Follow TV Tropes

Following

Pals with Jesus

Go To

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/tumblr_lzsa3poitu1qdyc0to1_r1_500_7603.jpg
Jesus with his best bud, Biff.

Bethany: Christ? You knew Christ?
Rufus: Knew him? Nigga owes me twelve bucks.
Dogma

Maybe you live in a Fantasy Kitchen Sink. Perhaps you're the proud resident of a world with a Crossover Cosmology. Whatever the case, you need to put the kettle on the boil and biscuits on the tray because your pal Jesus, or your old buddy Krishna, is coming over for tea in twenty minutes.

This trope is about the tendency of fantastic fiction and ancient myth to have completely mundane mortals (often of the heroic variety) be on a First-Name Basis with the movers and shakers of the universe. The reasons vary: maybe the Physical God, Anthropomorphic Personification, or (surprisingly personable) Eldritch Abomination have taken a liking to the character for their own reasons. Maybe their portfolios coincide a great deal, so they share the same interests. Or maybe the god just wants to chill out with someone who's not depressed due to Time Dissonance, or because they don't identify with their vainglorious "equals". Then again, if your hero is actively fighting Dracula and his minion The Grim Reaper across several games, it's only natural they get to get friendly after a while.

Whatever the case, the character has a direct line to the Powers That Be.

Though not limited exclusively to these types of characters, the following tend to attract deific attention most often: The Unfazed Everyman and Weirdness Magnet.

Compare God Was My Copilot, where this is used as The Reveal, and Reasoning with God, where higher powers can be talked to but only on extraordinary occasions. See also Did We Just Have Tea with Cthulhu?, Olympus Mons, and Enemies with Death. If they get involved in the characters life, may become a Sidekick Ex Machina or Monster Roommate. If the relationship involves more than just friendship, may lead to a Divine Date. Contrast Egocentrically Religious for conceited characters who believe themselves to be pals with Jesus. The situation can get even more interesting if Jesus' Pal happens to be a Flat-Earth Atheist. For a more mundane example, see Interclass Friendship.


Examples:

    open/close all folders 

    Anime and Manga 
  • Dragon Ball:
    • By the end of Dragon Ball Z, not only have our heroes met three tiers of gods, the manager of hell, and sundry other beings, the main characters are also more powerful than they are.
    • They are also the ones who selected Dende as the new God of Earth. So, not only are they pals with Jesus, but they're his bosses, mostly because Asskicking Leads to Leadership.
    • Half the point of the Battle of Gods movie seems to be restoring some meaning to the word "god", as it pits Goku against Beerus, a God of Destruction who makes Buu look like a pushover. Not only does he declare Goku a worthy opponent despite beating him, he joined in Bulma's birthday celebration before threatening to blow up the Earth.
    • This is furthered in Dragon Ball Super, where both Beerus and Whis regularly drop by for tasty food, and Goku later catches the attention of Zen'ō, the Top God of the Dragonball-verse, who decides that Goku would make a great friend. Later deconstructed with Zen'O, as Goku being friends with him blinds Goku to how Zen'O's innocent, childlike nature actually makes him insanely dangerous given his power level (guy could wipe out the whole multiverse with ease) and that maybe the warnings Beerus and Whis have been giving him about not reminding Zen'O about a multiversal tournament have a point. Goku is horrified when Zen'O decides all losing universes in the tournament will be destroyed. Of course, Goku's reminders turn out to have been the one thing that kept those universes in existence, as Zen'O was planning to destroy them anyway and the tournament was merely to decide which one was spared his wrath.
  • In YuYu Hakusho, Yusuke's boss is Koenma, a centuries-old being with the body of a toddler who is in charge of running the afterlife's Celestial Bureaucracy.
  • Excel♡Saga, the Great Will of the Macrocosm regularly chastises Excel for getting killed, forcing the Will to bring her back to life.
  • In Saint Young Men, Buddha and Jesus are roommates.
  • Haruhi Suzumiya. Kyon and Haruhi. Hell, make that everyone and Haruhi.
  • First Easter Mirage Corps and other associates of Amaterasu dis Grand Grees Eydas IV, Emperor of Amaterasu Kingdom Demesnes from Mamoru Nagano Five Star Stories, and Amaterasu mel Gibih Lachesis Fanatic B Guiress, his fatima and wife. While not really a local Almighty, Amaterasu is damn close, and there is strong indication that he's the grandfather of one.
  • Pokémon: The Series often has Legendary Pokémon palling around with human children. Rarer still are Legendaries that join a human trainer's team since they can affect entire ecosystems.
    • Pyramid King Brandon captured not one, but three Legendary Pokémon. Tobias has at least two. Noland is a close friend of an Articuno, although it's not actually on his team.
    • Ash Ketchum has never captured a Legendary Pokémon, but he's befriended most of them, even Arceus. Some would say that he is more recognized by divine forces that watch over Pokémon than humans.
    • Pokémon the Series: Sun & Moon:
      • Ash makes such a good impression on Tapu Koko without realizing it that it gives him a Z-Ring on the first night. The next day, it teaches him how to use Gigavolt Havoc. He also has a M<ythical Pokémon on is team since the sun & moon arc.
      • Mallow becomes the temporary guardian of the Mythical Shaymin after coming to terms with her mother's death.
    • Pokémon Journeys: The Series: Goh earns the respect of a rightfully suspicious Suicune (who had been targeted by hunters and later captured by him to make sure they didn't get it first) by making sure it and its forest friends were healthy before giving it a chance to go back into the wild. It takes that chance, but not before letting him know it's there if he needs its aid.
  • Saint Seiya has Saori/Athena as a rich heiress who also is the Team Mom to the Bronze Saints who protect her directly. Also, one of the Golden Saints at her service is Shaka, the reincarnation of Buddha.
  • In Ah! My Goddess Keiichi Morisato makes a wish for a goddess to stay with him forever, and gets that wish granted by way of Belldandy, Norse goddess of the present who's the daughter of a deity who is God (read: "The Almighty"). Her sister Urd is the daughter of Hild, the current ruler of the other side.
  • In the OVA continuity Tenchi Muyo!, two of Tenchi's housemates are revealed to be part of the three Choushin goddesses who created the multiverse they live in. Sasami merged with the goddess Tsunami when she was injured as a young child, while Washu simply sealed her memory and powers away in the three power gems that she gave to her daughter Ryoko. As of the end of the 3rd OVA series, their sister Tokimi seems to be joining in on the fun as well.
    • Word of God has seemingly stated that Tokimi will eventually join in on Tenchi's Harem. Tenchi's batting three for three now.
  • In High School D×D, the Only Friend Ophis considers is Issei, the protagonist.
  • Nyaruko: Crawling with Love!: Under the "surprisingly personable Eldritch Abomination", we have Mahiro, who has attracted the affection of a certain Lovecraftian horror, namely Nyarlathotep, the Crawling Chaos. Fortunately for Mahiro's sanity, Nyarlathotep has taken on the form of a human girl.
  • Inari, Konkon, Koi Iroha: Inari herself no longer qualifies as a "mundane mortal." But her brother Touka, who only has the ability to see gods, somehow became the belligerent pal of Uka, the local fox goddess. They play video games together, and eventually develop feelings for each other.
  • Karin from UQ Holder! knew Jesus back in the day. They probably haven't been on speaking terms since she sold him out to the Romans.
  • Downplayed in Lyrical Nanoha. Vivio Takamachi isn't actually a divine being, but she (or rather, the woman she's cloned from) is worshiped by a major religion. Technically, all of her friends and family (five of whom are members of the very church that worships her) are this by default.

    Comic Books 
  • Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season 8 takes this one step beyond. After Season 7 but before Season 8, Xander went on a bit of a vacation. During that time, Dracula found him and re-brainwashed him. During that time, they were best friends, doing all kinds of things (Xander taught Dracula how to ride a motorcycle, for example). The Slayer Organization ends up rescuing Xander, but they need Dracula's help in Season 8. It turns out that Dracula hadn't shaved, fed or dyed his hair (causing it to go grey) since Xander left. When he learns they are coming, he shaves and dyes his hair once again to look good for Xander. He pretends that everything has been fine since Xander left, but it's clear he's lying. When he mistakenly thinks Xander is asking him out on a date, he haughtily refuses in a way that can only be described as Tsundere. Basically, in the Buffyverse, Dracula is gay (or bi, but that word doesn't seem to exist in the Buffyverse) and has a crush on Xander. Oh, and Xander has a subconscious verbal tic because of the months of brainwashing. Whether he wants to or not, he refers to Dracula as "Master".
  • In Spider-Man so far Peter is the only character in the entire Marvel Multiverse to ever have The One Above All (literally God in the Marvel Universe) go after him to have a chat, a meaningful one; others looked for The One Above All and some talked to him but Peter was the only one who was looked after by the man himself; in all Peter seems to have a tendency to intrigue multiverse beings, good and bad, to sometimes take their precious time to talk with him.
  • Uatu The Watcher in Marvel Comics. Sure he isn't quite a "god," per se, nor does he ever visit our heroes at home, but we sure do see an awful lot of him, don't we? Given that the Watchers are supposed to be True Neutral observers who never interfere, the fact that Uatu even lets humans see him shows how much Uatu likes us.
  • Deadpool once visits an alternate future where he is still around and best friends with Death.
  • The Marvel Universe and DC Comics both have more than enough gods running around as superheroes. DC even has several angels running around as superheroes.
  • Many characters in The Sandman (1989), but mainly Hob Gadling, who is friends with the anthropomorphic personification of dreams. One (minor) goddess thinks of friendships like these as "like falling in love with a kitten: one day you'll have to put an old cat to sleep."
  • Apparently this (literally) is the premise of a Finnish Swedish-language comic called Ernst och Jesus.
  • In Battle Pope, the title character has Jesus for a roommate and Cowardly Sidekick.
  • This is the point of the Chick Tracts. If you are a good Christian, you will be in a "relationship with God" and Jesus will be your friend. Which means that you will get instant results from your prayer, including giving people heart attacks. Or something.
  • Played with in The Chronicles of Wormwood. The Antichrist (a really nice guy who rejects his heritage) pals around with Jesus, who has brain damage from a police beating.
  • Doctor Strange is on a first-name basis with a lot of powerful entities, from the Vishanti to Eternity and even the Living Tribunal. They seldom go to him, though he has paid a house call on Agamotto once or twice.
  • Daily Bugle reporter Ben Urich, who is about as normal as you can get, is on a real-identity basis with both Daredevil and Spider-Man.
  • Meet Verity Willis, Living Lie Detector and social recluse (think about that power a bit and you'll get why), from Loki: Agent of Asgard neighbour and Only Friend of (the 3rd) Loki and through them acquaintance of at least Thor Odinson, Lorelei, Sigurd (The Ever-Glorious), and Valeria Richards, also trusted ally of Latveria (how to get on every terrorist watchlist in one easy step).
  • During Tony Isabella's run on Ghost Rider, the titular cyclist struck up a friendship with a character known only as "a friend", who just happened to look a hell of a lot like Jesus Christ. Had editorial not intervened, he would have eventually been revealed to actually be Jesus, and would have redeemed Ghost Rider's soul. Instead, he was revealed to be a demon, and Isabella quit Marvel in outrage.
  • Wonder Woman:
  • In the 1988 Advanced Dungeons & Dragons comic by DC, the heroes are close friends to Luna the innkeeper, who turns out to be the goddess Selune.

    Comic Strips 
  • Angus Og: During the story arc where Drambeg is being sold to the Sheikh and due to be shipped piece by piece to the Arabian Gulf, Rev. McSonachan says he will get legal advice to see what he can do to stop it. Lachie wonders what good that will do, and Angus says that that Reverend has some very influential contacts. Gilligan Cut to McSonachan praying and repeating "an Interim what?" implying that God has told him to get an Interim Edict note  to stop the removal.

    Fairy Tales 
  • Ivan Turbincă: The titular character befriends God and Saint Peter at the beginning of the story.

    Fan Works 
  • Child of the Storm has a number of examples, what with the number of gods and demigods hanging around - mainly, Loki and Thor. The Avengers and their associates are pretty much unfazed by their divine status, but as is pointed out on more than one occasion, not everyone is quite so familiar with them. A particularly prominent example is Harry, the protagonist, who serves as the Jesus figure who people are pals with, what with him being the demigod son of Thor (who had been incarnated as James Potter. Long story). Said friends mostly take this in their stride (much to his relief), aside from one or two occasions when the whole We Are as Mayflies thing is brought up, though the Christmas Special features Harry complaining about how, when they went to a carol service, Carol sniggered at him the whole way through 'Hark the Herald Angels Sing'. Apparently the line 'hail the incarnate deity' set her off.
    • Additionally, after most of a million words of the Jesus Taboo being firmly held (save for mentions that Thor and Loki used to be friends with Jesus and were supposedly a bad influence on him), a friendly dark skinned man with curly hair introduces himself to Harry as 'cousin Joshua' - no prizes for guessing who that is. He lends Harry a sympathetic ear after one particularly spectacular Trauma Conga Line resulting in Harry becoming the Dark Phoenix, giving him some good advice in the bargain, and afterwards pops up every now and then, serving as what Harry dourly remarks is best described as a combination of 'therapist and parole officer.'
  • The final chapter of Red Jewel Diaries uses this as the punchline to a scene when an evangelical member of the Saint Church tries to get Lutecia to turn to religion.
    Lutecia: (to her mother) I think someone was trying to set me up with Vivio.
  • In it isn't something that i know how to deal with, Darkrai, a legendary Pokémon, is drawn to Nando and decides to join his team because his Contest Appeals involve using his Altaria's Perish Song, which causes many of his opponents to suffer from nightmares.
  • In Pokémon Reset Bloodlines, the Alolan Kahunas seem to be close friends with the respective Deity Guardians of each island, at least in the case of Hala (from whom Tapu Koko frequently steals root beer) and Olivia (who apparently gets dating advice from Tapu Lele). In addition, Lady Ilene in Rota is in contact with Celebi and the Mew from the Tree of Life.
  • In the Pokémon fanfiction, Ash's Just Reward, Ash is on friendly terms with a lot of the Legendary Pokémon, much to the shock of his classmates. The Legendary Pokémon are even given gifts to Ash as their way of saying thanks for helping them.
  • In no grave can hold my body down, the church of Maxine Caulfield has managed to piece together, through months of painstaking debate and mysterious recurrent nightmares, a vague outline of what their goddess looks like. Then the town delinquent drops by and happens to note that their drawing looks exactly like this girl who shows up to chat with her about life and the universe...
  • In The Weaver Option Lelith Hesperax casually chats with Cegorach, the Laughing God of the Eldar, and even criticizes his plan for creating new Eldar gods.

    Films — Animated 
  • Coco: Miguel strikes up a friendship with Frida Kahlo, which helps him in the climax.
  • In The Return of Hanuman, Maruti (the incarnation of Hanuman) befriends Minku, Munni, and Daddu, until he's not allowed to play with them because he is considered dangerous. However, they get to be friends again after Maruti saves the village from Armageddon.

    Films — Live-Action 
  • In Dogma, Rufus knew Jesus Christ, as said in the page quote. He also claimed to be the Thirteenth Apostle, who was left out of the historical record, as he was Black.
  • In Clerks II, Jay is a born-again Christian, so at least he remembers his previous movies.
  • A non-canon short, shown as promotion for Thor: Ragnarok during the 2016 San Diego Comic-Con, "reveals" that during the events of Captain America: Civil War Thor was in Australia palling around with a regular guy called Darryl, being roommates and bothering him at the office.
  • TRON plays it a little strangely in the Expanded Universe. The Programs worship human Users as creator deities, and the citizens of The Grid view Flynn (a talented human programmer) as their chief deity. Flynn considered Tron a close friend and the feeling was mutual, but Flynn treated his friends in both the analog and digital worlds shabbily. After making a Heroic Sacrifice to fend off Clu's forces during the coup, the two never saw one another again until right before their deaths. By then, Flynn was too broken and Tron was too brainwashed to do much, though it did snap Tron out of it long enough to make another Heroic Sacrifice that only bought Flynn and crew a few extra seconds.
  • Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey: Death slowly warms to Bill and Ted over the course of the movie, to the point that he happily agrees to become bass player for their band at the end.

    Literature 
  • Neil Gaiman's American Gods has the creatures/gods/goddesses of mythology basically chilling around with normal people. (Hell, this applies to just about anything written by Neil Gaiman.)
    • Jesus doesn't personally appear, but he gets a mention once; Mr. Nancy saw him having rather a rough time of things hitchhiking in Afghanistan. Not many people are pals with him there...
    • In one edition, an individual strongly implied to be Jesus (and an odd resemblance to Steven Spielberg) has a brief conversation with Shadow.
  • The Discworld series:
    • Death doesn't really have many human buddies aside from his manservant Albert and (adoptive) grand-daughter Susan, but has friendly relationships with everyone he meets outside of The Duty (such as the witches and wizards) and he is fairly friendly towards the people he meets in his official capacity (unless they don't like cats). His job is to make sure they get going on to the afterlife all right, but it's not a job that allows for much socialization.
    • In The Last Hero, the gods allow the Silver Horde to infiltrate Dunmanifestin and greet them as equals (the "new gods we've been hearing about"). Initially it was only a joke, but Cohen's trick with the dice seems to have earned the respect of at least a few deities.
    • Nanny Ogg was Time's midwife. Literally.
    • Death and the Lady have both developed an interest in Rincewind, although he doesn't meet them much nor would he want to know them any better than he already does.
    • Brutha spends most of Small Gods chatting with the Great God Om. Who's a tortoise.
    • Twoflower teaches the Four Horsemen bridge. And they'll probably be playing it until the last trump!
  • Don Camillo often has a conversation with Jesus himself whenever he is close to a crucifix (and even with the Virgin Mary once in the first movie). The Christ does not respond to him when he is overwhelmed by anger though.
  • Dragaera: Vlad is on a first-name basis with Verra the Demon Goddess, as well as Sethra Lavode, who could become a Physical God if she ever wanted to. He's also good friends with Aliera and Morrolan, who are some of the most powerful Dragaerans in the Empire.
  • In the original Dragonlance trilogy, Paladine the supreme god of Good tags along with the adventurers as Fizban the Fabulous and pals around with Tasslehoff Burrfoot. Tas proceeds to mention that fact every chance he gets.
    Tasslehoff: Paladine—I'm great personal friends with Paladine, mind you—...
  • Iron Druid Chronicles: Atticus isn't much more than an immortal human with the ability to go hang around the same places as various mythological beings (his magical powers apart from the immortality are all tricks that normal mortals could also pick up), but after a few thousand years of said hanging around, he's on a first-name basis or at the top of the hit list with essentially every one of them. Jesus is on moderately friendly terms with him, but also seems fairly exasperated by his antics.
  • Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff toys with the trope a bit, since Biff was Jesus' best friend before he hit it big.
  • Steven Erikson's Malazan Book of the Fallen is full of Physical Gods, many of which hang out with mortals. Examples:
    • Anomander Rake, one of the most badass Ascendants in the world, calls the human Whiskeyjack his "friend," something he has almost never done before with any mortal or god.
    • Tehol Beddict lives with his manservant, Bugg. Bugg is really Mael, the Elder God of the Sea. He hangs out with Tehol because he hasn't had that much fun in millennia. Tehol doesn't know this at first, but when he finds out, both are happy to continue the relationship they have.
    • Elder God K'rul makes himself at home in the dreams of the mortal mage Kruppe. Since Kruppe knows so much and is a gifted storyteller, though somewhat wordy, they spend a lot of time at the camp fire talking.
  • Narnia: Aslan is Jesus in a world where paws and a mane happened to be more appropriate than hands. It's no secret. It helps that Lion!Jesus is more of a hands-on divinity than Human!Jesus. Like, coming in person to help slay the evil overlord, stopping by to break curses, makes public appearances like coronations, does birthday parties and bar mitzvahs, etc.
  • In the works of J. R. R. Tolkien, the Valar are like archangels, originally working in close cooperation with God (Eru), and the Maiar are like angels.
    • In The Silmarillion, Elves and Valar live together in Valinor. One of the Elven kings marries Melian, one of the more powerful of the Maiar (around the level of Sauron).
    • In The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, Bilbo's (and Frodo's) pal Gandalf is one of a team of five Maiar sent to Middle-earth on a mission from the Valar. The Witch-king might not really be pals with Sauron, but is presumably a close associate.
  • The Belgariad:
    • Garion grows up as a Farm Boy type character whose "Aunt" and "Grandfather" are Time Abyss sorcerers in direct service to the Gods, and who shares his head with the Personification of Destiny.
    • While the pantheon was physically present on the planet, the god Belar liked to spend his down time partying with his worshipers. Belgarath finds him irritatingly likable when they meet.
    • Belgarath himself — The Dreaded Time Abyss first disciple of the God of Magic — spends a lot of time Walking the Earth to keep details of The Prophecy in place and strikes up friendships with any number of people, some of whom even learn who he really is. He once spends a quiet period camping and panning for gold with a Nadrak, one of the (nominal, reluctant) followers of his arch-enemy God of Evil; the Nadrak has a Freak Out upon realizing the truth, but quickly decides that they might as well be friends.
  • In David Eddings' The Dreamers, the four Physical Gods of the country tend to pal around and be on first name terms with some of their subjects.
  • And to round out the Eddings citations: in the Elenium/Tamuli series, Sephrenia's younger sister is an incarnation of her patron goddess Aphrael. And Sparhawk's daughter is another incarnation of the same goddess Aphrael. Now imagine a scenario in which the two incarnations meet. The world doesn't end, but those in the know feel as though it should have.
  • In Alfred Bester's lesser-known novel The Computer Connection, the main characters are literally pals with Jesus—he's one of their group, and they call him JC "so it won't sound like we're swearing."
  • Suzie Shooter from the Nightside novels started out as a perfectly ordinary human (albeit one with twenty levels in Action Girl), but, mainly through her association with John Taylor, has gotten to meet plenty of the universe's movers and shakers. And usually, being Suzie, to stick a shotgun in their faces if they won't treat her with respect.
  • In the novel Runemarks, the main character encounters, and in some cases befriends, the entire Norse pantheon.
    • And she's trained in magic by Odin One-Eye himself.
  • In the Codex Alera series, each of the heads of the House of Gaius in turn has a relationship (of varying nature) with Alera, the fury that represents their entire country. It's like if every United States President got advice from a manifestation of Uncle Sam. However, Alera is still bound by a code of conduct forbidding her from directly aiding one side over the other. She will not make one side protected from the power she throws out. If one side, however, has something which negates the negative consequence, that to her is incidental.
  • In Robert A. Heinlein's Job: A Comedy of Justice the protagonist finds out that the person who was the nicest to him on his journeys is Satan. He's the closest thing he has to a friend and ally.
  • The Dresden Files:
    • Harry Dresden has a personal relationship (not necessarily cordial) with a surprising number of powerful supernatural and mythological beings. In later books, even Uriel, one of the four archangels, has taken a personal interest in Harry, who calls him "Mister Sunshine" (they also talk about Star Wars together). Both friends and enemies have found such contacts to be cause for concern. It's gotten to the point where in Skin Game, Harry winds up coming face to face with Hades himself... who wants to personally shake his hand and wish him luck, because he sympathizes with Harry on multiple levels (stuck doing thankless jobs that you constantly get flack for and that are misunderstood by most.) Also, they both love big dogs.
    • While also on friendly terms with Harry, King Gwynn ap Nudd, one of the Wildfae kings focusing on some from Wales, was once friends, or at the least, was master to a Mr. William Sianis, and enjoyed watching baseball games with him disguised as a billy goat. When Gwynn and Sainis were kicked out one infamous game when the Chicago Cubs faced the Detroit Tigers because Gywnn's goat disguise stank, he cursed the Chicago Cubs to not win the World Series and kept it up for many decades that came after.
    • Sarissa, handmaiden to Queen Mab, has this as her job title. As one who is connected better with the mortal world than Mab, Mab agrees to help her with some familial medical issue, and in return Sarissa spends a weekend every month showing Mab things about humanity. They sometimes take in movies, go to Disneyland, or shopping, but all with the purpose of Mab working to better understand humans, so she can better manipulate them and control them. Naturally, not all is as it seems.
    • Kris Kringle, aka Odin, is also an associate of Harry's, with whom he's on good terms. He's also notable as one of the very few beings in the entire Dresdenverse to whom Harry shows respect.
  • Trapped on Draconica: Kazebar used to be friends with Dronor.
  • In book three of the Iron Druid Chronicles, Atticus has whiskey and 'fish and chips' with Jesus. The meal is then interrupted by a cabal of angry Jewish cabalists. When Jesus saves him immediately after, Atticus cracks up laughing that he can now claim he was 'Saved by Jesus' to any Christians who ask.
  • Played straight with virtually all the Christian characters in The Mark of the Lion, as per the usual standard of many Christians today. Especially notable are Hadassah, one of the protagonists who gets a fair amount of angst mileage out of this relationship, and minor Historical Domain Character John the Apostle, who is this trope in the most literal way possible.
  • In Rick Riordan's The Kane Chronicles the main characters are on a first name basis with a number of Egyptian gods who are treated more like old friends than embodiments of primordial forces. Of course, since the Egyptian Gods, having been working with their family for literally thousands of years, they are family friends. The goddess Bast was their house cat and the dwarf god Bes served as their chauffeur.
  • In Riordan's other series about the Greek gods: Percy Jackson and the Olympians and The Heroes of Olympus the wine god Dionysus served as camp director, Hermes runs a delivery service, Iris runs her own organic store, and the main character has a father-son relationship with Poseidon. However, this trope only barely applies to some of these relationships and averted in many others. The Olympians are such Jerkass Gods most of them either are not friendly with mortals or demand to be treated like gods and for mortals to act like mortals.
  • A Mage's Power:
  • In Jo Walton's Thessaly series, all of the adults know who Athena is, even when she's pretending to be one of the children of the city.
  • The Stormlight Archive:
    • The Inexplicably Awesome Time Abyss Hoid casually mentions having had drinks with Tanavast, now known as Honor, one of the setting's sixteen Deities of Human Origin, who's also worshiped as the one and only omnipotent god on Roshar. He also cheerily says that he and Cultivation, another such deity, never really got along. Other things he says make it clear that he knew all sixteen both before and after they took up their Shards.
    • Dalinar comes to be on good terms with the Stormfather, an immensely powerful Spren that's also the greatest surviving remnant of the shard Honor, and ultimately gains his Knight Radiant powers by spiritually bonding with it. Highlighted when the Church refuses to marry Second Loves Dalinar and Navani, so he summons the Stormfather in person and has it officiate the ceremony itself.
  • Deconstructed in Wax and Wayne by the same author. The Faceless Immortals, servants of the god Harmony, are essentially angels to the people of Scadrial. Wax is a Cowboy Cop who works with them, and while his superiors honor them, they're annoyed that Wax essentially has divine intervention on call shielding him from legal consequences.
  • Food Of The Gods by Cassandra Khaw: Rupert Wong sold his services to Yan Luo, God of the Dead, to settle a truly outstanding karmic debt, but Yan Luo came to genuinely enjoy his company (and Rupert's willingness to indulge him in board games, despite trying to convince him to get a PlayStation). He even does Rupert a few outright favours because he likes him.
  • A peculiar example exists in Cthulhu Armageddon, a After the End post-apocalypse series by C.T. Phipps. Given Lovecraft's Cosmic Horror Story universe, it shouldn't happen, but actually has some precedent in HPL's Dream Cycle. Protagonist John Henry Booth has a weird relationship with Nyarlathotep, the Crawling Chaos and Other God. Nyarlathotep seems to find him slightly more interesting than other mortals and has placed his "mark" on him.
  • The Queen's Thief
    • Eugenides first encounters the old gods of the peninsula in The Thief and is deeply unsettled when a careless "gods, don't let the horses make a noise" results in them being silent to the hoofbeats. His hope that they ignore him from then on is unfulfilled. Eugenides, God of Thieves marks him later in the book. In the second, he goes to a temple during his extended Heroic BSoD... and they tell him to Quit Your Whining. In the third, his patron catches him from a deadly fall and scolds him for being up so late. Despite his grousing, it's implied that Eugenides' fragile state of health is due partly to the strain that divine encounters put on a mortal body. In Return of the Thief he's either possessed by his divine namesake, or something very close to it, which means that through him the God of Thieves is personally leading the defense of the Little Peninsula against the Medes.
      "No 'glory shall be your reward' for me. Oh no. For me, it is 'stop whining' and 'go to bed.'"
    • In the fourth book, Kamet tells Costis some of the tales about Immakuk and Ennikar, the legendary heroes of the Mede Empire (and who are the setting's version of The Epic of Gilgamesh). Along the way in their journey from Medea to Attolia, a couple of men pop up from time to time to give them a little help, and with enough hindsight Kamet cottons on that it was them. Costis' reaction is a little different—while he's trying to avoid looking sick enough to be sent to a lazar house, Ennikar turns up to help them look like normal travelers having a chat. Costis immediately greets him by name.
    • In Return of the Thief, the young scholar Pheris is personally tutored in his dreams by Moira, the messenger of the gods and the scribe of mortal history. At the very end of the book the entire pantheon shows up for a Dance Party Ending on the Attolian palace roof, and Moira claims Pheris as her dance partner.

    Live-Action TV 
  • Andromeda: Trance Gemini is eventually revealed to be the avatar of the sun of Tarn-Vedra and exists across multiple realities.
  • Bernard and the Genie: Before he got trapped in the bottle, Josephus was a friend of Jesus who witnessed three of his miracles and the cleansing of the temple. Although he didn't realise that He was the Son of God. He's impressed to learn that Christmas is a festival which (deep down) celebrates his friend's birth, and is upset to learn that He was crucified. Towards the end, when Bernard about to send Josephus back to his own time, Bernard tells him to tell Jesus to watch out for Judas Iscariot.
  • The whole point of the [adult swim] series Black Jesus, in which Jesus is a homeless guy living in a van in Compton, California.
  • Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Xander Harris with Dracula in the comics. Xander even taught him how to motorbike.
  • Doctor Who:
    • From the point of view of their companions, the Doctor could be seen like this. They're an immortal, time-travelling alien who fights terrifying monsters for fun... and also pops round for tea every now and then.
    • In "The Fires of Pompeii", both the Doctor and Donna are this for a Roman family they help out. At the end of the episode, we see that the family honours the two as their household gods.
    • It's also implied that the Doctor themself may have been this. The Tenth Doctor claimed to have been at the first Christmas (he got the last room at the inn) and the first Easter, although he provided no details. "Between you and me, what really happened was..."
  • The basis of God Friended Me. It's heavily questioned whether or not God himself is actually involved, but given everything that happens by seeming chance here, that doesn't seem too likely.
  • Iolus on Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, best buds with Zeus's son. He also got along pretty well with Aphrodite, too.
    • While "pals" isn't the best word for most of the relationships, being on speaking terms with the gods was standard on Hercules and Xena.
    • Speaking of Xena... Gabrielle was a close friend to Eli...who looked and acted like Jesus, and ushered a new, Christian-looking religion into the world.
  • Joan of Arcadia: Joan is either this or Cosmic Plaything depending on how you interpret her relationship with God.
  • Kamen Rider Gaim: It's eventually revealed that Kouta is the favored candidate to win the race for the Forbidden Fruit of Helheim by DJ Sagara, who is the avatar of Helheim itself and who shows up frequently to give Kouta pep talks and power-ups, when need be.
  • Played with in The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power.
    • Nori Brandyfoots befriends the Stranger, a man who fell from the sky in a meteor. The final of Season 1 reveals he is an Istari, implied to be everybody's favorite bearded wizard.
    • Galadriel's case is a bit complicated. She has no idea that the man she befriended in the middle of the ocean, is a weak and lost Sauron.
  • The Filipino TV series May Bukas Pa has a boy named Santino being best friends with Jesus, whom he nicknames "Bro".
  • An in-universe example: A Saturday Night Live sketch focuses on Jesus and his best pals Paul and, um, Barry.
  • Star Trek: The Next Generation: The Enterprise (with Picard in particular) are, much to their own irritation, pals with Q.
    Picard: I've just been paid a visit from Q.
    Riker: Q? Any idea what he's up to?
    Picard: He wants to do something nice for me.
    Riker: I'll alert the crew.
  • In Supernatural, the Winchester brothers have befriended a couple of angels, and are at least on speaking terms with Death. And as of the season 11 ender, they hang out with God and eventually help Him and His sister overcome their relationship issues. Oh, and Lucifer, too.

    Music 
  • In the Strauss Ex Machina song Vacation in the Vatican, the pope is "the voice of the Lord / and the leader of the world"... and also secretly a very close friend of the protagonist (who appears to be nothing more than an Average Joe. Perhaps inspired by hanging out with the protagonist, the Pope does use his divine voice of God to create world peace.
  • The country song "Beer With Jesus," by Thomas Rhett, puts an extremely blue-collar spin on this trope.
    Tell me how'd you turn the other cheek
    To save a sorry soul like me?
    Do you hear the prayers I send?
    What happens when life ends?
    And when d'you think you're coming back again?
  • The musical comedian Stephen Lynch does a song called "Craig" [1] that refers to a brother of Jesus that nobody knows about. Naturally, he's rather pissed that Jesus is known worldwide but he isn't. He doesn't have it quite so bad, though; he can't turn water into wine, but he can turn it into Coors Light, and he has "hydroponic shit that me and Judas grow". He also cleans up with the women that follow his famous brother ("but if you have a little sister then there's room at this inn!").
  • Kanye West: "I Am a God" not only contains a conversation between Kanye and Jesus Christ, but also credits God as a guest feature.

    Myth and Religion 
  • Older Than Feudalism: In Greek Mythology, Zeus was known for his fondness of having affairs with human women.
    • There were also a number of times in Greek mythology when gods and goddesses would take likings to mortals, particularly heroes on quests. As was the case with Zeus, a good number of those interests were romantic, but there were still a few cases in which the deity really respected the mortal. Notable examples include the hero Odysseus with Athena, and the hero Jason with Hera.
    • Special mention goes to Baucis and Philemon, who gave two tattered vagabonds a hospitable and kind welcome, only to realize they were entertaining Zeus and Hermes. The two gods were pleased with the old married couple, and set them up for life — and then ensured that they would be together even after they died.
  • The Bible: Judaism, and later Christianity, are filled with stories that basically go: "Hello, humble and/or morally questionable person; the creator of the universe wants a chat with you!"
  • In The Talmud, aside from the many cases of people speaking to God, we're told in Ketubot 77b that Rabbi Hanina bar Pappa was friends with the Angel of Death.
  • In some Native American Mythology, Coyote is God's best friend.
    • In one particular story, God allowed all of the animals to change their names. Except for Coyote, because Coyote was His friend and He didn't want Coyote's name to change.
    • In another story, Coyote is hanging out with God and is responsible for the diversity of humans (including the male and female genders) because he kept messing with God's basic human design. God just let him do it, because Coyote was his friend and it would be rude to get mad at him.
    • In some stories, Coyote is even singled out by God to be a more important teacher of life lessons than the other Animal People. Usually, this is because he and God are friends. Given that half the lessons we learn are because Coyote gets his ass handed to him because of his own dumbfuckery, it could be a case of Vitriolic Best Buds.

    Podcasts 

    Radio 
  • Radio Free Vestibule's Kevin and God is an audio skit about God appointing a mortal named Kevin to be his new prophet, but things get derailed due to Kevin's airheaded nature. This eventually rubs off, and God spends his time watching TV and going bowling with Kevin.

    Tabletop Games 
  • Dungeons & Dragons: Immortals in the Mystara setting adopt mortal identities whenever they have something to do on the mortal plane that they don't want other Immortals to notice. In the Wrath of the Immortals adventure, Benekander does this by becoming the player characters' patron.
    • Forgotten Realms: Elminster was a close confidant and occasional lover to the original Mystra, the goddess of magic, and he has a friendly relationship with Midnight, the current Mystra.
    • Speaking of Mystra, her cleric and former adventuring companion, Adon (from the Avatar series of novels) was one of the very few people who remembered Mystra's former identity as Midnight, the two still considered each other friends, and she would occasionally visit him when she was seeking a mortal perspective beyond the narrow concerns of the gods.
  • Exalted: For many Exalts, particularly the Sidereals who live and work in Heaven, gods are more likely to be your drinking buddies, dates, or annoying coworkers than objects of worship. This even extends to some Incarnae, the most powerful of the gods—Luna personally bestows each and every Lunar Exaltation by pulling variants of this trope.
  • The One Ring: It's entirely possible for the PCs to gain Saruman the White, Gandalf the Grey, and Radagast the Brown as Patrons. Whether they realize that they're exchanging favours with angelic spirits clothed in flesh is another matter.
  • Rifts: Erin Tarn, the hero/narrator, is ridiculously well-connected. Her most powerful personal friend is the goddess Isis!
  • Scion has the player-characters set as mundane children of the gods. Mundane until they are revealed to be children of the gods, and then slowly ascend their way from "basic mortal" to "Physical God." While still simply Scions (as opposed to Demigods or Gods), their powers basically come from being on first-name basis with their god-parents (as opposed to later, when their powers come from their own deification).

    Video Games 
  • Arknights:
    • The Feranmuts are super powerful beings treated as deities in the world of Terra. The playable Sui siblings being fragments of a Feranmut called Sui make the Doctor this trope.
    • The head maid and confidant of the Karlan Saintess is Kjera who is an aspect of a Feranmut worshipped as the goddess Kjeragandr, making Pramanix this.
  • Super Mario Bros.
    • Rosalina, who's stated to be guardian of the cosmos (if not something greater), ends up very connected to Mario and company after her debut in Super Mario Galaxy. She says she'll watch over Mario from beyond the stars and, as her appearances in the Mario Kart series and Super Mario 3D World show, she's not above joining their adventures.
    • In the Playable Epilogue of Super Paper Mario, Mario can chat with the game's equivalent of Hades and Zeus. They think he's such a fantastic guy that they tell him that when he eventually does die, he can just find them and say the word to get the fast-express to the top-rank tier of the afterlife.
      • Amusingly, they will tell Bowser the same thing.
  • The more "normal" Touhou characters (though calling anyone in Gensokyo normal is just asking for trouble) in particular Reimu and Marisa are shown to be on a friendly basis, or at least grudgingly accepting, of anything from Odd Job Gods to Physical Gods to literal gods to people powerful enough they might as well be gods. And of course, this being Gensokyo, they have pounded them with danmaku at least once.
    • It has been mentioned that whenever Reimu summons a Shinto god (like when she summoned the material for the cold fusion experiment); they seem eager to please her; which she finds mildly annoying.
    • That, and they seem to hang out with Hijiri Byakuren, after UFO.
    • And Sanae lives with the gods she worships. Of course, she's also part god herself, since one of her gods is also her many-times-great-grandmother.
  • Pit from Kid Icarus: Uprising. Granted, he's the leader of an angelic army, but he still goes by a first-name basis with every single major or minor divinity in the game.
  • The dōmori in Namu Amida Butsu! -UTENA- who heads a temple full of Buddhist deities.
  • Ōkami: Prophet-in-training Issun is a good pal of Ammy the Furball, aka Amaterasu, Sun Goddess and most important Shinto Deity.
  • In The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword, Link gets to be friends (and maybe more) with Zelda, the reincarnation of the goddess Hylia.
  • Mortal Kombat has Raiden, God of Thunder, as a playable character. Slightly subverted as in the MK-verse the "Gods" are more Elementals and the position is treated like a job. Played straight in The Movie, however.
  • In Sonic Unleashed, Sonic's latest companion is Chip, who is actually Light Gaia. Justified in that for most of the game, Chip doesn't even know he's Light Gaia due to having amnesia from being prematurely awoken, along with Dark Gaia (who are in an endless cycle of restoring and destroying the planet, respectively), by Dr Eggman as he shattered the planet into pieces. Although Sonic initially thinks that Chip has amnesia due to crash-landing right on top of his head.
  • Shin Megami Tensei is built on this trope. By the end of each game, your team will consist of major deities from virtually every pantheon on record, many of whom joined simply by being bribed into doing so.
  • In Pokémon you can catch Arceus in a ball, thus making Him your friend. Or, if you prefer, a slave that has no choice but to follow your orders.
    • Unfortunately, you can't order Arceus to remake the universe in your image, or to do everything that would be cool about having God as your pet. The closest it comes is a special event in HG/SS, where Arceus can give you a special Egg, which contains either Dialga, Palkia, or Giratina. The developers say Arceus does this by completely dismantling and then rebuilding the entire universe exactly as it was, except now this Egg exists.
    • In the same vein, the main character in Pokémon Conquest befriends Arceus just in time for the main story's final battle, and can do it again post-game. It's an even better example because they doesn't even have to capture it for it to do as they say.
    • Pokémon Legends: Arceus starts with the player being pulled from the present day to personally receive a mission from Arceus to catch 'em all, and to assist, Arceus gives the player a smartphone and texts them helpful messages and important navigation tools. The game also explains that catchable versions of Arceus are merely shadows of itself with fractions of its true power that it allows to walk around the world it created.
  • In Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Gates to Infinity, Hydreigon (who's actually the Voice of Life, the embodiment of the world's will to survive) eventually settles into a relaxing life in Post Town and decides to join the team on a whim. Emolga can't help but question the latter decision.
  • In the Harvest Moon universe, the main character is frequently on speaking terms with the Harvest Goddess, and, in some games, the Harvest King (AKA, Harvest God). In fact, you can usually marry them.
  • Sora has a tendency to act this way towards people in power in the Kingdom Hearts games, even though he hasn't earned it. His attitude towards characters such as Mickey Mouse and Yen Sid is a casual "Hey there!" About the only one he actually seems to show some respect towards is Captain Shang from Mulan. Riku, on the other hand, actually is pals with Mickey, though he doesn't dare try this sort of Sora-ish behavior until Mickey actually tells him that they're pals and he doesn't need to call him by his title.
  • Record of Agarest War's Borgnine, one of your first party members, is not only a playable character but also a larva, a lesser god.
  • In Cthulhu Saves the World, you play as a Depowered Cthulhu. Thus all the members of his party are this trope.
  • Lunar: Protagonists in this series are not only friends with divine beings, they're the love interests too!
  • The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim:
    • The Daedric Princes go out of their way to flatter you when you take up their quests. Most of them go so far as to proclaim you their new Champion. The only one who betrays you is Mehrunes Dagon the Prince of Destruction, and he does that to everybody. Justified since, unlike the protagonists of previous games, you are no mere mortal.
    • Your companions can be said to have this relationship with the Dragonborn, since they essentially are Nirn's resident Crystal Dragon Jesus.
    • In the "Dawnguard" DLC, the group's resident mage/healer, Florentius Baenius, is also a priest of Arkay, the god of death. He differs from most priests in the game in that he claims that Arkay talks directly to him, and you can overhear him speaking to Arkay like they're an old married couple. The game seems to hint that he might actually be right; some of the information he gives, such as how he's the person to inform you when your spouse has been kidnapped by vampires, he couldn't have known any other way...
  • In Half-Minute Hero, the Time Goddess approaches you in the beginning of Hero 30 to aid you in your adventure. She then becomes a member of your caravan.
  • Invoked For Laughs in the finale of Dragon Age: Origins by Zevran, who asks you to say hello to the Archdemon (the Big Bad Eldritch Abomination of the game) for him and laments on how it never writes him anymore.
    Zevran: Say hello to the Archdemon for me. He never writes anymore... it's rather distressing.
    • Played straighter with Flemeth, who's mysterious and powerful but friendly to the players and stated to likely be a famous witch from centuries-old folklore. Especially after the reveal that she and Solas from Dragon Age Inquisition are secretly old gods from Elven folklore.
  • In Tales of Xillia, Milla Maxwell, who's effectively the god of Rieze Maxia and the female protagonist of the game, ends up allying with numerous humans for the sake of fulfilling her mission to protect the world. Though she's rather aloof and awkward initially, she opens up and adjusts over time, eventually behaving in a manner that's normal enough to make it easy to forget that she's supernatural at all.
  • In Guacamelee!, you become pals with the Devil. Granted, it's an Enemy Mine situation, at least at first. In the end credits he's shown partying along with everybody else, including the village friar (though the Devil was turned into a rooster by the Big Bad, so the friar might not be aware of who he is).
  • In South Park: The Stick of Truth, the player can become Facebook friends with Jesus, who will even give him a rosary to summon him, once per day, to get rid of a group of enemies.
  • In South Park: The Fractured but Whole, the player can once again friend Jesus on social media (this time via a selfie), though rather than helping you in battle Jesus helps you choose religions (ranging from Christianity to Wiccan). He won't even mind if you identify as an Atheist.
  • Fate/Grand Order: Some of the Servants you can contract with are deities from different mythologies, like Ishtar, Parvati, Quetzalcoatl, etc. They're of different degrees of friendly towards you, and they tend to have different worldview than humans, but they are loyal and helpful to your cause. Also amongst the Servants you could summon was Saint Martha, who was visited by Jesus, literally became pals with Him and had her brother revived by Him. Other Saints like Georgios and Jeanne D'Arc revere Him greatly too, but it's unlikely that they literally met Him in person, unlike Martha.
  • Dragon Quest:
  • Adol from Ys has befriended a few deities in his adventures, but none with too much natural order intervention since said deities weren’t all-powerful to begin with, that changes with Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana; the climax of VIII reveals the existence of Maia, a goddess shown to be an all-powerful creator with range over many worlds, if not all of existence altogether, who states she is very fond of Adol’s adventures, life itself to her is like a dream and Adol’s adventures are some of the best parts of her dream. Maia has directly interfered with the conclusion of VIII’s story so it would have the best outcome for Adol and friends.
  • In the Neptunia series, IF and Compa are two mortal humans who are best buds with the four deities of Gamindustri and their sisters, mostly because they were there for Nep after the first time she lost her memory and helped her save the world. Shockingly they're also about as effective as Histoire in getting Nep to actually do her job, though, admittedly, that means "not very."
  • Exaggerated in Dragalia Lost, since almost every non-villainous character can fall under this trope, since their version of Jesus is actually Euden.

    Webcomics 
  • Sinfest practically runs on this concept. In the first week, God is introduced as a frequently recurring character. In the more literal sense, Jesus is shown to be good pals with Buddha.
    • Jesus's attempts to befriend Seymour are a running gag. Despite all his Bible-thumping and Jesus obsession, Seymour routinely fails to recognize the real deal, and even shakes Him down for Jesus memorabilia at one point... which is an apt metaphor for Seymour's relationship with Christianity in general.
  • The various Deaths in Irregular Webcomic! have struck up friendly relations with characters.
  • Wapsi Square: Monica and Shelly are on speaking terms with some very strange and powerful beings who have influenced the destiny of the entire world. In Minneapolis.
  • Cleric is friend with Jessie, lord of undeath.
  • Gabe and Tycho have occasionally been shown to be literally friends with Jesus.
  • Gunnerkrigg Court is frequently visited by mythological creatures and sometimes deities. At least, the Minotaur lives there, Coyote (that sneaky Trickster God from Native American Mythology) and Chang'e dropped in, and some teacher-parent meetings apparently involved Odin.
    • ...because reincarnated Brynhildr was one of the Court students — and a good friend of Surma and Anja — and "the Old Man" personally checked her diligence.
    • Antimony has spent enough time speaking with various Psychopomps that she's become conversant in several of their languages. Apparently they like Annie's company because her (very rare) ability to see them unassisted means she's one of the few people they ever get to speak with who isn't dead, scared, and confused. Also good friends with Renard and Ysengrin and Coyote. She once mentioned the latter before the whole classroom of people who know all too well who Coyote is, but didn't happen to interact with him this closely. By the way, immediately after realizing this from their reactions happened the first time we saw her blushing.
    • One fine lady with personal interest in Moon affairs (Chang'e) accidentally ran into Annie's classmate, Matt. Then lad helped her to catch the white rabbit, they had a nice chat and he ended up a little... moonstruck. She also "borrowed" his mp3 player with the full Dire Straits discography on it.
  • In Headbanged, the main character becomes friends with Jesus after he (Jesus) borrows one of his black metal CDs.
  • The Adventures of Billy and God. Should have become a series.
  • Jeffrey Rowland, creator and main character of Overcompensating, infrequently hangs out with YHWH and his son.
  • The main heroes of Planescape Survival Guide not only end up having one-on-one training time with Thor and his ilk, but are also close personal friends and allies of The Youngest, one of the three Powers That Be who created the whole Planescape. Of course, it helps that they do know her - The Eldest is dead and The Elder is evil.
  • Ironically, Zexion and Axel are the people who are closest to Jesus in Ansem Retort. They go out drinking, use Jesus' blood as a cure for hangovers, and play Pictionary. Then again, this Jesus doesn't necessary have his head screwed on right either...
    • ... though in the context of Ansem Retort, the fact that Jesus's only flaw is a taste for weird porn makes him still one of the nicest characters in the series, if not the nicest. Even in Ansem Retort, Jesus Was Way Cool.
  • T-Rex of Dinosaur Comics frequently talks with God and the Devil, and is the only character in the strip who seems to be able to hear them.
  • Elan and Banjo. Banjo even gets a "Brother," Giggles, who leaves to be the god of an orc tribe. *sniff*
  • Russel's Teapot has a primary character who hangs around with Jesus and discusses theology.
  • Death seems to be good friends with the main character of Ctrl+Alt+Del's side comic sillies.
  • In Digger the statue of Ganesh, an avatar of sorts containing part of the god Ganesh, is perfectly personable and quite a nice guy, as you'd expect for the remover of obstacles.
  • In Jack heaven appears to operate a "my door is always open" policy as it is perfectly possible for mortals to have a friendly, down to earth relationship with Angels both before and after they are dead, regardless on where they end up after death, and it is shown that senior Angels who were once mortal enjoy an equally pleasant and informal relationship with god. Unfortunately as the gates of hell appear to have been replaced with revolving doors, it is just as possible to have a relationships with Anthropomorphic Personifications of the Seven Deadly Sins, whether you want to or not.
  • In early strips of The Devil's Panties, Author Avatar Jennie would hang out with JC and the Devil. They still make occasional appearances but not as often.
  • Happle Tea has this on a regular basis with a few different beings.
  • In Casey and Andy, Andy is dating Satan, so Casey and his girlfriend Mary have her (yes, her) around the house a lot. Plus, this means Andy has a rather uncomfortable I'm-dating-your-daughter relationship with God.
  • This is the entire basis for Hero In Training. The heroes hang out with the high and mighty.
  • minus.: The green-haired girl is the only one of minus's friends who is a normal human.
  • An odd variation in Sonichu as one comic had both God AND Jesus talk to Ivy and declare that she is to be Chris' true love. Of course, she ends up dead the next issue without even meeting Chris, so...
  • Axe Cop: "Abraham told me how God is his friend, and He gave him a copy of all His powers."
  • Shortpacked!: Re-resurrected Jesus works at the toy store with the rest of the cast. And officiates at weddings.
  • In Unsounded, when the undead Duane finally maintains his lucidity when his soul enters the Khert, the timeless vault of all humanity's past and future memories and the gods-forged infrastructure of reality, he is greeted by the legendary demon Lady Ilganyag. When he rejects her offer of help, she distracts him by making his fleshless, lifeless corpse aroused.
  • Team Fortress 2: After dying to a wound left by an gray mann robot, Scout ends up in Heaven, where God eagerly awaited him, saying he is a big fan of him (or at least acting like one), even requesting to see him flex and makes a deal with him, when, instead of destroying the world for not having their women sleep with Scout, he'll send Scout back to Earth to try again till he dies on December 4, 1987. Yes, this is actually what happened. The comics can just be that weird.
  • It's been mentioned that Nodwick has died so many times that he's on a first-name basis with a large number of non-evil deities.
  • In El Goonish Shive, after the events of Question Mark, Sarah was scared shitless of Pandora (who is, y'know the single most powerful member of a race of demigods). She's a good deal less scared during their second conversation, and by the third she becomes one of the very few people who treats the immortal like a person, and ask questions like "Are you okay?".
    • Edward Verres is on casual speaking terms with the crystalline turtle frog "Steve", an entity described as a Physical God. Their first meeting apparently had Steve startle Mr. Verres by appearing, addressing him by full name, and proclaiming they're going to be friends.

    Web Original 
  • Done in the short fiction Me and Sue and Ricky and God. It doesn't end well.
  • Rather literal example in The Salvation War, with Michael-Lan and Jesus. Except here, it's Getting Baked With Jesus.
  • Metal Gear Awesome and its sequel has Jesus appear to Snake's aid a couple of times.
  • A relatively common occurrence in multifandom roleplaying games which allow gods or godlike characters. In Drama Drama Duck, for example, people like Phoenix Wright and Mikaela Banes are on friendly terms with the likes of Jordan C. Wilde and Apollo.
  • Sailor Moon and the Sailor Scouts seem to have a direct line to Jesus in Sailor Moon Abridged, as he always responds immediately whenever they so much as say his name. This doesn't seem to help them in the slightest, though.
  • A relatively common ocurrence in We Are All Pokémon Trainers, due to the group having saved the world from one too many Eldritch Abominations or some of them being the "player characters", to the point the players usually have the Legendaries on their phones's Speed Dial. Examples include Gamer being pals with Mesprit, DS with Dialga and Palkia, or Luke with Ho-Oh... and with Reshiram, whom he was dating.
  • In Funny Business Lucy and Lewis don't care much that their friend Jeannette has the powers of a god. It's deconstructed when it turns out that Lucy does view Jeannette as God, and so follows her without question. When Jeannette finds out, she is not happy.
  • DSBT InsaniT: Corla is presumably the right-hand-woman of Waterfall Girl, who is the more-or-less the Poseidon of series.
  • In Farce of the Three Kingdoms, Zhuge Liang appears to be pals with the narrator.

    Web Video 
  • The Cleric Jester Lavorre from the second campaign of Critical Role towards her god, the Traveler. He has been around her since her childhood, and she sees him as her oldest and best friend. Where other clerics have to rely on mystical signs, she can directly talk with him if no one else is around.
  • Extolled as the pirates' "heavenly friend", the Pirates SMP cast generally and very casually call upon the Sun Godnote  whenever they encounter any worldly issues.
  • Both members of Chrimson Phantomas from Within Lapenko died, got into Heaven and made friends with God. Later the three of them even recorded a song together.

    Western Animation 
  • God, the Devil and Bob: Bob actually ends up playing therapist to the two most powerful beings in the universe after God forgets the Devil's birthday. Once that's resolved, he browbeats them both into cleaning up the mess they made of his garden before his family gets home.
  • Jesus is a talk-show host in the early seasons of South Park (which is the Trope Namer more or less, as "Jesus and Pals" is the name of his public access talk show). In later episodes the boys visit him at his house in South Park.
    • There's also Saddam Hussein's, er, relationship with Satan.
    • And Eric Cartman's special relationship with Cthulhu.
    • And the fact that Moses himself hangs out with South Park's Jewish community from time to time. Basically, all religions have this in the South Park 'verse.
  • The Simpsons: "Flanders to God! Flanders to God!"
    • Homer has met and had a friendly chat with God a few times.
  • Zoidberg in Futurama comes to Bender's execution dressed up and introduces himeslf as Santa's pal Jesus.
    • Not forgetting Bender meeting an entity who could possibly be God and hanging around with him.
  • Avatar: The Last Airbender: Aang essentially IS Jesus of that world, and communicates with the spirits, many of which are regarded as deities. And Sokka's first girlfriend turned into the moon.
  • My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic:
    • Twilight Sparkle is a close and dear student to Princess Celestia, who personally raises the Sun itself every day.
    • According to Lauren Faust, Twilight's baby dragon assistant Spike was raised by Celestia, so it's not wonder he's at ease around her as well.
    • Celestia is ready to be pals with anyone, though most don't realise this and instead panickingly try to avoid anything that might displease her. In particular, Twilight's friends from Ponyville have already met her several times, and in any case, they're kind of working for her directly in a very important capacity, as they wield the Elements of Harmony that are needed to take care of the few threats that are too much even for Celestia herself. Notably, despite her close relationship with the princess, Twilight herself is often the pony most prone to overreaction of this sort, even to the point that she's had multiple outright mental breakdowns thanks to the huge amount of stress she places upon herself. The difference is that she's comfortable with just meeting Celestia if she doesn't feel she's required to perform somehow, though as the quote below demonstrates, her neurotic tendencies can lead her to believe the princess expects something of her even when Celestia clearly just wants things to be laid back.
    Spike: I thought this was just an unofficial casual visit.
    Twilight: There's nothing "casual" about a visit from royalty!
    • Celestia's sister and co-ruler Luna, who controls the night and the Moon, has an even much harder time getting familiar with her subjects due to archaic manners and a major case of Dark Is Not Evil But Sure Looks Like It. In "Luna Eclipsed", she arrives in Ponyville to make the acquaintance of the citizens, but at first everyone except Twilight Sparkle only cowers in front of her. By the end, though, she's just casually hanging out with everyone.
    • In the episode "Keep Calm and Flutter On", Fluttershy befriends Discord, who is basically the Anthropomorphic Personification of chaos.
    • By series end, Twilight has become the Jesus in the picture, having taken Celestia's and Luna's place as Equestria's ruler and raiser of the Sun and Moon, with her new student Luster Dawn (and all her old friends) being the pals.
  • Wonder Woman freaks out when she gets an unexpected visit from Hermes in Justice League, but he tells her to calm down because "You're like family."
    • Parodied in the same episode when Hawkgirl and Wonder Woman are flying through what amounts to Hell, and the demons there start attacking them until they notice that Hawkgirl has wings:
    Hawkgirl: That's right, I'm an angel. You can mess with me if you want to but I don't think you want to mess with The Boss.
    The Demons fly away scared
    Hawkgirl: If we're lucky, they'll all be that dumb.
  • The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy: Not only are Billy and Mandy friends with the Grim Reaper (more like masters as they won his service in a bet), but the Goddess Eris pays rather a lot of visits to them, and Billy's aunt marries Nergal (who in mythology is a Babylonian god of war, pestilence, the underworld, etc, though he's presented as a pathetic demon in the cartoon).
  • The episode of Family Guy in which Peter literally becomes friends with Jesus, and has since became a recurring character. He is much more laid back and prone to as much trouble as the main cast. One Christmas, Peter and the guys try to help Him get laid, because he tells Peter he's a virgin, but then they find out it's a scam routine of his and he was trying to get closer to Lois.
    • The Grim Reaper is also a recurring character who pals around with Peter.
  • The Real Ghostbusters have, within their containment unit, the avatar of a Sumerian god who takes the form of a giant marshmallow man. They sometimes let him out to fight other ghosts too big for them to handle on their own and he's buddies with Team Pet Slimer.
    • They have also teamed up with the god Marduk.
  • This is the entire premise behind Class of the Titans. Granted the protagonists are the very distant descendants of Greek heroes (some of whom were, themselves, descendants of the gods and goddesses), but for the most part, they're regular teenagers.
  • Adventure Time:
    • In "Jake the Dog", Jake has a hot tub party with Prismo the Wishmaster, who transcends time and space, and the Cosmic Owl, a godlike figure who always appears in premonition dreams.
    • There's also Peppermint Butler, who's friends with Death and is seen golfing with Hunson Abadeer, the show's Satan equivalent. He and Death even show up at one of Prismo's later parties.
    • The Party God isn't so much a "friend" as "that guy who always crashes your parties uninvited and won't take the hint to leave," but he does have a fairly casual relationship with the protagonists. Ice King also beats him up once.
  • Tends to occur in most Transformers series, as Optimus Prime is, as the bearer of the divine Matrix of Leadership, generally more or less the Cybertronian Jesus (he even makes a habit of dying and coming back to life a few days later). Naturally, any bot who is friendly with him, and any Team Pet human companions he picks up, qualify for this.
  • Jimmy Two-Shoes: Jimmy thinks of Lucius as a friend. Lucius wishes Jimmy would leave him alone. Jimmy is also best friends with Lucius' son Beezy.
  • The Hollow: The Weird Guy is friends with Death one of the Four Horseman of the Apocalypse.
  • DuckTales (2017):
    • Della, the triplets' mother, was good friends with Selene, the goddess of the moon in Greek mythology (Selene's less acceptable traits are ignored), and the Hercules Expy considers Donald to be the coolest person ever.
    • Scrooge has been friends with the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, and Future ever since that one time they mistook him for a different Scrooge, and every year they go on a time traveling adventure to visit the greatest Christmas parties in history.
    • Webby has an autographed photo of the demon Rakshasa signed, "Love, Rakky".
  • The Owl House. The discovery that King is actually the last of the Titans retroactivelly applies this to all of his relationships, but especially the sibling like bond that he shares with Luz. This even turns into a vital plot point in the Grand Finale when the spirit of his father reveals that the reason why he so easily showed Luz the secret behind the glyphs (and why he grants her the power to defeat Belos once and for all) is because he was expressing his thanks for all the kindness that she had shown his son.

    Real Life 
  • The importance of having a "relationship with God" is a common theme in various religions.
  • Parodied and played straight with T-shirts that say "Jesus is my homeboy".

 
Feedback

Video Example(s):

Top

Prince Martinkhamen

Martin wakes up as the ancient Egyptian Prince Martinkhamen.

How well does it match the trope?

5 (2 votes)

Example of:

Main / RoyalBlood

Media sources:

Report