Tornadus is a fearsome god of wind and storms, but he is often portrayed as a foolish one, whose awesome destructive power often completely misses its target. This portrayal likely has its roots in weather forecasting, where reports of hurricanes and other storms often err; in truth, Tornadus rarely misses, but others often misidentify what he was aiming for.

This is in part because, although Tornadus directs his storms to punish the wicked, his opinion of what constitutes wickedness is often at odds with those who call upon him to destroy their enemies. There are things which Tornadus hates, but these animosities rarely correlate with those who preach about the devastation he causes; Tornadus sees himself primarily as the protector of flying pokemon and their trainers, and although he despises all their enemies, he holds a special animosity for electric power lines; his clergy instead discusses human societal issues which he has never seen cause to care about. Tornadus has generally worked well with his priests, despite this disconnect - lacking arms in his Therian forme, he has entrusted the reveal glass which lets him switch between genie and fearsome, prehistoric bird to their safe keeping – but he refuses to destroy anyone or anything at their behest.

At times in history, Tornadus has needed to battle, and this is the other reason for his poor reputation for accuracy. Tornadus' most powerful techniques have relatively low accuracy, whether or not a god is using them, but he has long ago learned that a god whose wrath hits only seven out of ten times is nothing for mortal armies or legends to fear. For this reason, he has mastered the utilization of terrain in combat, and his wrath is deadly whether or not it directly blows away his enemies.