In defence of the ancients the ancients are, obviously, the focus of the game world. They are powerful, wise, and omnipresent, sure, but they aren't the only ones. In fact, the dota 2 universe has plenty of powerful beings that can shape lands, time, and even fate. Yes, the world of dota 2 is one where gods are real, and influence the world with their powers. That will be our focus today, exploring some of these powerful gods, and showing the lore behind who they are and what they control. Now, let's get this out of the way, we will NOT be covering all the gods mentioned in dota 2, because that list is basically endless. First you have gods that have only been mentioned in name such as the goddess of luck who pitty’s ogre magi, the boar god whom juggernaut respects, the war god of the thousand tarns who axe defeated, this list goes on and on, and while some of them have pretty cool stories, like how the solar goddess is worshipped by people of the siculent wastes where sand king lives, whos followers are experts in using gold in craftsmanship making outfits for both lina and bounty hunter, theres simply not very much information on all of these gods, if they are even gods at all. I mean, in the dota 2 universe, what exactly makes a god? In a world where magic is prevalent and beings exist with such power that they can destroy cosmic entities themselves just by gaining enough experience, what exactly seperates a powerful wizard from a god anyway? Take zeus for example, he claims he is a god, he has a backstory of a god, but what makes his powers any different from say disruptor, lina, or crystal maiden? For all we know, zeus is a powerful storm mage who’s complete narsassm fueled by a nepolian complex drove him to madness as he convinced the world he was a god of old greek lore. Makes more sense to me than the greek pantheon existing in the dota 2 universe dispite Greece not even existing there. And don’t even get me started on demigods, people who have been given godly power or were born from gods, because that’s pretty much 90% of the dota 2 heros and no body got time for that. As you can see, god seems to be more of a title than a classification in dota 2, we have covered before that the act of leveling up is basically accending to godhood, and all one needs to lvl up is experience in the world around them. Thus, becoming a god is sorta the end result if you live long enough, if you are strong enough to survive. That would explain why there are SO MANY gods in dota 2, as really, it aint that hard if you are strong enough to survive.
SO, with that out of the way, lets get into some of my favorite gods in this episode. And if we are going to start with favorites, then of course I need to begin with my personal favorite hero of all time, omniknight. Omniknight’s tale is a grim one, in short he was a loyal and religious man who crusaded around the world in the name of his god the Omniscience, staying loyal and faithful and assuring himself all the aroticites he committed in the name of faith were for a higher cause. He fought for decades, but as time pushed on and the burdens of lost friends and brutal fighting began to weigh on him heavily. After some time, he was sick of seeing his friends and mentors buried in sorry wet graves at the side of muddy roads for a god that had never shown himself to them. So he went back home, to challenge the priests of his faith and demand proof that there was a god at all. And surprisingly, they did! For weeks he followed them down caverns to the center of the planet itself and there, in its core, was the actual omniscience, who spoke to him and revealed that it created the world around itself to protect it from the horrors of space. Omniknight was satisfied with this answer, and went back to the faith with more vigor and power than ever. A happy ending, or is it? The lore is pretty strange in that it mentions the following, “ Perhaps the omniscene is a liar, deep in it’s prison of stone, and not the worlds creator at all, but the omniknight never again questioned his faith”. It always struck me as odd, that this would ever be mentioned, why put doubt into a pretty open and shut story? And that’s where the headcannon begins. Is the omniscene a true god? Many heros doubt it. Monkey king who has done battles with pleanty of gods before claimes to never even heard of the omniscience, and many powerful beings such as chaos knight mock omniknight for his blind faith. Blind in that he will follow blothing he believes in, or blind because that thing he believes in is false? Lets look at omniknight himself, as we have already covered in dota 2 experience can give you power, and no one is more experienced than a healer who for his entire life has known only war through countless battles in crusaides. Perhaps it was not the omniscience who gave his power to omniknight, but the knight’s power itself, growing in level and experience after every battle he somehow survived over a life of war. He did, after all, glow with light and power before he even met the omniscience as stated in his lore, so we can assume that the reason he had lasted so long in his countless battles over his comrades was due to his own, innate power which grew over time. So if the omniscience isn’t a god, granting it’s follower’s power, than what exactly is it? Well, we have heard a similar story before, haven’t we? A consciousness which seems to be all seeing and all knowing, trapped within a prison of rock? Yep, the ancients! Remember how dire and radient were 2 parts of the self? Perhaps this is just another part of the self, who was trapped in a celestial body by ark warden, but since it was alone it never gathered enough energy to escape, staying trapped forever in it’s stone prison. If that’s the case, hell maybe every planet in the dota 2 universe has a piece of the self as it’s molten core. That, or its something else entirely. If you bought into my theory of the third ancheint way back in our first epsidoe of loregasm, than perhaps the omniscience IS the third ancheint. A growing power under the earth responsible for the neather reaches and the magic and intelligence powers of its dezidens. The best part is, even if the omniscience is the third anchient, a evil force growing a army above ground and mascurading as a god above, waging a war on two fronts of good and evil (much like radient and dire), omnikngiht dosnt even care. Omniknight has no concern if his god is a just one or a evil one, just that he exists. For all we know the holy and pure omniknight could acutally be a apotle of chaos and death, his holy light casting a brutal and terrible shadow. But that’s just the headcannon, so its up for you to decide.
The omniscience isn’t the only holy god out there on the surface, gathering loyal followers. Obelisk, the god Chen worships, has many similarities. The knights of the fold also crusaded around the lands, destroying heritics who did not share their faith, and forced those like chen, who were defeated by their armies, to convert or die. Chen converted and became one of their most devout, using his tribal heritage of animal husbandry to convert even more to the fold, building their ranks and maintaining their health. But what do we know of Obelisk? Chen refers to him as the one god, so he inherently believes that there is only one real god in the dota 2 relm, that god being obelisk. While we don’t know much else of Obelis, we do see some effects of obelis in the game world. The name Obelis is very similar to real world Obelisks, which are stone pillars erected as monuments or even places of holy worship. We have similar stone pillars in dota 2, but we call them towers. Interestingly enough, the towers do appear to be closly tied to obelis. Take for example their appearance, the top of the raident tower looks nearly identical to the holy headdress chen wears into battle, which I would imagine all of the Knights of the Fold would wear, considering chen is extreamly devout and a leader to others in the fold. Not only do the towers match the religious garments of the Knights of the Fold, but they also have a very basic and volatile magical attacks, much like chen’s test of faith. The fact that they do not attack those who are your allies, or enthralled to the same leader, also makes sense as to why they would be tools of Obelis, who would want a way to defend conqured lands that would allow those who he has enslaved to pass unharmed. Alright, you may be asking, why would these towers be present in the dota 2 map, and whats up with dire? Well, looking at them pscally we can see that the radient tower is wrapped in aggressive plant vines, plant life which is commonly associated with the radient. Dire towers seem to be degregated but covered in black direstone and lava, tell tale signs of the dire. This leads us to conclude that the towers have been converted by the anchients, built and attached to the land and then converted when radiant and dire influence spreads throught the earth.  These towers were built by the followers of obelis, most likely all appearing like the radient tower, until lthey were converted by the anchients for their impressive power to attack only enemies to those enthralled by them. For 2 entites that can only battle eachother by mind controlling warriors, Towers would be a very usefull commodity for the anchients. While we may not know much about obelis himself, the structures his followers erected in the past are essential parts of our current day battles. Do I have anything else for obelis? HIT THAT ALERT. There’s a good chance that chen’s god and omniknights god may be one and the same. After all, chen’s powers are merely a extention of powers he already had before his conversion, his main arrtibute being his power to magically enthrall  animals. This makes up holy persuasion and penitence, as both are just uses of the power he was born with. Test of faith reads that “knights of the fold posses fanatical forms of magic that is considered unwieldy”, so it can be assumed that the spells are simply passed down by the knights of the fold, and arnt very refined. That leaves chens ult, hand of god, which again seems to be a extention of what he was already capeable of, “using mental links with his tralls” to heal them. In the end, much like omnight, it appears Obelisk dosnt really give much to it’s followers other than a cause to fight for. Not to mention the strange effects Towers have. Lets think, towers are magically immune much like a repeled unit, and cannot be healed unless thru a magic immune way. Furthermore, they have a ability which allows them to become completely immune to physical damage. Guardian angel anyone? Guardien angel is one of the only spells that can infact be cast on a tower, besides bloodlust. It makes sense that one set of knights travels the land converting all they find, while another travels the lands which specialize in healing the ranks and maintaining those around them. The omnisence does claim to have the power to manipulate stone as well, which could explain how the towers were formed by it’s followers in the first place. But that’s all just headcannon, which ends here.
Not all gods are holy in dota 2, charecterised by bright light and healing prayer. No, some gods in the dota 2 world are dark, violent, and thirsty. Take for example the flayed twins, who bloodseeker serves. The flayed twins are twin gods who need a constant supply of blood, most likely because they are literally flayed, their skin missing from their bodies exposing their bare muscle and most likely letting their blood flow freely out of them. No one knows the story is around this, the flaying being from themselves to amplify their bloodmagics or done to them by a enemy, but one thing  is known: they are extreamly powerful, they are undefateable and unmoveable, and they must be satieated. This is the job of the bloodseeker. The story begins in a place called…oh god… Xhacatocatl, a Aztec like society in mist covered mountains , who are protected but also threatened by The Twins. The pact is simple, the people of xhaatocatl provide the flayed twins blood, or the twins decent upon them and collect the blood they desire from their corpses. Due to this, the people provide routine blood sacrifices but its never enough, as the twins demand oceanic amounts of blood. To solve this, the people presented them with a weapon, a man who would go though the world with one goal, to aquire blood for the blood gods. Bloodseeker’s clothing and weapons are covered in special magical runes that transfer any blood that touches them directly to the twins, and his only job in life is to cover those weapons and clothes in as much blood as possible to save his people. But enough about him, lets talk about the interesting things the twins can do! For one, they have the power to physically transform their followers. You can see bloodseeker is humanoid, but if you look closely you can tell that he has many dog like features, eluding that the twins transformed him into a bloodhound like creature to find fresh blood quicker. Not only do they transform their host, but they also have the power to posses their followers, giving them sight beyond sight and allowing them to see bleeding, low health targets. While many believe this is litteral, having the twins take over the follower and giving them sight, I believe it is more methephorical. Bloodseeker wears a hood to cover his eyes and ears, leading me to believe that he mutes these senses to highten smell and taste, the two most used by animal hunters like bloodhounds. It’s interesting to note that bloodseeker is just as much a victim as his prey. Hes not a bad guy, if he dosnt kill his entire people will be wiped out by vengeful and cruel gods. That however dosnt mean he hasn’t grown to enjoy his bloody mission over time however.
Another god that is not the nicest but does have a loyal following is screauk, god of vengeance and the one who gave vengeful spirit her power. The skywrath are a pretty strange race, they seem alright but just like real world birds what appears to be nice and cute more often than not turns out to be assholes. Yes birds are assholes. Anyway the skywrath have 2 known gods, Allivia who seems to be the nice one, although she is mostly known for having bloody pinions (aka outermost feathers) so uh less nice more wrath i suppose. If praying to a war bird god is a little tame for you then you can pray to skreeock if you have been wronged. Originally a princess next in line for the throne, vengeful spirit’s sister attempted to assasinate her by trapping her in a net and letting her fall to her death from the ghastly eerie. Venge survived by cutting off her wings, meaning she could never fly home and would never be accepted even if she had. Obssed with vengence, she approached screeauk to gain the power, only to find that she would need to give up her earthly body and transform into a spirit to do so. She accepted, and the rest is history. It’s interesting to note here by the way that a Auk is a catigory of birds, but a special kind, flightless birds. This leads us to believe that she is perhaps a god of the downtrodden, a god reserved for only those who are crippled and shamed in the skywrath society, much like itself. Perhaps screeauk took pity on the vengeful spirit because she too had lost her ability to fly from a decietful sister. That would explain the bloody pinions after all. But no matter her story we know that skreeauk has the power to take a life and turn it into a spirit, giving the gift of power to the powerless. One mysetery still perplexes me with this god, and that is if there is any connection to, of all people, juggernaut. In juggernauts lore we learn that his homeland “vanished benieth the waves in a night of vengeful magic”. Of course this screams skreeauk, or at least followers of her, but why the isle of masks? Japan has a variety of flightless birds, did the people of the isle of masks hunt the birds to extinction? Did the isle threaten the ghastly eerie? We dont have a naswer for this, but the use of “vengeful magic” was strange here, so I figured it had to be mentioned. Maybe one day we will know.

Blood, vengeance, conversion, faith, all of these goods seem to stick to one central theme. But what about the two biggest themes in our existance, life and death? Well, lets get to our last 2 gods for this episode, Verodecia is the goddes of the woods, but basically the goddes of nature. If you believe the omnisicence when it claimed it built the rock of the planet around itself, then Verodecia was the god who put the plants and animals on its surface. She was responsible for a ton of things on Roo, short list being putting the earth spirit in, well, the earth, growing all plants, moving water from below the crust to the surface, enslaving the sun, pretty much everything good in nature. Her main method for growth were seeds, magical and powerful that could grow whatever she desired. After populating the barron lands with lush green, she realised that the process had drained her, and she would soon die herself. Afraid of what could happen to life without her watching over it, she created a few familiar failsafes. First, the treant protectors who would guard nature and the woods, but they must have proven too passive or slow to defend the woods. She came up with a backup plan if all else failed, a specail seed that would restart the process of populating the planet should all fall to chaos, and entrusted it to the bear clan. Lone druid carries the seed now, the last memeber of the bear clan and who’s only job is to survive the end of the world to plant that very seed, should the end ever come. But while the treants were semi sucessful and a backup plan was nice, Verodcia still needed a protecter of all things nature. So in her last breath, she blessed a final seed and planted it inside of herself, using her body as the soil to which the Nautre’s Prophet sprung. Its a beautful, interconnected story much like nature itself, and the effects of verodecia’s sacrifice touch many heros that call Roo home.

So what about the other side of the coin? For every life there is a death, and The Dead God is the answer for Verodecia. Perhaps a necromancer who’s mastery reached that of godhood, or perhaps death incarnate, the dead god spreads, well death, along the lands in the form of restless dead, who he raises to create more dead for his unending army. The army of the undead spread The Dirge, which is extreamly interesting. Undying was origianlly a soilder who came face to face with the zombies from the dead god’s army and was thrown into a pit, where he lived long enough to feast on his allies. But within that pit he contracted The Dirge, discribed as a sound in his mind, faint at first but eventually deafining, which transformed him into the general of the dead god’s army he currently is. This Dirge seems to be the magic that the dead god posseses which brings the dead to life and compells him to do his bidding, a magical song like noise that only dead ears can hear. Undying has been leading the dead army ever since, ransacking places such as antimage’s mountain top monestary, where the dead killed all of the peacefull monks there to anitmage’s horror, who was the sole surviver of the incidednt and who subsequently swore to destroy the dead god and all magic. Thats the story we know, but there are several very interesting things about the Dead God that havent really been discussed before. For one, why hasn’t he won yet? Undying is extreamly old, being transformed well before the anchients fell to the planet and even old enough to remember Invoker when his name was simply “carl” (not joking). So the legion of the dead has been maurauding and killing for a very very long time. And as any zombie movie enthusist knows, zombie attacks would spread exponentially and fast; after all, every defeated enemy is a additional warrior for you. So why hasnt the dead god killed everything yet? The only explanation would be that he dosnt want too. Unless the army of the dead is defeated time and time again, which according to Undying’s lore, he is able to rise again after being slain, i cant really imagine that the Dead God and his Dirge would be defeated easily. This begs the question, if the end goal isnt to consume all life, then what could it be? Perhapps our only clue is that the dead god is nilistic. He believes that life is meaningless, and rejects all religion and moral princeiples. Perhaps the dead god’s goal isnt to kill all life, like a typical zombie hoard, but rather to target those who find a higher meaning in life, those of faith and those who look beyond our limited existance. This would explain the attack on antimage’s monestary, one of the only recorded attacks we know of in the lore, where the dead god sought out to snuff monks that were so obsessed with meditation that they let themselves get slaughtered with no recourse. The antimage and windranger comic Dark Purpous which is, dont get me wrong, a complete peice of garbage lore wise, does show us that followers of the dead god are pretty much sentient, even fearing for their lives and rallying eachother to fight and not be afraid. So in the end, perhaps the dead god isn’t a steriotypical evil zombie hoard leader, but instead a leader with a purpose, one that when completed he returns his zombies to their graes rather than take over the world. The purpose being, culling the powerful.

HEAD CANNON TIME

Remember how at the beginign of this video, i told you that basically anyone could become a god in dota 2? With enough experience and enough power, your powers could rise more and more, and with each powerfu enemy you defeated that power would grow exponentially. The question then would be, where does it end? Why do those like invoker, those who’s power reaches states where they basically become immortal, live in hiding? I belive because the dead god is the one who keeps the world in check. He believes that life is meaningless, and those that accent to godhood would directly conflict with that notion, giving purpose to followers and those who had faith in them. So it would reason then, that the Dead God’s mission is that of a god killer. Focusing first on the faithful and slaying them, and then turning them against their gods, or at least giving the gods no power. For what is a king without a kingdom, what is a ruler with no one to rule? As i stated before, you simply cant win against a undead army, especially when it’s general can be defeated and rise again anew. No, the only way to stop the cycle of growing in power then losing it to the dead god’s wrath would be to kill the god himself, the very mission of antimage. But then who would keep joe shmoe from rising to godhood? Who would keep everyone in the dota 2 universe from eventually becomign a all powerful being? THe dead god is a nessesity, a balance to those who have escaped death long enough to grow to godhood. So is the dead god really a bad guy? Or is his job more like the hunter who kills the over populated deer? Morals arn’t my job, just the lore, so thats for you to decide.

And that will jsut about do it for this episode. Wait wait what about selemene you ask? Or malewran the tenticlar? Or or nyctasha? Well as i said, there is a lot of gods in the dota world, and we will get to them all eventually. But for now, use that experience you have gained to grow yourself, and follow your own path to godhood, through the power of LORE

Heyo, thanks for watchin, this episode’s script was co written and reviewed by the nice folks who gave to the patreon to pay for my great editor. If you wanna be part of the lore fun, go ahead and check out the patreon here. Shout out to the guys on the screen, and a big thank you to merry mind for the custom artwork. You can check out more art from that beast here. Thanks again and see you next time on LOREGASM!