Mythology & Religion Power Ranking TOP100
This article introduces Rank 31: Enlil from the “Mythology & Religion Power Ranking TOP100”, which ranks the gods, monsters, and heroes of world mythology, religion, and legend in order of strength.
If you want to see the full TOP100 list and the criteria behind the rankings, check out the overview article below.
Rank 31: Enlil (Mesopotamian Mythology, Sumerian Mythology)
Overview
In Mesopotamian mythology (Sumerian mythology), Enlil is regarded as one of the “three great gods” alongside Anu and Enki.
Anu is nominally the supreme god of Mesopotamian mythology, but he rarely plays an active role in the myths, so Enlil often serves as the de facto supreme authority figure.
The most famous episode illustrating this power is the “Great Flood Legend.” Enlil, annoyed by the ever-growing human population, decided in a council of the gods to send a great flood to exterminate humanity.
The flood wiped out almost all of humanity, but a small number of people whom Enki (or Ea) helped were able to survive. This “Great Flood Legend” is said to have influenced many subsequent mythologies (such as the story of Noah’s Ark) and became the archetypal divine punishment in myth.
Like the supreme gods of other mythologies, Enlil has essentially no direct combat depictions in the myths. However, there is a legend that in the primordial world, when heaven and earth were fused together, Enlil used his power to separate them, creating the current form of the world.
As this story shows, he is clearly a god of immense power — capable of splitting the very world itself in two.
Reason for This Ranking
Since the supreme god Anu of Mesopotamian mythology rarely acts openly, he is difficult to evaluate. Instead, I will focus on Enlil, who stands just below Anu.
However, Enlil also has almost no episodes in which he uses his power directly, and the only thing that clearly demonstrates his strength is his ability to split the world into heaven and earth.
There are also many depictions of the other gods greatly fearing Enlil, which confirms that he possesses particularly formidable power even among the gods of Mesopotamian mythology.
Putting all of this together, I believe he had the power to effortlessly destroy the world, but I don’t think he could defeat Tiamat or Marduk, which is why I placed him at this position in the ranking.
One detail that slightly puzzles me: if Enlil truly had such enormous power, was there any need to command other gods (like Adad) to send a flood to destroy humans? Perhaps it was because if Enlil did it himself, it would just become large-scale destruction, making it difficult to confirm whether all of humanity had truly been wiped out — so he reasoned that a flood would be more reliably thorough.
About the Book
I wrote a book that compiles this entire ranking! 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.
The book also contains many columns and extras not published on this blog, so if you are interested, please check it out below.
📚 Series: Mythology Power Ranking (Individual Characters) (70/100)
