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Six Human Gods
The Six Human Gods are a group of deities worshiped by the humans of Tyria. The extent of their powers is not known, but it is known they are not omniscient, and by their own very nature as a pantheon each is not omnipotent. Despite this, their power cannot be destroyed, though they themselves can be supplanted. There is considerable mystery surrounding the exact powers and nature of the gods, which is muddled further by the fact that they have been increasingly absent in human affairs since Nightfall. It is known that staring at the gods is able to blind mortals if looked at long enough.
The current pantheon of gods are:
- Dwayna, goddess of healing, air, warmth, and life.
- Balthazar, god of war, fire, and courage.
- Melandru, goddess of nature, earth, and growth.
- Lyssa, twin goddesses of beauty, water and illusion (individually, they are Lyss and Ilya).
- Grenth, god of darkness, death, and ice.
- Kormir, goddess of order, spirit, and truth.
Former deities are Abaddon, Dhuum, and Abaddon's unnamed predecessor.
Each of the races of Tyria have different attitudes to the gods. Despite their legend of Melandru, the charr view the gods as powerful beings to fight, not worship. The norn recognize the existence of the gods, but consider them an extension of their belief system of nature spirits; they refer to the Six as the "Spirits of Action" and do not call them by their name, but by what they govern - for instance, Balthazar is War and Kormir is Knowledge.[1] The asura consider the gods to be relatively large parts (but parts nonetheless) of their Eternal Alchemy, and the sylvari, having appeared only in 1302 AE and therefore having never actually witnessed the work of the gods, remain unconvinced they exist at all.
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[edit] History
At an unknown time after the writing of the Tome of Rubicon but prior to 786 BE, the Six Gods arrived on the world and brought the humans with them, but from where is not known. Original human legends claimed that the Six Gods created the world, and the charr also have legends of Melandru creating the world, though this has in recent decades been realized to be false. Their age is also unknown, but it is known that the current pantheon as a whole is not the first, and that they have not been on Tyria as long as the Elder Dragons.
The Six Gods arrived on Tyria originally at the Artesian Waters, which is said to hold magic powerful enough to have drawn the gods from the Mists. Dwayna was the first god to walk on the world, and is said to have brought humanity (though where to is conflicting with claims being both south of Cantha as well as Arah) hoping to make the world a paradise. She was followed by Balthazar, Melandru, and the other gods.
One of the last jotun storytellers, Thruln the Lost, claims that when humanity first arrived on continental Tyria, they went unnoticed by the gods. His legends also say that the gods once favored the giant races, and the jotun among them. They gave them magic and blessed them with knowledge of mechanical and magical things. The gods, afraid that the jotun were going to use their magic against them, took magic from the jotun unexpectedly, causing great confusion which set the giant-kings against one another. They then handed it to their new favorite races, including the humans, in measured bites. However, given the truth behind the Bloodstone and the fact that most jotun history has been lost, it is unknown how much, if any, of Thruln's tales are truth.
[edit] Gallery
Dwayna
Balthazar
Melandru
Lyssa
Grenth
Kormir
[edit] Notes
- The Six Human Gods are also referred to as:
- the Six Gods (also the Five Gods when referencing the time between the Exodus and Nightfall)
- the Human Gods
- the Old Gods
- the True Gods
- the Ancient Gods
- the Ancient Ones
[edit] References
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The Guild Wars Wiki has an article on Human Gods. |
- ^ Lore Interview with Jeff Grubb, GuildMag
