History Main / DivineDelegation

* The universe of ''Comicbook/{{Lucifer}}'' was created by YHWH. Pretty much everything ''in'' it, however, was created by the Angels under his loose supervision. This didn't work terribly well (an entire existence designed by committee?), but he had his reasons--as the Angels discovered. [[MagnificentBastard When everything started going to shit a few billion years later]].

[[folder: Anime ]]

* In ''Anime/{{Slayers}}'', the Lord of Nightmares (aka L-sama), the local almighty supreme deity, created all of the worlds. Later she created various Gods and Dark Lords, and appointed one God and one Dark Lord for each world. Then the Gods created themselves lesser gods, and the Dark Lords created themselves lesser mazoku.

[[folder: Comic Books ]]

* The universe of ''{{Comicbook/Lucifer}}'' was created by YHWH. Pretty much everything ''in'' it, however, was created by the Angels under his loose supervision. This didn't work terribly well (an entire existence designed by committee?), but he had his reasons--as the Angels discovered. [[MagnificentBastard When everything started going to shit a few billion years later]].

[[folder: Literature ]]

* Franchise/TolkiensLegendarium is a very good example. Creator/JRRTolkien himself was a devout Catholic, and always kept trying to figure out how to integrate or reconcile his ideas about a fantasy world with his deeply-held belief in Catholic doctrine. So in the first part of ''Literature/TheSilmarillion'', he set up the theology of Arda as follows:

* The Creator of the ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' universe apparently hires other beings, also referred to as Creators, to make worlds. Some (such as the Creator of the Disc) are put-upon workmen, others (such as the Old Man Who Carries the Universe in a Sack, who later patched Fourecks in) are rather more artistic. Gods come later in the process, and don't really do all that much other than smiting.
* In ''Literature/HisDarkMaterials'' - in fact, it's arguable that some force (probably [[spoiler: Dust]], maybe something else), ''is'' the true Creator of the Universe, never mind all those [[OurAngelsAreDifferent angels that take the credit and then argue about it]] .
** A possible candidate would be the goddess Yambe-Akka, mentioned in the first book by the witches, though like her mythological namesake she is only mentioned as a {{psychopomp}}.
* In Creator/LordDunsany's ''Literature/TheGodsOfPegana,'' creation works this way, more or less. MANA-YOOD-SUSHAI created the 'little gods' and a bit of space for them to work with, then took a long long nap while they created the Worlds.
* In ''Literature/TheBelgariad'', UL created the universe and then seven other gods, his sons, to make the actual world they would inhabit, while he basically sat around and grumbled at how poor a job they were doing.
** All the lesser gods chose a people. The people that became known as the Ulgos weren't chosen by anybody, so they petitioned UL to let them worship him. He said something along the lines of "fine, whatever" but didn't seem particularly excited about the prospect, so their entire philosophy/religion is "we don't know what might make UL change his mind and abandon us again, but whatever it is is probably something fun, so let's not have any."
* ''Literature/KeysToTheKingdom'' falls into this indirectly. "The Architect" created the universe, [[HaveYouSeenMyGod then went off somewhere--nobody knows where]]. Her instructions were to appoint a mortal as her heir, but the seven greatest ([[SevenDeadlySins and most corrupt]]) members of the CelestialBureaucracy took power for themselves and have been having one ''hell'' of a time.
* In Creator/{{Voltaire}}'s short story ''[[http://wondersmith.com/scifi/plato.htm Plato's Dream]]'', the chief creator Demiurgos makes a number of lesser superbeings and then assigns each of them to create one of the planets in the solar system.
* Orr from ''Literature/TheWarGods'' series created the universe and then a whole pantheon of lesser gods and goddesses to help run it, though there were exceptions. The realm of demons and devils where Shigu, the wife of Phorbros after he rebelled, came from seems to be separate from but connected to Orr's creation and ''no one'' knows where Hirahim Lightfoot, the resident trickster deity, came from even if he does acknowledge Orr's authority.
* Piers Anthony's ''Literature/IncarnationsOfImmortality'' series features five lesser "gods" (the major incarnations of Death, Fate, Nature, Time, War) and a host of minor associated incarnations (War, for example, has Famine, Pestilence, Conquest and Slaughter ... and [[HorsemenOfTheApocalypse yes, they ride horses]]). God exists, but seems to be a Divine Delegator of the hands-off variety until book six of what was originally conceived as a five-book series, when it turns out that Satan (who has been an active antagonist throughout the series) [[spoiler:is an incarnation as well]]. Book 7 implies that there may be a Divine Delegator somewhere, but it's [[spoiler:some unknowable cosmic principle and not "God" since He's a delegate Himself]].
* Yuuzhan Vong mythology in the ''Literature/NewJediOrder'' series states that their TopGod, Yun-Yuuzhan the Creator, well, ''created'' the other gods (and all of the mass and energy of the universe) from various bits of his own body (which [[HumanSacrifice sets a strong precedent]]). Then the other gods, such as Yun-Harla [[TricksterGod the Deceiver]], and Yun-Yammka, [[WarGod the Slayer]], set about actually running the show and shaping the Yuuzhan Vong themselves.
* In ''The Lords of Dûs'' the god of Time Dagha created time and the fourteen gods of [[FantasyPantheon Eir and Dûs]]. Those gods in turn created the lesser gods of the Arkhein and the world itself. This becomes important when [[spoiler:[[DeathOfTheOldGods Dagha dies, and the fourteen gods with him]]. Everything Dagha ''directly'' created died with him, but the Arkhein and the world were separate enough from his existence to survive, as did time]].
* In ''Literature/HeraldsOfValdemar''...someone...created the [[OurAngelsAreDifferent Companions]] and works through [[TheChosenMany Heralds]] to preserve the world. As befits the RuleOfDrama, neither are immortal or omniscient, though they are incorruptible for all intents and purposes. [[spoiler:The firecats are this trope for a different country, being Companions in another form.]]
* In ''Literature/TheChroniclesOfNarnia'', anthropomorphic spirits of rivers, forests, etc exist and were created by [[CrystalDragonJesus Aslan/The Emperor]]. Characters admire them, in the same way strong humans are admired, but they aren't worshipped or [[OmniscientMoralityLicense flawless]]. It's like the difference between respecting a mountain's natural beauty and praying to that mountain for a good harvest.
* In Roy Pond's ''Tomb Travellers'', the Egyptian gods exist but aren't really gods, in the sense that they are 1) weaker than the Christian God, and 2) completely orthogonal to human existence. They don't really need or care about humanity, they're just...there. The protagonists' intimate relationship with their God is contrasted with the hollow, lightless afterlife that Egyptian peasants get stuck in: their gods can give food and wealth (in exchange for worship), but not love. [[spoiler:No word on what happens after Julia converts those peasants.]]
* ''Literature/TheCosmere'': The universe was created ([[AmbiguousSituation maybe]]) by [[TheMaker the God Beyond]], but virtually nothing is known about Them; They seem to take a ''very'' [[HaveYouSeenMyGod noninterventionist]] stance on Their creation and reside in the Beyond (i.e., outside of physical reality as we understand it), while the lesser gods They created (such as [[TopGod Adonalsium]] and [[PiecesOfGod his Shards]]) along with everything else interact with and manage the mortal worlds. Notably, even the lesser gods themselves cannot go to the Beyond; ''that's'' how far above them the God Beyond is.

[[folder: Live-Action Television]]
* In ''{{Series/Supernatural}}'', God has left heaven and Earth to be run by the Archangels and the angels. Except that [[spoiler: in the absence of God, the Archangels decide to start the Apocalypse.]] Oops.

[[folder: Tabletop Games ]]

[[folder: Video Games ]]

* According to the mythology in ''VideoGame/PokemonDiamondAndPearl'', after the original Pokemon Arceus created the universe, he created Dialga, Palkia and Giratina (representing time, space and anti-matter), followed by Uxie, Mesprit and Azelf (knowledge, emotion and willpower). After that, he went into a deep sleep, and the others took care of everything.

* ''Franchise/TheElderScrolls''
** The [[OurGodsAreDifferent Aedra and Daedra]] are this, albeit indirectly in a PiecesOfGod sense. They are said to have formed from the spilled blood of [[CreationMyth Anu and Padomay]], the GodOfGods and TheAntiGod who are the [[AnthropomorphicPersonification personifications]] of the forces of [[OrderVersusChaos "stasis/order/light" and "change/chaos/darkness"]], respectively. As Padomay [[DrivenByEnvy attempted to destroy creation]] because it favored Anu, he and Anu fought before Anu [[TakingYouWithMe pulled them both outside of time]]. According to some myths, the Aedra are "Anuic" beings, emerging from intermingled blood of Anu and Padomay, while the Daedra are purely "Padomaic" beings, emerging from the blood of Padomay.
** In the [[ScaryBlackMan Yokudan/Redguard]] pantheon, Ruptga, the "Tall Papa" and [[TopGod chief deity]] of their pantheon, created such a hierarchy. To note:
*** Ruptga gave purpose to Tu'whacca, another greater spirit who did not previously have one. (He was essentially a God of Life and Death in a world where everyone was immortal spirits.) Tu'whacca would be the caretaker of the [[WarriorHeaven Far Shores]] and [[{{Psychopomp}} help guide souls there]].
*** Ruptga created Sep, the Yokudan serpentine version of [[GodIsDead Lorkhan]] to help him save the lesser spirits from Satakal's ViciousCycle of devouring the world. Sep immediately began consuming the souls instead, forcing Ruptga to save them. Sep then devised the idea of Mundus, which was supposed to be an easier alternative to the Walkabout, Ruptga's method of saving the souls, but instead it trapped the souls and made it ''harder'' for them to reach the Far Shores. Thus, Ruptga punished Sep by "squashing him with [[CarryABigStick a big stick]]".
*** Some of Ruptga's children (Leki, Zeht, [=HoonDing=]) and his wife (Morwha) are also deities in the Yokudan pantheon.

[[folder: Web Comics]]

* In ''Webcomic/{{Misfile}}'', God created the Celestial Filing Deposit some time after creation and leaves the day-to-day organization of the universe to the angels. Nobody knows why, as God isn't talking and seems to only intervene when something big happens, like when Satan tried to take over.

This is formally referred to as a ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henotheism henotheistic]]'' scenario. It's handy for letting readers with low tolerance for fantasy believe that "the real God" (aka the Judeo-Christian Father) really was responsible for these worlds, just under a different name.

## Once the Valar and Maiar more or less finished shaping Arda despite Melkor's actions, one of the Valar (Aulë) creates the Dwarves; Ilúvatar chastises him (mildly) for this, then prevents him from destroying the Dwarves and gives them free will. However, he doesn't intend to let his own creations (the Elves and Men) get upstaged, so he puts them to sleep, takes them away, and hides them until later. Some time thereafter, Ilúvatar awakens the Elves, then later (at the first rising of the Sun), he awakens Men. Exactly when the Dwarves woke up again isn't specified, but probably between the two.

* Yuuzhan Vong mythology in the ''Literature/NewJediOrder'' series states that their TopGod, Yun-Yuuzhan the Creator, well, ''created'' the other gods (and all of the mass and energy of the universe) from various bits of his own body (which [[HumanSacrifice sets a strong precedent]]). Then the other gods, such as Yun-Harla [[TheTrickster the Deceiver]], and Yun-Yammka, [[WarGod the Slayer]], set about actually running the show and shaping the Yuuzhan Vong themselves.

* In the ''Comicbook/MarvelUniverse[='s=]'' "Cosmic Marvel" line, this is how the cosmic hierarchy works. There is one all-powerful entity, called "{{God}}", The Fulcrum, The One-Above-All, Above-All-Others or "Creator/JackKirby", who is technically omnibenevolent and omniscient, but S/He works through its agents such as [[GuardianOfTheMultiverse The Living Tribunal]], the Watchers, and the [[CosmicEntity cosmic beings Eternity, Infinity, Order, Chaos, Oblivion, Death, etc.]]. In a twist on the trope, Judeo-Christian beings such as archangels, demon lords, and so forth are even lower on the power scale and rarely have any power whatsoever outside of Earth.

* In ''Tabletop/{{Planescape}}'' the Athar deny that the PowersThatBe are truly gods, at least the ones mortals know about, but they believe in something called The Greater Unknown, which they claim is the true source of divinity. (Athar who are priests gain their spells from this source.)

* The cosmology of ''Webcomic/KillSixBillionDemons'' begins with the supreme god YISUN, an infinite being simultaneously alive and dead, everything and nothing at once. Tormented by their circular, stagnant existence, YISUN committed divine suicide to split into the gods YIS, black goddess of everything that was, and UN, white god of everything that wasn't. YIS and UN were so horrified by each other that they warred for seven years, then made love for seven hours, and ultimately birthed 777,777 other black and white gods, who first built the heavenly city of Throne, then all kinds of life, and having various misadventures before finally killing themselves in turn to create [[TheMultiverse 777,777 new universes]], which the life they created migrated into. Despite being dead, YISUN is often depicted in myth as hanging out with their descendant gods and generally acting like they're perfectly fine. This is deliberate.

* The cosmology of ''Webcomic/KillSixBillionDemons'' begins with the supreme god YISUN, an infinite being simultaneously alive and dead, everything and nothing at once. Tormented by their circular, stagnant existence, YISUN committed divine suicide to split into the gods YIS, black goddess of everything that was, and UN, white god of everything that wasn't. YIS and UN were so horrified by each other that they warred for seven years, then made love for seven hours, and ultimately birthed 777,777 other black and white gods, who first built the heavenly city of Throne, then all kinds of life, before finally killing themselves in turn to create [[TheMultiverse 777,777 new universes]], which the life they created migrated into. Despite their death, YISUN is often depicted in myth as hanging out with their descendant gods and generally acting like they're perfectly fine. This is deliberate.

* The cosmology of ''Webcomic/KillSixBillionDemons'' begins with the supreme god YISUN, an infinite being simultaneously alive and dead, everything and nothing at once. Tormented by their circular, stagnant existence, YISUN committed divine suicide and split into the gods YIS, black goddess of everything that was, and UN, white god of everything that wasn't. YIS and UN were so horrified by each other that they warred for seven years, then made love for seven hours, and ultimately birthed 777,777 other black and white gods, who first built the heavenly city of Throne, then all kinds of life, before finally killing themselves in turn to create [[TheMultiverse 777,777 new universes]], which the life they created migrated into.

** ''TheLegendOfZeldaBreathOfTheWild'' has the three dragons, Dinraal, Naydra, and Farosh, who guard the Springs of Power, Wisdom, and Courage respectively.

* The [[PowersThatBe Elder Powers]] from ''[[NexusWar Nexus Clash]]'' have various origins, but some of them are so old that no one knows where they came from, much less who created them. This was originally a nod to the original creator's [[UsefulNotes/{{Deism}} Deism]], but the origins of the setting are left deliberately mysterious.

* The ''ForgottenRealms'' universe may have been created by the Overgod Ao, but the world of Toril is the creation of the goddesses Selune and Shar.

*** Some of Ruptga's children (Leki, Zeht, HoonDing) and his wife (Morwha) are also deities in the Yokudan pantheon.

* In ''Franchise/TheElderScrolls'' series, the [[OurGodsAreDifferent Aedra and Daedra]] are this, albeit indirectly. They are said to have formed from the spilled blood of [[CreationMyth Anu and Padomay]], the GodOfGods and TheAntiGod who are the [[AnthropomorphicPersonification personifications]] of the forces of [[OrderVersusChaos "stasis/order/light" and "change/chaos/darkness"]], respectively. As Padomay [[DrivenByEnvy attempted to destroy creation]] because it favored Anu, he and Anu fought before Anu [[TakingYouWithMe pulled them both outside of time]]. According to some myths, the Aedra are "Anuic" beings, emerging from intermingled blood of Anu and Padomay, while the Daedra are purely "Padomaic" beings, emerging from the blood of Padomay.

The Creator deity usually leaves it in the hands of CelestialParagonsAndArchangels to finish the job. See also TopGod.

* Piers Anthony's ''Literature/IncarnationsOfImmortality'' series features five lesser "gods" (the major incarnations of Death, Fate, Nature, Time, War) and a host of minor associated incarnations (War, for example, has Famine, Pestilence, Conquest and Slaughter ... and [[FourHorsemenOfTheApocalypse yes, they ride horses]]). God exists, but seems to be a Divine Delegator of the hands-off variety until book six of what was originally conceived as a five-book series, when it turns out that Satan (who has been an active antagonist throughout the series) [[spoiler: is an incarnation as well]]. Book 7 implies that there may be a Divine Delegator somewhere, but it's [[spoiler: some unknowable cosmic principle and not "God" since He's a delegate Himself]].

* In {{Series/Supernatural}}, God has left heaven and Earth to be run by the Archangels and the angels. Except that [[spoiler: in the absence of God, the Archangels decide to start the Apocalypse.]] Oops.

* {{Dragonlance}}: The Highgod from Beyond created the twenty-one gods - seven good, seven neutral, seven evil. Between them, they then create the world of Krynn and its peoples. Note that the Highgod is ''not'' the Judeo-Christian God--he's more like an EldritchAbomination who didn't initially know what his children were doing, and when he discovered that they'd created a world, he started ''[[DeaderThanDead erasing people from existence]]'', and it never occurred to him that the lives he took might have any value.