Blatant Favoritism

Question: Who is your favorite God or Goddess from each pantheon?

Oh, man, what a doozy of a question. It's really hard to choose "favorites" - I mean, they're all awesome, you know? But we'll try, just for you.

The Aesir:
Anne: Loki. He's one of my favorite mythological characters ever; interesting, complex, and mysterious because despite having great stories about all the things he does, half the time we have no clue why he decided to do something or what his master plan might have been. He's in some ways the lifeblood of the Aesir, keeping stories interesting and solving problems that more upstanding gods couldn't have. Also, without Loki, the Aesir are way more boring.
John: Odin. I like more complex, deep-waters kinds of gods, with lots of motivations and possibilities.

The Amatsukami:
Anne: Amaterasu. Sure, sometimes she has a tantrum and plunges the world into blackness, but in general the sun-goddess is one of the most super-badass people in the pantheon, able to back down even Susano-o if she really decides to get into it. She's powerful, she's not afraid to show it, and she echoes an ancient matriarchal social dynamic that modern Japan has mostly forgotten. She kinda of rocks.
John: Raiden. Most of the time the Japanese bore me, but Raiden is hilarious.

The Anunna:
Anne: Ereshkigal. I think she's an impressively cool lady - a female death god who demands the respect of her male peers, not to mention being the only person alive who refuses to take Ishtar's shit. She may be a little bit psychotic, but that tends to run in Mesopotamian ladies.
John: Marduk. He's King Big-Dick.

The Apu:
Anne: Supay. Where else do you find a dude who is not only mind-meltingly terrifying but also sometimes inclined to drop ridiculous blessings on your head only to ruin everything in a Faustian death-bargain soon after? He's all the riches of Hades, the horror of Hel and the stone-faced adherence to order of Yama in one terrible package, and he will make you a billionaire as long as you agree to die three days later. No other god is so awful in such a cosmic and well-ordered big-picture way.
John: Viracocha. Because before Anne started yelling about Incas he was the only one I had ever heard of.

The Aztlanti:
Anne: Huitzilopochtli. I can't help it - he's basically an expression of uncontrolled and ultimate power, and that's awesome. He's in charge, he's undefeatable, he's carrying the freaking world on his back and he still doesn't need more than paper armor to deal with any weaksauce opponents who dare come at him. He had literally hundreds of people sacrificed in his honor every year, and was yet one of the most beloved gods his people ever had. He's amazing.
John: Tezcatlipoca. He's mysterious and powerful, complicated and unpredictable, and basically insane but somehow still one of the major people in charge of the universe. Awesome.

The Bogovi:
Anne: Veles. I love this guy. He's part of the essential universe and has one of the nicest houses on record, yet he is also all about laying down the smack when necessary and pranking the living shit out of his pantheon members to teach them lessons.
John: Chernobog and Bielobog. I know they're not playable, but that's not going to stop me.

The Celestial Bureaucracy:
Anne: Nüwa. She's a lot of fun things at once - a cosmic creator, a progenitor of the species, and a cranky vengeful lady who torments and murders people who sass her. Also, she's a dragon.
John: None. China makes me take naps.

The Devas:
Anne: Surya. I'm not sure if it's the old-school Vedic Deva-ness or the super awesomeness of a dude who is both the stars and the sun and still finds time to be everyone's friend, but Surya's the kind of badass I dig.
John: Ganesha. Because, like Raiden, he is totally hilarious.

The Dodekatheon:
Anne: Hera. I feel like Hera is kind of an unsung badass among the Dodekatheon, stuck with a shitty job and a badly behaved husband and a lot of centuries of people casting her as the bad guy but still a classy lady who doesn't have to take shit from anyone. She's awesome and I am jealous of everything about her except for Zeus.
John: Dionysus. He's the subversive of his pantheon, the id, subconscious and secret desire as well as the catalyst that forces those things to the surface. He's one of my favorite Greek god concepts (but seriously, I wanted to pick all of them).

The Elohim:
Anne: Kothar. A really hard choice - I love the Elohim - but when a guy is a badass who lives in another country and only drops in to totally change the tide of wars with his mad awesome magical weapons, I have to give him props.
John: Baal. Are there other Elohim?

The Loa:
Anne: Orunmila. Yes, he's not in the Loa as originally written, but that's because the Loa are a big bucket of mess as originally written. He's a super savant prophecy god in a culture that treats destiny as something you build rather than something built for you, and that's freaking cool.
John: Shango. I also love gods that are batshit insane.

The Pesedjet:
Anne: Sekhmet. Apparently this is my entry on the "we love crazy people" list, but there's something about the super unfettered but also very natural bloodlust of the lion-goddess that I really enjoy.
John: Set. Because he's also King Big-Dick. I love the Pesedjet, though, I want to pick all of them.

The Tuatha de Danann:
Anne: Nuada. Remember when things were good because the High King was this awesome justicey badass who ruled everything perfectly and was the only responsible person to be found in his pantheon? Those were good times.
John: Lugh. And then there was Lugh, who does what he fucking wants.

The Yazata:
Anne: Mithra. I'm a sucker for the old Indo-European Persian-Indian connection, and Mithra's managed to be awesome in no less than three major religions (those two, plus ancient Rome). He's a talented dude.
John: Vahram. I've been reading more about him lately, and he just turns into more and more of a crazy badass when I do.

But yeah, really we just read this question and spent two hours talking about how we wanted to pick everybody because they're all so awesome. How about you guys - who are your favorites?