Godly Killing Machines

Question: Bears. Bears are awesome, and they're all over the place in shamanistic belief systems, but which gods might have Animal (Bear) or be otherwise bear-related? (If you want a free headline suggestion, I volunteer "Godly Killing Machines".)

Your title request is my command. Bears!

Bears do get a lot more of the limelight in North America than anywhere else, which is not surprising since that's the home of the massive grizzly, polar and brown bears that threaten and terrify humanity just by existing. There are bears in other parts of the world, and even some deities associated with them, but North America will always be your go-to place for everything mythically ursine.

The most famous is probably Nanook or Torngarsuk, the polar bear god of the Inuit, who controls the fortunes of hunters and visits his wrath on those who disrespect the mighty bear by dooming them to poor hunts or killing them in the wilderness. Nanook has appeared in several of our games, first as a protective god of the north who had a protecting-icecaps powwow with Folkwardr, and most recently as a messenger to young Haji when he achieved demigodhood somewhere in the wilds of northern Canada. Muwin, the kindly but slow-witted bear-god of the Micmac, is famous for providing humanity with herbal medicines by ensuring that the land is fertile enough to grow them and that the local healers can recognize them on sight; similarly, the Hopi bear god Hon is also believed to heal the sick, although his powers to do so come from his incredible bodily strength and endurance, which he can impart to the suffering when called. On the much scarier side, the Iroquois Nyagwahe is a terrible human-eating bear monster, more likely a Titanic creature hunted by the gods than a god itself. There are many, many more bear spirits and characters in various North American mythologies, although in many of them the bear is a dangerous monster instead of a benevolent deity, depending on the relationship of a given culture with the local wildlife.

Outside of the Americas, Artemis, surprisingly enough, is one of Europe's best contenders for title of bear goddess; while bears normally aren't involved in her iconography much, her shrine at the Acropolis (which we have seen, y'all!) was dedicated to Artemis Brauronia, lady of the bear, and featured statues of young hunters with bear cubs and held festivals in which young women were temporarily "transformed" into bears in order to enjoy their last festival of dancing and sporting before they were married. It's one of those weird little Greek cults that wasn't widespread across the whole religion, much like the wolf-cult of Zeus Lycaeus, but there's definitely room to experiment with her as a patron of bears. Another very similar figure is the Gaulish goddess Artio, who appears as a bear and is associated with bears and the hunting of them; she's part of a small suite of Gaulish hunt goddesses that may or may not be the same person along with Andarta, and we've been inclined to consider them different names for the same goddess. Geoff has met and attempted to bond with Andarta over bears, but unfortunately her inevitable desire to jump his bones has led to Sangria putting her down multiple times.

If you happen to be bear-inclined, Scion has room for plenty more bear gods to come to this global party. Geoff will cater.