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" There's this passage I got memorized. Ezekiel 25:17. "The path of the righteous man is beset on all sides by the iniquities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men. Blessed is he who, in the name of charity and good will, shepherds the weak through the valley of the darkness. For he is truly his brother's keeper and the finder of lost children. And I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger those who attempt to poison and destroy my brothers. And you will know my name is The Lord when I lay my vengeance upon thee." I been sayin' that shit for years. And if you heard it, that meant your ass. I never gave much thought to what it meant. I just thought it was some cold-blooded shit to say to a motherfucker before I popped a cap in his ass."
-- Jules Winnfield, Pulp Fiction
Washizu's mahjong power could kill Akagi Jesus.
"Boy, there's nothing worse than an inscrutable omen."
So you have yourself a Mind Screw, a Dream Within A Dream, or an episode with lots of Foreshadowing. You have the plot, you have the characters... but something's missing. What could it be...?
I know! Let's add some random symbolism and a few religious shout outs, make the registration plate a Bible index, place some pentagrams in the background of the chase scene, and have a character die with his arms outstretched so that people will compare him to Jesus. As long as it looks meaningful, people will love it!
Not all such references are arbitrary; this trope specifically applies only when someone has added random symbolism as an afterthought to add (illusory) depth and meaning to an otherwise-standard story. Comparing your main character to the Devil or Jesus seems popular.
This technique is particularly popular in Anime, because the Japanese generally only have a passing familiarity with Christianity, and will often use names or apocrypha without regard for their actual significance.
Compare Crystal Dragon Jesus. The secular equivalent is What Do You Mean Its Not Awesome?
Sub-tropes:
Examples:
Film
- The Matrix trilogy has hundreds of Bible references, everything from the registration codes of the hovercraft to the dialogue between Smith and Neo. The films' creators were so worried that people might not see Neo as Messiah that they added these arbitrarily just to avoid confusion. (A few of the subtler ones actually meant something, but they got lost in the general noise.)
- Superman Returns is rife with Bible Shout Outs, but the most blatant one is the scene when one of Lex Luthor's henchmen holds Superman up, with his arms outstretched, as Luthor stabs him in the side with a shard of Kryptonite. To be fair, Superman has been compared and made similar to Jesus for years in the comics -- somewhat of an irony, considering that his creators were both Jewish.
- But then, he's also Moses, what with the "sent away from home in a small vessel to save his life and taken in by a foreign family" and all.
- Jules Winnfield's recitation of "Ezekiel 25:17" in Pulp Fiction, which couldn't be any more off to anyone who's read the actual excerpt. Quite frankly, Winnfield himself openly admits that he never actually gave the verse much thought, he's just always thought of it simply as something cool to say before executing his targets.
- The Doom Generation was so full of this it was pretty much tripping over itself. The main characters' surnames are Redd, White and Blue. The female lead smokes Death brand cigarettes, and has a skull-shaped lighter. The penultimate scene involves "The Star-Spangled Banner" playing behind a scene probably better not described. The whole thing is pretty much Clueless meets Evangelion.
- I Know Who Killed Me, which with its strange "symbols" (persistent use of the colors blue and red, an animated heart tattoo, an owl on a tree branch) made the already ridiculous premise even more insane and inane.
- The second Spider-Man movie. Peter trying to stop the train puts him in a rather... Jesus-like position. Same with the part where it appears he's dead and the crowd carries him in the same position.
- In Lord Of The Rings: Fellowship of the Ring, just as Gandalf falls from the Bridge of Khazad-Dum, you see the falling wizard spread his arms wide and straighten his legs out in a cross-symbol, for the momentary benefit of the viewer, just to hammer home the whole resurrection-schtick later on.
- Of course, he could have been slowing his fall in the way skydivers do, by increasing air resistance...but then why would he need to dive a moment later to catch his sword (in the "dream" sequence at the beginning of The Two Towers)?
- Well... uh... He was just adjusting his orientation as he fell. To get the angle right or something and oh, to heck with it. A Wizard Did It. Literally, in this case.
- This is blatantly *not* an example of the trope, as the religious symbolism was intended in the original novel according to the author. (Unlike political symbolism, again according to Tolkien).
- Speaking of which, this troper is convinced that the Three Rings of the Elves represent the three Fruits of the Spirit. Vilya is faith, as Elrond has seen ages come and go, and has a deep faith in the success of the quest (uh...less so in the movies). Nenya is Love, as it is held by the beautiful Galadriel, in whose realm beautiful things still exist. Narya is Hope: it is held by Gandalf, who comes before every storm to stir the people to action and to cheer them when things look darkest (such as in his moving speech at the gates of Minas Tirith), and even when he seems to have died, he returns with more strength.
- Confirmed in the Silmarilion when you're told that Narya's Flame is not conventional Fire, but the ability to ignite Hope in others.
- El Topo, Alexandro Jodorowsky's pastiche of spaghetti westerns, owes most of its fame to the heights it takes this trope to. That, and being extremely violent even by spaghetti western standards.
- The final shootout of John Woo's The Killer has this in spades. The shootout itself takes place in a church, the Killer's last place of peace and refuge, with doves flying everywhere at key points in the battle. At one point, the Killer gets shot, and his arms are outstretched in a Crucified Hero Shot. And just to drive home the point that the church is no longer a sanctuary for him and his blinded love interest, one of the bad guys blows up the church's centerpiece, a statue of Mary, at which point the Handel's Messiah Overture starts playing.
- Southland Tales contains constant, inexplicable references to the Book of Revelation. Said by Justin Timberlake. The whole movie's pretty messed up.
- Don't forget all the references to Robert Frost and T.S. Eliot. The characters use their quotations a lot, and there's even a Presidential ticket of Frost-Eliot. Apparently, Richard Kelly would like you to know that he's well-read.
- Magnolia is filled with cryptic references to the numbers 8 and 2, and eventually brings on a plague of frogs straight out of Exodus 8:2.
- 28 Days Later: Are all the statues of Laocoon in the manor house supposed to mean something? How about the Infected priest? How about the running horses? How about the "hell"/"hello" sign at the very end? Well, how about it?
- In Kenneth Braunaugh's Hamlet, the eponymous tragic hero's body is hoisted awkwardly so that the arms splay and the head flops back giving a brief cruciform. Which would make sense if there were any other sacrificial/messianic imagery in the rest of the film.
- Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle has Demi Moore falling down a trap door with a leaking gas pipe, which her gunshots ignite. It's not just symbolic, it's awesome.
- Paradise Now has a chilling, ironic ShoutOut to Da Vinci's Last Supper. When Khaled and Said eat a supposedly last time with the preparers of their suicide bombings, for some reason they all cluster on the far side of the long table, facing the camera.
- Blade Runner has the Replicant Roy Batty attempting to kill Deckard before his body dies. His arm begins to stiffen and numb, and so he drives a nail through the palm. He and Deckard fight on the roof - Deckard is soon driven off the edge and dangles for his life, weakening. Roy grabs him and pulls him up onto the roof just as Deckard's hands slip, the nail through his hand in full view, and sits there, cradling a white pigeon in his hands, before finally dying. At least he had the decency not to splay his hands out in a crucifix pose.
- The tagline fro Interview With the Vampire is "Drink from me and live forever." Of course, this is completely appropriate, considering that the (modern) vampire mythology is now seen as darkly mirroring Christ's--where Jesus gave his blood so that others may live forever, the vampire steals other's blood so that he may live forever, and so on.
Live Action TV
Anime
- How much of the religious imagery in Neon Genesis Evangelion is truly relevant and how much was added by this trope is up for debate; however, things like the cross-shaped energy blasts probably qualify. Producer Kazuya Tsurumaki admits that a lot of the material that the staff co-opted from Judeo-Christian esoterica is there specifically to Mind Screw the viewing audience, who, being Japanese, wouldn't be very familiar with it.
- But even NGE couldn't resist the temptation to throw in one gratuitous Buddhist reference, in the form of a One Hundred And Eight.
- European and American audiences are Mind Screwed not by its unfamiliarity but by the fact that it appears in totally unexpected contexts.
- Washizu associates his mahjong power with Noah's Ark and his opponent Akagi with Jesus being crucified.
- Yu-Gi-Oh: Many of the characters and monsters in the ancient Egyptian Memory World are named after figures from Egyptian mythology (Isis, Set, Osiris, Ra) and have absolutely nothing in common with their namesakes or their stories (though it makes great inspiration for Fan Fic writers and Shippers).
- For all the philosophical rambling and half-symbolism in Ghost In The Shell: Stand Alone Complex they mostly avoid religious imagery. But in the last episode of Second Gig, Batou grabs a cross beam and holds it over his shoulder before using it to free Motoko. And, well... judge for yourself if this is supposed to be symbolic
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- Jo Jos Bizarre Adventure Part 3 introduced Stands, spiritual entities named after tarot cards. Note the "named after", not "based on"; few of them have anything in common with their namesakes, the author's handwaves nonwithstanding. For example, Tower of Gray is a superfast fly, so named because it brings calamity; Death 13 is a dream-controlling Stand named only because it looks like The Grim Reaper (while the actual card, ironically, does not), The Emperor is a handgun, and The Empress is a sentient wart which grows on its victim. About the only Stand that was really accurate was The Sun, a miniature sun.
- But there weren't enough Tarot cards to have all the requisite enemy Stand users, so the author started naming them after similarly unrelated Egyptian gods. See Horus, an ice Stand named after the sun god. When the author ran out of those he decided to just use name them after bands, and has continued to do so throughout parts 4, 5, 6, and 7, though even those can be sort of wonky at times, such as Super Fly, the tower Stand.
- Death Note contains several religious allusions. Some notable examples this editor remembers are Michaelangelo's Creation of Adam (Ryuk and Light) and ''Pietà'' (Ray Penbar and Misora Naomi) in the first opening credits, as well as the washing of Light's feet by L.
- Not to mention the symbolism of the apples Ryuk is always chomping on. This was actually the result of a mistake on the part of the manga artist, as it was a suggestion from the author who just thought it'd look cool.
- About the the part with Light superimposed over Jesus: Light does think of himself as God.
- Most of Hellsing's religious symbolism was put there simply because Kouhta Hirano was aiming to make a manga that "looked cool".
- Mercuremon from Digimon Frontier, stages a huge Church Shootout against Takuya, complete with Ominous Pipe Organ (physical and musical) and a Crucified Hero Shot. The grand finale even involves stuffing him in a coffin. Did I mention they are fighting inside Sefirotmon, which is basically a living cabbalistic figure?
- In the DVD extras for Eureka Seven, voice actor Crispin Freeman discusses how the names of the main Humongous Mecha and its associated Applied Phlebotinum are derived from Buddhist mythology, as well as the series' references to The Golden Bough.
- The Big O had this in spades.
- And let's not forget Trinity Blood in this list - three guesses as to the name of Abel Nightroad's evil twin.
- D Gray Man. The villains are descendants of Noah (yes, that Noah), the Millenium Earl has commandeered Noah's Ark, the Black Order works for the Vatican, General Yeeger is crucified by the Noah, most Innocences have Creepy Cool Crosses on them, all Akuma have pentagrams on their faces (as does the hero), the Noah have lines of scar-like crosses across their foreheads...
- Fafner In The Azure Dead Aggressor outdoes its rivals with twice the pointless mythology: meaningless German myth for the heroes (see: Fafner), and vague Egyptian-ness for the villains.
- Trigun semi-subverts this; Nicholas D. Wolfwood carries around a cross that's actually a minigun, rocket launcher, and holster for several handguns. The grip is shaped like a skull. However, his religious beliefs turn out to be very important to the story.
- The third season of Sailor Moon (Sailor Moon S) features a lot of this trope. "The Messiah" has to use the Holy Grail to save the world from evil, but there's nothing particularly religion-related about this evil force - it's pretty similar to the Big Bads of the other seasons that don't have religious imagery. The episode where the Holy Grail makes its first appearance takes place largely in a cathedral.
- The Holy Grail appears when the three Talismans are brought together. Interestingly, these talismans are a sword, a mirror, and a garnet, which are three sacred objects in the traditional Japanese Shinto religion.
- In the Downer Ending of episode five of Mnemosyne, Big Bad Apos rapes Rin's sidekick Mimi while she is chained and nailed to a stone lamp post as Ominous Latin Chanting and Ominous Pipe Organ plays in the background. This is only one in at least three incidents of Nightmare Fuel in the last five minutes before the end credits roll.
Literature
- The Wheel Of Time takes this to 11. Entire characters are based off of mythological characters, and religious characters.
- Rand Al'Thor (Jesus) battles Ishamael (the Anti-Christ), and Shai'tan (Guess)
- Mat Cauthon is based off of Odin right down to getting hanged for knowledge
- Perrin Aybara is based off of Thor, and the Baltic god Perkons
- Gareth Bryne, and Gawyn Trakand are heavily based off of their King Arthur counterparts
- The history of Tar Valon, and the Amyrlin Seat is based off of Catholic Church and Pope, right down to them splitting apart and electing different Amrylin (popes)
- A lot of that is actually just the nature of the books -- a lot of the characters are supposed to represent something/someone in our 'age', and the repetitiveness of the Wheel of Time.
- Mark Z. Danielewski's House Of Leaves is chock-full of religious and mythological symbolism, some of it seemingly irrelevant. The most obvious allusions are to the Greek myth of
the Labyrinth and the Minotaur because of the nature of the house, but other mythologies and religions have their place. For instance, Will Navidson's injuries mirror similar injuries sustained by figures in Norse mythology: Odin lost an eye, Tyr lost a hand, and Heimdall lost his hearing, which are similar to the one blind eye, the frostbitten (and rendered useless) hand, and the lost ear he ends up with. The house is located on Ash Tree Lane, and the world-tree Yggdrasil is said to have been a giant ash tree. Danielewski doesn't stop at Greek and Norse mythology, but to list them all here would take up too much space.
- Partially Lampshaded in Paul Robinson's Instrument Of God where the Chairman of the Afterlife (who while he is a human being, has the effective authority of God), sends Supervisor 246's boss David to go get him so they can have a meeting. He tells David to mention the bible verse Judges 3:20. As 246 is currently working as the equivalent of a municipal court judge, he feels the quote is appropriate, because (as 246 later informs David) the verse reads, "Your Majesty, I have a message from God for you."
- Narnia. Full stop. Complete with Talking Animal Jesus. To be fair, this was intentional, as C.S. Lewis was a strong Christian, but sometimes the parallels come off as extraordinarily ham-fisted.
Theater
- Most of the second half of The Fantasticks is a parade of symbols. The El Gallo number "Round and Round" is particularly trippy in its symbolism; even the actors in the production this editor attended didn't know what it meant.
Video Games
- Xenogears and Xenosaga are notorious among Video Games for being chock-full of Pretentious Religious Symbolism. Much like Neon Genesis Evangelion, matters are complicated by the fact that the core story really is based around religious symbolism--Xenogears in particular is heavily inspired by the Gnostic interpretation of Christianity.
- Bioshock carries quite a bit of seemingly gratuitous religious symbolism, from crucified corpses, to discarded Bibles lying around, to the name of the game's Applied Phlebotinum, ADAM (which gives you powers that are fueled by EVE), to the name of the city itself, Rapture. One could argue that Rapture is actually named after "diver's rapture", a state of euphoria brought on by "the bends" -- still symbolic, but not in the same way.
- While the rest are valid, the first two are more literal -- the character inspired by the heroes of Ayn Rand, Andrew Ryan (easy to anagram, isn't it?) outlawed religion and hunted down smugglers who brought Bibles into Rapture.
- This troper hasn't played the game beyond the demo and even he gets the obvious allusion to the character Atlas and a really thick book.
- This troper always thought that the city's name was an allusion to an Ayn Rand quote where she describes the feeling she feels when looking at skyscrapers and other wonders of engineering as "Rapture"
- In Devil May Cry 4's opening cutscene, Dante puts his sword through the forehead of a statue of his father. Later on, he gets impaled by his sword on the same statue.
- But then Dante, in every game but the second, gets impaled on his own sword by an enemy.
- In the videogame Drakengard, you have the Cult of the Watchers, which is a vague allusion to a concept in Judeo-Christian theology and some books of the Apocrypha. This allusion is made more manifest when these "Watchers" finally make an appearance as giant angelic babies; the Watchers in Christian apocrypha were the children of angels and giants. You also have the Seeds of Resurrection, which are sealed away until the high priestess of the cult breaks all of the seals. When a dead person is placed inside a seed, they emerge from it as an angelic being. Sort of.
- In Assassins Creed, mild-mannered bartender Desmond Miles is suspiciously modeled with the exact same face as Altair, his ancestor from 1191AD. It also goes in reverse, as Desmond's white hoodie is obviously patterned to resemble Altair's assassin's robe. It's a rather sly application of the Identical Grandson, because Altair wears his hood up and his face is harder to see. This goes in reverse as well, because Desmond doesn't wear his hood.
- Arguably subverted with the Animus, as it could be simply replacing Altair with Desmond's looks, since Desmond is reliving the memories. This would mean Altair didn't have the cool scar that causes much squee, sadly.
- Fire Emblem games generally name characters and weapons after people and weapons in mythologies from EVERYWHERE in Europe. The names don't go any deeper than being names. Fire Emblem 8 has a character named Tethys (a Greek Goddess), the sacred spear Siegmund (named after a Norse Hero) and the sacred sword Sieglinde (named after Siegmund sister/lover Ironically, they're wielded by Lords who are twin brother and sister *and* have quite the twincest-y vibes). They just sound cooler than boring names, nothing more.
- Persona 3 involves shooting yourself in the head to let the voices out. Of course, the shooting device is apparently not a real gun, and just induces the mental trauma of being shot, causing your innermost psyche to emerge and attack the enemy with magic.
- "Jesus Beams" Joshua from The World Ends With You. A God Is He.
- The first half of Final Fantasy X draws so many parallels between Yuna and Jesus that it's almost not a surprise when it's revealed that Yuna will die saving Spira if she completes her pilgrimage as intended. The second half of the game then completely subverts this as it's revealed that this way of dealing with Sin, at best, puts a temporary patch on the problem anyway and looks for another way to defeat it.
Webcomics
- Summed up brilliantly by this image◊ (Aptly titled "It makes you sound deep"), brought to you by RPG World.
Web Original
- Cody Jenson's discovery of a motorcycle in Survival Of The Fittest, a mundane occurance tooled up with as much symbolism and imagery as was humanly possible. Oh, and he named it too.
Comic Books
- In Huntress: Year One #4, the Huntress essentially crucifies Stephen Mandragora, but even though Huntress is all about the Catholic imagery, she only does it to restrain him, and presumably because impaling someone through the palmar radial nerve is one of the most excruciatingly painful injuries one can inflict on someone. Lampshaded when Mandragora points out to her, with his dying breath "You honor me, with...with the stigmata...I knew...I'd be a saint someday."
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