History Main / DivineIntervention

* ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13501363/1/Chaos-Effect Chaos Effect]]'': After the SI Edwin verbally mocks and insults The Spirit of the Millennium Ring and causes him to lose the Shadow Game the Spirit attacks Edwin and begins to kill him. Instantly everyone save the Pharaoh and the Spirit are knocked out as a Goddess appears and brutally attacks the Spirit, banishing him before informing Yami that Edwin belongs to her and she will protect him.
** Whenever someone thinks about doing harm to Edwin the Goddess appears for a brief instant to remind them that she is watching.

See also GodIsGood. Likely to overlap with PrayerIsALastResort. If whether there was an intervention is debatable, see MaybeMagicMaybeMundane.

Contrast with GodsHandsAreTied.

->'''Jules''': This was Divine Intervention! You know what "divine intervention" is?\\
'''Vincent''': Yeah, I think so. That means God came down from Heaven and stopped the bullets?

* ''LightNovel/ScrappedPrincess'': At the end, Pacifica is stabbed in the back and bleeds out to death. At that moment, however, she is summoned before [[{{God}} Lord Mauser]], who asks her whether [[spoiler:''she'', Lord Mauser, was wrong to collaborate with the invading aliens and to corral the remaining humans in fake reality that Pacifica's continued survival would destroy]]. When Pacifica is successful at ReasoningWithGod, Lord Mauser heals her wound (something even her sister Raquel, the mightiest magician in the land, [[HealingMagicIsTheHardest couldn't do]]) and lets her complete her quest.

* ''FanFic/ABridgeOnceBroken'': In part three, [[spoiler: Xelor, the god of time,]] observes the proceedings from the very start, before ultimately helping the heroes.
* ''Fanfic/ChildOfTheStorm'': In ''Ghosts of the Past'', during the climax of the ''Forever Red'' arc, a variety of factors caused by the [[RenegadeRussian Red Room's]] actions -- including damaging the [[EldritchLocation NeverNever]] in the process of having a base there, and more importantly [[spoiler: kidnapping and brainwashing Harry]] -- cause both of the Faerie Courts as well as several of [[ComicBook/TheSandman the Endless]] to retaliate by providing aid to the heroes, as best as they're [[GodsHandsAreTied allowed to]].

%%[[folder:Religion and Mythology]]

%%* ''Literature/TheIliad'': Divine intervention heavily influences the outcome of the Trojan War.%%How?
%%[[/folder]]

* In Creator/CraigShawGardner's ''Slaves of the Volcano God'' Roger, Louie, Doc and Zabana are trapped in a cycle of being transported back and forth between several worlds of the Cineverse. After Roger desparately appeals to the "Lords of the Cineverse" (in particular, Creator/DWGriffith, David O. Selznick and Creator/CecilBDeMille), they're rescued by the Plotmaster.

* In Craig Shaw Gardner's ''Slaves of the Volcano God'' Roger, Louie and Doc are trapped in a cycle of being transported back and forth between several worlds of the Cineverse. After Roger desparately appeals to the "Lords of the Cineverse" (in particular, Creator/DWGriffith, David O. Selznick and Creator/CecilBDeMille), they're rescued by the Plotmaster.

* ''TabletopGame/MagicTheGathering'' has a number of cards portraying acts of divine intervention. The most obvious is the early card simply named "Divine Intervention," which ends the game (in a draw, oddly enough) in two turns. The Greek and Egyptian-inspired planes of Theros and Amonkhet see incidents like this much more frequently. The ''Theros: Beyond Death'' set even featured a set of five cards depicting acts of Divine Intervention on behalf of each of the plane's five primary deities. There's even a special printing of the classic card "Wrath of God," depicting Theros' sun god, Heliod, as the one whose wrath had been stirred.

* ''VideoGame/{{Journey}}'': At the end of the penultimate level, you and your companion are caught in a fierce storm and freeze to death after losing track of the mountaintop that has been your guiding beacon throughout the game. Then, after a FadeToWhite, you are greeted not with a GameOver, but with six giant white-robed figures, who have appeared to you in visions earlier, and who now raise you BackFromTheDead and even max out your scarf, so you can fly all the way to the mountaintop in one go and finally complete your journey.

[[folder:Web Comics]]

* In ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'', this is stated to be the reason why the Avatar needs to be the one to defeat Firelord Ozai. The only other people powerful enough to defeat him would be viewed as political usurpers and perpetuate the war. Anything that Aang does would be viewed as divine judgment, and above reproach.

* Symbolically, this is what led to the death of Führer King Bradley in ''Anime/FullMetalAlchemist''. During the Ishvalan War of Extinction, the Ishvalan High Priest told him that god would strike him down for his sins. [[spoiler:In his final fight against Scar, he's blinded by a solar eclipse, giving Scar an opening to wound him fatally. In alchemy, the sun and moon together (aka a solar eclipse) symbolizes God.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/TheHunchbackOfNotreDame'': Frollo's DisneyVillainDeath is seen this way given that Frollo tries to grab a gargoyle and it ''roars at him'', and all after shouting that God smites the "wicked".

* ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'': At the climax of "[[Recap/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS06E06SacrificeOfAngels Sacrifice of Angels]]", the Prophets, SufficientlyAdvancedAliens who are gods to the Bajorans, are talked into intervening directly to block Dominion reinforcements from using the Bajoran Wormhole (the "Celestial Temple" to the Bajorans, and the Prophets' home), thereby saving the Alpha Quadrant's bacon. Because of them, not only did the initial expected reinforcements for the Dominion get removed from existence, but no more ever made it through the Bajoran Wormhole for the rest of the war.

* ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'': At the climax of "[[Recap/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS06E06SacrificeOfAngels Sacrifice of Angels]]", the Prophets, SufficientlyAdvancedAliens who are gods to the Bajorans, are talked into intervening directly to block Dominion reinforcements from using the wormhole, thereby saving the Alpha Quadrant's bacon.

** In 5th edition, Clerics get an ability called Divine Intervention that allows them to call on their deity for aid, with a chance starting at 10% and slowly increasing until it is guaranteed to succeed at level 20. What form the Deity's aid takes is dependent on the DM and it only works once a week.

* ''VideoGame/DivinityOriginalSinII'': Early in Act I, the {{Player Character}}(s) and their potential companions are [[LostAtSea shipwrecked at sea]], but are saved from the depths of the ocean by a mysterious voice that delivers them to shore. It turns out to be their patron god(s), who have chosen them to be [[GodhoodSeeker Godwoken]].

Sometimes, one or more of the characters get caught in a tight spot. They might be heavily outnumbered, hanging on to ledge by one hand, or falling into a volcano. For them to survive, someone will have to help them, and this time, one (or more) of the gods interfere in person. The function is that of a DeusExMachina, but in this trope we are left with little to no doubt about the nature of the helping hand.

* In ''Manga/OnePiece'', Luffy is about to have his head chopped off by Buggy in Logue Town, on the very same platform that Gold Roger was executed on. Just before the blade Buggy's using can connect, the entire platform gets struck by lightning. Sanji wonders aloud if there was anything divine about what happened. It's heavily implied that it was either this trope, considering how afterwards everything was in favor for the crew's escape, or pure coincidence. It is also implied that it wasn't natural lightning that saved Luffy in the first place. What occurred at Logue Town is still very vague, even though it was over 800 chapters ago.

* ''Anime/TransformersCybertron'': This happens occasionally , with Primus lending power or providing {{Mid Season Upgrade}}s. In fact, the Autobots' main goal is to reconnect Primus' spark with his body so that he can intervene in the crisis they face (the all-consuming black hole created by his brother [[GodOfEvil Unicron's]] death throes).
* Symbolically, this is what led to the death of Führer King Bradley in ''Anime/FullMetalAlchemist''. During the Ishvalan War of Extinction, the Ishvalan High Priest told him that god would strike him down for his sins. [[spoiler:In his final fight against Scar, he's blinded by a solar eclipse, giving Scar and opening to wound him fatally. In alchemy, the sun and moon together (aka a solar eclipse) symbolizes God.]]

* ''Fanfic/AFutureOfFriendshipAHistoryOfHate'': At the climax of Episode 2, it appears as though [[BigBad Ruinate]] has won, due to [[spoiler: destroying Twilight's soul, rendering her an EmptyShell]] and thus rendering the Elements of Harmony inert. Fortunately, his sister [[BigGood Amity]] remotely steps in, using the bonds between the Mane Six to [[spoiler: restore Twilight's soul]] and not only restoring the Elements, but [[MidSeasonUpgrade unlocking their full power]].

** Whenever someone thinks about doing harm to Edwin the Goddess appears for a brief instance to remind them that she is watching.

* In ''Film/PulpFiction'', the hitmen Jules and Vincent are caught off guard by a man with a HandCannon, who empties all six shots at them. At point blank range. [[EpicFail Without hitting them once]]. Jules is convinced that this is Divine Intervention, and it inspires him to give up his life as a hitman and [[WalkingTheEarth walk the earth]]. Vincent is less than convinced, though his best counterargument is that of a FlatEarthAtheist. A careful viewing of the event in question reveals that [[spoiler:there are several bullet holes in the wall directly behind Jules after the shots are fired, but none directly behind Vincent]], which may indicate that for Jules it really was this trope and for Vincent it really was just luck. The fact that, shortly thereafter, [[spoiler:Vincent is blown away by Butch]] implies that maybe he should have considered that a final warning.

* ''Literature/TheAlloyOfLaw'' has the god Harmony, who normally maintains a policy of minimal-intervention. However in the climax, when Wax desperately pleads for help, Harmony [[spoiler: expected Wax would need a hand. It turns out Wax's missing trunk of equipment just so happens to be right where he needs it.]]

* ''Literature/TheAtomicBloodStainedBus'': Entirely inverted. The gods don't really care all that much for humanity, have no interest in being worshipped and certainly don't want to be discovered.

* In ''Literature/DrGretaHelsing'', the final book has Heaven invaded by warmongering angels from another reality. This ushers in the apocalypse and all the nuclear weapons on Earth go off, leaving the planet a burnt out husk and survivors numbering in the handful. Literature/VarneyTheVampire is so desperate and terrified for the survivors that he [[PrayerIsALastResort prays for the first time in centuries]]. God hears and does a mix of WorldHealingWave, RealityWarper and TimeRewindMechanic to save the world, resurrect everyone who died in the event and even heal old lingering injuries.
* In ''Literature/TheFiresOfAffliction'', faith healers are able to work miracles, but the gifted ones are rare, and they seem to have more and more trouble convincing God to answer their prayers. After [[spoiler:[[FindTheCure Finding The Cure]] fails]], the heroes are forced go this route to try and cure the heroine's poisoning. [[spoiler:It works, but only because the heroes' non-magical doctor keeps her alive long enough for the priests to convince God to heal her.]]

** [[CouncilOfAngels The Valar]] only occasionally intervene in goings on in Arda (most notably sending an army out to defeat [[BigBad Morgoth]] after being begged by a representative of Elves and Men, and sending the Istari -- the Wizards -- to aid the Free Peoples in the Third Age). The end of the First Age made them significantly more reluctant to intervene directly, due to the damage they had the potential to cause (as well as their growing belief that they'd never been meant to intervene in the affairs of the Children of Ilúvatar).
** Another, lesser example is when they send the eagles to help Aragorn's army at the gate of Mordor, though their main contribution is to rescue Sam and Frodo from the exploding Mount Doom.

[[folder:Live Action TV]]

* ''TabletopGame/TheDarkEye'' has the second Demon Battle, in which The Horas Empire fought the outnumbered Rebels. When the battle, through the use of smart tactics and reinforcements from the tulamids (basically Arabs), changed in favor of the rebels, The Emporer, Fran-Horas, conjured a whole army of demons. When this happened, the Gods Praios (Sun, Law, just rulership), Rondra (honorable fighting, Lightining), Efferd (Sea, Weather) and Ingerimm (Fire, Craftsmenship)appeared ''directly on the battlefield'' and exorcised the demons, thus causing Fran-Horas to lose the battle, let the Horas Empire be dissolved and the New Empire be announced. This should be noted as remarkable, as usually any direct intervention of the Gods beyond prophecies is already straining the rules of the universe which are limiting them. They do usually work through their priests and other people.

*** The Drow, especially as AlwaysChaoticEvil as in the books by R.A. Salvatore should, by all accounts, have backstabbed themselves into extinction long ago. Their deity Lolth is the only reason they are still alive, since she keeps her theocracies in the state of perpetual EnforcedColdWar. Drow that have turned away from Lolth can be less vicious, but if there are more than one strong faction, they eventually start a civil war and completely destroy the community, so the only city which escaped being subjugated by one of priesthoods without becoming a smoking ruin is TheMagocracy where wizards de-facto took most of the power even before wiping out their matriarchs in one swift coup.

*** Both Clerics and Paladins get a far weaker variant called Channel Divinity, which is less direct intervention and more becoming a medium for divine power. Each subclass get their own variants, but all clerics can use this to TurnUndead.

* ''TabletopGame/MagicTheGathering'' has a number of cards portraying acts of divine intervention. The most obvious is the early card simply named "Divine Intervention," which ends the game (in a draw, oddly enough) in two turns. The Greek and Egyptian inspired planes of Theros and Amonkhet see incidents like this much more frequently. The ''Theros: Beyond Death'' set even featured a set of five cards depicting acts of Divine Intervention on behalf of each of the plane's five primary deities. There's even a special printing of the classic card "Wrath of God," depicting Theros' sun god, Heliod, as the one whose wrath had been stirred.

** The various [[EternalHero Shezarrines]] throughout history. They are theorized to be the soul of [[GodIsDead the dead creator god]] Shezarr/Lorkhan/Shor/[[IHaveManyNames many others]] [[GodInHumanForm manifesting in mortal form]] as one of the [[HumansAreSpecial races of Men]] when they are threatened and then advancing their cause, usually by [[ScrewYouElves killing lots and lots]] of [[OurElvesAreDifferent Mer (Elves)]]. [[FounderOfTheKingdom Tiber]] [[GodEmperor Septim]] was rumored to be one such manifestation, before he himself [[DeityOfHumanOrigin ascended to godhood]] as the Ninth Divine, Talos, possibly by "[[BecomingTheMask mantling]]" Shezarr and/or as part of a MergerOfSouls situation.

** Kynareth, the Divine Goddess of the Air and Heavens, pulled a few to help early mankind in their battles against the [[OurDragonsAreDifferent dragons]] and elves. When the ancient [[HornyVikings Nords]] prayed for aid against the dragons and their [[ReligionOfEvil Dragon Cults]], she sent [[TokenHeroicOrc Paarthurnax]] to teach them the [[MakeMeWannaShout Thu'um]] so they could use the [[LanguageOfMagic dragons' own weapon]] against them. She was also perhaps the most active Divine in supporting the Alessian Revolt, sending her "son" Morihaus to join the conflict on Alessia's side. She sent rain to cleanse the blood from Ayleid forts and villages after [[GodInHumanForm Pelinal]] [[TheBerserker Whitestrake]] [[PaintTheTownRed came through]], so that they could be used by Alessia's forces.

* In ''VideoGame/NetHack'' the player can pray for divine intervention if he is in trouble. If you don't annoy your god (by praying too often), have a good alignment record (KarmaMeter) and are not in Hell your god can heal you, feed you, cure delayed instadeaths like food poisoning or stoning, lift curses, etc.

[[folder:WebAnimation]]

** In "[[Recap/SamuraiJackS3E5JackInEgypt Jack in Egypt]]", Jack is faced with some of the few foes genuinely too powerful for him to defeat -- the Minions of Set, whose strength, agility, ferociousness and HealingFactor prove too much for Jack to overcome. They are only defeated when Jack prays to Ra for help; the god responds by manifesting directly, incinerating two Minions with his EyeBeams when they try to attack him and destroying the third as it tries to flee.

* ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'': At the start of season 5, Sam and Dean [[spoiler:are teleported away from the area where Lucifer is about to rise, Sam is cleansed of his demonic addiction, and Castiel is resurrected. They conclude that God had acted, though another angel suggests that Castiel, as a fallen angel, was actually raised by Lucifer to provide more opposition.]] About halfway through the season, [[spoiler: the angel Joshua confirms that God did all the above when Dean complains about God not doing anything to help them.]]

* ''Manga/{{Berserk}}'': Horribly [[DiabolusExMachina inverted]] through the Behelits, which allow someone crossing the DespairEventHorizon to summon the God-hand to give them the chance to become Apostles, or with the Crimson Behelit, to become a member of the God-hand. Seeing as God in the Berserkverse is essentially the human perception of evil and injustice it kinda makes sense that the heroes aren't saved on their bleakest day but instead the less savoury characters are given the power to ruin everyone else's day too.

* In ''Literature/DrGretaHelsing'', the final book has Heaven invaded by warmongering angels from another reality. This ushers in the apocalypse and all the nuclear weapons on Earth go off, leaving the planet a burnt out husk and survivors numbering in the handful. Literature/VarneyTheVampire is so desperate and terrified for the survivors that he [[PrayerIsALastResort prays for the first time in centures]]. God hears and does a mix of WorldHealingWave, RealityWarper and TimeRewindMechanic to save the world, resurrect everyone who died in the event and even heal old lingering injuries.

* ''Series/{{Bottom}}'': Parodied in "[[Recap/BottomHole Hole]]". Richie and Eddit end up trapped on a condemned ferris wheel and end up hanging by their fingers as their car slowly disintegrates. They pray for a miracle; God's hand appears miraculously. However, once safely on the divine hand, then they both start commenting how [[spoiler:they don't actually want to cause offense or anything, but they don't believe in God. Accordingly, the hand disappears...]].

* ''TabletopGame/TheDarkEye'' has the second Demon Battle, in which The Horas Empire fought the outnumbered Rebels. When the battle, through the use of smart tactics and reinforcements from the tulamids (basicly arabs), changed in favour of the rebels, The Emporer, Fran-Horas, conjured a whole army of demons. When this happend, the Gods Praios (Sun, Law, just rulership), Rondra (honorable fighting, Lightining), Efferd (Sea, Weather) and Ingerimm (Fire, Craftsmenship)appeared ''directly on the battlefield'' and excorcised the demons, thus causing Fran-Horas to lose the battle, let the Horas Empire be dissolved and the New Empire be announced. This should be noted as remarkable, as usually any direct intervention of the Gods beyond prophecies is already straining the rules of the universe which are limiting them. They do usually work through their priests and other people.

* ''TabletopGame/WarOfAshesFateOfAgaptus'': A fair few things can draw the gods' attention, including any use of ritual magic (which invokes their power), spectacular success or failure at some task, or even the sheer whim of the dice (an all-"-" or all-"+" result on the four Fate dice rolled to resolve basically any action in the game that needs rolling at all will do it). Most inhabitants of the world actually try to avoid this, however, since the gods can be fickle and [[DoesNotKnowHisOwnStrength tend to cause their share of inadvertant collateral damage]] even when actually ''trying'' to grant a boon.

** In the VideoGame/KirbyAndTheAmazingMirror video, Kirby defeats Dark Mind by first paraphrasing the first three lines of Psalm 95 [[labelnote:In the video]] "Deliver me from mine enemies, O my God: defend me from them that rise up against me. Deliver me from the workers of iniquity, and save me from bloody men. The mighty are gathered against me. Awake to help me,and behold." [[/labelnote]] then having all four Kirbos summon [[SyntheticVoiceActor Jesus again]] who recites Matthew 19:26 [[labelnote:In full]] “Jesus looked at them and said "With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible (NIV).” [[/labelnote]] smiting Dark Mind. For bonus points, the Matthew verse is just after a ThisCannotBe declaration from Dark Mind.

* Played with in 'Webcomic/ElGoonishShive'. Nanase's guardian form looks angelic, is supremely powerful, and can only be used if someone is about to die. She isn't sure if gaining it was the result of divine intervention or just the will of magic, but she thanked God for it anyway.

* ''Literature/TheAtomicBloodStainedBus''" Entirely inverted. The gods don't really care all that much for humanity, have no interest in being worshipped and certainly don't want to be discovered.

* ''Fanfic/ShadowchasersAscension'': A literal case happens when Odin, Thor, and Loki give Dante a deck with copies of their cards in order for him to defeat BigBad Jalie Squarefoot. (Jalie's goal in the fic is to [[AGodAmI become a god himself]] by slaying the bound GodOfEvil Tharizdun, something that the other gods cannot allow, as Tharizdun is [[BarrierMaiden exists to prevent far greater evils from regaining power.]]) The lesson to be learned from the ensuing battle (which Jalie clearly refuses to learn) is one that is repeated several times over the course of the fic: Jalie is not even ''close'' to being in the same league as the beings he is trying to challenge, and he is a fool for trying to do so.