View new posts | View your posts Is Gozer a god or a demigod?

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According to information sources (such as the movie character descriptions on gbfans.com, as well as Wikipedia and the Ghostbusters Wiki), Gozer is a god while Gozer's two minions Zuul and Vinz Clortho are demigods. In the movie, Peter Venkman refers to Zuul as a demigod, but simply refers to Gozer as being "very big in Sumeria." In the jail scene, Winston Zeddemore refers to Gozer as a "Babylonian god" and Egon Spengler corrects him by saying "Sumerian, not Babylonian" but makes no mention of Gozer being a demigod rather than a god, which implies that Winston was correct when calling Gozer a "god." However, many people on multiple threads and forums on the Internet have referred to Gozer as a demigod. So is Gozer a god or a demigod? Are there other information sources that describe Gozer as being a demigod rather than a god?

I always thought "god" was more accurate, but people keep using "demigod" because it sounds cooler, and maybe they don't understand that it technically refers to a lower-level than a "god". "It sounds cooler, so it must be even more badass than a god!"

Just my theory, of course.

I always figured Gozer was a God. After all Gozer does ask, "Are you a God?" Then proceeds to try and kill the Ghostbusters. Gozer never asked if they were Demigods, and I doubt a Demigod would try to go up agianst a God.

From the final shooting script, dated October 7, 1983 (as published in the book Making Ghostbusters by Don Shay), the full line before it was tweaked on set was:

VENKMAN
"Gozer" - he was very big in the Sumerian religion. One of their gods.

So, per Ramis and Aykroyd, Gozer was a single god in the Sumerian pantheon. Zuul and Vinz Clortho were his minions, both demigods.

And just because I have to, notice that when Winston asks Ray if he believes in God, that's the only one that the script capitalizes.

Alex

I always figured, Gozer was a very powerful Demon, but because of the amount of worship from the Shandor Cults, he/it/she was refferred to as their "god".. I always liked thinking of it that way, made more sense in the Satanic cult subplot.

On a side note, since Zuul and Vinz Clortho were demigods (half God), I always imagined that Zuul was raised amongst gods (such as Gozer) and Vinz Clortho was raised amongst humans (or other mortal beings).

Really, the only reason I think this is because of their names. Gods generally carry a single name, while mortals typically carry 2 or more to designate lineage (gods have no need for lineage designation as they are immortal). It also provided a good balance of "opposite but the same" that gives the characters of "gate keeper" and "key master" a bit more depth without having to delve into backstory.

Plus you can kind of tell in the behavior of Zuul (more reserved and focused) and Vinz (more curious and erratic) that they probably have very different sensibilities ingrained from different upbringings. Whether that was intentional or not, it made an impression (at least on me).

I love overthinking stuff.

From the US novelization (Mueller), p. 249:

Stantz and Zeddemore stowed their accelerators in the back. "Now, aren't you glad you signed on with us, Winston?"

"I don't know. We're not going to do gods often, are we?"

~~~

And, I may have just imagined this, but seems like this line from the novel was referenced in an episode of the cartoon. Like, they realized the thing they were up against was 'a god' and Winston said, "I thought we weren't gonna do those often."

I checked Collect Call of Cathulhu, but didn't hear a line like that.

Alex