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Notable Gods
Lạc Long Quân
Also known by his real name Sùng Lãm. He is the second king of the Hồng Bàng Dynasty of Ancient Vietnam after his father, Kinh Dương Vương, and is considered to be the father god of the entire Vietnamese civilization.
- The Ace: Smart enough to teach ancient Vietnamese new farming, hunting, and building techniques and strong enough to slay monsters on a regular basis.
- Abduction Is Love: Some version of the myth stated that Long Quân wooed Âu Cơ back to his palace when the latter was visiting his territory with her husband/father who later returned with an army to get Âu Cơ back only to get killed by Lạc Long Quân.
- Animal Motifs: Dragon. His mother is a dragon; he has dragon powers and his name is literally "Dragon Lord".
- Berserk Button: Hurt his wife, children, or people and you're in for a bad time.
- Big Good: Protector of the ancient Vietnamese against everything from giant monsters to malicious spirits.
- Call on Me: Promised Âu Cơ after the divorce that he would come to her aid whenever she required him and vice versa.
- Combat Pragmatist: His fight with Ngư Tinh involves him luring the monster towards his boat by disguising as a regular human and then dumping piles of molten rocks down its throat before getting into the real fight.
- Disappeared Dad: Spent more time in the underwater palace Thủy Cung than with his wife and kids leaving Âu Cơ to raise their children by herself most of the time.
- Divine Parentage: Is a distant descendant of Shennong and a dragon god.
- Dragon Ancestry: His mother is the daughter of the local dragon god of Dongting Lake.
- Happily Married: By all account, his marriage with Âu Cơ was this and the only reason the divorce happened was because both of them got homesick as well as other racial differences.
- Meaningful Name: His name literally means "Dragon Lord of Lạc (Việt)".
- Not Quite the Almighty: Despite his power, he was still defeated by Mộc Tinh and had to ask his father, Kinh Dương Vương, for aid in defeating the tree monster.
- Physical God
- Scaled Up: Can transform into a real dragon with all the divine powers that comes with it.
- The Patriarch: Considered to be the progenitor of the entire Vietnamese civilization.
- Voluntary Shapeshifter: Said to have a hundred transformations during his fight with the Nine-Tails Fox.
- Weredragon: Has a dragon form but prefers to spend his time as a human.
Âu Cơ
A young, beautiful immortal fairy skilled with medicine and healing magic who lived high in the mountains. She would eventually become known as the mother goddess of the entire Vietnamese civilization.
- Animal Motifs: Birds in general, but the most prominent is the mythical Lạc birds that are prominent in ancient Vietnamese culture with some stories depicting Âu Cơ using them as her familiars.
- Damsel in Distress: Her first meeting with Lạc Long Quân had him saving her from a flying monster, commonly depicted as a giant eagle.
- Familiar: Again, the mythical Lạc birds.
- Happily Married: With Lạc Long Quân until the divorce.
- The High Queen: As Lạc Long Quân is the leader of Văn Lang, marrying him technically make her this.
- Mother Goddess: She is revered as the mother goddess of all Vietnamese civilization.
- Multiple-Choice Past: Oooh boy:
- Older versions of the myth such as Lĩnh Nam Chích Quái depicted her as the wife/daughter of the chief of a neighboring Việt/Yue tribe who ran away with Lạc Long Quân in a diplomatic visit thus causing a war in the process. In these versions she isn't depicted as a fairy at all and just a regular human who may have been related to Shennong like her husband.
- Other versions depicted her as a celestial goddess who was related to the Jade Emperor, during a trip to the surface she ate some dirt from the surface out of curiosity and was promptly banished from Heaven. Her leading her fifty children to the mountains was because she wanted to be as close to her former home as possible.
- The popular modern version doesn't give her an origin at all, just that she was a human-turned-immortal fairy.
- Our Fairies Are Different: She is not a fairy in the western-sense as "tiên" can be use to refer to sages, mountain hermits and gods. In her case, it indicates her status as a divine goddess.
- Voluntary Shapeshifter: Transformed into a swan when she was attacked by a giant, flying monster.
- Whale Egg: Bore an egg sac from which hatched 100 children.
- White Magician Girl: Is said to be an expert in the healing arts and very compassionate, often travel around to help people and cure the sick.
Kim Quy
A golden turtle god who serves as messenger and emissary of the gods.
- Animal Motifs: Turtle, obviously.
- The Bus Came Back: After millenia, he return to Vietnam during the Lam Sơn uprising to lent Lê Lợi the legendary sword, Heaven's Will, which allow him to free Vietnam from the Ming once and for all. He later asked the now-Emperor to return the sword back to his master(s) at what is now Hoàn Kiếm Lake and never appeared again.
- Enigmatic Empowering Entity: Little is known about him other than that he is a messenger god who lent his aid to humans whenever it is required.
- Good is Not Nice: Indirectly caused An Dương Vương to kill his daughter, Mỵ Châu, by revealing that the latter had unknowingly aided Zhao Tuo in conquering Âu Lạc and accidentally leading the enemy to their location right this moment. Granted, the girl did just destroy everything Kim Quy did for Âu Lạc in a matter of months so he's understandably angry.
- Meaningful Name: Kim Quy literally means Golden Turtle in Sino-Vietnamese.
- Pals with Jesus: Became good friend with An Dương Vương, helping the latter build Cổ Loa Citadel and after living there for three years even gifted An Dương Vương one of his claws to create the Divine Crossbow that fired a hundred arrows. After An Dương Vương was defeated and killed by Mỵ Châu, Kim Quy help him escape to the Underwater Palace before Zhao Tuo could catch up to him.
- Stock Gods: Of the Messenger God variety. Some versions mention Long Vương or Thủy Tề as his masters while others leave them anonymous.
- Unstoppable Mailman: Despite being just a messenger turtle god, he has more than enough power to protect himself from monsters.
- Voluntary Shapeshifter: Transform into an old man, a rat and a smaller version of himself during his fight with Bạch Kê Tinh.
The Four Immortals
Sơn Tinh
The Mountain God of Tản Viên Mountain as well as the entire Ba Vì mountain range. Is considered to be the first among the Four Immortals.
- Ascend to a Higher Plane of Existence: Sometime after his war with Thủy Tinh and the birth of his daughters, he and Mỵ Nương were summoned by the Jade Emperor to Heaven to become official heavenly gods.
- The Beastmaster: Was able to call upon the aid of all kinds of land-based animals as well as legendary beasts during the war and in the aftermath where they help rebuilding Văn Lang.
- The Big Guy: Commonly depicted as such.
- Bizarre Human Biology: Mẫu Thượng Ngàn gave him her heart, tiger liver, bear hand, eagle eye, horse belly and panther leg when she resurrected him.
- Dishing Out Dirt: His main Elemental Powers, comes with being a mountain god and all. Also said to be able to create an entire forest with magic.
- Fancy Camping: Build a house wherever and whenever he need to rest because he dislike having to camp outdoor.
- Happily Adopted: Mẫu Thượng Ngàn found his dead body when he was still a child; she then resurrected and adopted him.
- Happily Married: With Mỵ Nương.
- Humans Are Special: As one of the Four Immortals, he represent mankind's dominance over nature and victory over natural disasters despite being a mountain god.
- The Hero: Protected the people of Văn Lang who got caught in the crossfire in his feud with Thủy Tinh.
- May–December Romance: A several hundred years-old god marrying a young mortal girl.
- Nature Spirit: Is the mountain god of Tản Viên Mountain.
- Physical God
- Victory by Endurance: While he and Thủy Tinh are evenly match in terms of raw power, he won on account of his superior stamina when Thủy Tinh exhaust himself and had to retreat.
- We Used to Be Friends: The text Lĩnh Nam Chích Quái mentioned that Sơn Tinh and Thủy Tinh used to be friends. Obviously this is no longer the case.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: Despite Hùng Vương XVIII's main goal in marrying his daughter to Sơn Tinh was to secure the latter's aid against the neighbouring Âu Việt tribe, the mountain god was nowhere to be found when An Dương Vương invaded Văn Lăng.
- Explained in Mẫu Thượng Ngàn's story where he and Mỵ Nương were summoned by the Jade Emperor to Heaven to become official heavenly gods and he was unable to come to the aid of his father-in-law.
Thánh Gióng
A Heavenly God who reincarnated into a mortal form to help Văn Lang and the Hùng king of the time fight off invaders from the north.
- Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever: His true giant form is said to be 20 meters long.
- Badass Boast: "I am the General of Heaven!"
- Big Eater: Needs to eat an entire village's worth of food to be full.
- Do You Trust Me?: Normally a three years-old kid asking for a sword and armor to fight invaders would be laughed off, thankfully Lạc Long Quân appeared before the at-the-time Hùng Vương VI and gave a heads up.
- Mechanical Horse: Rode a giant iron horse that breathes fire.
- Mystical Pregnancy: His mother became pregnant after stepping on a giant footprint on a field.
- Occupiers Out of Our Country: He represents this in his capacity as one of the Four Immortals as well as the power of youth.
- Reincarnation: While not explicitly stated, Gióng is implied to be a celestial god from Heaven who reincarnated into a mortal to help Văn Lang fight the northern invaders of the Shang dynasty.
- War God: Revered as the God of kicking invaders, mainly Chinese, out of our land.
Chử Đồng Tử
A poor mortal man who learned magic from a mountain sage and would eventually become a god.
- Ascend to a Higher Plane of Existence: Floated up to Heaven along with his wife, followers and castle. Would also later be deified into a god.
- Big Fancy Castle: When he put his conical hat on top of his staff (both of which were given to him by his master, Phật Quang) the items transformed into a giant palace filled with servants, soldiers and officers who obeyed them.
- The Bus Came Back: Briefly returned during the reign of the Early Lý dynasty to assist Triệu Quang Phục in fighting off a Chinese invasion led by Chen Baxian (who would later become Emperor Wu of Chen)
- Connected All Along: He's technically Sơn Tinh's brother-in-law as Tiên Dung is the eldest daughter of Hùng Vương XVIII.
- Deity of Human Origin
- Dragon Rider: Rode one when he appeared to Triệu Quang Phục and gifted the latter a claw from the dragon to help him in battle against the Chinese.
- Engaging Conversation: Tiên Dung proposed to him after a short conversation when they first met.
- Heart Is an Awesome Power: As one of the Four Immortals, he represent filial piety, love, marriage and wealth.
- Our Mages Are Different: He either gained Buddhist magic or Taoist magic depending on who you ask. The common version just stated that he met the sage Phật Quang on a mountain and, after a period of training, gained some form of Enlightenment Superpowers.
- Naked First Impression: Doesn't have a single piece of clothing when he first met Tiên Dung...
- Naked People Trapped Outside: ...Because his entire house burned down with only a loincloth that he buried with his father when the latter died.
- Perpetual Poverty: Before meeting Tiên Dung, he survived day-to-day by selling fish to nearby boats.
- Rags to Riches: From a regular guy with not a single piece of clothing to an immortal god with a wife, palace and legions of followers.
- Walking the Earth: After he was taught magic, the couple closed their trading business and wandered the lands to find people to teach them further.
Liễu Hạnh
The 13th daughter of the Jade Emperor and a major deity within the Vietnamese pantheon. Famous for her heroic deeds throughout her travels of the mortal realm.
- The Ace: As one of the Four Immortals, she represents the spiritual life, virtue, intelligence, prosperity and poetry.
- Action Girl: Punishes evildoers, fights monsters, accompanies armies into battle, etc.
- Character Development: Was noted to be a stubborn, haughty and generally Bratty Teenage Daughter during her days in Heaven. Her experiences through her reincarnations made her a significantly better person.
- Driven to Madness: Any would-be casanova who tried to flirt with her would suffer this fate. Later toned down after a Noodle Incident involving a prince.
- The Exile: Was banished from Heaven after breaking one of the Jade Emperor's plates. She was later allowed to return but...
- The Hero: Throughout her travels she helps the poor, heals the sick and punishes the wicked like any standard fantasy heroes.
- I Choose to Stay: She returned back to Earth since she missed her husband and son.
- Instant Expert: Can be proficient at anything in a short period of time.
- Plaguemaster: Often punishes evildoers with this during her travels.
- Pretty Princess Powerhouse: Can definitely kick someone's ass when needed to. Her full title is Princess Liễu Hạnh due to being the daughter of the Jade Emperor thus she fulfills the second part of this trope.
- Reincarnation: Goes through this three times, each time ended with her mortal "death" and subsequent return to Heaven. After the third time she stayed for good as a goddess.
- Remember the New Guy?: She's was only recently introduced to the Vietnamese pantheon during the Later Le dynasty via Taoism, long after the other three. Ironically, she's the only one out of the four to still be actively worshipped today.
- Second Love: She is noted to have fallen in love with many other men after her first husband died.
- Talented Princess, Regular Guy: Her first husband was just a regular mortal man while she is a heavenly goddess.
- Voluntary Shapeshifter: Can transform into a lot of things but prefers her human form. Her transformations are noted to always be female.
- Walking the Earth: She never went back to Heaven, and continues to roam the Earth even till this day to help the innocent and punish the wicked.
Heavenly Gods
Ngọc Hoàng/Jade Emperor
Absolute Ruler of Heaven's celestial bureacracy and creator of all living things.
- Adaptational Wimp: He's depicted as a lot more incompetent than in China. Possibly due to enmity between either Vietnam-China or Buddhism-Taoism, perhaps even both.
- Butt-Monkey: Was on the receiving end of many humiliations in many different stories.
- Canon Foreigner: Doesn't retain anything from his skyfather days so nowadays people think of him as the same Jade Emperor in Chinese mythology.
- Composite Character: Originally he was a skyfather deity like Tengri named Ông Trời but when the Chinese came Ông Trời was absorbed into the Jade Emperor.
- Creator God: Finished Khổng Lồ's work by creating the Sun, Moon, stars and many other things.
- Doting Parent: Really loves his daughters.
- Flanderization: Vietnamese stories about the Jade Emperor really like to highlight his failures and personal flaws, maybe even more than their Chinese counterparts.
- Heaven Above: Was this even back when he was the Vietnamese skyfather. Further boosted as a result of becoming the Jade Emperor, ruler of Heaven.
- Hijacked by Jesus: As Christianity began to spread in Vietnam, he got lump together with the Abrahamic God YHWH.
- I Have Many Names: Ông Trời (Skyfather), Ngọc Hoàng (Jade Emperor), Thượng Đế, Cao Đài (Highest Power) and many others over the years,
- Informed Attribute: Described to be a wise, all-knowing, powerful deity. He really doesn't act like one though.
- Jerkass Gods: Hot-tempered and often punishes both mortals and other deities for failures and perceived slights.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: He proves to be a competent and benevolent ruler who has his heart in the right place when he does his job.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Broke the pillars connecting Heaven to Earth. Probably got sick of people on Earth keeping coming up to Heaven to demand things and/or cause troubles.
- Top God: Is the absolute ruler of the Vietnamese pantheon, the Chinese pantheon and Heaven's Celestial Bureaucracy.
Thiên Lôi
The Vietnamese god of thunder and the one who the Jade Emperor calls when he wants something be solved with violence. There's actually multiple Thiên Lôi but people usually use the term to refer to the chief thunder god who commands them all.
- The Big Guy: Is the Jade Emperor's main enforcer.
- Butt-Monkey: Got his kneecap broken by a mortal, stung by a bee, pinched by a crab, torn into two by a tiger and was once tortured by chickens under the order of the Jade Emperor among other things.
- Bolt of Divine Retribution: His main job in the Celestial Bureaucracy is to bring justice upon evil mortals who escape the laws of men.
- Composite Character: Averted. Aside from a new name, he doesn't have anything similar with his Chinese counterpart, Leigong.
- Dumb Muscle: Frequently depicted as being this.
- Protectorate: Took up Lạc Long Quân's old job of monster slaying and protecting humanity.
- Loincloth: Early Vietnamese versions have him wearing only this. Modern versions have him deck out in full armor.
- Shock and Awe: He's the main god of thunder in Vietnam despite there being other gods capable of summoning thunder as well.
- Scary Black Man: Said to have black skin; definitely intimidating.
- Thunder Drum: Early Vietnamese versions depict him with this in addition to the loincloth.
Nature Gods
Long Vương
The Dragon King of the South China Sea. Responsible for managing the region's tides, weathers and aquatic creatures.
- Animal Motifs: The Dragon King.
- Composite Character: His power and position overlapped with Ao Qin, the Chinese Dragon King of the South China Sea with some even consider that they are the same person as almost nobody outside China knows anything about Ao Qin.
- Lord of the Ocean: Rules the waters of the South China Sea and is also responsible for managing the weathers and storms in the region.
- Permissive Parents: He's surprisingly lax when it comes to his children, frequently allowing them to go adventuring on land without supervision and even marrying mortal humans.
- Remember the New Guy?: He's actually one of the newer God of the Sea of the Vietnamese pantheon with many preceding him.
- Supernatural Aid: His father, Lạc Long Quân, gave him command of the four goddesses Tứ Pháp (each having control over the cloud, rain, thunder and lightning respectively) in order to better control his domains. He has also provided aids to many mortals such as Thạch Sanh and Lê Lợi.
- Two Aliases, One Character: Zig-Zagged. Nobody can agreed on whether Long Vương and another water god named King Thủy Tề are different characters or not.
- Some versions stated that Long Vương governs all the water of the sea while Thủy Tề governs all water on land such as lakes, rivers and waterfalls.
- Other versions stated that Long Vương and Thủy Tề are one person and that he split the water-governing duties with his wife, Mẫu Thoải.
- Some even suggested that Thủy Tề was the original name for the Vietnamese Sea God before Long Vương came into being via the Chinese.
- Vast Bureaucracy: Commands over 3,600 aquatic creatures and has his own bureaucracy in his palace.
- Voluntary Shapeshifter: Frequently transforms into a human to go and observe the surface.
- Wealthy Philanthropist: Many stories have him gift absurdly powerful magical treasures to humans who directly or indirectly did him a favour. Some versions even stated that he was the one who tasked Kim Quy with gifting the divine sword, Heaven's Will, to Lê Lợi during the Lam Sơn uprising.
Thủy Tinh
The water god of monsoon who was directly responsible for the largest divine conflict in Vietnamese mythology and partially responsible for the collapse of the Hồng Bàng dynasty.
- Always Someone Better: With Sơn Tinh. Whenever Thủy Tinh raises the sea water high, Sơn Tinh would always raise his mountains a bit higher to block the tide.
- The Beastmaster: Commanded legions of aquatic creatures in his war with Sơn Tinh.
- Berserk Button: Sơn Tinh.
- Determinator: Never forgave Sơn Tinh nor let go of his desire for revenge to get Mỵ Nương back with their war still continuing to this day.
- Did Not Get the Girl: What started the whole mess.
- Giant Wall of Watery Doom: He raise the sea level and summon floods to fight Sơn Tinh and make path for his troops.
- Jerkass Gods: While it's true that he got screwed over by Hùng Vương XVIII's favourtism, involving the innocent people of Văn Lang into his vendetta and destroying land, crops, houses definitely qualify him for this.
- Lord of the Ocean: His title is literally the Lord of Waters. He's also responsible for managing the waters and weather of Việt Nam during the monsoon season under Long Vương's order and his beef with Sơn Tinh is explained as the reason why Vietnam gets flooded every year in the rainy season.
- Making a Splash: In addition to his water powers, he can also summon torrential rain, gusty winds, thunder and lightning.
- The Rival: With Sơn Tinh.
Cá Ông
A whale god who helps manage the South China Sea under Long Vương.
- Animal Motifs: Whales.
- Bodyguard Betrayal: He will immediately be executed by his attendants if he fails to do his job.
- Canon Immigrant: Was originally worshipped by the Chams and eventually adopted into the Vietnamese pantheon along with Thiên Y a Na after the Nguyễn dynasty fully annex Champa.
- Lord of the Ocean: Help Long Vương manage his watery domain.
- Voluntary Shapeshifter: He was forced into the form of a whale by the Jade Emperor since birth but he prefers the form of a human.
Three Mother Goddesses
Mẫu Thượng Thiên
The mother goddess who governs the celestial realm according to the Đạo Mẫu worship.
- All-Powerful Bystander: One of the most powerful beings in the Vietnamese pantheon but she doesn't do much of anything and prefer to observe and watch over the world from above.
- Composite Character: Her name is often used interchangeably with other goddesses such as Liễu Hạnh, Thiên Y a Na and Tây Thiên Quốc Mẫu (Wife of the Jade Emperor)
- Heaven Above: Her domain. As the Mother Goddess of Heaven in Đạo Mẫu she has control over everything in the sky from normal things like clouds and lightning to rainbows and even comets.
- The High Queen: Her position is basically this.
- Shrouded in Myth: Not even her own followers can agree on her background and characterization.
- Two Aliases, One Character: Some people believe that she and Liễu Hạnh are one and the same.
Mẫu Thượng Ngàn
The eldest daughter of the Jade Emperor, adopted mother of Sơn Tinh and, after her reincarnation as La Bình, the daughter of Sơn Tinh and current Mountain God of Tản Viên Mountain.
- Eating the Enemy: When she first met Xương Cuồng back when he was still the tree monster Mộc Tinh, she tried to chop him down but was unable to due to the tree bark being too hard. As such, she transformed into a worm and ate him from inside out until he begged for mercy and gave her a magical seed before fleeing. The seed in question would turn into...
- Fantastic Flora: ...A magical tree that grow hundreds of different fruits. When she shared the fruits with the other gods, one of them complained about the taste of a fruit and she made it so that nobody would be able to see or touch the fruit in question ever again, thus creating the legend of forbidden fruit.
- Guardian Entity: Her story ends with the Jade Emperor granting her immortal heavenly godhood like her parents and bestow upon her many powerful magics and tools so that she could watch over her people forever. Guess the Jade Emperor couldn't resist being a Doting Parent to his eldest daughter despite her being technically someone else's daughter now.
- I Choose to Stay: After her "death" in the Sơn Tinh-Thủy Tinh war, she returned to Heaven and begged her father to return her back as she couldn't bear to leave her son leading to her Reincarnation.
- Instant Expert: As La Bình, she's said to be able to master any sort of skills taught to her in a short amount of time.
- Loved by All: Her reputation with the people under her charge in both of her incarnations.
- Mama Bear: Enough to jump right into the Sơn Tinh-Thủy Tinh war to aid her foster son and die in the process.
- Nature Spirit: She is a powerful nature god in both of her incarnations.
- Number Two: As La Bình, she is the de-facto leader of Tản Viên mountain whenever Sơn Tinh is busy until she officially took up the mantle after her parents joined the Celestial Bureaucracy in Heaven.
- Pet Monstrosity: Turned the Demon God Xương Cuồng into her pet tiger.
- Pretty Princess Powerhouse: Daughter of the Jade Emperor? Check. Can kick a demon god's ass? Check.
- Reassigned to Antarctica: Was assigned by the Jade Emperor to become the nature god of a remote, desolate, sparsely populated area as punishment because...
- Rebellious Spirit: ...Like Liễu Hạnh, she has a stubborn personality and doesn't listen to her father.
- Reincarnation: The Jade Emperor sent her back as the daughter of her adopted son. Unfortunately she didn't retain any Past-Life Memories.
- Reincarnation Friendship: With Sơn Tinh.
- Supreme Chef: As Mẫu Thượng Ngàn, she taught the humans under her charge how to make fire and cook delicious meals.
Mẫu Thoải
Daughter of the Jade Emperor and Long Vương's wife.
- The Dutiful Son: Obeyed her father's command without hesitation, unlike Liễu Hạnh and Mẫu Thượng Ngàn.
- Flip Personality: Her personality is said to be "ever-changing".
- Lord of the Ocean: Specifically, she governs all in-land bodies of water such as lakes, rivers, and waterfalls while her husband's in charge of the seas.
Other Gods
Khổng Lồ
The first primordial giant god who created the universe and the world.
- Always Someone Better: His wife during their contests.
- Creator God: Created the world by literally lifting the sky away from the earth and then made a pillar to separate the two in a manner not too different from modern cartoon physics.
- Determinator: Didn't give up on pursuing his wife no matter what. Not even his wife kicking down a mountain with him on top is enough to deter him.
- The Old Gods: Was the first of many primordial giant gods that inhabited the world.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: Nobody knows what happened to him and the other primordial giants after the creation myth.
Diêm Vương
The chief god of the underworld as well as the judge of the dead. He is the same one from Chinese and Japanese mythologies, just under a different name.
- Aloof Ally: Rarely goes up to Earth and Heaven. Doesn't interact much with the Jade Emperor.
- All-Powerful Bystander: Has many demons and hell deities who work under him but never interfere much with the human world.
- Canon Immigrant: Originated in India and entered Vietnam via Buddhism like in China and Japan; gradually intergrated himself into the pantheon with not a lot of people knowing his Buddhist origins.
- Hidden Depths: Despite his imposing exterior, he's one of the nicer underworld gods. He notably doesn't have an issue with living humans interacting with the dead as he's responsible for setting up a market in Quảng Yên province for the living and the dead to trade goods once a year and even allows the living to visit the Underworld provided they have dead relatives there to guide them.
- I Have Many Names: Yama, Enma, Yima, Dharmaraja, etc.
- Orcus on His Throne: How the people he judge tends to see him.
- The Stoic: In addition to being a Perpetual Frowner, he's unlikely to be moved by compassions and heartfelt pleas similar to Hades.
Legendary Monsters
Ngư Tinh
A giant fish monster who lived somewhere in the coast of northern Vietnam and Guangxi. Was slain by Lạc Long Quân after 3 days of battle with assistance from the local sea gods.
- Animalistic Abomination: A giant man-eating fish that has centipede-like legs on its sides who can eat 53 humans in one bite.
- A Storm Is Coming: Its arrival is always heralded by a storm.
- Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever: It is 166.65 meters long with its tail as large as a ship’s sail.
- Cruel and Unusual Death: Was still alive after being cut into three parts by Lạc Long Quân. Tried to run away with just the head by transforming into a seal but was killed again by Lạc Long Quân who transformed it's bodyparts into islands.
- Manipulative Bastard: Once prevent a heavenly god from destroying its lair by transforming into a rooster and trick the god into believing that he was summoned back to Heaven.
- Sea Monster: Its hunting ground is the entire Gulf of Tonkin.
- To Serve Man: Eats a lot of things but likes to eat wandering fishermen the most.
- Voluntary Shapeshifter: Can do 100 different transformations.
Cửu Vĩ Hồ Tinh
A thousand-year-old nine tails fox who resided in Long Biên, present-day Hanoi; was the second monster slayed by Lạc Long Quân after Ngư Tinh.
- Asian Fox Spirit: A nine-tailed fox spirit similar to the Chinese huli jing or the Japanese kitsune.
- Cold-Blooded Torture: Likes to toy with the humans it kidnapped like how a cat would torture it's prey. The female ones suffer a worse fate.
- Flight: His battle with Lạc Long Quân end with a chase in the sky that lasted for a long time.
- Gender Bender: Willing to transform into both man and woman to get what it wants.
- I Have You Now, My Pretty: Was explicitly noted to enjoy raping human girls that he captured.
- Killed Off for Real: Was killed after a 3-day long battle and another long chase by Lạc Long Quân who promptly drag its corpse back to its lair and submerge the entire cave underwater.
- Manipulative Bastard: What else can you expect from a trickster nine-tail fox but Cunning Like a Fox?
- Plaguemaster: He is said to have killed entire villages through sickness.
- To Serve Man: Like to kidnap people back to its lair and eat them.
- Shapeshifting Trickster: Like to play pranks on human with varied intensity and results.
- Voluntary Shapeshifter: Can perform countless more transformations that are even more powerful than Ngư Tinh.
Xương Cuồng
Originally a haunted tree monster named Mộc Tinh from Phong Châu, present day Sơn Tây. He would eventually become the Vietnamese God of Tigers, the Demon God and a recurring character throughout the mythology.
- Based on a True Story: Him turning from a tree monster to a tiger god is based on traditional beliefs that tigers merge their spirit into trees where they stalk their prey.
- Big Bad: Closest thing Vietnamese mythology has to one.
- Character Development: It's noted that he's much more mellower after his first defeat and becoming Xương Cuồng.
- From an all-powerful tree monster who killed everything in sight to becoming the Vietnamese Tiger God who's also revered as a Demon God is also a story in itself.
- Dead Person Impersonation: Sometime after he became Xương Cuồng, he ate Hùng Vương IX and assumed his identity to drink tons of wine and make love with beautiful girls until he got exposed by Mẫu Thượng Ngàn.
- The Dreaded: People of Văn Lang feared him so much that they made a shrine for him and made him into a god.
- Dropped a Bridge on Him: How did the guy who was the terror of all ancient Vietnam died? From being distracted by a circus show.
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Ensemble Dark Horse: For some reason, he was the only one of the original three monsters who fought Lạc Long Quân to survive and be expanded upon, even ending up with a promotion to become the Vietnamese God of Tigers. - Heel–Face Turn: Technically joined the "good" side after Mẫu Thượng Ngàn turned him into her pet tiger and even stuck around as part of Sơn Tinh's retinue after the war with Thủy Tinh, it didn't last though.
- Hero Killer: His first fight with Lạc Long Quân and his army was a one-sided massacre with Mộc Tinh being powerful enough to curbstomped the Dragon Lord entirely.
- Human Sacrifice: Demanded these both when he was a tree and when he was a tiger as a condition to leave other humans alone.
- Long-Lived: He was at least 1,000 years old when he first fought Lạc Long Quân and lived to see the divorce of Lạc Long Quân and Âu Cơ, the creation of Văn Lang, the war between Sơn Tinh and Thủy Tinh, An Dương Vương's invasion and subsequent fall to Zhao Tuo, the thousand-years Chinese Domination of Vietnam, the first Battle of Bạch Đằng and the rise of Đinh Bộ Lĩnh. That means he's at least 4,847 years old at the time of his death.
- Magic Music: During his fight as Mộc Tinh with Lạc Long Quân and Kinh Dương Vương, the latter defeated him with this forcing him to retreat.
- Meaningful Name: In old Vietnamese language "Xương Cuồng" mean 'violent acts that can't be tamed'.
- Nature Spirit: Both his first incarnation as a giant tree monster and his second one as a tiger god (Vietnamese consider tigers to be the lord of all jungles and mountains)
- Red Baron: His many title as Xương Cuồng is Quỷ Thánh Xương Cuồng (Demon God Xương Cuồng) and Bạch Hổ Xương Cuồng (Xương Cuồng the White Tiger).
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Fled from Lạc Long Quân and Kinh Dương Vương after it was clear that he was losing thus avoiding the fate of Ngư Tinh and Hồ Tinh.
- Starting a New Life: After his first defeat, he waited an unknown period of time for the heat to die down before heading out to terrorize humans again. This lasted until he ate Hùng Vương IX and was defeated by Mẫu Thượng Ngàn and became her pet until she died during the Sơn Tinh-Thủy Tinh war. After which, he served as Sơn Tinh's companion until his final death.
- To Serve Man: Liked to eat humans both when he was a tree and when he is a tiger.
- The Bus Came Back: Came back after an unknown period of time after his first defeat as the tiger demon god Xương Cuồng.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: Lĩnh Nam Chích Quái noted that after he was killed by the mage Văn Du Tường, he "can't become an evil spirit/monster anymore". The ambiguous wordings implies that he's either dead-dead, being stuck in a limbo a la Sauron or Ascend to a Higher Plane of Existence.
- Given that Vietnamese shared with other countries in the Sinosphere the belief that people who attain godhood can never truly die, it's probably the latter.
- When Trees Attack: His first form was a giant, monstrous and deformed tree.
- Voluntary Shapeshifter: Can turn into a tree, a human and a tiger among other things.
Bạch Kê Tinh
A thousand-year old white chicken monster who was defeated by An Dương Vương and Kim Quy.
- Feathered Fiend: A white chicken monster.
- Interspecies Romance: Was attracted to the human daughter of an innkeeper whose inn is where Bạch Kê Tinh made his home.
- Necromancer: Played With. While he did raise them, he couldn't command the dead of Văn Lang but instead led them to An Dương Vương's citadel wall where the spirits promptly smashed down the entire thing by their own volition to pay back for An Dương Vương killing them.
- Serial Killer: Killed the guests who stayed in the inn that he made his home for years.
- Soul Jar: Use the innkeeper daughter as one, the moment it died she died as well.
- Voluntary Shapeshifter: Can transform into a regular chicken and other forms as well.
- Weakened by the Light: Implied as he was forced to retreat before sunrise after failing to break Kim Quy's barrier around An Dương Vương the entire night.
Mụ Chằn
An ogress who lives in the mountains and hunt humans. Her name would eventually be use to refer to angry, short-tempered woman in general.
- Artifact of Power: Possesses three of these.
- A staff that kills people on one end and revives people with another
- An item that transforms a river/sea into a forest
- An item that turns a patch of land into a sea
- Mama Bear: Once she found out that her daughter has been killed, she went utterly berserk and chased down her former son-in-law.
- Obnoxious In-Laws: Not everyday your new son-in-law murders his wife/your daughter with your own stuff.
- Our Ogres Are Hungrier: Chằn is the Vietnamese version of ogre/oni.
- To Serve Man: Frequently hunts and eats humans but will spare them if her daughter's in love with them.
