What do you think would have happened if Banjo had joined the Northern Pantheon?

[ceallo]

I realized a little while ago, that the current vote between gods would be a lot different if Banjo and Elan had a say. What if they had stuck around long enough in strip 137 and were accepted by Odin in to the pantheon?

[georgie_leech]

Aside from the occasional tiny zzot, not much, as Elan actually being a High Priest and actually remember to show up would completely undermine the whole story.

[Peelee]

I realized a little while ago, that the current vote between gods would be a lot different if Banjo and Elan had a say.

Fixed that for you.

[ti'esar]

I think people tend to forget that Banjo giveth with one hand and taketh away with the other. (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0557.html) He might well have voted with Hel to get puppets a better deal in World 3.0.

[Cazero]

Besides, since Banjo isn't going to be a full divinity, the Giant could have just made one more (or less) demigod high priest show up for the second tie to happen anyway.

[Mandor]

What would have happened if Banjo joined the Northern Pantheon?
I probably would have stopped reading the story.

Well, ok, not way way back when Elan was trying to get followers for Banjo in quest of a better smiting for Roy. That was pretty hilarious. Particularly V's asking if the coffee maker did espresso. But if a hand puppet were permitted to cast a vote at the Godsmoot to decide whether the world is destroyed or not .... there's places in a story where silly don't belong. This is one.

The Giant is of course, the author of the story, and as such, has total freedom to take the story whereever he will, whenever he will, and I would not expect him to change one iota of whatever he may have planned for what would or would not be a good story in my eyes. But just as I stop watching TV shows when they completely jump the shark, Elan/Banjo having votes for the Godsmoot itself would be such a moment in my eyes.

[KorvinStarmast]

What would have happened if Banjo joined the Northern Pantheon?
I probably would have stopped reading the story. Yep. It's one thing to be funny, quite another to be inane.

[Valynie]

Probably nothing .
I do not think Elan would qualify as high priest of Banjo (no temples, no followers) and he would most certainly not have received his invitation to the godsmoot

[Vinyadan]

Beside the completely legitimate storytelling issues other poster have pointed out, there also is a metaphysical question: what is Banjo?

Banjo is a hand puppet, and already has supernatural powers, albeit on a very limited scale. These powers come from his beliver(s).

Now, Elan believes that Banjo can smite the infidels. That's why it throws litte lightinings. But what would other people believe? If Banjo had been part of the Northern Pantheon, would he have immediately gained the faith of all the believers of the pantheon?

And how would this faith have changed him? Elan believes Banjo to be a puppet. He doesn't expect him to make choices. But would other people believe the entity named Banjo to actually fully rest in that puppet?

Maybe yes: Odin wanted a puppet. Banjo would have been publicized as a puppet god, and the people would have believed it.

Would this have turned Banjo into a godly McMuffin for the gods, capable of granting an additional vote to whichever god had been keeping it in hand and talking? I find it possible. I also doubt he would have been left to Elan, since Odin probably would have wanted it.

There also is the question of how well Giggles is faring. Maybe he already can do some decent smiting, although the isolated orcs may not have gotten him into a pantheon.

[woweedd]

Beside the completely legitimate storytelling issues other poster have pointed out, there also is a metaphysical question: what is Banjo?

Banjo is a hand puppet, and already has supernatural powers, albeit on a very limited scale. These powers come from his beliver(s).

Now, Elan believes that Banjo can smite the infidels. That's why it throws litte lightinings. But what would other people believe? If Banjo had been part of the Northern Pantheon, would he have immediately gained the faith of all the believers of the pantheon?

And how would this faith have changed him? Elan believes Banjo to be a puppet. He doesn't expect him to make choices. But would other people believe the entity named Banjo to actually fully rest in that puppet?

Maybe yes: Odin wanted a puppet. Banjo would have been publicized as a puppet god, and the people would have believed it.

Would this have turned Banjo into a godly McMuffin for the gods, capable of granting an additional vote to whichever god had been keeping it in hand and talking? I find it possible. I also doubt he would have been left to Elan, since Odin probably would have wanted it.

There also is the question of how well Giggles is faring. Maybe he already can do some decent smiting, although the isolated orcs may not have gotten him into a pantheon.
As i've noted before (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=19565666&postcount=282), technically, Banjo should be able to pull off whatever level of smiting Giggles can. After all, like with Haley and Crystal (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0581.html), they're personal rivals/counterparts and thusly must remain evenly-matched in power.

[Vinyadan]

As i've noted before (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=19565666&postcount=282), technically, Banjo should be able to pull off whatever level of smiting Giggles can. After all, like with Haley and Crystal (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0581.html), they're personal rivals/counterparts and thusly must remain evenly-matched in power.

Which means that Banjo already belongs to a (minor/unrecognized) Pantheon: the Elan-Orcs Pantheon. But I don't expect any god to get particularily powerful because of a single orc tribe. There are 10 million dwarves, and an unknow number of humans, who worship the northern Pantheon, and many of those who worship other pantheons recognize the divinity of the Northern Pantheon. How many could the orcs have been? And most humans never even heard about Banjo or Giggles. Maybe now they can throw 20 cm-long lightning.

There also is the issue of souls. We know that souls have something to do with the power of the gods. We have no idea of how this would work on Banjo. Or of whether Banjo, as it exists now, could survive the destruction of the world.

Besides, the gods existed before the world. This makes me wonder about how much faith really matters about beings turning into gods. I seem to remember that the gods of D&D didn't exist in the beginning. They came into being when the human races, which were then slaves of the Abolethim, began believing in their existence, and this gave them a surge of divine power to defeat the oppressors (was that in Lords of Madness? Or did I make up a collage of different sources?). Here in OOTS, it's a different story. We don't know of any divinized mortal from before the current world. Maybe it's because it doesn't really make a difference anymore, maybe it's because the Snarl was too quick to allow anyone to become a god, but I wonder: would divinized gods survive the loss of all of their believers in the mortal plane?

EDIT: Yes, otherwise the Dark One would die if Redcloak made a mistake. I'm not very fast today.:smallconfused: