History Main / CelestialParagonsAndArchangels

** ''Comicbook/JLA1997'': Each of the four Hosts of the Pax Dei (Lion, Eagle, Human and Bull) have "King-Angels" who appear to come just below Archangels in the heavenly heirarchy.

** ''Comicbook/TheSandman'' stoyline "Season of Mist" introduces the archangels Remiel, He Who is Set Over Those to Rise, and Duma, Angel of Silence, who are (unwillingly) made the rulers of Hell when Morpheus is asked to choose a replacement for the retiring Lucifer, and who go on to appear in ''Comicbook/{{Lucifer}}''.
** ''Comicbook/JLAGrantMorrison'': Each of the four Hosts of the Pax Dei (Lion, Eagle, Human and Bull) have "King-Angels" who appear to come just below Archangels in the heavenly heirarchy.

They're the top [[OurAngelsAreDifferent angels]] (or angel-like beings) around, and can usually be found as the heads of a CouncilOfAngels. The one thing they have in common is that they can [[AuthorityEqualsAsskicking kick a whole lot of ass]] and are usually the {{Big Good}}s of the setting. They're pretty much always the officers when TheArmiesOfHeaven show up. They also frequently possess powers of [[LightEmUp light]] and/or [[HolyHandGrenade holiness]] to [[BoltOfDivineRetribution smite evil]].

* In ''VideoGame/DwarfFortress'', most players will never encounter an archangel. [[LightIsNotGood Fortunately]]. They serve as {{Bonus Boss}}es for those brave or foolhardy enough to seek out such a challenge, are the strongest things in the game and are powerful enough to survive the might of the lesser angels that, in of themselves, far eclipse all but the greatest of mortals. Their appearances are randomized, as variable as the ineffable natures of the gods that create them. [[spoiler: They [[FromBadToWorse respawn after every visit too!]]]]

%%* ''Literature/AstralDawn'': The Aash Ra.

** [[ArchangelGabriel Gabriel]] is often depicted as God's main messenger, sent to give prophecies, commands and revelations to His followers -- for instance, Christianity credits him with foretelling the births of John the Baptist and Jesus, and Islam with dictating the Qur'an to Mohammad. As such, he's often considered the patron of communications, messengers and diplomats.

** In Innistrad, there is [[https://scryfall.com/card/ima/11/avacyn-angel-of-hope Avacyn, the Angel of Hope]], ruler of the angels, master of all of the plane's {{White|Magic}} mana, and central figure of the local humans' CrystalDragonJesus religion, as well as her three lieutenants, who each guide one of the plane's three flights of angels -- [[https://scryfall.com/card/cm2/9/gisela-blade-of-goldnight Gisela]], overseeing the warrior angels of the Flight of Goldnight; [[https://scryfall.com/card/c18/170/bruna-light-of-alabaster Bruna]], overseeing the Flight of Alabaster that watches over the spirits of the dead, and [[https://scryfall.com/card/uma/206/sigarda-host-of-herons Sigarda]], guiding the monster-hunters of the Flight of Herons. There was also a fourth lesser archangel, who believed in learning from monsters in order to fight them and was destroyed and {{Unperson}}ed for allying with a demon lord. This lasted until Avacyn was corrupted and driven mad by [[EldritchAbomination Emrakul]], dragging Bruna, Gisella and most of their flights down with her; the fallen angels ultimately had to be wiped out, leaving Sigarda as the last archangel in Innistrad.

* ''Wiki/SCPFoundation'': Dr. Clef's SCP-001 Proposal is very likely to be Archangel [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uriel Uriel]], an archangel who is tasked with keeping humanity out of the Garden of Eden. His sword could cut anything including people, drones and even an ICBM. [[spoiler: Incidentally, WordOfGod is that Clef was the one that cast humanity out of Eden, which means if he ''isn't'' the serpent that tempted them to sin, then ''he's'' Jophiel, which mean Clef proposed ''himself'' as SCP-001.]]

** As the SpaceMarines are often considered to be the GodEmperor's Angels of Death, his twenty PhysicalGod sons that were the genetic templates for the SpaceMarine Legions would be his [[CelestialParagonsAndArchangels Archangels]] (and it's especially evident with Sanguinius, Primarch of the Blood Angels, who happens to be a WingedHumanoid). Of course, once Chaos had come about in the Literature/HorusHeresy, half of them went the other [[DemonLordsAndArchdevils route]]...

*** The Eastern Orthodox Church venerates eight archangels by name -- Michael, Gabriel, Raphael, Uriel, Selaphiel, Jegudiel, Barachiel, and Jerahmeel. Each angel is traditionally assigned a specific symbolic depiction in art[[note]]Michael – holding a spear or a sword, sometimes he is shown crushing the devil beneath his feet; Gabriel – holding a heavenly tree branch or a jasper mirror; Raphael – holding a jug of medicines, he is sometimes shown leading Tobias by the hand; Uriel – with a risen sword in his right hand and a [[FlameOfLife flame]] in his left; Selaphiel – praying with his eyes downcast and his hands crossed on his breast; Jegudiel – with a [[GoldAndWhiteAreDivine golden]] crown in his right hand and a whip of three ropes in his left; Barachiel – holding [[SomethingAboutARose roses]] or an embroidery of roses, or with roses embroidered on his clothes; Jerahmeel – holding scales[[/note]] and Mondays are dedicated to them in the liturgical calendar.

*** The Eastern Orthodox Church venerates eight archangels by name -- Michael, Gabriel, Raphael, Uriel, Selaphiel, Jegudiel, Barachiel, and Jerahmeel. Each angel is traditionally assigned a specific symbolic depiction in art[[note]]Michael – holding a spear or a sword, sometimes he is shown crushing the devil beneath his feet; Gabriel – holding a heavenly tree branch or a jasper mirror; Raphael – holding a jug of medicines, he is sometimes shown leading Tobias by the hand; Uriel – with a risen sword in his right hand and a flame in his left; Selaphiel – praying with his eyes downcast and his hands crossed on his breast; Jegudiel – with a golden crown in his right hand and a whip of three ropes in the other; Barachiel – holding [[SomethingAboutARose roses]] or an embroidery of roses, or with roses embroidered on his clothes; Jerahmeel – holding scales[[/note]] and Mondays are dedicated to them in the liturgical calendar.

*** The Eastern Orthodox Church venerates eight archangels by name -- Michael, Gabriel, Raphael, Uriel, Selaphiel, Jegudiel, Barachiel, and Jerahmeel. Each angel is traditionally assigned a specific symbolic item in art, and Mondays are viewed as being dedicated to them.

*** The Eastern Orthodox Church venerates seven archangels by name -- Michael, Gabriel, Raphael, Uriel, Selaphiel, Jegudiel, Barachiel, and Jerahmeel. Each angel is traditionally assigned a specific symbolic item in art, and Mondays are viewed as being dedicated to them.

* The ''Franchise/{{Digimon}}'' series features a full angel hierarchy, with popular Digimon such as Angewomon and Magnaangemon being akin to archangels, and Ophanimon, Seraphimon and Cherubimon taking their namesakes from angelic ranks in the bible. Holy Digimon are also all identified by Holy Rings featuring in their design. Often the more Holy Rings the higher the Digimons ranking amongst other Holy Digimon, although this rule is played pretty loosely. Demon digimon, such as Devimon and Ladydevimon for example, are considered Fallen Angel versions of Angemon and Angewomon respectively within lore.

[[caption-width-right:350:"The Seven Archangels in Adoration of the Trinity" by Federico Zuccari, c1600.\\
Found in the Church of Gesù in Rome]]

[[quoteright:290:[[ArchangelMichael https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ArchangelMichael3_8396.jpg]]]]
[[caption-width-right:290: Commander of TheArmiesOfHeaven and [[WebVideo/DragonBallZAbridged wrecker of Satan's shit.]] Art by [[https://www.deviantart.com/wen-m/art/Angels-Michael-48102264 Wen-M]].]]

!Examples:

* ''Literature/TheSilmarillion'' features the Valar, the most powerful beings in existence behind [[{{God}} Eru]]. [[SatanicArchetype Morgoth]] ([[Literature/TheLordOfTheRings Sauron's]] boss) happened to be [[TheParagonAlwaysRebels the most powerful of them]] until he [[FallenAngel rebelled against his maker]].

* ''Literature/YoungWizards'': There's the Winged Defender, a.k.a. the [[{{God}} One's]] Champion ([[AllMythsAreTrue a.k.a. Thor, a.k.a. Athena, a.k.a. the archangel Michael]]). S/He only rarely intervenes directly, since fully manifesting strains the fabric of reality almost to the breaking point, but when s/he ''does'', s/he has no problem kicking the ass of the [[{{Satan}} Lone Power]]. In addition to occasionally kicking the ass of the BigBad, his/her responsibilities include granting the titular wizards their power ([[AllMythsAreTrue which was the inspiration for the legend of Prometheus]]), and also keeping the TrueName of {{God}} in several separate pieces, since the sheer power radiated by God's whole name would [[ApocalypseHow destroy entire universes]].

* In ''Literature/ProsperosDaughter'', by Creator/LJagiLamplighter, Miranda is quite shocked to learn that one being Mephisto can summon is Uriel. [[spoiler:At the end, he gives instructions to Astreus, who had been rather high-ranking himself.]]
* In ''Literature/GoodOmens,'' these are Aziraphale's bosses.

* ''Literature/{{Domina}}'': The angels have Names based on some of the traditional Archangels (including Lucifer, though it's mentioned that they should have used Samael instead). The Arch-Saints, the leaders of the angels, are named after the ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' Celestial Paragons, with Zaphkiel the Watcher at the top in Chronias.

** Azrael, the angel of death, is said to be the one who comes to the dead and takes their souls to by judged by God.

See the most famous examples in ArchangelMichael, ArchangelGabriel, ArchangelRaphael, ArchangelUriel, and (possibly) the FallenAngel version in ArchangelLucifer. {{Metatron}} may also be present as an archangel in some works.

See the most famous examples in ArchangelMichael, ArchangelGabriel, ArchangelRaphael, ArchangelUriel, and (possibly) the FallenAngel version in [[{{Satan}} Archangel Lucifer]]. [[MouthOfSauron Metatron]] may also be present as an archangel in some works.

They're the top [[OurAngelsAreDifferent angels]] (or angel-like beings) around, and can usually be found as the heads of a CouncilOfAngels. The one thing they have in common is that they can [[AuthorityEqualsAsskicking kick a whole lot of ass]] and are usually the {{Big Good}}s of the setting. They're pretty much always the officers when TheArmiesOfHeaven show up. They also frequently possess powers of [[LightEmUp light]] and/or [[HolyHandGrenade holiness]] to [[BoltOfDivineRetribution smite evil.]]

As to be expected from angels, they frequently act as representatives of {{God}} that the protagonists can interact with without [[BrownNote dying]] or [[JesusTaboo causing out-of-universe backlash]], with the added benefit of representing God's omnipotence better than weaker angels. How these favorably paragons and arch-angels are portrayed is generally a good barometer to tell if the work is saying GodIsGood or [[GodIsEvil not]]. Although there are examples that don't serve God, but rather a fantasy pantheon or [[GodOfGood a specific, generally good member of said pantheon]].

See also OurAngelsAreDifferent, OurGodsAreDifferent, CouncilOfAngels, CelestialBureaucracy, DivineRanks, FantasyPantheon and its InvertedTrope, DemonLordsAndArchDevils.

** The Seraphs, who have the greatest perception of God’s [[ThePowerOfLove love]] and light the love for God in people’s hearts.
** The Cherubs, who have the greatest perception of God’s wisdom and bring wisdom to people.

** The Dominions, who have the greatest perception of God’s Providence, teach people avoid temptation, and regulate the duties of the lower angelic ranks.
** The Virtues, who have the greatest perception of God’s miracles and assist holy wonderworkers.
** The Powers, who have the greatest perception of God’s might and drive evil spirits away from people.

** The Archangels are the messengers of God’s greatest mysteries and revelations[[note]]Many theologians believe ArchangelMichael, ArchangelGabriel, ArchangelRaphael and several other named archangels are actually from the rank of the Seraphs and are only called "archangels" in the literal sense of the word, as in, "chief angels". The confusion arises from the fact that "angel", too, is the name both of all the bodiless powers of Heaven and of their lowest rank[[/note]].
** The Angels are the ones closest to people and most involved in their lives. Every person’s GuardianAngel comes from this rank.
* There's [[http://www.miaminewtimes.com/news/myths-over-miami-6393117 an article about the folktales shared by homeless children in Miami]] (and presumably in some other places) in which this type of angels are frequently mentioned.

** Talisid and the Five Companions, paragons of the NeutralGood guardinals. Their beast-like forms seem inspired by totemic or shamanistic 'spirit guides'.

* ''TabletopGame/InNomine'': The Archangels. They are much more powerful than regular angels, but are Word-bound (forced to operate in accordance with their descriptive Word) and thus limited in thought and action.
* ''TabletopGame/{{Nobilis}}'': The Angels are the Imperators of Heaven, though in a case of [[LightIsNotGood Light Is Not (Exactly) Good]] -- rather, they are ''just'' above all else. The schism that resulted in the [[FallenAngel Fallen Angels]] existing (at least in third edition) was that some of the angels loved everyone, even the corrupt... and for this, they were cast into Hell.

** Considering that the SpaceMarines are often considered to be the GodEmperor's Angels of Death, it would logically dictate that his twenty PhysicalGod sons that were the genetic templates for the SpaceMarine Legions would be his [[CelestialParagonsAndArchangels Archangels]] (and it's especially evident with Sanguinius, Primarch of the Blood Angels, who happens to be a WingedHumanoid). Of course, once Chaos had come about in the Literature/HorusHeresy, half of them went the other [[DemonLordsAndArchdevils route]]...
** If the {{Space Marine}}s are considered to be [[OurAngelsAreDifferent Angels]], then the Living Saints can be considered to be the Emperor's actual Archangels. This is especially blatant with Celestine, whose PowerArmor includes a large set of mechanical angelic wings.
* ''TabletopGame/PrometheanTheCreated'' features ''qashmallim'', who are [[OurAngelsAreDifferent not-quite-but-maybe angels]] serving [[InMysteriousWays a cosmic Principle]]. There are arch-''qashmal'' as well, and when they show up, something big happens... [[SubvertedTrope though not necessarily nice]]. The book lists an example of an entire city convening to build an edifice before leaping off of it, and one adventure features [[spoiler: an arch-''qashmal'' about to irradiate all of Detroit unless the Prometheans make a sacrifice]].
* ''TabletopGame/{{Exalted}}'': The Exalted, Celestials in general and Solars in particular, were this during the First Age. Sort of. And in the Age of Sorrows, the golden Chosen also come in nihilist black and hellfire green...

* ''VideoGame/{{Touhou}}'': Tenshi Hinanawi, the BigBad ''Scarlet Weather Rhapsody'', is a Celestial Paragon who threatened to cause a cataclysmic earthquake [[ItAmusedMe out of boredom.]] Of course, Tenshi is [[OurAngelsAreDifferent kinda different,]] even by Celestials' standards... speaking of which, according to [[UniverseCompendium supplementary material]], the Celestials in general are basically the {{Upper Class Twit}}s of the universe; elitistic [[TheHedonist hedonists]] who were granted a place in [[FluffyCloudHeaven Bhava-Agra,]] a paradise of instant gratifications and endless parties, either because of their own virtues, through attaining enlightenment, or through a BargainWithHeaven. It's also thanks to the Celestial Paragons that the CelestialBureaucracy is such a mess: No more people are getting into Heaven. The official reason is that they're out of space, but the truth is that there's plenty of it, the Celestials just like hogging enormous areas for themselves.

* ''Manga/TheSevenDeadlySins'': The Four Archangels are the most powerful warriors of the Goddess Clan. They are the counterparts to the Ten Commandments of the Demon Clan and fought against them 3000 years ago. [[spoiler: Despite technically being the good guys, the three of them that are shown were more than willing to commit heinous atrocities during the war that [[EvenEvilHasStandards horrified even the Commandments]] if it meant destroying the demons. Like the rest of the Goddess Clan, they lost their bodies and were sealed away at the end of the war, but were eventually unsealed so they could once again oppose the remaining Commandments now led by [[FaceHeelTurn Meliodas]]. While they're still called the Four Archangels, there are actually only three of them by the time they return. The fourth Archangel, [[PosthumousCharacter Mael]], was killed by Estarossa during the first war against the demons]].

** The Archangels are the messengers of God’s greatest mysteries and revelations[note]Many theologians believe ArchangelMichael, ArchangelGabriel, ArchangelRaphael and several other named archangels are actually from the rank of the Seraphs and are only called "archangels" in the literal sense of the word, as in, "chief angels". The confusion arises from the fact that "angel", too, is the name both of all the bodiless powers of Heaven and of their lowest rank]].

** The Archangels are the messengers of God’s greatest mysteries and revelations. Curiously they are lower ranked in tradition but the most powerful angels in modern lore.

As to be expected from angels, they frequently act as representatives of {{God}} that the protagonists can interact with without [[MySkullRunnethOver dying]] or [[JesusTaboo causing out-of-universe backlash]], with the added benefit of representing God's omnipotence better than weaker angels. How these favorably paragons and arch-angels are portrayed is generally a good barometer to tell if the work is saying GodIsGood or [[GodIsEvil not]]. Although there are examples that don't serve God, but rather a fantasy pantheon or [[GodOfGood a specific, generally good member of said pantheon]].