Originally Posted by
chief12d
Huh, I'd have to go look over the issues again but I think that Coates is implying the Orishas are children of Gaea (as they were before him retconning their upbringing) who accessed their divine heritage to ascend to full godhood. The way issue #15 is framed, it looks like the Orisha having divine blood was accepted by all, the dispute between their worshipers and the Elder Gods' was whether they were true gods in spite of that fact.
Not the most knowledgeable on how all that stuff works. Thus wouldn't it make sense the Orisha are originally referred to as "heroes" by the Wakandans of the deep past and present day who eventually become gods? They came to them as mortals of divine blood, not fully ascended beings. And I'm not sure Bast expected Killmonger to ascend on his own power, as I think they both knew he had come to steal her power. Wouldn't that give credence to the idea that only people with the blood of Elder Gods can ascend to godhood, as even though Killmonger had the faith of the empire's people he lacked the innate ability to transcend his mortal body.
Not saying it makes 100% sense though. Literally every god we've seen in Marvel was born with a divine body and soul, not born in human forms like the Orisha, so what made them different? How did gods with names from Nigeria to South Africa end up worshiped by a culture in East Africa like Wakanda? How was Storm able to ascend to godhood, exactly? Is one of her parents an Elder God or did Oshtur some how imprint a piece of her power onto Ororo's bloodline's DNA? How did a single symbiote manage to absorb most of Bast's power? These are basic questions we never got answers to.