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"The hand of Keranos can be seen in every rumbling storm cloud. Best not to stand where he points."
Rakleia of Shrine Peak, Magic: The Gathering, "Lightning Strike"

Throughout the world there have been many religions and myths regarding gods, monsters and superhuman entities, but this one seems to be really popular. A god of thunder is a Physical God with supreme control over electricity and thunder.

Thunder and lightning have always been associated with the unknowable majesty of the Heavens themselves, so gods of thunder are typically the ones who send out Bolts of Divine Retribution to punish mortals for their hubris and wickedness. Many mythologies portray how they wield it differently, whether they channel it through a sword or a hammer, throw out bolts like spears or shoot them like arrows. Because of this, they are typically portrayed as warriors, if not as outright Berserkers than as protectors of divine justice. Like gods of the sea, thunder gods are often portrayed as having very mercurial and, well, tempestuous personalities. They're often quick to anger and offense, mirroring how storms can seem to boil out of the sky with no warning to unleash devastation and then vanish as quickly as they came.

Subtrope of Stock Gods.

Compare the War God and the relatively more mundane Shock and Awe and Thunder Beetle. Commonly overlaps with Top God and Everybody Loves Zeus, though it is not mutually exclusive to either. See also Raijū. Can be a source for a Perpetual Storm in some media.


Examples:

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    Anime And Manga 
  • In A Certain Magical Index, Thor is a member of GREMLIN who utilizes magic that takes advantage of the lore of Thor. As a result, his spells allow him to command powers similar to Thor's feats in myth. His belt grants him immense Super-Strength and he can form lightning between his fingertips into a pair of Arc Fusion Blades that can extend to 2 kilometers in length. But his greatest spell is derived from Thor's former nature as a Top God, allowing him to constantly give himself a Home Field Advantage so that none of his opponent's attacks can reach him.
  • In Fate/kaleid liner PRISMA☆ILLYA, Beatrice Flowerchild's Berserker class card is eventually revealed to be Thor. As a result, she's able to wield his godly strength as well as Mjolnir, bringing down lightning even more powerful than Medea's magecraft from the Age of Gods. In actuality, her Class Card's true identity is Thor's son, Magni, who has all of Thor's strengths but none of his weaknesses.
  • In Noragami, Takemikazuchi, a Japanese god of swords and thunder, is a high-ranking god in heaven. While he hasn't been seen brandishing lightning directly, his shinki, Kiun, can take the form of dragon-shaped electricity. It's later revealed that he was forbidden from using his powers by his own shinki, who revolted against him for his violent temper, forcing him to reincarnate and channel his powers through Kiun.
  • One Piece has Eneru/Enel, who ate the Goro Goro no Mi/Rumble Rumble Fruit (Goro Goro is the sound of the thunder rumbling). He is a Logia user who can turn his body into Lightning, control Lightning and create infinite amounts of Lightning. He is also called the "God" of Skypeia (although in this case, God is a title not an actual diety). His special attacks are named for various Gods of Thunder and Lightning (Sango, a West African god, El Thor which is a double reference with Thor being the Nordic thunder god and El being the Hebrew name for God, Kari a Malaysian thunder god, Hino an Iriqois thunder god, Kiten/Raijin the Japanese thunder god, Julunggul an Aboriginal serpent goddess of weather, Raigo which means the return of Buddha with the kanji of Rai meaning thunder, Mamaragan the central Aboriginal thunder god, and Amaru who is a dragon/serpent-like chimera of Tiwanaku and Inca mythology).
  • Yu-Gi-Oh!: Slifer the Sky Dragon is one the three Egyptian God monsters. It has a move called "Thunder Force" and it's card text states: "The heavens twist and thunder roars, signaling the coming of this ancient creature, and the dawn of true power".

    Comic Books 
  • The Authority has Thunder-God, a blatant Thor expy, although he turns out to not actually be a god. He's a genetically-engineered supersoldier.
  • The DCU:
  • Marvel Universe:
    • The Mighty Thor: Thor himself is one of Marvel's flagship titles, although he's for the most part an In Name Only version of his mythological self.
    • In The Ultimates, there is Thor, but there is also Perun, a Russian knock-off from the Liberators.
  • Multiversity introduces two thunder gods — Thunderer (from Earth 7) and Wundajin (from Earth 8) — who are actually alternate-universe counterparts to each other.
  • Valhalla: Thor, as the God of Thunder and one of the most well-known and well-loved of the Aesir, is one of the principal gods of the series and present in nearly every story. He demonstrates the ability to make thunderclaps on several occasions, though that ability is usually tied to his possession of Mjolnir.

    Film 
  • Thor: Ragnarok: The crux of Thor's personal story in the film hinges on him realizing that he is, in fact, the God of Thunder, and that control of storms and lightning is thus an innate power for him. This helps him get over his feelings of powerlessness since Mjolnir's destruction, allowing him to make extensive use of Shock and Awe in the final battle.
  • The Crossover Cosmology aspect is explored in Thor: Love and Thunder where Thor calls himself the God of Thunder and Zeus the God of Lightning (Zeus even notes "But is not thunder just the sound of lightning?"). Thor looks up to Zeus rather than seeing him as a rival until he realizes that Zeus cares more about his orgies than stopping gods from being wiped out.

    Live-Action TV 
  • American Gods (2017):
    • Mr. Wednesday (the American incarnation of Odin) is shown to have some level of power over the weather, as he sends a message to his fellow Old Gods via a dandelion scattered into the clouds in "The Secret of Spoons", and later he sends a Bolt of Divine Retribution onto the New God's mooks in "Come to Jesus".
    • Donar Odinson in "Donar the Great" is the American incarnation of the Norse God Thor and thus he has some level of power over the weather, though it had greatly diminished with the lack of worshippers present in 1930's America. We only ever see him summon lightning when he splits Wednesday's spear Gungnir in two, his hammer giving off electricity as he does so.

    Literature 
  • Discworld: Blind Io, Top God of the pantheon, holds the divine copyright on thunder. Having absorbed all lesser thunder themed gods through the Disc's Clap Your Hands If You Believe Gods Need Prayer Badly rules, not only is he the Thunder God, he's also every thunder god. However, no god owns lightning, which is shared as the preferred Bolt of Divine Retribution.
  • Fengshen Yanyi: Wen Zhong, Grand Tutor of Shang and Jiang Ziya's strongest opponent, obtains the rank of Rightful God of Thunder Subjected to the Nine Heavens after his death, alongside 24 other gods and goddesses who acts as his servants.
  • Downplayed in So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish, lifetime trucker Bob McKenna has recorded a log showing that it rains everywhere, all the time. This is because, unknown to himself, he's a rain god and the clouds are honoring him by raining wherever he is. Several polities and companies actually start lining up to pay hi to never visit them so their profit margins don't get hurt which means he'll be able to live in a style more befitting of his station.
  • Titan's Forest: Airak, the lightning god, presides over storms and thunderbolts. In Canopy, his main roles are trapping shards of lightning in glass containers to serve as lamps and, more crucially, controlling the strength and frequency of lightning strikes to prevent them from setting the whole forest aflame.

    Music 
  • KISS has a song called "God of Thunder". The lyrics seem to be about Zeus but other lyrics seem to contradict this, possibly stating that KISS is the God of Thunder.

    Mythology & Religion 
  • Many entities in Aboriginal Australian Myths:
    • The Wandjina from Western Australian cultures (appropriatly called the "Wandjina-Wungurr" complex) are associated with lightning flashes and bring about rain. Many depictions that boobs assumed to be Ancient Astronauts are actually crowns made of lightning bolts.
    • Mamaragan is the Gunwinggu god of lightning. He lives in the puddle and gets out to punish the evil with bolts of divine retribution.
    • Yurlungur from Yolngu tradition is often lumped into the "Rainbow Serpent" category. True to this being a useless umbrella term, this particular deity is associated with lightning, a trait none of the other "rainbow serpents" have.
    • Wambeen is the God of Evil version from Arrernte mythology, throwing lightning bolts in the hopes of killing people.
    • Similarly the Tasmanian Rageowrapper literally means "lightning" and can cause storms. However, his primary role is as the god of the west wind and all the evil things.
  • Classical Mythology: Zeus (known to the Romans as Jupiter) is the Top God of the Olympian Pantheon, as well as being the god of thunder and the sky. In the Titanomachy, it was said that in his war against his father Cronus and the Titans, lightning was gifted to Zeus by the Cyclopes and the Hecatoncheries imprisoned in Tartarus and was used as an instrumental weapon in the war. The Ancient Greeks and Romans equated the natural phenomena of lightning to Zeus, throwing lightning like spears to smite foes and blasphemous mortals alike.
    • Many classicists and philologists have noted that Hercules/Heracles had thunder god properties and likely was derived from the proto-indo-european Perkwunos. Perkwunos was an early thunder god. Generally believed to be the son of the Sky father. A swaggering, boisterous and violent warrior that often wielded lightning along with a blunt weapon (Thor's hammer, Indra's mace, Hercules' club etc.) and slew a giant serpent. Tacitus in his interpretation of the Germanic mythology, believed that Thor was Hercules. And in Roman mythology, he was often given back these thunder god properties. An example would be in Hercules Oetaeus by Seneca.
    Never to Stygian shades is glorious valour borne. The brave live on, nor shall the cruel fates bear you o’er Lethe’s waters; but when the last day shall bring the final hour, glory will open wide the path to heaven.
    But do thou, O mighty conqueror of beasts, peace-bringer to the world, be with us yet; still as of old regard this earth of ours; and if some strange-visaged monster cause us with dire fear to tremble, do thou o’ercome him with the forked thunderbolts – yea, more mightily than thy father’s self the thunders hurl.
  • In Hindu Mythology, Indra is the god of thunder, who wields a Bolt of Divine Retribution. In the Vedic era, he was the Top God and a womanizing Jerkass similar to Zeus (the Vedic gods are hypothesized to stem from the same ancient Indo-European religion that also birthed the Greek and Norse gods). In the post-Vedic era Indra was theologically downgraded in favor of the Hindu Trinity, and a more virtuous Alternative Character Interpretation came into play. In many of the side stories of Mahabharata, he becomes more of a noble trickster type who frequently uses King Incognito to teach people moral lessons and test their virtue.
  • Several Indo-European religions have thunder deities such as Perun (Slavic Mythology), Perkele (Finnish Mythology) or Taranis (Celtic Mythology), in addition to the Greco-Roman Zeus/Jupiter and the Norse Thor. These are believed to stem from an original proto-Indo-European weather god, whose name has been tentatively reconstructed as Perkwunos.
  • Japanese Mythology:
    • Raijin is the god of lightning, thunder and storms in Shinto. He would ride the clouds and channel lightning with the beating of his war drum, which he would use to fight his brother Fujin, god of the wind, for control of the sky. Despite his intimidating appearance and destructive power, he is considered a benevolent god, using his overwhelming power to restore the bountiful potential of farm land. He is also often accompanied by Raijuu, the lightning beast, which would sometimes go to sleep in people's bellybuttons, necessitating Raijin to throw a bolt at him (and the human) in order to get him to go back to his duties again.
    • Susanoo-no-Mikoto is the Shinto god of storms and the younger brother of Amaterasu, the goddess of the sun. He was originally an angry and destructive god, his tantrums having caused devastation in both the Heavens and the Earth. His father Izanagi banished him to Earth for his troubles (particularly for his harassment of Amaterasu), where Susanoo would later perform many great feats—such as the slaying of the Orochi, for example—and would go on to become a beloved folk hero in Japan.
    • Takemikazuchi is a lightning god in addition to being a sword god and the inventor of sumo wrestling. He was one of the chief delegates that the celestial gods sent out in order to subjugate the terrestrial gods. He is commonly depicted riding on top of, or alternatively pinning down with a stone slab, a giant catfish which was believed to have been responsible for earthquakes.
    • When Izanagi ventured into Yomi, the realm of the dead, in an attempt to convince his wife Izanami to return to the realm of the living with him, he bore witness to the horrifying sight of the Yakusa-Ikazuchi, eight spirits representing different aspects of lightning, crawling all over Izanami's body. The eight of them were known as Ō-ikazuchinote , Hono-ikazuchinote , Kuro-ikazuchinote , Saku-ikazuchinote , Waka-ikazuchinote , Tsuchi-ikazuchinote , Naru-ikazuchinote  and Fusu-ikazuchinote .
  • Norse Mythology: Thor was the god of thunder, lightning, storms, strength and sacred groves and trees. He is one of the favored sons of the king of the Aesir, Odin, and while not known for his intelligence or patience, he is considered to be an honorable and benevolent god who dedicated himself to protecting Asgard and Midgard from the various giants that threatened them. On top of his immense strength he is known for his iconic weapon Mjolnir, a war-hammer forged by the dwarves Brokkr and Sindri said to have the power to level mountains, its pounding being the explanation for the roaring of thunder by those who worshipped him.
  • Chinese Mythology: There are many stories about thunder and lightning. One is that during a famine the thunder god Leigong saw a woman called Dianmu and her mother-in-law fighting over a bowl of rice, and not realizing that Dianmu was insisting that her m-i-l take it, struck her dead in anger. The Celestial Emperor raised Dianmu from the dead and made her a goddess, giving her a pair of magic mirrors (lightning) so she could ensure Leigong saw what he was striking, and married the two. That's why lightning precedes thunder.
  • The Buddha Vajrapani in Buddhism, his name literally means "Thunderbolt Hand".

    Tabletop Games 
  • Dungeons & Dragons:
    • Forgotten Realms: Talos, the Storm Lord, of storms and destruction and also a God of Evil. He's an angry and fickle god, plaguing mortals with storms and lightning unless appeased.
    • Planescape: On the plane of Arcadia, the weather is ruled by the four Storm Kings. Of these, the best fits for the mercurial Rain King, whose moods can change as easily as a light shower can turn into a hailstorm and back, and the Lightning King, a short-tempered figure with a tendency to solve his problems by throwing thunderbolts.
  • Games Workshop games:
    • Warhammer: The Kislevite god of thunder and lightning is Tor, a heavily muscled warrior god who is said to split the sky with his axe to release thunderbolts. Temples to Tor are built high in the Worlds Edge Mountains but his followers will sing his praises wherever there is a storm. His faith has only one stricture — never stand beneath a tree during a thunderstorm.
    • Warhammer: Age of Sigmar: As the God-King of Azyr (the Celestial Realm associated with wind, the stars and lightning) Sigmar has mastery over storms, lightning and thunder. Sometimes know as the Thunderer, Sigmar is able to cast lightning at his enemies and lightning is one of his most prominent symbols. Sigmar's greatest warriors, the Stormcast Eternals, are also heavily associated with thunder and lightning, able to travel between realms using his celestial lightning to appear in a blinding flash of light and a peal of thunder.
  • GURPS: The "Dungeon Fantasy" sub-line features classic dungeon fantasy-style clerics and holy warriors, and allows for the possibility of them worshiping a range of deities. GURPS Dungeon Fantasy 7: Clerics offers different spell lists and special powers for different types of deity served, and Storm Gods are an option.
    If all a storm god does is throw thunder and lightning, he probably rates as some kind of force of Nature or Neutral divine berserk warrior at best, a more or less Evil power of destruction at worst. However, storm gods tend to be a bit subtler than that. The storm clouds they control bring rain, which is essential for the crops that feed society. As rulers of the sky, they are prominent figures in their mythologies. As thunderbolt-hurling divine warriors, they lead the fight against demons and darkness. Hence, most storm gods probably rate as more or less Good, if rambunctious and chancy to be around.
  • Magic: The Gathering: Keranos is Theros' god of storms. He takes after Zeus conceptually, generally resembling a bearded man wielding a lightning bolt in his hand, and is a tempestuous and fickle deity in personality. He's aligned with Blue mana, the color associated with air and the sky, and Red, the color of chaos, emotions and dramatic natural phenomena.
  • Pathfinder: Hei Feng, Duke of Thunder, is Tian Xia's god of seas and storms. He's a chaotic and mercurial god, prone to explosive anger when offended, and quick to punish transgressions through lightning and lashing weather. He's usually accompanied by divine servants known as the counts of wind, rain, thunder, and lightning. Ranginori, an elemental lord of air, is also associating with thunderstorms, while the demon lord Urxehl is worshipped as a deity of destructive storms and natural disasters.

    Video Games 
  • Akatsuki Blitzkampf: While not an example himself, Akatsuki has this as his Red Baron as his preferred element is lightning.
  • Dark Souls: Gwyn, Lord of Sunlight, is the Top God of the pantheon in Anor Londo. When the First Flame manifested, he, the Witch of Izalith, Nito, the First of the Dead and the Furtive Pygmy found the Lord Souls from the flame. With this power, Gwyn led the Witch, Nito and his very own army of Knights in a battle against the Everlasting Stone Dragons that ruled during the Age of Ancients. As his name would imply, Gwyn holds the power of light, manifesting the rays of the sun into the form of lightning bolts that he used to peel off the stone scales of the Everlasting Dragons (the source of their immortality), winning the war against them and beginning the Age of Fire. The ability to summon lightning and electricity would later be taught as a form of an offensive miracle that can be learned by the player, and has been used by enemies who have strong ties to Gwyn like Dragon Slayer Ornstein and the Nameless King.
  • In Dwarf Fortress, deities can be generated with the sphere Thunder.
  • The Elder Scrolls: Kyne is the Goddess of Storms from the Ancient Nordic Pantheon, and is known as Kynareth in the Imperial Pantheon. In the lore that describes her in The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, she was the wife of Shor (an incarnation of The Maker Lorkhan) and a warrior goddess who formed the races of men and is responsible for various natural phenomena like rain and storms after The Time of Myths.
  • Fate/Grand Order:
    • While not strictly a god, Ivan the Terrible's lightning has been compared to Zeus, King of the Greek Gods. In addition, his mount, a massive mammoth, is compared to the Bull of Heaven, Gugalanna, and together their spiritual value is compared to an actual Divine Spirit.
    • Zeus himself is the Lostbelt King of Atlantis. True to form, he commands thunder and lightning from atop Olympus.
  • Many games in the Final Fantasy series feature a summon creature associated with divinity and lightning.
    • The most recurring lightning summon is Ramuh, who's depicted as a wizened sage with a great flowing beard and a Magic Staff. His signature ability is "Judgement Bolt" to further his status as a godly figure striking down his enemies.
    • Final Fantasy X has Ixion, an aeon in the form of a zebra with a massive curved horn on its head, who channels electricity through the horn for its "Thor's Hammer" ability. The aeons are manifestations of Faythe called by the summoners to help protect people.
    • Final Fantasy XIV has not only Ramuh, Lord of Levin, but Susano, Lord of Revel. Susano is a boisterous, fun loving primal who commands the powers of the storm, moving water and lightning in what he considers celebration.
  • Genshin Impact has the Raiden Shogun, Archon of Electro, and the ruler of Inazuma. Unusually for a God of Thunder, she's a Blue Oni. Not that that's a good thing, since she's (initially) a tyrannical Control Freak obsessed with maintaining her nation's ideal of "eternity".
  • God of War:
    • Zeus is the God of Thunder and the King of Olympus. He is also the father of Kratos, making him an Arch Nemesis Dad to the God of War.
    • In God of War (2018), Thor's name is spoken with fear and reverence as the mighty God of Thunder. Lightning crackles around his hammer, Mjolnir, and he used it to slaughter every giant he came across despite being half-giant himself.
  • Kid Icarus: Uprising: Lightning Flash Phosphora is a goddess that helps command the Forces of Nature alongside Arlon the Serene under the goddess of nature Viridi. She is shown to not only fly with impressive speed, but she is show to have the power of lighting and storms at her beck-and-call.
  • The final villain of The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword, Demise, is an evil god who can control the weather in his personal dimension. He uses this to darken the battlefield and summon lightning storms. His reincarnation, Ganondorf, leans more towards light-based magic.
  • Mortal Kombat: Raiden is the god of thunder and lighting, having been tasked by the Elder Gods to protect Earthrealm from any invading forces that threaten it. When acting as a contestant of the Mortal Kombat Tournament on Earthrealm's behalf, he is as mortal as his opponents and can be killed, but he retains his Shock and Awe powers and routinely uses them for long and short-distance attacks.
  • Pokémon:
    • Pokémon Red and Blue: Zapdos is an Electric/Flying Legendary Pokémon that takes the form of a massive yellow bird and is one of the three Legendary birds of the Kanto region.
    • Pokémon Gold and Silver: Raikou is one of the three Legendary Beasts of the Johto region. Its design is based off of the tiger form of the raiju, a Youkai of Japanese Mythology with power over lightning.
    • Pokémon Black and White: Thundurus is an Electric/Flying-type Legendary Pokémon known for causing immense havoc with its lightning across the Unova region. His design is based off of Raijin, the Shinto god of thunder and lightning.
    • Pokémon Black and White : Zekrom is an Electric/Dragon-type Legendary Pokémon that is a member of the Tao Trio (including Reshiram and Kyurem) and is the embodiment of yin.
    • Pokémon Sun and Moon: Tapu Koko is an Electric/Fairy-type Legendary Pokémon found on Melemele Island, it and its counterparts (Tapu Lele, Tapu Bulu, and Tapu Fini) having been worshipped by the inhabitants of the Islands as gods.
  • Touhou Project has Raiko Horikawa, a tsukumogami (a youkai formed after an object is abandoned for a long time, in this case a drum) with thunder powers whose look is based on the thunder god Raijin and attacks with drums and lightning.
  • Video Game/Fortnite: Zeus, the god of lightning, was added as both a skin and a boss in Monde Olympus in Chapter 5 Season 2.

    Web Animation 

    Webcomics 
  • In Champions of Far'aus, Deities of Lightning are masters of lightning magic, and can raise their body temperature to 30,000c° for half a second, essentially causing a lightning strike where they stand.
  • The Order of the Stick: The Northern Pantheon has Thor, a Boisterous Bruiser thunder god who loves wine and women and is wont to randomly throw out the thunderbolts when things get rowdy. Like the Norse god, he wields a hammer, and is the patron god of the Dwarves, who are the setting's viking equivalent, a race of gruff and honor-bound northern people. Thor is generally portrayed as a God of Good and of all the gods seems to have the most sincere concern for the well-being of humanity. He's a pretty important god in the pantheon, although not the Top God.

    Web Original 
  • Wikipedia has a Weather God article. ("A weather god, also frequently known as a storm god, is a deity in mythology associated with weather phenomena such as thunder, lightning, rain, wind, storms, tornados, and hurricanes.")

    Western Animation 

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Thor

Thor is the Norse God of Thunder, heir to the throne of Asgard and member of the Avengers

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