Our Angels Are Different - Television Tropes & Idioms

See, contrary to modern iconography, angels weren’t always described as humans with wings and halos.

Metatron: Oh, get over yourself, will you? I couldn't rape you if I wanted to. Angels are ill-equipped. (lowers his pants, revealing he has no genitalia) See? I'm as anatomically impaired as a Ken doll. You bottom-feeders and your arrogance; you think everybody's just trying to get in your knickers.

— Dogma

Dean: I thought angels were supposed to be guardians. Fluffy wings, halos — You know, Michael Landon. Not dicks.

Castiel: Read the bible. Angels are warriors of God. I'm a soldier.

—Supernatural

Subtrope of Our Monsters Are Different, dealing with the Celestial.

Angels in fiction tend to be of a vaguely Abrahamic nature, and may or may not have big fluffy feathery wings and/or Holy Halos. If they get things wrong enough, it may result in them becoming earthbound fallen angels, or, worse still, turned into demons (as per Paradise Lost, of course. Or, you know, Medieval tradition in which Demons are just the Angels that sided with Satan against God). They generally are found doing God's will as part of some sort of grand plan, or helping mortals, sometimes incognito. May be able to fall in love with a mortal and give up their Angelic nature.

There is a traditional celestial hierarchy of angels, which comes from an early Christian writing by one "Dionysus," into the following nine "Choirs", of which only the first and last two are commonly seen in art and literature:

Angels — These are the ordinary inhabitants of Heaven; if something needs doing on earth, these are the guys who generally do it.
Archangels — Of whom there are seven, three of whom have very familiar traditional names: Raphael, Gabriel, Michael (names for the others, such as Zadkiel, Uriel, and Ithuriel, don't seem to have caught on — angelic names, but the way, traditionally tend to end in "-el", as in "Azrael", the Angel of Death, or "Israfel", the Angel of Music (no, not that one)). Each archangel is the head of one of the remaining upper choirs.
- In the Eastern Orthodox Church, there are seven major archangels; however, other than the Archangels Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael the names of the others vary radically. Also the arrangement of the choirs and the status of archangels vary. It Christianity, archangels often embody a particular function or idea: for instance, Raphael is the archangel of Healing, Raguel the archangel of justice and Jegudiel of politics.
Principalities — Traditionally bear armor and swords, and watch over rulers and nations.
Powers — Carry flaming swords and chains to bind The Devil; serve as guardians. In Christian tradition the Angel with the Flaming Sword in Eden was one of these, the Archangel Jophiel.
Virtues — Traditionally wear armor and swords. The last three choirs form the bulk of the heavenly army.
Dominations — Wear crowns; represent God's power.
Thrones — Hold up God's throne. They're said to be two interlocking chariot wheels. Chariot wheels. On fire. They are bringers of God's justice and represent his authority.
Cherubim — (singular Cherub) Tend to be depicted in blue, or as blue; represent God's knowledge and act as soldiers and guardian angels. St. Gabriel is Head Cherub. In The Middle Ages, often misunderstood to be a single angel named "Cherubin". In The Renaissance, the Putti, chubby little children or even a chubby face between two or more wings, were later confused with Cherubim (or even Seraphim, as in this painting◊ by Ghirlandaio). That, however, is largely a modern linguistic confusion. The Biblical prophet Ezekiel describes the cherubim as a tetrad of living creatures, each having four faces: of a lion, an ox, an eagle, and a man. They are said to have the stature and hands of a man, the feet of a calf, and four wings. Two of the wings extended upward, meeting above and sustaining the throne of God; while the other two stretched downward and covered the creatures themselves. Other depictions have them as four winged, four armed creatures with a four-faced head at the center of their mass.
Seraphim — (singular Seraph) Traditionally six-winged, red, and fiery; represent God's love. Satan used to be one of these (hence his six wings in Dante's Divine Comedy). The reason they have six wings is to cover their true form, which is so bright and glorious that merely witnessing it grants a one-way trip to Heaven... at the cost of bodily incineration. Their chief is St. Michael.

Angels and Demons are generally closely linked with the whole overall theology/cosmology of a setting; thus, the wide variation.

The prospective Angel has many options available for customization:

What is their morality? The most common way of varying things. Given that Angels are usually messengers or servants of God, God Is Evil tends to come into full play here; if an Angel can ask Have You Seen My God or is part of a Council of Angels, expect confusion over what is and isn't in His best interests.
Are they Winged Humanoids? The most common representation of Angels, but the one with the least support in the Bible, or any other Abrahamic text. Most descriptions of angels are profoundly fucked up, with thousands of eyes, seven wings, multiple heads or faces, metallic body parts, burning flames and not a single thing even resembling a human body. Although a few will take distinctly human form (like those who came to Lot), far more often we're talking Eldritch Abomination levels here — there's a reason the first thing angels usually say is "fear not!" However, the Bible's more bizarre descriptions are rarely portrayed in popular culture, instead going with the well established Winged Humanoid form (see also Adaptation Decay and Memetic Mutation). For examples of bizarre angel descriptions, see Daniel 7 or Revelation 4.
Are they actually Supernatural? Sometimes, in a Sci Fi or Atheist setting, or a Fantasy Kitchen Sink, Angels are not actually supernatural, merely confused for such; whether this is intentional on their part feeds into Morality, above, and whether they are Jerks.
Are they jerks? Regardless of whether they're supernatural or moral, sometimes Angels are portrayed as jerks, to keep with a Crapsack World or World Half Empty setting. It may occasionally overlap with Light Is Not Good, but often most people take a direct Dark Is Evil aproach at describing evil angels. Fallen angels, if portrayed as good, are always within the Dark Is Not Evil realm.
How 'human' are they? If the author is trying to make a subtle point, or wants to go in for some Cosmic Horror, they can make the Angels, regardless of what they look like, be in some way fundamentally inhuman in their thinking.
Can they fall from grace? And if so, do they become Demons, Fallen Angels, or can they become human? If a central character is an Angel, expect an answer to this one; otherwise, tends to be left vague.
How mysterious are they?