# Who's Your Favorite Character/God from Mythology? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 18, 2006, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-your-favorite-character-god-from-mythology/365039 "2006-07-18T16:38:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Talon\_Karrde](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Talon\_Karrde](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Talon_Karrde)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2006, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-your-favorite-character-god-from-mythology/365039/1 "2006-07-18T16:38:56Z")
I was inspired by the thread on Norse mythology. I’m thinking more along the lines of Greek/Norse/Celtic mythology, but I’ll leave the definition broad. If you want to include stuff from the bible or whatever, that’s fine with me. My favorite is Hermes. He’s just a really cool character. A messenger who’s a bit of a prankster. What’s there not to like? Also, the crazy inkeeper in the story of Theseus. He had only one bed. If someone was too short, he’d stretch them on the rack, and if they were too long he chopped off their legs. ---
**Author:** ![Interrobang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/interrobang/32/17463_2.png) [@Interrobang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Interrobang)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2006, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-your-favorite-character-god-from-mythology/365039/2 "2006-07-18T17:28:31Z")
Odysseus. Super smart, dogged, ever curious, and a trickster figure. It didn’t hurt, when I was a horny adolescent, that he bagged a lot of chicks but still loved Penelope above all others. ---
**Author:** ![Only\_Mostly\_Dead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/f19dbf/32.png) [@Only\_Mostly\_Dead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Only_Mostly_Dead)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2006, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-your-favorite-character-god-from-mythology/365039/3 "2006-07-18T17:33:55Z")
Athena. Not only is she the goddess of so many cool enterprises (wisdom, cleverness, war, and, in a sense, technology), but her creation, being born from the mother of all migraines, is freaking sweet. ---
**Author:** ![Only\_Mostly\_Dead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/f19dbf/32.png) [@Only\_Mostly\_Dead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Only_Mostly_Dead)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2006, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-your-favorite-character-god-from-mythology/365039/4 "2006-07-18T17:35:09Z")
> [@Only Mostly Dead](#): > > Athena. Not only is she the goddess of so many cool enterprises (wisdom, cleverness, war, and, in a sense, technology), but her creation, being born from the mother of all migraines, is freaking sweet. Oh, and she has possession of a very cool mythological artifact, the Aegis. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2006, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-your-favorite-character-god-from-mythology/365039/5 "2006-07-18T17:43:12Z")
:cough: 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2006, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-your-favorite-character-god-from-mythology/365039/6 "2006-07-18T17:44:32Z")
> [@](#): > > m thinking more along the lines of Greek/Norse/Celtic mythology, but I’ll leave the definition broad. As interesting as Greek/Norse/Celtic mythology is, I have to go with Krishna. ---
**Author:** ![slortar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6bbea6/32.png) [@slortar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slortar)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2006, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-your-favorite-character-god-from-mythology/365039/7 "2006-07-18T19:34:30Z")
Vainamoinen. So badass, he made a giant swallow him just to learn a spell. Then he used his awesome powers of being an obnoxious jerk to make the giant spit him back out. If I were a tenth that awesome, I would rule the world. ---
**Author:** ![D\_Odds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/d_odds/32/2882_2.png) [@D\_Odds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Odds)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2006, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-your-favorite-character-god-from-mythology/365039/8 "2006-07-18T19:58:06Z")
Cthullu? Joking aside, I’m a Prometheus fan myself. ---
**Author:** ![Kythereia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e8c25b/32.png) [@Kythereia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kythereia)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2006, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-your-favorite-character-god-from-mythology/365039/9 "2006-07-18T20:07:48Z")
_looks up at username_ Also, Death–in all its incarnations. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2006, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-your-favorite-character-god-from-mythology/365039/10 "2006-07-18T20:08:14Z")
Marduk. Not for killing his mom the dragon, but rather for his fifty names. My three favorites are: Kwashiankashor, who confronts the chaos; Lugalubdubur; and Lugga Lugga, King Death. Daniel ---
**Author:** ![Talon\_Karrde](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Talon\_Karrde](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Talon_Karrde)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2006, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-your-favorite-character-god-from-mythology/365039/11 "2006-07-18T21:07:47Z")
> [@Interrobang!?](#): > > Odysseus. Super smart, dogged, ever curious, and a trickster figure. It didn’t hurt, when I was a horny adolescent, that he bagged a lot of chicks but still loved Penelope above all others. I thought about Odysseus, but decided against it. He did some really dumb things. He really shouldn’t have taunted that cyclops. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2006, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-your-favorite-character-god-from-mythology/365039/12 "2006-07-18T23:42:02Z")
Arthur Pendragon. Ideally, for President in 2008! ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2006, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-your-favorite-character-god-from-mythology/365039/13 "2006-07-18T23:47:26Z")
Loki, of course. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2006, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-your-favorite-character-god-from-mythology/365039/14 "2006-07-19T00:13:11Z")
I am very partial to Lugh or Lug Lámfhada or Lleu Llaw Gyffes in Wales. He was a child of both the Tuatha Dé Danann & the Fomorians. In Middle-Earth/Arda mythology, I am most fond of Olórin, also known as Incánus, Tharkûn, Lathspell, Stormcrow, Mithrandir, The White Rider, Gandalf Greyhame, Gandalf the Grey, and later Gandalf the White. Jim ---
**Author:** ![Dunderman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecb155/32.png) [@Dunderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dunderman)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2006, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-your-favorite-character-god-from-mythology/365039/15 "2006-07-19T00:16:09Z")
I’m kinda partial to tricksters, so Loki or Coyote for me. ---
**Author:** ![Telperien](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/65b543/32.png) [@Telperien](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telperien)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2006, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-your-favorite-character-god-from-mythology/365039/16 "2006-07-19T00:25:26Z")
I’ve always been very fond of Demeter. I partake of her gifts every day. 😃 As for non-divine characters, I’m partial to Nausicaa, Cadmus, and Theseus. ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2006, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-your-favorite-character-god-from-mythology/365039/17 "2006-07-19T00:33:15Z")
> [@Talon Karrde](#): > > Also, the crazy inkeeper in the story of Theseus. He had only one bed. If someone was too short, he’d stretch them on the rack, and if they were too long he chopped off their legs. Procrustes. > **[Procrustes](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Procrustes)** > > In Greek mythology, Procrustes (/proʊˈkrʌstiːz/; Greek: Προκρούστης Prokroustes, "the stretcher \[who hammers out the metal\]"), also known as Prokoptas, Damastes (Δαμαστής, "subduer") or Polypemon, was a rogue smith and bandit from Attica who attacked people by stretching them or cutting off their legs, so as to force them to fit the size of an iron bed. > The word Procrustean is thus used to describe situations where an arbitrary standard is used to measure success, while completely disregarding... ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2006, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-your-favorite-character-god-from-mythology/365039/18 "2006-07-19T00:56:02Z")
From Neil Gaiman’s new book, [_Anansi Boys,_](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000FIHZB4/sr=8-1/qid=1153270458/ref=pd_bbs_1/002-8053143-2738418?ie=UTF8) I learned about Anansi the Spider, trickster-god of West African/Caribbean mythology. My favorite line: “All the stories belong to Anansi, but he does not always come out ahead.” ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2006, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-your-favorite-character-god-from-mythology/365039/19 "2006-07-19T01:00:04Z")
> [@Shoshana](#): > > Loki, of course. Dammit! Loge, the trickster from Wagner’s _Ring._ Through him Wotan wins back Freia and youth, and tricks the Ring from Albreich. He eventually destroys the gods when he burns Valhalla. Loge: “I an truely impressed with your power and magic, Albreich. But shouldn’t a paranoid bastard like yourself be able to change his shape into something besides a dragon, somrthing small, to hide from his enemies? But perhaps that is too hard.” Albreich:“I can change into anything you can name, Mr. Smart guy!” Loge:“Oh, do you think a toad would be to difficult?” Albreich"Ha! Watch this!" Wotan:“Sieze the beast!” ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2006, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-your-favorite-character-god-from-mythology/365039/20 "2006-07-19T01:35:22Z")
Hector. I feel really sorry for the guy when he’s on the walls of Troy with his wife and son. Marc [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-your-favorite-character-god-from-mythology/365039.md?page=2)