Shiva

The Destroyer-Brother of the Trimurti

### Titles

God of Destruction, Destroyer of Evil, Leader of Destruction, God of Meditation, the Lord of Destruction

## Profile

### Personify

Destruction, Renewal, Death, the Underworld

## Other

### Status

Alive

**Shiva** is one of the three principle deities of the Trimurti in Hinduism along with Brahma the Creator and Vishnu the Preserver.

## Overview

While he is known as the destroyer, he is also considered to be a benevolent and beneficial force, as without destruction, new creation couldn't take place. He also acts against premature destruction, going far enough to withstand great suffering. He is depicted with up to four arms, a third eye, a blue throat, matted hair, carrying a trident and a drum, is often accompanied by a serpent and rides on the back of the sacred bull Nandi.

He is the husband of the goddess Parvati, or Shakti, in all her incarnations and has two sons, Ganesha and Kartikay. He also has many incarnations that would go on to become sacred figures in their own right such as Shankara and Hanuman. Shiva is also worshiped in forms born from the fusion of himself and other gods, such as Harihara when fused with Vishnu or Ardhanarishvara when he's fused Parvati or Shakti.

## Appearance

The first of Shiva's best known attributes is his third eye, which he once used to burn the god of love, Kamadeva, to ashes. The effulgence from this act was so hot not even the god of fire Agni could handle it and it was used to create the war god Kartikeya. Shiva also has a blue throat that was caused when he swallowed the most deadly poison in the world, Halahala, earning him the name Neelkantha (one who held poison in his throat). This act is further proof of his benevolent and self-sacrificing nature.

## Personality

Shiva is known for being a responsible Second-Generation Primordial god. As as Destroyer Deity, he takes his duties with great dignity, honor, and responsible, while many fears him, many of his peers respect him for his benevolence, he is a firm believer and invoker of divine justice and fair enough to maintain balance. He hates evil, chaos, wars, and senseless violence, nor does he abides or tolerates it, he hates oath-breakers and sinful or any malicious intent, punish the guilty for committing sins without a second thought.

While he is known as the destroyer, he is also considered to be a benevolent and beneficial force, as without destruction, new creation couldn't take place. He also acts against premature destruction, going far enough to withstand great suffering. He claims that his destruction is not pure malevolent, chaotic, and evil, as he stated that his destruction only destroys what should not grow to growing (mainly evil beings or supernatural threats). He treats mortals, gods, and other supernatural beings with equal perspectives, not caring much for their social status and disposition in life. He is respectful and a gentle deity, but can be a very destructive force when provoke or angered enough, that not even Indra the King of the Gods Hindu Gods could stop him.

Shiva can be very intelligent, cunning, and divinely wise, he is supernaturally possess wits that cannot be outsmart by anyone, other than beings with his equal power (though only few have manage to do so). He is one of the (if not few) gods that have an active influence in the Human world. He is highly worships by the humans in Hindu pantheon. He in turn is protective to them, where he will not hesitate to save them from their torment, destroy the roots of their sufferings, and give justice to the needy.

## Powers and Abilities

Shiva is considered as one of the strongest beings (and among the deities) in existence. Being one of the three pillar gods of Hindu pantheon, Shiva is an all powerful entity, more superior than Indra the King of the Hindu Gods. He along with Brahma, the Creator, and Vishnu, the Preserver, maintain the cosmic balance between destruction, creation, and preservation. He is also powerful and capable of rivalling some of the lesser Outer Gods and Primordials, though barely. On top of that, Shiva is also an accomplished, powerful, and a master combatant and a master of warfare, quite equal (if not greater) to that of Indra.

* **Destroyer Deity Physiology**: Shiva is the second-generation Primordial God of Destruction, and he is responsible for the reshaping of everything, gaining immense power to destroy anything and everything, even divine beings. He can destroy planets, star systems and even universes in an instant. As a God of Destruction, he is also has tasked of keeping balance in the universe. Working together with Gods of Creation (Brahma) and Preservation (Vishnu), where they will discuss which planets and/or galaxies need to be destroyed and/or rebuilt.
	+ **Destruction Embodiment**: Shiva is the embodiment of destruction, reshaping, and renewal of things. He is the physical manifestation or personification of destruction, and gain the ability to bring destruction wherever he go: everything breaks, cracks, crushed, disintegrates, explodes or implodes into nothingness and oblivion. Yet, for the sake of those who are in his presence, he greatly controls his destructive presence, so that they will never perish despite being in his presence.
* **Absolute Condition**: He possess capabilities, attributes and aspects at a maximum and limitless level. Shiva have a supreme and absolute physical and mental condition, with absolutely nothing being able to surpass him in those attributes, in their pantheon, and only rivalled by Brahma and Vishnu. For example, with his destructive strength, he could lift the universe or punch so hard that it can distort reality. With his unpredictable intellect, cunning wits, and divine wisdom, he could outsmart the smartest cosmic beings effortlessly. His absolute condition also includes other attributes of existence such as immortality, invulnerability, regeneration, life-force and potential, making him truly supreme in every aspect of existence, yet their are still beings that can rival or surpass him.
	+ **Immeasurable Strength**: Shiva possess nigh limitless physical prowess, supernatural power, and can easily calm a large untamed fish, with just lifting it with a finger. It said that his strength surpasses the kings of their specific Underworlds, and he is also large feared across various pantheons. His strength is so great that, when is young he kick a large asteroid so hard, that it smashed on Earth, and killed the dinosaurs that give way to their extinction. He is also powerful enough to generate large spheres and destructive energy blasts, that are powerful enough to destroy the world.
	+ **Nigh-Absolute Invulnerability**: Shiva possess beyond god-like durability and invulnerable body features. He cannot be killed, hurt, or injured by normal or even supernatural circumstances. He can take on a full blown force, take an energy blast, and he is immune from black sorcery and even arcane spells. Only being with equal power can visibly hurt him.
	+ **Supernatural Wisdom**: Though not nearly as wise as Brahma, Vishnu, or Athena, Shiva has himself proven himself to be divinely wise deity, he can make wise judgement, and perceive what's righteous or evil, and sense if their is a conspiracy. His wisdom and countless centuries of experience, gives him wide understanding of his surroundings. He can easily sense a person's way of thinking, read their inner hearts and will, and determine their true colors.
	+ **Supernatural Wits**: His wits allows him to outsmart his enemies, be prepared to any changing situations, and formulate a very effective counter measures, that he is not easily to be swayed by simple deception or manipulation. He cannot be outwitted, by anyone that is below, him as he can easily read a person's way of thinking and actions. He can also be cunning and a dangerous calculative deity and a fighter. As he sometimes uses his wits to outsmart his enemies.
	+ **Immortality**: Shiva is an immortal deity, he doesn't age, and do not die on normal circumstances. He can live for as long he wills it, lasting over a million years, until all has reach it's end. His immortality can also allows him to survive life threatening situations that can kill even a god.
* **Destruction**: Being the primordial god of destruction and the one that governs the reshaping of the universe, he can utterly destroy things. Depending on Shiva, this could be anything and everything from small objects to entire galaxies or universes and possibly even abstract concepts and/or natural forces/laws.
	+ **Absolute Destruction**: He has the authority to destroy everything without limits, from concepts, boundaries and causation, to studies like metaphysics and science, even irrational "concepts" like the fabric of nothingness or even totality itself (in some degree with limits).
		- **Destruction Empowerment**: He draws strength from destruction, so his beyond strength and supernaturally godly powers came from destruction itself. So it makes him more powerful, durable, and even unlock potentials that can empowers or allows him to overcome odds, beyond comprehension.
	+ **Hakai-Ergokinesis**: As the god of destruction, he has the power to manipulate, generate, and shaped destructive energies, capable of annihilating and/or erasing one's existence without a single trace. Due to possessing immeasurable power, and quite more powerful than his brothers, Brahma and Vishnu, Shiva can convert his divine energy, into more of a destructive force. His skills over it is so vastly superior than any war gods or chief deities, that his destructive power is near as actual primordials of destruction. A small sphere of his destructive energy is more than enough to wipe out large cities without a single trace.
	+ **Destructive Force Manipulation**: Shiva can enforce create, shape and manipulate great destructive forces. The forces behind and causes anything to be annihilated from reality, he can control these destructive forces to perform powerful feats such as erasing the existence of anything, control how something is destroyed, erase cosmic sized material, to the point that the destroyed object may never be brought back.
		- **Destructive Field Projection**: Using the destructive force, he can emit a field that destroys anything and everything around them. However, due to his beyond godly level of mastery over it, j may be able to decide what is destroyed and what is not, or at least train to do so.
		- **Disintegration**: Shiva can also cause targets (whether organic or inorganic material) to lose cohesion in various means. Some can make matter fall apart into dust, wipe away their target on a molecular/sub-molecular level or even revert matter into pure energy. Regardless of the means, the target is reduced to either molecular/sub-molecular dust or energy but not absolutely annihilated. Due to his position as the destroyer, he can also erase or extinguish entities with intangible bodies.
* **Chronokinesis**: Being one of the Trimurti, Shiva (along with Brahma & Vishnu) can manipulate time and space, by influencing creation, destruction, and preservation, across the universe. In Shiva's case, however, he manipulate time for destroying or restarting things that are considered unfit or worthless to be use of.
* **All-Seeing Eyes**: Shiva possess a unique and supernatural eyes that can see and perceive anything, everything, and anyone he wills to see. His eyes is similar, yet different to that of Horus' all-seeing eyes and God's Eye of Truth, he can detect, sense, and perceive invisible energy from another dimension, detects any danger, and even sense if their is a distortion in the space-time boundary of every worlds and realities. It also allows him to observe both living world and the afterlife, and sense if their is disturbance in the universe. His eyes can also project images of people or things that he wish to see.
	+ **Precognition**: Shiva can see and predict the future. Similar to his brothers, he can tell and predict prophesies, vast distant situations that will happen to the future, and determine what will to happen. But, because the future contains many possibilities, Shiva stated that even for a god, it is hard to determine which future will definitely happen. As all futures are a mere possibility, depending what's the individual's actions.
* **Powerful Master Combatant**: On top of his near-immeasurable power pressure, Shiva is also an extremely powerful and skilled master combatant, capable of performing feats that can defeat even the most powerful and dangerous monsters, titans, demonic creatures, archdemons, and even Great Old Ones. His superior combat skills, are nearly an rivalled, as he is also considers as a warrior deity like Indra. Whenever he deals with a threat, he will never hesitate to face it, without a second thought.

## Myths and Legends

He originally evolved from the early Vedic god, Rudra, and is now the supreme deity within Shaivism, a branch of Hinduism that focuses on the worship of Shiva.

## Quotes

* *"Tell me, Kamadeva. How could you give up everything, even yourself, and still smile? How is it that you, who have lost most of your 'authority', were able to sway me so much? I'd like to know what you were thinking when you gave me that lust. Why are you laughing when you let of the 'self', when you didn't care about the 'self'?"* - Shiva.

## Image Sources

* Federica-costantini-shiva-illust.jpg (By Federica Costantini)
* Flare-shiva-6-12 (2)..jpg (By Flare)