How do you kill a God?

[TurtleTrooper]

Well, I can lay out what my research has told me about the actual acts involved in killing a God.

Firstly, poison is the only method with any consistent ability to incapacitate a god. Violence against a God doesn't seem to work.

Thor fought Jorrmagund and the serpent's venom was dangerous to him.

Shiva, the destroyer of Hindu myth swallowed the poison of Halahala, the great pot that came from the churning ocean. It damaged his throat, though he didn't swallow it for fear it would kill him.

In Christian mythology, the serpent is deceit and rebellion. Mose's staff was twined with a serpent when he raised it against Pharoh, who was considered a god by his people. This symbolizes rebellion and the wish for Pharoh to die. This gave great power to Moses who lead his people away while poisoning the first born of 'the god' (the pharoh) and bringing him to ruin.

Hercules, the half god son of Zeus was poisoned by Nessus the centaur who was a child of Ixion, son of Ares. Again, divine lineage inspiring the ability to poison. I know he wasn't technically a god but he was uplifted upon his death.

Osiris killed by Seth/Set. This is a big part of alchemical principles. Set is the destructive consequences of wishing to perform alchemy. He is symbolized as purification of the body and mind through the survival of poison. Osiris is killed by Set as retribution for removing his testicles in one story but in another, he is killed by Set out of jealousy. Jealousy, being one of the great poisons.

Loki is held beneath the world tree, Yggdrasil, by a great snake that drips poison into his eyes. His wife holds a bowl over his face and fills it with the poison which she pours into a great lake or estuary nearby, but as she is gone the poison seeps into Loki's face. He curses her forever until Ragnarok but he is essentially incapacitated. He was placed there for his immense mischief by vengeful gods of Valhalla.

All of this leads me to the idea that poison, specifically poison from a World Serpent or a jealous and vengeful divinity, is the best way to actually damage a God.

Wow, very clever. Kudos. I wish I was about half that clever.

 

[Chessie]

Does anyone know of actual artifacts to have been used by prophets which might contain a poison one could call 'divine'? A saint of poison would be adequate. There are a number of magical 'snake' myths but few artifacts.

 

[Satya]

Become one.

There are no Gods of Gods.

 

[muir]

Well, I can lay out what my research has told me about the actual acts involved in killing a God.

Firstly, poison is the only method with any consistent ability to incapacitate a god. Violence against a God doesn't seem to work.

Thor fought Jorrmagund and the serpent's venom was dangerous to him.

Shiva, the destroyer of Hindu myth swallowed the poison of Halahala, the great pot that came from the churning ocean. It damaged his throat, though he didn't swallow it for fear it would kill him.

In Christian mythology, the serpent is deceit and rebellion. Mose's staff was twined with a serpent when he raised it against Pharoh, who was considered a god by his people. This symbolizes rebellion and the wish for Pharoh to die. This gave great power to Moses who lead his people away while poisoning the first born of 'the god' (the pharoh) and bringing him to ruin.

Hercules, the half god son of Zeus was poisoned by Nessus the centaur who was a child of Ixion, son of Ares. Again, divine lineage inspiring the ability to poison. I know he wasn't technically a god but he was uplifted upon his death.

Osiris killed by Seth/Set. This is a big part of alchemical principles. Set is the destructive consequences of wishing to perform alchemy. He is symbolized as purification of the body and mind through the survival of poison. Osiris is killed by Set as retribution for removing his testicles in one story but in another, he is killed by Set out of jealousy. Jealousy, being one of the great poisons.

Loki is held beneath the world tree, Yggdrasil, by a great snake that drips poison into his eyes. His wife holds a bowl over his face and fills it with the poison which she pours into a great lake or estuary nearby, but as she is gone the poison seeps into Loki's face. He curses her forever until Ragnarok but he is essentially incapacitated. He was placed there for his immense mischief by vengeful gods of Valhalla.

All of this leads me to the idea that poison, specifically poison from a World Serpent or a jealous and vengeful divinity, is the best way to actually damage a God.

The similarities you have pointed out in different mythologies points to similar sources and archetypes yet each one gains a regional flavour. For example when there is a plant involved in the myth then it will be one particular to that area

When you see the patchwork blanket of beliefs that covers the world and you see the similarities between them all it is impossible to hold up one and say this is the one true telling of this archetypal story.

With this oversight it is possible to see the dogma behind religions and their denial of the shared origins of mankind and its myths

So to answer the question 'how do you kill a god': educate the people; give them oversight and they will see the truth

Or you could do like Conan the destroyer did and jump on its back and then rip its magic horn off

 

[Chessie]

Well, I was actually thinking of containment. I mean, I wouldn't pass up an opportunity to leap on it's back and tear off a magical horn but I think if we're speaking practicality, we can deny the existence of Gods all day.

I am more interested in the impractical with this inquiry...or rather, starting from an impractical and leading towards a practical. I realize this quest is fairly immediately insane and ridiculous. That doesn't mean it's not worth exploring.

At any rate, I can't find any references to an actual barbarian directly assaulting a God and surviving in anything but modern media. I figure that would be a bad solution.

I am interested in the Prometheus solution which contained the one of the old Gods of fire and self sacrifice for untold years until he was freed by Hercules. It was an interesting premise to bind him and daily remove a significant part of his organs. I have to wonder if the organ removal was purely for the purpose of torture or if it played some role in maintaining his entrapment.

 

[Jack]

Some of these spears might do the trick:

L

 

[muir]

Well, I was actually thinking of containment. I mean, I wouldn't pass up an opportunity to leap on it's back and tear off a magical horn but I think if we're speaking practicality, we can deny the existence of Gods all day.

I am more interested in the impractical with this inquiry...or rather, starting from an impractical and leading towards a practical. I realize this quest is fairly immediately insane and ridiculous. That doesn't mean it's not worth exploring.

At any rate, I can't find any references to an actual barbarian directly assaulting a God and surviving in anything but modern media. I figure that would be a bad solution.

I am interested in the Prometheus solution which contained the one of the old Gods of fire and self sacrifice for untold years until he was freed by Hercules. It was an interesting premise to bind him and daily remove a significant part of his organs. I have to wonder if the organ removal was purely for the purpose of torture or if it played some role in maintaining his entrapment.

Prometheus only stole something from the gods, but what he stole empowered man. So i guess if you want to diminish the gods then you have to build man up

Further to Jack the giant slayers armoury above i would like to suggest Excalibur

 

[Barnabas]

Do nothing.

Any action taken up for or against only brings strength, by doing nothing you effectivley take tat strength away.

 

[Chessie]

I like the idea of the spears imbued by the powers of the various Gods but I am looking mostly for situations where a God has been killed or thoroughly incapacitated rather than for mystical artifacts unless they're directly connected to the story of a God being slain.

Fenrir will kill Odin during Ragnarok but there is some suggestion that this hasn't happened yet so I can't include it.

During the poem called the 'Sayings Of The High One' Odin hung on the World Tree for 9 days, impaled on his spear, so he could learn the runes and songs that give him power over the Gods. This would seem to mean the spear had the capacity to at least hold the All Father in place although not to kill him.

I have been going back over over Norse Mythology since it seems replete with good information. The Greek Myths tend to revolve more around the children of Gods and less around the Gods themselves. This speaks to the different culture involved and of course if these persons are not walking around, they must have died. Still, killing a half God is not easy.

In the case of the death of Balder, he was killed by mistletoe thrown by the blind god Hod who was tricked by Loki during a test of Balder's invulnerability. It did not end well;Mistletoe was his only weakness.

Norse Gods aren't directly invulnerable or immortal and this is recognized by most of them although they do seem to have an extremely high tolerance to damage. They each have varying weaknesses which are both obscure and most often difficult to obtain.

Fenrir is an interesting situation in that he is an ancient concept. The old wolf in the dark that will devour the world. It's no surprise that the god of music and poetry and civilization would be eaten by him at what they refer to as 'the end of the world'.

Now getting back to Egyptian mythology. Set killed Osiris and he was resurrected by Isis, his wife. Osiris could not return to the land of the living however and ended up ruling, alive but also dead, in the underworld as arbiter of justice for the souls who've passed on. I will, I believe, accept trapped in another dimension of existence as an option in the 'incapacitated' column. That he was resurrected suggests he was someplace other than the underworld and perhaps even more helpless than he would have been had he not been 'brought back'.

I've found a few references to Gods being killed and then 'raised' but raised in such a way as they couldn't re-join their pantheons or command their old powers.