To kill a God

[Keava]

Personally im a fan of the theory used in some works of fiction already (for eg. American Gods, Pratchett's Hogfather and in a way Black&White game).

Any god is only as strong as the faith of his believers, the more people believe in the god's existence the more powerful he is, however as time passes and new gods take the spotlight he slowly get's forgotten, becoming a minor spirit and eventually with death of last 'faithful' he dies.

Probably the clearest example of it was Hogfather where Guild of Assassins was asked to kill the Dicsworld's version of Santa Claus. Mr. Teatime there, approached it by kidnapping the Toothfairy and through all the magic within the children's teeth he caused them to stop believing in Hogfather.

Depends what god you're talking about, surely?

I'm sure Greek, Roman and Norse gods, for example, were killable, it was just really fucking difficult.
On a side-note, I find it hilarious how we now regard these as interesting stories, whereas religions today is taken ever-so-seriously and fully expect to live on forever, since they're all the "true" religion. Oh, logic.

Umh, they weren't exactly killable except by other immortals.
As for the footnote however, i think big part of blame lies in late Roman Empire ruler (i forgot the exact name) who pretty much dictated which of the books are to be considered canon of the Catholic faith, removing some of the more fantastical stories. Good example of it is excluding the Book of Henoch which told the story of fall of the angles or the history of Lilith.

Considering the fact that Catholic religion has it's root in Judaism which in turn was based heavily on early Semitic beliefs including Babylonian and Sumerian mythology, we lost big part of it. Those ancient texts had much more stories including all sorts of demons, angels and even minor gods.

 

[dancinginfernal]

There is no God.

See? I just killed him.

If only that worked with the Reapers. The Turian Councillor would be our savior at this point.

OT: I find it a more interesting story element that you can't actually kill a god, but can knock him out of power for quite a while.

 

[Merkavar]

what stories have mortals killing gods. im probably just ignorant but the only stories i can think of right now involve half gods killing gods.

i dont think a mortal alone can kill a god. I would go on some epic quest somewhere to get a weapon created with the sole purpose of killing the god. then go on a epicer quest into the gods domain and kill them.

 

[Ajna]

Use the subtle knife.

Mega cookie is yours if you get reference.

But... They didn't use the knife to kill him. They just sorta... Opened up the casket.

 

[onebignumbskull]

write its name in the death note

 

[Adam McKeitch]

Bribe Chuck Norris to Roundhouse the god to death. Make it a good bribe though!

 

[Life_Is_A_Mess]

How to kill something that doesn't exist? (Trolling troll is trolling, disregard XD)

OT:

Serious approach: - It would depend if he/she assumed a physical form or not. If he/she did, cut off head. If not... er... Not believing in it?

Not so serious approach: - Form an unbeatable tag team involving Kratos and Chuck Norris!

 

[infohippie]

Last theory, I make a large perfect vacuum of space (shaped like a box), fool the victim god into entering it, where inside he finds nothing. The box sides have been turned into an infinite loop, but the victim will feel no turns or inclined planes to suggest it is a loop. I have also warped the box through the fourth dimension into a fourth dimensional loop where there is a new version of the already imprisoned god spawned every few centuries from copied genetics from the very original god. Time is still linear in the box it just has been folded through the fourth dimension providing access to the genetics of the very first god. But the new gods would have no prior knowledge of life outside the box. The box would become everything to them. And yes it might be possible that there would be a new god spawned for each god there, but eventually one of them would grow up and kill the original god. This would create a time paradox in which the original god is destroyed, this would kill all the new gods because they couldn't be born due to the genetics of the first god not being able to be copied thanks to the linearity of time in the box.

Rube Goldberg is still alive, and posting on the internet.

 

[Paksenarrion]

Well, first you have to deal with the Angels, but to do that, you need to create biomechanical monsters made from Lilith that have a good chance of going berserk.

Then you need angsty teenage pilots.

 

[Kumomaru]

I've played a few games where there are both mortals and gods, and i can safely say that there are far better ways to get rid of a god than killing him. (One example was constant, unending torture and mutation until he forgot his identity and became a willing sex slave for the robotic goddess torturing him but it's highly disturbing and i don't feel like posting it)

As for mortals actually killing a god, I'd find it far more interesting that the god allowed himself to be killed or the mortal in question had something secret about him that made killing a god a viable option (like how Achilles got put in a river to become invulnerable)

 

[Nigh Invulnerable]

You have to be 21st Level to even damage a god.

I've still got a ways to go before Epic levels.

I like the cut of your jib, sir/madam.

 

[JaceArveduin]

In the Forgotten Realms campaign setting, a powerful and crazy wizard tried to ascend to godhood, and in doing so destroyed the weave (the medium and syntax through which all magic functions.) Mystral, the goddess of magic, sacrificed herself to prevent the world from being destroyed. Then another mortal ascended into her position and became Mistra. I like that one.

I actually remember reading that series a few years back, something about commands being stolen and the overlord god whos name escapes me finally got tired of it, smashed the "powerful" tablets, and proceeded to knock some of the gods down a few rungs and pulled some mortals in their place.

edit- wait, you said campaign? i know i read that somewhere.

 

[Daverson]

Deicide... now this largely depends on how you define a god.

If we're talking a conceptual god, like say... well... God, destruction is as simple as either killing or dereligioning (making up words on the fly, that's how I roll!) all His/Her/Its followers.

If we're talking some sort of cult of personality (ie, "[Pop Star] is my GOD"... I hate these people), plain ol' death'll usually work. Of course, this can sometimes backfire ("The King is Alive, Baby!"), refer back to conceptual gods in this case.

Star Gods aren't Gods per-say just really powerful aliens (this would anything ranging from a Goa'uld to a C'Tan). You'll usually need to find some sort of special weapon, such as a Anti-Tachyon Projection Lance (making up advanced technology on the fly, that's how I roll... I mean, Anti-Tachyon? I think I might just have out-stupided "Element Zero"). As above, you may need to de-God the local populace afterwards, as they'll still believe in their Gods. (Unlike above though, there's a tendency for these to actually have ways to return through the faith of their followers, so it's best to have a method of getting rid of them too)

Finally, you've got your "actual" God. Erm, this is where things get tricky. Technically speaking, you can't kill an all-knowing and all-powerful God unless It wants to. In which case, history has already been written up until the death of this God, and you can only kill It if you're destined to do so, in which case, you can't not kill It. This raises too many issues, and trying to get around being unable to kill It (or unable to not kill It, as the case may be) is going to give you a serious headache. My guess is, the only way you can kill it is to become a God yourself.

Hopefully this post has been helpful to all aspiring deicidal maniacs out there =)

 

[Shirokurou]

1)What is your stance on the whole god-killing thing?
It's just like killing time.

2)How would you, as a mortal, go about doing it?
Stop believing.

 

[shiig]

Killing a god generally requires a trip to their domain, which may be the hardest bit. It is then feasible, for a god can only be hurt on it's home plane. Then you would need a weapon of great power, like the Crescent Sword (See Forgotten Realms) in order to succeed.

Other theories include erasing the god's name, which would then deprive it of the worshipers that feed it's power, and slowly destroying it.

And gods can kill each other, but that gets a little bit more difficult.

 

[Agayek]

It depends on how it's done. Some schmuck being able to kill the White God? Yea that's not going to happen. If only because aforementioned god doesn't even have a physical form to kill.

Things like God of War though pull it off just fine. In most ancient mythos, the gods are nothing more than normal humans with superpowers. They get killed all the time (within their own mythologies). It makes plenty of sense for a mortal to be able to off them. Especially if said mortal is a demigod.

 

[funguy2121]

Realize he doesn't exist.

Ha-ha! Points to Baltar, from whom I stole this. But that man has no taste in women anywho. Caprica? We all know Boomer was the real hottie.

 

[Scorched_Cascade]

Hopefully this post has been helpful to all aspiring deicidal maniacs out there =)

Deicide is my favourite type of cide, it's closely followed by Regicide. Aim for the stars, that way when the aliens come the guns are already targeted.

Depends what god you're talking about, surely?

I'm sure Greek, Roman and Norse gods, for example, were killable, it was just really fucking difficult.

I suppose I should have defined what I meant by God but leaving it open allows people more thinking room. I was also allowing for the less seriously minded (like myself usually) a chance to have a bit of fun without derailing a thread.

As a side note I find it interesting how many people took "a God" to mean the Judeo-Christo-Islamic God. The divide between those who see "a God" as a physical avatar compared with those who see it as an abstract entity is also interesting.

 

[Woodsey]

Hopefully this post has been helpful to all aspiring deicidal maniacs out there =)

Deicide is my favourite type of cide, it's closely followed by Regicide. Aim for the stars, that way when the aliens come the guns are already targeted.

Depends what god you're talking about, surely?

I'm sure Greek, Roman and Norse gods, for example, were killable, it was just really fucking difficult.

I suppose I should have defined what I meant by God but leaving it open allows people more thinking room. I was also allowing for the less seriously minded (like myself usually) a chance to have a bit of fun without derailing a thread. As a side note I find it interesting how many people took "a God" to mean the Judeo-Christo-Islamic God. The divide between those who see "a God" as a physical avatar compared with those who see it as an abstract entity is also interesting.

To be fair, you capitalised god, which can lead people to think of the most popular one right now.

I just like pointing out that there have been sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo maaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaany gods before that the whole thing is a little silly.

 

[Sieggy]

My interpretation of god is that the entity exists on a higher plane of existence. Like how scientist thinks a black hole exists in the fourth dimension, the entity known as 'god' also lives there.

As an example, there are stories about the flatland (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flatland) where the people there lives on a 2-D plane. They viewed the 3-D planes of ours differently, treating it with denial like how people once disprove the existence of time/space continuum.

Back to the topic, the 'god' lives on the fourth dimension, time/space continuum. With time loose for him, he may jump to anywhere in the time of the universe with infinite lifespan.

With that background established, we can answer that:

1. God is just another being that so happens to be able to jump to anywhere in time altering anything without us ever understanding it, 'miracles' or so it's called. If this is god, he may be able to be killed; but to what end? No use killing someone this powerful.

2. I would need to either jump into the 4th dimension manually (eg. wormhole), or integrate my physical body into a being of the higher plane of existence. If that doesn't kill me in the process, I will have a shot to kill god seeing we now stand on the same ground.