The following discussion is an archived debate of the proposed deletion of the article below. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review). No further edits should be made to this page.

The result was delete. There's only a slight majority of delete opinions here, but those in favor of keeping do not appear to have successfully rebutted the charge of indiscriminateness and/or unclear scope (and indeed have in some cases have effectively admitted the charge). Deor ( talk) 12:07, 30 November 2014 (UTC) reply

List of pagans in fiction

List of pagans in fiction (  | talk | history | protect | delete | links | watch | logs | views) – ( View log · Stats)

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I suppose in a way that this will probably end up in a renaming, but the list as named is indiscriminate. Any European character before Christianization, almost any Native American character, and so forth can all be presumed pagan. There's also a neutrality issue in the whole notion of whether other non-Judaeo-Christian religions are pagan or not (Hinduism being a popularly argued example: heaven forbid that someone should want to list everyone in the Mahabharata!). I deduce from the list members thus far that perhaps a far more restricted criterion might be intended, but I cannot work out what that might be. Mangoe ( talk) 15:56, 7 November 2014 (UTC) reply

Note: This debate has been included in the list of Fictional elements-related deletion discussions. Jinkinson talk to me 16:04, 7 November 2014 (UTC) reply

Note: This debate has been included in the list of Lists-related deletion discussions. Jinkinson talk to me 16:04, 7 November 2014 (UTC) reply

• Weak keep If the list was limited to characters specifically identified in the work, or by the artist/creator as "pagan", and not based on analysis or the like after the fact. Agree that what a "pagan" is to one person might not be the same to another (the inclusion of Willow here is an example of a problem). If this makes it too hard to evaluate, then the list should be deleted. -- MASEM ( t) 17:57, 7 November 2014 (UTC) reply
• Keep, clarify or split Perhaps need a rename to be clearer, but it limits itself to neopaganism and the ancient versions it's based upon. For instance in The Long Ships religion play an important role in other books perhaps not so much. // Liftarn ( talk)

• Strong delete. It's way too indiscriminate (and possibly Western-centric) to be meaningful. Every religion's adherents constitute a minority of the world's population, so this list - even if it were to settle on Christianity - would encompass a majority of fictional characters. Clarityfiend ( talk) 22:51, 7 November 2014 (UTC) reply

• Delete Too indiscriminate to serve any useful purpose. A more targeted list for members of a modern Wicca or Neo-Pagan movement or for adherents of a particular religion could make sense, but this one doesn't. –  Philosopher  ^{Let us reason together.} 20:06, 9 November 2014 (UTC) reply

Relisted to generate a more thorough discussion so a clearer consensus may be reached.

Please add new comments below this notice. Thanks, j⚛e decker ^talk 01:54, 15 November 2014 (UTC) reply

• Keep/merge The topic is notable, for example, see:

1. Imagining the Pagan Past
2. Compass Points - The Pagan Writers' Guide
3. Introduction to Pagan Studies, Literary Origins and Influences

Andrew ( talk) 11:59, 15 November 2014 (UTC) reply

These appear to be books about modern or neo-paganism, which is fine, but that's not what the topic is. And how do you classify The Mists of Avalon? The characters are ancient, after all; how do you draw a line separating them from the pagan Romans in Ben Hur? MZB's religious views at the time didn't fit into any pigeonhole larger than esotericism, so I'm just not seeing how we get a even vaguely well-defined criterion for inclusion or exclusion. Mangoe ( talk) 14:24, 15 November 2014 (UTC) reply

Relisted to generate a more thorough discussion so a clearer consensus may be reached.

Please add new comments below this notice. Thanks, NorthAmerica ¹⁰⁰⁰ 20:23, 22 November 2014 (UTC) reply

• Delete As per previous comments, this list serves no purpose by itself as it's incomplete and indiscriminate. Mediavalia  ^talk 12:26, 27 November 2014 (UTC) reply

The above discussion is preserved as an archive of the debate. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review). No further edits should be made to this page.