Magical Enby Sarah Noah
I feel like it should be added that not all gnostics believe that the God of the Hebrew Bible is the demiurge. The belief that the Hebrew God is evil and ignorant is inaccurate to Jewish belief and has been historically used to justify Antisemitism and is a way of saying "Judaism is evil, Christianity is pure". Just seems like a topic that needs more tact.
Edited by MagicalEnby
The guy in the HalfwayBeret
Should the presence of a higher deity be a requirement when listing an example? It seems to me not being the Top God is the primary thing that separates this character type from just being God Is Evil. EDIT: And should actually having some measure of creation powers be a requirement as well? That feels like it is what sets the Demiurge character apart- he created humans, he is a bastard, and he's not even the supreme being.
Edited by MJTR The only thing bigger than my ego is my heart. And imagine what a huge ego I have to brag about my heart like that. Hide / Show Replies
I've been thinking about this, and I feel it is possible for a Demiurge Architype to be present in a work that doesn't have a Top God in its scope.
StarCraft II has Amon who fancies himself as Top God, but is still able to be destroyed by someone with sufficient strength. However, this series primarily focuses on Xel'naga who were betrayed by Amon who hated the responsibilities he has to fulfill with the great power he was granted. It seems the existence of a God over-all is left open to interpretation by fans.
One of the races — The Protoss — have units called Archons, adding yet another curious pointer.
I'm not familiar enough with the source material you're referencing to comment in that direction. The She-Ra example was what got me thinking about this. That Horde Prime character doesn't sound like he answers to anyone and doesn't appear to be the creator of anything significant either. I'm not familiar with that source material either, but the description reads more God-Emperor than Demiurge. It feels to me like a Demiurge stand in has to A) Be a creator god in the setting and B) Have another character who is higher up the divine food chain. I dunno, maybe I'm expecting to narrow of a definition. Some of these just seem closer to God Is Evil.
The only thing bigger than my ego is my heart. And imagine what a huge ego I have to brag about my heart like that.
The idea I meant to share was that I've observed it's possible to have a god-like being who created a race sentient beings but did it in a way that was misusing his powers and needed to be removed from power and replaced with a responsible being. The use of pointer terms such as Archon seems to support this being's status as a Demiurge Archetype, but it doesn't discount the idea of a supreme being that said "Demiurge" has to answer to. It's simply left open to speculation. I'll need to ponder this some more.
Edited by Taxi-Pizzatime
Would someone who styles themselves as the top god of a pantheon, but is similarly a fake, also count? Examples like Maxie Zeus from Batman or the main villain from 10,000 BC come to mind.