The Messiah - Television Tropes & Idioms

"Nausicaa is the thread that joins us all together. Us, the Doroks, even Kushana and the wormhandlers. Without Nausicaa, we would only quarrel and splinter."

— Asbel, Nausicaa Of The Valley Of The Wind manga

The main character, simply put, loves everyone. Loves them with a deep, spiritual love that means they will shake heaven and earth, destroy gods and planets, bring nations to their knees, etc. for the person they just met yesterday. They will believe the best of everyone, and constantly give someone a second chance (though they will destroy the Big Bad). They repay cruelty with kindness and anger with calm. As long as the attacks are only against them— they're not forgiving of harm done to others. Most people think they're insane, but somehow they pull it off. Even Mary Sue and Marty Stu are impressed.

The Empathic Weapon trusts them completely, as does every animal they meet. Their every step causes flowers to bloom. Their circle of friends are in awe of them, if not somewhat in love with them. They'll even attract an Anti Hero or two who will stick around so they can at least figure out what drugs this person is taking — and where they can get some. In their hands The Power Of Love and The Power Of Friendship can be an awesome force, they may be the standard bearer for the message that You Are Not Alone and if anything can redeem a person against the odds by showing them the light of goodness, it will probably be The Messiah.

On the Sliding Scale Of Idealism Versus Cynicism, The Messiah is a heavily idealistic character. Even in a dark world, they are ideal. In the hands of a bad writer, the character can easily be mutated into a Mary Sue.

The Fool is sometimes the embryonic state of The Messiah doubled as the Idiot Hero. A Magnetic Hero has the intangable quality of earning respect and followers that some Messiah characters do but without needing the "love and forgive everyone" part. The Messiah who takes their idealisim too far into Facepalm-worthy idiocy (like seriously trying to trade the Artifact Of Doom if the villain promises not to hurt anyone) may lapse into Stupid Good or Lawful Stupid.

For the character who only thinks they're The Messiah, see the Love Freak.

Compare Martyr Without A Cause, The Paragon, The Heart, Purity Sue. This trope is not about Jesus-analogs; that's Messianic Archetype. While they and The Messiah sometimes overlap, a character having that archetype can be far-flung from being The Messiah in mind and behavior. Contrast Dark Messiah, which can stand in opposition to this but is more Messianic Archetype + Anti Hero, as well as Complete Monster.

Examples

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Anime and Manga

Usagi Tsukino from Sailor Moon, though she started as The Fool. Not only that, she actually gets called the Messiah later.
- It should be noted, though, that Usagi is more of The Messiah in the anime than in the manga, where despite still being very compassionate and a good person, she's much less forgiving of those who hurt her loved ones.
- Mistress 9 is the Anti-Christ to Usagi's Messiah, unless of course you want to be comprehensive and cover the other seasons, and then it's Chaos.
Shinya from Watashi no Messiah-sama accepts his duty to save the planet of his beloved by defeating the Big Bad, but refuses to harm anyone, including the Big Bad even after having ripped his heart off and being left off to die.
- Earlier in the series he fires a lightning at himself to make Hime, who was trying to kill him, to back off without harming her.
  - And when Sariel, one of the Dark Messiah subordinates, merely puts Hime to sleep, Shinya snaps, fights and actually manages to bruise him. Did we mention the fact that Sariel, being the Angel of Death, can see the future, wipe out armies by himself and is Nigh Invulnerable?.
Tohru Honda from Fruits Basket. Kind to everyone, forgives even the most evil, saves everyone with her love.
Goku from Dragonball.
Hikaru Shidou from Magic Knight Rayearth.
Ichigo Kurosaki from Bleach. (Despite his protests to the contrary.)
- It would seem that Orihime Inoue is more qualified for the title now, as recently captured by the Arrancar, she refuses to hurt them, shows them love, and resurrects their dead even after they were trying to torture her.
Naruto, to the point where it makes you wonder why he had such an abnormally hard time making friends prior to the start of the series (although it can be because nobody wanted to truly meet him after all).
Kakashi: Naruto has a mysterious power. Everyone who meets him becomes his friend, no matter how little contact they have beforehand.
- Temari also notes that he has the power to influence people. It's worth noting that Naruto tends to get off to a bad start with most of the people he befriends, and they're often completely dismissive of him for reasons typically unrelated to him having the fox inside him. Unlike many of the other examples, he's not always civil in response, but his determination and honesty cause many of these people to see him, and often themselves, in a new light.
  - Add to this, of course, that he really IS the messiah, and...
Vash from Trigun often has to be prodded into shooting the bad guys instead of trying to reason the virtues of life with them. Even then, he refuses to kill humans, even if it means bandaging up the people he just took down.
- In a similar vein is Tendou Rushuna from Grenadier, who is a bit more martial than Vash, but has likewise never killed anyone, even in the face of them apparently killing a new friend of hers. Even her name is a play on this: Rushuna is a play on a Rushana Buddha, a statue exemplifying the essence of the Buddha, while her surname, Tendou, translates to "Heavenly Path."
Mai Tokiha from Mai Hi ME is an interesting case. She spends much of the series struggling to come to terms with her feelings, and is capable of expressing a wide range of negative emotions, ranging from mere disgust to violent rage. In spite of this, she seems to be the type who wants to see the best in people, and never seems to be able to bring herself to feel actual hatred towards anybody, even those who have tried to hurt her. Furthermore, despite her claims that she doesn’t have “the time or energy to deal with other people’s problems” when push comes to shove she’s just not the type of person who can abandon others when she has a chance to help them. In the end, it’s her love that allows her to save her possessed best friend/veritable little sister Mikoto, as she chooses to meet Mikoto’s berserk rage with open arms and hope that her feelings can reach the other girl.
Arika Yumemiya from Mai-Otome. She initially takes on her newfound powers with relish, but after she learns about what an Otome's duties truly are, she tries to keep up her vow to change the system in order to save the lives of her friends.
Both Kanade and Rino from Gokujou Seitokai, but the latter is also The Fool.
Nanoha Takamachi from Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha; this becomes especially apparent when you see how she and her friends met.
- It's worth mentioning that the Nanoha fanbase uses the term "befriend" as a synonym for "beat the hell out of". She does, however, possess an astounding success rate for turning villains into lifelong allies.
Nagisa Aoi from Strawberry Panic.
Milfeulle Sakuraba of Galaxy Angel has many aspects of The Messiah, along with the ones that clearly qualify her as The Ditz and The Fool.
Yoh Asakura from Shaman King.
Belldandy of Oh My Goddess! also generally falls into this trope; even her (astoundingly rare) bouts of anger are more likely to result in her forcibly healing the soul of whoever she's fighting, rather than actually harm them.
- When she's drunk (on cola), she goes around causing small miracles to help animals, children, the elderly, stray animals, demons, inanimate objects, and pretty much anything else she lays eyes on.
Lucia Nanami from Mermaid Melody Pichi Pichi Pitch.
Misaki of Kidou Tenshi Angelic Layer; not only her core circle of friends but everyone she's ever fought comes to every one of her matches, cheers for her to win (even the ones that hated her at first) and tries desperately to find out what her opponent's secret is, even though she can't accept any help during the match.
Judai Yuki of the Post Modern Yu-Gi-Oh GX. Originally used straight and frequently noticed and discussed by characters like Sameshima, Saiou, Asuka, Ryo, and Edo; but then Deconstructed by Season 3, when the pressure of being everyone's source of strength and inspiration is finally too much for him. His Nakama's dependence on him was actually the key the next Big Bad used to kill them, and Judai's heartbreak at his failure to live up to being this character contributed to his fall to The Dark Side.
The titular protagonist of Madlax somehow attracts the affection of everyone she meets, despite being a killer with a three-digit personal body count.
Subaru Sumeragi from Tokyo Babylon and X1999. A subversion occurs when it doesn't work and, without losing the core of his kindness and compassion, he loses everything and becomes the opposite of what he used to be.
Kambei from Samurai 7 inspires great loyalty with words alone, and he forgives and sees worthiness where no one else would. Just in case all that's not clear enough, he also sports white robes and a distinctly Jesus-like haircut.
Kenzou Tenma from Monster. This is both a large advantage and similarly a large disadvantage to him because of the complex location on the Sliding Scale Of Idealism Versus Cynicism that Monster inhabits.
- This is epitomized by his decision in the ending: rather than returning to private practice, Tenma signs up with the MSF, proving that he's willing to take bullets to help complete strangers. All this after a sociopathic Manipulative Bastard devotes himself to putting him through hell and showing him that this is a World Half Empty.
Yuko Okonogi from Dennou Coil.
Alphonse Elric from the manga version of Fullmetal Alchemist generally is considered the level-headed brother who always looks on the bright side of life. He has also converted two chimera soldiers to his cause just by showing them that they are still human.
Gon Freeccs from Hunter X Hunter. He is extremely nice and forgiving, and has a tendency to make people like and admire him. He is also The Fool to an extent, mostly because of his brute strength and dumb luck.
Kazuki Muto from Busou Renkin. Declares the intention to protect everyone, and will defend people who've been trying to kill him if he thinks they're redeemable. One of them immediately turns around and offers her own life to save Kazuki from her brother — so it works.
Sora Naegino from Kaleido Star, despite being bullied by some of her companions and having to face Training From Hell to compensate for her lack of training compared to others, actually manages to win the hearts and respect to even her most bitter rivals.
Sawada Tsunayoshi from Katekyo Hitman Reborn, though he was initally The Fool and the Butt Monkey. However, as the series went on and got more serious, he became this. Especially noticeable with his relationship with Mukuro.
The Digimon leads seem to have an element of this, more often than not. The Nakama is in utter shambles after Taichi gets sucked back into the real world, eventually splitting up and becoming easy prey for PicoDevimon; four seasons later, Masaru manages to pick up where his father Suguru left off as far as reaching out to Digimon and trying to create the world where Digimon and humans can live together. Daisuke, Takato, and Takuya also have their moments.
- Taichi's younger sister Hikari plays The Messiah role straight in 01, but subverts it in 02. Her crest of Light helps her channelize spirits, reach for others and all, to the point of making her a borderline Purity Sue at times. However, in 02 Hikari shows huge emotional damage as she's much less able to handle the stress, to the point of having two serious Heroic BSODs that Takeru and Miyako have to pull her out from.
D Gray-Man's protagonist, Allen Walker. Sure he's got a freaky deformed arm, but he's intensely dedicated to destroying Akuma, and by gum, he'll save everyone doing it.
- And not just the people; his empathic weapon is powered by his will to fight for both the wellbeing of the living and for the salvation of the Akuma's souls, who systematically try to kill him and all of his friends. Without the will to save both of them, the weapon won't work. In fact, it pretty much showed him getting an epiphany and coming to the realization that he loves both humans and Akumas alike.
Nana "Hachi" Komatsu from Nana can turn even the toughest punk rocker into silly putty just by smiling cheerfully.
Kato in Gantz. The twist? He's not the main character. The resident Jerk Ass is.
Although a very minor character in terms of screentime, Mary Magdalene from Chrono Crusade otherwise fits all of the requirements to a T. Gentle and constantly smiling (almost a little too much), Mary shows kindness even to the demons who kidnapped her, becoming like family to them. She even willingly helps them when a prophetic vision revealed to her that she would be killed by one of them. In the anime, they decided to make it obvious who she is by giving her stigmata, as well.
Basara from Macross 7... who is an odd mix of Messiah and Jerk Ass.
Nagisa Furukawa from CLANNAD fulfills this role, especially in the original game and the movie.
Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann: A constant inspiration to other? Check. Never seems to express genuine rage even during combat? Check. Group starts to fall apart when he's gone? Yep. This may sound slightly insane, but that sounds a lot like Kamina. After his death, the role is debatably shared by Nia and Simon.
- Further cementing things is Kamina getting a final Crowning Moment Of Awesome from beyond the grave when he rescues the trapped Dai-Gurren Brigade from the Anti-Spiral's inescapable Lotus Eater Machine, allowing them to save the day.
- And just in case you weren't sure, a) kami is the Japanese word for "God" and b) Jesus' best friend was called Simon Peter, who eventually took over the role of leadership. The spear through the side was probably a bit much after all that...
The titular character from Galaxy Fraulein Yuna is a prime example of this. An 9-year-old out-of-control android girl, Ayako, is destroying a hospital in a temper tantrum, and all the characters (almost all former enemies) are trying to contain the destruction and destroy the android. Not Yuna; she admonishes "You're going in to fight an enemy, I'm going in to make a friend!" And she does.
- Yuna's title, the "Savior of Light," can also be translated from Japanese to mean "Messiah of Light".
Jiyu Nanohana from Jubei-chan. She's the reincarnation of one eyed Ninja Yagyu Jubei, and she turns into a powerful swordswoman when she put on a magic eye patch she becomes a bad ass, busty version of her predecessor. Jiyu, who is nicknamed Jubei-Chan by her father who ghostwrites samurai novels, doesn't want to hurt anyone and hates turning into Jubei. She is pressured into it when she discovers that the Ryujoji clansmen who keep trying to kill/challenge her as Jubei end up living happier lives after she defeats them, because her Healing Shiv frees them from the magically-enhanced hatred that dominated their (after)lives. Jiyu fits this archetype well; not only does she go to great lengths to avoid hurting the people who are trying to fight her, but everyone loves her — even opponents she has defeated will go to great lengths to protect her.
Gundam Wing: Relena Peacecraft. Although by Endless Waltz she has abandoned the doctrine of total pacifism as unrealistically idealist, she certainly tried to make it work, and went on to become an ambassador of peace. More importantly, she plays a large role in bringing Heero around from the emotionless "kill whoever it takes to accomplish the mission" mentality brought on by his implied Training From Hell into someone capable of sympathy.
- Quatre also counts a lot toward this, being the Apologetic Attacker and kind heart of the 5 Gundam pilots.
Shu from Now And Then Here And There. In a series so heavily on the cynical side of the sliding scale, this is far less effective than it would be in other places.
Makoto in El Hazard, to some extent.
Mikan from Gakuen Alice
Ryuubi and Chuubou from Ikki Tousen.
Domon Kasshu from G Gundam, to an extent. Sure, the guy is REALLY Not Good With People and sometimes borders on Jerk Ass, but in the end he's the one who pilots the God Gundam against the Devil Gundam Colony that has seized Neo Japan and saves his Brainwashed And Crazy girlfriend through a surprisingly wordy and well-done love declaration so they can use The Power Of Love against the Big Bad. Impressive, huh?
Negi Springfield of Mahou Sensei Negima starts looking like one of these, but as the manga progresses, he starts becoming more painfully aware of his own weaknesses, and is willing to use questionable means to combat them. His motivation is pure as ever though, and he still falls into Honor Before Reason a lot.
- His father Nagi is a more straight example; he more-or-less saved the world singlehandedly, ending a world war in the process, and he's one of the most popular people in the magic world. So of course, he had to go MIA right around the time Negi was born.
- The last manga chapters also have another example: Princess Arika, Negi's Missing Mom. She was accused of being exactly the opposite, as well as tried and apparently excuted, but the common people didn't buy it because she was genuinely kind to them.
Sora from Mahou Tsukai ni Taisetsu na Koto ~Natsu no Sora~.
Albert from Gankutsuou becomes something of this at the end. The Count destroys his family and his life, murders his best friend who loved him, and tries to kill him in front of his father. However, instead of wanting revenge, he readily forgives The Count and uses the Power Of Love and Forgiveness (along with a kiss) to save the day.
Yugi, the protagonist of Yu-Gi-Oh.
- And how!
  - Blah blah blah we can do it if we stick together... blah blah blah blah friendship... blech.
  - Really that one's more Anzu's trope.
  - The trope description fits regular Yugi far more than it does than the Spirit of the Puzzle. It was the regular Yugi who first binds the whole group together, does the self sacrifice thing on several occasions; pretty much every good guy in the series will die for that kid given the proper motivation, and the deck monsters adore him. While the Pharoah is the "hero" of the piece, he kind of subverts the Messiah thing now and again, what with his suceptibility to evil and the odd bout of Unstoppable Rage... usually brought on by anybody trying to hurt the aforementioned regular Yugi or any of their friends.
Isaac, Miria, and Jacuzzi from Baccano!. Isaac and Miria are the clueless type who unwittingly tend to spread joy and inspire people (ie. Eve, Ennis, Jacuzzi and Czeslaw) whereas Jacuzzi is the type that proactively (and almost suicidally) goes out of his way to help even complete strangers...unless you hurt his Nakama. In that case, you're fucked.
Shibuya Yuuri ~~Harajuku Fuuri~~ of Kyou Kara Maou transcends past this trope. He doesn't even kill the Big Bad. He befriends dragons, breaks down race walls, has managed to overturn every foreign policy his country ever had in less than a year, and trusts and loves everyone even after he's been betrayed by them twice then used as a Weapon Of Mass Destruction to wipe out an entire naval fleet. It gives his bodyguards migranes and is driving his fiance toward an aneurysm.
Mana Kirihara in Aquarian Age: Juvenile Orion.
Kitano from Angel Densetsu manages to be this and a Nightmare Fuel Stationattendant.
Akira from Aoi Hana has some of this, since she has the ability to be friends with most other girls. Later she is surpassed in that regard by Haruka, who drags everybody along by sheer enthusiasm.
Marin from Umi Monogatari is prone to randomly hugging people and saying that she loves them. Kanon, her sister, a giant turtle. It doesn't matter. The girl's got plenty of love to spread around.
Both Garrod Ran and Tifa Addil in Gundam X. Garrod, because he managed to subvert almost any of poor Tiffa's horrendous visions and help humanity Screw Destiny; Tiffa, because her kindness let her reach for Garrod and show people what was needed to get the peace they all needed. No wonder they fall in love and get together in the end.
Yuuto Amakawa from Omamori Himari is an example. While demon hunters and ayakashi are generally depicted as being very violent towards each other, Yuuto refuses to have anything to do with demon slaying, and strongly believes that demon hunters and ayakashi can live with each other in peace-and was willing to step into a fight armed with only his belief in Shizuku's ability to let go of her past and return to a peaceful life.
Lute, the older brother of Flute and the son of Queen Horn in the Violinist of Hameln.
Keiichi, from Higurashi No Naku Koro Ni, falls into this eventu ally.
The Claw from Gun X Sword is an extremely rare villainous example of The Messiah.
Several characters on Code Geass — and they stick out all the more since most of the show is a nasty battle of either Grey And Gray Morality or Black And Grey Morality, depending on your point of view.
- Lelouch's half-sister, Princess Euphemia vi Britannia: always chipper; loves everyone; doesn't get angry even when people threaten her with death, which happens more often than you might think. To the annoyance of her family, she takes bolder and bolder steps to fight anti-Eleven (that is, anti-Japanese) prejudice, and eventually she even sacrifices her place in the royal line of succession to give herself the leverage to make an attempt at lasting peace between Britannia and Japan / Area Eleven. (Naturally, things don't go well for her.)
- Shirley Fennette. Unlike Euphemia, Shirley generally avoids discussions of politics and current events, but like her, she actively and bravely opposes prejudice and cruelty whenever and wherever she sees it; she feels tenderness toward pretty much everyone; she can't bear to see anyone get hurt; and she's nearly always chipper — except when jealous (back to that in a moment) or when things are going really, seriously wrong. Admittedly, she gets upset whenever she suspects her beloved "Lulu" of liking another girl more than her — which is often — but even then, she's never mean, just, at worst, sullen and gloomy. Shirley is a bit how Euphie might have turned out had Euphie not been stuck as a princess of the world's greatest superpower. (Naturally, things don't go well for her, either. Then ... things don't go well for her, all over again.)
- Princess Nunnally, Lelouch's younger sister and reason for living — and, though she has no idea, for killing. Like her older half-sister Princess Euphemia, she's always chipper, always ready to think the best of everyone. Unlike Lelouch, she has no interest in revenge against her family (or anyone else) for the many ways they have wronged her; she just hopes the world will become a nicer place, where Britannians and Japanese can live side by side in peace, and she can return to the family that has betrayed her. (You can probably guess where this is going.)
- Rule Of Three indeed, though, since ultimately she comes to rule over Britannia and remake it into a good nation, something Lelouch could never do.
Red from Pokemon Special. He accepts old foes (that practically tried to kill him) through Enemy Mine situations a little too easily. His Messiah-ness is most prevailant in the FLRG arc, where he readily accepts Deoxys since it shares his blood, even though it nearly massacred his team.
Yuuna from Stitch!
Astro Boy from Astro Boy.
Nadja from Ashita No Nadja.
Aoi from Ai Yori Aoshi. She loves everyone, and everyone loves her.
Rock from Black Lagoon (which explains one of the WMGs about him). Since he lives in a Crapsack World, the universe tries to punish him for being this.

Comic Books

Film

Nausicaa from Nausicaa Of The Valley Of The Wind. Though in this case, she is in fact an actual messiah figure (the Blue Clad One).
Also from Hayao Miyazaki, Ashitaka from Princess Mononoke fits this trope perfectly (in fact if he didn't, his curse would kill him).
Victor Laszlo in Casablanca. It says something about him that the only person in the entire movie who isn't in complete awe and admiration of the utterly heroic and saintly resistance leader and doesn't think he's the greatest thing since the invention of bread, sliced or otherwise, is the Nazi officer who has been sent to capture him, which is a ringing endorsement if ever there was one. He's so noble that he doesn't even hold a grudge that his beloved wife, believing that he was dead, has fallen in love with another man, and his example is so powerful that that other man is eventually quite willing to sacrifice his one chance at happiness by convincing her to stay with him.
Sergeant Elias K. Grodin from Platoon which makes his dramatic death scene all the more powerful.
WALL-E.
Happy Feet. Ironically.
Lady In The Water features as a secondary character a writer who, it is revealed, will in the future become The Messiah by writing a work so universally beloved and inspirational that it will inspire world leaders and ordinary people alike to work towards making the world a better place, and who will eventually die in order to save us from ourselves. By itself, not that bad. However, writer-director M Night Shyamalan chose to cast himself in this role. This caused eyebrows to be raised.
Poppy from Happy-Go-Lucky. It was half the point of the movie.
Luke Skywalker in Star Wars. Expanded Universe may differ, but consider that upon discovering his father is a Sith Lord and one of the galaxy's most ruthless killers, he decides—against the advice of everyone—that Dad can be saved from the Dark Side. He turns out to be right.
The eponymous character of The Golden Child.
As pointed out by the Nostalgia Critic, Charlie from the Tim Burton remake of Charlie And The Chocolate Factory.
- Applies just as much to Charlie in Willy Wonka And The Chocolate Factory.
Shuya in Battle Royale. It's a strange place to find a character of this type, but he does love his classmates.

Literature

Carrot Ironfoundersson from Terry Pratchett's Discworld series. He gets an idea in his head and is able to drag the rest of the world around to his viewpoint. Even to the point that he's able to arrest a dragon which had previously been terrorizing the city. His love interest Sergeant Angua (an Action Girl), and Commander Vimes both remark upon this ability of his. In Carrot's case, it may be because he is the true and lawful heir to the throne of Ankh-Morpork.
- Discworld also has Brutha, the last true believer of the Great God Om. His sheer basic decency extends to everyone from tortoises to the Big Bad, twice and he brings in a new and more tolerant era for his Corrupt Church.
Bobby from the Pendragon series. He seems to be able to make friends with all of travelers in every world in a matter of minutes of meeting them. And, it was said on more then one occasion he would be the only one to beat Saint Dane. he does.
Rama, in The Ramayana. When a plot causes his rightful throne to go to his brother Bharata, Rama is delighted for his brother's good fortune, without any concern for his own loss of status. When he's exiled by this same plot, he has to talk the entire country (including Bharata) out of coming with him. He collects allies everywhere he goes, just by dint of his goodness. Rama and Sita are supposed to be the great lovers beyond time and space, but the effect is more that Rama loves everyone, everyone loves Rama, and Sita is a member of "everyone".
Andy Dufresne, the main character of Stephen King's story Rita Hayworth And The Shawshank Redemption is The Messiah of the story, which is remarkable considering the near hopeless circumstances that he finds himself in (one might even interpret him as The Woobie). There are several symbolic parallels between him and Jesus Christ which shape the entire message of the book, that "hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things and no good thing ever dies".
Alyosha, the third and youngest of The Brothers Karamazov, loves all and is loved by all. Dostoevsky uses an entire chapter to illustrate how it would be impossible to not trust him. Everyone - and we mean everyone - in the book confides in Alyosha, and at times these discussions seem to resemble a priest taking confession. The story in the Bible of Jesus Christ being tempted in the desert by the devil has its parallels in some of Alyosha's discussions. For bonus points, he starts off as a novice monk in the nearby monastery.
- And as for Crime and Punishment... Sofya, anyone?
- We might as well add Prince Lev Nikolaievich Myshkin from The Idiot as well. In general, Dostoevsky might be entirely too fond of this trope.
Everybody in The Land except Thomas Covenant, the bad guys and the Bloodguard is, personality-wise, The Messiah.
In Anne Bishop's Black Jewels trilogy, Jaenelle is the most recent (and implied to be the most powerful ever) incarnation of Witch, essentially born from the collective dreams of the races who facilitates their reconciliation and eventually nearly kills herself in order to save her people.
In The Lord of the Rings Aragorn's attachment to the other members of the Fellowship, as well as a large number of people he encounters during the books, qualifies him for this trope.
Elua in the Kushiel's Legacy novels by Jacqueline Carey. Christ himself, albeit sporting a different name, is also in the series, but the religion of the main characters focuses on Elua. (Born of a mixture of Yeshua ben Yosef's blood and the Magdalene's tears, flowers arose where he walked, seven angels descended from Heaven to be his travelling companions, etc.) His single commandment to the race of people descended from him and his angelic followers was "love as thou wilt".
Adil, one of the main characters in Sahar Khalifeh's Wild Thorns. A Palestinian who works in Israel (the book was written in the 70s') to support his nine family members, and always looking out for his fellow workers. He's more than once described as trying "to solve the Middle East conflict all by himself." Even his cousin who considers him a traitor for working in Israel cares strongly about him.
Eriond in The Belgariad and The Malloreon. He's a small child in the former, although he is very trusting and generous. (He's been raised to be a complete innocent, so that he can handle The Orb, which tends to destroy anyone who touches it with less than completely pure motives.) By The Malloreon he's grown into the position. He's very mild in temperament, and even when he gets very angry (at one point they're in a Temple of Torak and a major sacrifice ritual (human, of course) is going on all he does is put out the temple fires — since if the hearts can't be burned, there's no way to continue the sacrifices.)
Finny in A Separate Peace, who never sees anyone as an enemy, and believes that "when you really love something, then it has to love you back, in whatever way it has to love." Many readers (and English teachers) see him as a Christ figure.
Mike in Robert A Heinlein's Stranger In A Strange Land. He's a walking Jesus allegory, but beside that he has an innocence so strong it even scares people a bit.
Jesus. Also the trope maker of Messianic Archetype of course, but the forgiveness and unconditional love preaching makes him a partial Trope Maker for this one.
Les Miserables: Jean Valjean, who in turn learned forgiveness from the Bishop of Digne after 19 years of prison made Valjean bitter and hatefull.
Samuel Pickwick, Esq. It's the main reason he's funny.
Cassie from Animorphs.
How has Paul Atreides not been mentioned yet?
- While the Fremen were absolutely devoted to him, Paul himself was clearly not charitably inclined towards many of the characters. Plus, the genocide commited by his Jihab makes it difficult to place him in this category.
Ender Wiggin. Loves everyone, including the Buggers he's trying to kill. His friends semi-worship him.

Live Action TV

Daniel Jackson in Stargate and Stargate SG-1. No surprise that later, by the end of the fifth season, he evolves into a Messianic Archetype as well.
Dr. Molly Clock in Scrubs.
Peter Petrelli of Heroes embodies this to a point that's almost Genre Blindness or even Idiot Ball. He's so sweet and trusting that he'll even cast his lot in with the villain if he has a convincing enough sob story.
Flash Gordon from the Sci-Fi channel TV adaptation is very much The Messiah, whose idealism and altruism inadvertantly manages to bring together several tribes of highly eccentric crazies (including multiple members of the Big Bad's faction), who've spent decades hating each other.
Angel from Angel has many elements of this.
The Doctor(s) from Doctor Who all have elements of this trope. Like Angel, each of the Doctor's is not universally loving or nessecarily even all that nice, but they will go to any lengths to right a wrong that they've just stumbled on. Further, they both have a powerful draw on everyone else. Evil characters obsess over them; good characters leave their lives behind to join them, and often end up making even bigger sacrifices.
- Ten in particular has been pulling this one, both playing it straight and subverting. Generally characters either adore him within ten minutes, are terrified/in awe of him, or want to kill him. Occasionally all three. One quote from the episode "Last of the Time Lords" makes this painfully clear about the Doctor. "You wouldn't listen. Because you know what I'm going to say... I forgive you."
  - And it is awesome.
  - And a Wall Banger.
  - Hell, let's just say it's both. Because it is. It's Doctor Who, they can do that.
  - Need I mention the angels and ressurection imagery in Voyage of the Damned? I really don't think I need to mention the angels and ressurection imagery in Voyage of the Damned.
Constable Benton Fraser from Due South makes himself something of a local hero in the slum neighborhood of Chicago he lives in, unwittingly and unerringly winning the hearts of nearly everyone around him due to his constant, unwavering kindness to his fellow man. His partner, Ray Vecchio (and later Ray Kowalski), his friends, and even his boss are fiercely protective of him when danger arises. His lack of street smarts and general naievete can cause problems, though, and they sometimes wonder about his sanity.
Fraser: You mean you're using some promotional ploy to get something for nothing?
Ray: Welcome to the United States of America, Fraser.
Locke in Lost, especially apparent in season 5. Perfectly contrasted with his mirror opposite and occasional sidekick, Dark Messiah Ben.
Xander Harris in the Season Six finale of Buffy The Vampire Slayer. The Zeppo steps up for what will be his best moment, even getting razzed later on for bragging on it. In the S6 finale, he goes to and refuses to leave the side of Dark Willow as she prepares to destroy the world. Though set up for this by Giles and the Coven whose power he's borrowed he still manages to shine. Despite her worst, he gets to her, holding her as the good magic defeats the bad, allowing it to work through her, and saying simply "I Love You", over and over again. A quick ref to how "This carpenter is gonna drywall you." lampshades the idea.
Kaylee from Firefly she has only ever hurt Reavers (and at that not very much considering,) she was the first to accept Simon and River as part of the crew. She seems to be the least violent person in the 'verse. She even likes Jayne, making her one of only two people to like him after getting to know him (the other is his mother). Her bright and cheery personality makes people tend to gravitate toward her, and her love and respect for them solidifies her as the messianic idealized character on an otherwise somewhat cynical show.
Despite being an atoning petty criminal and Jerkass, and a Book Dumb hick, the titular character of My Name Is Earl has a real knack for getting along with people, is actively working hard to become a better person by righting all his past wrongs, in the process making his town a better place, and is willing to make great sacrifices for the people he cares about. Sometimes he relapses, but he brings up some interesting questions on morality and what makes a good person.
Dean Winchester from Supernatural. At first, mostly because he's the only member of the Winchester family who hunts for the sake of saving people instead of revenge. Also, he's the most selfless and martyr-like individual on the show. By Season 4, however, this becomes nearly Word of God as after he's sent to Hell, God sends an army of angels to save him and resurrects him. The title of the episode this happened in brings even more religious allusions: Lazarus Rising.
- And now, he's apparently the human vessel for St. Michael, the only angel powerful enough to stop Lucifer.

Video Games

Terra Branford form Final Fantasy VI is a clear example of this late in the game. In the World of Ruin, she ends up caring for orphans whose parents were murdered by Kefka and eventually Terra finds her purpose. To fight to protect those who need it as well as ensure a better future. Love drives her.
- Celes Chere could also fit this trope in the World of Ruin portion of the game.
Lloyd from Tales Of Symphonia. He eventually transforms everyone in the party (and the world) for the better. He gives corny speeches explaining that everyone has the right to live freely, and inspires comments from his circle of friends on how softhearted, kind, strong, etc. he is.
- Colette arguably fits the description even more, but due to Lloyd's main (and player) character status, she gets much less of a chance to shine.
- Mithos, the legendary hero from the game's back story, was also a messiah. With his three companions and a belief in The Power Of Friendship, he saved the world from a magitek war. What subsequently happened to him is revealed later on in the game, and it's not pretty.
Zidane Tribal from Final Fantasy IX is an example, despite the fact that he is a lecherous thief. His line in the game's character montage is "You don't need a reason to help people". In fact, multiple characters throughout the game actually complain about how kind Zidane is to everybody that he meets.
- This carries over into Dissidia Final Fantasy.
Captain Brenner/O'Brian from Advance Wars: Days of Ruin commands the remnants of a military unit in a post-apocalyptic earth, held together by his own leadership ability and charisma, and uses it to unconditionally rescue survivors and help people. After The Plot Reaper is through with him, main character Will/Ed picks up the torch as well.
Sora from Kingdom Hearts, who has friends all over the multiverse, and seems to hold them all in the same high regard. He even has an Empathic Weapon that runs on The Power Of Friendship. How savvy of you, Square Enix!
Kyle Hyde of Hotel Dusk: Room 215 is something of a messiah who never planned to be. He only goes to the titular hotel on business with his company, Red Crown, and possibly to get a lead on the man he's been pursuing for three years, Brian Bradley. It turns out that all the other patrons of the hotel all have big problems tied to the hotel, Bradley, and the art theft organization he joined, Nile, including manager Dunning Smith, pining for his kidnapped daughter; Jeff Damon, who ran away from home with money and a gun after getting sick of his father's shady legal dealings; Kevin Woodward, trying to get his head around his malpractice suit and his wife somehow (through Nile) producing the money for a settlement; Helen Parker, searching for her lost son who loved to frequent the hotel; Martin Summer, who plagiarized that son's text for a novel and led to his disappearance and others. Through the course of one night at Hotel Dusk, Kyle Hyde manages to "take out [all of their] garbage" with evidence, questioning, and occasional tough love, and give them the strength to keep working to resolve their problems. He doesn't even want to arrest the person he's looking for despite what he did, he just wants to ask him "why?".
The Main Characters of Persona 3 and Persona 4 can both qualify if played properly. In addition to helping almost all of the individuals they meet overcome their crippling emotional and psychological issues, they both employ the Power Of Friendship with the following means:
- In Persona 3, Minato Arisato can spare the life of the one who will become an avatar for the coming destruction of humanity, and bands his friends together to essentially fight Death. He then uses the strength of his friends to sacrifice himself, thereby singlehandedly holding back humanity's resignation towards dying. This is further supported by his ultimate persona, literally called Messiah.
- And in Persona 4, Souji Seta can convince his friends to spare the life of the man who kidnapped and almost caused his seven year old cousin to die, and, following his apparent death at the hands of Izanami, his friends give him the willpower to summon Izanagi-no-Okami, whereby he uses Myriad Truths to banish all deceit and falsehoods from the hearts of man.
Ion from Tales Of The Abyss. Luke eventually too, but to a lesser degree.
Talim from Soul Series. Only when you play as her as protagonist, but she definitely fits this trope.
Yggdra Union has three. Yggdra, the titular character, becomes a wise and loving monarch over the course of the story; the main antagonist, Gulcasa, is one to his own people to the point of dying trying to save them in a really twisted and tragic way; and then there's Nessiah, Gulcasa's friend and tactician (and fallen angel, let's not forget), who is actually something of a fallen messiah figure—he was the real deal once, but he essentially had the idealism and love for all living things tortured out of him when he was thrown out of Asgard for refusing to fight in its wars.
Elly/Sophia from Xenogears who embodies selfless love and self-sacrifice across dozens of incarnations.
Jaina Proudmoore in the Warcraft series. She's probably the most basically decent person (that doesn't go crazy and try to kill everyone) in the entire series, even helping a race she was raised to hate kill her father for peace and to genuinely honor the bond that Theramore acquired with the orcs. This even carries into World Of Warcraft where it seems everyone has taken a level in jerkass/incompetent.
- Anduin Lothar was either this or Too Dumb To Live in Warcraft II, where he tried to negociate peace with the orcs (who were still Always Chaotic Evil back then).
- Thrall is probably the best example. He's not a perfect one, but he comes to save his people and leads a religious rival including fighting off demons to free his people, and that's after he saved them from slavery and a meaningless existence in slave camps. Thrall is also generally the voice of reason, attempting to avoid war with the Alliance, knowing that it will only bring ruin and death. It also helps that he's the Messiah of a Proud Warrior Race making him a bit more interesting than most.
Deconstructed in Fate Stay Night's "Unlimited Blade Works" route. Shirou is a Messiah who lives by the creed of 'I will save everyone!' while Archer, a Dark Messiah, points out that even Shirou knows you can't save every single person, so Archer will help the maximum number of people possible... Throwing innocent people to the wolves when necessary to prevent a larger crisis. Archer is also Shirou's future self, and implied to be the same Shirou from the Fate storyline. Basically, you can follow the ideals of the Messiah but it's going to totally screw you up inside if you're not careful or don't have a clear reason to do so, and in any case it simply doesn't work if you follow the ideal exactly.
- The biggest part of the deconstruction is arguably Shirou's psyche. Basically, his personality and reason for existing was shattered when his parents and his entire life was destroyed in the fire ten years ago — being saved by Kiritsugu made his entire being revolve around that event, to the degree that Shirou has no sense of self and can only define himself by helping others, even if the recipients neither want, appreciate nor need his help.
Aeris/Aerith from Final Fantasy VII. The idealistic one in a group of people who are technically terrorists, she winds up martyred for her cause. Her "light in a dark place" role is obvious from the beginning, where she's hanging out in a church and somehow has flowers, sunshine and a nice little waterfall in the middle of the most putrid slums on the planet.
Erana from the Quest For Glory games is a powerful mage whose pure and loving influence has remained throughout the different lands even after she is gone, exuding peace and harmony, planting flowers and generally encouraging selfless good deeds. Also, she sealed away an Eldritch Abomination by sealing herself away with it, forever locked inside an icy tomb in order to ensure that the evil being never returned to the world. And you learn all this without even meething her.
WigglyTuff from Pokemon Mystery Dungeon — though there are Alternate Character Interpretations.
Red from Pokemon Special, primarily shown on GSC and FRLG. (Yes, this crosses media lines.)

Webcomics

Web Original

Western Animation

Initially, Katara from Avatar The Last Airbender, especially obvious in episodes like "Imprisoned," "The Desert," "Crossroads of Destiny," eventually reaching what was assumed by some villagers as literal messianic levels in "The Painted Lady." Then the Scale tipped toward closer to Cynical, and The Lancer passed the Idealistic baton to its proper character, The Hero, Aang. Katara, meanwhile, slid some towards Well Intentioned Extremist territory...
The Flash, from Justice League Unlimited. Don't believe us? Look at what happens when he's not around.
Wonder Woman (to villain, who has seemingly just killed Superman): I'm going to punch a hole through your head.
Flash: We don't do that to our enemies.
Wonder Woman: Speak for yourself.
Flash: I'm trying to speak for Superman.
- The above is a fine example. A better one would be the fact that his death causes an alternate-Superman to decide to try the Knights Templar boots...and disintegrate Lex Luthor. For starters.
- Flash is even nice to his villains. He plays darts with the Trickster, and can get him to go to jail just by asking. He knows every single person in his city, is willing to do mundane chores (with his Super Speed, of course) for them in between superheroing, and kids adore him.
- He can even convince Ultra-Humanite to dress up as Santa for some kids and then surrender to the police with minimal effort.
  - Noone has mentioned that he once paraquoted Gandhi?
Starfire in Teen Titans is said to be the "heart" of the team. Just like Flash above, things aren't pretty if she disappears.
Ma-Ti in Captain Planet And The Planeteers, who's supposed to hold the group together with his 'awesome' power. His first appearance has him gently subduing a jaguar to save a monkey
Lazlo from Camp Lazlo. Consider this line from the episode "Burpless Beans":
Edward: Lazlo, why do you hate me?
Lazlo: I don't hate you, Edward. I love everybody!
In Ben 10 Alien Force, Ben Tennyson has borrowed not only Sailor Moon's Transformation Sequence but her steadfast refusal to sacrifice lives and her power to heal the villains' victims with the Empathic Weapon.
Optimus Primal of Transformers Beast Wars and Beast Machines.