History Main / SecondComing

* Interestingly, the Second Coming of Jesus Christ is the central component of Islamic eschatology as well. Muslims deny that Jesus was crucified and that he instead was raised to heaven and Allah (God) placed an illusion of him dying on the cross, but still believe he will return when he is needed. Their belief holds that Jesus will return and defeat [[TheAntichrist a false Messiah]], allowing [[TheChosenOne the Mahdi]] rid the world of evil. One of the major differences in theology between the Sunni and Shia sects of Islam is that Shia believe the Mahdi [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muhammad_al-Mahdi was born over a millennium ago]] and like Jesus will have a Second Coming, while Sunni believe that the Mahdi will appear for the first time when Jesus returns.

* Dreamy Smurf in ''WesternAnimation/TheSmurfs'' dreams that he has been taken to the land of the Pookies, who have been waiting for his return to deliver them from the tyrannical Norf Nags. At the end of the episode, however, [[OrWasItADream may suggest that it was otherwise]], as Dreamy trips over a crystal similar to the ones seen in his dream.

* ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory2'': Woody's welcome by Jessie, Bullseye, and Stinky Pete is almost treated as this with all the attendant Hero Worship elements attached to Woody, until he realizes that he's going to be joining them in a museum.

** In "Rightful Heir", a Klingon religious caste try to use [[CloneJesus cloning]] and [[FakeMemories memory construction]] to recreate their local Messiah, Kahless, so that they (with him as their puppet) could take over the Klingon Empire and "[[GloryDays restore it to greatness]]". When the plot is revealed, one of the monks involved points out that for all anybody knows this could be exactly what Kahless had in mind when he promised to return. The episode ended with the truth being revealed, and both the clone and Klingon society took it remarkably well: as a compromise, Kahless II ends up becoming the figurehead Emperor (a previously vacant position).

* Jesus' second coming is alluded to in Music/GeorgeMichael's "Praying For Time."

* Baldur, who like Christ is loved by all, is betrayed by one of his companions ([[JerkAss Loki]]), and who will eventually return to rule the Earth after the EndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt. Unlike Christ though, he didn't get better - at least not yet. Creator/CSLewis [[Creator/JRRTolkien and his friend Tolkien]] actually proposed Baldur was a [[SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute Norse-friendly version of Jesus]] (they're not far off; a lot of the Norse mythology was given this treatment during the turn of the first millennium, since the traveling bards didn't want to get stoned for heresy).
* Prince Csaba, the mythical successor of Attila the Hun, took this trope to it's natural extreme, by not only staying true to his word and actually returning, but doing it no less than four times, and is believed to return yet again, when his people needs him the most. Incidentally, some believe that he is to be expected again in the near future.

* Interestingly, the Second Coming of Jesus Christ is the central component of Islamic eschatology as well. Muslims deny that Jesus was crucified, and that he instead was raised to heaven and Allah (God) placed an illusion of him dying on the cross, but still believe he will return when he is needed. Their belief holds that Jesus will return and defeat [[TheAntichrist a false Messiah]], allowing [[TheChosenOne the Mahdi]] rid the world of evil. One of the major differences in theology between the Sunni and Shia sects of Islam is that Shia believe the Mahdi [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muhammad_al-Mahdi was born over a millennium ago]] and like Jesus will have a Second Coming, while Sunni believe that the Mahdi will appear for the first time when Jesus returns.

** One of the main problems the Imperium faces is the GodEmperor's current state. Some believe he will someday return to his full power, others believe the Golden Throne keeping him "alive" must be unplugged so that he can be returned (which could very well doom the Imperium as a whole if they're wrong, as currently the only hing He's capable of doing is projecting a psychic beacon without which FTLTravel is impossible for Imperials), still others are looking to jump-start him by finding all the demigods he sired during his millenia of WalkingTheEarth and sacrificing them simultaneously... and naturally each faction believes their interpretation is correct and the others are dangerous heretics who must be corrected with fire.

* Gordon Freeman in ''VideoGame/HalfLife2'' does one better. He is seen basically as the second coming (the little Bible references like Judith Mossman betraying him - Judith is the female form of Judas - don't help stopping it).

* The PlayerCharacter of ''VideoGame/ArcanumOfSteamworksAndMagickObscura'', according to ancient prophecy that has widely been forgotten or written off as nonsense, is the "Reincarnation of the Spirit of Nasrudin", Nasrudin being an enormously powerful Elven mage who died two millenia ago. [[spoiler:Rather, he vanished to the Isle of Thanatos, and the PlayerCharacter is, indeed, merely a person [[ExactWords of the same spirit]].]] Made much more hilarious if the player elects to be a half-Ogre, half-Orc or similarly discriminated-against race.

* ''The Life of Riley''. What begins as a cheap throwaway joke about an artist who powers up a la DBZ when he works on computers, ends with same character resurrected as the second coming of the Messiah about to go toe-to-toe with arch-fiend Lillith over an artifact that can kill God.
* Karkat in ''Webcomic/{{Homestuck}}'' is destined to carry on the legacy of his ancestor The Sufferer, spreading a christlike gospel of peace and forgiveness and heralding the end times of their planet.

* Dreamy Smurf in ''WesternAnimation/TheSmurfs'' dreams that he has been taken to the land of the Pookies, who have been waiting for his return to deliver them from the tyrannical Norf Nags. The end of the episode, however, [[OrWasItADream may suggest that it was otherwise]], as Dreamy trips over a crystal similar to the ones seen in his dream.

* In ''LightNovel/TheFamiliarOfZero'', the eponymous familiar, Saito Chevalier de Hiraga, is considered a wash at first, with no redeeming abilities at all, until you find out that [[spoiler:he is actually the second coming of a legendary familiar capable of wielding any weapon, from the magic world or his own, real, world, with great expertise]].

[[caption-width-right:308:[[BackForTheFinale Guess who's back.]] [[Music/{{Eminem}} Back again.]] [[Literature/TheBible JC's back.]] [[UsefulNotes/JesusChrist Say "Amen."]]]]

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* Myth/KingArthur, of course. As a boy, he came back once, and later in life he was mortally wounded ... but it's also said he'll [[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotSymbolic come back from the dead]] at his kingdom's hour of greatest need.

* The [[TropeNamers Trope Namer]] is Literature/TheBible, with its prediction of Jesus Christ's return. How it happens varies within the sects of Christianity, as some sects see it as a literal return that's yet to happen, and others see it as only a "spiritual return" that either happened in 70 A.D. with the destruction of Jerusalem or has yet to happen with the church's mandate of preaching the gospel to every creature and making disciples of all nations being interpreted as a mandate to "make the whole world Christian" by whatever means are necessary (part of the foundation of the Kingdom Now/Dominion Theology/Seven Mountains movement). It's what the ''Literature/LeftBehind'' book series and pretty much any Christian-related end-times fiction is based on.

* One of the main problems the Imperium faces in ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}'' is the GodEmperor's current state. Some believe he will someday return to his full power, others believe the Golden Throne keeping him "alive" must be unplugged so that he can be returned (which could very well doom the Imperium as a whole if they're wrong, as currently the only hing He's capable of doing is projecting a psychic beacon without which FTLTravel is impossible for Imperials), still others are looking to jump-start him by finding all the demigods he sired during his millenia of WalkingTheEarth and sacrificing them simultaneously... and naturally each faction believes their interpretation is correct and the others are dangerous heretics who must be corrected with fire.

* KingArthur, of course. As a boy, he came back once, and later in life he was mortally wounded ... but it's also said he'll [[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotSymbolic come back from the dead]] at his kingdom's hour of greatest need.

* The [[TropeNamers Trope Namer]] is Literature/TheBible, with its prediction of Jesus Christ's return. How it happens varies within the sects of Christianity, as some sects see it as a literal return that's yet to happen, and others see it as only a "spiritual return" that either happened in 70 A.D. with the destruction of Jerusalem or has yet to happen with the church's mandate of preaching the gospel to every creature and making disciples of all nations being interpreted as a mandate to "make the whole world Christian" by whatever means are necessary. It's what the ''Literature/LeftBehind'' book series and pretty much any Christian-related end-times fiction is based on.

* ''In the Year 2525'' by Zager and Evans has the Second Coming occur in the year 7510.