Sons of El

Question: Who is Baal's father, Dagon or El?

It's all a matter of translation and interpretation. And since Canaanite mythology is mostly preserved on piecemeal tablets in ritual poetic form, it's every man for himself when it comes to making a call.

In the Baal cycle, Baal is directly referred to as "son of Dagon", which is pretty plain. Setting the storm god as the son of the grain deity makes a lot of sense in the myth itself; it's no wonder that Yam and Mot, sons of the current king and greatest among gods, are mortally offended by an upstart pretender to the throne who both of them should by rights outrank and succeed before. On the other hand, it's also theorized that Baal's connection to Dagon may be a symbolic one, and that as the dying fertility god who renews the world after a drought, he might be called the "son" of the god of grain to illustrate their close concepts.

On the other hand, Baal is also referred to one of the "sons of El", which also seems pretty black and white. The equal powers of Baal as sky, Mot as death and Yam as sea seem to make sense as the forces of three equal brothers, especially when compared to Zeus, Hades and Poseidon (who many scholars believe were probably influenced by them). But, then again, "sons of El" - literally what the word elohim means - is a generic term that seems to be used to refer to all of the gods, highlighting that El is their original ancestor and creator, and may not be meant to mean that Baal is his actual direct issue.

We're inclined to play Baal as the son of Dagon, making him probably El's grandson rather than a direct heir, and to assume that the title of Elohim in his case just means "one of the brood of El" rather than anything too specific. It covers both possibilities and also allows for some interesting interplay between members of different family lines and loyalties within the pantheon.