History Main / TheOldGods

* ''WesternAnimation/FinalSpace'': The Titans are ancient, eldritch creatures that wreck havoc the universe once and are worshiped in some planets.

* ''VideoGame/MortalKombat'':

* It's been referenced in the ''Franchise/SilentHill'' series.
-->[-"The old gods have not left this place..."-]

* In ''VideoGame/ArcanumOfSteamworksAndMagickObscura'' you can find altars to the old pagan gods, who were worshiped before the rise of [[CrystalDragonJesus Panarii religion]]. Though almost forgotten in most places, it appears they are still powerful, as you can receive blessings from them.
* Played with in ''VideoGame/CookieClicker'': The elder gods are ''literal'' elders, as in old ladies... at first, at least. They start getting Lovecraftian when you piss them off.
* Hydaelyn from ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIV'', also called the Mothercrystal or "all made one", is a being implied to have created the worldm and is far more ancient and powerful than the modern pantheon of the Twelve; she also acts as TheChooserOfTheOne, giving the [[PlayerCharacter Warrior of Light]] the power of the Echo. Despite this, not many people know about Her existance, and has no official religion based around Her. Her dark counterpart Zodiark is implied to be as ancient and as powerful as Her. [[spoiler: ''Shadowbringers'' reveals this is only an half truth: Hydaelyn and Zodiark are the oldest and most powerful...of Primals, and the civilization that created them was even more ancient. Hydaleyn also didn't ''create'' the world, she ''divided'' it, before replacing Zodiark as the Will of the Planet.]]
* Since the current ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'' setting is [[FantasyKitchenSink littered with various gods and spirits]], there are inevitably some that fill this role.
** Most prominently there are the powerful EldritchAbomination entities referred to in-game as the Old Gods. They once ruled the world, but are now [[SealedEvilInACan imprisoned]] within it. Their [[LeakingCanOfEvil efforts to escape]] and reclaim the world are a recurring plot point throughout the game.
** In a more benevolent example, there are [[OurTitansAreDifferent the Titans]] who imprisoned the Old Gods, filled the world with life, and empowered the Dragonflights to watch over Azeroth in their absence.
** The Old Gods were eventually given their ''own'' old gods in the [[UltimateEvil Void]] [[DarkIsEvil Lords]], who were revealed to have sent the Old Gods into the universe to begin with in order to corrupt unborn titans and take over the universe with them.
** The Jailer, an immensely powerful being imprisoned within the Maw, a rough equivalent to hell, was introduced by explaining that he is more ancient than even the titans, who were formed near the beginning of time.
* In ''Franchise/ShinMegamiTensei'''s first two games, you're told that once, the gods and demons lived in a somewhat turbulent balance with humanity. It changed when a certain somebody [[FromNobodyToNightmare got a few more followers]] and started to crush and [[{{Demonization}} demonize]] his opponents to add their power to his own, one by one. At the end, [[TheMagicGoesAway magic had been sealed]], most gods had been destroyed or imprisoned in the Abyss, and the lone guy was in command of a vast religion, so he retreated to rule in the dark. [[spoiler: If you didn't get it, the guy was [[GodIsEvil The Big Man Upstairs]], the Great Will, ''YHVH''.]]
** In ''VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiIVApocalypse'', those same gods are back as the Divine Powers. And they are ''pissed''.

* ''Franchise/TheElderScrolls'' series has [[GodOfGods Anu]] and [[TheAntiGod Padomay]], the {{Anthropomorphic Personification}}s of [[OrderVersusChaos "stasis/order/light" and "change/chaos/darkness"]], respectively. In the primary CreationMyth, their interplay in the great "void" of pre-creation [[TheMaker led to "creation" itself]]. Creation, sometimes anthropomorphized as the female entity "Nir", favored Anu, [[DrivenByEnvy which angered Padomay]]. Padomay killed Nir and [[EarthShatteringKaboom the twelve worlds]] she gave birth to. Anu then wounded Padomay, presuming him dead. Anu salvaged the pieces of the twelve worlds to create one world: Nirn. Padomay returned and wounded Anu, seeking to destroy Nirn. Anu then [[TakingYouWithMe pulled Padomay and himself outside of time]], ending Padomay's threat to creation "forever". From the [[PiecesOfGod intermingling of their spilled blood]] came the "et'Ada", or "original spirits", who would go on to become either [[OurGodsAreDifferent the Aedra or the Daedra]] depending on their actions during the creation of Mundus, the mortal plane. (Some myths state that the Aedra come from the mixed blood of Anu and Padomay, while the Daedra come purely from the blood of Padomay).
* ''VideoGame/NightInTheWoods'' gives us [[spoiler:the Black Goat, a creature "as black as the space between stars" that lives in a hole in a long-abandoned mine. Unless sated with human sacrifices, he will bring destruction upon the town.]]

** The C'tan, ancient gods that feed on the lifeforce of stars and predate all sentient life in the universe, and thus the other main gods in the setting [[GodsNeedPrayerBadly who are born from the dreams and emotions of sentient beings]]. Rather than being defeated by the younger gods as is typical of this trope, most of them were instead wiped out [[TurnedAgainstTheirMasters by the army of undead robot soldiers they created to help them get rid of the new gods by killing the lifeforms that sustained them]]. Oops.
** The eldest of the gods born from the Warp, the Eldar Pantheon, were doomed by the hubris and hedonism of their own followers. The murderous depravity and debauchery of the Eldar birthed the Chaos god Slaanesh. Slaanesh then slaughtered most of the Pantheon (Cegorach fled into the Webway, Issa was "rescued" by the Chaos god Nurgle, and Khaine was shattered by Khorne).

** ''TabletopGame/{{Eberron}}'' has the three dragons - [[GoodIsNotNice Siberys the Dragon Above]], [[OmnicidalManiac Khyber the Dragon Below]] and Eberron the Dragon Between - who became the three layers of the world at the beginning of time. While there are a few cults devoted to Khyber, the other two aren't directly worshiped much.

** In some early ''early'' iterations of the Bible there are a few entities such as the Levithan that seemed to already be on Earth before God created anything without a clear origin, though it's questionable if you can really call those "gods" or...[[PrimordialChaos something else]].

[[caption-width-right:350:On one side we have [[EldritchAbomination Ymir, the first being]]. On the other side, we have [[OurGodsAreGreater the gods]].]]

* The current ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'' setting barely has any gods to predate, but there are nevertheless a few beings that fill a similar role.
** In the game's main world, there are powerful EldritchAbomination entities that are referred to as the Old Gods because they were worshiped as such by some of the mortal factions. They did once rule the world, but have now been [[SealedEvilInACan imprisoned]] within it.
** In a more benevolent example, there are [[OurTitansAreDifferent the Titans]] who imprissoned the Old Gods, filled the world with life, and empowered the Dragonflights to watch over Azeroth in their absence.
** The Old Gods were eventually given their ''own'' old gods in the [[UltimateEvil Void]] [[DarkIsEvil Lords]], who were revealed to have sent the Old Gods into the universe to begin with in order to corrupt unborn titans in which to take over the universe with.

* ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'' barely considers anything a god in which to have a predecessor ''to'', but there are nevertheless a few beings that fill a similar role.

** The universe at large has the Old High Ones, so far above the gods that they view gods as being roughly the same thing as humans are. There are said to be [[ArcNumber eight]], but the only one mentioned individually is Azrael, the Great Attractor and Death of Universes, whose manifestations individual [[GrimReaper Deaths]] of different worlds are. He is something like galactic in size and has a clock that tells time what it is.

* In the ''Wiki/SCPFoundation'' universe, the Old Gods are a loose pantheon of eldritch deities.

** Discord, God of Chaos (who already in the show is one of the most powerful beings but here it is CrankedUpToEleven)

* Myth/JapaneseMythology: Izanami and Izanagi were the first humans, created by one god, who had them make more gods.

** Similarly vestiges also fit this mold;
---> ''"Beings that cannot exist inhabit a place that cannot be. Cursed by gods and feared by mortals, these entities fall outside the boundaries of life, death, and undeath. They are untouchable by even the most powerful deities, though they can be summoned and used by even the weakest mortal."'' - '''Tome of Magic'''

** Then you have the dead gods floating about the astral plane, which are implied to be able to be restored to life somehow. Such as if people start worshiping them again, but there may be more to it than that.

* [[ComicBook/NewGods "There came a time when the old gods died!"]]

** As Discworld is a place where GodsNeedPrayerBadly, it is often the case that "old gods do new jobs." In ''Discworld/{{Hogfather}}'', [[spoiler: the first boogieman]] becomes the Tooth Fairy, and [[spoiler: the Hogfather]] has evolved into his current form over many millennia.

[[folder: Anime and Manga]]

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[[folder:Religion, mythology and folklore]]

* ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'':

* Tiamat and Apsu were the primal couple of Myth/MesopotamianMythology, ancestors of all the gods. They then turned on the gods and tried to wipe them out. The gods fought back and, under the leadership of Marduk, won. Marduk split Tiamat in two, made heaven and earth out of her body, and became king of the gods. At least in the Babylonian telling, which is the one that survived because [[WrittenByTheWinners Babylon conquered everyone else]]. Did we mention that Marduk was also the particular patron deity of Babylon?

* Tiamat and Apsu were the primal couple of Myth/MesopotamianMythology, ancestors of all the gods. They then turned on the gods and tried to wipe them out. The gods fought back and, under the leadership of Marduk, won. Marduk split Tiamat in two, made heaven and earth out of her body, and became king of the gods.

* The Abrahamic God is this to all other religions according to the Bible, going so far as identifying idols worshipped by man as actually lower devils.

** The Vanir and the Alfar: If any myths of the origin of the Vanir and Alfar ever existed they have since been lost. They ''ought to'' be descendants of either Borr, Búri's son and Odin's father, or of Vili and Ve, his brothers, to keep the origin myth consistent. The Vanir and the Aesir fought a war that ended in a truce. Following this truce the Vanir were relegated to Old Gods (except for a few, notably Freyr and Freyja, who were incorporated into the Aesir). Since most of the sources we have don't mention anything about them other than the war, their practice of seidr, and their home Vanaheim we hardly know anything about them. The Alfar faded into obscurity, only barely more divine than the mortal kindreds of dvergar and humans.

[[caption-width-right:350:On one side we have [[EldritchAbomination Ymir, the first being]]. On the other side, we have [[OurGodsAreDfferent the gods]].]]

[[quoteright:350:[[Myth/NorseMythology https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/bb8252e2_716c_48c8_a492_a92818bc6fa3.jpeg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:On one side we have [[EldritchAbomination Ymir, the first being]]. On the other side, we have [[OurGodsAreDfferent the gods]].]]]]