Rapu was the first god slain by Gorr the God Butcher, a former disciple of his.
Biography[]
Worshipped as a Deity[]
Rapu was among many of the deities worshipped by Gorr and his people on a barren planet. However, he was both arrogant and self-serving and ignored the pleas of Gorr's people, eventually leading to all of his people perishing from famine on the barren and dry planet. Rapu killed the owner of All-Black the Necrosword and hosted a feast with other beings in celebration.[1]
Encountering Gorr[]
Rapu is approached by Gorr
In 2025, Rapu witnessed his last disciple Gorr approach him and eat his fruits and wondered why he was doing this. Rapu demanded that Gorr and his people worship the gods. Gorr explained that he was the only one left, causing Rapu to mock him and demand for him to find other followers to worship him.
Rapu threatens Gorr
He told Gorr the food wasn't for the planet, but to celebrate his victory over the wielder of All-Black the Necrosword. Rapu became enraged when Gorr tore off his medallion and renounced him, gripping his throat and strangling him slowly.
Rapu is killed by Gorr
As he was doing this, Rapu did not notice the Necrosword float into Gorr's hand until he was impaled through the throat by his former disciple. In his final moments, Rapu told Gorr the sword was a curse, only for him to say otherwise and therefore vowing to kill all the gods before beheading his former deity.[1]
Personality[]
Rapu was a god who led his once faithful disciple Gorr to turn on him due to the god's wicked traits. Rapu was an egotistical, arrogant, indolent and self-serving deity, and ignoramus who felt entitled to the worship of lesser beings, while denying them the things for which they would pray. Rapu cared absolutely nothing for mortal life and believed that his people were there solely for one purpose: suffering for/serving their gods, to the point that he (falsely) believed that there was no afterlife for them, even finding the idea of an "eternal reward" to be laughable. He was also shown to be callous enough to demean those who praised him. He looked down on all his people and viewed them as useless beings not worth his assistance or being in his presence, as shown when he called Gorr a "dog" and showed nothing but apathy towards his pain and suffering. Despite desiring and insisting that mortals worship him, Rapu's extremely low opinion of them, callousness and belief in his deserving of unerring faith caused him to neglect his people's needs and breviary but still expected them to keep fawning over him. He was careless to the extent that he did nothing even when all his followers were dying out save for Gorr, simply believing that more people would worship him in their place later.
His arrogance and sense of entitlement towards mortal worship was so great that he fully expected Gorr to continue worshipping him and to find him new worshippers even after he lost his daughter and all his people due to Rapu's neglect, and being outright mocked and told by Rapu that their devotion to him would earn them nothing. Upon Gorr renouncing him, Rapu was easily enraged and attempted to strangle him, saying that his life was now meaningless except to die by his hand.
The haughty deity also showed to be somewhat both cowardly and dimwitted as he was shortsighted, whimpering his last words of fearful horror as the Necrosword moved to Gorr's hand, something of which that could've been avoided had the fallen god possessed the sense to destroy it before prematurely celebrating in unearned revelry or by not cruelly mocking and threatening Gorr while it was in his presence in the first place.
Powers[]
- Superhuman Strength: Rapu possessed superhuman strength, enabling him to easily lift a powerless Gorr with one hand and nearly strangling him to death. In addition, it was also implied that Rapu also had godly powers to some extent, as he had the ability to kill the Dark Shadow Lord.
- Superhuman Speed: Rapu was also incredibly fleet of foot, sitting a good distance away from Gorr before easily closing the gap to strangle him.
- Longevity: As with other deities, Rapu is likely able to age far slower than the mortals that worship him. He is also likely hundreds or thousands of years old, even though he still moves and looks like he's in his physical prime.
Relationships[]
Enemies[]
- Dark Shadow Lord â - Victim
- Gorr the God Butcher â - Former Disciple, Attempted Victim and Killer
Trivia[]
- In the comics, Gorr's people live on a planet with no gods but worship sky gods with a similar crown to Rapu; a purple-skinned gold-armored god similar in appearance to him crash-lands on the planet after a battle with Knull and begs Gorr for help, prompting Gorr to murder him out of anger as his child had died and what remains of his people turned on him for his sacrilege.
Behind the Scenes[]
- Christian Bale stated that Gorr the God Butcher's head tattoos served as symbols of his devotion to Rapu, and a scene depicted him carving them off while his black blood was oozing down. It was ultimately cut as "The powers that be decided that was perhaps too much for everybody. We pushed it too far. But we knew where the edge was."[3]
