History Main / CouncilOfAngels

* It's not explicitly stated in ''Literature/GoodOmens'' that God isn't exactly running things, but Beelzebub and the Metatron certainly seem to be in charge of the Heaven vs. Hell thing, and aren't actually 100% sure what they're supposed to be doing, exactly. Crowley and Aziraphale then exploit this like hell.

* The Council Of Elders from ''Series/{{Charmed}}'' are TheLowestCosmicDenominator of this.

** ''Spawn'' was closer to a Gnostic viewpoint. God was the god of the Old Testament who acted supreme, but was not. MOC created the universe and a race of nigh-omnipotent, immortal beings and gave each a world to form as they wished. God and Satan both got Earth and refused to share acting like spoiled three-year olds, but were equal in power and could not kill each other. God created heaven, Satan created hell and they used angels, demons and humans to fight a proxy war. MOC grew disgusted with their fighting and removed them from their thrones to try and teach them to behave. This did not work. So God was god in the sense of the creator and ruler of heaven who also created the angels. But he was not the supreme being. However, he and Satan were both so far above anything and everything else save their mother they could be considered gods. None of their other brothers were ever shown and with power equal to their Spawn easily trashed their combined armies.

** The Third Edition of the french version of the game states that He is in vacation in a thermal town, somewhere in France.

* In ''VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiI'' and ''VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiII'', there's a Council of angels who do most of the work on the Law side. In II they go from potential allies to pure villains. [[GodIsEvil God himself is even worse], just less willing to get personally involved unless he has to. And him and the angels have a strained relationship between the games.

** ''VideoGame/DevilSurvivor'' also has a small council of Angels working in the containment zone, but they're a little bit nicer than ShinMegamiTenseiII's Angels. That's because instead of the four main Seraphs (Michael, Uriel, Gabriel and Raphael) there's a lower angel who ''isn't'' a {{Knight Templar}} of the worst kind: Remiel, Angel of Hope and Compassion.

* The creator-deity in [[NexusWar Nexus Clash]] is impersonal and amoral, so the angelic side is run by one of these instead. It's composed of an overzealous holy warrior, and all-loving earthmother figure and an angelic personification of compromise and cooperation. As might be imagined from their cosmic portfolios, they don't always agree on which course of action would best serve the greater Good.

** At the same time this is mildly subverted, in that Yves, one of the archangels on the Council, occasionally acts as a vessel for direct communication by God -- and may actually be ''God in disguise.'' (The fact that his illustration bears a striking resemblance to Creator/GeorgeBurns in ''OhGod'' only adds to the potential confusion.)

* ''TearsToTiara'' had the Twelve Angels/the White Angels. Then one died and [[spoiler:Arawn]] took his place. And then quit spectacularly. Because the rest of the angels are ''[[ColonyDrop assholes]]''. God is probably dead. The angels aren't sure, but they're no longer looking for him, though they claim to carry on his work.

* The creator-deity in [[NexusWar Nexus Clash]] is [[Deism impersonal and amoral]], so the angelic side is run by one of these instead. It's composed of an overzealous holy warrior, and all-loving earthmother figure and an angelic personification of compromise and cooperation. As might be imagined from their cosmic portfolios, they don't always agree on which course of action would best serve the greater Good.

* In the OldWorldOfDarkness game ''TabletopGame/DemonTheFallen'', God ''couldn't'' run things himself, because the Infinite touching the Finite would have disastrous results. Thus he created the angels to run the universe. The drawback to this was that they had a lot of time to think things over without divine supervision, eventually resulting in the Fall.
* This is the situation with the Primordial Autochthon in ''{{Exalted}}''; while he sleeps, his subsouls, the Divine Ministers, oversee his world-body. Trouble is, while the Ministers may all be aspects of Autochthon, they don't actually ''agree''...

* The vampire comic book ''Crimson'' had a Council Of Angels show up in one issue. {{God}} made it too, but didn't say anything. And only Lucifer recognized him, anyway.

** God eventually showed up in ''ComicBook/{{Spawn}}'' as the being in charge of Heaven. He was of equal power to Satan (they were portrayed as brothers), and he only had power over Heaven and things Heaven owned. Then the "Mother of Creation" was introduced, as the being who made God and Satan and everything. And the Mother of Creation was Jesus. So, basically, God wasn't really God. The [=MoC=] is God, God is basically really just the "Head Angel in Charge". "God" does serve as a sort of one-man Council of Angels here, since he's in charge of Heaven directly without the apparent authority of the [=MoC=].
*** ''Spawn'' was closer to a Gnostic viewpoint. God was the god of the Old Testament who acted supreme, but was not. MOC created the universe and a race of nigh-omnipotent, immortal beings and gave each a world to form as they wished. God and Satan both got Earth and refused to share acting like spoiled three-year olds, but were equal in power and could not kill each other. God created heaven, Satan created hell and they used angels, demons and humans to fight a proxy war. MOC grew disgusted with their fighting and removed them from their thrones to try and teach them to behave. This did not work. So God was god in the sense of the creator and ruler of heaven who also created the angels. But he was not the supreme being. However, he and Satan were both so far above anything and everything else save their mother they could be considered gods. None of their other brothers were ever shown and with power equal to their Spawn easily trashed their combined armies.

* In ''VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiI'' and ''VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiII'', there's a Council of selfish and evil angels who do most of the work on the Law side. [[GodIsEvil God is actually even worse]], just less willing to get personally involved unless he has to.

** In ''VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiIV'', [[spoiler:the Four Archangels]] fill this role by traveling the Expanse, seeking worlds to see if they have fallen in line with God's will. [[spoiler:If they haven't, they trick the inhabitants into nuclear war, steal the world's innocents as chaos unfolds, let everyone bomb themselves into oblivion and then send the survivors back in the hopes of creating a world completely devoted to God.]]

* It's not explicitly stated in ''Literature/GoodOmens'' that God isn't exactly running things, but Beelzebub and the Metatron certainly seem to be in charge of the Heaven vs. Hell thing, and aren't actually 100% sure what they're supposed to be doing, exactly. Crowley and Aziraphale then exploit this like [[IncrediblyLamePun hell]].

* In Creator/PiersAnthony's ''IncarnationsOfImmortality'' series, the angels (primarily Gabriel) are running things because God is off contemplating his perfection in the "Heaven of Heavens". Unfortunately, while they mean well, they aren't up to the task.

* The [[PowerTrio Three Great Angels]], Seraphimon, Ophanimon, and Cherubimon featured in ''Anime/DigimonFrontier'' and other ''Franchise/{{Digimon}} related media. The trio ruled the Digital World after [[SatanicArchetype Lucemon's fall]] and guard over God's Law, Wisdom, and love.

* The Valar from ''Literature/TheSilmarillion'' are angels who have been charged with being the Guardians of Arda, the physical world. They have many traits in common with both Christian angels and mythological gods (it's believed that Creator/JRRTolkien set his cosmology up the way he did so that his devout Catholicism and love of mythology wouldn't trip over each other), and while they're all good (with [[GodOfEvil one notable exception]]), none of them are perfect and some have made mistakes. The Valar are in turn served by lesser angels/demigods called the Maiar. The collective term is Ainur. However they are not supposed to rule Arda but guide the peoples, which is a mistake fallen Ainur make. Apparently when the Numenoreans after being incited by [[ManipulativeBastard Sauron]] attacked Valinor, the Valar laid down their governance of the world, though they sent Maia in human form to Middle-Earth to help against Sauron.

* A form of this is used in the movie {{Wristcutters|ALoveStory}} with the People in Charge.
* Seems to be the premise of ''Film/{{Constantine}}'', the film version of ''ComicBook/{{Hellblazer}}'' comics.
* Likewise, the premise of ''{{Dogma}}''.

* The Valar from ''Literature/TheSilmarillion'' are angels who have been charged with being the Guardians of Arda, the physical world. They have many traits in common with both Christian angels and mythological gods (it's believed that Creator/JRRTolkien set his cosmology up the way he did so that his devout Catholicism and love of mythology wouldn't trip over each other), and while they're all good (with [[GodOfEvil one notable exception]]), none of them are perfect and some have made mistakes. The Valar are in turn served by lesser angels/demigods called the Maiar. The collective term is Ainur. However they are not supposed to rule Arda but guide the peoples, which is a mistake fallen Ainur make. Apparently when the Numenoreans after being incited by [[ManipulativeBastard Sauron]] attacked Valinor, the Valar laid down their governance off the world, though they sent Maia in human form to Middle-Earth to help against Sauron.
* Uriel turns up every now and then in ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'', and the other 3 famous Archangels are mentioned. God exists, but prefers mysterious ways methods. Other angels have turned up since, particularly when Harry was dead in Ghost Story.

* A Council Of Angels turned up in ''{{Preacher}}'', although their {{God}}'s absence from Heaven was actually part of the plot -- he'd run away because he feared the protagonist's power.
** God eventually showed up in ''{{Spawn}}'' as the being in charge of Heaven. He was of equal power to Satan (they were portrayed as brothers), and he only had power over Heaven and things Heaven owned. Then the "Mother of Creation" was introduced, as the being who made God and Satan and everything. And the Mother of Creation was Jesus. So, basically, God wasn't really God. The [=MoC=] is God, God is basically really just the "Head Angel in Charge". "God" does serve as a sort of one-man Council of Angels here, since he's in charge of Heaven directly without the apparent authority of the [=MoC=].

* In PiersAnthony's ''IncarnationsOfImmortality'' series, the angels (primarily Gabriel) are running things because God is off contemplating his perfection in the "Heaven of Heavens". Unfortunately, while they mean well, they aren't up to the task.

* This is the entire concept of the manga / anime ''AngelSanctuary'', and it's a [[CrapsackWorld Crapsack Cosmology]] out there...
* In the Creator/{{CLAMP}} manga ''{{Wish}}'', the various Angels are running around terrified that God is going to punish the various characters and themselves for stuff they've done. Surprising for a Japanese depiction, when God does make his opinions known, he's a [[GodIsGood decent guy]].

* ''MagicTheGathering'' has never had true gods per se, but it has plenty of angels. Both the settings Bant and Serra's Realm were ruled by a Council of Angels.

* The MST3K-featured short "Film/OnceUponAHoneymoon" has an apparently literal example, showing a celestial boardroom (complete with desk and PHONES) on Cloud 7.

* The seven Continental Principalities from ''AngelsInAmerica'': America, Africanii, Europa, Asiatica, Australia, Oceania, and Antarctica.
** The prophet [[spoiler:Prior]] even [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome tells them that if God ever does come back to his rightful place, they should "sue the bastard"]].

* TheGodsOfArrKelaan eventually revealed one of these.

[[caption-width-right:350:Well, except for [[PoorCommunicationKills talking to God]], but it's only a FallenAngel. WhatCouldPossiblyGoWrong?]]