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

The Fool is sometimes the embryonic state of The Messiah doubled as the Idiot Hero.

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.

Contrast with the Dark Messiah. Opposite to The Anti Christ. For the character who only thinks they're The Messiah, see the Love Freak.

Compare Martyr Without A Cause, The Paragon. This trope should not be confused with the Messianic Archetype, as a character having that archetype can be far-flung from being The Messiah in mind and behaviour.

Examples

Anime
  • 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 compassionat 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.
  • Tohru Honda from Fruits Basket.
  • 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. This is emphatized in Ulquiorra's death scene, where he asks him if she's still afraid of him... but Orihime says she's not, gently smiles and extends her hand to touch him, but he can't take it since his body dissolves into dust.
  • 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.
  • 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."
  • 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.
    • She likely picked these qualities up from Mai Tokiha from Mai-HiME (except for being a Friend To All Living Things), who similarly refused to fight anyone but the "bad guys" when she learned the truth behind the HiME legacy, helped one of her new friends open up about her emotions, and saved another from The Dark Side through The Power Of Love.
  • Both Kanade and Rino from Gokujou Seitokai, but the latter is also The Fool.
  • Nanoha from Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha; this becomes especially apparent when you see how she and her friends met.
  • 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.
  • Lucia 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 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.
  • Ginji Amano from Getbackers. Kazuki actually says "he was like the messiah."
  • 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 actually plays The Messiah 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 Furakawa from CLANNAD fulfils 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...
  • This is being rather horrifically subverted in the Berserk manga; the people of Midland are suffering. The plague is decimating the populace. Bandits groups - the remnants of mercenaries left without livelihood because of the end of the Hundred Years War - are preying on the people. The heart of Midland, the great capital city of Wyndham, itself has been assailed by the horrible demonic Kushan Empire. The Demon Emperor Ganeshka of the Kushan Empire has the Queen Charlotte captive, and intends to marry her to legitimize his conquest. However, a dream is had in common every night by the entire nation, of the Hawk of Light, the White Hawk which burns away the darkness, and is acknowledged as a miracle and an omen even by the Holy See. When the White Hawk finally does arrive, he is both beautiful and powerful, rescuing the princess from the Demon Emperor of the Kushan Empire, and saving the forces of the Holy See from being utterly annihilated with his great Band of the Hawk, which consists of both Apostles, superhuman soldiers which can each destroy legions single-handedly, and of the common men. The heroes and the common people both support him, for his deeds are both kind and miraculous. One problem though; the messiah is really Griffith, now named Femto, a demon demi-god, and it was established earlier in the manga that he is going to save the world just to drop it even further into darkness (if that is even possible). To make it even worse, it's implied that he is the legitimate Messiah as well.
    • Guts, however, is becoming a straight example. Farnese decides to follow Guts after seeing his strength of will during the events at Albion, where he fought off a horde of demons while everyone else simply panicked. Isidro admires Guts' martial skill and strives to be as much like him as possible. Schierke grows a crush on him and her experiences with him change her misanthropic viewpoint that humanity is not worth saving. Even Serpico, who is initially a rival of Guts', slowly grows to admire him.
  • 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 (The "Rethink Your Life Sword Technique", as it is referred to in This Troper's Anime club) 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.
  • Surprisingly, Heero Yuy is The Messiah in Gundam Wing, since his actions often bring the other pilots together to fight their rivals. Quatre is the one who keeps the team working (and lampshades Heero's Messiah-ness), and Relena is the advocate for pacifism, so they also count.
  • 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.
  • Claus in Last Exile.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • 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. Now if only he could get over that lingering homophobia...
  • Kouta from Elfen Lied is an arguable one. Childhood trauma drives him to make the home he shares with cousin/love interest Yuka into a haven for young girls abused by life, including Lucy/Nyuu, the one responsible for said trauma. In the end, the love he showed to Lucy as a child saves the world when an enraged Lucy decides to sacrifice her life to restore his, rather than simply destroy the world. Somewhat subverted in the fact that, after he gets his repressed memories back he cannot truly forgive her wrong against him, restored in that he still asks her to live in his house, so long as she never kills again. Subverted and restored yet again in that he must be the one that ends her misery by killing her decaying body, though by this point, only the part of her that was truly responsible for his family's deaths is left, and that he still loves her. Brought up one last time in the epilogue when it is to him that her reincarnation(s) are drawn, having already befriended the daughter he named in honor of her gentlest personality.

Comic Books
  • It is common for Superman to be portrayed in this fashion a lot of the time.
    • To quote Grant Morrison: "Superman loves you, and he's more proactive than God ever was."
  • Flycatcher, the frog prince of Fables, is universally kind and universally loved for it, and he's the only character who had no sins to absolve or remit under the Fabletown Amnesty. The Messiah Syndrome really kicks in when he receives a purity-powered suit of armor that allows him to resurrect the dead, defeat massive armies without spilling blood, and establish the completely peaceful "Kingdom of Haven" in the middle of enemy territory.
  • Death of the Endless is quite possibly the friendliest, most compassionate entity in the DC Universe. She loves you, no matter who you are or what you've done.
  • Cable. No, really. The man who singlehandedly started the Dark Age, the Nineties Anti Hero trend, and Darker And Edgier's prevalence in comics as a medium. In more recent years, particlarly in Cable & Deadpool, he's become a seriously messianic figure, though a much more aggressive savior than people are used to. As he says, he can read peoples' minds, he knows what they want... and they want what he can give them.

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 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.
  • The main character from Choke, a con artist and sex addict of fairly epic proportions, learns that his mother might have been impregnated by genetic material taken from Jesus Christ. Needless to say, he does not take this well.
  • Neo. Full stop.
  • Luke Skywalker, though depending on the darkness of the story he may be more or less of a Dark Messiah. His father showed a few signs - easier to tell in the Star Wars Expanded Universe - but eventually went evil. There is some fan speculation about which of them, if either, is the Son of the Suns, the Chosen One, or, as of Knights Of The Old Republic, the Sith'ari. Damn prophecies.
    • Luke couldn't be the Sith'ari. But it's totally averted in LOTF when Luke doesn't bother redeeming a single Sith.

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.
  • 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".
  • Aenea, from Dan Simmon's "Endymion" - referred as Messiah throughout the novels. Besides other supernatural attributes, clearly shows Messianic touch and gathers a large following throughout the galaxy in a short period of time. Willingly lets herself be tortured and burnt to death by... the Vatican.
  • Andy Dufresne, the main character of Stephen King's novel 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.
  • J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter (becoming especially blatant in book seven).
  • 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.
  • Jesus. Also considered, at least by some, to be a literal messiah.

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.
  • The Doctor from Doctor Who and Angel from Angel have elements of this trope. Neither is universally loving or 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.
    • One quote from the episode "The 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."
  • 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 Revers (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.

Manga
  • Mana Kirihara in Aquarian Age: Juvenile Orion.

Video Games
  • 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.
  • 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?".
  • 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.
  • The Main Character from Persona 3 definitely qualifies. Adored by everyone he knows. Check. Vastly improved the lives of those around him. Check. He ends up sacrificing his life so he can seal away the Big Bad, thereby saving humanity. Check and mate.
    • Plus his ultimate persona is actually named "Messiah".
  • 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.
  • Most Bioware games gives you the option to play this role. Particularly, I guess, in Baldurs Gate, where one of the endings have you Ascend to Godhood, which carries a really spiffy ending narrations:
    "Your words will inspire and guide, while servants of darkness will flee your wrath..."
  • 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.
  • 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, the Knight In Sour Armor, 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.
  • a 100% Paragon Shepard
  • How has Link avoided mention for so long?

Webcomics

Web Original
  • Shandala from Broken Saints fits this to a tee. Hell, pretty much all the tropes used in the description at the top of the page apply to her. Of course, when in the course of the story, it comes time for Break The Cutie, things get really ugly...
  • Neil Sinclair of Survival Of The Fittest V3. No matter how many times he is knocked back by more cynical or pessimistic characters, he keeps on trying, time and again, to gather as many students he can in an attempt to escape. His hugely idealist approach includes but is not limited to inviting a classmate into the group who had previously killed one of the other members of his group - S.A.D.D.
    • And now, his group has fallen apart after his death.

Western Animation

Real Life
  • Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi preached love for all humankind, and was Badass enough to find a way to harmonize his staunch Thou Shalt Not Kill philosophy with unflinching resistance to the tyranny of British colonial rule. (And the tragedy of Hindu/Muslim violence, and just about any other kind of injustice you can think of ...)
    • Similarly, Martin Luther King Jr., and many other prominent leaders of the nonviolent branch of the civil rights movement.
  • Siddharta Gautama, aka, Buddha.

Meganekko
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