The Presence

> True, I'm **infinite** and eternal. But even I was shaped by forces **external** to me. You know what they are.
>
> The Presence to Lucifer

## Summary

**The Presence** is the God figure in the DC Universe.

## Stats

**Tier:** **0**

**Name:** The Presence, God, the Source, Monitor-Mind The Overvoid, Yahweh (In the Judo-Christian context) and other unknown names as the Presence is the God figure in the context of belief systems

**Origin:** DC Comics

**Gender:** Unknown

**Age:** Predates the concept of time (The Presence, the The Source and Monitor-Mind The Over-Void are one)

**Classification:** God

**Dimensionality:** **Trans-dimensional**

**Power Range:** **Boundless**

**Travel Speed:** Likely **Omnipresent**

**Combat Speed:** **Irrelevant**

**Reaction Speed:** **Irrelevant**

**Lifting Strength:** **Unknown**

**Punching Power:** **Unknown**

**Durability:**  **Boundless**

**Powers and Abilities:** Likely Omnipotence, Omnipresence, Omniscience (The Presence is the God figure, so its powers depend on the idea of God in the context of different belief systems)

**Standard Equipment:** Pencil (in his meta-fictional depiction as the writer/illustrator)

 **Intelligence:** Likely Omniscient

**Weaknesses:** The idea of God in the context of different belief systems

* **Note 1**:

In Lucifer #75, the Presence made a statement that was misinterpreted:

*True, I'm infinite and eternal. But even I was shaped by forces external to me. You know what they are.*

The Presence was explaining to Lucifer that neither himself nor Lucifer can be their own maker, as Lucifer misbelived, since they are figures shaped by mankind belief systems. So, the Presence will be shape ("shape" like a potter giving shape to his pottery, not created as common misbelived), because the belief system on God shapes him. This therefore means that the Presence being the Judeo-Chrisistan God is one of his aspects in the context of this belief system, as Mike Carey explained it in Lucifer #73:

And, as the Presence stated, Lucifer knows that beliefs of mankind shape figures, since Lucifer's figure is also the trickster, as he was identified as the Navajo God Atse'Hashke in Sandman Presents: Lucifer.

What I'm arguing about the Presence and Lucifer being figures is not just an interpretation based on evidence, but a fact confirmed by Mike Carey asserting that the characters in his Lucifer work are figures interpreted in the context of the different belief systems.

*The mythological characters who actually come into Lucifer and play a part in the story lines present a different sort of case, because they're around for longer and they interact with Lucifer in ways that can sometimes come to seem like a sort of psychomachia -- a symbolic clash of figures who stand in for specific ideas. Sometimes I do that on purpose, other times I'm just aware of it as a possible option on how you interpret a scene.*

*In any case, the references are there for the reader to pick up or ignore. They're seldom crucial to how the scene plays out. In "The Morningstar Option,"when Blue Flint Girl refers to Lucifer as Atse'Hashke (the coyote god known as "First Angry One" in Navajo myth), she sets him free, by implication, from his Judeo-Christian context and acknowledges him as a more universal figure, a name for an archetype. But at the same time, simply because she names him, she implies that he has been labelled, recognised, confined to a measurable and specific place in the world-view which she embodies. She enlarges him and reduces him at the same time. But you don't have to take any of that on board to get the primary point that this canny old lady seems to have Lucifer's number.*
https://www.sfsite.com/10b/mc186.htm

Therefore, the Presence is the figure of God in the DC Universe, and any depiction of the Presence in a story depends only on the interpretation of the idea of God, of which the Presence is the figure.

* **Note 2**:

In the DC Universe, The Presence is commonly known as God, as confirmed DCE Editoral. But there is the misconception that the Presence is the Judeo-Christian God and resides in Heaven resulting from this misconception. I have already addressed the misconception on the Presence being the Judeo-Christian God, so I'll address that there is the Presence commonly known as God, but also the aspect of God known as the Presence.

As stated, there is the Presence commonly known as God, but there is also the aspect of God known as the Presence communicating to angels in the place the Primium Mobile (the Throne of Light) , while the Voice of God, commonly known as the Voice, communicates to angels in the place the Logos.

* There is the Presence, one of aspects of God, communicating with the angels in the Primium Mobile - the Throne of Light.

* There is the Voice, one of aspects of God, communicating with the angels in the Logos.

The Presence, God, does not reside in the Sphere of the Gods. God is one (not the same as commonly misinterpreted) with the Source and the (Over)Void. I will only point out the relationship between the Presence and the Void in the next point.

* **Note 3**:

In this part, I will only point out the relationship between the Presence and the Void:

* Neil Gaiman.

No explanation is needed, it is blatantly stated :

*The monks of Klaa know that the Universe is a distraction in the mind of God. As God mediates seeking to cleat its mind and achieve perfect enlightenment, ideas drift across the Void.*

* Alan Moore.

In Swamp Thing #75, it is stated that beyond mortal, demigods, gods, the war between light and darkness (referring to Swamp Thing #50), matter, all obstacles, there is God, one with the Void.

*To a point where time is no time... and space is no space... where one may silently observe... as God breathes in... and God breathes out. Exhaling his quintessence of perfection.*

* Mike Carey.

Mike Carey firstly implied that the Presence is one with the Void in the following statement :

*True, I'm **infinite** and eternal.*

The same "**infinite** and eternal" describing the Void in the same issue, Lucifer #75.

Finally, Mike Carey implied that the Presence is one with the Void through analogy of the Monkey King (Lucifer) and Buddha (the Presence), which Lucifer found in context "pretty offensive", as he stated, since the Monkey King challenged Buddha to jump in one leap from Creation to the outside (the Void). But once Buddha showed his hand, the Monkey King understood he lost as he saw his mark on Buddha hand that he left in the Void to prove he jumped to the Void in one leap. So understanding this in Lucifer context, it means that even though Lucifer believed that he could escaped his Father plan by creating his own Creation outside, in the Void, the Presence is there, one with the Void.

In conclusion, the Presence being the Judeo-Christian God is one of his aspects in the context of this belief system. He does not reside in Heaven, but does have aspects in the Sphere of the Gods, as he is the figure of God. Finally, the Presence is one with the Void as shown by evidence above.

## Explanations

There is the misconception that Monitor-Mind The Over-Void is literally the white page, despite the fact there few elements in Final Crisis supporting it, and therefore, for this reason, Monitor-Mind The Over-Void is more powerful than any characters in the DC Universe, when it is more a misconception based mainly on Grant Morrison interviews than his works.

So, assuming that Monitor-Mind The Over-Void is literally the white page; the Presence is the writer/illustrator, since, in Animal Man #5, Grant Morrison portrayed the Presence as the writer/illustrator within the setting of the DC Universe.

It is obvious that the character in the scans above portrays the Presence, because of the statement : "the presence of God" and Crafty story being another motifs story of the fallen (Lucifer). Therefore, if Monitor-Mind The Over-Void is literally the white page, then it is not the most powerful character in the DC Universe contrary to popular belief, as Grant Morrison depicted the Presence as the writer/illustrator. And the supporters of the misconception that the Monitor-Mind The Over-Void is literally the white page know that the Monitor-Mind The Over-Void was powerless against the will of the writer/inker, as Grant Morrison stated in his interviews.
https://www.ign.com/articles/2009/02/03/inside-the-mind-of-grant-morrison

## Gallery

One depiction of the PresenceAnother depiction of the PresenceWell-known depiction of the Presence