# 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:** 2
**Author:** ![monica](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a183cd/32.png) [@monica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monica)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2006, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-your-favorite-character-god-from-mythology/365039/21 "2006-07-19T01:41:54Z")
I was always rather partial to Cassandra. First she has to deal with the prophecy thing and then, after she refuses to sleep with Apollo, he curses the “gift” of prophecy and makes it so that no one will ever believe her. Then she gets stuck dealing with her city being destroyed by people pursuing her sister-in-law. I was _so_ mad when they combined her with another character in the movie! ---
**Author:** ![CaveMike](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cavemike/32/16379_2.png) [@CaveMike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CaveMike)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2006, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-your-favorite-character-god-from-mythology/365039/22 "2006-07-19T01:46:53Z")
Hands down: [Pan](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pan_(mythology)). He’s got goat legs, cool horns, rocking flute tunes, and no responsibility. ---
**Author:** ![Lilacs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e9c0ed/32.png) [@Lilacs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lilacs)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2006, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-your-favorite-character-god-from-mythology/365039/23 "2006-07-19T02:04:49Z")
[Quetzalcoatl](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quetzalcoatl) I love the feathered serpent. And for some reason I’ve always had a special thing for [Inti](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inti) as well. Actually, I really liked the Inca pantheon better than the Aztec pantheon, but the darkness of Mesoamerican mythology is fascinating. The demons are within the gods themselves. Not the gods I’d want to worship, but I love to study them. I do have a special fondness for Thor. And…Shiva. hmm… ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2006, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-your-favorite-character-god-from-mythology/365039/24 "2006-07-19T02:06:28Z")
Sun Wukong ---
**Author:** ![lizardling](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f4b2a3/32.png) [@lizardling](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lizardling)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2006, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-your-favorite-character-god-from-mythology/365039/25 "2006-07-19T02:13:57Z")
I’ve had a soft spot for the legends around Herne / Cernunnos ever since I saw his first appearance in the ‘The Dark is Rising’ series as a kid. And I always liked Crow from a lot of Native American traditions. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2006, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-your-favorite-character-god-from-mythology/365039/26 "2006-07-19T02:19:27Z")
Medusa, of course. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2006, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-your-favorite-character-god-from-mythology/365039/27 "2006-07-19T02:28:35Z")
Depends on how you define favorite. The myth I find most ENGROSSING is the epic of Gilgamesh, and as a literary character he’s by far the most interesting. In terms of most admirable – and stretching “mythology” to include “popularized versions of true myths”–I’d have to say Theseus, as depicted in Edna Hamilton’s mythology. His words and actions of comfort to Heracles after the son of Zeus, in a fit caused by Hera, has slain his own children, are to me the very definition of friendship. He clasped Heracles’ blood-stained hands so that the ritual impurity Heracles was under would be inflicted on both of them rather than just his friend, and said, “Men of great heart can bear the blows of heaven and not flinch.” ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2006, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-your-favorite-character-god-from-mythology/365039/28 "2006-07-19T02:30:52Z")
[QUOTE=What Exit?] 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 [/QUOTE] Does Tolkien really count as myth, though? I love the Silmarillion and its sequels too, but to me myth has to have a ritual and religious component that the professor’s legendarium lacks. ---
**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, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-your-favorite-character-god-from-mythology/365039/29 "2006-07-19T02:42:10Z")
[QUOTE=Skald the Rhymer] Does Tolkien really count as myth, though? I love the Silmarillion and its sequels too, but to me myth has to have a ritual and religious component that the professor’s legendarium lacks. [/QUOTE] Really? One true god, at least two orders of Angels, a creation story, a Flood, a huge long clash between Good & Evil. Stories to rival any Norse or Greek myth. Over a dozen scholary works devoted to studying it. Did the Coyote have any worshipping rituals or just stories and parables of what he did? What religious component do you need? I find the echoes of many creation myths in the Professor’s myths. Both Judeo-Christian and those of the Finnish, Celtic and Norse. If you insist on classic myths, then fine, that is why I mentioned Lugh first. Jim ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2006, 9:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-your-favorite-character-god-from-mythology/365039/30 "2006-07-19T09:20:05Z")
[QUOTE=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. [/QUOTE] I’ve heard her described as the ultimate Daddy’s Girl. Myself, I think my favorite is King David. It helps if you don’t think of him as a religious figure, but instead as a contemporary of Odysseus, with whom he shares many similar qualities. Brave, clever, handsome, loving, deeply flawed, he was the original warrior-poet, and is probably the most fully human character in any mythology. ---
**Author:** ![mamboman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecb155/32.png) [@mamboman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mamboman)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2006, 9:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-your-favorite-character-god-from-mythology/365039/31 "2006-07-19T09:29:35Z")
Posiden. Cool name, cool image, cool God-gig. I also like Heracles, but only if you pronounce it that way. Hercules reminds me of Jerkules. nn ---
**Author:** ![Ice\_Wolf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/dfb087/32.png) [@Ice\_Wolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ice_Wolf)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2006, 9:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-your-favorite-character-god-from-mythology/365039/32 "2006-07-19T09:45:51Z")
Another vote for Loki. Those who pull the hair of the goody-goods are always memorable. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2006, 9:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-your-favorite-character-god-from-mythology/365039/33 "2006-07-19T09:49:59Z")
[QUOTE=What Exit?] Really? One true god, at least two orders of Angels, a creation story, a Flood, a huge long clash between Good & Evil. Stories to rival any Norse or Greek myth. Over a dozen scholary works devoted to studying it. Did the Coyote have any worshipping rituals or just stories and parables of what he did? What religious component do you need? I find the echoes of many creation myths in the Professor’s myths. Both Judeo-Christian and those of the Finnish, Celtic and Norse. If you insist on classic myths, then fine, that is why I mentioned Lugh first. Jim [/QUOTE] I’d call Professor Tolkien’s work a quasi-myth. It’s written in a style that evokes much true myth–specifically the Judeo-Christian stories, but also much of the classical cycle–but none of his stories represent a belief system that was ever held by any real culture. Again, I don’t wish to denigrate his work, which is brilliant; I just wouldn’t call it a myth in the sense that the stories about Artemis, Anasi, and Thor are. ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2006, 10:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-your-favorite-character-god-from-mythology/365039/34 "2006-07-19T10:05:48Z")
Athena’s my favorite God, Odysseus my favorite mortal. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2006, 11:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-your-favorite-character-god-from-mythology/365039/35 "2006-07-19T11:15:44Z")
Lately, I’ve been attracted to Tricksters - Coyote, Raven, Anansi, Stone Monkey. Oddly, \*not \*Loki, though. Also [Heitsi-eibib](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khoikhoi_mythology) for personal reasons. Otherwise, the divine Mayan twins from the _Pophul Vu_ have a cool story. ---
**Author:** ![cactus\_waltz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/74df32/32.png) [@cactus\_waltz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cactus_waltz)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2006, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-your-favorite-character-god-from-mythology/365039/36 "2006-07-19T12:54:30Z")
[QUOTE=Skald the Rhymer] I’d call Professor Tolkien’s work a quasi-myth. It’s written in a style that evokes much true myth–specifically the Judeo-Christian stories, but also much of the classical cycle–but none of his stories represent a belief system that was ever held by any real culture. Again, I don’t wish to denigrate his work, which is brilliant; I just wouldn’t call it a myth in the sense that the stories about Artemis, Anasi, and Thor are. [/QUOTE] Furthermore, the Tolkien saga is only accepted by society as fiction. And it is fiction. The Norse mythology \*was \*the Scandinavian religion before Christianity came and ran people over. ---
**Author:** ![Pushkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ee59a6/32.png) [@Pushkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pushkin)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2006, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-your-favorite-character-god-from-mythology/365039/37 "2006-07-19T13:05:09Z")
Philip K Dick’s [Glimmung](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galactic_Pot-Healer), a rather charmingly inept god. Acts involve appearing to followers by teleporting himself onto a floor incapable of withstanding his weight (by several tonnes) or demanding the completion of acts already written into history as unacheivable. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2006, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-your-favorite-character-god-from-mythology/365039/38 "2006-07-19T13:42:28Z")
I like lots of the other ones in here, too. Count me in for most of them. ---
**Author:** ![JThunder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e95f7d/32.png) [@JThunder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JThunder)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2006, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-your-favorite-character-god-from-mythology/365039/39 "2006-07-19T13:55:21Z")
If I had to chooose, I’d probably pick Perseus, due to his nobility and upright character. ---
**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 19, 2006, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-your-favorite-character-god-from-mythology/365039/40 "2006-07-19T14:27:05Z")
In terms of tricksters, lemme add two more: -B’rer rabbit. You take Anansi, add in some American mythology, and get some stories that mock slavemasters and are nonetheless adored by the slavemasters’ children. You gotta love a trickster whose very stories constitute a trick. -El Ahrairah, the rabbit god in _Watership Down_. Okay, he’s fiction, but some of his stories are among my favorite trickster tales. Daniel [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-your-favorite-character-god-from-mythology/365039.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-your-favorite-character-god-from-mythology/365039.md?page=3)