Comments on: Wittering on Divine

By: Stacia Kane

Stacia Kane — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 07:19:19 +0000

My world in the Downside books is strictly atheistic; to believe in a god or gods is illegal. Instead they put Facts and Truth above everything else.
I actually think a large part of the reason for polytheistic fantasy is because of the magic involved. The Christian God considers magic to be a sin; magic was part of many polytheistic religions, albeit not necessarily a large part or necessarily called “magic.”
So when you’re writing a world where your characters use magic, or are magical/supernatural creatures, you’re kind of automatically going to go for a belief system that seems to “fit” that better, and that’s usually going to be a polytheistic system.
JMO, of course.

By: Fabio Milito Pagliara

Fabio Milito Pagliara — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 14:13:23 +0000

Hi this is a nice topic, I’ll go for a 2 point answer
1) the influence in D&D come surely from Elric of Melnimbone and Fafhard and Greymouser (and Conan and Cthulhu), and then from the fascination in greek mithology and maybe also marvel comics (The mighty Thor!). Furthermore polytheism let you create a lot of pocket cultures just by changing the gods, and you also have a long list of epic enemy and manipulators for your characters
2) how to give the idea that you serve all the gods? treat them as saints, present them as saints that are called for for specific area of intervention
best wishes, Fabio

By: Brit Mandelo

Brit Mandelo — Sun, 13 Jun 2010 02:35:37 +0000

I personally tend to use polytheism because monotheism is relatively young in relation to human society. The oldest faiths on record are polytheistic, and there are more polytheistic faiths than monotheistic faiths–monotheism, as it grew out of sun-diety worship, isn’t really the dominant mode when you crunch the numbers. (While there are more Christians and Muslims in the world than any other single faith, I would be interested to see how the numbers compare for polytheism as a whole versus monotheism as a whole.) It appears dominant in Western culture because it is our particular norm, not because it is THE norm.
Plus, when you go far enough back, most of the European continent was polytheistic or worshiped an ancestral system, too.
(Religious studies was/is my minor. I have deep geeklove for it.)

By: Em

Em — Sun, 13 Jun 2010 00:57:25 +0000

I’ve always wondered this too. And I find myself guilty of it in my novel. Lol. Although, admitedly, my characters do have reasons for worshipping one god over others. So I hope that makes it a bit better. Lol.
Bush Critic – And some of us who write ‘Gods!” as an exclaimation really do believe in multiple gods. Surely we can write what we want.

By: Kevin S.

Kevin S. — Sat, 12 Jun 2010 22:23:21 +0000

I think the current style of polytheism probably owes a great deal to the D&D Forgotten Realms setting. The 3rd Edition FR campaign setting book mentions that everyone in the world has to pick a patron deity or be condemned to torture in the afterlife. If this idea carried over from previous versions of the Realms, it may have inspired a lot of copycats who never bothered to justify this system in the setting.

By: E. M. Edwards

E. M. Edwards — Sat, 12 Jun 2010 20:00:11 +0000

Not surprisingly, a lot of this comes down to author choice.
I for one prefer having conflicts between monotheism and polytheism brewing in the settings of my novels. In my own case, this is because I am far from a fan of any of the real world’s monotheistic faiths. So in my worlds, the monotheists lose, don’t exist at all (as I would prefer), or at the least, are often the source of the conflict/evil/threat to the protagonists. It’s my fantasy and I’ll have things my way, so long as it is.
But I do think both the deities of D&D and a certain squeamishness for having an upper case god which resembles too much the one found in existing active religions, are the main historical reasons behind the bulk of fantasy authors choosing this approach. And the potential for conflict, of course being magnified. Having various plotting gods and demi-gods all scheming against each other and their mortal followers, did fine for the Greeks and continues to entertain even today, providing rich material to mine for plots.
My own personal complaint lies in those authors, such as David Gemmel to name a popular example, who simply sidestep this question and shove the thorny question of a religion (admittedly in the example above, most of the rest of world building along with it) into the background as a vague shadow of the importance religion plays in the real world. I never leave it out because I think that for fantasy to be true to life and hence trick readers into believing in the really fantastic elements of the world/story, the background and its most important societal elements need to feel real and present. And few aspects impact more on a real world than its religions and all the conflicts, wars, and arguments which arise from them.
This may not shed much light on the origins for this habit (beyond those I’ve stated) for each author we might think of as having formed the canon but I think it remains an important question for all current authors today to address in their own way. It’s the metaphysical elephant in the room which won’t be ignored, unless a lot of world building and all the verisimilitude that attends it, is willfully left out of the story. I choose not to, and I choose god(s) plural just as I choose all the other aspects of my universe and the stories which unfold there.
Eric

By: Bush League Critic

Bush League Critic — Sat, 12 Jun 2010 18:56:23 +0000

Good topic!
I’ve always wondered the same thing. I have no religious beliefs to offend, but it’s always kind of bugged me that no one seems to imagine or write a fantasy world that takes a monotheistic approach to religion.
Part of my beef comes from the fact that almost every online fantasy forum member has adopted the same practice in their posting habits.
So I’m sending out a big ole internet back-of-the-head slap to all y’all who use phrases like “oh my gods!” or “gods forbid!” while posting on internet forums.
Stop it. It’s not cute anymore.