Mythology & Religion Power Ranking TOP100
I wrote a book ranking the most powerful gods, monsters, and heroes from world mythologies, religions, and legends in order of strength! Of course, the rankings reflect a fair amount of my personal opinion, but the reasoning behind each placement is grounded in the actual lore and episodes from each mythology, so I think it makes for a fairly convincing read.
In this series, I’d like to introduce some of the characters featured in the book’s ranking. There are plenty of other characters beyond the ones covered here, so I think anyone interested in mythology, religion, or legends will find it an enjoyable read!
Rank 22: Leviathan (Judaism / Christianity)
Overview
Leviathan is a massive sea monster appearing in the Old Testament and in Christian and Jewish traditions. It is one of the creatures made by the One God in the early days of creation, and is sometimes grouped with the land monster “Behemoth” and the sky monster “Ziz” as “the three beasts of the apocalypse.”
However, the sky monster Ziz does not actually appear in the Bible, and compared to the other two beasts it is an extremely obscure figure.
Leviathan frequently appears in later works of fiction under the name “Leviathan” (or “Livyatan”), and is also commonly depicted as the demon associated with “Envy” among the seven deadly sins.
Leviathan has the form of a giant whale, serpent, or dragon-like creature. It breathes fire from its mouth and its scales are said to be so hard that no weapon can pierce them.
It is also said to be without equal on earth — any hero who sets eyes on Leviathan loses their will to fight from sheer terror. Within the Bible it is treated as “the most powerful monster.”
In later Jewish texts, Leviathan is frequently described as something that only the One God can destroy. Even the angel armies led by Michael are thought to be incapable of completely defeating Leviathan.
On the other hand, at the end of days the One God himself will personally slay Leviathan and give its flesh to the righteous (the Jewish people) — a somewhat sorrowful fate guaranteed in advance.
Ranking Reason
The description of Leviathan as “only defeatable by the One God” makes its overwhelmingly high divine standing clear.
One could argue this makes it stronger than Satan or the Beast of Revelation, but since those entities are also ultimately defeatable only by the One God, there is no meaningful difference there.
In addition, Leviathan belongs to the world of the Old Testament (Hebrew Bible and the Old Testament of Christianity), while Satan and the Beast are primarily figures from the New Testament — so they are not strictly comparable figures from the same narrative lineage.
Since Leviathan has no battle scenes in the myths, its precise power can only be estimated. However, based on its impenetrable body that deflects all attacks, its overwhelming presence that shatters the will of any hero, and accounts in later traditions describing a body large enough to cover the entire sea — a size comparable to or exceeding Jormungandr — it is clearly far stronger than an ordinary destroyer deity.
Taking all of this into account, I placed Leviathan at this position in the ranking.
