The Gods of Fantasy

By Guest Author Brynneth N Colvin
 

Many fantasy novels feature gods. Books may start off by sending your hero on a quest. They might intercede at the critical moment, or create useful challenges. Gods can play an integral part in your plot or you might write them in as background details adding colour to your setting. Gods can really add to your fantasy novel if you get them right, but it is important not to let them take over.

What Sort Of Gods Should I Have?
 

In ancient human cultures, gods always relate to the lives of people. Whatever is most important to a culture will be represented by gods–be that war, poetry, farming, sea travel, dragon taming or magic. The gods in your novel should reflect things important to your characters. You may want to include temples, priests and priestesses, festivals, rituals and sacrifices to your gods to make them more real within your story. The more gods that exist, the less powerful they tend to be, and the more specifically focused they are. You might choose one all powerful deity. If you have two deities, they could be good and evil, or order and chaos. They could be gods of night and day, or war and peace–be creative. If you want more than two gods, think of the things that your culture values. Horse cultures will have horse gods. Fishermen will have sea gods.
 

How Powerful Should They Be?
 

Unless you are writing a book about gods, then very powerful beings interfering in the lives of your mortals can spoil your story. After all, your heroes are the ones who need to win the day, and all powerful beings won’t be so attractive to your readers because you know they’re going to triumph. The more present a god is going to be in your story, the less powerful you should make them. All powerful, all knowing gods work better as distant objects of veneration than characters in the plot. You can limit your god’s power by only giving them magic in their sphere of influence, not letting them be all knowing or placing other physical limitations on them.
 

How Can Gods Enrich My Story?
 

Heros sent on quests or being given challenges by the gods fill ancient myths and legends, so they make a useful plot device. Gods playing with the fates of nations can also be interesting to explore, as is the possibility of mortals caught up in the intrigues and jealousies of the gods. Religions evolve all sorts of complex rituals and traditions which can be used to fuel the plot. Religion can be good, or evil, or both within your story. It can provide you with wise old priests and gentle healers, or with mad despots determined to convert the world by force. Humans inspired by gods, or using gods to justify their actions can make very good protagonists. Where you have priests, you might also have priestly magic which can add another dimension to your tale. Religion may create social castes, hierarchies, strange laws, or other social possibilities. Participants may have to wear particular costumes, or respect peculiar laws and taboos–all of which can add to your story and to the originality of your setting. Where there are multiple gods and religions, you might have religious wars as well which make good plot devices.
 

Making Gods Work For You
 

Your novel will have one or more heroes, and these are the people readers will really care about and invest in. Very powerful gods who either solve everything, or throw up impossible challenges that must be solved by other gods, detracts from your heroes and it is important not to let this happen. Plan your story so that the heroes take centre stage most of the time, and your gods do not take over. Also, do not fall back on using gods to get your heroes out of otherwise impossible situations as this is an obvious ruse and may well leave your readers feeling cheated.