A Grove of Ashes and Aspens

Now Playing: The Manifesto by Elvenking

Within the realm of tabletop roleplaying games (TTRPGs) such as Dungeons and Dragons or Pathfinder, we consistently find examples of deities and whole pantheons. Some of these pantheons are taken from real world mythologies and cultures, and others are entirely created for a given campaign by the game master, or by the parent company specifically for the game system as a whole.

In my experience being in the TTRPG community, these pantheons are usually treated with respect by players. I’ve found that most players, especially when getting into character, understand that these pantheons are real to the people of the world they’re in, and in some cases, to people in the real world. Granted, horror stories of problematic players and game masters are bound to crop up from time to time, but those stories are a good learning experience. Stories like those give us the opportunity to look at the actions and beliefs of those people, recognise why they’re wrong, and learn and grow as a community.

I think there’s an interesting conversation to be had here about how polytheism is represented in fantasy and how that has the potential to affect public perception on real world polytheism. I will be discussing it from my own perspective and experiences of being raised in a Western and majority white country, so that is the cultural lens that is influencing my perspective and analysis.

Generally, when looking at polytheistic religions from a monotheistic perspective, especially where polytheistic religions get associated with the fantasy genre, most people who aren’t polytheists themselves will just treat it as something that isn’t really a thing anymore. This usually isn’t intentional, as many don’t know any pagans or polytheists. This worldview, however, usually leads to polytheistic religions getting relegated to, and associated with, fantasy settings, often getting treated as if they’re some mystical belief system and set of stories that don’t have a place in the real world.

This conflation of polytheism and fantasy can make things a little muddy when it comes to being a pagan in the real world. Due to this societal conflation, most people, through no fault of their own, don’t consider paganism to be a “real” religion, or at least not something that is practiced anymore. This is almost never done with any active malicious intent, since the average person might not know any better.

The view of paganism (and, to an extent, all non-Christian religion) by Christians is generally varied. Most Christians are in the same position as most non Christians, in my experience. Everyone that I’ve talked to about my being a pagan have been very chill about it. The worst reaction irl I’ve gotten has been someone just not understanding what that means to me and asking questions.

It’s good to note that there are some Christians who see it as some form of devil or demon worship, or something else along those lines. Those Christians are often the types to equate someone being an atheist or agnostic or a member of the Satanic Temple with being a devil worshipping, baby eating evil monster, so their opinions of anyone who isn’t Christian is generally pretty extreme and not really accurate to the general population.

That being said, polytheism is generally well represented in fiction compared to how it is in the real world. I would say that while the societal conflation of the two is annoying, it’s a minor price to pay for the generally positive reception I’ve been seeing to polytheism.