In the world of The Silt Verses, gods must feed and they must be fed. That second part is always the kicker. Sacrifices have to be made and the humans have to decide which of their own they're going to send to the gods.
This post contains lots of spoilers for The Silt Verses so only continue if you like to be spoiled.
"And this is how you make it worse."
We don't meet Dennis in the first season, but his presence is felt. His daughter Paige, our third central character in the story, addresses him during her first episode. She is angry at how the life she has built for herself compromises her morals for the seduction of comfort, something she assumes her con artist father wouldn't view as a problem.
She talks about how he only calls when he wants something (almost always money) and never really engages with her in a meaningful way. When she needs him to talk to her, he won't pick up the phone.
Through various other stories from Paige's POV, we learn that he used to use her in his cons. He would use anyone else he could as well, and often preyed on the bloated level of faith found within their world and certainly within his marks. It's quite clear that while Dennis is aware that the gods exist, it means little to him. In a world full of faith, he has none.
How does he get away with this? Well, most of the time anyway?
It has to do with the nature of Tricksters. Dennis is a con artist with many children and many lovers and a million stories to spin for those around him. He swindles and steals and beguiles. For this, they give him money. It is a small sacrifice on their part, but enough of one to allow him to move outside of the normal roads allowed. The gods don't bother him because they recognize something of themselves in him.
Even though Paige would hate to admit this, she operates in the same way. Paige is smart and very good at tricking people. She makes friends with the people who kidnap her and tricks a whole squadron of police just long enough that her friends can escape their clutches. When everything is said and done, she ends the first season as a cultural hero.
In the first season, neither of them actively worships a god, but they certainly understand how to wield divine energy to their benefit.
"Who amongst us should be denied a second chance?"
In the second season, Paige decides she will create a god capable of saving everyone from the rest of them. She toys with various ideas, finally deciding on one that ends up making her a prophet.
She takes refuge in her father's home during this time. She doesn't expect him to be there, but he is. As she works on the creation of her god, Dennis criticizes and questions, and argues with all of it.
And yet, he still participates in every facet of the divine creation. He does every part of the rituals and even helps Paige to find her first worshipper. Even though he has been painted as a grifter who will grift even his own child, he supports said child during this very vital point in her life.
Why?
I think it's because the biggest trick at play is that he's let her think he doesn't love her. He does though. Even though he thinks this is all a very bad idea, he still goes through with it because he has faith in her and what she's capable of.
All the while, he continues to amplify his Trickster energy. Every interaction with anyone else is a swindle, even to the point of trying to con the person who helped them up to the very last second he can.
This culminates as this story arc ends for the season. The police are after Paige and Dennis pretends to sell her out, leading the authorities to his house so she can be apprehended.
The audience doesn't exactly know what is happening at the moment. We know that he arrived back home and told Paige and her friend that the cops were coming. This was right after Paige had stated he would probably sell them out eventually.
Our next scene has him leading the cops to the basement where he claims he has them hidden. It looks as if Paige's predictions are coming true and he's going to turn them in to save himself.
Instead, Dennis is tricking the cops. And Paige, honestly. For all he argued with her about the god she created, in his last act, he summons that god and sacrifices himself to it, basically killing all of the authorities around him as well.
This allows Paige to get out of the country safely, but it does something else as well. As her father is dying, Paige falls into a coma, more than likely because of all the power her god now has. All of her father's trickster energy is now part of her religion.
And it should be noted that the god Paige created is a trickster as well, or at least, allows those about to be sacrificed to be tricksters. The god is a god of martyrs. If called upon, it will arrive when someone is being sacrificed to another god and consume that sacrifice before they can. It doesn't save the person who is about to die, but it starves the diety they were intended for and gives them a small measure of power within the situation.
The sacrifice itself becomes a trick, which is probably something that amused Dennis to no end. He died proud of his kid. He died for his kid. These are two things she never thought the was capable of, which is another trick as well.
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