How to Become a God 

Never thought I would see a direct comparison made between the Mormon church and Homestuck but it makes a surprising amount of sense 😂

In the manga "Magi: Labyrinth of Magic" God was accidentally usurped by a wizard who then proceeded to create fate so that no one would have to feel pain. Unfortunatly his former colleagues hates him for stealing Gods powers so they spend all of eternity coming up with plans for making the world terrible so that the people will abondon the new God and go back to the old one.

Ferb, I know what we're gonna do today

Writing a story (and by “story” I mean “fanfic”) about five dead people getting amnesia and being reincarnated as eldritch gods. This will definitely come in handy!

I am already a god

I'm a former LDS member (Mormon) and if it helps, the "becoming God" theology makes more sense when you think about it in the context of human familial lines. LDS theology views God as a parent (actually parents) first and foremost. Children can grow up to become parents. It doesn't make them less of a parent that they themselves also have parents. Godly genealogy will be able to be traced back just like family genealogy. And the "worlds" that Gods create can be thought of as a child growing up, moving out, and starting their own home. It is one of the aspects of the theology that still makes a lot of sense to me, even if it isn't the typical Christian interpretation of God.

I didn't expect to get Homestuck jumpscared here, though it was bound to happen at some point, I imagined it'd be brought up in a video about unconventional storytelling or something, unconventional in the aspect of its format that is, since it's more than just a webcomic but this weird visual novel hybrid thing. Awesome video as always. (‾◡◝)

Bionicle actually has an interesting take on this, with the Makuta Teridax achieving godhood. The Great Spirit is halfway between a god and a God, having near absolute power within his own universe (his body), but limited omniscience and no power outside (aside from, yknow, being a planet-sized robot). Makuta basically gave him an aneurysm, and did a switcheroo with his soul while they were rebooting him.

C. S. Lewis discussed apotheosis as well, not quite the "rule your own planet" variety of godhood, but more becoming mirrors to God's own glory. In Mere Christianity he states (speaking of God): "He said (in the Bible) that we were 'gods' and He is going to make good His words.... That is what we are in for. Nothing less."

"i'm sorry daddy, i've been a bad girl" "for the last time, it's 'forgive me father for i have sinned' " is one of those great quotes!

Instructions unclear, became a dictator

When talking about becoming a God and the Forgotten Realms, it’s hard not to bring up Karsus’s Avatar, the one and only twelfth-level spell in the Realms’s history. Believing the Netherese Empire to be dying because of magic-sucking monsters, the Archmage Karsus created the most powerful spell ever cast: target a God, and steal its powers and attributes. Hoping to save the empire thanks to those godly powers, he targeted Mystyl herself, the goddess of magic. However, in doing so, he momentarily disrupted the entire flow of magic through the Realms, causing the Netherese flying cities, including his own, to start falling from the sky. Mystryl eventually rebirthed herself as Mystra, it’s a thing she does, and limited magic to 9th level spells, but more interesting is the faith of Karsus himself, becoming one of the most inclassable power in the Forgotten Realms: not a God, but still bounded to the material plane from which his powers can be called, where he appears as a blood-covered boulder.

As someone who grew up in an lds family, and frequently hearing people speak about the religion that truly have taken it out of context, i really appreciate the fact that you did legitimate research and showed respect without necessarily having to agree with the faith. Thank you 🙏

The How-To Guide we all need

As an ex-Mormon, I was surprised to see my old religion show up in a Tale Foundry video! I think you did a good job of commenting on Mormonism's apotheosis doctrine. Honestly, I feel like Mormon theology has a *lot* of fascinating stuff in it that would be a good fit for this channel! The way I've always framed it is that just because I no longer personally believe in gods doesn't mean I can't appreciate the dope storytelling, worldbuilding, and mythology of the Book of Mormon and related works.

Having Homestuck being represented in a dedicated section is such an oddly pleasant sensation. I'm so used to HS exclusively being talked about as "The problem child of fandoms" with nothing else mentioned, despite the complexity and development of what is a genuinely mysterious and thought-provoking world.

I like Shin Megami Tensei V’s interpretation. Every god exists at the same time, but only one throne. Once the creator God took the throne, he banished the gods “knowledge” into the tree of knowledge so that they can’t utilize the power. Now as the story followed, all humans have some mystic figure’s “knowledge” inside them and are capable of fusing with them into a powerful being known as a Nahobino who can utilize the throne

Finally, the tutorial I need to get revenge on the guy who started the "who asked" trend.

seeing Homestuck be treated as a work of art to be thought about and enjoyed like any other felt really good and surprising. im so used to the constant barrage of “the fandom’s so weeiird, hey did you know a kid took a bath in shar-“ that this really felt like a breath of fresh air. also you just casually dropping your classpect right at the end really got me

Fun Fact, u are the reason I started writing, and honestly, from the feedback I got all my short stories have been some of the most engaging the people I showed have read

Thank you for this video, Tale Foundry! I'll certainly become a god after following the steps in this video.

Following up LDS with Homestuck was a real one two punch

An approach you can give to the book of Mormon caveat that you can give for other active religions: whether or not it’s fiction it is storytelling and that’s how you’re looking at it

This reminds me of a video idea I once had. It was also called "How to become a god" but focuses on how to have the same kind of power over others as a god, eg being rich (you can bless others with money or hire people to do bad things) or writing a book (complete control over the fictional universe.) I might go work on that idea tomorrow.

Finally a useful tutorial.

I was waiting in tense anticipation for you to mention Brandon Sanderson. I got very happy when you did

“Anyone can become a god or devil. All it takes is for someone to believe it.” -Eren Kruger, Attack on Titan

I was totally expecting Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint to be mentioned in this episode! It would have been a perfect example of the entire concept. It would have also been perfect for a channel called Tale Foundry! The whole concept of ascension to Godhood is to collect tales and fables pertaining to your own feats. References to other tales and Gods of other countries and religions litter throughout the entire story! Even characters from The Wizard of Oz are given Godhood just because their story is so widely known and popular. The death of a God is to be a forgotten tale. Outer Gods of the horrifying Lovecraftian mythos are the twisted and forgotten 'Constellations' or Gods who wish for the destruction or attention from those still known. The very makeup of Gods and Constellations are their fables. When wounded they bleed the words of their stories. When they wish to make deals they trade fables between other 'Constellations'. The tales of lesser beings are considered a delicacy much sought after and savored. I won't give away anymore! It's such an amazing story! If you read anything, it should be this story!

Actually, Homestuck makes a perfect circle for every question one can ask, including who made each and every universe, and who is to blame for all that.

It’s refreshing to hear someone talk about the Mormon(LDS) church in a respectful and objective manner for once. Thank you Tale Foundry!

Homestuck getting mentioned in a tale foundry video was one hell of a jumpscare.

Getting slapped in the face with sudden Homestuck was very funny, thanks. XD Wasn't really expecting my worlds to collide like that.

Side Note: Light Yagami shows up in another series called Death Parade in the afterlife. He's become so influential the Auditors have no idea what to do with him. Then we jump back to a limited release of Death Note in Japan only that shows they ultimately made him a Death God

As a former Mormon I was so happy when you explored generational godhood. It was the part of the religion that kept me in it the longest, and I agree that it is is a very interesting lore.

You know, I'm working on my book involving a lot of gods, with the main character essentially having her soul TIED to a god and the book revolving around what that means. Videos like this are simultaneously inspirational and demoralizing, because it gives me new ideas, but also makes it hard to not think that every idea has already been had. while i was listening I was like "ooh what if I do a story with a king who's rule is predicated in him conning people into thinking hes a god?" And then you brought up basically that story. Its wild. This is a great video though

6:34 I genuinely spat out my drink; definitely didn’t expect Homestuck to get mentioned on this channel.

In D&D gods come and leave existence based on belief. Some random person could just come up with a god and if they get enough people to belief in it, it comes into existence.

YEEEEEESSSS I'VE BEEN WAITING SO LONG FOR THAT HIS DARK MATERIALS REFERENCE

Never in my life would i expect to see Homestuck on this channel.

I’m really happy that you guys bought back subtitles. Keep up the great work and thank you.

In the web novel "Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint", people are "sponsored" by beings called Constellations. These beings are gods, mythological heroes, and even historical figures. The Constellation's power is linked to how well-known its history is. Those sponsored by Constellations are granted special skills, and the people with personality traits (such as a sense of justice, bloodthirst, the ability to influence people, etc) similar to their constellations, become more powerful. At the story's beginning, our main character doesn't choose any Constellation to sponsor him, but as the story progresses, he makes some deals with them. Later in the story, due to his feats, he becomes a constellation. I won't tell more about it, since I would be entering spoiler territory, but it's pretty interesting that in this story, the Constellations (which are the concept of "god" in the story) mix both the idea of ascension and deification you showed there.

Wasn't expecting homestuck to be in one of your videos but im pleasantly surprised.

it's funny, as someone who grew up culturally mormon (though never spiritually), their concept of becoming gods of our own innumerable universes was the first thing I thought of when I saw this video

This is the ABSOLUTE last place I would have expected ******* Homestuck. Also, I dare you to do a video on the tangability of "canon" and "non-canon" within the Homestuck universe. I would be happy to talk and help explain it if you would like.

The first thought that came to my mind with the "hard to do a story where a omnipotent god is replaced" was Mirai Nikki ("Future Diary") where the god of that world finds himself dying and decides to find a successor through a death game. It's eventually revealed that the show takes place in a second iteration of this death game, having been recreated by the winner of the first one to lead to a similar, but different, outcome.

After playing slay the princess the third video of this series could be "how to create a God" (as a mortal) kinda like the (omega spoiler) narrator does with the shifting mound and the long quiet

In my own giant series I have slowly cooking right now, I can say that the ideas from this video are definitely fun to work with. Also as an LDS Mormon, I can say that yes that statement is in fact a thing.

That talk about "complete control over a domain of your own making" is EXACTLY the appeal I find with writing...or, in that one very rare time, making my own video game. That's exactly how I describe it when all the pieces come together working as I intended: "I feel like a GOD!" Having gone through a few of your videos now in a big sleep-deprived binge, I like your generally impartial tone throughout.

The gods of “Nice Dragons Finish Last” are an interesting take on gods. In their world deities are created with a large enough amount of thought being placed on them. Slowly they become sentient and develop a will and restrictions based on their domains.

I’m surprised you didn’t talk about The Stars My Destination. That entire book is how a single act of abandonment turned a common spacemen into a messiah/godlike figure.

Also in mistborn, a character becomes a god after the current host of a divine power dies, leading to the power seeking out a new one.

I literally thought "imagine if he mentions homestuck in this video" followed by "nah, this will never happen in our timeline", then he ACTUALLY DID

I was waiting for a reference to the god emperor of Dune Leto II because its a really good example of how one becomes a god by merging with a deity and the impacts it can have in its life

Plenty of fantasy tabletop roleplaying games and video games have apotheosizing as gods as a concept. There's Talos from the Elder Scrolls, formerly Tiber Septim, who was formerly a human before ascending into a deity and becoming a part of the Nine Divines. Likewise, Runequest and Glorantha have certain figures apotheosizing as deities like Sartar, Arkat, the Seven Mothers, the Emperors of Kralorela and possibly Argrath at the end of the Hero Wars

I actually screamed in rage and terror when the sburb logo appeared

Oh my gosh, first you talked about the religion I follow, and now you're talking about MISTBORN?!? This is awesome!

The intro still gives me chills every time

as a member of the LDS church, It is both disorienting and exhilarating to hear someone mention our faith on RU-vid ina respectful manner. Thank you, I do appreciate it.

A great manga called "To Your Eternity" is the story of God creating his own replacement. And has a very interesting and unique way of preparing its protagonist to take over the role of God. I highly recommend checking it out. Also, "Solo Leveling", but I feel like that one is already more well-known and appreciated. Cannot wait for the show to come out.

If someone asks if you're a god, you say Yes!

Become a dungeon master in dungeons and dragons... Done

omg I just opened this video to randomly watch while getting ready for work, I didn’t expect it to be about Homestuck! ah the memories… I’ll die on the hill that the story of Homestuck, although random, confusing and absurd is actually pretty solid. Thank you for making this video!

I’ve been doing a lot of worldbuilding lately, especially with my pantheons in the world, and this video has actually helped me out quite a bit. I just want to thank you for always encouraging writers and worldbuilders to pursue our passions, especially through the content you produce. Also, as a member of the LDS church, I want to thank you for showing your respect for us and not letting any sort of personal bias (good or bad) influence your content and the points you make, it means a lot.

Generally I can distinguish three levels of godhood: 1) Demi-gods and lesser gods. Are entities, including close to mortals. Who are basically just humans and spirits who may be worshipped as the gods. Even if they really aren't that in literal sense. It is also where most god slaying happen. 2) Classic gods are entities of immense power, who are actually incarnation of some elements of the world. As such worship of them commonly is justified. Though it should be pointed out that despite that most religions show them as humans, they almost always are not that. But only appear as human if even do that. Fun fact, true dragons are in fact a gods, who simply lack skill or will to interact with humans. Not giant lizards. Same is actually true for angels, who are exactly those eldritch horrors, just in service of the God. This category is rarely slain and usually demand involvement of at least demigod. 3) Absolute, so the big "G" God. Those are beings who are base of entire creation. Not just creators as architects. But they removal would literally uncreate the reality. Because they are beyond even celestial comprehension, eldritch to even the eldritch. They rarely interact with people and commonly show sights of being forms of Overmind, sometimes using lesser forms to interact with they creation. In case of Christianity it is the Trinity (and yes, God the Father is actually not the God as a whole). In Judaism God has seven avatars known as Ophanim (Thrones), one of who has additional three Archangel Forms: King of Angels and Voice of God Metatron (the one who sit on Emerald Throne), King of Sheol and Archangel of Destruction Sandelphon (who despite the name is angel of Creation, who control four Living Beasts. As elemental angels who also may be a elements of the God) and Archangel of Wisom Raziel Helel, who play form of Arbiter. Being technically equal to seven regular Archangel and providing also as Christ, creator insight to creation. As he is most humane part of the God. Despite being a "Lamb". In case of Hinduism, all gods are avatars of Braman to a degree. Especially Krishna. PS: Honorable mention that gods can also be Clarktechian Aliens and TBH form a point it does resemble crazy Shin Megami Tensei style AI nonsense. So who know? Maybe we actually are simulation after all?

Big brain time: Make a book or game. You become the “god” of the universe that book or game takes place in, especially if you insert yourself into the book.

Hey TaleFoundry! As an LDS member, I appreciate you addressing the religion in a respectful manner. It’s oftentimes disheartening to see how popular media takes things out of context and falsely portrays us as “freaks” of sorts, so I appreciate the thought you put into this. Thank you.

A rather straight example of replacing a capital G god. In the animanga "Mirai Nikki", the core issue is that capital G god got depressed being so much more than anyone else and sets up a death game to select its replacement. Once the death game concludes a new nearly-identical universe is created via the ascendance of the new capital G god. The previous capital G god gets to stop existing (which is what they want to happen in this case).

The fact that Sanderson is a Mormon makes the inclusion of both the BoM and Mistborn in this video very interesting, though I'm not sure what conclusions we should draw from the fact that they can compared in this aspect.

This is the first time I've ever been given an actual description of the plot of Homestuck and I have even less reason to read it now lmao

You know it's a good day when Tale Foundry posts

6:30 I'm so mad, I was literally thinking of this when he mentioned mortals creating universes and becoming Gods LMFAO

In Homestuck, arguably some characters are "as omniscient as it is possible to be". There's no such thing as "all knowledge condensed to a point" - it still has to be acquired in some way either for the first time or as a form of recollection (I don't think it's clear which is the more appropriate way to think about it). There are characters that can acquire any bit of knowledge by "navigating" through some "path" in the void.

The anime No Game No Life actually plays with both God and gods: there is a a pantheon of gods (god of good, god of elves, etc), but they're just "first among equals", with the True God - Tet - being show to have the power to reshape reality as He sees fit. At one time, Tet was just a "god", but the background is that he won a great war/contest and took over as the True God.

The 12 trolls made the 4 human kids universe. And I think it was the 23 squid things that made the trolls universe? It's been a while since I got into the lore and theories of homestuck.

This was SUCH a good video. I had already made the comparisons between mormonism and homestuck before, but the tidbit of mormon esoterica was such a delight to hear. Plus one of my favorite fantasy stories(Mistborn(Brandon Sanderson is a mormon by the way)) and one of my formative book series(Deathnote), and even Star Trek is in here. Its wonderful!

On a related note, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine examines the problem of becoming a god, as well as many other interesting subjects, as well. Thank you for mentioning TOS and thank you for the video. Keep making stuff up and LLAP!🖖

There was no chosen hero in Mistborn, it was always a custom made trap made by the god of ruin :o

I think one aspect of being a god that a lot of people overlook is the ability to think up something that has never existed. Not just something that hasn't been created yet within the confines of the laws of this universe that we understand but but creating something that has no previous thing to base it on, true creation from nothing.

I didn’t expect you to talk about homestuck but it was a good surprise

I actually fell out of my chair when you started talking about Homestuck. I can't escape

Herberts "Godmakers" was an excellent book covering exactly this topic.

you may have gotten some homestuck bits wrong but you pretty much summed it up as well as anyone else. (edit: also glad to see you have reached one of the best pieces of fiction i have ever encountered, it's far from perfect but that just makes it better.)

I havent finished the vid but I FAWKING SWEAR YOU BETTER MENTION MISTBORN. Love your vids. Keep at it. Edit: HE MENTIONED MISTBORN 🎉🎉🎉

You already had won my heart but you mentioning Baldur's Gate 3 made it melt even more ❤

One trope ive seen used occasionally is the idea that an omniscient and omnipotent god can 'pass on' their powers to a new soul. One instance this is used is in the cartoon Amphibia - in the final episode, the main character is greeted by an entity who is implied to be omniscient and omnipotent, and wants to give its powers to the main character because it wants to retire. A similar use of this trope can be seen late in the Mistborn trilogy, when the main character absorbs the power of Preservation (though she wasnt technically omniscient at that point, since Ruin would counteract everything she did with an opposite move of equal power).

The pantheon of Eberron, according to the dragons, goes through cycles just like the world. Every time the world is created, there is a great war between dragons and demons in which some exceptional dragons (and possibly demons) become the legendary inspiration for the gods of humans and most demihumans (Sovereigns). For example, Aureon, the Sovereign of magic, law, and lore, who shed his Shadow to learn the secrets of magic, is said by dragons to be inspired by Ourelonastrix, who learned arcane magic from a demon now called the Shadow in the Flame, and taught it to other dragons, thus creating the tradition of arcane magic that humans were eventually taught. The similarities in names are fairly obvious. Similarly, in each new cycle, some Sovereigns of the previous cycle join the ranks of the dragon gods (Bahamut, Tiamat, etc) from other settings, and some among the dragon gods became the Progenitor Dragons, Siberyis above, Khyber below, and Eberron in the middle. These are primordial deities, like Uranus and Gaia, who begin the new world in a grand conflict so that the war between dragons and demons can be fought and new Sovereigns can be selected. There is a human religion based on this idea called the "Church of the Wyrm Ascendant," who worship the Sovereign Host, but also strive to emulate dragons, and believe that they can either reincarnate as dragons or pass into an afterlife created by one of the Sovereigns or dragon gods (unlike other D&D settings, any afterlife beyond a Purgatory-like realm that swallows your soul is more of a belief, as once you pass through Eberron's Purgatory, you cannot be resurrected, so they have no witnesses to any possible afterlives that may exist).

homestuck is always such a surprise no matter where its mentioned. also the "who created the players og universes" is sort of answered in the comic itself (spoilers btw of act 6 and forwards) caliborn makes the trolls universes first instance (Ancestor trolls), then persists on it after the scratch via Doc Scratch and the code associated to him, then the history relevant trolls make the cancerous universe of the og kids, and then the og kids (or beta kids) scratch their own universe to make the alpha kids of act 6 and finally introduce caliborn/calliope who the alpha kids talk to additionally John did kind of achieve omniscience via the retcon power thing

homestuck jumpscare!! absolutely love the mention tho. I absolutely love the mass amounts of worldbuilding (mainly incomplete and left to fan interpretation) in homestuck. It wasn’t answered in the video so I’ll explain. The human’s universe was made from another game of sburb in another universe, which happens to be the trolls. That’s how they come into the story. And the trolls’ universe were made by the Cherubs. It seems that all universes were made by another and will all make a new universe through a game similar to sburb (just has a different name)

Woah! Didn't expect to see the Book of Mormon to show up in a Tale Foundry Video! It's kinda trippy to see two of my worlds collide like that!😆

I've been waiting for Homestuck to get a mention here, felt like it was something that was inevitable, my day has been made

That was the single greatest animated introduction ever, I was not expecting that, you have earned yourself a longtime subscriber

He was once, a simple Pac-Man

funny thing about this is that my father had (I don't know if it's still running) a religion dedicated to his way of life, and it wasn't started by him.

Yo thanks for the tips man, they really came in handy

Deification in fiction is some of my favourite type of writing when done well! Thank you so much for this video, immersive as always.

In the D&D 5e actual play series, Critical Role, the goddess of Death, the Matron of Ravens, was once a mortal woman, a scientist, who managed to somehow replace the previous god of Death, but upon doing so, she erased the method she used to do so from history because the cost was far too great. (She is heavily based on the Raven Queen from base D&D, who had a similar ascension, but is set apart by being the only god in the Critical Role world, Exandria, to ever do so)

I always appreciate when someone talks about the Mormon faith, having at least some idea what they are talking about. I find the things said here to be accurate to my beliefs.

Great video! I love the concept of egregores and ideas/archetypes/symbols as gods

Thanks I was searching for a tutorial for a while thanks I needed it.

I read a story once, sadly i can not remember the name or the author or the name of the story, but I remember the plot atleast somewhat. It was about Young man in his 20s who was pursuing this goal, and basicaly he came out with an occult ritual where he performed that ritual in near death state and merged all of Alternate selves together to himself. Basicaly he fused with each of his version in parralel dimensions and That Broke the limitations of mortality for him and He became Godlike and transcended 3D. I think He became like 5D being in that story if i remember it.