instantly result in Belyolen's death as Good Needs Evil for Equus to prosper.
  • The Dreaded: It's noted a number of his children and gods who fled the Pantheon are afraid of him, in part due to how far he was willing to go to try and 'purify' his son, and thus fear he'll do it to them as well.
  • Dying Alone:
    • This is believed to be his ultimate fate in the end, as he has continuously been a horrible person to even his own family, and refused to change his ways out of pride. Despite many deities calling for his punishment, others like Prince Night Shade disagrees with them - in Night Shade's eyes, Irminsul is already being punished.
      Prince Night Shade: If you think that High King Irminsul is not being 'punished' for what he did to his unborn son and others, consider this: Many bullies, criminals, and abusers have often died alone in complete misery, abandoned by those they have hurt and alienated with their actions. When you look at everything that has happened to him over the Ages, do you think he has been punished enough?
    • A canonized drabble implies he's aware of this and terrified of it, but too prideful to consciously admit it.
  • Fantastic Racism: Deconstructed. He's quite racist towards non-Deer races and even half-Deer hybrids, largely due to past interactions that almost always involved the destruction of Equus' forests for often malicious goals, and his belief that mortal Deerkind must remain unsullied by outside forces in order to prosper. This is one of the reasons why other non-Deer deities and mortals view and treat him with cold disdain.
    • Irminsul's relationship with the Bogolenya Deer Pantheon is rather strained because of this, which motivated Belyolen to keep him and the rest of his Elternteil Deer family away so he could protect the non-Deer/hybrid Bogolenya deities, especially the Four Terrors, from being ostracized and abused. This led to an incident where, during a heated argument with his twin sons, Irminsul said horrible things about Temnobog and his non-Deer/hybrid Bogolenya in-laws/grandchildren. A visiting Golden Scepter overheard, and was so furious that he confronted the High King in his true divine form and gave him an epic "The Reason You Suck" Speech in front of everyone, terrifying Irminsul into avoiding the Bogolenya Deer Pantheon from then on.
    • Irminsul also planned to punish the Alicorn god of Music and Humility, Blue Suede Heartstrings, for "stealing" away his mortal Alvslog Deer subjects and "tainting" their purity, when Blue was only convincing them to abandon their toxic mindsets to avert a Bad Future he foresaw. Fortunately, Belyolen saved Blue by pointing out to Irminsul that hurting Blue in any way would invite a staggering amount of deities who do not want to see the Alicorn god hurt - from Prince Stoltur Skjöldur, Blue's close friend, all the way up to Golden Scepter himself, who is friends with the Bogolenya Deer Pantheon. Irminsul immediately got the message and got the Elternteil Deer Pantheon to back off.
    • This is also part of the reason (along with his swelled ego) why Irminsul refuses to accept Golden Scepter's attempts to reach out to him and convince him to let go of the arrogance and xenophobia that doomed many mortal/divine rulers in the past. Because Golden Scepter is not a Deer, he has no right to tell him how to rule. This presumably led to the aforementioned incident with Golden Scepter, as the Alicorn Emperor had lost his patience with Irminsul at that point, and overhearing the High King spout racist things towards his friends was the last straw.
  • Fatal Flaw: 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 Dying Alone, 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 no different 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.
  • Foil:
    • To Emperor Golden Scepter: Both are powerful, ancient divine rulers whose talents seem to run on Magic Versus Science - Golden Scepter specializes in science, technology, and psionics, with his empires being extremely advanced, while Irminsul specializes in druidism and nature, and ruled over vast forest realms and empires. Both fought in wars that left them extremely traumatized. But while Irminsul let his traumas and experiences consume him to the point where he continued being an arrogant, puristic, and stubborn Jerkass, Golden Scepter had friends who helped him overcome his traumas/flaws so he can become a better person. Both are fathers/patriarchs of large families, except Irminsul is a well-meaning yet horribly abusive parent who imparted toxic attitudes onto his children and treated them all vicariously, which led to his unborn son High King Bogolenya dying in-utero when Irminsul purifying him of his inner evil to make him a perfect and flawless god. Golden Scepter is genuinely loving and supporting of his sons and allows both Pony and non-Pony children to be adopted in his household; he even adopted a few of Irminsul's own children like Kúzelník, Naur, and Temnobog. As a bonus, both have racial titles, with Golden Scepter being "the Radiant Emperor of Ponykind" while Irminsul is named "Father of all Deerkind". However, Golden Scepter decided to change his title to just "the Radiant Emperor" after realizing it held racist implications that stirred resentment in his subjects, and requested for the writers/researchers of the Codex Equus project to echo this change whenever they mention him in future Codex entries.
    • To High King Kaldr: Both are ancient and powerful High Kings, except Kaldr is a genuinely Nice Guy due to his origins as a mortal Moose living in Paradise Estate, while Irminsul's extremely unpleasant attitudes stem from being raised by deities who held strict standards of what the ideal ruler should be. Kaldr, being the Moose god of Wisdom, is very tolerant and kind towards his subjects, while Irminsul is deeply racist and sees non-Deer races as "inferior" to mortal Deerkind, and sees hybrids as "bastards" that don't deserve to exist. Both are fathers of their own families, but while Kaldr treats his own children with love and respect, Irminsul is a horribly abusive father who vicariously treats his own children based on his standards of perfection, and purified one of his sons in-utero so his son could become the completely flawless and virtuous ruler that he wasn't. This resulted in the Elternteil Deer Pantheon splintering out of disgust towards Irminsul's methods and behavior, while Kaldr's children are given no reason to betray their families due to being treated so well.
    • To Prince Healing Song: Both are ancient deities, except Healing Song is younger than Irminsul and was once a mortal Earth pony who Ascended later on. While Irminsul grew up among toxic people and lived through horrific tragedies that influenced him to become an extremely unpleasant person, Healing Song made friends with those who genuinely loved and supported him, which helped curb his worst flaws. But the biggest difference lies in their teaching - Irminsul has taught many Alvslog Deer in his lifetime, but his lessons are hypocritical and harmful, which caused both his children and his students to become as arrogant, self-righteous, reactionary, and xenophobic as he is. Healing Song, who himself was taught by Blue Suede Heartstrings, is far more open-minded and tolerant, and genuinely cares for the well-being of his students. As Irminsul's ex-student Prince Golden Ash ironically points out, Healing Song is physically blind yet knows more than Irminsul, who can see yet is 'blind' in that he refuses to acknowledge or accept his own failings as a person, parent, and teacher.
  • Fountain of Youth: As the Deer god of Life, he can change one's biological age by accelerating/slowing their growth, or halting their age indefinitely. This also applies to himself, as he can appear as a young fawn or an elderly stag on a whim if he decides to explore the mortal planes. This is what allowed him to take in many Alvslog Deer students unnoticed, such as a then-mortal King Aspen, only showing his true form once he had proved himself worthy of godhood.
  • Freudian Excuse: A lot of his unpleasant traits stemmed from unresolved psychological issues that originated in traumatic or unsavory events which he had experienced throughout his existence. However, it's deconstructed in that while his reasons for behaving the way he does are understandable, they still don't excuse the horrible actions he took to make himself appear as the benevolent and wise ruler he believes himself to be.
    • While they were loving and truly meant well, Irminsul's adoptive parents were also very stern and strict in his upbringing, and held very high standards for Irminsul that he constantly had to fulfill. As a result, when he succeeded them as High King of the Elternteil Deer Pantheon after their deaths, Irminsul was left constantly wondering if he could ever match their standards, which developed into self-doubt and eventually, a desperate determination to atone for both perceived and real mistakes that unfortunately led to him making even more mistakes.
    • Irminsul's puristic hatred for anything 'dark' and 'evil' stems from his horrific experiences with Grogar I, who in his conquest of Equus cut down large regions of Equus' forests, and massacred/corrupted/enslaved both Irminsul's divine children and mortal subjects. Despite Irminsul's attempts to stop Grogar, the latter ultimately escaped punishment by fleeing to the Shadow Realm once backed into a corner by him and his allies. This haunted Irminsul for millennia and caused him to be extremely abusive to his own children, such as Temnobog and Naur, for not embodying his standards as benevolent and pure divine Deer sovereigns. While sympathetic, Irminsul ended up harming his family and subjects with his toxic mindsets, which either led to them becoming as bad as he is, or alienated them to the point of outright abandoning him in disgust, frustration, and anger. It also caused Irminsul to be hated by many non-Deer mortals and divines, regardless of his reasons for his behavior.
    • During the Second Age, the retreat of magic forced the Deer pantheon and their people to retreat into seclusion into parallel magical realms to ride out the era. Irminsul would observe the developments of mortal Ponykind, the only race that could survive on a nearly magic-less planet, and was so horrified and disgusted from seeing the damage to nature that the Second Age's technological and heavily-industrialized civilizations that he developed a deep distrust for progress and change in general, believing that such concepts will only lead to mortal Deerkind's self-destruction. Unfortunately, this led the Alvslog Deer Herds becoming prideful, self-righteous, and borderline reactionary just like their divine "father", which is increasingly putting them at risk of being destroyed and overtaken by those who see their customs as obsolete and advocate for progress.
    • His extremely vicarious treatment of his children stems from self-loathing over his own flaws. After years of success as a ruler, the wars with Grogar I, the depletion of magic at the end of the First Age, and seeing only the worst aspects of the Second Age made him believe that his own flaws were preventing him from truly ruling well, and desired for a perfect, flawless heir to succeed him. This contributed to his abusive upraising of his own children - he horrifically abused Temnobog for being born 'evil' and encouraged his family to do the same, and was forever disappointed in Naur for being born a Fire god despite Naur's attempts to prove his worthiness as his son. He also influenced his other children to become as bad as he is by imparting his toxic mindset onto them, believing it'll make them as 'pure' as he is. Ironically, the one child who did embody all that Irminsul wanted in his heir, High King Bogolenya, didn't get to live because Irminsul tried purifying him of his inner flaws in-utero based on a prophetic dream he had, which mutilated and killed his son in the process.
  • Freudian Excuse Is No Excuse: While the above excuse explains his actions, other characters are aware of it as well and see it as in no way justifying how he acts.
  • Good Is Not Nice: Deconstructed. Though he is a wise and benevolent divine sovereign to his Alvslog Deer subjects and treated as such by them, he is a horribly flawed individual who clings to both his successes as a ruler and old grudges, to the point where it made him haughty, puristic, reactionary, and xenophobic. He is also a well-meaning yet equally horrible parent whose beliefs either led to him abusing his children or influenced them to become as bad as he is. As a result, many of said children have abandoned him, while many other divines and mortals (including fellow Deer) hate him for his extreme unpleasantness. As his entry showed, his behavior stems from his strict childhood upbringing and untreated psychological issues, but they still don't justify his horrible actions.
  • Good Powers, Bad People: Downplayed. His Purification domain allows him to effectively counter various poisons and corruptive forms of dark magic, as well as heavily damage infernal beings like demons and Fallen deities. However, it's deconstructed as while he's on the side of 'good', he is a horrible Jerkass to everyone not of Deerkind and is a well-meaning yet abusive, toxic parent to his own children. He notably misused his Purification domain to purify his unborn son, High King Bogolenya, of his inner evil in his selfish desire to have a 'perfect' and flawless heir succeed him as High King of the Elternteil Deer Pantheon. This not only disgusted and enraged many benevolent deities and mortals, it also drove away many of his own children once they learned the truth.
  • Green Thumb: As the Deer god of Life, he has this to a degree. He can increase the fertility of something, making completely barren lands sprout trees and flowers while increasing the amount of edible produce like fruit and vegetables. He has strong healing powers that allow him to fully restore something to its original unblemished state and even bring it back from death. He possesses some control over plants, which is achieved by manipulating the life energy within plants to grow and move them, though Arvan surpasses him due to embodying Earth and Nature.
  • Historical Hero Upgrade: In-Universe. The Alvslog Deer herds worship and revere him as a benevolent and loving god, teacher, and father who could do no wrong, while his dark son, Temnobog, is depicted as a cackling villain with no redeeming traits at all. In actuality, Irminsul is a well-meaning yet hypocritical and toxic parent who emotionally abused Temnobog for something out of the latter's control. He also felt morally superior to almost everyone because of his own perceived benevolence, his experiences as a ruler, and the praise he received from his worshipers, while secretly harboring self-loathing towards his own perceived/real failures and his inability to get rid of his own flaws.
  • Holier Than Thou: Deconstructed. Despite being the High King of the Elternteil Deer Pantheon, and being praised as wise and benevolent by his mortal Alvslog Deer worshipers, Irminsul is an extremely arrogant and unpleasant person to be around. Because he had an extremely successful reign in the First Age, he believed that only he and his pantheon knows best for mortal Deerkind, and is extremely disdain of anything he deems 'evil' and 'corrupt', as well as anything that might 'ruin' his way of life. These harmful attitudes caused Irminsul to be horribly abusive towards those of his children who don't fit his standards, such as Temnobog and Naur, while influencing his people, students, and 'good' children to become just as bad as he is. Deep down, Irminsul is haunted by his past failures, but he reacts by remaining prideful and stubborn to any attempts to help him change for the better, which makes it convenient for him to blame others for said failures instead of just taking responsibility for them.
  • Holy Hand Grenade: As a god of Purification, he is a master of holy magic, and can use it to burn away impurities such as certain poisons, free people from possession by demons, and purify dark magic. One of his favorite techniques consists of him manifesting his holy magic as chains to both restrain and hurt evil and foul entities. In addition, he can channel his holy magic through his own body so he could purify through touch, making him an extremely dangerous foe if confronted in physical combat one-on-one. However, given his warped and puristic morality, he has misused his domain in a few incidents, such as attempting to purify his unborn son of his inner evil so he could become a purely benevolent, flawless, and heroic ruler.
  • Horrible Judge of Character: Deconstructed, as his puristic and xenophobic perceptions of everything and everyone not of Deerkind has led to him taking really bad calls in judgement.
    • After his wife gave birth to Temnobog, Irminsul treated him as Belyolen's evil cast-off and encouraged his family and peers to participate in the emotional/physical abuse, thinking that Temnobog's innate evil will 'taint' the benevolence of the pantheon. Temnobog did become genuinely evil for a time, but only because of what the others did to him. It's only because of Belyolen's love that Temnobog presently remains on barely civil terms with his former family and peers after breaking away from the Elternteil Deer Pantheon.
    • Despite his staunch xenophobia, he allowed Scrappus to stay in his pantheon's divine realm after sensing no malice in the young divine Diamond Dog. Unfortunately, he vastly underestimated that Scrappus is a major Bratty Half-Pint, which led to much of the divine realm destroyed and several Elternteil Deer deities being injured by his antics. It serves as Laser-Guided Karma for both Irminsul and his pantheon for how they treated Temnobog, which is why Temnobog is one of the few people who genuinely likes Scrappus.
    • Upon learning that Blue Suede Heartstrings managed to enter the Alvslog Deer Realms while disguised as a mortal Deer stag, he immediately had him dragged to his pantheon's divine realms to face judgement for his 'crime' of stealing away his Alvslog worshipers, and let the other Elternteil Deer deities imprison and abuse Blue Suede horribly. He also rigged Blue Suede's trial by replacing his son Naur, who tried to judge him fairly, with the more xenophobic King Aspen. This contributed to both the Elternteil Deer Pantheon's 'Third Splintering' and Blue Suede's psychological instability after he was rescued by Belyolen, which leads to Blue Suede suffering an epic breakdown and nearly turning into a Fallen Alicorn.
  • Hypocrite: As stated by both the Codex entries and many people In-Universe, he sees himself as a wise and benevolent leader, yet is utterly and willingly blind to his own flaws. He is extremely puristic and intolerant towards anything he deems 'dark' and 'evil', yet is willing to use 'good' magic for selfish ends, such as purifying his unborn son in-utero to create the perfect and flawless heir he desired. He's also willing to abuse people (including his own children) if they are 'evil' or don't fit his high standards, regardless if they truly deserved such mistreatment or not. It's deconstructed in that he influenced his people and family to act the same way, eventually causing his pantheon to splinter into various independent sub-groups after his children and followers got sick of his behavior and abandoned him. Many non-Deer mortals and divines also hate him for his actions, with some calling for his punishment while others choose to sit by and watch as the High King debases himself even further.
  • Inferiority Superiority Complex: It's speculated In-Universe by Mentálne that Irminsul hates himself for being unable to get rid of his own flaws, and emotionally abused Temnobog as a form of Psychological Projection. Deconstructed in that his behavior drove his favored son, Belyolen, away, as Belyolen was so compassionate that he couldn't bear to see his brother being mistreated, regardless if he was evil or not. It also attracted the disgusted ire of Amour-De-Soi, the Alicorn Primeval of Self-Love who helped a large portion of the Elternteil Deer Pantheon break away and join Belyolen.
  • Jerkass: Discussed with Temnobog. Mentálne believes that either Irminsul suffers from untreated Psychological Projection, or he's "just a big jerk" with a superior attitude and extreme bias against anything he perceives as evil. Regardless of the reason, it still didn't excuse the fact that Irminsul was an emotionally abusive parent towards Temnobog for being born.
  • Kangaroo Court: His trial of Blue Suede Heartstrings is ultimately deduced to be this by Gicelig after he replaces Naur, who was trying to be a fair, unbias judge, with Aspen. This is a major reason Gicelig eventually defects to the Equestrian Pantheon out of disgust.
  • Large and in Charge: He's described as being a tall divine Deer stag who is taller than Golden Scepter's "default" Alicorn form, and he's the Top God of the Elternteil Deer Pantheon. However, his entry notes that Golden Scepter dwarfs him in his true divine form due to being much older, and High King Ragnarøkkr also dwarfs him even in his normal Cervid form for the same reasons.
  • Laser-Guided Karma:
    • After abusing Temnobog and treating him like Belyolen's unwanted cast-off for being born an 'evil' god his entire childhood, Irminsul would end up being called out by those of his family who didn't agree with the abuse, especially Belyolen, and dealing with his pantheon splintering into three sub-pantheons as his children abandoned him in droves out of disgust. He would also be devoured by Temnobog himself years later as revenge for all the unwarrented abuse he suffered as a fawn. Narren rescued Irminsul, but Temnobog still got his consolation prize in the form of watching his father's humiliation over being "bested" by his evil son. Even after his Heel–Face Turn, Temnobog still remained hateful towards Irminsul, with Belyolen keeping him from outright killing their father. It got to the point where Temnobog genuinely starts acknowledging Emperor Golden Scepter as his true father upon being adopted by the latter as his son.
    • Irminsul's treatment of his more beloved son, Belyolen, consisted of him grooming Belyolen to be a ruler without flaws, and taught him to shun everything "dark" and evil, which means mistreating and even killing his own twin brother for the benefit of mortal Deerkind. This eventually caused Belyolen to trigger the 'First Splintering' by calling out his entire family, him included, and then leaving with both Temnobog and a significant portion of the Elternteil Deer Pantheon who regretted their horrible actions. It's noted that Belyolen still loves his father, but their current relationship is quite strained, and he tries to keep Irminsul's at a distance since he doesn't want his father's toxic beliefs affecting the Bogolenya Deer Pantheon.
    • Irminsul ended up being the unfortunate babysitter of the young divine Diamond Dog, Scrappus, who gave him and his family hell by acting like a Bratty Half-Pint incarnate while staying over in the Elternteil Deer Pantheon's divine realm. Even though the incident finally caused Scrappus to have a Jerkass Realization and change for the better, what made this karmic for Irminsul is that he constantly treated Temnobog like an evil abomination who shouldn't be born despite doing nothing to deserve it, only to end up with a non-evil divine child who turned out to be a real brat. Due to his great hatred for his father, Temnobog remains the only person (besides Prince Shamrock) who developed a liking for Scrappus.
    • Irminsul also gets a chewing-out from Luminiferous, who is rightly enraged with him for defiling/killing his unborn son in-utero with his twisted ideas of perfection. Luminiferous even states that he's no different than the evil, narcissistic Fallen Alicorn, Morning Star, who also believed in perfection as the absence of flaws.
    • After trying to visit Belyolen and Temnobog, Irminsul ended up getting into a heated argument with his twin sons, and said horrible things about Temnobog and the non-Deer Bogolenya deities and their "bastard" hybrid children. This enraged a visiting Golden Scepter so much that he confronted Irminsul in his true divine form and publicly humiliated him with a vicious "dressing-down". This left Irminsul so terrified of Golden Scepter that he avoids visiting the Bogolenya Deer Pantheon out of fear of bumping into him again.
    • In addition, a Tortoise Codex Equus researcher named Jade Shell would gather information about his misdeeds and compile them into an entry that was later published, causing everyone who read it to react in disgust, horror, and anger while his own reputation tanked even further. In Jade Shell's words, if he was willing to purify his unborn son for having something he didn't like, what's stopping him from doing it to others? Because of this, Temnobog now respects her for having the courage to write about his hated father despite the Elternteil Deer Pantheon and the Alvslog Deer Herds' infamous xenophobia.
    • Irminsul's psychological/emotional abuse of Phoenix King Naur would eventually come back to bite him. After several millennia of being treated like a disappointment for embodying Fire, and frequently having his efforts to be a genuinely Reasonable Authority Figure for the Alvslog Deer Herds criticized/sabotaged by his own family, Naur eventually snapped and confronted his father, ripping into him for being a complete failure of a ruler and parent who raised his children vicariously and doomed his people with toxic mindsets. Then Irminsul tried restraining Naur with his divine power when his son tried to leave home. This not only made Naur attack him with fire magic in extreme rage, it also got Arvan intervening and letting Naur leave, not wanting to lose another child so soon. Irminsul would also end up being restrained by his own wife when he tried going after Naur, which is rather poetic since he himself was responsible for killing Arvan's unborn son in-utero with his vicarious ambitions for a perfect and flawless heir.
    • In general, his abuse of his own children, no matter how well-meaning his intentions were, led to many of them hating him and his wife while suffering serious mental issues from their experiences of dealing with him at home. It also leads to some of said children being adopted by genuinely benevolent deities, such as Emperor Golden Scepter, and treating their adopters as their 'true' parents, as is the case with Naur, Kúzelník, and the twins Belyolen and Temnobog. This is rather ironic, as Irminsul lost many children to Grogar I in the First Age and feared losing more afterwards.
  • Light 'em Up: He's noted to have light-based magic in relation to his domain of Life, with some of his techniques being firing streams of pure light and forming protective barriers of light against darkness.
  • Like Father, Like Son: Invoked; Irminsul tried to make his then-unborn son a "benevolent" god like him by purifying him of his inner evil, but that effectively killed (and, according to Kúzelník, mutilated) his son, who split up in the womb and became Belyolen and Temnobog instead. He then tried to groom Belyolen as his ideal heir by making him develop puristic views of Good and Evil, until Belyolen eventually had enough of his family's abusive hypocrisy after seeing how much Temnobog suffered for being born "evil", leading to the "First/Second Splintering" where he called out his entire family for their actions and left home to form the Bogolenya Deer Pantheon and protect Temnobog.
  • The Magnificent: Known as "Father of all Deerkind", due to his role in shaping mortal Deerkind and, later, the Alvslog Deer Herds.
  • Meaningful Name: His name translates to "great pillar" in Old Saxon (also known as Old Low German), referring to the ancient pillar-like object revered by the Germanic peoples. This references how Irminsul became one of the founding members of the Elternteil Deer Pantheon following the demise of its preceding Deer Pantheon, as well as an important figure who helped form the Alvslog Deer Herds and their forested societies/realms/empires. Ironically, the Irminsul pillar was recorded to be destroyed by King Charlemagne during the Saxon Wars, which might reference how Irminsul is becoming increasingly arrogant, stubborn, and toxic, and his traditions stagnant and outdated, putting both of them at risk of being forgotten by an advancing world.
  • Mind over Matter: One of his Psychic Powers is psionic telekinesis.
  • Never My Fault: Double-subverted. While he knows that he has made a lot of mistakes deep down, he is unable and unwilling to fully acknowledge this because that requires him to acknowledge that he is flawed, which he refuses to do out of immense pride. To compensate, he has convinced himself that he's always right because of his successes as a ruler, and thus everything he has done is done with the best of intentions. In his mind, if there's anything that should be blamed, it's all things 'dark' and 'evil', and the 'impure' non-Deer 'interlopers' who ruined both his family and his people in the past. It's ultimately deconstructed as his stubborn refusal to take personal responsibility for his actions contributed to his failures as both a High King and a father, as many of his children suffered for not fitting his impossible standards, and his people suffered disasters that could've been prevented if he had just swallowed his ego.
  • "Not So Different" Remark: He's called out.
    • Luminiferous would angrily point out to him that he is not so different from Morning Star, a Fallen Alicorn who tried enforcing his own twisted standards of perfection onto others out of a deep sense of narcissism, much like how Irminsul himself defiled and killed his unborn son by trying to get rid of his flaws in the womb.
    • During the "First/Second Splintering", he, his wife Arvan, and his many children would be called out by Belyolen for being abusive hypocrites who claimed to be benevolent, then went back on their claims by abusing someone for being "evil" in their eyes despite doing nothing to warrant it. This is what partially caused many of Belyolen's siblings to leave the Elternteil Deer Pantheon in guilt and shame, leading to the birth of the Bogolenya and Hoyklan Deer Pantheons.
    • Rhiannon notes in a rather damning speech that for all their hatred of Grogar I, both he and Arvan proved themselves to be no different than their Arch-Enemy by committing their own share of atrocities in their quest to oppose all tings "evil", such as mutilating their own child in the womb by purifying him of his inner evil. This (among other things) is what contributed to Rhiannon's strained relationship with her parents.
      Rhiannon: (to Irminsul and Arvan) You may call yourself wise and benevolent, Father, Mother, but the world will never see you the same way once they learn of what you've done. And for all the hatred you two bear against this Grogar... I clearly and truly see no difference.
    • Blue Suede Heartstrings/Caerulus Melodia Equestria, once he got over his initial hatred of Irminsul and reevaulates his perceptions, starts seeing him as not so different from the 'Prideful King' from the Old Malrègnarian Pantheon: They were once both good rulers, but something happened to them that made them grow increasingly prideful over time, hurting everyone they cared about and turning themselves into pitiful, broken wretches in the end. However, while explaining this to Codex Equus interviewers, Blue Suede/Caerulus realizes much of Irminsul's behavior is very similar to how he previously acted in that they both tried to repress their own traumas and flaws in order to present to others a 'perfect' and 'flawless' paragon of virtue, even though the circumstances behind their behavior are very different... which saddens Blue Suede/Caerulus once he fully processes it.
  • Offing the Offspring:
    • Irminsul had absolutely no qualms in desiring Temnobog's death, as in his eyes, being born a God of Evil automatically made him "evil", regardless of any good qualities he had or anything he actually did, and thus doesn't deserve to live. Irminsul taught Belyolen to shun and treat Temnobog as an abomination that must be destroyed, and was delighted when Belyolen opposed and fought Temnobog for his wicked actions. he later held a family meeting to decide his dark son's fate, during which a majority of his children voted to have Temnobog killed, which set the stage for Belyolen's rebellion when the latter overheard what they were doing and ran straight to Amour-De-Soi. Fortunately, this didn't come to pass; because Belyolen and Temnobog were born the divided halves of the god they were supposed to be and shared a magical connection that required them to work together. Therefore, Belyolen would die if Temnobog was actually killed.
    • 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 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 no different 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. High King Bogolenya, the Fusion Dance of Belyolen and Temnobg and Irminsul's son as he should've been, also hates him for this, as by trying to make him flawless and perfect, Irminsul irrevocably changed Bogolenya's destiny and robbed him of his chance to live.
  • Oh, Crap!:
    • After an enraged Golden Scepter confronted him in his true divine form and gave him an epic "The Reason You Suck" Speech in front of the entire Bogolenya Deer Pantheon, Irminsul was left so terrified that he avoids visiting the Bogolenya Deer Pantheon in general on the off-chance that Golden Scepter might be there as well. Temnobog remarked on the incident that he had never seen his father "look so pathetic" in all his life.
    • After learning that an outsider, Blue Suede Heartstrings, convinced a few Alvslog Deer to abandon their prideful, racist, reactionary, and self-righteous ways, he planned to punish the Alicorn god of Music and Humility for "stealing" away his mortal subjects. However, Belyolen pointing out the possibility of facing Golden Scepter's terrible wrath again if Blue were to be harmed quickly nips that plan in the bud, forcing both Irminsul and the Elternteil Deer Pantheon to back off and leave Blue alone.
    • He has a sizable one when he discovers, to his horror, that Grogar the Shadow King has been freed from his prison by Mistletoe Dreamer.
  • Parental Abandonment: During the First Age, he and Arvan lost their adoptive parents - the leaders of a preceding Deer Pantheon - to a great crisis where they died "valiantly". It led to the rise of the Elternteil Deer Pantheon, but it's heavily implied it also contributed his psychological trauma.
  • Parental Favoritism: Deconstructed, as this partly contributed to his family's dysfunction and his pantheon splintering into three subgroups.
    • He favored Belyolen over Temnobog, as the former is the living remnant of his desire for a perfect, flawless heir who is the god of all that was good, while the latter is his twin brother's tainted and 'evil' cast-off. This led to a messed-up childhood that drove Temnobog against his own brother for a long time because of the sheer bitterness, anger, and resentment he developed from being constantly shunned for being born "evil". Belyolen was also disgusted by the attention and his brother's mistreatment, as his father's blatant favoritism and willingness to abuse one of his children for being born made him no different than the evils he claimed to oppose. This eventually led to Belyolen rebelling and leaving to form the Bogolenya Deer Pantheon once he was encouraged by Amour-De-Soi to "do the right thing".
    • He also favored Cernunnos due to being a virtuous and noble god who embodied all the traits of the ideal Deer stag, and tried molding him to become a proper Prince of the forests. Unfortunately, this led to Cernunnos developing the toxic and hypocritical behaviors that affected his parents and older/younger siblings, which contributed to the Elternteil Deer Pantheon's splintering, and ultimately drove Cernunnos away once he learned from Kúzelník why his hated brother Temnobog was born. It's also implied that Cernunnos gaining the domain of Rebirth from his deceased older brother Orion, as well as Irminsul and Arvan believing their dead son had "come back" to them in some way, contributed to Cernunnos' deteriorating relationship with his parents.
  • Politically Incorrect Hero: He's still on the side of good and fights on the heroes' side in major crises, but Irminsul abused several of his children for not following his standards as divine sovereigns, and is shown to be racist, discriminating against his non-Deer in-laws and hybrid (great-)grandchildren like those in the Bogolenya Deer Pantheon. It's also implied he's sexist to a degree: While he loves his wife and daughters, the Elternteil Deer Pantheon is very traditionalist and patriarchal, leading to Does having less say than Stags and restricted to supporting roles. It's deconstructed as this coming out has resulted in many of his children and followers losing respect for him, and him becoming increasingly disliked by both Deer and non-Deer divines/mortals.
  • Psychic Powers: It's noted in his entry that he has strong psychic powers that are enhanced by his divine domain of Deerkind, such as telekinesis, telepathy, empathy, and precognition. However, he pales in comparison to Golden Scepter, who is not only far older than him, but also embodies Psionics and was born a "prodigy deity", making him a far more powerful psychic.
  • Psychological Projection: Deconstructed and played for drama. Part of the reason why he abused Temnobog so horribly is because of his self-loathing. Because he failed to stop Grogar I from destroying Equus' forests and enslaving/killing his subjects and divine children, Irminsul began to believe that his own flaws were what kept him from being an effective ruler. His prophetic dream of a mighty Deer King leading mortal Deerkind to prosperity influenced him to purify his unborn son of his flaws in-utero so he could become a perfect and flawless ruler, but it ended up killing his son and creating Temnobog. Temnobog's birth painfully reminded Irminsul of both his failures and his own flawed nature, so he acted like a Holier Than Thou Jerkass to compensate, which unfortunately influenced both his children and his people to become as bad as he is, and soured his relationships with both non-Deer mortals and divines. It's discussed between Temnobog and Mentálne, the latter who strongly suspects this to be the source behind Irminsul's behavior, but doesn't excuse his horrible treatment of Temnobog or anyone else.
  • Pure Is Not Good: He's an Elternteil Deer god of Purification, which gives him incredible mastery over holy magic. As shown by his folder, he's also a haughty, xenophobic, reactionary, and puristic ruler who influenced his mortal subjects/worshipers to behave the same way, and is a well-meaning yet horribly abusive parent to his many children.
  • Rage Breaking Point: After dealing with the young Diamond Dog god Scrappus and his mischievously destructive antics in his own realm one too many times, the normally stoic Irminsul broke and punished Scrappus by turning him into a worm, and then swallowing him as a form of "time-out". This caused Scrappus to realize what a bratty jerk he was, so he promised to redeem himself once he got out of Irminsul's stomach.
  • "The Reason You Suck" Speech:
    • He would receive a vicious dressing-down from an enraged Golden Scepter, who revealed his true divine form and publicly confronted/humiliated Irminsul after overhearing the High King say horrible things about both Temnobog and the non-Deer/hybrid Bogolenya deities. Irminsul was left so terrified that he avoided visiting the Bogolenya Deer Pantheon on the off-chance that he might encounter Golden Scepter again.
    • He would receive two from Naur, one of his older sons from his 'second batch' of children. After getting thoroughly fed up with Irminsul's behavior, a furious Naur would confront and rip into him for being a complete failure as a High King and as a father, rightly pointing out that his vicarious desires and his toxic mindset are dooming both his family and people to a slow, painful decline into ignominy. After Arvan intervenes in the ensuing fight and permits Naur to leave home, Naur gives Irminsul another damning speech before departing for the island that would become Caearnar.
      Phoenix King Naur: Father, I said it before, and I will say it now... you are a complete failure as a father and as a King. I should have recognized how rotten your heart was the moment Temnobog was born. (Irminsul bristles with rage) The only thing stopping me from stripping you of your sovereignty now... is the prospect of getting to watch as your family abandons you and your realms crumble to mere splinters, while the outside world condemns you for what you really are.
  • Self-Fulfilling Prophecy:
    • 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 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 mistreatment he constantly experienced as a fawn.
    • Irminsul tried to prevent another Splintering from occurring by outright restraining his son, Naur, with his divine power. It ended up happening anyway - Naur, having become extremely bitter, angry, and disillusioned with Irminsul at that point, tried attacking him with the same fire magic he was told to suppress, driving Arvan to intervene and permit Naur to leave to keep from losing more children. When Irminsul still tried to stop Naur, Arvan proceeded to restrain her husband with her own power, despite his protests.
  • Shadow Archetype:
    • He is one to Golden Scepter. While they both shared arrogant, self-righteous, xenophobic, and Holier Than Thou attitudes, Irminsul represents what happens if Golden Scepter refused to change and instead continued clinging to the toxic mindsets he grew up with. As a result, while Golden Scepter became a beloved father and ruler, Irminsul by contrast alienated his own children with his well-meaning but abusive actions and is consequentially seen as a horrible ruler in the eyes of many. Golden Scepter also sees his actions pre-Known History as one big collective shame, while Irminsul's immense ego blinds him to his own mistakes and keeps him from acknowledging them. For bonus points, Irminsul keeps refusing Golden Scepter's attempts to reach out to him and help him see the error of his ways, and was subsequently humiliated in public after Golden Scepter later overheard him spouting horrible things about the Bogolenya Deer Pantheon during a visit.
    • He is also one to Prince Bright Eyes, Golden Scepter's ninth son. Both of them are well-meaning, but they had puristic beliefs that caused them to hate anything and anyone they believed were unrepentantly 'evil' even by association. They also tried getting rid of 'evil' from themselves and/or those close to them in their own ways - Irminsul tried erasing his unborn son's flaws with purification magic to make him perfect and flawless, killing his son in the womb, while Bright Eyes tried suppressing his vampiric curse through sheer force of will until it could be removed through a cure or death, creating his 'son' Hopeful Moon in the process. While Irminsul abused Temnobog for being born and continued to hate him for being a living 'blight' on the world, Bright Eyes initially neglected Hopeful Moon, but realized his mistakes and came to love Hopeful as his own son, earning himself praise from a number of deities that included Temnobog himself. Bright Eyes himself hates Irminsul for being an abusive father to Temnobog, and Choice is rather proud of the Terran Prince for not following in Irminsul's hoofsteps with his own son.
    • He is also one to his son, Phoenix King Naur. Both of them are divine patrons/rulers of mortal Deer Herds who live in natural environments, except Irminsul represents what will happen if Naur became just as haughty, puristic, xenophobic, and reactionary. Because he was abused for embodying Fire for several millennia, Naur sees Irminsul as a complete failure as a High King and as a parent, and strives hard to succeed where his father had failed. To emphasize this, Naur rules over Caearnar, a lush and verdant open island that welcomes non-Deer visitors, while Irminsul rules over the forested realms of the Alvslog Deer Herds, who are notorious for their xenophobic isolationism.
  • Sour Outside, Sad Inside: While he is quite a haughty, xenophobic, puristic, and extremely unpleasant person, deep down Irminsul harbors centuries worth of untreated PSTD and other psychological issues, and knows how much he screwed up with both his people and family. Yet he's too proud to openly admit that he's suffering and desperately needs help, and has pushed anyone who could help him away. In-Universe, Blue Suede Heartstrings/Prince Caerulus Melodia, who once hated Irminsul for the wrongful abuse/imprisonment/conviction he received in the past, now sees and pities him for being a broken wretch who is heading down the same path as the 'Prideful King' of the Old Malrègnarian Pantheon did.
  • Stay in the Kitchen: It's implied that he has this view in regards to gender roles. While he loves his wife, daughters, and nieces, the Alvslog societies he watches over are heavily patriarchal with Does having little say in things compared to Stags. Does born in royal families are also limited to supportive roles, either as mothers or passive advisors to their husbands and/or male relatives. It's deconstructed as his attitudes end up hurting both his own family and Alvslog society as a whole, as Does are left unable to speak up against the atrocities committed by their people and end up enabling their male counterparts' worst traits through this toxic form of loyalty.
  • Swallowed Whole: On the receiving and giving ends.
    • Temnobog once tried to do this to him in revenge for the eons of emotional abuse Irminsul inflicted on him for being born "evil", and achieved this by swallowing him whole in the form of a monstrous wyrm after stripping Irminsul of his powers. However, Irminsul's grandson, Narren, would rescue him by tricking Temnobog into eating him as well to remove witnesses, and then proceeding to rescue Irminsul from within Temnobog's stomach. It's noted that while Temnobog was not happy to have failed in killing his father, he still got his consolation prize in seeing Irminsul's humiliation over being bested by his own "evil" son.
    • Irminsul himself also did this to Scrappus when the Annoying Pup pushed him too far with his antics, and it is noted that he also did this to many threats and enemies of the Elternteil Deer Pantheon and their mortal children, sealing them away inside his body. It is noted that this is a common tactic used in many a Divine Conflict, made possible and necessary due to their divine natures and how hard and problematic it is to actually kill a deity.
  • Telepathy: One of his Psychic Powers is telepathy. As a Deer god of Animals, this allows him to command even entire forests' worth of non-sapient animals, see/hear through their eyes, and tame the wildest beasts.
  • Top God: He became one for all the Deer deities in the First Age when the previous leaders of a preceding Deer Pantheon - who were also his adoptive parents - were killed in a great crisis, forcing him and Arvan to rally their allies and adoptive kin together in order to protect mortal Deerkind. This led to the birth of the Elternteil Deer Pantheon, which he and Arvan ruled over as High King and High Queen, respectively. However, a slew of mistakes trying to create an heir who would succeed where he failed ended up fracturing the pantheon; his radiant son, Belyolen, left with the first group to form the Bogolenya Deer Pantheon over disagreements towards Temnobog's emotional abuse and mortal Deerkind's future, while the second group formed the Hoyklan Deer Pantheon that would be worshiped by the Nordskelt Deer Herds. Now he's only ruling over one of the main Deer pantheons.
  • Vicariously Ambitious: His entry reveals that this is largely the reason why he made his infamous decision to purify his then-unborn son in the womb. He was so full of self-loathing over his own failures as a High King that after he had a vision of a powerful divine stag saving mortal Deerkind and leading them to prosperity, he sought to make his then-unborn son "pure" and flawless so his son could succeed where he himself had failed. Of course, it backfired spectacularly as this effectively mutilated and killed his unborn son, who split apart into Belyolen and his younger twin brother, Temnobog. Golden Scepter strongly suspects this trope to be the case after Belyolen talked about his disagreements with Irminsul over what an ideal ruler should be, so he decides to ask Belyolen about it. Belyolen is shaken by the possibility that his father only loved him for being the ideal son he wanted and taught him how to rule well so he could experience his son's achievements, though he strongly hopes otherwise.
    "Father always tried to do what is best for us... but there are things that we... came to blows over," Belyolen explained delicately, as if his father and sovereign of mortal Deerkind was somehow still there, listening in. "For example, our leadership. After Temnobog and I discovered our true natures, we realized that keeping a balance of Good and Evil is essential to all things, even ruling a kingdom. Father... well, I think he believes that a perfect ruler should be WITHOUT flaws. And since I am without flaws..." The radiant stag trailed off.

    Golden Scepter frowned, his vast psychic powers revealing to him what Belyolen wanted to say, but couldn't bring himself to. "...Do you think that your father is trying to live through you?" he asked honestly.

    Belyolen's gentle eyes widened with shock, before he turned away from the antediluvian Alicorn god. "I... I hope not. I know Father wants me to be a great ruler. I know he does. I mean, he taught me everything he could. How else do you think the Bogolenya Deer Pantheon survived all those years?" He laughed, but Golden Scepter detected a hint of nervousness. "Father has his... weaknesses, that much is certain. But I don't think he would be so willing... to..."

    Belyolen didn't know how long he had been quiet until he felt a large wing drape his back. It felt gentle and warm... even fatherly.

    "Well, in that case..." Golden Scepter said before he smiled. "You were right to get away from him. Perhaps one day he will open his eyes and truly see the mistakes he made with you and your brother."

    Though Belyolen's mouth smiled in great appreciation, his eyes bore cautious hope. "Being optimistic, Emperor?" The radiant stag joked.

    "Someone has to be."
  • What the Hell, Hero?: A furious Luminiferous would call him out for mutilating and killing his unborn son by trying to erase his flaws, stating that he's no different from Morning Star, a Fallen Alicorn who tried enforcing his twisted standards of perfection onto others out of narcissism. It's noted that this is one of the few times where Luminiferous was clearly angry instead of disappointed as he usually is.
  • Would Hurt a Child:
    • He was one of the deities who called for a then-young FlÅ“rð's death/suppression because he didn't want a prophesied child to wipe out those of his biological children who joined the Hoyklan Deer Pantheon, even if they did rebel against him. He even made it clear to Kaldr that he's not going to let FlÅ“rð lead the Hoyklan Deer to their doom, further implying this trope. This angered Kaldr, who threatened to put Irminsul in an "icy time out" if he talks derogatorily about his adoptive son again.
    • He also tried making his unborn son, High King Bogolenya, a perfect and completely flawless god by purifying him of his inner evil, so his son can become a divine sovereign who embodies all that is good and pure in mortal Deerkind. Unfortunately, he ended up killing his son in-utero, which led to centuries of dysfunction, tragedy, and misery for both his family and his mortal followers, especially once the truth is revealed to the world at large by Codex Equus researchers.

    High Queen Arvan, Mother of All Deerkind 

Classification: Elemental/Ethereal

Portfolio: Deerkind, Earth, Nature, Protection

Rank: Divine (Tier IV/Greater)

"There are many paths a Deer can take in life. But no matter what happens, never forget your origins as Children of the Forest."

High Queen Arvan (her entry here) is the Elternteil Deer goddess of Deerkind, Earth, Nature, and Protection, the beloved wife of High King Irminsul, and the mother of Belyolen and Temnobog.
  • Abusive Parents:
    • Like her husband, she was emotionally abusive and neglectful towards Temnobog, and would treat him as her elder son's evil cast-off. The only reason why she (barely) tolerated him was because he was her son and thus family. However, the last straw was talking with Irminsul about the possibility of getting rid of Temnobog altogether, which Belyolen overheard and caused him to later call out his entire family for being arrogant, abusive hypocrites. It's implied that while Temnobog hates his father, his relationship with his mother wasn't very good, either. Belyolen still loves Arvan to a degree as he does Irminsul, but has firmly warned both parents that they are not welcome around him or the Bogolenya pantheon if they do not change their harmful attitudes.
    • While she meant well, she forced Zmeniť to repress most of her domains that were considered 'improper' to hide them from her father to avoid simular abuse to her brother Naur. Needless to say, this left Zmeniť extremely miserable.
  • Anthropomorphic Personification: She's a Deer goddess who embodies Deerkind, Earth, Nature, and Protection.
  • Barrier Warrior: Her Earth domain allows her to create walls of earth to protect herself, and as a goddess of Protection, she can create nigh-unbreakable arcane barriers.
  • The Beastmaster: While not to Irminsul's extent, she can use her Nature domain to command all animals in a forest.
  • Broken Bird: Despite her status as a divine High Queen, she's a deeply broken and depressed woman who lost so many of her people, children, and relatives to Grogar I and his forces, and is still grieving them to this day.
  • Buried Alive: As a goddess of Earth, she can invoke this by creating crevices and pits for people to fall into, and then closing them up.
  • Calling the Old Man Out: She and the rest of the pantheon were called out by Belyolen, who shamed them for their arrogant, abusive hypocrisy and stated that by abusing Temnobog for being born, even though didn't do anything to warrant it, they became no better than the evils they opposed.
  • Cool Crown: To contrast/compliment Irminsul, whose crown is made of branches, her own crown is made of flowers.
  • Emotion Bomb: Being The Empath means she's capable of forcing her enemies to feel the suffering they have caused their victims, and she is quite experienced in controlling how long it will last.
  • The Empath: Like Irminsul, her domain of Deerkind gives her empathic abilities, though she's far more skilled in using it than he is. She can use her empathy to communicate with plants and animals, and punish evildoers by 'emotion-bombing' them.
  • Expy: According to a Codexverse writer's comment, she's based on Blue Diamond in terms of personality and background. Both she and Blue Diamond are perpetually depressed rulers who have lost loved ones in a horrible war against a great enemy, and are sympathetic yet flawed people whose emotional abuse have driven said loved ones away from them, adding to their grief.
  • Freudian Excuse:
    • She's stuck in a perpetual state of grief and depression because in the First Age, she lost many of her divine children and mortal subjects to Grogar I, who either enslaved, killed, and/or corrupted them into his own playthings. It also caused her to become extremely protective and distrusting towards non-Deer races, who she holds as being responsible for the sheer tragedy her family and people had endured. It's deconstructed in that she continues clinging to her memories of what happened and used them to justify her actions, no matter how horrible. This caused her to be almost as abusive as Irminsul towards her own children, which consequently made her the target of disdain and anger once her actions were recorded and exposed by the researchers/writers of Codex Equus, even though she's not as extreme as her husband. She seems to have realized this as, after being shown kindness by Blue Suede Heartstrings, she starts undergoing a Heel Realization that influenced her to do things like restrain Irminsul from going after Naur and his supporters, and help Prince Golden Ash flee the Alvslog Deer Realms by guiding him to a secret forest passageway she created for times of crises.
    • Her passiveness towards Irminsul stems from her fawnhood upbringing - her adoptive parents held strict standards for her and taught her to always support her High King no matter what.
  • Heel Realization: She would first undergo this after Blue Suede Heartstrings reached out to her as a fellow bereaved parent who lost children of his own, which made Arvan realize how horribly she was treating her children. This led to her intervening with Irminsul and Naur's fight, and then restraining Irminsul herself with her own power when he tried preventing Naur from leaving home. During 'Final Ragnarok', when she and other fellow goddesses of the Bogolenya/Hoyklan Deer Pantheons battled High Queen Kunnusta of the Shadowed Ones, it was Arvan who expressed her pity to Kunnusta when they discovered she doesn't really know what love even is, having had suffered through eons of psychological/emotional abuse by those she called her 'family'. While Blue Suede's kindness was a huge factor, it's speculated In-Universe that her sympathy was the result of acknowledging Kunnusta's relationship with Ragnarøkkr as a twisted mirror of her own relationship with Irminsul.
  • The High Queen: Subverted. Her rank in the Elternteil Deer Pantheon is indeed "High Queen", and she's known by the Alvslog Deer Herds for being kind, motherly, and gentle, yet in reality she's a well-meaning but very flawed individual. Her twin sons, Belyolen and Temnobog, remember her as a hypocritical and emotionally abusive mother who mistreated Temnobog for being born "evil", while showering Belyolen with love and praise for being pure and good. After Belyolen overheard her talking to her husband, Irminsul, about the option of killing Temnobog, he was so upset that he later called out the entire pantheon for their arrogance and abusive hypocrisy, stating that they became no different than the evils they oppose by mistreating someone who's actually blameless. Belyolen also made clear to his parents that they are not welcome near the Bogolenya pantheon if they continue displaying harmful attitudes towards those who don't fit their standards. Many deities also see her as a haughty, xenophobic, and puristic person, albeit one who is more sympathetic and less extreme than her Jerkass husband.
  • Holier Than Thou: Deconstructed. Her worshipers' praise of her caused her to become arrogant and patronizing, and her harmful attitudes also caused her to abuse Temnobog, her own son, for being born "evil" despite not truly warranting the mistreatment. This turned her favored son, Belyolen, away from her to the point of shaming her for her abusive hypocrisy. After the Bogolenya pantheon was formed, Belyolen made it clear to his mother that she's not welcome around him or his pantheon if she doesn't change her behavior.
  • Horrible Judge of Character: Deconstructed.
    • She abused Temnobog for being born "evil" and reminding her of Grogar, the person responsible for the deaths of many of her divine children and mortal subjects, even though Temnobog hadn't done anything to warrant it, and made it clear that he was unwanted. This caused the miserable dark fawn to snap and attack Belyolen out of spite and resentment, creating a series of long, terrible conflicts that took years to resolve because of the harmful attitudes and teachings she gave to her twin children. Belyolen was so disgusted that he shamed his family for their arrogant, abusive hypocrisy and left to form the Bogolenya pantheon so he could protect his brother.
    • She welcomed the young Diamond Dog god, Scrappus, into the Elternteil Deer Pantheon's divine realm because she sensed no malice in him. Turns out that Scrappus was such a brat that he destroyed half of said divine realm, and traumatized her so much that she was left in absolute tears.
  • Hypocrite: As stated by Belyolen when he called out both his mother and his family, she believed herself to be wise and benevolent, but in abusing Temnobog who truly didn't warrant the treatment, she became no different than the evils she opposed.
  • Laser-Guided Karma: She abused Temnobog for being born and even considered killing him due to what he embodied, which later caused a disgusted Belyolen to call out both her and the entire pantheon for their abusive hypocrisy, stating that they're all no better than the evils they opposed, before he left to form the Bogolenya pantheon. Years later, she would end up with the young Diamond Dog god, Scrappus, who turned out to be a real brat despite having no malice in him. Babysitting him was so difficult that she was left in tears.
  • The Magnificent: Known as "Mother of all Deerkind", due to her role in shaping mortal Deerkind and, later, the Alvslog Deer Herds.
  • Mind over Matter: Like Irminsul, her domain of Deerkind gives her psychic telekinesis. It allows her to manipulate storms of razor-sharp leaves and petals.
  • Mook Maker: As a goddess of Nature, she can create sapient plants and trees that she can command as armies.
  • Parental Abandonment: During the First Age, she and Irminsul lost their adoptive parents, who were also the leaders of a preceding Deer Pantheon, to a great crisis where they died "valiantly". It led to the rise of the Elternteil Deer Pantheon, but it's heavily implied it also contributed to her psychological trauma.
  • Parental Favoritism: Deconstructed. Like Irminsul, she showered Belyolen with love and praise for being a god of all that is good, while shunning Temnobog for being his brother's evil cast-off. This caused Temnobog to hate his parents and brother (though things cooled off in the latter case), while Belyolen rebelled and left to form the Bogolenya pantheon so he could get Temnobog away from the toxic environment, because as the embodiment of Deerkind's positive traits, he couldn't bear to see his brother being mistreated any longer.
  • Perpetual Frowner: Her entry notes that she's constantly seen with a mournful expression. Given that she had lost many children to Grogar I and continued losing more thanks to both her and Irminsul's actions, it's hard to blame her.
  • Petal Power: She can use psychic telekinesis to manipulate storms of razor-sharp leaves and petals, including the pettles from her own antlers (fortunately, they always grow back).
  • Psychic Powers: Much like Irminsul, her husband, she has powerful psychic abilities and has almost the same techniques as him, though she lacks his foresight and is more skilled in utilizing psychic empathy and telepathy. Notably, she is capable of "emotion-bombing" by showing her enemies the suffering they have caused their victims and is quite experienced in controlling how long it would last, usually to punish them for their misdeeds. However, she still pales in comparison to Golden Scepter, who embodies Psionics and is a "prodigy deity" in addition to being much older than her.
  • Rightly Self-Righteous: Deconstructed. She is a benevolent deity, but gradually let her mortal worshipers' praise go to her head, causing her to be extremely disdainful of anything she perceives as "evil", regardless if they actually did evil things or not. This led to her emotionally abusing her son, Temnobog, for being born dark and corrupted, which in turn eventually led to Temnobog snapping and becoming genuinely evil out of spite and hatred.
  • Sympathy for the Devil:
  • Top God: She's one of two co-rulers of the Elternteil Deer Pantheon, the other being her husband, High King Irminsul.
  • Troubled Abuser: 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 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 Temnobog and Naur) and enabled the worst flaws of her other children. In addition, she's 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 elsewhere with his followers while restraining Irminsul with her own divine power to keep him from going after their son.
  • Wham Line: During the 'Final Ragnarok' arc, she said three words at the realization that Kunnusta, a fellow High Queen who's a Shadowed One and far older than her, hadn't been shown love by her peers and husband/brother, and as a result she doesn't really know what love even is.
    High Queen Arvan: You poor creature.
  • You Are Not Alone: During his trial, Blue Suede Heartstrings assures her that she's not alone in grieving over lost loved ones, because there are others who suffered as much as she did. Unfortunately, this disgusted the other xenophobic Elternteil Deer deities, especially King Aspen, but thankfully, Belyolen intervened before they could punish Blue for showing genuine kindness to their High Queen. Blue Suede's genuine kindness caused her to undergo a Heel Realization, which later led to her stopping Irminsul and Naur's fight and then restraining her husband to protect their son when Irminsul tried keeping Naur from leaving. It's implied, and rumored In-Universe, that Blue also influenced her to sympathize with High Queen Kunnusta during the "Final Ragnarok" arc, as his genuine kindness made Arvan see that she isn't the only person to suffer under a High King tremendously.
    Blue Suede Heartstrings: (to High Queen Arvan) All I'm tryin' to say is, ma'am, that you're not alone. You never were. All you need to do is open your eyes, and look at the people who love and adore you.

    Narren, the Joyous Prince 

Classification: Ethereal/Elemental

Porfolio: Music, Guile, Celebration

Rank: ???


One of the youngest members of the Eltenteil Deer Pantheon, Narren is the Deer god of Music, Guile and Celebration who became renown among the Pantheon and their worshipers when the merry jester, whose youth and antics once made him rather disregarded, faced off against the Deer God of Evil, Darkness and Suffering Temnobog to save his grandfather High King Irminsul from, in a famous legend that remain widely recounted to this day, even if the details are not exactly accurate.
  • The Bard: As a god of music and celebration, he is a patron of Alvslog Deer bards and is more or less one himself. He sometimes take the stage to sing about his own legendary confrontation with Temnobog with his own followers, on the festival celebrating that very famous legend.
  • Batman Gambit: Narren pulled two in the same confrontation with his Evil Uncle Temnobog.
    • If Temnobog accepts his shape-shifting challenge in exchange for his grandfather, Narren would likely win due to being a Trickster God more versed in shape-shifting then even his Evil Uncle. Temnobog could decline and leave, taking Irminsul with him sealed inside his body, but as the author(s) of the legend notes, doing so would make him a laughing-stock among the gods for being afraid of 'a young fool''s challenge, and his deed would eventually be found out anyway. So he had to take it.
    • The next one crosses over with a Xanatos Gambit and Gambit Roulette: Temnobog knows that he would lose to Narren in the contest, but would not suffer to release his hated father to Narren, leading to him tricking Narren into shape-shifting into a small creature so he could surprise and eat him too before he could change back, sealing away the only witness to his deed. According to the legend, however, Narren was ''counting'' on Temnobog eating him too so he could go inside Temnobog's bowels to rescue his grandfather.
  • Divine Parentage: Due to both of them embodying things related to music, it's rumored In-Universe that Rhiannon of the Coltic Pantheon is his biological mother, or at least his aunt who encouraged his love for music until he became what he is today.
  • Guile Hero: Goes with his portfolio. Knowing he is usually out-matched in raw power and combat experience, Narren fights his battles with wits, cunning and liberal application of trickery. Also proclaims and sing about heroes of the Alvslog Deer Herds as a patron of bards, which inevitably includes guile heroes like himself.
  • The Magnificent: Known as "the Joyous Prince", due to his love for pranks and overall joyful, fun-loving nature.
  • The Prankster: Used to pull pranks on his family and others and take nothing seriously, which annoyed everyone to no end. If the legend behind his famous confrontation with Temnobog is accurate, he was quite giddy at the prospect of being finally able to pull a prank on his Evil Uncle. Part of the reason why he became this way is due to the influence of his uncle, Cernunnos, who also enjoys playing pranks on his family.
  • Trickster God: Is known for this, and it shows in his confrontation with Temnobog by pulling a double-layered trick on him: realizing he's outmatched, he challenged Temnobog to a contest of shape-shifting, knowing as a Trickster God he holds an advantage over even his Evil Uncle. But Temnobog is crafty himself, who knows he would lose in a fair contest, and so tricked Narren in turn by challenging him to turn into a Breezie - then grabbing and swallowing him before he could change back. That, however, was revealed to be part of Narren's plan, as it allows him to traverse his Evil Uncle's body and rescue his devoured-and-sealed grandfather himself.

    King Aspen, the Heart of Thicket 

Classification: Elemental/Ascendant

Portfolio: Animals, Nature, Justice, Prophecy

Rank: Godling

"The forests must remain pure and sacred - untouched by greed, evil, and corruption - in order to properly flourish, as they had been since the world's beginning."

King Aspen (his entry here) is the king of the Alvslog Deer realm of Thicket, and the father of Crown-Prince Bramble.
  • Abhorrent Admirer: His entry notes that he greatly respects Battryu for having similar ruthless approaches in supporting the natural eco-system, and has let worship of Battryu flourish among his mortal Deer subjects in Thicket. However, his respect is one-sided, as Battryu came to genuinely love those who support nature and finds his methods too fanatical and extreme for his own tastes.
  • The Ace: Deconstructed. Much like Princess Twilight/Amicitia Sparkle, he is a powerful mage and is extremely skilled and creative with a vast arsenal of spells. He is also a prodigy beast-master and a skilled potion-maker who can imbue his potions with his own Primordial Quintessence to enhance their effects greatly. His prodigious talents/skills factored into his status as a 'prodigy deity' once he Ascended to true godhood. However, he was greatly trauamtized by the deaths of his parents and most of his sisters in a brutal Hydianite invasion, and much of his unpleasant behaviors stem from being around well-meaning yet extremely toxic, bigoted, and hypocritical individuals who influenced him to become just like them.
  • Adaptational Angst Upgrade: Some of Aspen's unlikable traits in the canon comic are given understandable reasons here, which consist of losing his home and much of his family to a sudden attack by Hydianite Covens, and being taught by haughty, reactionary, xenophobic, and puristic people like Irminsul.
  • Adaptational Backstory Change: In the IDW comics, he's the father of Bramble and the King of Thicket, a secluded Deer village in the Everfree Forest. Here in the Codexverse, Aspen was once the only male child and heir of an Alvslog Deer kingdom that was brutally attacked by forces led by Hydianite Covens. The attack killed both Aspen's parents and most of his sisters, which greatly traumatized him and planted the seeds of vengeance. He became a student of High King Irminsul, who helped foster his natural talents, yet influenced Aspen to develop the same toxic, bigoted, and hypocritical mindsets that would color his personality later on. After brutally decimating the Hydianite forces that wiped out most of his family, he Ascended to demi-godhood, and he would go found the kingdom of Thicket in the Everfree Forest after Ascending to true godhood under Irminsul's tutelage.
  • Adaptational Badass: In the comics, he was just the ruler of the Deers of Thicket, skilled in wielding magic especially plant magic. In the Codexverse, he's an Ascendant Godling, a powerful Seer (specifically, he's a god of Prophecy), and a prodigy in druidic magic such as animal control, nature manipulation, and potion-making. Of note, a group of Hydianite Covens suffered a decisive and brutal defeat at the hooves of a vengeful Aspen, who paid them back for what they did to his fawnhood kingdom by decimating them down to the last warrior, and then forcibly converting their headquarters into forest territory by sprouting trees, displacing and killing those who were in the area of impact.
  • Adaptational Jerkass: His portrayal in "Root of the Problem" was still racist, but he was willing to let the Mane Six stay in Thicket overnight, and was genuinely grateful towards them for saving Bramble and helping him take down Well-To-Do. Here, he's even worse, as he's extremely belligerent, self-righteous, close-minded, xenophobic, and arrogant, largely due to fawnhood trauma and the toxic influence of those who mentored him and passed on their own unsavory traits onto him. It's noted by the Codexverse writers that this depiction of Aspen is the real him, and the IDW comic featuring him and Thicket was produced by his radical supporters as propaganda to glamorize his actions while portraying the non-Deer as idiotic and incompetent. As shown in a Codexverse drabble, he's quite willing to use Malicious Slander (or at least condone it) if it'll allow him to look good in front of his subjects, which didn't happen in the comics.
  • Anthropomorphic Personification: He's a Deer god who embodies Animals, Plants, Justice, and Prophecy.
  • Armor-Piercing Question: When he admonishes Prince Terrae Equestria for talking back to "[his] senior", Terrae asks Aspen what's the point in respecting him when he himself wouldn't acknowledge his great-nephew due to his Fantastic Racism. It rattles Aspen enough that he weakly tries defending himself, to no avail.
  • The Beastmaster: As a god of Animals, he shares the typical abilities of Animal deities, such as telepathy and empathy that allow him to tame and control even the most ferocious of beasts. He can project an empathic aura that calms agitated animals and make them peaceful and docile in his presence, form psychic links with animals so he could gather information by seeing and hearing through them (though this makes him vulnerable to psychic pain), and counter the psychic influence of other "beastmasters" depending on how powerful they are. This proves useful in freeing animals that were subjugated via psychic mind control. At his most powerful, he can exert control over a forest's entire animal population, though he only does this in times of great need. He can also grant people permission to do this by empowering them with his domain, increasing his mortal subjects' druidic skill over animals.
  • Bright Is Not Good: He's described as being a white-furred divine Deer stag with white fur and light-gray amber spots, and a pair of golden antlers that resemble tree branches; it's noted he originally didn't look like that, but changed when he Ascended to demi-godhood and later true godhood. He's also a haughty, puristic, xenophobic, and reactionary ruler due to the toxic influence of his mentor, High King Irminsul. This caused many to worry that he's influencing his own son, Crown-Prince Bramble, to act the same way as Irminsul did with him.
  • Broken Ace: He's a 'prodigy deity' who showed great talent and promise in both magic and druidism in his mortal youth, which became part of the reason why High King Irminsul took him in as his student. However, while he is a celebrated hero and ruler among the Alvslog Deer Herds, he is seen as an extremely unpleasant, bigoted, and hypocritical Jerkass by everyone else, including Deer in non-Alvslog Herds. Much of his behavior stems from fawnhood trauma over losing much of his family to Hydianites, and being around well-meaning yet toxic individuals who influenced him to become just like them.
  • Calling the Old Man Out: Prince Terrae Equestria, his great-nephew whom he mistreated and shunned for being a Cervalicorn, would call him out for being a "self-righteous child" who refused to grow out of his toxic behavior and condoned his fanatical supporters' Malicious Slander of Terrae's mother, Celestia, in a petty attempt to make himself look good.
    Prince Terrae Equestria: Great uncle, explain this!
    King Aspen: It was merely a depiction of what happened some of my supporters made.
    Prince Terrae Equestria: Not the part where you tried to 'reclaim' part of Ponyville! I had hoped being gone for over a millennia would mean you would've grown up, but I see you're still acting like a self-righteous child!
    King Aspen: Watch your tongue! You're still talking to your senior!
    Prince Terrae Equestria: ...You've never respected me, why should I return it?
    King Aspen: I - I... I do respect you...
    Prince Terrae Equestria: Then why don't you respect my mother enough not to allow your supporters to slander her?
  • Canon Foreigner: He, his family, and the Everfree Realm of Thicket are from the IDW comics (specifically the "Root of the Problem" issue).
  • Chain Pain: His domain of Justice allows him to create nigh-unbreakable chains out of magic to restrain his enemies.
  • Childhood Friends: 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, which naturally got them in trouble many times. Their friendship would later evolve to a Childhood Friend Romance as adults, and they would marry and have a son after founding the kingdom of Thicket in Equestria.
  • Childhood Friend Romance: Queen Hazel became his fawnhood friend after they met each other during a diplomatic conference between their parents' kingdoms. Years later, after he Ascended to godhood, they would found the realm of Thicket in Equestria and marry as King and Queen, with Prince Bramble being the result of their union.
  • Deity of Human Origin: He was once a mortal Alvslog Deer who heavily resembled his son Bramble when he was younger, but he would Ascend to demi-godhood after brutally and ruthlessly punishing the Hydianite Covens for what they did to his family and childhood kingdom, leaving no one alive. He would end up Ascending as a Godling after doing more good deeds under Irminsul's guidance; while it's not known exactly what he did since the Alvslog Deer are unwilling to talk about them to non-Deer, he became a member of the Elternteil Deer Pantheon afterwards as a reward. It's noted that in Alvslog Deer society, becoming a deity and being included in the Elternteil Deer Pantheon is one of the highest honors a Deer, both does and stags, can receive.
  • Divine Parentage: Prince Bramble is his son through his mortal wife, Queen Hazel, making Bramble Semi-Divine because of his heritage.
  • Eco-Terrorist: His fierce protectiveness of nature, with no care to the welfare and interests of others outside the forests, had been compared to this trope. Though unconfirmed, it's heavily suspected that he was behind the rise of several eco-terrorist groups, as the Well-To-Do Crisis made him grudgingly acknowledge and respect those who genuinely supported nature as he did. This led to much destruction and innocent people being wrongly targeted on the belief they were "harming" nature itself. Naturally, many nature-loving individuals were enraged by the sheer hypocrisy of this, including Terran Prince Forging Scale; as the Alicorn demigod of Kindness and (supposedly) the living embodiment of Emperor Golden Scepter's compassion for all beings, Forging Scale sees both sapient and non-sapient life as things to be treasured, and has frequently clashed with Thicket-backed eco-terrorists to protect their victims. There are also concerns that Aspen's young son, Crown-Prince Bramble, might go down the same path.
  • The Empath:
    • As a god of Animals, he has empathic abilities that allow him to tame and control even the most ferocious of beasts. This includes projecting an empathic aura that calms agitated animals and make them peaceful and docile in his presence.
    • As a god of Justice, his empathy is enhanced, allowing him to Detect Evil thoughts and intentions in others.
  • Enemy Mine: While he is extremely racist towards Ponykind (and other non-Deer races as well), Zecora managed to talk him into opposing the Storm Empire's forces by revealing that the Storm King's motives aren't very eco-friendly, and showing him the destruction to the forests the Storm Empire had caused in their quest to conquer Equestria.
  • Everyone Has Standards: He actually agrees with Temnobog that Galil and Moyo's kingdom, ruled by a particularly brutal Autorist regime, might deserve a Calling the Terrors. It's theorized the two being sterilized by the Autorists and Aspen sympathizing due to being a father and husband himself.
  • Family Theme Naming: He, his wife, and his son are named after trees/shrubbery. In his case, he's named after the Aspen tree.
  • Fantastic Racism:
    • He had a great disdain for non-Deer, and his self-righteous attitude and refusal to accept outside help largely hindered the ponies' efforts to stop Well-To-Do. The comic adaptation of the Well-To-Do incident was written by radical supporters to tone this down in an attempt to make him look far better than his pony allies and the Equestrian Princesses, who weren't even there at the time.
    • He's also deeply prejudiced towards Deer hybrids, always preferring 'pure' Deer over them. This is why he allowed and encouraged his subjects to shun his great-nephew, Prince Terrae Equestria, who is a Cervalicorn, even though he allowed Terrae's parents to marry in the first place. Naturally, this strains his political alliance with Celestia, who is infuriated and keeps him at arm's length for mistreating her son.
  • Floral Theme Naming: He, his wife, and his son share this as their Family Theme Naming, being named after trees/shrubbery. In his case, he's named after the Aspen tree.
  • Foil:
    • To Twilight Sparkle, now Princess Amicitia Sparkle Equestria. Both of them are prodigy students who became Godlings after doing good deeds under the mentoring of flawed yet still well-meaning and wise mentors, who both Aspen and Twilight/Amicitia saw as their parental figures. However, whereas Princess Celestia was able to instill benevolence and compassion into her student and mold her into the noble Princess of Friendship she eventually became, Irminsul's toxic mentality influenced Aspen into becoming just as close-minded, self-righteous, xenophobic, and generally unpleasant to others, despite being a good ruler to his subjects and a good parent/husband to his family.
    • To Emperor Golden Scepter. Both are divine royals who went through traumatic events that left them incredibly scarred for a long time, and founded kingdoms/empires that would be negatively impacted by their own flaws. However, much of Aspen's behavior came from being influenced by the toxic mindsets of those around him, while Golden Scepter was influenced by war trauma and countless millennia of loneliness, which is just as worse. Golden Scepter eventually recovered, changed his ways, and became a genuinely loving ruler and father, while Aspen became a deeply unpleasant Jerkass hated by almost everyone despite his redeeming qualities. In addition, they're both divine prodigies, but Aspen is a mere 'child' compared to the incredibly ancient Golden Scepter. Golden Scepter himself worryingly noted that Aspen is displaying a lot of traits that he himself once had during what he disgustedly called "my... Imperium phase."
  • Freudian Excuse: A lot of King Aspen's worst traits had been the result of an innocent youth being irrevocably scarred by the loss of his parents and many of his sisters, and the ravaging of his homeland to marauding witches and minions of Hydianite Covens. Much of it is also due the influence of his mentor High King Irminsul who he looked up to as a replacement father-figure, which made him susceptible to being influenced by the Eltenteil Deer Pantheon's toxic mindsets regarding goodness, nature and other races/gods. Of course, while it made him understandable and even sympathetic as a character, none of it justifies or excuses his own unsavory mindset and actions.
  • Gold and White Are Divine: After Ascending to godhood, he gained a white/light-brown pelt and golden antlers, and he wears golden regalia to indicate his status as the sovereign of Thicket. All these indicate his divine nature, something that wasn't there in the IDW comics.
  • The Good King: While considered by many non-Deer to be an extremely unlikable person overall due to his self-righteousness, hypocrisy, and xenophobia, he is a good King for his subjects in the Alvslog Deer Realm of Thicket. He is very protective of them and always concerned about their well-being... even if that welfare comes at the expense of those non-Deers he doesn't like.
  • Good Powers, Bad People:
    • He's a god of Nature, but he used it to 'reclaim' parts of Ponyville as Thicket territory to make up for the Everfree Forests being cut down by Well-To-Do's workers, which was thankfully stopped. He is also strongly suspected In-Universe to have been responsible for the rise of Eco-Terrorist groups.
    • He's a god of Justice, but his xenophobic and puristic beliefs pushed him to try convict an innocent Blue Suede Heartstrings for crimes he didn't commit, and did nothing while some of his fellow Elternteil Deer deities wrongfully imprisoned and abused Blue Suede. Naturally, this enraged many benevolent deities and demi-deities who share his domain, including Prince Night Shade, who was once puristic himself before he saw the error of his ways.
  • Green Thumb: As a god of Nature, he's an extremely powerful and skilled wielder of plant magic to where many believe he might surpass High Queen Arvan one day. Among his capabilities include teleporting through plants and trees by merging with one and appearing in another, accelerating plant growth, psychically communicating with forests to keep track of enemy locations, and generating various plants and vines to restrain and strangle his enemies. He can also grow trees quickly and use them as weapons, as shown by his battle against Fegrð, a member of the Shadowed Ones. One of his most powerful techniques consist of commanding entire forests to come alive and attack his enemies, essentially turning a forest into a living death trap, though this can exhaust him greatly. And like many Nature deities, Aspen can heal damaged plants and enhance them, though he can't purify them of corruption like Irminsul can. By extension, Aspen's Nature domain gives him a vast knowledge of plants and how to use them effectively, which can make potion-making extremely beneficial.
  • Hanging Judge: He is put in charge of Blue Suede Heartstrings' trial, feeling that his fanatical loyalty and xenophobia against non-Deer would make him a better replacement for Naur, who tried to treat Blue Suede as fairly as possible. It's because of these qualities that he has no intention of being fair towards an 'interloper' like Blue Suede, and actively tries to sentence him as harshly as possible. Belyolen's intervention saves Blue Suede, but the damage is done, as the abuse Blue Suede suffered later contributes to his near-transformation into a Fallen Alicorn.
  • Happily Married: To Queen Hazel, who was also his fawnhood friend. Prince Bramble is the result of their union.
  • Heir Club for Men: The reason why he was born. His parents kept birthing daughters, and although they love their daughters very much, the throne could only be passed down from father to son, so they prayed to High Queen Arvan for a miracle. His birth was widely celebrated by both his family and his people.
  • Holier Than Thou: Much like High King Irminsul, he sees himself as morally, socially, and culturally superior due to emulating the ideal traits of Alvslog Deer, and looks down on the non-Deer 'interlopers' for being uncaring and destructive towards nature. He also sees Alvslog Deer, both mortal and divine, as wayward children who abandoned their 'traditional birthright' as creatures of the forest. It's deconstructed in that during the Well-To-Do incident, his arrogance and disdain for ponies made him largely, unhelpful, belligerent, as he kept refusing the ponies' offers to help him stop Well-To-Do, and the ponies' efforts were largely unhindered by his self-righteous and eco-extremist attitudes. His radical supporters tried to tone this down in an attempt to make him look far better than his pony allies and the Equestrian Princesses, who weren't even there at the time. His great-nephew, Prince Terrae Equestria, accuses him of being a "self-righteous child" because of his willingness to slander others to make himself look good and childish refusal to own up to his mistakes - which isn't helped by the fact that he's 'younger' than Terrae by divine standards due to being a Godling compared to his great-nephew's "Tier III" rank.
  • Horrible Judge of Character: Justified and deconstructed. It's noted that he fully trusts Irminsul and, by extension, the other members of the Elternteil Deer Pantheon, and believes in their benevolence as divine sovereigns of mortal Deerkind. However, he is blind to the flaws and mistakes of his mentor and peers, notably being unaware of what Irminsul did to his own unborn son. This is due to scarring fawnhood trauma causing him to latch onto Irminsul in his grief, which made him vulnerable to being exposed to hypocritical and toxic mindsets regarding Good and Evil, nature, and other sapient races and gods in general. As a result, he became an extremely unlikable person who is unwilling to recognize his own flaws and mistakes, and whose actions disgusted and angered both mortals and divines. Many have worryingly noted that if he doesn't change and recognize the Elternteil Deer deities' unsavory traits, he will end up dooming himself, his people, and his family.
  • Hypocrite:
    • He was a Hanging Judge to Blue Suede Heartstrings and is generally completely intolerant of what he considers wrong, but refuses to admit fault for his actions during the Well-To-Do incident, despite his actions amounting to ecoterrorism and Equestria would've had every right to take them as an act of war. In fact, he goes so far as to tolerate Celestia being subjected to Malicious Slander in the incident. The fact the Elternteil Deer Pantheon did nothing about this was one of the breaking points for Prince Gicelig to leave.
    • He also mistreated his great-nephew, Prince Terrae Equestria, for being 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. This strains his alliance with Celestia, who is infuriated enough to distance herself from him.
  • Immortality Begins at Twenty: Subverted. Because deities in general only get Stronger with Age, he will only gain more power and eldritch traits as he gets 'older'. As a Godling, he's a child by divine standards, and has a few eldritch traits like branch-like antlers made of pure gold, radiant fur, and hooves that temporarily sprout flowers and plants with each step. Ironically, this means that he's 'younger' than Prince Terrae, his hybrid great-nephew, by virtue of the latter being a "Tier III"-ranked god, which comes to bite him when Terrae calls him out for being a "self-righteous child".
  • Immortal Ruler: As an Ascendant Godling, he possesses the same immortality as other divines, allowing him to rule Thicket for so long. This wasn't apparent in the canon comics he originated from.
  • Jerkass Gods: He's a "Godling", the equivalent of a child by divine standards, yet he's an extremely unpleasant person who is puristic, bigoted, hypocritical, and self-righteous like many of his fellow Elternteil Deer divines and mortal Alvslog subjects. It's justified; losing much of his family and kingdom to a brutal Hydianite invasion in his fawn hood traumatized him, and subsequently made him vulnerable to the influence of well-meaning yet extremely flawed and toxic people whose teachings made him as bad as they are. However, regardless of his reasons, they doesn't excuse his actions or behavior, especially since he contributed to Blue Suede Heartstrings' near-Fall.
  • Kangaroo Court: He ends up overseeing the 'trial' of Blue Suede Heartstrings when Irminsul puts him in charge in place of Naur, feeling dissatisfied with his son's fair and unbiased treatment of 'the interloper'. Due to his fanatical loyalty and xenophobia, he fulfills Irminsul's expectations by being extremely willing to punish Blue Suede Heartstrings over a perceived slight. While Belyolen intervenes and saves Blue Suede, the abuse Blue Suede suffered later contributes to his near-transformation into a Fallen Alicorn.
  • Karma Houdini: Downplayed. He is never punished for harshly convicting Blue Suede Heartstrings in what was essentially a Kangaroo Court, which contributed to Blue Suede's near-Fall. And aside from his brief period as Well-To-Do's slave and getting called out by Princess Twilight, he is never punished by the Elternteil Deer Pantheon for his acts of eco-terrorism during the 'Well-To-Do Crisis'. This infuriated Prince Gicelig, who saw the Elternteil Deer Pantheon's refusal to reprimand him as a sign of moral corruption, nepotism, and racism on their part. He eventually gets his comeuppance when he is humiliated by Prince Gicelig's defection to the Equestrian Pantheon and public apologies to both Blue Suede and Princess Twilight, preventing him from retaliating without making himself look bad.
  • Karma Houdini Warranty: 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 expose him if he steps out of line again.
  • Mind over Matter: His arcane telekinesis is noted to be monstrously strong and refined, being capable of carrying/throwing multiple trees, and converting leaves into razor blades to shred his enemies.
  • Miscarriage of Justice: Despite being a god of Justice, he tried to punish 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 the evidence supporting Blue Suede's innocence. 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.
  • Moral Myopia: He was enraged with 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. And while he's extremely willing to hurt and punish innocent non-Deer like Blue Suede Heartstrings for 'crimes' against Alvslog Deerkind, he has no tolerance for outsidesrs doing the same to his people. It's deconstructed as the fact that he got no punishment for dhis actions contributed to Prince Gicelig's decision to defect to the Equestrian Pantheon.
  • Nature Lover: Like his fellow Elternteil Deer, he is a devout follower and supporter of nature. However, due to past experiences with non-Deer, he takes it to extremes like forcibly seizing/converting territory into forested land for Thicket without care for the people he might end up killing/displacing, and supporting the rise of eco-terrorist organizations. It's noted that his fanantical and extreme methods unnerve even Battryu, himself a Knight Templar who would willingly commit genocide if Equus's ecosystem is drastically changed.
  • Papa Wolf: One of his few redeeming traits is his love and devotion to his family, especially his son, Prince Bramble. When Well-To-Do kidnapped Bramble and threatened to have an "accident" befall the young fawn, Aspen willingly sold himself into slavery just to ensure Bramble's safety. And once Well-To-Do was thoroughly exposed and on his last legs, Aspen had a Hydra devour him whole, which was noted to be seen as overkill by the others but perfectly acceptable since Aspen was well in his rights to enact vengeance for what Well-To-Do had done to him and his son.
  • Parents as People: One of Aspen's redeeming traits is his love and devotion to his family, despite his toxic and self-righteous mindset. He loves his son, Bramble, and has been making sure Bramble doesn't go through the same experiences he had at his son's age. When Bramble was kidnapped and held hostage by Well-To-Do, he willingly became Well-To-Do's slave to ensure his son's safety (though many suspect that Well-To-Do would've killed Bramble anyway due to his sociopathic character), and furiously unleashed a psychically-controlled Hydra onto the Minotaur as punishment for his crimes once Bramble was rescued. However, as a then-mortal Princess Applejack/Veritas noted, his beliefs were starting to rub off on his son, as Bramble was very snooty towards the Mane Six and looked down on them for being Ponies.
  • Pay Evil unto Evil: Deconstructed.
    • His victory over the Hydianites who killed most of his family and ravaged his native kingdom deserves mention. After receiving a prophetic vision of Hydianites attacking the kingdom of his fawnhood friend, the then-future Queen Hazel, Aspen would rally the kingdom's forces and make preparations that ensure he'll be able to utterly massacre the Hydianites, and decimate their armies the same way they decimated his native kingdom and much of his family. Once even the last warrior was dead, he proceeded to hunt down the locations of the Hydianite Covens, and forcibly convert them into forests by sprouting trees in that area, displacing and killing those who weren't able to get away in time. This achievement led to him Ascending to demi-godhood, but it also became a clue as to what his overall personality would become under the tutelage of High King Irminsul.
    • He tried giving Blue Suede Heartstrings a harsh punishment for (in his eyes) tainting Alvslog Deerkind's purity and leading them away from their traditional birthright. It's noted that Blue was only trying to convince the Alvslog Deer Herds to become humbler and kinder without losing their love for nature, but Aspen refused to see this, and let his xenophobic arrogance twist the evidence that was given during Blue's trial. Thankfully, Blue was saved when Belyolen intervened in the trial and made his family back off by pointing out that Emperor Golden Scepter would fly in a rage if anyone connected to the Bogolenya Deer Pantheon is harmed. Many deities, including Golden Scepter's fifteenth son, Prince Night Shade, the Alicorn demigod of Justice and Karma, were enraged once the incident got out.
  • Photographic Memory: His domain of Justice grants him a natural photographic memory.
  • The Prankster: Though he feels embarrassed by it now, he was very mischievous as a fawn. When he wasn't sneaking out of the house to go exploring with Hazel, he was commanding the animals he befriended to play pranks on his subjects. Of course, he stopped doing it once he got older.
  • "The Reason You Suck" Speech: After learning that he allowed his Thicket subjects to produce a propaganda comic that slandered Celestia while making himself look good, a furious Prince Terrae Equestria would call him out for being a "self-righteous child" who refuses to see the error of his ways and let go of his toxic behavior.
    Prince Terrae Equestria: Great uncle, explain this!
    King Aspen: It was merely a depiction of what happened some of my supporters made.
    Prince Terrae Equestria: Not the part where you tried to 'reclaim' part of Ponyville! I had hoped being gone for over a millennia would mean you would've grown up, but I see you're still acting like a self-righteous child!
  • Seers: As a god of Prophecy, he is a powerful Seer, and this ability emerged in the form of nightmarish visions when he was very young. He can have prophetic flashes when awake, but his visions are more potent and accurate when he's asleep. He can also grant these visions to others if he desires. This ability is what largely made him a good ruler in the eyes of his people, as psychic foresight is highly prized in Alvslog Deer society. It also influenced his beliefs that an Alvslog Deer must do what must be done, leading to questionable decisions in obtaining the futures he desires.
  • Semi-Divine: A Codexverse drabble reveals that due to sharing the same stagnant, toxic mindsets as Irminsul, the Elternteil Deer Pantheon, and his mortal subjects, he remained a demigod long enough to be classified as a "Godling" once he finally Ascended to true godhood. Ironically, this made him younger than his great-nephew, Prince Terrae Equestria, a "Tier III"-ranked god who is much more mature and tolerant than him despite previously living in isolation himself for over a milennia.
  • Super-Speed: Like all Deer, especially divine ones, he's a very fast runner. This makes him extremely hard to hit.
  • Telepathy:
    • As a god of Animals, he has telepathic abilities that allow him to tame and control even the most ferocious of beasts. He can form psychic links with animals so he could gather information by seeing and hearing through them (though this makes him vulnerable to psychic pain), and counter the psychic influence of other "beastmasters" depending on how powerful they are. This proves useful in freeing animals that were subjugated via psychic mind control.
    • As a god of Justice, his telepathy is enhanced, allowing him to Detect Evil thoughts and intentions in others.
  • Used to Be a Sweet Kid: According to his entry, he was very adventurous as a fawn and would sneak off to have "grand, majestic adventures" with his childhood friend, then-Princess Hazel. He was also The Prankster who commanded non-sapient animals to play pranks on his subjects. But after losing his kingdom and much of his family in a brutal surprise attack launched by Hydianite Covens seeking to conquer their territory, he became filled with hatred and vengeance, later seizing the opportunity to brutally massacre the Hydiante Covens' armies down to the last warrior and forcibly convert their territory into bountiful forests. This triggered his Ascension to demi-godhood. Becoming the student of High King Irminsul worsened his attitude as Irminsul's toxic mindset influenced him to become as arrogant, puristic, xenophobic, and self-righteous as his teacher.
  • Wanted a Son Instead: Although his parents loved their daughters very much, they wanted a son because the throne could only be passed down from father to son. After they prayed to High Queen Arvan for a miracle, Aspen was born, and his birth was much celebrated by the kingdom.
  • With Great Power Comes Great Perks: He was a talented beastmaster as a fawn, but he mostly used his power to play pranks on his subjects. He grew out of it by the time he reached adulthood.
  • You Are a Credit to Your Race: While he's normally xenophobic towards non-Deer and will unthinkingly sacrifice them for the well-being of his realm and subjects, the "Well-To-Do Crisis" made him recognize and (grudgingly) acknowledge that there are non-Deer who are very supportive of nature. It's heavily suspected In-Universe that he was responsible for the rise of eco-terrorists among various sapient non-Deer races.
  • Zerg Rush: Invoked and weaponized. His domain of Animals allows him to psychically exert control over a forest's entire animal population, though he only does this in times of great need. He can also grant people permission to do this by empowering them with his domain, increasing his mortal subjects' druidic skill over animals.

    Queen Hazel, the Beloved Mother 

Classification: Ethereal/Ascendant

Portfolio: Family, Fertility, Healing, Protection

Rank: Demigod

"As a mother and Queen, my duty is to keep my subjects safe and happy."

Queen Hazel (her entry here) is the ruling matriarch of the Alvslog Deer realm of Thicket, the wife of King Aspen, and the mother of Crown-Prince Bramble.
  • Anthropomorphic Personification: She's a Deer demigoddess who embodies Family, Fertility, Healing, and Protection.
  • The Beastmaster: Though not to the degree of Aspen, who is a god of Animals, she nonetheless has the power to control animals like any Alvslog Deer. In her case, she uses telepathic and empathic abilities to control small animals like birds and mice, which allows her to keep watch over her subjects even when she isn't physically there.
  • Family Theme Naming: She, her husband, and her son are named after trees and plants. In her case, she's named after the Hazel tree, which produce hazelnuts.
  • Happily Married: To Aspen, her husband. For all his flaws, Aspen truly and genuinely loves her, having known each other since they were fawns.
  • The Magnificent: Known as "the Beloved Mother".
  • Morality Pet: She's one of few people Aspen has a soft spot for despite his self-righteous, xenophobic, and eco-extremist attitudes. Ensuring the safety of her overall well-being is what motivated Aspen to participate in events involving the world outside of Thicket many times.
  • No Badass to His Valet: Despite Aspen being a celebrated ruler and a 'prodigy deity', she has a habit of teasing him, much to her husband's embarrassment. Justified; she knew Aspen back when they were young fawns and they were particularly close.
  • Noble Bigot: Deconstructed. She's a loving, devoted mother and Queen who will do anything for her kingdom, and is more likeable and sympathetic than Aspen overall, but Hazel still holds the same hypocritical, bigoted attitudes that both the Elternteil Deer Pantheon and their Alvslog subjects encourage. Her condoning of Aspen's actions during the 'Well-To-Do Crisis' (such as his attempts to 'reclaim' Ponyville as Thicket territory) got her called out for her hypocrisy by a then-mortal Applejack, herself no stranger to family-related tragedies. This forced Hazel to reexamine herself and her beliefs, putting her on the path of a Heel–Face Turn, especially after she learns what happened to one of Arvan's sons, High King Bogolenya.
  • O.C. Stand-in: Aspen having a son in canon implies he has a wife, but it's not known what she looks like or whether she's alive or dead. Here, the name of Aspen's wife is Queen Hazel, and she's a ruling demigoddess of Thicket, with a fleshed-out backstory and personality of her own.
  • Psychic Radar: As a demigoddess of Family, she possesses psychic navigation that locates and guides her to other family members no matter where she is, allowing her to find them should they get lost. However, it can be interfered with by using artifacts and spells designed to disrupt it.
  • Rebellious Princess: Because she grew up the only daughter in her family with 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.
  • Talk to the Fist: Her entry notes that she has a mean right hook, which many offending individuals have learned the hard way.

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