Blind Io

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In NetHack, Blind Io is the lawful god of the Tourist pantheon.

Origin

Blind Io is a thunder god and chief of the gods in the setting of the Discworld series created by Terry Pratchett. He appears as a muscular old man with slightly long gray hair, with a piece of cloth tied around his face and covering the area of blank skin where eyes would normally be; he also has many floating eyes (not to be confused with the floating eyes of NetHack) that watch the world for him. Ravens were once sacred birds of Blind Io, serving the role of his "eyes", but this is no longer the case due to an incident involving their tendency to peck out eyes.

Though The Lady and Fate are more powerful, and most often win the games of celestial politics played between the gods (which are done using groups of their believers and other "game pieces"), Blind Io remains the chief of the gods - though almost everyone believes in some form of luck and/or fate, Blind Io has the most direct worshipers due to being the thunder god for the entirety of the Discworld: he makes appearances all over the disc wearing false moustaches and other accessories, and switching between different thunder-hammers when necessary.

Blind Io draws inspiration from various other gods, particularly Odin of Norse mythology and Zeus of Greek mythology. Blind Io's use of thunder-hammers mirrors that of Thor, who is Odin's son and wielder of the thundering Mjollnir; his blindness and eye motifs reflect Odin giving up the sight of one eye in return for endless wisdom and understanding; and finally, Odin also has the services of two ravens who are his agents in the mortal world, known as Hugin and Mumin or Thought and Memory, while Blind Io once had ravens as his sacred animal as explained above. Meanwhile, Zeus is a god said to have many epithets and aspects, more so than most of the gods of antiquity, and was known to seduce mortal women in various non-human forms and guises, such as a goose or a golden shower; Blind Io acts as the god of thunder for the entire Discworld using his various disguises, and is alleged to have seduced the ancestress of Lady Odile Flume in the form of a vase of daisies.

Variants

dNetHack

In dNetHack, notdNetHack and notnotdNetHack, Blind Io is a lawful god of holiness, and his minions consist of standard Archons.

Encyclopedia entry

On this particular day Blind Io, by dint of constant vigilance the chief of the gods, sat with his chin on his hand and looked at the gaming board on the red marble table in front of him. Blind Io had got his name because, where his eye sockets should have been, there were nothing but two areas of blank skin. His eyes, of which he had an impressively large number, led a semi-independent life of their own. Several were currently hovering above the table.

[ The Colour of Magic, by Terry Pratchett ]