History Main / GoodWingsEvilWings

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** The characters Sweet Bee and Flutterina have stylized insect wings based off a bee and a butterfly respectively. Unlike [[WesternAnimation/HeManAndTheMastersOfTheUniverse Buzz Off]], Sweet Bee is also much more humanoid.

* ''Anime/{{Daimos}}'': The Baam-Seijin were an alien race of {{Winged Humanoid}}s with functional, angel-like, white wings sprouting from their backs. They were not representative of their alignment at all, though: they were not portrayed as being inherently good or evil, but as NotSoDifferent from humans (AlwaysChaoticEvil was completely averted). Then again, Kazuya said Erika was like an angel long before seeing her wings.

* '''[[BatOutOfHell Bat Wings]]''' are sometimes found on [[OurVampiresAreDifferent vampires]], especially if they can go OneWingedAngel.
* '''Pterosaur wings''' are in the same league as bat wings, but rarer. If they're not on an evil character, they are on a [[EverythingsBetterWithDinosaurs dinosaur person]]. But often that overlaps.
* '''Bone wings''' are usually possessed by undead but occasionally mean [[DarkerAndEdgier "too evil for bat wings"]].

** '''Butterfly wings''' are almost always fairies. The exception is in Eastern cultures, where butterflies can represent [[ButterflyOfDeathAndRebirth death]], and therefore imply that, good or evil, the thing they appear on is ''deadly''.

** The Weeper, a misshapen monster that rules the Trough of the Rough Beast within the Pit of Gormuz, has one rotten and broken wing. It used to have two, but the was hewn off long ago.

* ''Fanfic/SplitSecond'' has two examples:

[[folder:Fanfics]]
* ''Fanfic/TheChase'': Subverted and discussed; lunar pegasi suffer prejudice for having bat-like wings (among other things), yet are no more likely to be good or evil than any other pegasus. Similarly, despite having feathered wings, gryphons are portrayed as especially vicious and predatory.

* In ‘’Franchise/SailorMoon''[='s=] final storyline, Usagi’s Eternal Sailor Moon form has a set of wings on her back. [[AwesomeYetImpractical Terrible if you’re fighting in your own home.]]

* ''Literature/ParadiseLost'': In the first twenty lines, God is described as "with mighty wings outspread dove-like" as an immediate sign of his innocence. From there, comparison of angelic and divine wings to eagles and pure white birds are common to indicate regality and goodness. In contrast, the demons have RedAndBlackAndEvilAllOver wings that make them look like [[BeeAfraid swarming bees]].

* ''WesternAnimation/TheBookOfLife'': Xibalba, the ruler of one of the bad afterlives, has black angel wings. [[spoiler:Until his HeelFaceTurn.]]

[[folder:Film -- Animated]]
* ''WesternAnimation/TheBookOfLife'': Xibalba, the ruler of one of the bad afterlives, has black angel wings.

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* ''Manga/SaintSeiya'': Most winged Cloths have angelic wings... which includes ''[[BigBad Hades]]'', whose wings are black as pitch. Notable exceptions are the Wyvern Surplice (evil dragon,) and the [[AGodAmI Divine]] [[PowerGivesYouWings forms]] of the Dragon (good dragon) and Andromeda (fairy-like) Bronze Cloths.

** Beelzemon shows up with black angel wings in two seasons (Tamers and Xros Wars). Instead of showing him as a fallen angel, it's more representative of redemption and second chances at life. Not to mention sheer badassery.

* ''Manga/MahouSenseiNegima'': Setsuna is the child of a {{tengu}}. She suffers from a rare case of albinism, making her wings white instead of the usual black, which fits perfectly with her good guy alignment. Of course, it also made her anathema to her demon heritage, and she ended up being an outcast. This gave her an enormous complex about the wings, which causes her to [[BlessedWithSuck view herself as a monster.]] At least until all of her friends point out that [[CursedWithAwesome having wings is awesome]] and [[FreakinessShame make her look like an angel.]]

* ''Manga/PlusAnima'':
** Cooro's anima is a crow, so he has black wings, and is often mistaken for a messenger of death, despite the fact that he's about the most upbeat person in the entire series.
** Nana, who is a bat anima, is very self-conscious about the fact she has the bat wings when she first meets the group.

* ''Manga/X1999'': Many arts (and in-story dreams) feature the two Kamuis with the good, birdlike wings and evil, batlike wings, respectively, fighting each other. Interestingly, it's the Kamui who wants to ''destroy humanity'' who has the angel wings, while the one who wants to save it gets the bat wings. LightIsNotGood indeed.

* ''Comicbook/{{Empowered}}'':

* ''Comicbook/{{Lucifer}}'': The title character had his bat-like wings cut off before the start of the series. Separated from him, they regenerated into the old white-feathered angelic type. They remained white-feathered and angelic even after he reclaimed them, but it would be hard to argue that he was evil by that point (just wholly selfish and occasionally vindictive).

** ''Comicbook/XMen'': Angel has white feathery wings during his early incarnation. Later, he is grabbed by ComicBook/{{Apocalypse}} and experimented upon, and his wings become metallic and retractable and capable of shooting poison-tipped feather-blades as well.
* Creator/TopCowProductions: Inverted. The Angelus (bad) has white feathered wings, while ''ComicBook/TheDarkness'' (AntiHero) and The ''Comicbook/{{Witchblade}}'' (good) have bat wings.

* ''FanFic/TheChase'': Subverted and discussed; lunar pegasi suffer prejudice for having bat-like wings (among other things), yet are no more likely to be good or evil than any other pegasus. Similarly, despite having feathered wings, gryphons are portrayed as especially vicious and predatory.
* ''FanFic/{{Depravare}}'': The Shinigami Righteous has black feathered wings and the Shinigami [[spoiler: Kira]] has bone wings.

* ''FanFic/RosarioVampireBrightestDarkness'': Angels such as Rason and Gabriel have, of course, white-feathered wings, succubi such as Kurumu has demonic bat wings, and the chronoflies all have butterfly wings.

* ''FanFic/SplitSecond'' has two examples:

* ''FanFic/StarWarsParanormalitiesTrilogy'': Subverted with Maesterus. Initially, a regular humanoid, until he grows a pair of demon-like wings. He later grows a second pair on those wings. However, he's more of an AntiVillain. [[spoiler: And the end of Episode I is pretty much putting on the track to a HeelFaceTurn.]]

** Jasmine in the ''Comicbook/ForgottenRealms'' comics and ''Lost Gods'' is as close to normal human as WingedHumanoid with [[TabletopGame/{{Spelljammer}} spelljamming]] and planewalking experience can ever be -- she is a normal human, but after [[spoiler:an encounter with goddess incognito]] [[BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor she got wings]], and their form changes [[spoiler:to fit the current plane. So well that in the Abyss she was mistaken for [[HornyDevils Alu-fiend]] by ''locals'']]. Good luck making any assumptions regarding her nature or disposition on this basis.

** One of ''{{TabletopGame/Planescape}}'' {{sourcebook}}s sort of {{lampshade|Hanging}}d this with a mention that one of the reasons avariel ([[WingedHumanoid winged elves]]) rarely planewalk is that they are frequently mistaken for Celestials. Which isn't bad on the Good planes, but means more of unfriendly attention in other places.

* ''Franchise/TheElderScrolls''

** ''VideoGame/FireEmblemPathOfRadiance'': Essentially {{averted|Trope}} in. None of the winged laguz tribes in the game are universally aligned, and that a good number of the player character winged laguz with stereotypically "bad" wings (like Nealuchi (raven wings) and Kurthnaga (leathery black dragon wings)) are among the noblest of the laguz seen in-game. Naesala, the most morally ambiguous Laguz shown also has raven wings, however. The herons you see in the game also have pure white, feathery wings, and they all contain huge amounts of [[OrderVersusChaos Balance]], but it is stated that white wings are restricted to the royal family.

* ''VideoGame/{{Touhou}}'' has its fair share of winged characters, mainly in the PC-98 series.

* ''Manga/KamikazeKaitouJeanne'': The size and color of an angel's wings aren't simply decorative, but denote how much divine power they have stored. Full angels have large, pure-white wings, while the fallen angels, [[spoiler: like Fin's true form, ''and'' the [[DarkIsNotEvil lowest rank of angels loyal to God]], including Access Time]], have pitch-black wings.
* ''Manga/KatekyoHitmanReborn'': Subverted with Byakuran, who originally has sparkling angelic wings. Then played straight when these are replaced by wings of HighPressureBlood.

** ''Anime/SDGundamForce'' had Zero Custom, Knight of Silver Wings and Deathscythe, Knight of Darkness/[[spoiler:Deed the Icey Knight]], who as [[{{Expy}} Expies]] of Wing Zero and Deathscythe Hell (see above) have the same style of wings.

** ''VideoGame/DirgeofCerberus'', Vincent Valentine adopts leathery bat wings as Chaos.

* In ‘’Franchise/SailorMoon'''s final storyline, Usagi’s Eternal Sailor Moon form has a set of wings on her back. [[AwesomeYetImpractical Terrible if you’re fighting in your own home.]]

* ''Anime/TenchiMuyo'': Tenchi Masaki possesses energy wings, and are definitely a sign of power. Later on villain Z has them as well, only he has more.

*** Trolls who ascends to god tier gainsfairy wings, befitting their insect-like life cycle, regardless of being good or bad. The legendary rebel hero, the Summoner, also had fairy wings outside of the game.

*** Balisse angels, which are formed from the souls of evildoers who forsook their former ways and embraced good, have black feathered wings.

** '''[[HotWings Flaming wings]]''' are usually demon wings (think [[Literature/TheLordOfTheRings the Balrog]]) but can also go to simply badass and/or fire-themed beings (think [[ThePhoenix phoenixes]], [[OurAngelsAreDifferent seraphim]] or [[ArchangelGabriel Gabriel]]). Probably 'cause they [[IncendiaryExponent look so damn]] ''[[RuleOfCool cool]]''. And this hue hangs together with FlamingSword just nice, doesn’t it, dear?

* In ''Literature/PenrynAndTheEndOfDays'', [[spoiler:while not ''good'' per se, feathered wings are those of actual angels, while angels fallen from grace have leathery batlike wings]]. There is quite a variety of wing colors among the angels, but Raffe's are [[ManInWhite pure white]].

* '''Angel wings''' (white bird wings) used to always represent good. While they still usually do, nowadays they can be possessed by {{Knight Templar}}s or other morally unsavory folks.

** [[OurDragonsAreDifferent Dragons]] are exempt from this rule as they are allowed to run the gamut of alignments without restrictions on expectations (except for maybe [[ColourCodedForYourConvenience color]]). Depending on the work, they may run the gamut of wings, too. Bats are also usually exempt from this rule in works with {{Talking Animal}}s, unless AnimalStereotypes are in play. Similarly, if a creature is inspired by the pterodactyls of the Mesozoic Era, that has no real implications about moral qualities, it just means that it's a pterosaur-like creature.

* '''Upsidedown wings''' are always the mark of something evil, though if it applies to a species there might be that one good person among them. Usually combines with devil or bone wings, but it can also combine with angel wings for that fallen or distorted angel look.