Gods of Light

[Rhaps]

So, god of light, standard good guy nice god, even in our own mythologies, they are generally on the positive spectrum, since light=life, plants grow, banishing evil, hope.

Fantasy also follow this, gods of light are usually the main deity, mostly as stand-ins for Christianty. The one blessing the heroes, pointing them to fight the evils of this world.

There is also the trope of the church being evil, mostly from jp, kr, cn. 8/10 times the church is evil or corrupted. But never really the main source of evil.

In my WIP, the God of Light is a confirmed evil god, nobody worship them. They just appear randomly in the form of a book, shine like a second sun and drive people insane with their light. Its social norm in the world to run away from a randomly appearing light source.

How can I develop this god further? And what is your opinion about this kind of god?

 

[NJ3]

Honestly, I’d say lean all the way in and make your God of Light absolutely unhinged. Like Apollo in the Percy Jackson books, but cranked up to divine nightmare fuel. Imagine them randomly spouting radiant haikus in the middle of disasters, or screaming motivational quotes while melting people’s retinas. Light as hope? Nah... light as madness.
Honestly, I kind of love the idea of a god who shows up and everyone’s just like: ‘Nope, nope, nope... run from the sunshine, it’s back again! ??

 

[Rhaps]

Honestly, I’d say lean all the way in and make your God of Light absolutely unhinged. Like Apollo in the Percy Jackson books, but cranked up to divine nightmare fuel. Imagine them randomly spouting radiant haikus in the middle of disasters, or screaming motivational quotes while melting people’s retinas. Light as hope? Nah... light as madness.
Honestly, I kind of love the idea of a god who shows up and everyone’s just like: ‘Nope, nope, nope... run from the sunshine, it’s back again! ??

I have a funny scenario in my, like, some guy watching the sun rising peacefully, then out of nowhere, night just turned to day from behind, then booking it yelling "nope nope nope, not today!"

Funny thing about madness, my WIP also have a Goddess of Madness, but she's a good god, somehow.

 

[NJ3]

I have a funny scenario in my, like, some guy watching the sun rising peacefully, then out of nowhere, night just turned to day from behind, then booking it yelling "nope nope nope, not today!"

Funny thing about madness, my WIP also have a Goddess of Madness, but she's a good god, somehow.

Yup, that makes perfect sense ?
Madness is such a fun spectrum to play with. Your Goddess of Madness being the good one actually feels right, because sometimes it’s the people who see the world a little sideways that end up being the kindest (or at least the most entertaining). I love how flipped that dynamic is. Light = terror, madness = comfort. That’s delightfully bonkers.
All the best with your work, all of this sounds really interesting. I will check it out once I am free.

 

[Poleg]

Honestly, I’d say lean all the way in and make your God of Light absolutely unhinged. Like Apollo in the Percy Jackson books, but cranked up to divine nightmare fuel. Imagine them randomly spouting radiant haikus in the middle of disasters, or screaming motivational quotes while melting people’s retinas. Light as hope? Nah... light as madness.
Honestly, I kind of love the idea of a god who shows up and everyone’s just like: ‘Nope, nope, nope... run from the sunshine, it’s back again! ??

This
This
This

 

[Zagaroth]

Hmm, I might have something for you, pulling a piece of my own setup, though it is very different than yours. I work with light/darkness as balanced, in and of themselves forces that are not good or evil (though the goddesses in charge of both are good).

Part of this balance, which your god would clearly not respect, is that darkness/shadow is what keeps light from scouring a world. Yes, light is needed for life, but unmitigated light burns all life away. Its not fire, fire requires oxygen or something else to participate in combustion. Unmitigated light supplies relentless energy that breaks down anything and everything in its path.

For easy visuals: Imagine a white-sand desert at noon. That is what unmitigated light will do to any environment, given sufficient time.

 

[Representing_Tromba]

And then there's the there's the Greeks, where none are necessarily good or bad. Just don't piss them off or their narrative based egos will be released upon your hubris... maybe. Or Zuez will steal your wife as a goose.

 

[DaelyxLenAuphydas]

I honestly feel like making 'light' evil is kinda played out at this point, its not particularly subversive at this point. If you want light to be evil though, I'dd focus on how it can be interpreted as a force of violence. Burning, scourging, radiant and powerful. I tend to prefer light being portrayed as more violent and active tto match its energetic nature.

 

[Jerynboe]

The fear and hunger games have a moon god whose job includes “revealing truth” which seems very on brand for a god of light. “Shining a light” on something is a phrase for a reason.

Rher is a very cynical asshole and looks for the worst in people, and the process known as “moon scorching” at least sometimes involves dredging up all the worst qualities someone has and twisting them into a monster whose entire existence and identity revolves around those qualities. In the process, most of the positive traits they might have that make them a complex human are stripped away, because Rher sees those traits as false because they don’t gel with the hidden “true” qualities.

This is a simplification, but it’s not important that it be entirely correct because im not suggesting you copy paste an evil god from a video game. I’m mostly pointing out that revelation is not always a good thing, even if you aren’t in a lovecraftian setting full of things man was not meant to know. Even something as simple as revealing deadly secrets or forcing people to confront things about themselves they might not be ready to face right at that moment. Non-voluntary exposure therapy is pretty hit or miss by even the most optimistic estimates.

If you don’t like the Light= truth angle then you also might think about some other abstract things light is associated with. Almost all of them could be turned to evil with some work.

 

[Rhaps]

The fear and hunger games have a moon god whose job includes “revealing truth” which seems very on brand for a god of light. “Shining a light” on something is a phrase for a reason.

Rher is a very cynical asshole and looks for the worst in people, and the process known as “moon scorching” at least sometimes involves dredging up all the worst qualities someone has and twisting them into a monster whose entire existence and identity revolves around those qualities. In the process, most of the positive traits they might have that make them a complex human are stripped away, because Rher sees those traits as false because they don’t gel with the hidden “true” qualities.

This is a simplification, but it’s not important that it be entirely correct because im not suggesting you copy paste an evil god from a video game. I’m mostly pointing out that revelation is not always a good thing, even if you aren’t in a lovecraftian setting full of things man was not meant to know. Even something as simple as revealing deadly secrets or forcing people to confront things about themselves they might not be ready to face right at that moment. Non-voluntary exposure therapy is pretty hit or miss by even the most optimistic estimates.

If you don’t like the Light= truth angle then you also might think about some other abstract things light is associated with. Almost all of them could be turned to evil with some work.

Now that I've read this, my God of Light is kinda a chaotic version of Rher, they doesn't change people but just spitting out forbidden knowledges, teasing people with half-truths, making people either go crazy with whatever they are spouting or make them insane trying to reach it for more information. And, being bright as fuck. Then just vanishing.

Atp they are more like a trickster god.

 

[CharlesEBrown]

Now that I've read this, my God of Light is kinda a chaotic version of Rher, they doesn't change people but just spitting out forbidden knowledges, teasing people with half-truths, making people either go crazy with whatever they are spouting or make them insane trying to reach it for more information. And, being bright as fuck. Then just vanishing.

Atp they are more like a trickster god.

Well, Loki is a trickster god and the Norse god of fire (despite being the child of the king of the frost giants), so a light-based trickster god is not without precedent. Heck, to some degree, Apollo can be seen as one.

 

[ConansWitchBaby]

The non-fire parts of the Ori in Stargate. Light can be used to hypnotize and enslave. To leave everyone behind and ascend. To overpower everything else and breed conquest. The fervor of zealotry.

 

[3guanoff]

Fantasy also follow this, gods of light are usually the main deity, mostly as stand-ins for Christianty

Roger Zelazny's Lord of Light is, arguably, an exception here. I can recommend you give it a read for research purposes. It considers light in a physical setting: as electromagnetic waves. Then again, it is a fantasy science fiction and may not fit your genre.

You can find an audio on the Tube, but not the superior reading by J P Kelly.

 

[Clo]

In one of my recent chapter, there is a theological discussion about the goddess of darkness being seemingly more good than the goddess of light in my world.

They both are good, on the spectrum of good vs evil, but the goddess of light is a lot more direct in her methods and approach, so she lacks the tact or subtelty that teaching requires.

She's more like a lead that keeps all the work and asks for all the praise.

Not to say that darkness is without flaws, but I think it's more interesting when the opposition isn't good vs bad.

 

[Prince_Azmiran_Myrian]

Is the madness different for everyone who looks at the light or the same kind of madness?

 

[NotaNuffian]

So it is Tzeentch but with light motif.

How about it also corrupts the light of inspiration? For example when a person's eureka moment with a metaphoric lightbulb lit above their head and your WIP came in like the Simurgh's whisper?

 

[Rhaps]

So it is Tzeentch but with light motif.

How about it also corrupts the light of inspiration? For example when a person's eureka moment with a metaphoric lightbulb lit above their head and your WIP came in like the Simurgh's whisper?

Uh... the concept of corrupting inspiration already belongs to another god. Whose basic concept is a film director with the whole "corrupting the youth" twisted to 11

There is also a god of commerce that is a giant steampunk bat, protecting people who pledged eternal servitude to it (paying taxes)

Is the madness different for everyone who looks at the light or the same kind of madness?

They whispers secrets of the world that drive people insane, and blue balling people from reaching the eureka moment, teasing people to chase them more.

In one of my recent chapter, there is a theological discussion about the goddess of darkness being seemingly more good than the goddess of light in my world.

They both are good, on the spectrum of good vs evil, but the goddess of light is a lot more direct in her methods and approach, so she lacks the tact or subtelty that teaching requires.

She's more like a lead that keeps all the work and asks for all the praise.

Not to say that darkness is without flaws, but I think it's more interesting when the opposition isn't good vs bad.

I like it when stories do it like the Greeks, gods transcend the concept of good and evil. There is always a good and bad side to a god.

But I don't intend to have a God of Darkness, thats the first thing I scrapped, since darkness is the absence of light, there shouldn't be a god of darkness. All the gods in my WIP are all based on scientific phenomenons and cosmic laws.

 

[Joyager2]

‘Light as madness’ is an especially strong idea, I think. Taken from ‘light as knowledge,’ you can play a lot with knowledge (of the unknown, the not-meant-to-be-understood) as a destructive force. I’m thinking of VanderMeer’s Annihilation, Lovecraft’s ‘Colour Out of Space’, and so on. The idea that knowledge transforms and transformation destroys what used to be is, I think, very powerful. You could have a god that is fundamentally destructive without knowing it, a god who cannot be seen without total transformation of the viewer.

Or, you could go in the other direction. Think the probing of the panopticon, Sascha Sascha Schneider’s Hypnosis, the Eye of Sauron, a god whose light represents a penetrative understanding, an all-powerful Big Brother, something deeply inescapable.

 

[Golden_Hyde]

Hmm, I might have something for you, pulling a piece of my own setup, though it is very different than yours. I work with light/darkness as balanced, in and of themselves forces that are not good or evil (though the goddesses in charge of both are good).

Part of this balance, which your god would clearly not respect, is that darkness/shadow is what keeps light from scouring a world. Yes, light is needed for life, but unmitigated light burns all life away. Its not fire, fire requires oxygen or something else to participate in combustion. Unmitigated light supplies relentless energy that breaks down anything and everything in its path.

For easy visuals: Imagine a white-sand desert at noon. That is what unmitigated light will do to any environment, given sufficient time.

YES! I like this presentation!

Balance is what makes a world meaningful and colorful, and when the light overreaches to the point where darkness doesn't exist, it's as bad as a world consumed by darkness itself.

I set Light as Inspiration, and Darkness as Contemplation. Yes, I can make a character who's associated with Darkness to be broody, but as long as the broodiness is meaningful.