GODS OF THE DEAD
Membership: Ahpuch (Ahau/Mayan gods), Arawn (Tuatha de Danaan/Celtic gods), Chibiabos (Manidoog/Native American gods),
Damballah (Vodu/African-Voodoo gods), Emma-o (Amatsu-Kami/Japanese gods), Ereshkigal (Annunaki/Sumerian gods), Hela (Asgardians/Norse gods), Hina (Akua/Polynesian gods), Morrigan (Tuatha de Danaan/Celtic gods), Osiris (Ennead/Egyptian gods), Pikuolis (Dievas/Russian gods),
Pluto (Hades) (Olympians/Greek gods), Seth (Ennead/Egyptian gods), Tawhaki (Akua/Polynesian gods, specially the Maori), Tuonetar (Jumala/Finnish gods), Vichama (Apu/Incan gods), Yama (Daevas/Hindu gods), Yen-Lo Wang (Xian/Chinese gods), likely others
Purpose: To discuss or vote on events involving all of death gods and goddesses from the various pantheons
Aliases: None
Affiliations: Apollo (Olympians/Greek gods), Horus (Ennead/Egyptian gods), Indra (Daevas/Hindu gods) Lords of the Splinter Realms (Brutus Klor, Dormammu,
D'Spayre, the Haemovore Kings of the Outer Dark, Hedron the Faceted,
the High Seers of Nox, Hippolyta, Malevolence, Mephisto, Molgotha, the Muranai,
Nightmare, Phemous, Siffror of the Lifeless, Skarabrous the Stalker, Surtur (Asgardians/Norse gods), Thog, Umar,
Viliven, numerous others), Magik (Amanda Sefton/Jimaine Szardos), Mindless Ones, Nightcrawler (Kurt Wagner), Quetzalcoatl (Teteoh/Mexican-Aztec gods) Shango (Vodu/African-Voodoo gods), Tawa (Manidoog/Native American gods), Thor (Thor Odinson) (Asgardians/Norse gods)
Enemies: The Archenemy, Demogorge (Atum), S'ym
Base of Operations: Mobile throughout the various realms of the dead
First Appearance: Thor I Annual#10 (1982)
History: (Thor I Annual#10 (fb) - BTS) - The Gods of the Dead
were loose cabal of underworld deities belonging to the respective
pantheons of Earth, a collective order of extra-dimensional beings who
were worshipped as gods by their respective cultures.
(ancient
myth) - Each pantheon had
a separate deity or "god" whose responsibility was the final
destination of the astral spirits (or "ghosts" or "shades") of their
worshippers and, in some cases, the persecution of beings who were
guilty of great misfortune ("evil") against the living or of offending
the gods. Contrary to their public perception, the gods of the dead
were not evil or malevolent beings. Many of them were responsible for
providing a safe afterlife to the mortals who worshipped them. Many of
them also had a counterpart to Elysium (the concept of Heaven of
Judeo-Christian religion). Several of the Gods of the Dead, such as
Osiris, Arawn, Yama, Emma-O and Chibiabos, ruled over peaceful realms
of bliss and even had multi-layered reams for separating the astral
spirits of their worshippers as per status and value. However, some of
the Gods of the Dead, such as Ahpuch, Tawhaki and Damballah, were known
to have malevolent tendencies, often invoking curses or giving into
personal whims. Some of the Gods of the Dead even shared their
attributes or lost their positions to other deities. Hela shared
dominion of the dead with Odin (Asgardians/Norse gods) and Ahpuch had
conquered control of the
underworld from the Twelve Lords of Xibalba, which became Mictlan to to
the Aztecs. In Egyptian religion, Osiris allowed Seth to have dominion
over souls rejected into Duat (Celestial Heliopolis) while in Russian
lore, the forest-god Veles (Dievas/Russian gods) overthrew Pikuolis,
the Slavic god of the
dead, for rule of the underworld. In Oceanic myth, Hina-Hau One
(Akua/Polynesian gods)
replaced the Polynesian god of the dead, Tawhaki, in the Hawaiian
pantheon. Under Hinduism, Yama, the Vedic god of the dead, became a
judge in the underworld as souls passed through to be judged for the
lives they would inherit through reincarnation. However, as many
religions lost worshippers over time, many of the Gods of the Dead were
no longer allowed to
procure more spirits to their realms. Despite their passive
jurisdiction over the spirits in their charge, several of the Gods of
the Dead had limited full contact with demonic entities. Yen-Lo Wang
and Emma-O held control over the demons of their perspective realms,
respectively the Yao-guza and the Oni, and Ereshkigal left control of
the Utukku to Lilith (Annunaki/Sumerian gods), the goddess of the underworld. Ahpuch and Vichama used demons as
servants and allies, namely the Tzitzmime and the Guecufu.
(Thor
I Annual#10) - In recent years, Pluto and Seth were approached by
Mephisto, one of several demonic lords with interests on Earth. The
three respective underworld gods struck a bargain to increase the size
of their realms by merging their respective realms. During the course
of this endeavor, they even tried luring a few other Gods of the Dead,
only attracting the interests of Hela, Ahpuch, Yama and Ereshkigal, and
a meeting of the Gods of the Dead was held in Pluto's realm of Hades,
where the vote was cast in favor of merging the realms of the dead.
However, the occult ritual they attempted either attracted or conjured
the primeval spirit Demogorge responsible for the destruction of the
Elder Gods in Earth’s ancient past. Suspecting them to be degenerated
gods, he attacked the Gods of the Dead present and devoured them but
Thor, the Norse thunder-god, led an army of thunder and sun gods to
defeat him and protect their perspective realms. Although consumed
himself, Thor appealed to Atum, the buried consciousness within
Demogorge, and reversed his palate, freeing the consumed gods.
Humiliated over the experience, the Gods of the Dead dissolved their
scheme and returned to their own respective realms.
(X-Men: Magik#3) - In later years, an entity known as the Archenemy presented himself to
sorceress Magik (Amanda Sefton), claiming that all the perspective realms of
the dead had been once been one realm and announced his attention to
unite them once more. To defeat him, she called upon at least some of the Gods of the
Dead and the myriad demon-lords as an army she called the Lords of the Splinter Realms.
(X-Men: Magik#4) - Although many of Gods of the Dead were killed as part of the Lords of the Splinter Realms in the Archenemy's first attack, Magik encouraged them to merge their powers and they destroyed the Archenemy.
(Fearless Defenders I#3 (fb)) - When the threat of
the Asgardian Doom Maidens loomed, Asgardian death goddess Hela
assembled the Gods of the Dead anew, calling in every favor from the
other death gods/goddesses and promising nearly anything for their
assistance if the Gods of the Dead would resurrect Hippolya, queen of
the Amazons, who had once battled the Doom Maidens. The Gods of the
Dead agreed to Hela's terms and resurrected Hippolyta.
Comments: Adapted into Marvel Comics by Alan Zelenetz, Mark Gruenwald, Bob Hall, Rick Bryant, Joe Rubinstein, Andy Mushynsky, Al Gordon and Kevin Dzuban.
Profile by Thor2000.
CLARIFICATIONS:
The Gods of the Dead have no known connections to:
images: (without ads)
Fearless Defenders I#3, p5, pan1 (the assembled Gods of the Dead, main image)
Thor I Annual#10, p16, pan2 (Gods of the Dead, headshots with Mephisto)
Thor I Annual#10, p12-13, splash page (Gods of the Dead, meeting in Hades)
Thor I Annual#10, p15, pan2 (Gods of the Dead, hands joined with Mephisto)
Thor I Annual#10, p15, pan4 (Gods of the Dead linking their realms together)
Thor I Annual#10, p16, pan1 (Gods of the Dead, thrown backward by Demogorge's arrival)
Appearances:
Thor I Annual#10 (1982) - Alan
Zelenetz (script, plot), Mark Gruenwald (plot, editor), Bob Hall
(pencils), Rick Bryant, Joe Rubinstein, Andy Mushynsky, Al Gordon,
Kevin Dzuban (inks)
X-Men: Magik#3 (February, 2001) - Dan Abnett, Andy Lanning (writers), Liam McCormack-Sharp (art), Mike Raicht (editor)
X-Men: Magik#4 (March, 2001) - Dan Abnett, Andy Lanning (writers), Liam
McCormack-Sharp (art, digital imagery), Mike Raicht (editor)
Fearless Defenders I#3 (June, 2013) - Cullen Bunn (writer), Will Sliney (art), Ellie Pyle (editor)
First Posted: 10/28/2018
Last updated: 10/28/2018
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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