History Main / GodEmperor

* UsefulNotes/DonaldTrump has been jokingly nicknamed the "God Emperor" among his followers. Most of the time this is meant to rile up his opponents.

-->-- '''Uriah''' to "Revelation", known after his death as "the God-Emperor of Mankind" (pictured right), ''[[Literature/HorusHeresy The Last Church]]'', ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000''.

* In ''WebAnimation/IfTheEmperorHadATextToSpeechDevice'' some of the Emperor's biggest complaints about how the Imperium has been run in his absence involve the theocratic elements focused around him and his first edict upon regaining the ability to communicate is to disband the Ecclesiarchy and Inquisition. Though after the Inquisitors who refused the order are banished to the Warp he reinstates those who obeyed, insisting that they stop worshiping him as a God and calling him the "God-Emperor of Mankind". Decius settles on "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pq-6aj9sNvo The Man-Emperor of Mankind]]", pointing out what [[JerkassGods the 'actual' gods of the setting are like]], and proclaiming that humans are greater than them, and that the Emperor is the greatest human. However, other characters point our the Emperor's {{hypocrisy}} in still wanting to be treated like a god sometimes.

* As stated in the article, practically all of the history of AncientEgypt for most if not all the pharaonic period. In particular, every pharaoh was regarded as a reincarnation of the god [[Myth/EgyptianMythology Horus]].

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Amphibia}}'': [[Characters/AmphibiaTheCore The Core]] is the true ruler of Amphibia, and murals imply they were worshiped like some sort of deity. Aldrich and his forebears implicitly treated the Core as akin to a living god, and the position of 'King' of Amphibia is revealed to be little more than [[DragonInChief a false premise]] to hide the fact that the Core is, and always has been, ruling ''through'' them, with the previous kings eventually [[YouWillBeAssimilated becoming part]] of the ''true'' ruler of Amphibia upon their passing.

** Including perhaps the most cunning, Vespasian, whose dying words were "''Vae, puto deus fio''" ("Dear me, I think I'm becoming a god").

* ''Literature/WhateleyUniverse': The Captain [[spoiler:ie. the Star Stalker ([[{{Reincarnation}} past life]] of [[PersonOfMassDestruction Tennyo]])]] "ruled" a major star system thousands of years ago, and became deified after she disappeared.

* ''Film/BlackPantherWakandaForever'': Namor, the de facto king of the underwater nation of Talokan, is in fact known to his people as K’uk’ulkan, the Feathered Serpent God of Mayan mythology due to a number of enhanced traits he possesses that distinguish him from the Talokanil. These traits include, but aren't limited to, feathered wings he has on his ankles that allow him to fly and a prolonged lifespan that allows Namor to live for hundreds of years.

* ''Film/BlackPantherWakandaForever'': Namor, the de facto king of the underwater nation of Talokan, is in fact known to his people as K’uk’ulkan, the Feathered Serpent God of Mayan mythology.

* In ''WebAnimation/IfTheEmperorHadATextToSpeechDevice'' some of the Emperor's biggest complaints about how the Imperium has been run in his absence involve the theocratic elements focused around him and his first edict upon regaining the ability to communicate is to disband the Ecclesiarchy and Inquisition. Though after the Inquisitors who refused the order are banished to the Warp he reinstates those who obeyed, insisting that they stop worshiping him as a God and calling him the "God-Emperor of Mankind". Decius settles on "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pq-6aj9sNvo The Man-Emperor of Mankind]]", underpinning the logic by pointing out what ''[[JerkassGods type]]'' of Gods inhabit the setting. However, other characters point our the Emperor's {{hypocrisy}} in still wanting to be treated like a god sometimes.

[[folder:Web Animation]]
* In ''WebAnimation/IfTheEmperorHadATextToSpeechDevice'' some of the Emperor's biggest complaints about how the Imperium has been run in his absence involve the theocratic elements focused around him and his first edict upon regaining the ability to communicate is to disband the Ecclesiarchy and Inquisition. Though after the Inquisitors who refused the order are banished to the Warp he reinstates those who obeyed, insisting that they stop worshiping him as a God and calling him the "God-Emperor of Mankind". Decius settles on "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pq-6aj9sNvo The Man-Emperor of Mankind]]", underpinning the logic by pointing out what ''[[JerkassGods type]]'' of Gods inhabit the setting. However, other characters point our the Emperor's {{hypocrisy}} in still wanting to be treated like a god sometimes.
* ''WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}'': When Ozma first reincarnates and reunites with Salem, she convinces him that the best way to unite humanity is to do it as gods. Because they are both immortal and magic makes them much more powerful than other humans, many people believe it and become their followers. They are able to establish and rule an entire kingdom until Salem's increasingly extreme methods of "uniting" humanity finally opens Ozma's eyes to the truth of her corruption; their masquerade ends in violence and tragedy, and they have been fighting over the fate of the world ever since.
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* In ''WebAnimation/IfTheEmperorHadATextToSpeechDevice'' some of the Emperor's biggest complaints about how the Imperium has been run in his absence involve the theocratic elements focused around him and his first edict upon regaining the ability to communicate is to disband the Ecclesiarchy and Inquisition. Though after the Inquisitors who refused the order are banished to the Warp he reinstates those who obeyed, insisting that they stop worshiping him as a God and calling him the "God-Emperor of Mankind". Decius settles on "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pq-6aj9sNvo The Man-Emperor of Mankind]]", underpinning the logic by pointing out what ''[[JerkassGods type]]'' of Gods inhabit the setting. However, other characters point our the Emperor's {{hypocrisy}} in still wanting to be treated like a god sometimes.

* In ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'', [[ScarySkeleton Baraggan Louisenbairn]] in Hueco Mundo, who had the [[WalkingWasteland power]] to back up his boasts at least as far as being the strongest Hollow around. Incidentally, he got ousted by [[TheHeavy Sosuke Aizen]], who himself wants to be this trope on a much ''larger'' scale. Then we get [[AGodAmI Yhwach]], who unlike the other two, who either wanted to be seen as a God, or wanted to become a God, for all intents and purposes, ''actually was a God''.

* In ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'', after Pain seized control of Rain, he was both its ruler and widely regarded as a god by his shinobi.

* ''Anime/DragonBallZ'': While Frieza isn't literally considered to be a god, given that this is a setting where mortals have direct knowledge of the actual gods and can even go meet them on occasion, he possesses absurd power for a mortal and [[TheDreaded is effectively feared as a god by all unlucky enough to fall within the shadow of his empire.]] The fact that he can effortlessly destroy entire planets on a whim certainly supports this perception. [[spoiler: Later on in ''[[Anime/DragonBallSuper Super]]'' he becomes even more powerful, still lacking actual god ki but otherwise being roughly equal with literal demigods like Goku and Vegeta, as well as a fledgling God of Destruction.]]

* ''VideoGame/XenobladeChronicles3'': Though the inhabitants of Aionios don't really have a concept of "gods," the Queens serve the role. The singular, immortal rulers of Keves and Agnes, both Queens are spoken with reverence even by their enemies, and particularly foul-mouthed characters swear by them in a way that is largely treated as a minor blasphemy. They are named early on as [[VideoGame/XenobladeChronicles1 Melia Antiqua]] (Keves) and [[VideoGame/XenobladeChronicles2 Nia]] (Agnes), heroes from the previous games... which makes it very odd that they are perpetuating an absolutely unnecessary ForeverWar between the two nations. [[spoiler:As it turns out, the real Queens went to sleep when Mobius and the Consuls took over; the "Queens" everyone knows are actually robots spouting Mobius propaganda]].

* ''Literature/BooksOfSwords'':

** ''ComicBook/{{Darkseid}}'': On Apokolopis, Darkseid rules as much like a god as like a king, and isn't shy about saying so.

** ''ComicBook/DoctorStrange'': Dormammu is an EldritchAbomination / DimensionLord / MultiversalConqueror who rules his own universe as a torture chamber, and wants to take over all other life and afterlife to give it the same treatment. Likely one of the most extreme examples.

** "[[https:/xkcd.com/2661 Age Milestone Privileges]]" is a list of entitlements that US citizens gain at various ages. These include "Learn about the God-Empress" at 45, and "Get a birthday card from the God-Empress" at 105.

** The Immortal God-Emperor of Mankind. Funnily enough, unlike other examples he specifically said he ''[[AGodIAmNot wasn't]]'' a god[[note]]past tense is crucial; he's almost certainly a god ''now''[[/note]] and wanted to create a society of {{Flat Earth Atheist}}s (supposedly to starve [[UltimateEvil the Chaos gods]] of their [[GodsNeedPrayerBadly required sustenance]]). But after the ''Literature/HorusHeresy'' happened, he was immobilised and stuck on life support for ten thousand years, and the Imperium became a [[CrapsackWorld totalitarian fanatical nightmare]], which was his last demand before being put into the throne, since he realised that the Chaos Gods feed more on emotion than prayer. Want to hear another irony about Emperor of Mankind, who was the biggest atheist in the whole ''40K''? [[spoiler: It's implied that he was Jesus.]] As shown in the page quote, the last priest on Earth called it (after tearing down his badly argued HollywoodAtheist justifications to boot). As did The Emperor's best friend and trusted advisor Malcador. Emps just refused to listen, even when he had to start outlawing cults worshipping him. Best of all? It turns out that collectivist faiths ''literally starve Chaos of their worship''. His atheist teachings made humanity vulnerable to Chaos, which nearly damned humanity in an entirely literal sense. After the Horus Heresy, faith is used to combat daemons and other Chaos forces to great effect.

* ''VideoGame/GenshinImpact'' takes place largely on a continent divided into seven nations, each of which is- ostensibly- ruled by their most prominent local god known as an "[[OurArchonsAreDifferent Archon]]".