History Main / OurAngelsAreDifferent

* ''{{Neverwhere}}'' has the angel Islington who pretty much fits the angel stereotype: divinely beautiful, unfailingly kind and caring, and frequently associated with light. [[spoiler:On first impression, that is. Let's just say that there's a reason why Islington's in a secluded room in London Below and not in Heaven with the other angels: he's AxCrazy.]]

* C.S. Lewis provides one of the more original examples in his ''Space Trilogy''. Angels, or ''eldila'' (singular ''eldil'') are beings whose bodies are purportedly made out of light, and occupy a different state of matter, [[EnergyBeings moving with respect to the universe]] (rather than with respect to the planet's surface). They occupy a different 'speed' or state of matter, having no precise location. Human eyes can barely detect them as shimmers of light, only allowing themselves to be seen for what they are when the purpose serves them.

** But she's not actually an angel. Angel is ''just her name''.

* Angels in Sharon Shinn's ''Samaria'' series are genetically engineered from human stock, have wings and can fly and are the only ones who can call upon their god to grant such things as weather control, healing medicine, or holy lightning [[spoiler: which are actually particle beam wweapons since "god" is actually a spaceship orbiting the planet]].

* ''{{Digimon}}'': One of the Great Angels is a giant pink bunny. It's apparently based off of Cherubim, since well, Cherubimon. Angemon and Angewomon evolved from the {{Ridiculously Cute Critter}}s in Adventure and 02. And [[DigimonTamers MarineAngemon]]...
** Marine Angemon's name actually comes from ''sea angels'', which are floating seaslugs with wing-like flippers. Most of the angels in Digimon are pretty blond {{Winged Humanoid}}s, while most Fallen Angel Digimon are black-clad {{Winged Humanoid}}s with really sharp claws. The Angemon and Devimon "family" are quite large, mostly consisting of advanced, [[DistaffCounterpart female]], or {{Palette Swap}}ped versions of the original, with [[PowerGivesYouWings the number of wings increasing with the level of power]]. (Lucemon may look like a child, but he's got 12 wings to Angemon's six, and is not a nice guy. [[OhCrap This is the part where you run away]].) Cherubimon's the exception to the rule. If they become corrupt, they evolve into fallen-angel counterparts. Oddly enough, the fallen angels outnumber the regular angels, thanks to EvilIsCool.

-->Plus all the fallen angels he winds up dealing with.

Angels in fiction tend to be of a [[LowestCosmicDenominator vaguely Abrahamic]] nature, and may or may not have [[WingedHumanoid big fluffy feathery wings]] or {{Holy Halo}}s. They generally are found doing {{God}}'s will as part of some sort of grand plan, or helping mortals, sometimes [[AngelUnaware incognito]]. May be able to fall in love with a mortal and give up their Angelic nature. If one refuses to do so, or make a FaceHeelTurn, they became a FallenAngel / [[OurDemonsAreDifferent Demon]]. Angelic names, by the way, traditionally tend to end in "-el" (meaning "god"), such as in the ArchangelMichael.

* '''Can they fall from grace? And if so, do they become Demons, {{Fallen Angel}}s, or can they [[HumanityEnsues become human]]?''' If a central character is an Angel, expect an answer to this one; otherwise, tends to be left vague.

* ''Powers'' -- Not mentioned in Protestant and Jewish [[TheBible Bible]] canons. Carry flaming swords and chains to bind TheDevil; serve as [[GuardianEntity guardians]]. In Christian tradition the Angel with the FlamingSword in Eden was one of these, the Archangel Jophiel. Are considered [[InternalAffairs Angels Of Justice]]and are considered perfect, incorruptible ultimate angels created by God himself. ([[RoboCop Sound familiar]]?) [[AIIsACrapshoot Naturally ]]some beliefs list [[TheDevil Satan]] as a former Power.

**** Joshua (the one angel who actively speaks to God) was a nice enough guy. He even went so far as to say that he was rooting for the boys, an opinion not shared by any of his heavenly colleagues.

[[caption-width-right:330:[-[[RiddickWhere is your God now?]]-] ]]

[[caption-width-right:330:[-Where is your God now?-] ]]

Angels in fiction tend to be of a [[LowestCosmicDenominator vaguely Abrahamic]] nature, and may or may not have [[WingedHumanoid big fluffy feathery wings]] or {{Holy Halo}}s. They generally are found doing {{God}}'s will as part of some sort of grand plan, or helping mortals, sometimes [[AngelUnaware incognito]]. May be able to fall in love with a mortal and give up their Angelic nature. If one refuses to do so, or make a FaceHeelTurn, they became a FallenAngel / [[OurDemonsAreDifferent Demon]]. Angelic names, by the way, traditionally tend to end in "-el", such as in the ArchangelMichael.

* ''Seraphim'' -- (singular ''Seraph'') Mentioned to have six wings, four of which are used to cover themselves. Their name means "burning ones". If they're not depicted as covering themselves, they're long-haired, tall, and have a deep, literally Earth-shaking voice.

There is also a traditional ''celestial hierarchy'' of angels, which comes from an early Christian writing by one "Dionysus," into the following nine "Choirs" ordered from greatest to least, of which only the first and last two are commonly seen in art and literature:

* In TimeBandits, the greedy, clumsy, quarrelsome dwarves are {{God}}'s servants. However, it's never stated that they are actually angles.

[[caption-width-right:330:[-See, contrary to [[TheThemeParkVersion modern iconography]], [[EldritchAbomination angels weren't always described]] as [[WingedHumanoid humans with wings]] and [[HolyHalo halos.]] -] ]]

* ''Seraphim'' -- (singular ''Seraph'') Mentioned to have six wings, four of which are used to cover themselves. Their name means "burning ones".

* ''Seraphim'' -- (singular ''Seraph'') Traditionally six-winged, red, and fiery; represent God's love. The reason they have six wings is to cover [[OneWingedAngel their true form]], which is so bright and glorious that [[BrownNote merely witnessing it]] grants a one-way trip to Heaven... at the cost of bodily incineration. According to some texts they're also serpentine. Their chief is St. Michael. Satan ''used'' to be one of these (hence his six wings in Dante's DivineComedy).

** Marine Angemon's name actually comes from ''sea angels'', which are floating seaslugs with wing-like flippers. Most of the angels in Digimon are pretty blond {{Winged Humanoid}}s, while most Fallen Angel Digimon are black-clad {{Winged Humanoid}}s with really sharp claws. The Angemon and Devimon "family" are quite large, mostly consisting of advanced, [[DistaffCounterpart female]], or {{Palette Swap}}ped versions of the original, with the number of wings increasing with the level of power. (Lucemon may look like a child, but he's got 12 wings to Angemon's six, and is not a nice guy. [[OhCrap This is the part where you run away]].) Cherubimon's the exception to the rule. If they become corrupt, they evolve into fallen-angel counterparts. Oddly enough, the fallen angels outnumber the regular angels, thanks to EvilIsCool.

* In ''DoctorWho'', the stone angels from "Blink". Stone beings who look like angels, move faster than you can...er...blink and will [[TimeyWimeyBall throw you into the past so they can eat your life energy]]. Also the Hosts from "Voyage of the Damned" which are angel shaped killer robots.
** ''Yeah'', those don't count, what with them not being angels and all. A better example is Light from [[Recap/DoctorWhoS26E2GhostLight Ghost Light]], an immensely powerful alien that's almost immediately mistaken for an angel by Ace.

Angels in fiction tend to be of a [[LowestCosmicDenominator vaguely Abrahamic]] nature, and may or may not have [[WingedHumanoid big fluffy feathery wings]] or {{Holy Halo}}s. If the writers get things wrong enough, it may result in them becoming [[BroughtDownToNormal earthbound fallen angels]]. They generally are found doing {{God}}'s will as part of some sort of grand plan, or helping mortals, sometimes [[AngelUnaware incognito]]. May be able to fall in love with a mortal and give up their Angelic nature. Angelic names, by the way, traditionally tend to end in "-el", such as in the ArchangelMichael.

** Well, not so much lost as [[WordOfGod declared]] "non-canon" by various Christian churches; notably the Vatican. The Greek and Egyptian orthodox Christians have a [[BrokenBase slightly different set of approved literature]].

Angels in fiction tend to be of a [[LowestCosmicDenominator vaguely Abrahamic]] nature, and may or may not have [[WingedHumanoid big fluffy feathery wings]] and/or {{Holy Halo}}s. If they get things wrong enough, it may result in them becoming [[BroughtDownToNormal earthbound fallen angels]]. They generally are found doing {{God}}'s will as part of some sort of grand plan, or helping mortals, sometimes [[AngelUnaware incognito]]. May be able to fall in love with a mortal and give up their Angelic nature. Angelic names, by the way, traditionally tend to end in "-el", such as in the ArchangelMichael.

* Angel, of ''XMen'', is explicitly stated from the beginning to be a mutant who just happens to have various flying mutations invluding big white fluffy wings. Except, of course, [[spoiler:later developments made him a descendent of Nephilim, along with Nightcrawler, and added healing blood to his powers]].

* In ''StarWars: ThePhantomMenace'', Anakin asks if Padme's an angel, having heard that they were beautiful creatures from the moons of Iego. He eventually visits Iego and meets one in ''StarWarsTheCloneWars'' -- they're winged and very glowy, and one of the [[AllThereInTheManual game sourcebooks]] gives the race's actual name as the Diathim.

** By contrast, the seraphim and nephilim in the later book ''Many Waters'' are more like what a contemporary audience would think of as angels, being winged humanoids, but correspond to "the sons of God" as described in Genesis 6:4 rather than current stereotypes. The seraphim are basically servants of God on earth and usually have eyes and wings coloured in some variant of gold, silver or blue. The nephilim, which are implied to be fallen angels, have eyes and wings of more vivid colours like red and violet. They are all immortal, and not outright antagonistic with each other, but the nephilim are trapped on earth where the seraphim can return to heaven. Nephilim are male and enjoy sleeping with human women and fathering children on them; seraphim are androgynous and celibate (although they sometimes fall in love). Also, each one, seraphim and nephilim, has an animal form he can change into -- though the nephilim take the shapes of [[WhatMeasureIsANonCute worms, snakes, dragons, and other ugly things.]]

* The littlest girl, Angel, in ''MaximumRide'' is blonde with blue eyes. She can fly(with pure white wings), read minds, control minds, talk to fish, breath underwater, transform, and fight as well as Max, the strongest member and leader of the Flock.
** But she's not actually an angel. Angel is ''just her name.''

* Angels in ''StationeryVoyagers'' are VERY different from their common portrayals in most church art. (Description on work page.) Don't EVER [[TemptingFate push your luck]] with them! [[GoodIsNotNice It doesn't]] [[JerkassGods end well]]. And that's not even getting into the [[OurDemonsAreDifferent evil ones]]...

[[folder: Live Action TV ]]

*** Which isn't always a good thing. One episode of ''TouchedByAnAngel'', set in October 30, 1938, had then-rookie angel Monica turning on her angel glow to calm down a crowd that was panicked by reports of a Martian Invasion(they were listening to Orson Welles' radio broadcast of ''TheWarOfTheWorlds''). [[{{Understatement}} It didn't quite work.]]

[[folder: Radio ]]

[[folder: Tabletop Games ]]

** The New World of Darkness features the ''qashmallim'' of ''PrometheanTheCreated''. Despite the fact that the books make it very clear that they are ''not'' angels, they can take any number of forms (including Biblical-style renditions such as a man with four faces or a flaming chariot), they have powers that are Biblical in scope (such as calling down a rain of fire or turning a person into a pillar of salt), and they're made of the "Divine Fire" that powers the universe and act in service of a guiding force known as "the Principle."

* The Savage Worlds setting of {{Winterweir}} has the Celestials. A bunch of angry AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence former humans who believe in the total domination of all beings through orderly stability. They manipulate religions to think of them as divine servitors.

** Which are [[spoiler: a bit different, [[HighOctaneNightmareFuel to say the least]]]].

[[folder: Video Games ]]

[[folder: Webcomics ]]

* In SlightlyDamned, angels are white-haired humanoids who serve a benevolent god and are said to be inherently good. Whether this is true or not remains to be seen, and though the two main angelic characters are both definitely heroes there are suggestions that angelic society is imperfect. They have classical ElementalPowers, wear colour-coded uniforms, and have been at war against demons for centuries.

[[folder: Web Original ]]

* In HitherbyDragons, angels are gods (supernatural beings) that answer emptiness with hope and wear jackets with holes cut out for their wings. They have various powers and are often the result of a person making a promise an ordinary human can't fufill. Evasive A can grant wishes if the person catches her (but she's uncatchable), Magic A has a non-zero chance of accomplishing anything, Realistic A can provide a pragmatic assessment of the situation and it's best not to think about Forbidden A.
* In MetafictionizedPhlebotinumPoisoning, angels fit the classic WingedHumanoid archtype. However, aside from the optional wings (yes, ''optional''), insane power and the ability to create [[PortalNetwork P.L.O.T. holes]] and functional immortality, they are just a bunch of people created by the [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything Writer]] god in charge of overseeing the world. Don't mind being seen or worshipped openly, either, as at least one of them have their own shrine. So far we have [[BadassLongcoat Arthur]], [[LadyOfWar Ed]] and [[MsFanservice Fran]].

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* ''Dominations'' -- Not mentioned in Protestant and Jewish [[TheBible Bible]] canons. Wear crowns; represent God's power. Each serves as the patron angel of a nation [[OurPresidentsAreDifferent and ruler of all angels assigned to that nation.]]