Below is a comprised list of tropes related to Divine power, Heaven, and its inhabitants such as angels or gods.
Compare Goodness Tropes and Religion Tropes. Contrast Infernal Tropes. Inverse of the Index of Prayer and Meditation.
Not to be confused with Like a God to Me.
Tropes:
Characters
- The Almighty Dollar: God(s) of wealth, money, trade, prosperity/abundance, or fortune/luck.
- Archangel Azrael: One of the archangels, who ushers the souls of the dead to God's judgment.
- Archangel Gabriel: One of the archangels, usually a messenger depicted with a horn, and very important in Islam as he gave Mohammed his revelations.
- Archangel Michael: One of the archangels, usually depicted with a sword and the element of fire.
- Archangel Raphael: One of the archangels, usually depicted with a water flask.
- Archangel Uriel: One of the archangels, the one that stands at the gate of Lost Eden.
- The Armies of Heaven: Angels depicted as a military force.
- Celestial Paragons and Archangels: The highest, most powerful angelic good guys around.
- Cherubic Choir: Common in Heaven. Angels are often part of these.
- Council of Angels: A group of angels who run Heaven.
- Cupid's Arrow: Cupid, the god of love. Often used to cause and/or personify falling in love.
- Demiurge Archetype: A character based on the Gnostic Demiurge who is an imposter of the true God.
- Divine Birds: Supernatural birds.
- Divine–Infernal Family: God, Satan and/or His opposite are considered family.
- Divinely Appearing Demons: Demons with a physical appearance similar to angels or gods.
- Doves Mean Peace: Doves are associated with divinity and other positive concepts.
- Dragons Are Divine: Dragons depicted as divine creatures or entities.
- Emissary from the Divine: Either a prophet from God or an angel or mortal picked for a certain role.
- Energy Beings: Angels, gods, and goddesses are sometimes depicted this way to avoid religious connotations.
- Everybody Hates Hades: Death god portrayed as evil.
- Everybody Loves Zeus: Gods of light and the heavens depicted as good and pure.
- God: Singular almighty being who's often the creator of the universe along with all that's in it and the focus of many religions.
- A God I Am Not: A character is seen or treated as a god by many people, but said character doesn't see themselves that way.
- God of Evil: A deity who's pure evil.
- God of Good: A deity who's pure good.
- God of Light: A deity who's associated with light.
- Good Angel, Bad Angel: A character's conscience takes on the form of an angel and a demon or devil near the character's head.
- Grandpa God: A portrayal of God a bearded, elderly man.
- Guardian Angel: A personal angel who helps someone in specific ways.
- Healer God: Gods of healing and/or medicine.
- Heaven Seeker: Someone who wants to get into Heaven.
- Heavenly Concentric Circles: Heavenly planes or beings are depicted as concentric circles in the sky.
- Holier Than Thou: A character who's haughty about their morality.
- Inhumanly Beautiful Race: Angels, gods, and goddesses are commonly depicted as being beautiful beyond human standards.
- Jesus: A prominent religious figure who's God's Son and our Savior according to Christianity and the world's second holiest person and prophet according to Islam.
- Lord of the Ocean: Gods, spirits, or other powerful entities holding dominion over the seas, oceans and/or other bodies of water.
- Love Goddess: A deity, often female, of love.
- Madonna Archetype: A character modeled after the Virgin Mary.
- Messianic Archetype: A savior who endures great sacrifices, up to and including death, to help others.
- Metatron: An angel, formerly the human Enoch, who serves as God's voice and scribe.
- Moses Archetype: Characters modeled after Moses.
- Mother Goddess: An immortal goddess and creator of the world.
- Nephilim: Biblical entities who were strong, had great height, and devoured people.
- Our Angels Are Different: The varying depictions of angels in fiction and religion.
- Our Archons Are Different: The different portrayals of Gnostic angels or angel-like entities.
- Our Gods Are Different: Common attributes and features of gods in fiction and religion.
- Precursors: Angels and/or deities whose culture came before that of humans.
- Putto: Naked, chubby children depicted in art. Often portrayed as winged-cherubs, especially in Heaven.
- Satan: The original Fallen Angel, and the most notorious denizen of Hell.
- Semi-Divine: Part normal, part supernatural being.
- Trickster God: Gods of trickery and deceit.
- Winged Humanoid: For the angels who have wings.
Locations
- Bonus Level of Heaven: An extra level in a video game set in Heaven or someplace similar.
- Fluffy Cloud Heaven: Heaven depicted as a bunch of clouds in the sky.
- Heaven Above: The sky being associated with the divine.
- Hell of a Heaven: Heaven depicted as disappointing.
- Home of the Gods: Heaven and similar places are often home to at least one deity.
- Nostalgia Heaven: In a dream or the afterlife, two characters with a deep connection are seen together in a particular place that is somehow special to them.
- The Pearly Gates: The door that seperates Heaven from the rest of the Universe.
- Physical Heaven: Angels or gods having a physical base on Earth.
- The Promised Land: Heaven is almost always depicted as this.
- Unfeeling Heavens: Heaven's angels are far removed from human feelings and attachments, seeing them as unnecessary.
- Warrior Heaven: The place where all noble warriors want to go when they die.
Narrative
- Afterlife Welcome: A character is greeted on their deathbed by those already in the afterlife.
- Angelic Transformation: Changing to or from an angel form. The former is a common folk belief regarding humans when they die.
- Ascend to a Higher Plane of Existence: Technically dying, but doing so in a way that you ascend into a superior being.
- Bargain with Heaven: Making deals with angels, gods, or goddesses.
- Death of the Old Gods: The deities who once ruled the world dying or fading from existence.
- Deliverance from Damnation: That character was damned, but others' prayers and/or their own virtues brought them from Hell to Heaven.
- Died Happily Ever After: When a character dies, they are portrayed as happy right before or after they Ascend to a Higher Plane of Existence.
- Divine Assistance: Gods helping out the heroes.
- Divine Conflict: Gods fighting each other.
- Ghost Reunion Ending: When ghosts reunite in the afterlife.
- Godly Sidestep: Deities refusing to answer humanity's biggest questions.
- Go into the Light: When a dead person has a near-death experience which causes them to cross over to the light.
- Hell Invades Heaven: The forces of Hell infiltrating Heaven.
- No Animosity in the Afterlife: Enemies in life forgive each other after death.
- Rage Against the Heavens: A character fighting gods.
- Refusing Paradise: A dead character opting to return from the dead instead of going to a peaceful afterlife.
- Taking Over Heaven: Heaven falling under new management.
- Titanomachy, Round Two: Someone's trying to free the Titans of Greek Mythology to take out the Gods.
- Together in Death: A couple either literally or metaphorically reunited in or after death.
Other
- Angelic Beauty: Good-looking angels.
- Background Halo: A character's head placed below a circle or oval or in front of something shiny.
- Celebrities Hang Out in Heaven: Dead famous people hanging out with other dead famous people in Heaven.
- Celestial Bureaucracy: Heaven being similar to earthly official agencies.
- Cosmic Egg: The universe coming into existence by hatching from an egg.
- Deity Identity Confusion: Different gods or goddesses combined with each other.
- Fire Purifies: Fire as a purification method.
- Flying on a Cloud: A common mode of transportation in, or ascending to, Heaven.
- Gods Need Prayer Badly: When a deity's power is proportional to the strength of humans' belief in them.
- Gold and White Are Divine: Gold and white associated with divinity and goodness.
- The Hand Is God: God or some other all-powerful being is depicted as a disembodied hand.
- Healthy in Heaven: In the afterlife, you cast off any and all disfigurements/disabilities/infirmities you may have had in life.
- Heavenly Blue: Blue being associated with angels or Heaven.
- High-Tech Heaven: When angels or gods make use of modern, or even sci-fi level technology.
- Holy Backlight: When a character is lit from behind by a blinding, usually white, light. Common for angels and gods, especially when escorting someone to the afterlife.
- Holy Halo: Halos placed above or around the head to make someone look divine or holy.
- Holy Hand Grenade: Weaponizing divine powers.
- Holy Is Not Safe: Divine power being dangerous to humans as well as evil creatures.
- Hot God: Beautiful deities.
- Kicked Out of Heaven: A person gets kicked out of Heaven or a similar equivalent.
- Offerings to the Gods: Physical offerings, such as food or live animals, given to deities.
- Power Gives You Wings: Powerful, winged angels, especially when said angel used to be human.
- Rays from Heaven: Crepuscular rays, beams of sunlight bursting through the clouds, used to symbolize divinity.
- Ride the Rainbow: Rainbows used for transportation, sometimes between Earth and Heaven.
- Sacred Bow and Arrows: Bows and arrows being associated with divinity.
- Sacred Flames: Fire associated with the divine.
- Saved by the Church Bell: When church bells are used as symbols of salvation and triumph, often of a divine or religious nature.
- Solid Clouds: A common feature of Heaven, or at least Fluffy Cloud Heaven.
- Stairway to Heaven: A literal staircase leading to Heaven.
- Unusual Halo: Unique halo designs other than the basic yellow/white ring ones.
- Winged Soul Flies Off at Death: The winged, white, and translucent soul of a dead character flying up from the body and towards Heaven.
