: Re: Avoiding cliches when writing gods When writing fictional polytheisms, it's tempting to draw inspiration from the existing ones. In ancient religions (I'm mainly thinking of the Greek/Latin, Egyptian

@Karen856

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Don't focus on making your Gods be unique. Make the cultures worshipping them unique.
Let me explain. Faith is a reflection of how a culture views and interacts with the world. The truth is, God's can only be that unique. Here are the main themes:
War, fertility, celestial objects, an animal, a season or month, an element or an object connected with an element
Ares is the God of War, Venus is the God of Fertility, Hera is the God of the Sun, Poseidon is the God of the Ocean and the Horse, Vulkan is the God of Fire and the Volcano, I could go on for days.
Now, there are tons of gods who share the same attributes. Thor is the God of Lightening, a very specific thing. Zeus is the God of Lightening too. Do people look at them as the same? Do people think of them as potato/potato? No. Why? Well, most people haven't actually delved into mythology to discover the different nuances of their characters, but most people know of the different cultures they're affiliated with.
Thor is the God of the savage and brutal vikings. Zeus is the God of the (at least portrayed) civilized, brooding and intelligent Greeks (the Vikings were also smart but you get my point).
Have the difference lie in the cultures that worship them, and your reader is immediately going to have different connotations with them. And the whole dynamic between the God and the culture has a lot to say. Think about this;
A strong, tribal, savage and uncivilized culture has, among many gods, a god that is strong, powerful and brutal. Due to their brawny nature, and how their society is built up, the people of this culture value strength. So therefore, a God that is strong will be considered one of the good and even main gods in their faith.
Then consider this;
A civilized, delicate and philosophizing culture has, among many gods, a god that is strong, powerful and brutal. But due to their more peaceful nature, this god is looked more down upon, like Hades.
So let's say both of these gods from these different cultures were the God of War. There you have the exact same (superficially) god, but the gods feel completely different from each other to the reader, because of how they are viewed and what their place in the faith is. In one faith they are one of the main Gods, and they are worshiped and idolized. In the other, they are ostracized, looked at as the devil, maybe used in derogatory ways to "curse" someone.
But, there is another way too. You shouldn't be relying on this method alone, it should be paired with the first one.
Give your Gods more powers, titles and functions than just one.
A way to make for example two Gods of War stand out from each other is to make them more than just Gods of war. Let's say one god is the God of War and Horses, whilst the other god is the God of War and Famine.
And this can be a good way to reflect your culture too. If a culture's God of Death is solely the God of Death, it can mean they look at death as an element. As a force of nature. Whilst a culture that pairs the death with something little or something symbolically linked like the moon or ravens, then they perhaps look at death as something smaller, less significant. As just a thing, like the moon, or ravens.
Which brings me back to the uniqueness of cultures. Cultures that oppositely view small things like the moon, or a species as something more than just a thing, you might be looking at an animalistic faith, from a primitive and/or tribal culture. So, the God of Something and Ravens in one faith will feel very different from the God of Ravens in another, more nature focused faith, were certain species can be very significant, and nature in general means a lot.
Here's a last option, also one that should be paired with the first. This one is only if you're willing to go into pretty deep world building and lore.
Give your gods different stories where their character is shown
Nothing is better than some godly drama. Tales of the different deities are a big part of mythologies, and as stories are a lot more dynamic than god archetypes, that is where the major differences lie between for example two different gods of war.
But this is only if you're willing and your story is suitable for deeper exploration of lore and faiths.

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