Deicide
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- For the American death metal band, see Deicide (band)
Deicide is the killing of a god: either the God of a monotheistic religion, or one of the gods of a polytheistic religion.
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[edit] Etymology
The word derives from medieval Latin dei- ("god"), and -cida, from the verb caedere ("to cut down"). As with some other words that share the same suffix - suicide, homicide, patricide, etc. -the word can refer either to the act or to the person who commits the act.
[edit] In Christianity
[edit] Historical cases of deicide
Several historical rulers were considered gods in their lifetime and killing them was therefore considered to be deicide. The list of such 'gods' includes Caligula. More recently, His late Majesty King Dipendra commited two counts of deicide since a king of Nepal is ex officio to be considered as a god: both his killing of his father King Birendra and his killing of himself (then a king) amounted to deicide.
[edit] Deicide in fiction
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- Deicide (and its theoretical impossibility with an immortal god) plays a very large role in the television series Stargate SG-1. In Stargate an alien race of parasites (the Goa'uld) control human beings both literally (by digging into their neck and completely controlling that person's actions) and through religion (by posing as a god). Because the Goa'uld are thought of as gods by the people they rule over, SG-1 repeatedly has trouble convincing those local populaces that the local Goa'uld is dead ("Gods cannot be killed" is an oft-repeated sentiment by various locals).
- In the Star Trek universe, the Klingon religion held that when the gods created Kortar, the first Klingon, he killed his gods and burned their paradise to ashes. (See Klingon religion for more details)
- In the RTS/RPG hybrid video game, Sacrifice you are forced to commit multiple acts of deicide against the many gods in the game.
- In the popular book series His Dark Materials, one of the main characters, Lord Asriel, attempts to destroy God to free mankind from his oppressive rule.
- In the video game Star Ocean: Till the End of Time, the final boss battle is against "The Creator" of our universe (or at least the game's universe), Lucifer (Luther in the English-language version).
- In the popular comic series Preacher, the major plotline involved tracking God down and making him account for his actions. In the end God is killed by the Saint of Killers.
- In the PS2 games God of War, and God of War 2, the games' protagonist, Kratos, is on a quest to kill various Greek Gods.
- In Russell T. Davies' 2003 television drama The Second Coming, God is willingly killed as part of the Third Testament.
- In the series Buffy the Vampire Slayer the character Glorificus, a Goddess, was killed.
- In the Neil Gaiman novel American Gods, there is a war between the gods from many different backgrounds and the gods that the American people have created (i.e. television, credit cards, highways, the Internet). The war ends with casualties on both sides.
- In the video game Shadow Hearts for the Playstation 2, a being referred to as "God" serves as the final antagonist.
- In the David Eddings novel Enchanter's End Game, Belgarion slays the God Torak.
- In the video game Final Fantasy VI (Final Fantasy III in the US), the villian Kefka becomes a god and is killed by the protaganists.
[edit] See also
de:Gottesmordes:Deicidio fr:Peuple déicide it:Deicidio pt:Deicídio
