Deities (Witches of Midgard-verse)

**Deities**, also known as either **The Old Gods**, **Pagan Gods** or **Higher Beings**, are a type of supernatural entities in *Little Witch Academia: Witches of Midgard*.

## Description and Characteristics

Deities are a race of immortal, transcendent entities, with each being a prime authority in the religion or pantheon that they established or belonged to. They contributed in many of mankind's ancient religions as well as shaped parts of the universe in accordance of images of religions in question. Some of them either neutral or acting in accordance to the well-being of humanity at best, while others viewed them as nothing more than servants and only care for themselves at worst. Deities were worshipped for centuries or in some cases, millennia, and grew stronger through tributes they received.

While immensely powerful, the deities paled in comparison of the center icon of Abrahamic faiths, God, whom existence they aware of. It was proposed that God created them as part of the test of faith in both humanity and themselves, letting them shaping the universe as per the image of their religion/pantheon as mentioned earlier and creating stories surrounding them which developed into mythologies known to man. But the deities grew arrogant and betrayed their creator's purpose in their hubris, with their human disciples didn't fare better. The arrival of Abrahamic faiths and cataclysmic events that marked the end of Great Age of Magic (era of Old Word according to some sources) such as Ragnarök may very well God's very attempts to humble deities who went astray and force them to see the errors in their way.

Nowadays, many of surviving deities have been reduced into shadows of their former selves, having lost a significant portion of their followers in the light of emergence of Abrahamic religions, leaving them with only a handful of worshippers. Many more were perished in aforementioned cataclysmic events for their defiance. Some of them even survived by their demigod descendants after intermingled with humanity, most of which happened to be their former followers. Regardless, having foreseen their downfall, the deities made efforts to leave their mark in mankind's mythology so they won't be forgotten, even though not all of their legacies were pleasant ones.

## Norse Deities

Norse Deities are separated into three groups, Æsir, Vanir, and Jötnar. The former two started off as rivals in a conflict that known as Æsir-Vanir War before both sides made peace with their inability to destroy each other, subsequently leading to the alliance between both groups that remembered by mortals as Gods of Asgard.

### Æsir

Æsir represents war, nobility, and power.

### Vanir

Vanir represents fertility, wisdom and the ability to see the future.

### Jötunn

*Main article: Jötunn*
Jötunn are connected to primal, untamed and destructive aspects of nature, and many were more placated than worshiped.

## Celtic Deities

### Fomorian

Fomorians are a race of Old Gods hypothesised to have been in Ireland before Partholon's invasion of Ireland, and engaged in long wars with the newcomers — Partholon's army, followed by his decendents the Nemedians, then lastly, their rival race the Tuatha de Danaan. Despite their great powers, Fomorians were constantly defeated, but are never entirely vanquished. Suffering defeat after defeat, they eventually retreated to the sea, never to be seen again.

Contrary to their portrayal in popular culture where they erroneously analogous to trolls, giants, or even ogres (which stemmed from limited records about their physiology), Fomorians' appearance in normal circumstances is close to humans as with Tuatha Dé Danann. Whereas Tuatha Dé Danann has stag-like horns protruding from their skull, Fomorian can transform into a 2 meter-tall humanoid creature with clawed hands, charcoal black hide, a pair of backwards-facing ram horns, two-toed feet with sharp claws, gills on the neck for breathing underwater, and carapace-like exoskeleton that growing about the skin — which is their true form. In case of those who descended from Balor such as Croix, full-bloodee Fomorians and half-Fomorians in their true form have a closed round eyeball at the center of the head crest which, if opened, releases conical streams of energy which disintegrates everything it touches. In some ways, fomorians' appearance in their true form resemble their account in Lebor na hUidre ("The Book of the Dun Cow") a bit; a humanoid creature with body of man and head of goat.