Protoss Religion

[Gradius]

So are the Protoss polytheists? Zeratul keeps talking about "gods" and referring to the universe as "creation". Tassadar did this too. Do the Protoss worship gods or are they being metaphorical?

[Norfindel]

Maybe they're still talking about the Xel'Naga when they say gods.

However, if they call the universe "creation", either the Xel'Naga created everything, or they believe in other gods.

[Visions of Khas]

My belief is that knowledge of the Xel'Naga waned over time, and their role was taken up by a pantheon of gods. Later, as the Protoss began to rediscover their heritage, the Xel'Naga came back into their history, and they merged with the gods of olde in protoss society and culture.

Protoss Anthropology 101.

[Kacaier]

Protoss Anthropology 101.

Shouldn't that be Protology 101? Anthropos is the Greek word and subsequent prefixes for 'Man'.

[Roland]

I think they use the term gods loosely, like the Xel'naga are their gods, not that they really worship them any more, but a virtually all-powerful race of super-beings who raised you into physical perfection? That's enough to be considered a pantheon in my books, just because you can find and study their artifacts doesn't make them any less mysterious and sacred.

The average knowledge of Protoss about the Xel'naga may be limited too, so they appear to be more godly than they are, leaving it at a race of super-advanced life forms who created you may be as much as the average Protoss knows, which would give the Xel'naga the role of generalized creators. Of course some of the Conclave and the preservers know better though. I think the Protoss are also constantly striving to be accepted by the Xel'naga too, they consider themselves failed creations which creates a desire to please, which leads to virtual worship.

[Kimera757]

Zeratul referred to the protoss as "firstborn of the gods" and the Voice in the Darkness mocked the xel'naga as "false gods".

[MajinX]

Zeratul referred to the protoss as "firstborn of the gods" and the Voice in the Darkness mocked the xel'naga as "false gods".

thats interesting, maybe the protoss were created for the xel'nega's own selfish causes, like a perfect body they can use or something...

[GRUNT]

Yeah pretty sure that Zeratul was referring to the Xel'Naga when he said 'gods'.

I don't believe he literally believes that the Xel'naga are gods, though. I agree it was metaphorical.

Now, the Tal'darim, on the other hand, they seem to be a wee bit extreme, so I wouldn't be surprised if they believed that the Xel'naga are literally gods.

Some of the Tal'darim in the Dark Templar trilogy seem like sane, rational folks, but they must be an exception. There seems to be some conflict regarding their lore. On one hand, the Tal'darim are supposedly a splinter group of Protoss which only came into existence because of the fall of Aiur. On the other hand, that fellow in the singleplayer campaign claimed that the Tal'darim existed 'before Terrans even reached the stars' - that's way before Aiur fell.

So yeah, I imagine that the Tal'darim are going to be retconned as a group of Protoss fanatics who believe that the Xel'naga are gods and who existed long before the events of SC1.

[Centipede]

Speaking of the Tal'darim, does anyone know why they're using Stalkers in the campaign preview? Do you think it's a placeholder for the Dragoon or are they now friendly with Dark Templar? I was under the impression the Tal'darim hated the Dark Templar and were more based off the older Protoss fleets since they use Scouts instead of Phoenix.

And as far as the gods go, I think some before me covered it best; Zeratul was being metaphorical and referring to the Xel'naga.

[Hawki]

I doubt the Tal'darim's status has been retconned-most likely, Lhassir's simply exagerating or maybe something else is afoot, how perhaps Ulrezaj revived the Tal'darim in a sense as opposed to creating them outright. Regardless, the Tal'darim have been referred to as a rogue protoss faction in the coverage, so I guess they went down the path of religeous extremists.

As for "the gods," it almost certainly means the gods, given Zeratul's lines. Still, I'd say it's on a similar principle to common English-just because you say "oh my God" doesn't mean you're religeous yourself. Kind of vestigal from when the protoss actually worshipped the xel'naga before the Aeon of Strife.