The God of Arepo is a short story collaboratively written by Tumblr users Sadoeuphemist
, sameenbyhat (posted under the username Ciiriianan), and Stu-pot, based on a story prompt from Writing-Prompt-s. It has since been adapted into comic form by Slightly Awkward Sunshine and Reimenaashelyee.
The story follows Arepo, a sower who one day builds a small shrine in his field, hoping that a god will move into it and bring him good fortune and blessings. The day after, a god does move in, though the god warns Arepo that they shouldn't waste their time and effort on worship, as the god is a very small one and doesn't have any blessings to spare. Nevertheless, Arepo choses to maintain the shrine and give his worship, asking nothing in return despite the god's insistence.
Over time, misfortune and tragedy befall Arepo and his family, but he maintains his worship of the god. Even as storm destroys his farm, famine strikes his crop, and the god can do nothing, Arepo continues to maintain his little shrine and worship his god. Until, one day, War comes to Arepo's home, ravaging his fields and killing his children. In the end, Arepo the Sower drags his broken and wounded body into the safety of his shrine, and passes away in the comforting arms of his god.
Though that is not the whole story.
The short story has attained fame on Tumblr and beyond, being hailed as one of the greatest pieces of writing the website has ever produced. The story can be found here, and the comic adaptations here by Slightly Awkward Sunshine and here by Reimena Yee (with a mirror here.)
Tropes:
- Adaptation Deviation: In sadoeuphemist and ciiriianan's portions of the story, the god is only referred to with "it" pronouns. In stu-pot's portion, "he" is used instead.
- Alas, Poor Yorick: Sora is depicted holding Arepo's skull in this fashion in the Slightly Awkward Sunshine comic as she assures the god that they were the god of something very useful.
- Ambiguously Brown: The original story is not set in any particular part of the world, but the Slightly Awkward Sunshine comic makes Arepo dark-skinned and the setting vaguely Bronze Age.
- Ambiguous Gender: In sadoeuphemist and ciiriianan's portions of the story, the god is never identified by pronouns other than "it", and the comics have them as either a humanoid figure with no identifiable gender or don't show their form at all. It's possible that, as a god, they have no gender.
- Anthropomorphic Personification: Storm, Harvest, and War are used interchangeably to refer to the gods and the catastrophes they bring with them.
- Bittersweet Ending: The original story by Sadoeuphemist ends like this, with Arepo dying, but dying content in the arms of his god.And as the fields burned and the smoke blotted out the sun, as men were trodden in the press and bloody War raged on, as the heavens let loose their wrath upon the earth, Arepo the sower lay down in his humble temple, his head sheltered by the stones, and returned home to his god.
- Deity of Human Origin: The story ends with Arepo becoming the god of unbreakable bonds and everlasting friendships.
- Disabled in the Adaptation: More of an adaptational condition. Sora is depicted with vitiligo in the Slightly Awkward Sunshine comic, which was never implied in the original story.
- Entertainingly Wrong: Sora sees the body of a man in a ruined shrine and assumes he's the last priest of whatever god was worshipped there. A sound, and in a way accurate, conclusion, seeing as how she had no way of knowing the full story.
- Generic Doomsday Villain: Storm, Harvest and War are this in the most literal sense. They have no personality and identity outside of the catastrophes they represent, they just exist to cause misfortune to poor Arepo.
- Jerkass Gods: While Storm and War can be assumed to simply act in accordance with their domains, Harvest specifically withdraws their bounty for seemingly no reason.
- Minimalist Cast: The entire cast of the story are the titular god, Arepo the Sower, and Sora the Traveller. Arepo's family are mentioned and Storm, Harvest and War appear briefly, but can't really be considered characters.
- Mono no Aware: The god's domain is ephemeral and liminal things — "the momentary glimpses". Arepo declares them all beautiful.The god: The first hint of frost before the first snow falls. The skin of an apple as it yields beneath your teeth. I am the god of a dozen different nothings. The petals in bloom that lead to rot, the momentary glimpses. A change in the air— Before it's gone.
Arepo: Beautiful. All of them. They were all so beautiful. - Nice Guy: Sora the Traveller had no reason to stop and bury Arepo's body other than simple kindness, especially after the god assures them that they have no blessings to give. She does it anyway.
- No Name Given: The god is not given a name. While some gods are identified by the name of their domain, the god is simply the god of Arepo.
- Odd Job Gods: The god of Arepo is the god of the fallen leaves, the yield of an apple's skin as your teeth pierces it, the worms churning beneath the earth, the boundary of forest and of field, the petals in bloom that lead to rot, the momentary glimpses, and the change in the air before it is gone. Arepo calls them the "god of every humble beauty in the world".
- Our Gods Are Different: The gods of the setting embody their domains, but are still sapient enough to exist separate from them. Gods seem to generally inhabit temples and shrines built for them by their followers, though in the case of great gods like Harvest, Storm and War, they can also move freely.
