To kill a God

[knight steel]

Find out gods true name for with a name you can control that person/object completely ^_^.

I did. It's Steve.

Anyway, I'd disbelieve in the God, because, according to most lore, Gods lose power with noone believing in them.

Really?......which god are you talking to because mine is named Bob.

Mine is the god of Icecream. His friend, Jeff, the god of biscuits have a lot of fun together having delicious adventures.

Damn your so lucky mines the god of faxing -_-.

 

[BiscuitTrouser]

Two questions, depending on your mood and the seriousness of your disposition, answer whichever you'd like.

1)What is your stance on the whole god-killing thing?
2)How would you, as a mortal, go about doing it?

Spoiler: background

I've seen quite a few posts around arguing that having a mortal kill a God is impossible and therefore bad, or at least clumsy, storytelling; said posters state that a god is immortal and therefore having them killed off breaks the premise.

Personally I think that if done well it can be quite a powerful story telling device, particularly if the God is not actually killed just rendered ineffective.

As for how? I'd go with bifurcating it and burying each part at a separate cross roads face down with a sprig of Hawthorne and a wild rose in it's mouth...or am I muddling my lore.

I believe you can kill Gods. I dont know how it can be done intentionally. But you cant deny it can be done. Remember the egyptions? An empire and a religion that lasted FOUR THOUSAND YEARS. They worshipped their gods with mighty temples and monuments of monolithic size. Now they are dead, their achievements ashes, their gods fairytales and ancient history. The gods, once worshipped with a fervor that created buildings to last 4 millenia are now dust... The gods need something from us apparently.. we can deny them it. Maybe its our faith.

Are we so blind and arrogant as to think WE are special? That OUR gods are any more real than those that lasted 4 times as long? Had followers in the millions who NEVER waivered in their faith? Our gods will die. As all gods do.

 

[knight steel]

Find out gods true name for with a name you can control that person/object completely ^_^.

Please please pretty please tell me that you're referring to the works of Ursula Le Guin, and not Christopher Paolina. Please please please please.

OT: I like the Terry Pratchett/Raymond Feist approach. Remove or kill off all the worshippers, and the gods become totally powerless.

I'm sorry i got it from Christopher Paolina Eragon book, who's Ursula Le Guin?

Haha, it's not that important, but if you're looking for a new book to read sometime soon, try the Wizard of Earthsea. It's where the Ancient Language and the true names of things in the Eragon books came from, and it's a very good read.

Sounds good i need another good read [i love books have read all of the HP books 3 times, LOTR books 2 times etc....]. Just out of curiosity why does every one seem to dislike the Eragon books?

I don't exactly hate it - I've read all the books so far, and I'll probably read the last - but it annoys me.

A lot of people take issue with CP's use of purple prose, but that doesn't bother me so much. The thing that really does bother me is that it's so obviously plagiarized, everywhere you look.

Roran is a carbon copy of Perrin from the Wheel of Time series, the Ancient language is taken from Ursula Le Guin's work, the flaming blue sword, and an entire chapter, are copied out of the works of David Eddings, and the plot is pretty much Star Wars. There are a few more things, but essentially, that's the pattern.[footnote]Not to mention Tolkien, but plagiarizing the Lord of the Rings seems to be pretty much the norm for fantasy these days :S[/footnote]

It doesn't detract from the work itself, which is enjoyable, if not great, but it is annoying that the author has sold a ludicrous number of so obviously plagiarized books.

There's an article about it here - http://telpenori.blogspot.com/2007/02/paolini-and-plagiarism_28.html - if you want to read more, but I don't blame you if you don't.

Anyway, and much more importantly, read the Wizard of Earthsea!

Yeah i know what you mean, but with all the movies/books out there it's hard not to plagiarize still it's not an excuse i guess one of the main reasons i don't mind so much is because he was so young when he started [15]. Now about the Wizard of Earthsea I'm sure my brother has a copy [rampages around] found it ^_^.

 

[Deadyawn]

Use the subtle knife.

Mega cookie is yours if you get reference.

Philip Pullman's novel "The Subtle Knife"
Now exactly how big is said Mega cookie?

EDIT: Yeah when I made this response I didn't really think ahead. So many people ninja'd me and even the guy below me did as well. I don't feel special anymore...

 

[The Funslinger]

Use the subtle knife.

Mega cookie is yours if you get reference.

Subtle knife, from the book of the same name in the "his dark materials" trilogy. The knife can cut anything, even the fabric of dimensions. Please, young one, do not presume to test me. XD

 

[Laser Priest]

I killed a god once. Rolled a twenty for the most overpowered attack I had and unraveled existence itself.

Wait, what?

 

[Saelune]

In DnD, gods come and go and have varying power and can die, so it makes sense in DnD.

Depends on how the universe and God works. If God IS existance, "killing" it would end existance. Being able to kill a God just means the God is not needed to keep existance going. It all depends on the lore.

 

[Ulvai]

Salvation Wars: Pantheocide.
It really depends on definition as said above (numerous times), for example you can kill pagan gods (mostly), it will be hard, since they can turn you into a toad and teleport straight into sun, but they do die. Take Baldur for example.

 

[ChaoticLegion]

That would entirely depends on how you categorised this "god".

It was once very wisely stated that technology of a superior nature is often indistinguishable from magic, could it not be that 'god' (if real) is nothing more than a member, even possibly the lest, of some advanced alien culture?

If the above is to be true, while killing it could be difficult, i'd presume it to be wholly possible.

 

[God's Clown]

You cast Vanish on him first. After that takes effect, use X-zone. Instantly dies.

I also hear stabbing works very well.

 

[Deadyawn]

Gods can be killed. It's just stupidly hard because when their on low health they teleport away. How much would it suck if you didn't know that and were fighting a god and they just ran away to regenerate their health and ambush you at some later date at the worst time like if you're in the toilet or something. Worst. Death. Ever.

Also: How would I go about killing a god? I would use Chuck Norris...Or a garden gnome.

 

[tzimize]

Two questions, depending on your mood and the seriousness of your disposition, answer whichever you'd like.

1)What is your stance on the whole god-killing thing?
2)How would you, as a mortal, go about doing it?

Spoiler: background

I've seen quite a few posts around arguing that having a mortal kill a God is impossible and therefore bad, or at least clumsy, storytelling; said posters state that a god is immortal and therefore having them killed off breaks the premise.

Personally I think that if done well it can be quite a powerful story telling device, particularly if the God is not actually killed just rendered ineffective.

As for how? I'd go with bifurcating it and burying each part at a separate cross roads face down with a sprig of Hawthorne and a wild rose in it's mouth...or am I muddling my lore.

1) Why not? If you are writing a story where gods are active/visible enough for you to know about them you can create the lore any way you want. A god can be so many things. The "real" religions all have different albeit similar views of what a god is. If you create the lore, you define the being.

2) No idea. If we're treating gods a bit similar to "our" god, i.e. a supreme being that has given us free will and doesnt interfere in earthly business, the only thing that is missing is an instrument of his demise/death. Some fabled weapon or power, usually tied to a suitably cheesy prophecy.

If we're treating gods as simply a very, VERY powerful being...its potentially a bit worse. But if you're left alone long enough you'll outlevel him and kill him in straight up combat.

 

[MetalGenocide]

You can kill a "god", by gathering and using your willpower while.....

Spoiler: EXTREME COMPUTER BUILDING!

youtube=_npkWGwYJpU

Or at least fight it/them.

 

[Antwerp Caveman]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kyYS-GzBSIg

 

[Akiada]

Depends. I think all sorts of approaches to the idea can be fun in their own right. There's something awesome to, say, certain D&D settings or Exalted's approach where someone can go from a totally worthless-in-the-grand-scheme-of-things mortal to a veritable demigod and eventually tear down not only the gods themselves, but the gods of the gods. The legendary god-slaying mortal/demigod idea is really really fun.

On the other hand, I'm also a fan of Digger's idea that though a god can 'die' they don't really die like a mortal might. What they were is destroyed but they become something new, like a caterpillar becoming a butterfly or so on.

Lots of ways to go about it, all pretty fun.

 

[Mr Companion]

1: Work for the gods until they let you join their club
2: Shove all your power into a giant sword
3: Summon an army of Titans
4: Get your hands dirty
5: Use hope to beat the s**t into god?