Gods
The Discworld, being a flat disc supported on the backs of four elephants on top of a giant flying turtle, exists in a region of the universe where reality is somewhat less consistent than it appears in our own, more mundane corner of existence. Because reality on the Disc is so fragile and malleable, belief has a tendency to take on a life of its own, and Gods are far more obvious to the people of the Disc than they appear to us.
Gods are everywhere on the Discworld, a crucial element of the world's peculiar ecology that gives power to belief and demands resolution to any and all narratives. Gods exist in potentia in numbers uncountable, but the moment an event of any note occurs — say, two snails happening to cross at a single point — a god becomes tied to it and begins to manifest in the physical world. Most gods remain small and unknown, but a very few come to the notice of humanity, whose belief then shapes and strengthens them until they gather enough power to join the Disc's vast, unwieldy pantheon.
Gods on the Discworld exist as long as people believe in them and their power grows as their followers increase. This is a philosophy echoing the real-world politics of the power of religion and is most detailed in the novel Small Gods. If people should cease believing in a particular god (say, if the religion becomes more important than faith) the god begins to fade and, eventually, will "die", becoming little more than a faded wispy echo.
The major gods live in an Olympus-like mountain-top kingdom in the centre of the Discworld called Dunmanifestin. They include current "head" god Blind Io, crocodile-headed Offler, Seven-handed Sek, Fate, The Lady, and Errata, goddess of misunderstandings. Other gods are more local, such as the enormous pantheon of Djelibeybi; Herne the Hunted and Hoki the Jokester of the Ramtops; and the numerous gods of Skund Forest. Trolls also have their own gods.
The Disc also has an almost infinite number of small gods, typically spiritual beings with very little power and no followers. Should they acquire followers, they can evolve into larger gods and gain the ability to manifest themselves and perform miracles.
Read more about this topic: Religions Of The Discworld
Famous quotes containing the word gods:
“The gods themselves,
Humbling their deities to love, have taken
The shapes of beasts upon them. Jupiter
Became a bull, and bellowed; the green Neptune
A ram, and bleated; and the fire-robed god,
Golden Apollo, a poor humble swain.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
“If oxen and horses and lions had hands and were able to draw with their hands and do the same things as men, horses would draw the shapes of gods to look like horses and oxen would draw them to look like oxen, and each would make the gods bodies have the same shape as they themselves had.”
—Xenophanes (c. 570–478 B.C.)
“There is in general good reason to suppose that in several respects the gods could all benefit from instruction by us human beings. We humans are—more humane.”
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)