To kill a God

[Leg End]

No "God" can ever truly be immortal, as they follow a set of existential guidelines.

None of which apply to me. That bastard will meet his end by my blade.

Basically, I would just... "devour" him. >.>

you're right no 'God' is ever immortal, a God on the other has to be, it's pretty much a pre-requisite.

Yet they all fall so easily. >.>

By that pre-requisite, I am a God. <.<

Yet, I'm not.

 

[CrustyOatmeal]

i think when it comes to storytelling i think it is ok to "kill" a god for one of two reasons:

-the "god" isnt really a god, just a super powerful being that people hyped as being a god (you know, how fans will hype a sports team as being so good they are unbeatable)
-the god doesnt really die, his shell dies and he just dissipated and becomes reformed elsewhere

 

[The Apothecarry]

Roll a natural 20, then another natural 20, and hope you roll maximum on your damage.

 

[Scorched_Cascade]

Depends on your definition of god.

I say cut off their head. Nothing survives without a head, not even a god.

What makes you think a all powerful being would even need/have a head?

If it bleeds, we can kill it.

Do you know why the Gods ask for blood sacrifice? It is because Gods do. not. bleed! [./obscure movie quote]

i think when it comes to storytelling i think it is ok to "kill" a god for one of two reasons:

-the "god" isnt really a god, just a super powerful being that people hyped as being a god (you know, how fans will hype a sports team as being so good they are unbeatable)
-the god doesnt really die, his shell dies and he just dissipated and becomes reformed elsewhere

So it is okay to kill something if you know it will be reformed at a later date? Forgive the slight off-topic but are you a bundle theorist?

If teleportation existed in it's sci-fi sense and worked 100% of the time would you do it? The teleportation process involves lasers systematically scanning you and vaporizing you in a nanosecond while at the same time at your destination an exact copy of your body is made using stored biological materials.

Would you do it? Or do you believe there is some part of you that is fundamentally you and the destruction of your body would destroy that?

 

[Flamehero1]

Use the subtle knife.

Mega cookie is yours if you get reference.

I haven't read those books since high school, good call.

Haha thanks man I read them the other day and they still rock.

 

[Flamehero1]

Use the subtle knife.

Mega cookie is yours if you get reference.

But they didn't use the subtle knife to kill Metatron...

They tackled him.

Like a Boss.

But metatron wasn't god. God was the guy in the sphere thing that was old.

 

[yndsu]

You can kill a god, but you cant kill God.
As God the creator of everything. All the gods you see being killed in games
and movies or w/e are made up by man and therefor not real. God, with the capitol G is
the one written of in the Bible and the one and only true God.

Yes, i am a Christian and this is how i see this question being resolved.

 

[MindBullets]

Different stories have differing definitions of what a "god" is. It's not really worth arguing about whether it should or shouldn't be done. Whatever works for the story.

 

[Scorched_Cascade]

You can kill a god, but you cant kill God.
As God the creator of everything. All the gods you see being killed in games
and movies or w/e are made up by man and therefor not real. God, with the capitol G is
the one written of in the Bible and the one and only true God.

Yes, i am a Christian and this is how i see this question being resolved.

Grammatically God is a title and therefore can be used in lieu of a name as long as it is capitalized hence the thread title "To kill a God" and the in OP both capitalized and uncapitalized form of the title is used. When I refer to the object I use god e.g "god-killing" when I refer to a god as an nameless entity I use God e.g "particularly if the God".

The Christo-Judeo-Islamic God is widely refereed to as God because that is it's title. According to scripture one of it's actual names is some variation on Yahweh (or Allah if your Muslim)

If you read the background you will note that I am clearly talking about fictitious gods.

My grammar is rarely perfect but I believe that my OP, in this case, was clear.

In short: Good day to you sir, welcome to the Escapist but please note nuances in posts.

[sub] As text rarely conveys the right tone or emotion I feel I should explain myself a bit more. I'm not angry or flaming just stating the case for "I was not talking about God", that way lies madness, flames and trolling.[/sub]

 

[yndsu]

You can kill a god, but you cant kill God.
As God the creator of everything. All the gods you see being killed in games
and movies or w/e are made up by man and therefor not real. God, with the capitol G is
the one written of in the Bible and the one and only true God.

Yes, i am a Christian and this is how i see this question being resolved.

Grammatically God is a title and therefore can be used in lieu of a name as long as it is capitalized hence the thread title "To kill a God" and the in OP both capitalized and uncapitalized form of the title is used. When I refer to the object I use god e.g "god-killing" when I refer to a god as an nameless entity I use God e.g "particularly if the God".

The Christo-Judeo-Islamic God is widely refereed to as God because that is it's title. According to scripture one of it's actual names is some variation on Yahweh (or Allah if your Muslim)

If you read the background you will note that I am clearly talking about fictitious gods.

My grammar is rarely perfect but I believe that my OP, in this case, was clear.

In short: Good day to you sir, welcome to the Escapist but please note nuances in posts.

Yes Sir. I see your point and i did understand that OP was talking about the fictional gods.
Also, why i wrote it as "God" and "a god" is because that is how it is written in the scripture. Just like they talk about "the Sabbath" and "sabbaths".
And indeed, in Toora he is called Yahweh but as that name was too holy for the jews to say they started using God and Lord in the scriptures instead of Yahweh.

Hehe, also, i am not a native English speaker and never learned English grammar so dont worry,
if there was something wrong there i am sure i would have missed it.

And thanks, so far i have enjoyed the Escapist and its forums.

 

[Outright Villainy]

Use the subtle knife.

Mega cookie is yours if you get reference.

But they didn't use the subtle knife to kill Metatron...

They tackled him.

Like a Boss.

But metatron wasn't god. God was the guy in the sphere thing that was old.

Well, technically, he wasn't God either. None of them were. Also, he died just by being exposed to the elements!

Metatron was just the most powerful, so I'm counting him.

 

[Brandon237]

Use the subtle knife.

Mega cookie is yours if you get reference.

Wasn't that from the series which had the Golden Compass, the second book? With the girl who could become unnoticeable and the knife being capable of opening a rift in space/time?

And all the adults getting soul-sucked?

If I am completely wrong then sorry

OP: I think it depends entirely on how the story defines a "god".

 

[CrustyOatmeal]

Depends on your definition of god.

I say cut off their head. Nothing survives without a head, not even a god.

What makes you think a all powerful being would even need/have a head?

If it bleeds, we can kill it.

Do you know why the Gods ask for blood sacrifice? It is because Gods do. not. bleed! [./obscure movie quote]

i think when it comes to storytelling i think it is ok to "kill" a god for one of two reasons:

-the "god" isnt really a god, just a super powerful being that people hyped as being a god (you know, how fans will hype a sports team as being so good they are unbeatable)
-the god doesnt really die, his shell dies and he just dissipated and becomes reformed elsewhere

So it is okay to kill something if you know it will be reformed at a later date? Forgive the slight off-topic but are you a bundle theorist?

If teleportation existed in it's sci-fi sense and worked 100% of the time would you do it? The teleportation process involves lasers systematically scanning you and vaporizing you in a nanosecond while at the same time at your destination an exact copy of your body is made using stored biological materials.

Would you do it? Or do you believe there is some part of you that is fundamentally you and the destruction of your body would destroy that?

your talking about teleportation where i was talking about how a "god" would be more than any physical shell could embody. here is an example as i see it: you can destroy a computer but there is an external hard drive that backs up all of the system files as soon as they are being destroyed. so you may have destroyed the computer but there is a backup drive and all that "drive" needs to do is download its content on another computer except the external drive can "conjure up" a drive at will (you could say its part of its programming) or it could take over another persons pc through downloading itself through the internet

actually, i think thats a pretty good example. imagine god as being an untouchable external hardrive floating in the sky and when his human shell dies he simply transfers his data to another computer that he can either will into being or he can use the "internet" to download his data onto another pc

 

[Epslion.Bear]

Supposedly you just dont have to believe.

But thats way to serious of an answer, so I'll just say you really need a Big ass fucking gun. Like, bigger then the BFG.

RBFG?

OTestroy its temple and take over there villages

 

[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?