Rating the IQ of the Gods: Korean Mythology
From Korea's founding myth to the gods of shamanism, we brought in the five most famous Korean deities and gave them an IQ test.
Hwanung is the son of Hwanin, the supreme god of heaven. He said he wanted the human world, and his father simply let him go.
He came down to the top of Mount Taebaek with three ministers of wind, rain and cloud and a following of three thousand, and taught civilization and law. So far, so good.
The trouble started when a bear and a tiger came asking to become human. Hwanung gave them mugwort and garlic and said, "Stay out of the sunlight for a hundred days." The tiger couldn't take it and left. The bear endured and became a woman. Hwanung married her, and she gave birth to Dangun, the legendary founder of Korea.
Verdict: IQ 90. Good at governing, but his marriage planning seems to have been improvised.
In legends from Jeju Island, the first Samsin Halmi, the grandmother goddess of childbirth, was the daughter of the Dragon King of the East Sea. She was cast out to the human world for her wrongdoing and tried to take on the job of granting children without ever properly learning it.
She could make women conceive but couldn't deliver the babies, and both mothers and children died. The victims' families filed a complaint with the Jade Emperor, and she was fired. Today's Samsin Halmi is a virtuous human woman who was appointed in her place.
Verdict: IQ 70. A top position, but the first person in the job was sent in with zero field experience.
Dokkaebi are spirits who govern abundance and wealth. In folk tales they love wrestling with humans, love drinking, and sometimes build a house or work the fields overnight.
The problem is that they're far too easy to trick. Fooled by a buckwheat stalk or a single clever line, they work all night and vanish at dawn without getting paid.
Their magic club can make gold and silver, yet their ability to look after their own interests ranks near the bottom in all of folklore.
Verdict: IQ 75. Plenty of power, almost no scam detection.
The Dragon King rules the sea and all waters. His underwater palace is a world entirely separate from ours, and he is its supreme ruler.
But when he fell ill, he asked his ministers for a cure, and on hearing that a rabbit's liver was the miracle medicine, he sent a turtle to fetch a rabbit.
With one line, "I left my liver on land," the rabbit strolled right out of the palace.
Verdict: IQ 80. Proven ruler, weak at the negotiating table.
Bari is the goddess who rules the afterlife in Korean shamanic myth.
She was abandoned the moment she was born, simply for being the seventh daughter.
Later, when the parents who threw her away fell deathly ill, Bari volunteered to save them.
She walked alone all the way to the underworld, brought back medicine, saved her parents, and for this she became the goddess who governs the afterlife.
Verdict: IQ 110. S-tier in both emotional control and execution.
Average IQ of the Korean gods: 85
Hwanung: 90
The first Samsin Halmi: 70
Dokkaebi: 75
The Dragon King: 80
Princess Bari: 110
Read the original (Korean) →
Hwanung, the prince who married a bear on the spot
Hwanung is the son of Hwanin, the supreme god of heaven. He said he wanted the human world, and his father simply let him go.
He came down to the top of Mount Taebaek with three ministers of wind, rain and cloud and a following of three thousand, and taught civilization and law. So far, so good.
The trouble started when a bear and a tiger came asking to become human. Hwanung gave them mugwort and garlic and said, "Stay out of the sunlight for a hundred days." The tiger couldn't take it and left. The bear endured and became a woman. Hwanung married her, and she gave birth to Dangun, the legendary founder of Korea.
Verdict: IQ 90. Good at governing, but his marriage planning seems to have been improvised.
The first Samsin Halmi, the birth goddess who got a complaint filed against her
In legends from Jeju Island, the first Samsin Halmi, the grandmother goddess of childbirth, was the daughter of the Dragon King of the East Sea. She was cast out to the human world for her wrongdoing and tried to take on the job of granting children without ever properly learning it.
She could make women conceive but couldn't deliver the babies, and both mothers and children died. The victims' families filed a complaint with the Jade Emperor, and she was fired. Today's Samsin Halmi is a virtuous human woman who was appointed in her place.
Verdict: IQ 70. A top position, but the first person in the job was sent in with zero field experience.
Dokkaebi, the goblin god who loves wrestling and hands out treasure
Dokkaebi are spirits who govern abundance and wealth. In folk tales they love wrestling with humans, love drinking, and sometimes build a house or work the fields overnight.
The problem is that they're far too easy to trick. Fooled by a buckwheat stalk or a single clever line, they work all night and vanish at dawn without getting paid.
Their magic club can make gold and silver, yet their ability to look after their own interests ranks near the bottom in all of folklore.
Verdict: IQ 75. Plenty of power, almost no scam detection.
The Dragon King, the sea god conned by a rabbit
The Dragon King rules the sea and all waters. His underwater palace is a world entirely separate from ours, and he is its supreme ruler.
But when he fell ill, he asked his ministers for a cure, and on hearing that a rabbit's liver was the miracle medicine, he sent a turtle to fetch a rabbit.
With one line, "I left my liver on land," the rabbit strolled right out of the palace.
Verdict: IQ 80. Proven ruler, weak at the negotiating table.
Princess Bari, abandoned at birth, who became goddess of the underworld
Bari is the goddess who rules the afterlife in Korean shamanic myth.
She was abandoned the moment she was born, simply for being the seventh daughter.
Later, when the parents who threw her away fell deathly ill, Bari volunteered to save them.
She walked alone all the way to the underworld, brought back medicine, saved her parents, and for this she became the goddess who governs the afterlife.
Verdict: IQ 110. S-tier in both emotional control and execution.
Average IQ of the Korean gods: 85
Hwanung: 90
The first Samsin Halmi: 70
Dokkaebi: 75
The Dragon King: 80
Princess Bari: 110
