Gods & Love (and other feelings)

Re: Gods & Love (and other feelings)

feeds@yuku.com (LadyKate63) — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 02:58:47 GMT

DoT, interesting point about Caesar! Actually in his introduction to The Iliad, Knox goes on to point out that some of Homer's human characters are also "godlike" in their total disregard for others in the assertion of their own will (in other words, narcissistic) -- specifically, Helen and Achilles. However, both of them are eventually "humanized" -- Helen, when she is confronted with the scope of the human suffering caused by her running off with Paris...

Re: Gods & Love (and other feelings)

feeds@yuku.com (athenasword) — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 00:22:44 GMT

Athena stopped a winning battle for the one she loved. I firmly believe that she had Ares beaten well enough that if Xena hadn't killed Ilainus, Athena would've found out her ploy and she'd be out of options. To pull back during the killing stroke for one soldier shows a lot more than just "favour," very similar to Achilles pulling back when Patroclus died. She didn't take on a new champion after Ilainus died; whether in her honour or because a champion was an...

Re: Gods & Love (and other feelings)

feeds@yuku.com (dahllaz) — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 00:16:56 GMT

The gods may not have been strictly human, but at the very least human based, sentient beings. Or...guess it'd be the other way around; being gods and all.

So yeah, they were capable of feeling, but cut off from that. Immortality isn't always a blessing and add to that the power that does make them superior, at least physically from mortals. And as others have said, power corrupts.

I also agree that what their roles as gods...

Re: Gods & Love (and other feelings)

feeds@yuku.com (Haephestus) — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 18:26:36 GMT

Good question.

I'm not so sure on my answer. On the one hand, I think that due to their godhood and all the powers/abilities that come with it the gods are incapable of love.

I think Xena said it better in LDITE (?) when she talked to Celesta (sp?) aka Death about the loss of her brother Hades. Up until that point, the gods didn't have to face the ordinary concepts of mortality and loss and I think part of that is what helps to "form" love (the...

Re: Gods & Love (and other feelings)

feeds@yuku.com (natyanayaki) — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 18:05:26 GMT

I think it's kind of similar to the idea that a blind person gets an increase in other senses, except that it works backwards. I think certain gods and goddesses are limited by their powers, because their perspective has to allow them to do what needs to be done based on their powers. An example could be something I once heard said about predators (wolves/leopards), if they felt the anguish their prey felt they wouldn't be able to hunt them. To use Aphrodite and Ares as examples, I...

Re: Gods & Love (and other feelings)

feeds@yuku.com (gravitystar) — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 17:37:41 GMT

I had a brief discussion with Ape about this the other day...so she poked me to put in here what I said then.

I have mixed feelings. We could easily say that the Gods have the ability to love, even Hera says in 'God Fearing Child' that she love's Zeus despite having to betray him to stop him, and despite all the things the pair of them have been through. Though by their interaction in both programmes I don't know how I would compare it to mortal love.

Eli...

Re: Gods & Love (and other feelings)

feeds@yuku.com (Daughter of Tiaran) — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 17:35:23 GMT

Interesting post, LK. I especially agree with this here:

To some extent I think it's a case of "power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely." The gods are used to treating humans as their playthings and the world as their personal playhouse.

Just wanted to add, I think if anything the gods are *more* capable of compassion and caring than some humans shown on the show--and here, as a Caesar aficionado, of course...

Re: Gods & Love (and other feelings)

feeds@yuku.com (LadyKate63) — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 17:22:56 GMT

Obviously, the gods on X:WP (like the gods in Greek mythology) have personalities, and therefore feelings as well. Also, in Xenaverse, gods are capable of becoming mortal (and vice versa), so there is no absolute division between the two. If Ares can become human when he loses his godhood, then there is a human being somewhere inside the god, capable of all the feelings that humans have -- though the way I see it, godhood is a force that can overshadow/suppress/obscure those feelings. Maybe...

Re: Gods & Love (and other feelings)

feeds@yuku.com (Daughter of Tiaran) — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 16:46:37 GMT

I think the gods absolutely can love. As they were written, IMO the gods seemed basically to be pretty much similar to humans psychologically, with the added benefit of having some powers that humans didn't share. It's true that they were mostly portrayed as being petty, selfish and short-sighted, but OTOH I suspect at least part of that was situational--when you've been around forever, have superior powers to humans, and know that for all intents and purposes you're basically...

Re: Gods & Love (and other feelings)

feeds@yuku.com (Aurora Goddess) — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 15:01:16 GMT

I see the gods as an extension of humans/mortals. They possess all of the emotions and faults that humans do but in a much larger way. And, of course, they have powers and are immortal.

So yeah, I do believe they can both love and have feelings/emotions. I would say that all of them are capable of it but it comes much more easily to some that it does to others because it is, in large part, dictated by the role that...

Gods & Love (and other feelings)

feeds@yuku.com (TheJollyApe) — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 14:32:30 GMT

A discussion over in the G/A thread got a little OT, so we thought we'd bring it in here.

Can a god (the ones on the show) love? Or lets take it even further, do they have feelings? Do they have a soul? Is it different from god to god, or do they all work the same way?