History Main / GodEmperor

* ''Fanfic/ShinjiAndWarhammer40K'': Shinji Ikari...[[ForWantOfANail sort of]]), whose {{Memetic Badass}}ery has acquired him more and more power as the story progresses, both literally and metaphorically. Not that he's happy about it.

In RealLife, declaring themselves gods has been very common to the rulers in ancient history. An Imperial Cult, as it has been formally called, handily brought religious and secular power together, and gave the ruler absolute power, which was always welcome. The Pharaohs of AncientEgypt are probably the earliest well-known example of the trend, and the divinized-upon-death Emperors of Rome (see below) are the source of the second word in the title. Note that this shouldn't be confused with the DivineRightOfKings, which was a doctrine holding that kings derive their authority directly from {{God}}. That gives similar advantages but acknowledges that the king himself is mortal.

In RealLife, declaring themselves gods has been very common to the rulers in ancient history. It handily brought religious and secular power together, and gave the ruler absolute power, which was always welcome. The Pharaohs of AncientEgypt are probably the earliest well-known example of the trend, and the divinized-upon-death Emperors of Rome (see below) are the source of the second word in the title. Note that this shouldn't be confused with the DivineRightOfKings, which was a doctrine holding that kings derive their authority directly from {{God}}. That gives similar advantages but acknowledges that the king himself is mortal.

* With Xi Jingping taking the seat in mainland China, he implemented the Xi Jingping thought as a bible, and deitified himself as the [[https://www.christianitytoday.com/news/2017/november/china-christians-jesus-communist-president-xi-jinping-yugan.html lord and savior]] of China, with the CCP as the primary religion.

* ''VideoGame/GenshinImpact'' takes place largely on a continent divided into seven nations, each of which is ostensibly ruled by a PhysicalGod known as an "[[OurArchonsAreDifferent Archon]]" though for the most part each nation has a human-run government that does most of the work. The degree to how much direct influence each Archon has over their nation varies, with Barbatos (the [[BlowYouAway Anemo]] Archon) preferring to let the people govern themselves while the Raiden Shogun is explicitly a military dictator.

In RealLife, declaring themselves gods has been very common to the rulers in ancient history. It handily brought religious and secular power together, and gave the ruler absolute power, which was always welcome. The Pharaohs of AncientEgypt are probably the earliest well known example of the trend, and the divinized-upon-death Emperors of Rome (see below) are the source of the second word in the title. Note that this shouldn't be confused with the DivineRightOfKings, which was a doctrine holding that kings derive their authority directly from {{God}}. That gives similar advantages but acknowledges that the king himself is mortal.

Compare with EmperorScientist and SorcerousOverlord, which is how a good many of them get their start; and TheEmperor, to whom the God-Emperor trope may apply also. Compare [[HighPriest Priest King]], when the ruler is head of both Church and State, but not worshiped themselves. May be the result of a CultOfPersonality or TheTheocracy. If you're looking for an emperor/king/leader of the gods themselves, see TopGod. Fictional examples tend to also be an ImmortalRuler, though the real life ones haven't been thus far.

* ''Literature/JohnCarterOfMars'': Issus, ruler of the black Martians, is known as a goddess even beyond their realm. Actually she's just an old crone without any special powers, which the blacks are so angry to find out that she doesn't survive it.

* In 2015, Dutch comedian [[Series/ZondagMetLubach Arjen Lubach]] led a mock campaign to have himself named "Pharaoh of the Netherlands". Since he got the necessary amount of signatures, the Parliament was obliged to respond, stating that it would be unconstitutional to appoint a monarch who demanded to be worshipped as a god (plus they already have a monarch).

* Despite not being considered a god (at least not in Ethiopia), Haile Selassie's full title was "His Imperial Majesty Haile Selassie I, King of Kings, Lord of Lords, Conquering Lion of the Tribe of Judah, and Elect of God". Meanwhile, he was (and is) considered the second coming of Christ by the Rastafarians. He was quite surprised (and perhaps disturbed on religious grounds, being Christian and the head of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church) to find this out upon visiting Jamaica in 1965. However, out of respect he didn't disabuse their belief.

* 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 the Quincy emperor [[AGodAmI Yhwach]].

** [[BigBad Fire Lord Ozai]] promotes himself to this as "the Phoenix King" during the GrandFinale, planning on committing genocide to celebrate his inauguration. Fortunately he was stopped before that plan got off the ground.

* ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'': The Diamonds, though not explicitly called gods, are venerated as the creators of the lower Gems, and as "[[UltimateLifeform absolutely totally completely flawless beings]]". They possess [[SuperpowerLottery an insane array of powers]], [[AttackOfTheFiftyFootWhatever tower over every other Gem]] and are NighInvulnerable, making them all but unstoppable.
* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'': The two [[PrincessesRule princesses ruling]] Equestria, Celestia and Luna, are a borderline example. They're immortal or at least fantastically long-lived, the stewards of day and night, respectively, and [[PaintingTheFrostOnWindows control the associated celestial bodies]]. [[OhMyGods Phrases]] such as "thank Celestia", "in the name of Celestia", and "as Celestia as my witness" have been used. They are never, however, actually called gods or divine on the show, and do not particularly present themselves as such.

* ''WebOriginal/OrionsArm'':

* In ''VideoGame/BaldursGateIII'', Queen Vlaakith CLVII is the ruler of the race of ScaryDogmaticAliens known as the githyanki, and a [[OurLichesAreDifferent lich]] who's [[ImmortalRuler ruled for a millennium]] while manipulating her subjects into believing she's a goddess. Githyanki TokenEvilTeammate Lae'zel is so brainwashed by her lies that even with the mounting evidence that her ReligionIsWrong she refuses to believe it.

* ''VideoGame/{{Borderlands3}}'': The main antagonists, siblings Tyreen and Troy, lead a cult whose followers worship them as divine. Tyreen is called God-Queen by herself and her followers, although when Troy called himself God-King, Tyreen remarked it sounds ridiculous.

* MemeticMutation did this to Creator/DonaldTrump. [[PoesLaw Whether the memes were serious or were just satirical, we could never know.]]

* An example of post-mortem deification is ''[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tsarebozhiye Tsarebozhiye]]'', a small sect in Russian Orthodoxy that believes that [[UsefulNotes/TsaristRussia Tsar Nicholas II]] was killed as an atoning sacrifice for the Russian people. They venerate him as Tsar-Redeemer and [[LikeAGodToMe an image of Christ]]. For obvious reasons, this belief is condidered [[TheHeretic heresy]] by the mainstream Russian Orthodox Church.
* UsefulNotes/DonaldTrump has been jokingly nicknamed the "God Emperor" among his followers. Most of the time this is meant to rile up his opponents.

* The Dalai Lama is considered to be the encarnation of the Buddha Avalokitesvara, deity of compassion. Not a god in the traditional sense though, as Buddhas attained that state and do not have Buddhahood as inherit nature, but a deity nevertheless. The Dalai Lamas ruled the Kingdom of Tibet whether as independent or as part of larger empires (Mongol, Qing) with almost entire autonomy up until 1950. Tibet was also a regional power, not only it was a large empire, the literal Tibetan Empire that ruled from India to parts of China and from the Himalaya to Bengal (thought this was in pre-Buddhist times) but also once it become Buddhist and theocratic it remained as an influential local power.

** Official North Korean history places Kim Jong-Il's birth at the foot of the holy mountain of Paektu, beneath a new star and a double rainbow. In fact [[MilitaryBrat he was born in in an army camp in Siberia]]. Official history also claimed that his birth was heralded by a swallow, caused winter to change to spring, a star to illuminate the sky, and a double rainbow spontaneously appeared, and that he learned to walk and talk before the age of six month. He personally claimed he could create rain on command [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking and that he invented the hamburger]].

* ''Literature/AChorusOfDragons'': The god-kings of the ancient past, who ruled much of the continent as living gods and had the magical clout to create entire nThe king of Persopos is viewed as a god by his people.ew species on a whim.

* ''Literature/AChorusOfDragons'': The god-kings of the ancient past, who ruled much of the continent as living gods and had the magical clout to create entire new species on a whim.

* In ''Literature/TheChroniclesOfNarnia'', the Tisroc ([[PhraseCatcher may he live forever]]) of [[TheEmpire Calormen]] is considered a descendant of his country's chief god Tash.

* ''VideoGame/GenshinImpact'' takes place largely on a continent divided into seven nations, each of which is ostensibly ruled by a PhysicalGod known as an "[[OurArchonsAreDifferent Archon]]". The degree to how much direct influence each Archon has over their nation varies, with Barbatos (the [[BlowYouAway Anemo]] Archon) preferring to let the people govern themselves while the Raiden Shogun is explicitly a military dictator.

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

* ''LightNovel/Overlord2012'': The denizens of the Great Tomb of Nazarick consider their creators to be "Supreme Beings" not unlike gods. The last of them, Momonga, is treated like a god and fulfills the Emperor part because he is the temporal ruler of Nazarick [[spoiler: and all the land it claims after declaring itself a sovereign nation.]]

* ''LightNovel/ThatTimeIGotReincarnatedAsASlime'': This is played with ''heavily'' throughout the series.

* ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13152722/1/God-Rising-The-Cult-of-Ainz God Rising: The Cult of Ainz]]'', the first entry in a sprawling universe of ''LightNovel/Overlord2012'' fics, expands on Ainz's canonical status as this trope, as the Black Justice cult of humans worshipping him grows into an actual religion. This triggers a war with the Slane Theocracy and reactionary elements in the Holy Kingdom that ends with them being crushed and assimilated into the Sorcerous Kingdom. Meanwhile, Black Justice spreads across all of Ainz's realm and its vassal states, and by the end of the first major sequel, ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13287888/1/The-Synod-Book-of-Black-Justice-Book-II-of-God-Rising The Synod: Book of Black Justice]]'', Ainz has been officially recognized by the preexisting main religion as a legitimate deity in addition to ruler of his vast domain.

Given its extreme usefulness in either helping found new religions or unify the recently-conquered into new nations, this trope is OlderThanDirt, and long a staple of fiction or fact. Named after Leto II, self-proclaimed Literature/GodEmperorOfDune.