Hello my adorable little students, it is I Darklordcomp! Or DLC for short. I have crawled out of the dark cavern of the fandom to bring you an important lecture that may help you become a better writer if you heed my words and pay attention to everything I, the dark lord of comps have to say.

Today’s lecture is about deities and gods, how to write them, when to write them, and when to avoid them like the plague.
A deity is described by Webster as “A god or a goddess.” while a god or goddess is described by Wikipedia (Since Webster just kept throwing the Christian God at me and kept telling me that a Goddess was a very powerful and attractive woman) as “an immortal, supernatural being who is the subject of traditional sacred stories; in religion, an immortal, supernatural being who is the object of worship and prayer.”

Now that we know what a god/goddess/deity is now we can write one into our simply amazing fanfiction right? Have this powerful god come down and declare total war on the ponies and through the power of friendship have our heroes defeat them with force of will, Deus Ex Machina or the power of friendship right!? Yea no, there’s a reason people tend to avoid writing gods into their stories, especially in fandoms where gods, demons, and other deities aren’t defined.

Using fandoms such as Naruto or Legend of Zelda you can write a very believable character who could be a deity, the fandom for Zelda tends to just use the already established gods and goddesses which helps them since they are already well established and loved by the fan base. While the Naruto fandom can get away with a bit more since the story takes place in a world where people summon the death god and fight Godzilla sized demons on a regular basis.

My Little Pony doesn’t have that advantage. Discord is the closest normal thing to a deity that is in the show, being the Spirit of Chaos and Disharmony but he is a subject for a separate lecture. Celestia and Luna aren’t goddesses thanks to word of god by Lauren Faust and Hasbro, think of them more like elves in a sense if you want to give them a class. Tirek was a magic eating leech creature, Sombra was a crystal obsessed spirit pony who wasn’t even strong enough to stop a baby dragon and Cupid from blowing him up with heart powers, Chrysalis was a magic and love eating leech creature that couldn’t stop Cupid and her love interest from blowing her up with heart powers. So as you can see MLP has a problem with gods and it causes writing one to be incredibly hard.

The problems many god characters face in the fandom are these, they are normally written as the hero or villain of the story but they are a god of something that would make them over powered as a character like Death (like actual death uninhibited death like the death gods from Death Note, not like the Grim Reaper where he has a list to check off and can’t kill anyone without permission from someone higher, or Hades who rules the underworld and decides where you go when you die.), they make them more in line with the Abrahamic God instead of other mythological beings like Zeus, and they tend to give them no real in-depth back story to fall back on as a lore for the character.

Let’s look at the first problem, a hero/villain god can be a good thing and has been done right even in our own fandom, especially since people tend to call Discord, Celestia, and Luna gods but keep them at their relative power level or make it so it’s more like Greek gods than anything. Looking at Celestia in most forms of fanfiction where she is portrayed as a deity she is normally given the title Sol Invictus the unconquered sun, a Roman deity associated with the Sun and the Roman legion. This makes sense since Celestia is surrounded by legionnaire ponies and well moves the sun. She is normally able to call down the sun’s power and use it as her own and while peaceful is very proficient at war thus the name Unconquered Sun. The one thing they didn’t make her though in these stories is all powerful, like the Roman and Greek pantheon that the writers drew inspiration from she has weaknesses, flaws and sometimes falls to her Hubris. These are all important things you have to look at when writing a god.

The reason stories that feature the Pale Pony, Mortis or as we know him in real life the Grim Reaper, do so well is because He has limits. He can’t act on his own, he works for a higher power like in the book of Revelation where it states “I looked, and there before me was a pale horse! Its rider was named Death, and Hades was following close behind him. They were given power over a fourth of the earth to kill by sword, famine and plague, and by the wild beasts of the earth.” If you look Death and Hades were given the power to kill, they were told to by God, they couldn’t just go out and do what they pleased they had to be assigned to do so.

Gods have to have limits just like any other character, if you notice Discord is limited, he can be fooled by someone crafty like Tirek and have his pride used against him, he’s still one of the most powerful characters in the show, but he has limits to that power and he still makes mistakes. So by extension your character has to make mistakes as well. Here are some powers you don’t want to give your deity.

Omnipotence: don’t let them see into the future or know everything that can be or will be, that is bad for the plot and makes them unstoppable if they are the villain. If they do have an ability that lets them see into the future make it so they can only see one of many possible futures and that the future can be changed, it gives you a moral for your story and gives the god character an obvious weakness that can be exploited.

The Power of Creation: The power of creation is fantastic, you say let there be light and light pops into existence. But just like the god that has this power you have to give it limits, give them an evil counterpart that is meant to destroy, make it so they can’t create everything and only have domain over one part of reality that way they aren’t all powerful like the Christian God, who according to Christian lore decides when the world lives and when the world dies because he owns the world basically.

Perfect: Being perfect in every way is something that has only really been associated too the Abrahamic religions deity, most other religions have their gods based around the people who live at the time and have the gods show the hubris and flaws that humanity has so that we can relate to them. Zeus was an overbearing father and loved sex a bit too much, Hera was a jealous and wrathful wife and also a hateful mother to any child she deemed unworthy (Hephaestus who was so ugly she threw him off mount Olympus) the list goes on. Your character has to have flaws they can’t be like God almighty who is perfect in every way shape or form and can do no wrong, they have to be able to fuck up.

Anything normally associated with the Abrahamic God is generally a do not touch, One reason for this is you will offend someone. While similar in belief the Abrahamic religions have very different views on their God. Christianity believes he is a loving God and that he sent his Son (who is also God but that’s a story for another day) down to earth to die for our sins and come back after going to hell for three days to forgive those who were in hell and gave his apostles the holy spirit (who is also God but again to long to explain) Judaism believes that there is only one God who created everything and anyone who says that Jesus or the Holy Spirit are also god is a lying heretic, and Islam believes that There is one God but believes that the Christians and Jews worship him but the Christians are just misguided in worshiping Jesus Who is a prophet but still considered the messiah in Islamic text. The reason you don’t want to offend anyone is because while you may not think it and it might not be obvious in our fandom there are a lot of religious people who read on this site. They can and will make up a good portion of your fan base, especially since Christianity and Islam are the most followed religions on the planet.

The other problem that we haven’t touched on yet is they don’t think of a backstory for their character. With a normal OC you could get away with this, saying something along the lines of “He came out of the woodwork on his way to ponyville so he could meet Princess Twilight and then clop happens” and then make up the OC’s back story as you write, sure that works (sometimes) because people tend to follow a character to learn their story anyway and adding some lore to the character as the story progresses can be a good thing, but with a god that doesn’t work. A god character means world building, the process of creating an imaginary world or universe. The reason J.R.R Tolken and George R.R Martin’s books seem so fantastical and awesome is because they spent YEARS making up the lore, the language, the character, setting, back story, and other events so that the world could feel alive. Tolken literally made up LANUGAGES to make his world seem more lifelike. When you create your deity you have to do the same, not spend years of course, but spend time creating the back story and thinking of the lore for the god, who worships him, why is he here, what is he generally known for, does he know about the lore centered around him, in the story will he prove the lore wrong, ETC. This isn’t some OC character that you can make up as you write, this is a god, the embodiment of a force in Equestria, and you need to treat it as such.

If you have any questions or comments leave them below and I’ll answer them, thank you for your time my students and I’ll see you again before I leave for India next week for a lecture on how to avoid over used plot lines.

Since we are dealing with a deity and we can't dribble in background info so we could avoid the dreaded infodump.
How do we show the backstory of a deity and still make it interesting?

Kudos for an interesting topic.

-----
Norse myths take the idea that the gods/goddesses are just more powerful people by adding that the gods can die.
Even the gods had other tribes of deities to worry about.

Baldur died.
Odin died but came back.

4419511 Good question, flash backs are always a good way to show the back story of a character even your deity, another way to establish a back story is to show it in the prologue or dedicate a chapter after major events to explaining the gods character. Interlude chapters are fantastic ways to keep the story interesting while taking a break from one particular thing, maybe when your character is struck down and you end off on a cliff hanger you have an interlude chapter explaining something, or maybe right before a fight or major event have an interlude chapter that explains the character. the info dump is another way to do it like having Twilight Sparkle or Celestia give exposition on the god in question, they can be a very good tool if used correctly but are also easy to mess up so use them wisely.

4418970
Oh, hey. You are one of the people with the [+] next to your name. Neat.

So, in short, your advice is: Don't make a boring character. Give them depth and a believable set of limits and flaws. The Abrahamic God is a poor model to work off of, and other mythos have much more interesting gods to take inspiration from. Also, something as powerful and important as a god needs a lot more justification than a regular pony. It's a big world-building prospect, and if you don't do all the work, you're going to end up writing something that looks and feels cheap.

Except for the last part, pretty much the same set of guidelines you'd use for any character. Make them interesting, don't base them off of shitty originals. Even the last part is fairly relevant to any character: introduce them to the readers in a believable and elegant way.

4419899 they take a bit more work than a regular character yes but unlike an regular of they have the prospect of breaking the story. I never said the abrahamic god is a shitty way to do a god I said you should avoid using him as a templet because he is all powerful and likely to offend people who worship him

4419899 and what + on my name

4420104
Usually the best way to go us use the Roman and Greek pantheon as a template. They have obvious limitations in many regards. As well if I may add depending solely on making any gods an alicorn wouldn't be a good idea, one because it's so common. Mind it can be done but still its overused and frankly a little predictable. Think outside the box!
Hell break those walls down and turn it into a bloody triangle.
We have a plethora of creatures to use within Equestria, even then there is a lot MLP has yet to use in terms of mythological creatures

4420657 In Twilight Sparkle of the royal guard they talked about how Anubis created Diamond dogs and was generally badass

4420692
Yeah read that one it was great. Loved how he was depicted. My favorite God was actually interestingly enough depicted as an Alicorn, and that was Faith from The Abundance. In this story the 'Gods' are known as Abstracts in that they represent a specific virtue or emotion.

Faith is an example of great character building. He has a complex witty personality and great backstory. He has his own goals as well and is a proactive character.

Also some of the funniest lines I've read in fan fiction

4420692
Hey you know what would be a great exercise for this lecture. Have people create their own deities. Provide some background, what they hold power over, all that good stuff.

4420754 INDEED!

4420747 My favorite representation of gods in this fandom came from the fanfiction the Great Slave King it had the gods (including Celestia and Luna) As immortal beings who stumbled upon their domain, who became immortal from a pool of water and can be killed by another being to have their domain taken from them.

4420870
The King is Dead Long Live the Emperor. Shame it hasn't been updated in a while. Good story.

4418970

Celestia and Luna aren’t goddesses thanks to word of god by Lauren Faust and Hasbro

Word of god or not, what we see of them in the show clearly fits the definition of demigoddesses. Also, most people don't follow the show's producers on Twitter or DA anyway.

That's my two bits, have a good one.

4420913 Demigoddesses are basically Hercules and other greek heroes, I'm saying that thanks to word from the author they aren't god's more like reaaaaaaaaaaaaly powerful ponies

4418970
I'm surprised the Immortal Game hasn't come up yet. I thought it had an excellent pantheon for their deities. It had extremely well-rounded characters in general. You had a good sense of what their capabilities were and I liked that the Mane Six -par excellence in their own fields- were able to hold their own -in their own stupendously bad-ass way- against them. The ponies were pretty well-balanced in their abilities and you could see that the pony deities had the same attributes as our heroines just on a larger scale; more magic, a faster healing factor, better speed and weather manipulation.
...
Does Sombra even count as an antagonist? Twilight obsession with Celestia was more of a hindrance to their success than he was.

4421281
Hello,
May I ask some questions?
The greek god may be one of the best pallettes for working.
Moving of to other fictional medias and existing examples,
what type of god can be used as the base to start working on?
Or, what are the attributes that make these gods "believable" so to say?
We have memorable fictional gods like Gozer from ghotbusters and the Raiden from Mortal Kombat
and god-like beings like Darkseid form DC universe and Galactus from Marvel.
In those universes, THose gods are pretty impressive (sorry, if not they wouln'd be considered gods) but the heroes are very powerful as well. Ponies are not particulary powerless, especially when talking about unicorns.
What could be copnsidered an appropiate power level difference to make the story interesting yet still having a chance to win?
Something in particular I noticed is most of them are villains. It is a common practice to face the heroes against much stronger villains to make the story more interesting and who can fulfill that place better than a god.
Is there a circumstance where they can be the hero or take a neutral stance in the development of the story?

Finally let's not forget about a regular character gaining god-like powers.
Like Kefka Palazzo in Final Fantasy, Ivo Shandor in Ghostbusters VG or Sunset Shimmer (Sorry, those were the only examples I remembered at the moment).
Thank you for your time.

4420275
That you're an admin, and unlike most people, are actually alllowed to start your own threads in this group.

We've had so many 'tards breaking that rule that it's surprising to see a legit new thread.

4431412 Ah well then I guess it's time for me to start hunting isn't it

4432601
No need to hunt. One of your other admins has been doing a bangup job of locking and deleting them as they happen. He deserves a medal.

4432637 oh you mean the boss

Ah, very interesting lecture!
But I think a very important thing about writing a deity is to know exactly what kind of god it would be - as was said before. Here is a list with the most common kinds of gods:

Cosmic God:
Omniscient, omnipresent, omnipotent. Often Creator of the universe or at least a primordeal being. Usually needs some kind of avatar if It wants to interact with mortals. This can be a lesser god, a demigod, a mortal, strange animals or plants, signs in nature like cloud patterns or waves on a pond.
Examples: The Abrahamic god, the Hindu god Brahma, Chaos from the Greek Pantheon.

Earthly God:
A being of enormous power, sometimes omnipotent, but with human flaws like hubris, wrath, or love. Usually either immortal or nearly immortal.
Often represents something specific, like the sea, crops, or doors. Usually isn´t the thing itself.
Examples: Most gods and godesses of the Greek, Nordic, Hindu pantheons. "Power level" sometimes depends on what it represents.

Regional Protection Spirit
The conscious spirit of a region. Sometimes a divine being, sometimes rather like an elve or a ghost. Watches over a specific piece of land, a forest, a river, a mountain/mountain range, sea, etc. Often inhibits the substance of the region itself. Usually cares for either all inhabitants of the region, or sometimes only for some (Only humans/All but humans/Only plants/etc.)
Nearly always has the same name as the region.
Examples: The Roman goddess Roma, the Greek God Aegaeas, Hindu goddess Ganga.

Earthly Personification
The personification of something specific, that exists on Earth, that can easily be seen and touched, like the air, the sea, rocks, ice, trees, etc.
In some pantheons, like the Greek, an Earthly God can rule over a thing that also is an Eartly Personification.
For example, Poseidon is god of the, but Pontus is the sea itself. Same thing with Zeus and Ouranus.
Can be primordeal if the thing had always/nearly always existed, like Gaia in the Greek Pantheon.

Metaphorical Personification
The personification of something that isn´t easyily touched, like Love, Justice, Fate, Luck, Mercy, Death, Time, and so on.
Personifications of a season also count in this category.
Can be primordeal, sometimes part of a Cosmic God.
Usually has the same name as the thing it is.

Both versions often can take human-like form (or something similar), a good example for this is the previously mentioned Grim Reaper.

Demigod/Gifted Mortal/Avatar/Eye of a God/Apotheated Mortal/Saint:
An often very powerfull mortal who has, for one reason or another, some god-like features, but is still mortal. Is sometimes worshipped like a god.

Of course these categorys can intervine and overlap, and there will always be some examples that fit into none of them, however, I hope this list is a good help for someone wanting to "create a god."

I'm glad that I actually found this topic, for a fanfiction that I have in mind involves some deities-more specifically, species deities (y'know, a deity for the three pony species, dragons, changelings, griffins, etc). Now, bear with me, I have been starting on writing up on their lore and backstories, and they will have weaknesses.
Originally I planned to write one story where a deity that, in a way, has fallen from grace, is the main antagonist. However, do you think that it would be smarter to start with a series of one shots (or something similar, all collected into one fanfiction) explaining the deities and their lore?

4433234 What do you mean like gods, like alicorns or straight up gods? I have never seen a story that says there was a god in it.

4617910 You have only been a member on the site since july you'll see them.

4618592 Ok do you know any story's that have them?

4619213 A few i'll PM you some of the good or well done ones

4619669 Ok thanks again.

4619669 Hey. I'm sorry, but I wanted to see if there was a way that someone could check on the various deities I've made for a few fanfics (they could also count as world-building as well, I guess)

4691962 Yea go ahead and send me them :)

4692061 Just sent it to ya! Hope they're okay! Spent weeks developing them!

EDIT: 4692061 Should I just post them on this forum? I don't want to cause I'm afraid of someone stealing my ideas, but if I have to I will.

4418970

Christianity believes he is a loving God and that he sent his Son (who is also God but that’s a story for another day) down to earth to die for our sins and come back after going to hell for three days to forgive those who were in hell and gave his apostles the holy spirit (who is also God but again to long to explain)

One, the Bible never said he went to hell, and two, he didn't die to forgive those who are in hell. It's too late for them. He died to save the living from going to hell when they die. But it's a gift, so if they don't accept it the don't receive it. Kind of like on your birthday, someone can try to give you a present, but if you won't take it, it's not yours.

6524412
Didn't post this to start philosophical debate.

6524427
I don't want a philosophical debate either. But I've seen in multiple threads that mention the Christian God that they don't want to offend Christians, and getting part of the Bible wrong will definatly offend them. So I just thought I'd point that out.

6524452
It isn't possible to avoid getting it wrong, because the Bible contradicts itself. Also, several versions of the Bible that say different things and therefore make it impossible to get anything right.

6524456
There is an argument against that, but I don't know it. I'm sure a pastor could tell you all about it. There are also plenty of good books about it. I think one is called "Demolishing Supposed Bible Contradictions". The Answers in Genesis website is a good one too. Anyway, I don't think this is the place for this conversation. So let's end it here. Besides, you've made up your mind about what to believe, and I don't think I can get you to change it.

6524468

The Answers in Genesis website is a good one too.

No, it really isn't.

Besides, you've made up your mind about what to believe, and I don't think I can get you to change it.

As have you. That's the problem.

Anyway, I don't think this is the place for this conversation.

Correct. It isn't. You ought not have attempted to start it.

To recap, you have a limited understanding of the topic and attempted to correct someone. The topic you attempted to make the correction on is contested at best, not certain. Your worry that someone might be offended is merely a cover, because your solution doesn't prevent that.

Nice try though.

6525001
Sorry. By the way i'm a Christian so that's why I said it. It won't happen again.

4418970
How not to write them? That's easy. Just cut off your hands.

6525001
I'm really sorry about what I said. And also for that other time for what I said in your blog. That time I had the wrong understanding of the meaning of a word you used which led to a misunderstanding between us which led to an inappropriate discussion. At least, I thought it was inappropriate. I know you're not a Christian, so you probably thought it was fine. Except for the part where I deleted all my comments before you saw some of them. I'm really sorry about that too. I hope you can forgive me. I'm a young teenager and I've only recently been allowed to use this website and another social media, so I'm still trying to learn proper internet behavior. I make a lot of mistakes. You should know that if I ever say something wrong, all you have to do is tell me that it was wrong and I won't ever do it again. I'm sorry. I tried to say this in a pm, but it wasn't working. I tried to apologise last time too, but it didn't work that time either. So I had to say it here.

Hi since your talking about god's and deity's I have a question that I've been struggling with to do right I have a oc that's bound to 4elemtal demons each giving him a aspect of there power along with a sense of vulnerability to him and he can be killed he's just really hard to kill and can heal out of a combat situation but it's slow going and he has a ability to walk between dimensions but it leaves him drained and vulnerable for a long time but I struggle with explong how he met them how he earned the respect to use there powers and we'll how to convey he exerts alot of control to not harm others by accident but my first fic using them I showed a connection to his emotional state his anger in particular where if he gives Into rage and fully let's loose while enraged it can show him being a danger to everyone around him barring the ones he loves most being able to snap him out of his rage sorry I'm rambling but been trying to get him right in a fic for 9yrs