You might have seen this guy in an altar at your local Chinese restaurant or if you've ever played a Three Kingdoms video game. Worshipped by cops and criminals alike, he is Guan Yu, the Chinese god of war. His story is at least as interesting as Kratos.
Guan lived and died in the 200s AD during the Three Kingdoms Period, one of China's civil war eras between the rise and fall of dynasties. He was kind to his soldiers, loyal to his superiors, and disrespectful to fancy gentry. But what fascinates me is his life after death.
Because you can almost discern the true function of religion in our traumatized, war-torn past in his evolution. The Chinese made offerings to war-dead, lost spirits far from their families who continued to haunt the living without proper IDs to lay their memories to rest.
Guan Yu died far from home, his head severed as a trophy and presented to his enemies. Though they admired and respected him in life, the had to kill him because he was too great a general and a political liability. It was an unjust death, as are the deaths of most soldiers.
The people revered him, sure, but perhaps they also feared that a vital and powerful monster of the battlefield, a man who could cut people and horses in half with his Guan Dao blade, had become a demon or "unclean spirit" in death. So he was showered with posthumous titles.
Later, his reputation as a fearsome warrior and his "particular set of skills" were used in service of emperors seeking legitimacy, like Zhu Yuanzhang, who deposed the Mongols, or the Qing emperors who wanted to Sinicize their own tribesmen. He even fought Japan in Korea.
He was credited with winning several battles from the great beyond for the Ming Dynasty. Qing spirit mediums would write down his edicts whilst in a trance. These were mostly injunctions to do good and help the weak. Some were doomsday prophecies citing specific dates...
When the predicted armageddons never came to pass, the mediums would get updates from Guan Yu explaining how he had saved the world between convos and canceled his own prophecies. But perhaps the weirdest thing is how cops, triads, and protestors all set up shrines to him.
But it makes sense if you consider that as a god of war, he was less about destruction like Ares and more about just conduct and loyalty. He died due to a double-cross, so it follows that he's extra vigilant against rats and traitors. Even gangsters want the chaos contained.
Speaking of gangsters, the triads worship Guan Yu with deathly seriousness to this day. Here a Taiwanese boss talks about how gangsters must pray for permission before getting Guan Yu tattoos, and how bearing the ink is both a blessing and a curse.
Even actors cast to play Guan Yu in movies & C-Dramas go to temple and seek his permission before donning the red paint and beard. Although, if the rumors of underworld involvement in the entertainment industry around the world is true, this may not be all that surprising.
So if all you know of Taoism only comes from the Tao Te Ching and Alan Watts, you may be baffled by the "idols" you find in a Taoist temple. Think Taoism's all about flowing with the way and natural vibes? It is. But it's also about reforming and civilizing cults.
For a time, Taoists would be sent by the government to audit folk religions springing up across China in order to regulate their rituals and practices before accepting their deities into the official canon. Guan Yu's came in 1594 when he officially became "Guan Di" (Lord Guan).
Since outright banning deities often led to uprisings, substitutions were made instead. e.g. offering fruit and incense instead of blood sacrifices, toning down the demonic nature of the deity being worshipped and either adding to or altering the mythology to be more benevolent.
I could go on about the canonization process that exists in all cultures, but I'm already digressing too much so I'll stop here. There you have it: Guan Yu, the man who became a general, then a demon, and finally a god. Next time you see him at your Chinese takeout, say hi! /15
Extra credit: Here are some stills from a kaiju movie made in Taiwan that the producers later tried to bury featuring the larger-than-life god of war battling aliens over Taipei.