Tzadikim Nistarim

aka: The Righteous Souls

"The Lord said, If I find fifty righteous people in the city of Sodom, then I will spare all the place for their sakes."

— Genesis 18:26, The Bible

Hebrew for "The Hidden Righteous Ones".

If numerous works of fiction and even religion are to be believed, then in this world are a number of people whose mere existence keeps the universe going, maybe because the gods are paying them particular attention and these few people are effectively acting as the scale by which the rest of the world is being judged. The origin of this idea is the Tzadikim Nistarim, or Lamed Vav Tzadikim or (in Yiddish) the Lamed Vovniks, a concept rooted in Judaism which states that the world continues to exist only because of the existence of thirty-six Righteous Souls who keep the whole thing going. The idea also exists in other religions, but this is the one that is most widely known. (The number thirty-six is rendered in classical Hebrew with the letters lamed and vav.)

There are several characteristics which are essential for a person to be a member of the Tzadikim Nistarim:

1. They're kind of like a sample number for God within an entire population: so long as these thirty-six are good and true, the world is safe, even if absolutely everyone else has descended to every vice.
2. They have mystic powers, possibly very obscure mystic powers of which they are mostly unaware, given that:
3. They can never know who they are. Suppose any of the Tzadikim Nistarim ever realizes or uncovers their identity. In that case, they will die soon after and be immediately replaced (so being a Chosen One is not necessarily the same as being a member of the Tzadikim Nistarim, though they may be). Alternatively, even if they realized who they are, they would never admit or believe it, because their great virtue means that they're also too humble to believe themselves to be so important. Killing one of them may bring about The End of the World as We Know It, but not necessarily.
4. They may or may not take an active stance in protecting the world on a daily basis. The theory is that these people, via their mere existence and the virtues they have, are enough to keep the world from going to hell in a handbasket.

Lots of Messianic Archetypes tend to fit here, especially those who are The Incorruptible. Another requirement should probably be dying a natural death since killing one of the Tzadikim Nistarim brings about The End of the World as We Know It.

The actual concept of this may be covered in Save This Person, Save the World (this someone will do a great good for the world; protect them at all costs and we all benefit) and Barrier Maiden (if this person dies, the setting either collapses or dies with them).

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Examples:

Comic Books

• The Sandman (1989): According to Death of the Endless in "Three Septembers and a January", Joshua Norton (yes, that one) was one. He stopped rioters trying to burn down Chinatown by dropping to his knees and praying loudly, therefore Shaming the Mob. To quote him, "They say that the world rests on the back of 36 living saints, 36 unselfish men and women. Because of them, the world continues to exist."

Fan Works

• A Thing of Vikings: "Book 4, Chapter 5: Meritorious" opens with three paragraphs discussing what being a 'venerable holy person' entails for each of the three Abrahamic religions. Be it a Tzadik, a Saint, or a Wali, each of them embodies the orthoprax (correct practice) or orthodox (correct belief) nature of their respective faiths. For Judaism, the key meaning is justice through actions. The paragraph is a textual reference to "Divine Light Through The Gem Of Man: Studying The Many Facets Of The Holy" (1692).

Films — Live-Action

• A Serious Man: Discussed. Sy Abelman is a villain with such good publicity that the rabbi doing the eulogy at his funeral genuinely believes he might have been one of the Lamed Vavnik.

Literature

• Book of Imaginary Beings: The Lamed Wufniks are thirty-six people who, without any knowledge of what they are or do, support the universe and affirm God. If one should ever realize their true nature, they die on the spot and another unsuspecting person takes their role.
• Captain Freedom: The title character's true name is rather ironic, as it means 'righteous (singular)' in Hebrew. By contrast, Tzadik is neurotic and an absolute narcissist.
• Eyes Wide Open (Ted Dekker): Invoked. Project Showdown revolves around recruiting and raising 36 orphaned children in a special Christian monastery (it follows the path of light) with the purpose of rebirthing Earth into a new era.
• The Journeyer: Marco suspects that the wise Magical Jew who occasionally pops up in his stops is one of the Lamed Vav Tzadikim, the 36 righteous individuals whose internal goodness stands between humanity and apocalypse.
• Keeping Faith (Jodi Picoult): Faith's religious role is interpreted differently by characters depending on their religion. Christians think she's a Messianic Archetype because she can perform miracles (e.g., bringing back her ill aunt from death) and quote their sacred book, The Bible, without ever having read it. Jews like Rabbi Solomon, on the other hand, think their God has chosen her to be a Tzadik Nistar.
• The Last Of The Just uses the legend of the Tzadikim to frame a tale of Jewish persecution and survival through eight centuries in Europe.
• Let The Great World Spin (Colum Mc Cann): The first book's narrator has a Christian brother whose actions remind him of the legend of the 'thirty-six hidden saints'.
• The Quantum Thief: The Tzaddikim are an organization of powered guardians fighting crime and protecting the Oubliette from serious menaces such as a man trying to steal Time itself. It's unknown how many of them are but since the book's symbolism draws a lot from Hebrew mythology, it's all but confirmed that their name refers to the religious term. Members have codenames—such as Cockatrice, the Silence, the Futurist, the Bishop, and the Rat King—to conceal their identities.
• The Quest For The 36: Dexter Sinister receives one almost impossible mission, to find the legendary 36, the only men and women on Earth honest and good enough to stave off the darkness that's pushing the world closer and closer to the apocalypse.
• The Righteous Men: The plot is centred around a plot to kill the Tzadikim Nistarim and thus end the world. No modern examples of the thirty-six exhibit mystic powers, but they each help out their fellow human beings in several ways. From one performing individual acts of kindness to their neighbours to another who black markets a medication for HIV that will help millions around the world.
  Sometimes some subconsciously try to obscure their altruistic nature so much that they are often criminals due to fate or in their attempts to help others. One member of the thirty-six did become aware of his nature. However, he doesn't die instantly. Additionally, one member of the thirty-six at a time is determined to be the Messiah if the End of Days occurs while he is alive, and a particularly spiritual and pure Righteous Man will attract others to him, and even be able to recognise his fellows.
  Members of the thirty-six mentioned include a pimp who sold all his belongings to save a woman from entering prostitution, a medieval pimp who could pray for rain, a teenage hacker who invents a virus that will eventually destroy all child pornography on the internet, and a simple nurse in Africa who saves war refugees
• Young Wizards: Diane Duane clearly used this concept as the basis for the Abdals in the series. There are more than 36 of them, but only because they exist in numerous realms of habitation (some of which are probably far stranger than planets) throughout the multiverse. In relative terms, they're still very rare, and our planet probably has considerably fewer than 36. In all other respects, they're pretty much identical to the Tzadikim Nistarim.

Live-Action TV

• Kevin (Probably) Saves the World: Kevin is one of the 36 righteous souls, but for some unknown reason the other 35 are nowhere to be found. Kevin's job is to anoint them all. He has found 3: in episode 9, a newborn Laotian baby girl; in episode 13, a Canadian realtor; and in episode 16, a rich man's nephew.
• Touch (2012) borrows this concept whole cloth. The 36 are people able to see the pattern of the world, allowing them to achieve amazing things. The main character's son, Jake, is one, as is Amelia, the girl they're trying to find. Guillermo, a mysterious Spanish man, is yet another one, although he seems to be trying to kill all of the 36.
• Transparent: In "Oh Holy Night", Rabbi Raquel leads a Hinei in which she discusses this topic. She uses it as a way to prompt the attendees into behaving as righteously as if they were one of the sacred 36.

Tabletop Games

• Old World of Darkness: The Mogen ha Chav, a small faction of Sorceror-level mystics guiding spec-ops style bodyguard missions on behalf of the thirty-six people who justify humanity to God. The tsaddikim themselves are to be unaware of their secret protectors.
• Spirit of the Century: The Big Bad of Spirit of the Season is an evil kabbalist convinced that he is a Tzadikim Nistarim, one of the 36 Righteous People whose existence supports that of the world.
• Unknown Armies: Referenced through a street-level rumor that claims that, if there are ever less than nine truly righteous men left in the world, God will destroy it.

Theatre

• The Two Kuni Lemls (Avrom Goldfaden): Subverted. As the title indicates, there are two men called Kuni Leml; one is the real deal, who is betrothed to Carolina, while the other is Max in disguise, aka Carolina's actual Love Interest. Pinkhsel, Carolina's daughter, mistakenly believes that Kuni's sudden personality shift means that he's become a lamed-vovnik.

Webcomics

• Bobwhite: Marlene discusses this with Cleo, telling her that the presence of 36 unaware people chosen by her God to sustain the universe is one of her favorite aspects of Judaism. It kinda comes out of the blue after Cleo apologizes to her for what she's done. Especially since Marlene is quick to assert that Cloe is not one of them, as the latter assumed that's where the conversation is going.
• L's Empire: This is essentially what Threaders are, being described as "threading together the fabric of the universe". Killing them causes their entire universe to collapse.

Websites

• Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab: They have a perfume oil named 'Tzadikim Nistarim' on sale under their Sin and Salvation collection. The Flavor Text does a brief historical review of the term while also claiming that said scent is "one of unadulterated spiritual purity, with a taste of the world’s eternal pathos, and the joy of suffering with grace".
• SCP Foundation: In one of their SCP-001 proposals, the Tzadikim Nistarim are capable of neutralizing any anomaly in existence, and if they die, they cause massive fluctuations in reality. When all 36 gather in one place, it is implied that it'll neutralize every anomaly in existence, and end the SCP Universe as we know it.

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