"And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people, saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to Him; for the hour of His judgment is come: and worship Him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters."
Tropes about the Biblical divine messengers, and beings based off them.
Contrast Infernal Tropes.
Tropes:
Also see:
- Always Lawful Good: When their leader is a good deity, so are they.
- Angel Unaware: The story doesn't make it clear if a character is an angel.
- Angelic Abomination: Angels portrayed as eldritch abominations.
- Angelic Aliens: Extraterrestrials with angelic traits.
- Angelic Beauty: Angels with pretty faces.
- Angel/Devil Shipping: Sometimes the trope is literal.
- Angelic Transformation: Changing to or from an angel form.
- Angels, Devils and Squid: The angels Michael, Lucifer, and Cthulhu.
- Angels in Overcoats: If angels appear on Earth, they're wearing overcoats.
- Archangel Azrael: A sculptural figure often depicted as ushering the souls of the dead to God's judgement.
- Archangel Gabriel: A biblical figure often depicted as a divine herald and messenger.
- Archangel Michael: A biblical figure often depicted as a sword-wielding avenger.
- Archangel Raphael: A biblical figure often depicted as a patron of knowledge and medicine.
- Archangel Uriel: A biblical figure often depicted as guarding the gates of Eden.
- The Armies of Heaven: Angels as a military force.
- Ascended Demon: A demon goes good, and becomes an angel.
- Bargain with Heaven: Making deals with angels.
- Born of Heaven and Hell: Part angel or god and part demon.
- Broken Angel: Angels who have forcibly become mundane.
- Celestial Paragons and Archangels: The top brass in Heaven, answerable only to one deity.
- Cherubic Choir: Angels are often a part of these.
- Complete Angel aka Incorruptible Pure Pureness: Not specific to angels but characters who have a good and incorruptible heart.
- Council of Angels: A group of angels are running Heaven.
- Cybernetic Mythical Beast: Sci-fi variants of angels fused with technology.
- Don't Fear the Reaper: Death can be a benevolent figure, especially when an angel is assigned that role.
- Energy Beings: Angels are occasionally depicted as this.
- Fallen Angel: Whether to Earth, or Hell, that angel is cast out from Heaven.
- Feather Motif: Feathers symbols can also represent angels.
- Female Angel, Male Demon: When works assign gender roles to these sides.
- Gold and White Are Divine: Angels with gold and white color schemes to emphasize their divinity.
- Good Angel, Bad Angel: When you have a moral conflict, they appear on your shoulders to argue each side.
- Good Wings, Evil Wings: You can tell the angels from the demons by these.
- The Grim Reaper: The Archangel Azrael is the angel of death.
- Guardian Angel: A personal angel to help you in certain ways.
- High-Tech Heaven: Angels or deities make use of modern or even sci-fi level technology.
- Holy Backlight: Angels are often depicted with these.
- Holy Halo: One of the most iconic aspects of modern angels is a floating circlet.
- Inhumanly Beautiful Race: Angels are commonly beautiful beyond human standards.
- Many-Faced Divinity: sometimes angels are shown with 4 faces.
- Metatron: An angel who serves as God's voice and scribe.
- Nephilim: Usually some sort of hybrid angel, often human/angel or angel/demon.
- Our Angels Are Different: People with halos and wings are just one of many ways to show an angel.
- Our Archons Are Different: A type of angel or angel-like entity from Gnostic belief.
- Perpetual Molt: In anime, an angel will shed lots of feathers, just because of Rule of Cool.
- Power Gives You Wings: Powerful angels with wings.
- Putto: The modern idea of what a cherub looks like.
- Satan: Lucifer is the original fallen angel.
- Unusual Halo: Unique halo designs other than the basic yellow/white ring ones.
- Valkyries: Angel-like female divine warriors; the Norse Mythology counterpart of angels.
- Winged Humanoid: Modern angels are usually depicted this way.
- Winged Soul Flies Off at Death: When dying, a soul looks like an angel, ascending to heaven.