Pertaining to Gods and Mythology

[Silverlight138]

So, my big question is: Why would divine beings refrain from making their presence too overt in the mortal realm? This is of course, in the context of fictional realms in your everyday fantasy novel.

 

I love analyzing fictional worlds, looking at how authors build their worlds, explain certain phenomenon and the like. (Well yes, sometimes I'm told that I spend too much time exerting myself over such mental/spiritual... explorations.) But hey, I think it IS quite an interesting thing worth pondering over, and many fantasy writers out there have explored the whole concept of gods overseeing the mortal realm from some other dimension or alter-reality, but never fully revealing their presence to us lowly mortals. In which case, gods are presented as an ambiguous, divine force where only a percentage of mortals believe in their existence, founded on pure faith.

 

Take for example the anime/manga Noragami. In their world, gods walk amongst humans but are rarely noticed by the conscious human mind for two main reasons: 1) Their presence always fades into the background, such that we fail to notice them even if they are in the same room as we are, and 2) if one does actually interact with a god, his/her memory of the interaction will inevitably fade very quickly. As such, this is how the anime/manga explains why gods are only part of superstition and culture in modern Japan.

 

Other examples include the Percy Jackson series, where divine intervention is governed by divine laws which prevent gods from directly interfering in the affairs of the mortal realm. But... Why?

 

Please feel free to explore and throw whatever thoughts or speculations you have!

Edited May 12, 2015 by Silverlight138

[catstaff]

The gods gave humankind free will; therefore the gods generally won't make their presence too overt, because there aren't too many people with the intestinal fortitude to disobey someone infinitely more powerful than themselves. I mean, a person might stand up to a guy with a knife saying, "Do this or I'll slice you up," but that same person is unlikely to stand up to a god shooting lightning bolts off his fingers saying "Do this or I'll incinerate you and obliterate you from existence."

 

So in order to allow their human creations to exercise their free will, the gods try to keep their meddling to a bare minimum, or only intervene when there is true and pressing need. And even then, they might want some sort of sacrifice as proof of said need, such as in Mercedes Lackey's Valdemar books... the Star-Eyed Goddess of the people who became the Shin'a'in transformed the Dhorisha Plains from a magically-blasted crater into a suitable place for them to live in exchange for their perpetual guardianship of the hidden but still potent magical weapons that survived the destruction of Urtho's Tower and the surrounding lands, but only after the self-sacrifice of the leader or shaman of each of the Clans. Or on a lesser scale, in order for Tarma shena Tale'sedrin to swear blood feud against the bandits who slaughtered her Clan, she had to swear the Kalen'edral oath, giving up all thought of marriage and children of her own to become an asexual being and in essence a living weapon in defense of all the Clans assuming she survived the blood feud.

[octopi]

To be completely Doylist, it's because we live in a world in which the gods, if they exist, don't often interfere in mortal business. It's extremely difficult to construct an entire realistic universe where such a fundamental thing is different, and even if an author managed it, the premise would likely alienate many potential readers.

 

As for in-universe, my favourite explanation has always been that the gods see this universe the way we see embarrassing art we drew ten years ago and have since locked it up in a drawer and moved on to better things.

[Kestra15]

Plot-armour.

Edited May 12, 2015 by Kestra15

[Dewdropmon]

As for in-universe, my favorite explanation has always been that the gods see this universe the way we see embarrassing art we drew ten years ago and have since locked it up in a drawer and moved on to better things.

I kinda like this theory. I hadn't considered this possibility before.

[Ribombee]

My stories very often have deities directly interfering in the lives of 'lesser beings'. Granted, most of my stories involve supernatural beings more than humans, and the humans that are in it mostly know about supernatural beings. So that does sort of make a difference. The general populace is not aware of either supernatural or deities in the mortal realm.

 

There ARE consequences of the interaction of gods with regular characters, of course. One of the gods in a story is basically planning the overthrow of all the other gods, and it's up to a ragtag group of supernaturals and humans-in-the-know to stop him without exposing the supernatural world to the rest of the humans. I have actually read several stories which have direct influence of deities, and others in which deities are well-known beings but aren't necessarily directly influencing things.

 

@catstaff: Oh man, I love the way Misty writes deities! The whole Companions are avatars thing, and Heralds don't know it, is just fantastic. It's a great example of what Silverlight was talking about. Not all of the groups are in the know, while others are.

[Odeen]

Assuming the existence of a creator god exists in a universe, fictional or otherwise, I would believe that it would not interact at all with the universe it created because it is infinitely above doing such menial things.

[LupaWulf]

I think it would get irritating being well known. The mortal faction would always want favors, assistance with problems, answers, etc.

Going incognito lets them enjoy the world, do their own thing, and observe.

[Drakessis]

Perhaps such gods wouldn't want to make humans feel insignificant and thus love the gods less. Coming out and living among the humans and with the humans knowing they were gods would destroy the point of the gods creating the humans. Humans are smaller, mortal beings that take care of the planet and support the gods. They feel insignificant anyways, but beside gods they are less. It is much easier to respect something powerful from afar, but near it is overwhelming. (Not to mention that the gods' home is probably way better than earth.)

[TheScorpionKing]

They're just not that interested,

they have their own lives to lead.