History Main / OurAngelsAreDifferent

** In the first ''VideoGame/{{Persona}}'', Judgement Azrael, the Angel of Death, looks more like a [[StarfishAliens winged piece]] [[EldritchAbomination of modern art]] than anything even remotely resembling "living thing," let alone "human." In other games, he has four faces; two on his head, one on his torso, and one on the staff he wields.

* According to UsefulNotes/{{Islam}}, angels are created as a ServantRace to [[{{God}} Allah]]. They are similar to angels in Christianity only in that they are good [[EldritchAbomination Eldritch Abominations]] that can take on a human form, but they differ in many ways. They're free to question the motives behind God's decisions, as they did when he announced his intention to create Adam, but are unable or unwilling to disobey God in any fashion because they lack free will. Some traditions regarding the Battle of Badr, where the Muslims defeated an army 3 times their number, tell that Angels actually fought alongside the Muslims in battle. Oddly enough, in Islam, good, non-fallen angels punish the wicked in hell, not demons as [[WordOfDante commonly thought.]]

* In the 1940s and 50s, angel gimmicks were common in North American wrestling. These tended to be very muscular short men with an abnormal feature of some kind who could render opponents unconscious with a palm strike, [[FollowTheLeader a trend started]] by "The World's Ugliest Man" The French Angel, who had migrated to Boston Massachusetts when France fell to the Nazis. His distinct appearance was the result of acromegaly.

** The ''Oyeresu'' (singular ''Oyarsa'') are more powerful beings [[GeniusLoci that control the nature of each planet]] in the solar system. Although most are benevolent and love their subjects, the Oyarsa of Thulcandra (earth) is clearly {{Satan}} and, unlike the others, is actually trapped within the moon's orbit to prevent further harm. The Oyeresu, like the eldila, have no genders but some have masculine and feminine identities. Furthermore, they have the ability to [[VoluntaryShapeshifting manifest themselves as they choose]]; at the close of the second book, the Oyeresu of Mars and Venus manifest as white, fiery giants.
** Further complicating the picture, the Oyeresu, as described in ''That Hideous Strength'', have a sort of shadow presence on each planet, which seems to act more or less independently. ''These'' are the "gods" that some Tellurians have reportedly met.

Compare OurFairiesAreDifferent, {{Pegasus}}. For angel feathers or wings used for symbolism, see FeatherMotif.

* ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'': WordOfGod is that Gardevoir is based on an angel, though it has no wings and looks more like some sort of ballerina elf. It's also in the "indeterminate" egg group (the one populated by ghosts, sentient sludge, and electric eels) rather than the "human-like" one, implying that while it ''looks'' human, it's something very otherworldly.
** ''VideoGame/PokemonUltraSunAndUltraMoon'' introduces one more angelic Pokemon: [[spoiler:Ultra-Necrozma, a dragon made of golden light plus its prism body and was a deity before something bad happened to it]].

** Shedinja is a Pokemon that randomly appears in your party when you evolve Nincada into Ninjask. It appears to be Nincada's haunted bug shell, that evolved/changed form on it's own and gained some angelic features (halo and wings) referencing the fact it's undead. Even the Pokedex calls it strange.

* ''Manga/InterspeciesReviewers'' gives us Crimvael, who goes by Crim, one of the main characters. He descended from heaven for whatever reason and somehow got [[BrokenAngel his halo broken]], causing him to be stuck on the surface and unable to use any angelic powers. He has most of the regular angelic attributes, though the story develops them differently than the norm. First of all, he's OtherworldlyAndSexuallyAmbiguous, being a {{Hermaphrodite}} with a gender-neutral intersex appearance. His wings also float detached from his body just like his halo, with him not actually flapping them to fly. He's also fully capable of having sex with people, something he ends up doing a lot of over the course of the series, since it's about reviewing brothels, without there being any potential risk of becoming a fallen angel.

** The story later introduces [[spoiler:Cherubim, which are a type of alien species that grow large wings in adulthood. They are extreme loners, often never meeting another of their kind except to mate, and their idea of romantic attraction is FoeYay. The BigBad is one of them, which would explain the role of angels in troll mythology - the BigBad influenced the troll's concept of TheGrimReaper]]. We've met only two [[spoiler:Cherubim]] in the story. One is extremely kind and gentle, the other... [[OmnicidalManiac Not so much]].

* In the 1940s and 50s, angel gimmicks were common in North American wrestling. These they tended to be very muscular short men with an abnormal feature of some kind who could render opponents unconscious with a palm strike, [[FollowTheLeader a trend started]] by "The World's Ugliest Man" The French Angel, who had migrated to Boston Massachusetts when France fell to the Nazis. His distinct appearance was the result of acromegaly.

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[[folder:Art]]

* In ''Fanfic/TheKeysStandAlone: The Soft World'', one of the Power Groups is the Angels. Some are [[WingedHumanoid winged humanoids]], but most are people who have one or another way to fly. They are [[KnightTemplar Knights Templar]], notoriously LawfulStupid, and thoroughly unpleasant to be around. While much of their time is spent healing people during battles and rescuing civilians, they are quite ready to mix it up with evil, particularly the Animals (another PG). They are led by Trelayna of the Rock, a woman merged with a rock who has enormous telepathic powers. She also is batshit insane and demands incredibly strict behavior from her followers, staying in their minds to ensure that they meet her standards—which is why nearly all of them are [[spoiler:artificial intelligences]].
** Trelayna badly wants the winged John, the very visual epitome of an angel, to join—but there's about as much a chance of that happening as there is that the ActualPacifist four will suddenly start killing things.

[[folder:Films -- Animated]]

[[folder:Mythology and/or non-Judeo-Christian religions]]
* In Myth/NorseMythology valkyries perform many of the same functions as Judeo-Christian angels, acting as messengers of Odin and gatherers of dead souls. They aren't winged but their horses are. Oh, and they rode wolves before horses. The war god they served was not viewed as a well-intentioned figure in their earlier tales and even after Odin became popular they were still [[GoodIsNotNice usually the cause of death for the souls they took away.]] Similar to angels, they were pretty frightening but became associated with beautiful people and such later.

[[folder:Professional Wrestling]]

** The game has multiple species of "celestials," which can be broken down into categories such as angels, [[NeutralGood guardinals]], [[ChaoticGood eladrin]], and [[LawfulGood archons]]. They're generally considered the servants of good-aligned gods. More specifically, angels (aasimon in old 2nd ed non-religiously-offensive terms) are direct servants of the gods and asuras are angels who left the service of the gods for various reasons (they're still, generally, good people, [[GoodIsNotNice but they don't take crap from anyone]]). Archons, guardinals, and eladrin are incarnations of lawful, neutral and chaotic good respectively; they don't serve gods but rather their own leaders, although they often do help them out when asked. Fiends follow a similar (but inverted) setup, although there is curiously enough no infernal counterpart to the angels themselves (fiends close the gap by being a ''lot'' more varied in their forms and abilities, and, it's implied, a '''LOT''' more numerous).

** ''TabletopGame/{{Pathfinder}}'' has angels, [[LawfulGood archons]], agathions (NeutralGood and animal-themed - equivalent to the guardinals in D&D), and azatas (ChaoticGood and fey-themed equivalents to the eladrin). The manasaputras are unique to ''Pathfinder'' and are Hindu-inspired rather than vaguely Abrahamic.

[[folder:Webcomics]]

** Derek the cleric later on uses the [[SummonMagic Planar Ally]] spell to call a [[AttackOfThe50FootWhatever 50 foot tall angel]] who is powerful enough to attack an EldritchAbomination head-on.

--> '''Angel''': Well well, if it isn't the mortal playthings. How does it feel to be mere shadows of the real host?
* In ''WebComic/{{Sorcery 101}}'' Mages get angels to guide them when demon hunting. There are all sorts of rules governing the angels' behavior. For example, they can't ask for help from "creatures of darkness" (or anyone connected to such beings). Angels are sexless, featureless, glowing humanoids with wings and a thin layer of paint/glamour that makes their skin, clothes, and feathers. Damage will strip this layer and it takes a couple of seconds for it to regenerate.

* The angels in ''Podcast/TheAccount'', a podcast audio drama, haven't shown much of themselves, but they're universally acknowledged as bad news in the Midlands, where the story takes place. Earth, which is separate from the Midlands, seems to be the only place they have very good PR.
* The Angyls from the TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}} fanfic ''Fanfic/TheShapeOfTheNightmareToCome''. While the Gods of Chaos are served by Daemons, the Star Father, a God of Order, is served by the Angyls who are androgynous, faceless, glowing humanoids with dozens of razor-feathered wings who seek to create a universe of perfect, self-defeating order.
* Angels in ''Death's Curtain'' episodes [[https://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/366511 1]] and [[https://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/505277 2]] are hive-minded, parasitic abominations that enter human hosts whenever they participate in religious rituals. Their goal is to find the link to the soul that all humans share in order to destroy it. They're capable of possessing their hosts and leaving acts of carnage in their wake ForTheEvulz, and are apparently at war with the [[OurDemonsAreDifferent Goetic]] [[DarkIsNotEvil spirits]], who want to protect humanity for reasons unknown.
* Considering that the premise of ''Literature/TheSalvationWar'' is essentially a RageAgainstTheHeavens (and Hell in the first book), angels are the official enemies of humans in that universe. They fit the classic WingedHumanoid model and serve Yahweh, who's shown to be a colossal and self-conceited {{Jerkass}}. It's implied that they use the humans in Heaven as power leechers or something similar and that their power is dependent on organized singing in some way. Of particular note is Michael, the military commander who has his own ulterior motives regarding the war against humanity, and Uriel, a powerful angel who has the ability to induce living creatures to simply drop dead (though his effectiveness on humans has diminished noticeably over time). Oh, and angels aren't invulnerable; they can be gunned down or blown up for a veritable shower of white and silver blood. Six-winged Seraphim appear although they turn out not to be actual Angels. They were one of the many species Yahweh has conquered, kept around essentially as songbirds.

* WebVideo/TheNostalgiaCritic Christmas Special: Orlando the guardian angel is pretty much like the one in ''Film/ItsAWonderfulLife'', except that he can feel pain, get hurt and, [[spoiler:apparently, get killed by a gun]]. Also [[spoiler:he tries to kill his charge on realizing how much better things would be for ''everyone'' including himself if the Critic wasn't around]].

* ''Roleplay/ShadowhunterPeril'''s Nicholas cries tears [[SparklingStreamOfTears illuminated from within]]. And he [[TenderTears cries a lot.]] [[CryIntoChest Often on Umbra.]]

* The angels of ''Podcast/WelcomeToNightVale'' are…interesting. They're probably humanoid; hard to tell in a radio-show format. They like to hang around Old Woman Josie's house, helping her with everyday tasks, and go bowling. They're all called Erika (with a K) and are mostly nude. They are all roughly ten feet tall, have permanent, unsettling smiles, and glow black. All evidence points to them being forces for good since they occasionally protect the town. However, the Sheriff's Secret Police would like to remind you that angels, in fact, do NOT exist, [[SuspiciouslySpecificDenial and neither do their hierarchy which you're not allowed to know anything about]].
* Bobby Sykes from ''WebAnimation/PorkchopNFlatscreen'' is the one angel seen so far. He lacks the halo and his wings can change shape to shield him in combat. He seems to be trying to hide his nature from most people, a fact that Mai [[{{Blackmail}} exploits]] in Episode 2.

*** Mirrodin has [[https://scryfall.com/card/mrd/15/luminous-angel cyborg angels]] and even one robot angel (the above Platinum Angel). Alara's are more the "classical" ''Magic'' type of winged female humanoids, but some [[https://scryfall.com/card/c16/199/filigree-angel were cyberneticized]] during the Conflux.

*** Ravnica's angels are either [[https://scryfall.com/card/ima/199/firemane-angel Red and White]] and aligned with the crusaders of the Boros Legion or [[https://scryfall.com/card/gtc/153/deathpact-angel Black and White]] and aligned with the CorruptChurch of the Orzhov Syndicate. The rebirth of Mirrodin into New Phyrexia features the angels being surgically rebuilt into near-mindless killing machines... that are still pure White -- appropriate enough, given that Phyrexia is basically a freakin' horror refinery.

** While technically not angels, ''MTG'''s [[OurArchonsAreDifferent Archons]] do take their role as the large [[LightEmUp White]] aligned beings wherever angels do not resonate well with the flavour like the Myth/ClassicalMythology inspired ''Theros'' Block. They definitely more closely resemble biblical angels, being mysterious, wrathful, violent beings that represent White's more militant, aggressive side, and are definitely very otherworldly and weird.

-->-- ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'', [[Recap/SupernaturalS04E02AreYouThereGodItsMeDeanWinchester "Are You There, God? It's Me, Dean Winchester" (S04, E02)]]

[[caption-width-right:350: They sparkled like topaz, and all four looked alike. Each appeared to be made like a wheel intersecting a wheel ... Their rims were high and awesome, and all four rims were full of eyes all around. -- Ezekiel 1:15]]

** Ezekiel mentions a set of four angels of this class, sometimes thought to be cherubim, having four faces: that of a lion, ox, man, and eagle. They also have two pairs of wings. (In other words, they are the angels most likely to fit the page image.) Each is stationed alongside one of the four ''Ophanim'', meaning "wheels", which look like eye-covered interlocking chariot wheels at the four corners of God's "chariot". The latter are sometimes described or thought to be [=UFOs=] by the general public or conspiracy theorists.

* ''Thrones'' or ''Ophanim'' -- Hold up God's throne, or are the living wheels of His chariot. They serve as the [[GeniusLoci headquarters]] of the Virtues and the Upper Choirs and control the natural laws as well as being the bringers of God's justice who represent His authority (and badassery). They have the most alien physical descriptions of all the angels: wheels nested within wheels, constantly spinning, with rims covered in eyes. They may be "beryl-colored" (probably a greeny-yellow) and/or on fire.

* In ''Webcomic/{{Sinfest}}'', two angels appear, primarily as winged humanoids who don't look any older than twelve. They occasionally dress up as a pair of possibly-Jehova's-Witnesses. Very prone to play the ScrewySquirrel on the Devil. The extent of Lil' E's AmnesiacDissonance? [[http://www.sinfest.net/view.php?date=2012-10-31 He goes trick-or-treating as an angel]]

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%% Image moved to AngelicAbomination per Image Pickin' thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1582077697037503400
%% Thread is still deciding on a new pic for this page.

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[[caption-width-right:330:[[AC:[[CatchPhrase "Fear not."]]]]]]

->'''Dean:''' I thought angels were supposed to be guardians. Fluffy wings, halos — you know, [[Series/HighwayToHeaven Michael Landon]]. Not dicks.\\

** There's also The Host - angel-themed robot servants on the starship ''Titanic'' (not ''that'' VideoGame/StarshipTitanic.) When they're sent into CrushKillDestroy mode by the BigBad, they pluck off their halos to use as weapons, leaving [[FallenAngel the two posts that held the halos on sticking up like horns.]]

->'''Dean''': I thought angels were supposed to be guardians. Fluffy wings, halos--you know, [[Series/HighwayToHeaven Michael Landon]]. Not dicks.\\
'''Castiel''': Read Literature/{{the Bible}}. Angels are warriors of God. I'm a soldier.

!Examples:

* ''Archangel'' -- The highest class. [[ArchangelMichael Michael]] is the only angel specified to hold this rank in the Protestant and Jewish [[Literature/TheBible Bible]] canons. It's worth noting that "arch-" as a prefix has a dictionary definition along the lines of "preeminent among all others of its kind," so linguistically there should only ever be one archangel (or arch-Enemy, or arch-Anything).
* ''Elders'' -- There are 24 of this class as mentioned in Revelation.

* ''Cherubim'' -- (singular ''Cherub'') Literature/TheBible is not clear on if Cherubim are a separate class from the aforementioned living creatures or not, but according to Jewish tradition, normal angels of this choir could look and often did look, human. Both TheArkOfTheCovenant and Solomon's Temple included images of angels of this class in their design that seem a little closer to Ezekiel's description though.
* ''Seraphim'' -- (singular ''Seraph'') Mentioned by Isaiah to have six wings, four of which are used to cover themselves. Their name means "burning ones".
* ''Angels'' -- These are the ordinary inhabitants of Heaven; if something needs doing on earth, these are the guys who generally do it. Also often used as a generic term for all members of the heavenly hosts, of whatever rank or species.

[[folder:Web Comics]]
* In ''WebComic/AfraidOfMonstersTheComic'', angels are albino humanoids with one to three pairs of wings, and a third eye at the end of a tail. They appear to cry blood and have soothing auras around humans. They have powers based on Biblical references like miracles and plagues according to ''Main/WordOfGod''.

* The PowersThatBe of the ''Literature/YoungWizards'' series can be considered angels, given that: 1) they're immortal spiritual entities, 2) they work for {{God}}, 3) they were created by {{God}} before time began, 4) the BigBad is [[{{Satan}} a fallen Power]], and 5) it's heavily implied that they're the inspiration for Abrahamic angels (though it's ''also'' heavily implied [[AllMythsAreTrue that they're the inspiration for the gods in all of the non-Abrahamic religions]]). A fully manifested Power will look different to each person looking at it, unless the Power consciously chooses an appearance for that particular manifestation, or if the currently surrounding events are all related to a particular mythology, in which case its appearance will be drawn from that mythology. The most powerful of the Powers suffer from TimeDissonance since they mainly exist outside of time, with whatever the mortals are interacting with being mere fragments of the whole.

{{Sub Trope}}s include: {{Shinigami}} ("death angels"), FallenAngel, OurArchonsAreDifferent, GuardianAngel, CelestialParagonsAndArchangels (the ones in charge), and AngelicAbomination. Not to be confused with LovelyAngels (which are just adventuresome women), or OneWingedAngel (which is a completely different trope). See also WingedHumanoid.

{{Sub Trope}}s include: {{Shinigami}} ("death angels"), FallenAngel, GuardianAngel CelestialParagonsAndArchangels (the ones in charge), and AngelicAbomination. Not to be confused with LovelyAngels (which are just adventuresome women), or OneWingedAngel (which is a completely different trope). See also WingedHumanoid.