History Main / GodsHandsAreTied

-->'''[[ForgottenRealms Kelemvor]],''' ''{{Neverwinter Nights 2}}: Mask of the Betrayer''

* [[spoiler: Hanyuu Furude]] of {{Higurashi No Naku Koro Ni}} says this frequently to Rika.

* A major plot point in RichardWagner's ''Ring'' cycle is Wotan being constrained by his own treaties.

* The gods in certain {{Dungeons and Dragons}} settings, most notably the World of {{Greyhawk}}, must abide by specific limits, such as not being able to manifest avatars or otherwise interfere directly in mortal affairs. Mostly, this is a way to {{Hand Wave}} the question as to why the gods don't simply manifest and solve certain problems themselves, forcing mortals (such as the PlayerCharacters to do the dirty work. That said, in some cases the gods ''can'' act directly if their human agents fulfill certain quests-in Greyhawk's case, the goodly god Rao was able to actively banish all the demons still loose in the world once a brave party of adventurers undertook a perilous quest to retrieve one of his holy artifacts.

** ''{{StarCraft}}'': The Xel'Naga created the Protoss, then the Zerg, which turned against them. The Zerg either killed them all or turned them off to the whole "creating new species" idea and sent them all into hiding. Really more like NeglectfulPrecursors than gods.

* The protagonist of ''Edens Bowy'' is a "God Hunter" who have the power to [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin slay the immortals]] and is [[AntiMagic highly resistant to their divine magic]]. Against human opponents, however, this power doesn't do anything.

* In TheScrewtapeLetters by CSLewis, Screwtape explains that neither Heaven nor Hell works at all openly, at least nowadays, because Heaven wants people to pursue goodness without coercion or bribery, and Hell doesn't want people to realize there IS a Hell, because then the vast majority of them will realize there's a Heaven too and that will just encourage religious belief.
* And in ThatHideousStrength by CSLewis, the angels and demons stay under cover basically to avoid escalating their conflict into a premature Armageddon.

* The gods in certain {{Dungeons and Dragons}} settings, most notably the World of {{Greyhawk}}, must abide by specific limits, such as not being able to manifest avatars or otherwise interfere directly in mortal affairs. Mostly, this is a way to {{Hand Wave}} the question as to why the gods don't simply manifest and solve certain problems themselves, forcing mortals (such as the PlayerCharacters to do the dirty work. That said, in some cases the gods ''can'' act directly if their human agents fulfill certain quests-in Greyhawk's case, the goodly god Rao was able to actively banish all the demons still loose in the world once a brave party of adventurers undertook a perilous quest to retrieve one of his holy artifacts.

** Of course, none of this prevents the gods from freely providing indirect help to their mortal servants. While the granting of divine magic is the most common way this is done, one of the original [[JustifiedTrope justifications]] for HitPoints in the early editions of D&D was that at least some of the increase in character hit points and saving throws came from the increased divine favor and help they received as they gained levels.

* Fiction authors in general may be essentially considered omnipotent gods of their fictional universes, since they are completely in control of what happens and what the characters do. However, they are bound by the ObstructiveCodeOfConduct of "make the work enjoyable", which mean no {{Deus Ex Machina}}s, no {{Out Of Character Moment}}s, etc.

* Appears to varying degrees in ''LegendOfZelda'', most in "Skyward Sword" where we have a prologue mentioning the [[GodOfGood goddess Hylia]] fighting and sealing away the [[GodofEvil Demon King Demise]], but while Hylia leaves things for her chosen hero, she herself is nowhere to be seen [[spoiler: about half-way through the game it's revealed Hylia was left crippled by her fight with Demise and could help keep her seal on her by reincarnating as a human.]]

* The Chaos Gods in ''Warhammer40K'' seem unwilling or unable to directly enter or affect the Materium (unless, possibly, there is a severe instability of the Warp, or a large concentration of Chaos worshipers). They are said to have directly infused Horus with their power, and when he was destroyed by the Emperor, they fled in fear of being harmed. The Emperor himself is worshiped enough to likely be a god within the Warhammer cosmology, but he is limited by the fact that his body is still (barely) alive and confined to an incredibly complex and immobile life support machine, though its implied he is occasionally able to directly help his followers. The Eldar gods were an aversion, as they apparently took part in the war against the Necrons and C'tan. However, after most of them were eaten by Slannesh, of the three who survived, one spends most of his time in an impenetrable Warp matrix, where he advises one of the most enigmatic Eldar factions, the second was broken into pieces (though those pieces are still able to occasionally manifest to provide military aid to the Eldar) and the third is held prisoner by one of the other Chaos Gods as a testing ground for his newest diseases.

* In LegendOfTheFiveRings, it is not the incarnate kami that must accompany Shinsei to defeat the Dark God Fu Leng but rather seven mortal heroes. Shinsei's stated reason is that "fortune favors the mortal man". The unstated reason is that the Realm of Evil, Jigoku, could corrupt Fu Leng into their greatest champion. What could stop them if all the other kami are Tainted as well?

* The first ''GodOfWar'' has the Greek pantheon sending Kratos off to kill Ares for them, simply because Gods cannot fight or kill one another. So a mortal directly trained by a God seemed to be their best option. Somewhat off-put, however, by the fact that Kratos himself [[spoiler:is a demigod]].

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* ''{{Grandia}} II'', although that's a bit of a spoiler. [[spoiler:He's not lazy, he's dead, slain protecting the world from the same great evil that's returning now. Ironically, that evil was resurrected by the former God's High Priest who learned the truth and couldn't handle a world without a God, even if the best one he could find was half dead and evil.]]

* In the Hindu epic ''Ramayana'', the demon king Ravana was blessed by Brahma to not be killed by any god, spirit, or other supernatural being. Vishnu exploited Ravana's only weakness - he [[NoManOfWomanBorn became human, exempt from Brahma's ban.]] This makes this trope OlderThanFeudalism.

* The gods in certain {{Dungeons and Dragons}} settings, most notably the World of Greyhawk, must abide by specific limits, such as not being able to manifest avatars or otherwise interfere directly in mortal affairs. Mostly, this is a way to {{Hand Wave}} the question as to why the gods don't simply manifest and solve certain problems themselves, forcing mortals (such as the PlayerCharacters to do the dirty work. That said, in some cases the gods ''can'' act directly if their human agents fulfill certain quests-in Greyhawk's case, the goodly god Rao was able to actively banish all the demons still loose in the world once a brave party of adventurers undertook a perilous quest to retrieve one of his holy artifacts.

Compare NeglectfulPrecursors, DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu, and OmniImpotence.

* If a ''DeathNote'' shinigami (god of death) uses his powers to kill a human in order to save another out of [[ThePowerOfLove love]], they will die. They're safe, though, if they don't care about the one they save.

* Occurs in Greek Mythology when the Giants attack Mount Olympus. Most of the Giants have immortality clauses which state that no god can kill them, so the Olympian gods rely on Heracles to fight the Giants (or at least finish them off after the gods have beaten them up).

* In Everquest 2: Sentinals Fate, the gods cannot face Roheen Theer, the big boss of the expansion because he is the Avatar of the Nameless and can easily destroy gods. It is up to the mortals to kick him back to the void.

[[folder: {{Videogame}}s]]

*** While the Ancients were definitely NeglectfulPrecursors overall, the Anubis situation [[FridgeBrilliance wasn't the horrible neglect it looks like at first glance]]. The seemingly intractable problem - a disembodied Goa'uld with all the [[SufficientlyAdvancedAlien scientific knowledge]] of the Ancients - was finally solved by [[SealedEvilInADuel Oma Desala moving directly to fight him]], meaning that she would be bound fighting him forever. Sounds horrible, but remember, she ''helped him ascend in the first place''. All the ancients were demanding was that she clean up her own mess.

* ''{{Dogma}}'' to an extent. God could stop the threat but is indisposed, having assumed a vulnerable human form [[spoiler: only to be ambushed and left in a coma by the BigBad's minions]]. The angels are unable to directly do anything on their own, so it falls to the last scion to save the world and rescue God. [[spoiler:By killing God's current host]]

* Another one from Disney, and an odd variant of the Trope. In TronLegacy, Flynn practically is considered a god on the system he created...but his fallen-from-grace creation managed to out-fox him, making him a prisoner in his own creation. It would also be impossible to kill one without killing the other.

* The first ''GodOfWar'' has the Greek pantheon sending Kratos off to kill Ares for them, simply because Gods cannot fight or kill one another. So a mortal directly trained by a God seemed to be their best option.

* This is a basic premise of LoisMcMasterBujold's Chalion novels.

* In the {{Discworld}} book, ''Discworld/{{Hogfather}},'' Death cannot [[spoiler: enter the realm of the Tooth Fairy, as children have no concept of death]]. His granddaughter, Susan, on the other hand...

* In Tamora Pierce's [[TortallSeries Immortals]] quartet, a goddess is described as relatively minor everywhere else, but in one particular country 'all but the Black God must bow to her, and she is the Black God's daughter.' Guess who the heroine gets into hot water with!

* BridgeOfBirds is a case where the gods are restrained by rules--if they abuse their power, they can be deposed and replaced. However, they can help indirectly (leading to more than one half-literal DeusExMachina.)

* Not so much gods as SufficientlyAdvancedAliens, the Ellimist and Crayak in ''{{Animorphs}}'' can not directly (or at least, overtly) interfere with other species under normal circumstances, generally guiding their allies or followers instead. The reason is that these two beings are basically locked in a galaxy-wide Cold War: the Ellimist is good and wants to help everyone, Crayak is evil and wants to destroy everyone, and any open conflict between them would probably be very, very bad for everyone involved.

* ''StargateSG1'' is a prime example of this trope in the last 2 seasons. Turns out that there is an evil counterpart of their race that is just as strong as they are. Neither of them can destroy each other, so it is by all logic up to the simple human to defeat an army of godlike-powerful beings. Oh and it also against their rules to help them, even if their own life depends on it! Otherwise they are NeglectfulPrecursors of the worst kind.

*** Daniel says at one point that Adria claimed that even if the Ori could get the entire Milky Way to worship them, an outright fight between them and the Ancients would result in significant casualties for the Ori. Its possible that the Ancients believe that if it came to a direct battle between them and the empowered Ori, that they could have a chance of actually winning. Its also possible that "death" for a being at that level of existence means something different than it does for a mortal.
* In BabylonFive, the Vorlons and Shadows (actually SufficientlyAdvancedAliens) seem to have a pact to manipulate the younger races without going directly to war against one another (though killing members of younger races seems to be fair game). When Kosh violates this by [[spoiler:arranging for some Vorlon ships to shoot down some Shadows, he winds up assassinated.]]

* In WesternAnimation/{{Gargoyles}}, the Third Race have vast godlike power, but their ruler Oberon has magically forbidden them from interfering with mortal life, unless they get permission (or find a loophole that resembles permission). One simple way around this law is to temporarily turn into a mortal human.

* ''StargateSG1'' is a prime example of this trope in the last 2 seasons. Turns out that there is an evil counterpart of their race that is just as strong as they are. Neither of them can destroy each other, so it is by all logic up to the simple human to defeat an army of godlike-powerful beings. Oh and it also against their [[LawfulNeutral rules]] to help them, even if their own life depends on it! Otherwise they are NeglectfulPrecursors of the worst kind.

** On the other hand, there are other gods than the LawfulNeutral Titans. Elune, some of the less evil trollish ''loas'', the Earthmother, and others are all fairly active in granting their followers powers and in some cases intervening directly. And while it's debatable whether the Holy Light counts as a "god" it's certainly very helpful.

* In the Hindu epic ''Ramayana'', the demon king Ravana was blessed by Brahma to not be killed by any god, spirit, or other supernatural being. Vishnu exploited Ravana's only weakness - he [[NoManOfWomanBorn became human, exempt from Brahma's ban.]] This makes this trope OlderThanDirt.

*** Except that they were basically allowing Anubis to kill people in order to guilt trip Oma into sacrificing herself.

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