History Main / ThePresentsWereNeverFromSanta

* ReligionRantSongs are fond of this one:

* In Clawfinger's song "God is dead," an unspecified audience is accused of killing each other on behalf of a deity they dreamed up in their own nightmares, the legitimacy of their holy wars against each other reduced to self-absorbed lunacy. Mistaking one's own fantasies for the voice of God might explain how some people who believe in the same God also believe that he wants them to kill each other in his name.
* In Music/{{Blutengel}}s song "No God"... ''"There's a god in your life, / But he is not what you need. / He can't hear you when you call. / He can't help you when you cry. / [...] / Wake up and face reality, realize there is no god. / Wake up open your eyes, / No paradise on the other side!"''

* In Clawfinger's song "God is dead," aN unspecified audience is accused of killing each other on behalf of a deity they dreamed up in their own nightmares, the legitimacy of their holy wars against each other reduced to self-absorbed lunacy. Mistaking one's own fantasies for the voice of God might explain how some people who believe in the same God also believe that he wants them to kill each other in his name.

* One episode of ''{{Daria}}'' has Quinn convinced that she has a guardian angel guiding every minor decision she makes, giving her a CrisisOfFaith when she embarrasses herself at a party. Daria convinces her that at the very least, she shouldn't rely on her theoretical protector for everything, just important stuff.

** Kyoko, in a mini version of this, has become Ren's [[TheObiWan gag Obi Wan]] in costume as a rooster named Bou. His relationship with the rooster has evolved oddly and with no apparent introspection on his part over the course of the series, although he seems to think it's a guy older than himself. Since his reaction when this comes out will be primarily embarrassment (and amazement at how oblivious she can be, given Bou's been giving him advice about seducing the teenage girl he loves without Kyoko ever suspecting it's her), it's much easier to look forward to than the collapse of Ren's web of lies. It should be ''hilarious''.

However, Bob is totally wrong. And the results are likely to be disastrous, as Bob builds his life on a lie and maybe drags others into the mess.

* Done in spades to Nagato from ''{{Naruto}}'', being blessed with the legendary Rinnegan eye power, he is first told by Jiraiya that his eyes are a sign that he is destined to do great things, also previously Jiraiya was given a prophecy that foretold that he would train a special kid who would change the world, and believing that the kid was Nagato he decided to train him, sometime later Tobi outright tells to Nagato that he is the reincarnation of the Sage of the Six Paths. But much later, after getting his ideals shattered, Nagato strays from the right path and becomes Pain, [[AGodAmI calling himself a god]] and justifying all his attrocities by his beliefs. Turns out [[spoiler: that the reason he had the Rinnegan was because at some point Madara Uchiha had implanted his own eyes on him as part of a ThanatosGambit, so that Nagato could learn to use them for the purpose of reviving him when the time was right.]]

* In the world of ''{{Slayers}}'', there are plenty of real, actual demons, many of whom are openly seeking humans with whom to make an infernal pact with. So it's kind of [[WebAnimation/ZeroPunctuation impressive, in a retarded kind of way]], that the GoldfishPoopGang HarmlessVillain manages to be a fervent worshipper of a demon who apparently doesn't actually exist.

* In ''Theatre/ThePhantomOfTheOpera'', the Phantom tutors Christine in singing while telling her he is the Angel of Music, sent by her deceased father to guide her. Even after she sees who he really is, it takes her a while to break free of his influence.

Bob thinks he has someone really special helping him. A guardian angel, a fairy godmother, the president of the United States, a wise alien, something like that. This fake or imaginary benefactor (Faux Empowering Entity) gives Bob (Faux Empowered Person) something that makes him feel special and chosen.

Consequentially, Bob may consider his own actions justified based on having the benefactor's blessing (or acting as per her advice or direct order). However, Bob is totally wrong. And the results are likely to be disastrous, as Bob builds his life on a lie and maybe drags others into the mess.

* Played for maximum tragedy & angst in the ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'' episode [[spoiler:"Course Oblivion"]]. The crew put their trust in a shape-shifting alien who they believe to be the Star Fleet Captain Kathryn Janeway until they discover that they are also shape-shifting aliens that have been removed from their home world, forgetting that they were copies of the original crew. This creature does believe itself to be Janeway, and it's trying to keep her crew safe and get them home, just like the real Janeway would. Too bad for the crew that she's not a real Star Fleet officer, and has a really flawed understanding of what is "safe" and what is "home".

* In ''Series/{{Angel}}'', ''Spike'' is set up as a possible replacement for Angel. After all, the Shanshu Prophecy doesn't tell us ''which'' vampire-with-a-soul it's talking about. Angel got his soul as a curse, whereas Spike fought to get his back. He sets himself up as a small private investigator helping the hopeless on behalf of the Powers That Be, as represented by their psychic emissary, Doyle. Yes, this is exactly the first-season plot. Except that "Doyle" is really Lindsay, the evil Wolfram and Hart runaway, out to get revenge on Angel by undermining his faith in his own destiny and using his chief rival Spike as an unwitting errand-boy.

* ''ScarredLands'': One of the lesser ChaoticEvil gods is fake. The Chaotic Evil overgod killed but then pretended to make him a God so that his followers would pray to the overgod who slayed him while believing that it is him they serve. Why? ForTheEvulz, of course. And all the poor minions get for their faithful service is the horrors of Hell. Note that this isn't a ScamReligion: It is a real ReligionOfEvil that really worship an evil God - it's just that they have been deceived regarding ''which'' evil God hears their prayers!

* In ''ThePhantomOfTheOpera'', the Phantom tutors Christine in singing while telling her he is the Angel of Music, sent by her deceased father to guide her. Even after she sees who he really is, it takes her a while to break free of his influence.

* Uncle Rupee in ''FreshlyPickedTinglesRosyRupeeland''.

* [[spoiler:Gil Graham]] from ''[[MagicalGirlLyricalNanohaAs Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha A's]]'' has provided Hayate with a home and allowance, even paying for hospital funds. [[spoiler:Turns out that this is his gambit to make Hayate the master of the Book of Darkness, [[WellIntentionedExtremist allowing him to seal the Book of Darkness away.]]]]

* An episode of ''JonathanCreek'' featured a man who believed he'd made a deal with the devil for prosperity, and had fairly good reasons for believing so as well. But in the belief he was invincible he took greater and greater risks. [[spoiler: In fact, the real source was the Secret Service, seeking to protect his secret RoyalBastard wife.]]

* ''LiveActionTV/Defiance'': The mayor gave her sister (the headmistress of the city's brothel) a coin when they were kids, saying that their mother sacrificed herself to save them and gave them an heirloom coin as a dying wish. It turns out that their mother was just another scavenger who was too afraid to protect her children and ran like hell. Said coin is not from Saint SmittyWarbenJaegarManJensen because there is no Saint SmittyWarben... yeah.

* In ''TheExorcismOfEmilyRose'', an angel gives the titular character blessings and tactical updates in her war against the devil. While psychiatry (in the movie as well as in RealLife) is convinced that Emily was insane and that it was wrong of her priest to advise her to stop taking her medication, the movie makes it [[AmbiguousSituation ambiguous]] whether the battle was all a matter of insanity (making the angel a FauxEmpoweringEntity who helped Emily destroy herself) or a real battle between spiritual forces (making the angel a EnigmaticEmpoweringEntity who helped Emily defeat the devil and [[TooGoodForThisSinfulEarth move on to a better place]]).

* In ''KungFuHustle'', a street bum sells Sing an overpriced kung fu manual in a flashback, which sees our protagonist down the road of misery and failure. The bum appears at the end of the film, after Sing has defeated the Axe Gang and the Beast, trying to sell an array of kung fu manuals to another unsuspecting kid. [[spoiler:Possibly subverted since the manual did contain a legendary martial arts technique.]]

* Madame Trashheap started out as a FEE in the early episodes of ''FraggleRock'', doling out simple adages that the Fraggles interpreted as wisdom and giving away useless items claiming they were magical but were really {{magic feather}}s. Early on, she began to develop true oracular powers, often bordering on the omniscient, and could even do real magic (like the time she made all the radishes disappear).

* In ''Series/{{Angel}}'', ''Spike'' is set up as a possible replacement for Angel. After all, the Shanshu Prophecy doesn't tell us ''which'' vampire-with-a-soul it's talking about. Angel got his soul as a curse, whereas Spike fought to get his back. He sets himself up as a small private investigator helping the hopeless on behalf of the Powers That Be, as represented by their psychic emissary, Doyle. Yes, this is exactly the first-season plot. Except that "Doyle" is really Lindsay, the evil Wolfram and Hart runaway, out to get revenge on Angel by undermining his faith in his own destiny and using his chief rival Spike as an unwitting errand-boy.

* In ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid2'', Fortune's ability to deflect all sorts of attacks is this. She believes that she has been 'cursed' with luck, but it is in fact the result of electromagnetic fields generated by a device controlled by Ocelot.

* ''Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick'' features an Angel "of pure Good and Law" which clears the heroes' names, making them innocent of a very serious crime in the eyes of an order of Paladins. However, the trial is just a ShamCeremony, and the "angel" is just a manipulative ghost disguised as an angel.

* In ''{{Fables}}'', Cinderella is quite disillusioned with the fairy godmother, who did set her up with that jerk "Prince Charming" in spite of already knowing about his trail of failed marriages.
* In ''CinderellasSister'', the "fairy godmother" is all about hurting young womens' self esteem so that they will desire more expensive clothes, cosmetic surgery etc. And she's not a real person either, merely an advertisement mascot.
* In the ''Nighthawk'' mini-series in the MarvelUniverse, Nighthawk is in a coma and has a vision of an angel that facilitates his healing and bestows on him a "second sight", which enables him to see criminal acts before they are committed. In return, he must punish the would-be criminals. Once healed, Richmond becomes Nighthawk once again and fights crime until forced into a confrontation with {{Daredevil}}, whom he kills. The "angel" then reveals itself to be the demon Mephisto, who transports Nighthawk and Daredevil's corpse to Hell, intending to claim Daredevil's soul.

** Even if she was insane, the movie indicates that maybe her faith was more important anyway. Emily herself was positioned to play this role for people looking for some confirmation of spirituality in the modern world; the movie suggests that if her faith had this positive effect on the world, maybe that was more important and the sacrifice she made would still mean something even she was actually crazy.

* In ''KungFuHustle'', a street bum sells Sing an overpriced kung-fu manual in a flashback, which sees our protagonist down the road of misery and failure. The bum appears at the end of the film, after Sing has defeated the Axe Gang and the Beast, trying to sell an array of kung-fu manuals to another unsuspecting kid. [[spoiler:Possibly subverted since the manual did contain a legendary martial arts technique.]]

* In ''Film/TheLedge'', Gavin argues that Shana's inner strengths and weaknesses comes from herself, no from God or Devil.

* In ''Literature/TheWonderfulWizardOfOz'', the Wizard is ultimately proven to be a fraud, giving out {{Magic Feather}}s as if they were real gifts. (However, the gifts are symbolic. Thus they can be considered valid in [[Film/TheWizardOfOz the film version]], which was AllJustADream.) In [[Literature/LandOfOz the novels]], the Wizard later learns real magic that nonetheless never has as big an effect on characters or the story as those three symbolic gifts he gave in the first book.

* Literature/DonQuixote: Don Quixote meets a rascally innkeeper who he thinks he is a Castellan (a castle warden) and asks him for {{Knighting}}. Ironically, in real life, to be knighted as a joke would have disbled Don Quixote to become a real Knight by the rules of the ''Siete Partidas of Alphonso X the Wise''.

* Played for maximum tragedy & angst in the ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'' episode [[spoiler:"Course Oblivion"]]. The crew put their trust in a shapeshifting alien who they believe to be the Star Fleet Captain Kathryn Janeway until they discover that they are also shapeshifting aliens that have been removed from their homeworld, forgetting that they were copies of the original crew. This creature does believe itself to be Janeway, and it's trying to keep her crew safe and get them home, just like the real Janeway would. Too bad for the crew that she's not a real Star Fleet officer, and has a really flawed understanding of what is "safe" and what is "home".

* In Clawfinger's song "God is dead," a unspecified audience is accused of killing each other on behalf of a deity they dreamed up in their own nightmares, the legitimacy of their holy wars against each other reduced to self-absorbed lunacy. Mistaking one's own fantasies for the voice of God might explain how some people who believe in the same God also believe that he want them to kill each other in his name.

[[folder:Religion and Mythology]]
* Most atheists would argue that any "miraculous occurrence" where an individual triumphed over-adversity and then claimed to have the assistance of God actually fall under this trope. Their feelings on the issue can be summed up as, "It wasn't God who got you through the trouble, it was you. All on your own. No help needed. Congratulations on being more capable than you think you are."
[[/folder]]

* Played for maximum tragedy & angst in the ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'' episode [[spoiler:"Course Oblivion"]]. The crew put their trust in a shapeshifting alien who they believe to be the Star Fleet Captain Kathryn Janeway until they discover that they are also shapeshifting aliens that have been removed from their homeworld. This creature does believe itself to be Janeway, and it's trying to keep her crew safe and get them home, just like the real Janeway would. Too bad for the crew that she's not a real Star Fleet officer, and has a really flawed understanding of what is "safe" and what is "home".

* Played for maximum tragedy & angst in the ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'' episode [[spoiler:"Course Oblivion"]]. The crew put their trust in a shapeshifting alien who they believe to be the Star Fleet Captain Kathryn Janeway until they discover that they too are also shapeshifting aliens that have been removed from their homeworld. This creature does believe itself to be Janeway, and it's trying to keep her crew safe and get them home, just like the real Janeway would. Too bad for the crew that she's not a real Star Fleet officer, and has a really flawed understanding of what is "safe" and what is "home".