History Main / DeityOfMortalCreation

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[[caption-width-right:350:And then man made God in his image.\\
[-[[https://www.deviantart.com/anne-wild/art/The-Contruction-of-Akulakhan-827714635 Art]] by [[https://www.deviantart.com/anne-wild anne-wild]]. Used with permission.-]]]

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* Father from ''Manga/FullmetalAlchemist'', who is introduced as a powerful god-like alchemist, [[spoiler:is revealed to be created from the blood of Hohenheim, an once-mortal human from Xerxes]].

* ''ComicBook/BlackMoonChronicles'': ZigzaggedTrope. There's no indication that the various gods known to exist, including {{God}} himself, Lucifer, or the Oracle were created by the sentient races. However, on Terra Secunda the new human society ends up accidentally creating a new GooGooGodlike deity through their belief alone, The One and Only, despite Methraton's misgivings.
* In ''ComicBook/{{Futurama}}'''s Time Bender Trilogy Arc, Leela ends up in an alternate history version of Ancient Greece, ruled by actual Greek Gods. She's later told that the gods were in fact robots built by the Greeks, after their attempt at Democratic government fell through due to corruption. Naturally, the gods became DrunkWithPower and turned into the JerkassGods their mythological counterparts were. Leela is able to solve the problem by reprogramming the "gods" into being so complimentary and self-worshipping that they would spend their time kissing their own butts than bother the mortals.

* In ''ComicBook/TheSandman1989'', gods are born of the Dreaming and return to it when they are no longer worshiped. The exception appears to be the Judeo-Christian God. [[AnthropomorphicPersonification The Endless]] are repeatedly stated to not be gods, as they existed before humanity dreamed of gods and will exist long after the last god is dead.

* ''ComicBook/JudgmentDayMarvelComics'': Technically, of the Progenitor's four creators, only Tony Stark is actually mortal, but otherwise the trope is played straight.

* ''Film/GodzillaVsKong'': If the [[{{Kaiju}} Titans]] including Godzilla are [[PhysicalGod gods]], then [[Characters/MonsterVerseMechagodzilla Mechagodzilla]] is [[EvilInc Apex Cybernetics]]' attempt to create their own artificial god with which they can elevate themselves to godhood by proxy of remote controlling the Mecha -- the movie's novelization portrays the Mecha's human pilot Ren Serizawa as a GodhoodSeeker in particular. [[spoiler:Due to Mechagodzilla incorporating [[UndeadAbomination Ghidorah's undead skull]] as a piloting system, Apex's artificial Titan gains a mind of its own from the skull's subconsciousness and it [[TurnedAgainstTheirMasters pays them for their hubris]], then it goes on to fight Godzilla and Kong to the death. And it proves along the way that Apex managed to make Mechagodzilla powerful enough that it ''almost succeeds'' in defeating both Godzilla and Kong (albeit after both those two were already exhausted from a previous fight)]].

* ''Literature/AmericanGods'' by Creator/NeilGaiman:

%%* In the ''Literature/BookOfSwords'' it is eventually discovered that humanity created all the gods, killing them. -- '''Administrivia/ZeroContextExample'''

* In Creator/DouglasAdams' ''Literature/TheLongDarkTeaTimeOfTheSoul'', Thor says that the gods were created by humans: "Immortals are what you wanted. Immortals are what you got. ... You made us what you would not dare to be yourselves." Other gods are the result of things not being dealt with properly in the mortal world and emerging in the divine one. Toward the end, a new "Guilt God" spawns as a critical mass of guilt builds up throughout the book.
* How at least some of the gods of ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' come to be:
** In ''Literature/{{Hogfather}}'' when the Disc's Santa Claus analogue is killed all the leftover belief forms a variety of OddJobGods such as Verruca Gnome, the Eater of Socks; and Bilious, the Oh God of Hangovers.
** When [[TheGrimReaper Death]] is forced into retirement in ''Literature/ReaperMan'' his position is filled by a number of species-specific Deaths based on that target's idea of Death. The Death of Turtles is a hollow shell, the Death of Trees is the sound of a swinging axe, and the Death of Humans is a horrible cliche.
* ''Literature/TheTrialsOfApollo'''s fourth book ''The Tyrant's Tomb'' features Harpocrates, a Greek-Egyptian hybrid god born during the Hellenistic rule of Egypt, with the Greeks mistaking a gesture on a statue of Horus, meant to symbolize childhood, for "shhh". [[ClapYourHandsIfYouBelieve This widespread misconception became a belief powerful enough to bring a god into existence.]]

* ''Series/BabylonFive'': In "[[Recap/BabylonFiveS01E06MindWar Mind War]]" attempts by the [[MutantDraftBoard Psi Corps]] to create a stable telekinetic cause Jason Ironheart to become the most powerful human telepath to have ever existed before he evolves into a god-like being. Telling Commander Sinclair he would see him in a million years, the evolved Ironheart departs the galaxy.
* ''Series/PersonOfInterest'': Harold, with access to NSA feeds, created the Machine. Not everyone thinks the Machine is a god, Root believes it with all her heart. While Harold was creating the Machine, his friend Arthur was creating Samaritan. When Samaritan comes online, it recruits people that are convinced it is a god.

* Ancient Greek philosopher Euhemerus claimed all deities and heroes were human beings whose exploits became more and more exaggerated in the course of the age until being granted divine traits by the public.

* In ''TabletopGame/{{Starfinder}}'' the machines of Aballon created Epoch as the conclusion of a millennia-long project to produce a machine deity. Immediately after coming online it reached out and contacted two somewhat more traditional D&D/Pathfinder deities: Brigh, the goddess of invention and machines and the aforementioned Casandalee from ''Pathfinder''; and the three merged to form the triple goddess Triune.

** ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer}}'': Although the lore is somewhat inconsistent about his origins (a few sources describe him as one of the Old Ones), the serpent god Sotek is suggested to have been created through the devotion and prayers of the Skinks, spurred on by the prophet Tehenhauin.

** Downplayed in the case of the Olympian gods. They are actually enormous mecha from another universe who came to Earth to harvest it. But they ended up settling down on the planet instead, and their interactions with humans led them to be worshipped as gods. This belief and continued interactions with humans caused them to form human avatars and gain personalities beyond what their programming and logic dictated. For instance, Aphrodite was designed as an education robot, but became the goddess of love and beauty. [[spoiler:However, they lost their Aletheian forms during their enormous battle with Sefar 14,000 years ago. The key divergence in the Atlantic Lostbelt is that Zeus forcibly had them combine to defeat Sefar, allowing them to retain their machine bodies and continually upgrade them for thousands of years, making them all even more monstrously powerful than they were in Proper Human History]].
* In ''VideoGame/FearAndHunger'', it is eventually revealed that [[spoiler: [[NoNameGiven The Girl]] was conceived by [[GodhoodSeeker Le'garde]] and [[DeityOfHumanOrigin Nilvan]] to create a god to surpass the Old Gods, but thanks to Le'garde's ambitions said plan was put on hold]]. [[MultipleEndings It's possible for you to continue this plan]], [[spoiler: and doing so eventually leads to The Girl being reborn at the bottom of the titular dungeon as The God of Fear and Hunger, a herald of a new age of humanity to free them of MedievalStasis]].
** The [[VideoGame/FearAndHungerTermina sequel]] ends up revisiting this plot element, as it reveals [[spoiler: that [[CuttingOffTheBranches the God of Fear and Hunger did ascend]], and led humanity into a Cruel Age that led to the Industrial Revolution]]. It also turns out the reason the Bremen Army wanted [[{{Ruritania}} Prehevil]] was because [[spoiler: it was to be the site of creating another god like the God of Fear and Hunger, the Machine God, Logic]]. During the game proper, you can also run across telemetroscopes that are revealed to be connected to it, with activating them all be necessary to open up the [[TheVeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon White Bunker]], [[spoiler: where Logic resides, and [[NiceJobBreakingItHero which you just activated]]]]. [[spoiler: While The Kaiser (who seems to be a resurrected version of Le'garde) intended to be the man at the head of Logic, [[RebelLeader Reila Haas]] beat him to the punch, and took his place, and after a BossBonanza the protagonist can be assimilated into Logic as well]].
* This is a major plot point and plot twist in ''Videogame/FinalFantasyXIV'':

* The Sumeru Archon quest in ''VideoGame/GenshinImpact'' centers around a conspiracy to replace Lesser Lord Kusanali with one of these. Obsessed with the long-dead Greater Lord Rukkadevata, the Sages of the Akademiya conspired with [[spoiler: Il Dottore]] to create a new God of Wisdom under their control. To accomplish this, they harvested the dreams of Sumeru's population and [[spoiler: used the stolen Electro Gnosis]] to create their new "god", the Everlasting Lord of Arcane Wisdom. [[spoiler: This god, Shouki no Kami, was created by modifying [[ArtificialHuman Scaramouche]] and fusing him with a HumongousMecha with the Gnosis serving as a power source. While they ''are'' able to create god, the accession is temporary as Kusanali rallies her people to defeat the false god]].

* According one of the notes found in the final installments of ''VideoGame/{{Submachine}}'', its nainframe dubbed S.H.I.W.A. is basically this:

The computer answered the question.\\

* ''VideoGame/RainWorld'': The Iterators are godlike supercomputers created by a mortal ancient civilization.
* ''Franchise/ShinMegamiTensei'': A recurring theme in the franchise.
** Early games often mention how demons and gods can be brought down and transformed into different identities due to shifting beliefs, notably ''VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiI'' (and ''[[VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiII II]]'' by extension). Lucifer even explains at the end of the game how he will return exactly when humans need him again. ''VideoGame/RaidouKuzunohaVsTheSoullessArmy'' in particular, which is a prequel to SMT ''I'', ''II'', has the main antagonist manipulate the Japanese army to ''create'' a god via DeusEstMachina (and a lot of questionable methods).
** In number of continuities (notably ''Franchise/{{Persona}}'' and ''VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiIVApocalypse'', the former being in the same continuity as ''SMT I'', ''II'' and ''Raidou Kuzunoha'') it is made explicit demons and gods are born, given shape, and powered by human belief and concepts, due to humanity's supernatural ability to change reality. ''Apocalypse'' in particular has "gods" as originally shapeless natural phenomenon (like wind and lightning) which were given form and identity by human religions. As a consequence, in these continuities it's generally impossible to permanently kill a god as long as humans still practice, or are aware of, or still affected by the thoughts which birthed those gods, with many defeated gods declaring they'll be back AsLongAsThereIsEvil.
** This trope is also inverted for specific entities and worlds. ''VideoGame/LastBible'', ''VideoGame/DevilChildren'', ''Persona'', ''[[VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiStrangeJourney Strange Journey]]'', ''VideoGame/DevilSurvivor2'' all state (sometimes in [[AllThereInTheManual side materials]]) there are gods or precursor-like beings who preceded or even responsible for human existence. Many games such as ''VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiIIINocturne'' also has various characters, even ''enemies of God'', claim God created humanity, though it is often unclear if they refer to [[DemiurgeArchetype YHVH]] or [[AboveTheGods the Great Will]].
* Of all the bosses in the game, Mizuchi from ''VideoGame/NeoGeoBattleColiseum'' is the only one being created in a laboratory by [[EvilInc WAREZ]] to recreate {{Orochi}} (from ''Franchise/TheKingOfFighters'' series), being a clone with part of Orochi's soul. And as him, Mizuchi is an SNKBoss as well.
* This applies to most of the deities in the ''Franchise/{{Persona}}'' series. Within the Collective Unconscious, humanity's desires manifest as gods. Because they represent a single desire, however, their understanding of humanity is incredibly skewed.
* ''VideoGame/PillarsOfEternity'': [[spoiler:The big reveal at the end of the game is that the "gods" worshipped throughout the game world are actually artificial transcendent constructs created in secret by the ancient Engwithan civilization to offer all sentient beings a meaning in life, as well as a comprehensive selection of moralities to choose from and to follow]].
* During the Nomad's Elegy quest in ''VideoGame/{{RuneScape}}'', in a supposed attempt to protect the world from other gods, the necromancer Nomad collected innumerable souls directly from the underworld and gave them form with the Soul obelisk, creating a grotesque and morbid divine abomination in the shape of the deceased god Guthix, calling it Gielinor after the world it was supposed to protect.
* ''VideoGame/XenobladeChronicles'': the supreme God of the Bionis and Mechonis is [[spoiler: Alvis, who was originally a computer processing unit.]]
* ''VideoGame/XenobladeChronicles3'': [[spoiler:While he is never outright called a God, Z is effectively the God of Aionios as he is the leader of Moebius and is the architect of the ForeverWar that sustains them. Near the end of the game, Nia reveals that Z was born from the human desire to keep things the same way forever, which explains Z's intent on maintaining the "Endless Now".]]
* ''{{VideoGame/Xenogears}}'': The primary creator of all life on the game's planet is [[spoiler: Deus, a damaged but powerful man-made supercomputer weapon hybrid that cultivated lifeforms to use as HumanResources. In spite of all its power, however, Deus falls short of the Wave Existence, the Xenogears universe's ''true'' God whose origin is unknown.]]

* ''[[WebAnimation/DingoDoodles Fools Gold]]'': Xanu was an artificial god created by the Ancient Foreclaimer race using their world's second sun. [[spoiler:Instead of worshipping him, however, they painfully experimented on him until he turned their machines against them, nearly wiping them all out.]]
* KAMI ([[FunWithAcronyms Kinetic Autonomous Mechanical Interface]]) from ''{{WebAnimation/Interface}}'' is an android created by Mr. Greetings as a means to collect [[LifeEnergy cerebral electricity]]. While not a deity outright, many scenes with her are chock-full of religious imagery and symbolism, and in the Octopus Chef's prophetic vision she turns into a full-blown godlike entity. And for a bit of BilingualBonus, ''Kami'' are spirits worshipped in the Japanese Shinto Religion. They can be spirits of beings, the landscape, or forces of nature, and sometimes translated as "god".

* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'', [[RobotReligion Robotology]] had the Robot Devil created in order to punish sinners. Initially, we're told [[DevilButNoGod there is no Robot God]], but he's eventually revealed to be real. Also Robot Jesus is a thing, but Jewish robots don't think he's their messiah.

The god usually has certain features when this trope is played. They are usually mechanical in nature yet still hold strong emotions. They also [[HumongousMecha tend to be ginormous]], to the level of titans, like some artificial deities in old myths. Expect this version to have GlowingMechanicalEyes. This design usually only shows up in a [[PhlebotinumInducedSteampunk steampunk theme]] or something else known for its technology. Otherwise, if it's in ancient times, the god was probably made by some old dude in a tower. These kind of gods are usually a DeusEstMachina or a MechanicalAbomination. They are also, by default, subject to MachineWorship. A similar design choice is a giant ''golem'', magical instead of mechanical.

They might instead be made out pure AppliedPhlebotinum, utter ''maaaaaagic'', emotions, concepts, or whatever else humans can make up. They'll usually glow or have small color pallets. They'll also embody the concept that made them. A god formed from the bloodshed, violence, and pain of war will most likely look like a bloodstained warrior in armor. Expect them to fly around, have fantastical powers, teleport, and act like an odd imaginary friend if they're formed from happy emotions. If made from sadness and all its more specific forms, expect them to be ghostly. If it's pain, anger, or other strong emotions formed out of stress, they'll be rock solid and nightmarish, topped off with GlowingEyesOfDoom.

Ironically, most religions claim Gods other than their own are this trope. Even the ''[[Literature/TheBible Old Testament]]'' suggests that 'foreign' Gods become more powerful -- and, actually supernaturally powerful -- based on the level of belief in them (such as giving Pharaoh's magicians the ability to turn sticks into serpents).

Ironically, most religions claim Gods other than their own are this trope. Even the ''Old Testament'' suggests that 'foreign' Gods become more powerful -- and, actually supernaturally powerful -- based on the level of belief in them (such as giving Pharaoh's magicians the ability to turn sticks into serpents).

** ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'': The Chaos Gods are basically the living embodiment of all emotion felt in the universe: Khorne is rage, Slaanesh is desire, Tzeentch is hope, and Nurgle is possibly (depending on how you interpret "emotion born from fear of death") despair and/or ''love''. While they started out with some positive traits, humanity has been obeying its baser urges for so long that they're now irredeemably evil (Khorne once had elements of martial valor, now he demands bloodshed all the time; Tzeentch is now a permanently-scheming backstabber, etc.) And because of the way the Warp works, they've technically always existed even though Slaanesh was born from millennia of nonstop hedonism from the Eldar sometime in the 30th millennia while Nurgle was possibly first worshipped as Nergal in Mesopotamia.

** The [[VideoGame/FearAndHungerTermina sequel]] ends up revisiting this plot element, as it reveals [[spoiler: that [[CuttingOffTheBranches the God of Fesr and Hunger did ascend]], and led humanity into a Cruel Age that led to the Industrial Revolution]]. It also turns out the reason the Bremen Army wanted [[{{Ruritania}} Prehevil]] was because [[spoiler: it was to be the site of creating another god like the God of Fear and Hunger, the Machine God, Logic]]. During the game proper, you can also run across telemetroscopes that are revealed to be connected to it, with activating them all be necessary to open up the [[TheVeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon White Bunker]], [[spoiler: where Logic resides, and [[NiceJobBreakingItHero which you just activated]]]]. [[spoiler: While The Kaiser (who seems to be a resurrected version of Le’garde) intended to be the man at the head of Logic, [[RebelLeader Reila Haas]] beat him to the punch, and took his place, and after a BossBonanza the protagonist can be assimilated into Logic as well]].

The god usually has certain features when this trope is played. They are usually mechanical in nature yet still hold strong emotions. They also [[HumongousMecha tend to be ginormous]], to the level of titans, like some artificial deities in old myths. Expect this version to have GlowingMechanicalEyes. This design usually only shows up in a [[PhlebotinumInducedSteampunk steampunk theme]] or something else known for its technology. Otherwise, if it's in ancient times, the god was probably made by some old dude in a tower. These kind of gods are usually a DeusEstMachina or a MechanicalAbomination. They are also, by default, are subject to MachineWorship. A similar design choice is a giant ''golem'', magical instead of mechanical.

** The [[VideoGame/FearAndHungerTermina sequel]] ends up revisiting this plot element, as it reveals [[spoiler: that [[CuttingOffTheBranches the God of Fesr and Hunger did ascend]], and led humanity into a Cruel Age that led to the Industrial Revolution]]. It also turns out the reason the Bremen Army wanted [[Ruritania Prehevil]] was because [[spoiler: it was to be the site of creating another god like the God of Fear and Hunger, the Machine God, Logic]]. During the game proper, you can also run across telemetroscopes that are revealed to be connected to it, with activating them all be necessary to open up the [[TheVeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon White Bunker]], [[spoiler: where Logic resides, and [[NiceJobBreakingItHero which you just activated]]]]. [[spoiler: While The Kaiser (who seems to be a resurrected version of Le’garde) intended to be the man at the head of Logic, [[RebelLeader Reila Haas]] beat him to the punch, and took his place, and after a BossBonanza the protagonist can be assimilated into Logic as well]].

* ''ComicBook/WonderWoman1987'': It's never outright stated how the Olympians came to be but Ares accepts the possibility that the gods owe their existence to human story and belief, which they [[GodsNeedPrayerBadly do rely on for power]], is a large part of why he is able to adapt with the times while Zeus' refusal to see himself as anything other than inherently superior and above humanity is why he cannot and loses his mind, power and crown.

But this time the question wasn't directed at us. We asked the computer. And that was the turning point in the history of humanity. That exact moment. Once we acknowledget, that we're not the most evolved structure on our planet, passed the torch our purpose diminished. Did we expect the computer to fry under the heaviest of question? Of course we did. So you can imagine our surprise, when this happened.\\

The computer answered the question.

* ''Franchise/ShinMegamiTensei'': This trope is stated to be the reason why GodsNeedPrayerBadly in this franchise. The forms and strength of gods and demons are dependent upon human belief and concepts. ''VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiIVApocalypse'' states that "gods" were originally shapeless natural forces (like wind) before humans solidified their forms with their beliefs. It is seen repeatedly that gods can be brought down to plain old demons due to shifting beliefs, starting as early as ''VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiII'', and weaponized in ''Apocalypse''. [[spoiler:Yaldabaoth]] from ''VideoGame/Persona5'' specifically states that he was created by humanity's desire for order. In ''VideoGame/RaidouKuzunohaVsTheSoullessArmy'', the Japanese army attempts to ''create'' a god via DeusEstMachina (and a lot of questionable methods). This also means that it's impossible to kill a god as long as the humans still practice/are aware/affected by the concepts that led to the creation of those gods, with many defeated gods declaring that they'll be back AsLongAsThereIsEvil. The ''only'' deity in all of ''SMT'' whose existence is entirely disconnected to human belief is Nyx from ''VideoGame/Persona3''.

* In ''TabletopGame/{{Pathfinder}}'', the ''Iron Gods'' adventure path leads up to this. The BigBad is the AI of a crashed spaceship who has gone mad and also figured out a way to become a god. Your party of course gets there just in time to foil the plan, but (canonically) Casandalee, an AI buddy you picked up earlier in the adventure, ascends in its place. Depending on how thoroughly you've explored and looted, the party has the opportunity to influence the sort of goddess she becomes.
* In ''TabletopGame/{{Starfinder}}'' the machines of Aballon created Epoch as the conclusion of a millennia-long project to produce a machine deity. Immediately after coming online it reached out and contacted two somewhat more traditional D&D/Pathfinder deities: Brigh, the goddess of invention and machines; and Casandalee, an android who passed the test of the Starstone (usual way to become a DeityOfHumanOrigin in Pathfinder); and the three merged to form the triple goddess Triune.

** ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer}}'': Although the lore is somewhat inconsistent about his origins (a few sources describe him as one of the Old Ones), the serpent god Sotek is suggested to have been created through the devotion and prayers of the Skinks, spurred on by the prophet Tehenhuain.

* ''VideoGame/GenshinImpact'': In the Sumeru chapters, the Sages of the Akademiya are thoroughly disappointed in Lesser Lord Kusanali as a replacement for Greater Lord Rukkadevata, and so with [[spoiler:Il Dottore's]] help try to create a new god for Sumeru.

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[[caption-width-right:350:[-[[https://www.deviantart.com/anne-wild/art/The-Contruction-of-Akulakhan-827714635 Art]] by [[https://www.deviantart.com/anne-wild anne-wild]]. Used with permission.-]]]

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/36882dd9_08ed_4912_a61d_619bb03a0830.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:"This wine is my oil, and..."[[note]]Art by Tropers/CardboardBot for the trope[[/note]]]]

-->-- Quote by Creator/RichardHerley

* In Creator/NeilGaiman's ''ComicBook/TheSandman'', gods are born of the Dreaming and return to it when they are no longer worshiped. The exception appears to be the Judeo-Christian God. [[AnthropomorphicPersonification The Endless]] are repeatedly stated to not be gods, as they existed before humanity dreamed of gods and will exist long after the last god is dead.

->''"Man had created God in his own image, not the other way around. He had done it through sheer terror, and who could blame him? Unfortunately he had made too good a job. The god he had invented was just as cruel and careless as man himself. Not a deity to whom one should seriously address a prayer.?''

* ''Rain World'': The Iterators are godlike supercomputers created by a mortal ancient civilization.