Demigod or Minor God
Lore forum
Posted on Dec. 26, 2013, 5:30 p.m. by Arachnarchist
As a minor student of Greek mythology, I can tell you that the two are different and mutually exclusive. A demigod in Greek Mythology was a half-mortal, half-god being who had some superhuman abilities but was not on the level of a god. Where as a minor god was simply a less powerful but still immortal being.
I've heard many people use the term "Demigod" for the two color Gods. As far as I can recall MaRo only used the term "Minor God" in reference to Theros, and I don't recall anyone else from Wizards using the term "Demigod." So are these people (incorrectly) using demigod as shorthand, or am I missing something?
smash10101 says... #3
Mostly what GoldGhost012 said, but I want to add that "demigod" sounds way cooler than "minor god."
December 26, 2013 6:37 p.m.
GoldGhost012 says... #4
Whoops, I meant to say that "the dictionary definition of 'demi'", because I think most of us know what the definition of "god" means.
December 26, 2013 6:39 p.m.
WhiteWolfman426 says... #5
Lets shorten this up a bit.
Demigod means half human half god like Hercules Son of Zeus and Daedalus Son of Athena.
Minor Gods are gods that are less known and less worshiped like Hypnos the God of Sleep, Eirene the Goddess of Piece, and Eunomia Goddess of Good Law and Order.
Major Gods are well known and most worshiped like Zeus, Poseidon, Athena, Hades and so on and so forth.
In Theros you can apply the same idea.
December 26, 2013 7:11 p.m.
I think it's pretty likely that they mean 'Minor God' rather than demigod.
In fact, I'd almost wonder if some particular heroes like Daxos of Meletis or Anax and Cymede are what passes for demigods in Therosian mythology. They don't seem to be including -any- cross-breeding between Gods and Mortals anywhere that I can see, so substitution of "Great Heroes" is probably the next best thing.
December 26, 2013 11:21 p.m.
TheAmazingSalsa says... #7
I'd say that the creatures are NOT demigods, but the ones with Heroic CAN turn into demigods, you see? Just so I don't make it confusing, Heroic creatures are creatures that you pump to turn into amazing heroes and all, so you're slowly turning them into demigods...
did anyone understand? -
January 4, 2014 2:39 p.m.
LordoftheReal says... #8
No. Demigods are children born from a god and a human (in this case possibly other races) Heroic creatures would not become demigods.
January 4, 2014 9:33 p.m.
Theros might be inspired by Greece, but it's not Greece. Demigod makes sense for multi-colored gods because they're demi one color and demi another color. If people are being understood, there's no need to go all prescriptive on their word choices. Now if we needed to be precise, and if there were half-mortal-half-gods on Theros which needed to be distinct from the multicolored minor gods, I could see the use of nitpicking.
January 10, 2014 10:27 p.m.
LordoftheReal says... #10
That's exactly what I'm curious about. I'm kind of a day dreamer who kind of brainstorms story possibilities, and half-god-half-mortal characters on Theroa sounds realistic to me
January 10, 2014 10:31 p.m.
I think mortals with Nyxian blood might be more likely than full-on half-gods, as the Gods in the card-art are depicted as HUGE. If a nymph got it on with a satyr, however, as was natural in Greek mythology, then you might have some mixing of the types. Can you make love to the stars, however?
If I were to try to make a mechanic around nyx-blooded mortals, however, I might look at Elderwood Scion
January 10, 2014 10:36 p.m.
LordoftheReal says... #12
Well, their size may not always be as such, but even so, there are other interpretations. Maybe time will tell. The gods could maybe shrink down, become aesthetically mortal, or even just bless/enchant an unborn child. Also, with Born of the Gods' rough definition concerning Nyxborn, who knows? Heck, the novella might even have a canon demigod character. My fan-interpretation for potential role-playing and such is a halfling derived from Mogis, so a deck representing said child could have Fists of the Demigod in it for lolz
GoldGhost012 says... #2
I think that technically, there is no distinction between the two types of Gods on Theros. There are the 5 Gods that people pray to and worship the most, and then there are the other 10, who are worshiped less. Now, on Theros, I believe that more dreams and prayers make a God more powerful. So, the since the 5 major Gods get prayed to the most, they are the most powerful. Although they may not technically have the terms "major Gods" and "minor Gods" (that I know of), I guess that's how they are separated.
The dictionary definition of "demigod" (from The Free Dictionary) is
demi-
pref.
1. Half: demirelief.
2. To some degree; part; partly: demigod.
So it's more likely used as shorthand because "demigod" is quicker to write than "minor God". And people do like using shortcuts.
December 26, 2013 5:44 p.m.