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The gods
From Discworld & Pratchett Wiki
There are roughly 3000 gods on the Discworld and research theologians are discovering more every day. Most people make the mistake of thinking that Gods came first and then came the people to believe in them, when in fact the people came first, and then their belief created the Gods. Gods and people go hand in hand: Gods need people to believe in them, and people need something to blame. The system seems to work quite well.
Gods feed on belief. The more people believe in a God, the more powerful that God becomes. As Gods lose belief, they become weaker and smaller. Once there are no more believers, the God becomes a mere echo of a voice on the wind. Some small gods are gods that were once powerful, others are gods in potentia, as it were, waiting for someone to erect a small cairn, or pile of stones as a short prayer so that they can gain some power, perform a few miracles and gain believers.
Gods, of course, play games with the fates of men. The game they play is somewhere between Dungeons and Dragons, Risk and Chess, with Monopoly and Battleships thrown in for good measure along the way. Don't think the game is complicated though, Gods don't have the patience for complex games. They prefer games that are short and violent. The game is played on a map of the world that is, on closer inspection, the world itself. If you look close enough at the tiny pin that is Cori Celesti in the middle of the board, you can see the gods on top of it in their home of Dunmanifestin, playing the game. If you look closer still, you can see the board with a tiny Cori Celesti and on top of that...
Appearances
The gods are described playing games with the fates of men in:
Other appearances and notable mentions:
- Pyramids describes what happens when the whole pantheon of a country manifests all at once.
- Small Gods describes the statues of the gods worshipped in Ephebe.
- Monstrous Regiment describes extensively the rules set forth by Nuggan, the state god of Borogravia.
- Going Postal tells of an incident in which a man got several religions; the gods that he has got are described.
The Pantheon
Discworld suffers from a surfeit of gods. New ones may be created at any time, and old ones fade away when no one believes any longer. Here is a (necessarily incomplete) list of some better-known deities from around the Disc.
- Gods of Dunmanifestin
- Bibulous, god of wine and things on sticks. Resembles John Belushi.
- Blind Io, chief of the gods. His eyeless face is blindfolded, while many all-seeing eyeballs swarm around his head.
- Destiny, not popular around the games table; he always wins.
- Errata, the goddess of misunderstandings; a trouble-maker.
- Fate, not to be tempted.
- Fedecks, messenger of the gods.
- Flatulus, god of the winds.
- The Lady, whose name is not spoken.
- Neoldian, smith of the gods.
- Nuggan, state god of Borogravia: a twit. Lately reduced to small god.
- Offler of the Bird-Haunted Mouth: crocodile-headed and widely followed.
- the Sea-Goddess who loves dolphins and takes revenge on seaborne dolphin-abusers.
- Seven-Handed Sek, says Vengeance is His.
- Other gods of the main continent:
- Aniger, goddess of squashed animals - recent.
- Anoia, goddess of things that stick in drawers (formerly Lela the volcano goddess.)
- Bilious, oh god of hangovers.
- Bissonomy. She is currently an obscure Virtue, but according to Chaffinch, she was once a goddess and a consort of Blind Io.
- Epidity god of potatoes.
- God of Evolution, survives without believers.
- Grune, god of unseasonal fruit.
- Herne the Hunted, god of small furry creatures.
- Hoki, the jokester: banished from Dunmanifestin.
- Jimi, god of beggars.
- Libertina, goddess of the sea, apple pie, certain types of ice cream, and short bits of string. May be the Sea-Goddess above.
- Moon goddess, Druidic
- Night, a god for the easily impressed. Hard to see.
- Om, state god of Omnia; pays more attention lately.
- P'tang P'tang, the newt god; noted for a very small but devoted following.
- Quetzovercoatl, Tezuman god of many parts - possibly only a demon.
- Reg, god of club musicians.
- Resonata, Goddess of Weasels.
- Urika, goddess of snow, saunas and theatrical perfomances for fewer than 120 people.
- Genua has many minor deities, created ad hoc.
- Ephebian gods:
- Djelibeybian gods :
- Bast, cat-headed Goddess of things left on the doorstep or half-digested under the bed. Also in Dunmanifestin.
- Bunu, goats.
- Cephnet
- Cephut, cutlery.
- Chefet, dog-headed god of cutlery.
- Fhez, crocodile-headed god of the lower Djel; easily confused with Offler.
- Gil, the sun god.
- Hat, vulture-headed god of unexpected guests.
- Khefin, two-faced god of gateways.
- Sarduk, goddess of caves : don't go there.
- Scrab, pusher of the ball of the sun.
- Sessifret, Goddess of the Afternoon and undisputed solar ruler after midday.
- Tzut, snake-headed god of the upper Djel, enemy of Fhez.
- What, sky goddess who eats the sun in the evening and plants one of its seeds to grow a new sun in the morning.
- ...plus eight Supreme gods, four Sole Rulers of the World of the Dead, and many more.
- Troll gods :
- Chrondite, god of love.
- Gigalith, wisdom.
- Silicarous, good fortune.
- Monolith, demigod hero.
- Gods of the Shamen:
- Voodoo Spirits of Genua:
- And, of course, nearly three thousand more.
- And while not exactly gods, we should mention the other residents of Cori Celesti, the The Ice Giants, who steadfastly refuse to return the lawn mower.
Other Gods and Deities in the non-Discworld writings of Terry Pratchett
- Gods and God-like Entities of the Nomes:-
See also Supernatural Entities for individuals who are not formally worshipped but are sometimes more powerful than the gods.
