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{{trope}}
[[File:
{{quote|''Be not forgetful to [[Sacred Hospitality|entertain strangers]]: for thereby some have [[Trope Namer|entertained angels unawares]].''
|'''[[The Bible|Hebrews 13:2, KJV]]'''}}
A character or entity that is implied to be, but never explicitly described or defined as, an angelic being or divine messenger. Sometimes [[God Was My Co
Often used to underscore the importance of [[Sacred Hospitality]], as in the [[Trope Namer|Trope Naming]] page quote.
See also [[God Was My Co
Compare [[King Incognito]]. [[Sub-Trope]] of [[Secret Identity]].
{{examples}}
* ''[[
▲== Anime / Manga ==
* ''[[El Cazador
* In a somewhat... different example of this trope, {{spoiler|Rei Ayanami}} of ''[[
▲* ''[[The Big O (Anime)|The Big O]]''. Subverted in that while [[Meaningful Name|she's called Angel]] and even has two scars on her back where there were once wings, she's not exactly an angel.
▲* ''[[El Cazador De La Bruja]]''. In the middle of Mexico/South of Mexico, there is an inn run by an old man; he stops the villains chasing the heroines for a day or two so that they can have some character development. This includes a [[Tyke Bomb]] and witch with magic powers, who he stops simply by looking at them. Apparently is really the Hopi Fertility Deity Kokopelli. He takes the form of a white author who died 3 years prior to the plot.
▲* In a somewhat... different example of this trope, {{spoiler|Rei Ayanami}} of ''[[Neon Genesis Evangelion (Anime)|Neon Genesis Evangelion]]'' is implied - but never outright stated - to be a somewhat different breed of "Angel". And while you are chewing on that and that infamous ending and movie sequel, somehow Anno manages to sneak in a little piece of information that {{spoiler|everybody is an angel, since humanity descended from the second angel, Lilith, just like all the other angels descend from Adam.}}
== Film ==
* The "dangerous lady" in the film version of ''[[A Prairie Home Companion]]''.
* In ''[[Love Actually]]'', [[Rowan Atkinson]]'s character is a angel, though it was more explicit in the original script. The only thing that was altered in his 'storyline' is a shot of him fading away as he walks off at the end.
* In ''[[Van Helsing]]'' the title character is implied to be one of these. He is in the service of God, is apparently immortal (he remembers fighting Romans at Masada, and was Dracula's murderer hundreds of years prior to the movie), and in the novelization he is said to have two scars on his back where wings may have been. Furthermore, Dracula refers to him as {{spoiler|"[[Archangel Gabriel|Gabriel]]."}}
* The [[No Name Given|hospitaller]] in ''[[Kingdom of Heaven]]'' is implied to be this; according to the [[DVD Commentary]], he may even be [[God in Human Form|God himself]]. There are a number of hints throughout the movie, such a bush catching on fire just as he appears, and telling Balian that if God has purpose for him, he will keep him
* The Man In White in [[Pirates of the Great Salt Lake]]. He's assumed to be a [[Magical Native American]], at least until [[Fridge Brilliance]] sets in.
* [[Almost An Angel]]: Terry Dean is either this or merely a misguided human being deceived by his own beliefs.
* [[Mary Poppins]]: She's seen ''putting her makeup on while sitting waist-deep in a cloudbank'', for [[
* The titular character in ''[[
* ''[[Pale Rider]]'': The "Preacher" rides out of the mountains on a pale horse as Megan prays for help against Lahood's men, and there are heavy implications that {{spoiler|he is a dead gunfighter sent back to Earth}}.
== Literature ==
* Lani, from ''What Happened to Lani Garver'' is a [[Magical Queer]] come to help the protagonist sort out her life, and who may or may not actually be an angel.
* The wizards in ''[[
** And of course, Tolkien directly compared them to angels in his letters.
** The unnamed ones are named in ''[[Unfinished
* In ''[[The Dresden Files]]'', a literal angel in human form ({{spoiler|specifically, the Archangel Uriel}}) makes a brief appearance.
** And that literal angel's own words imply that Mouse is also this trope, albeit in dogasaurus-form rather than human.
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* Mr. Jingles from ''[[The Green Mile]]''. The narrator doesn't think so, but there's definitely room for doubt.
* ''The Raven's Knot'' by [[Robin Jarvis]] has a man who believed himself to have been saved by angels in WWII, but realizes eventually that he is one, trapped in human form since he descended. Oh, and angels look like [[Our Angels Are Different|giant two-headed dragons that breathe holy light]].
* Michael Valentine Smith from ''[[Stranger in
* ''[[Dragonlance
*
* Inverted in [[John C. Wright]]'s ''[[
* Implied with Scylla from [[The Darksword Trilogy]]. She says she's a secret agent, but always flashes her ID card too fast for anyone to see exactly which agency she's an agent of. Later, it is said that the only ones who can use Time magic, as Scylla has done in the story, are Agents of God. (Or the [[Crystal Dragon Jesus|Almin]], as the series' God is known).
* [[Inverted]] [[Paranoia Fuel|in the most disturbing way]] in ''[[Cthulhu Mythos]]''. A recurring character, Nyarlathotep, often appears as a likeable (if somewhat... off) stranger to the main characters. The problem is that Nyarlathotep is an [[Eldritch Abomination]] (more powerful than Cthulhu, at that), and his hobby is "screwing with people's lives".
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* Occurs in one of the stories in the children's book ''[[The Ten Tales Of Shellover]]'' - an old man finds a starving cat in the snow and takes her in. She eats all his bread, milk and meat, and makes him use up all his logs, but he doesn't throw her out. In the end, she leaves, and his milk, bread, meat and logs never run out from that day forth. Interestingly, he may suspect that she isn't an ordinary cat when she asks him why he doesn't drive her away and leaves no footprints.
== Live
* Mr. Roarke on ''[[Fantasy Island]].''
* ''[[Battlestar Galactica
** {{spoiler|Well, they all seem to be visible to whoever they want and corporeal whenever they want. Remember the Virtual Six that picked Baltar up from the floor. In the end, as Virtual Six and Virtual Baltar talk, Six says they work for God and Baltar says the entity they work for does not care for that name. Which basically means it's either the/a god with a sense of humor, or a sufficiently advanced alien being/machine/whatever that some of these "virtual beings" deify.}}
* The show ''[[Touched By an Angel]]'' centered around this trope, taking the point of view of the angels who are [[Walking the Earth]] helping people. The finale, however, cranks it [[Up to Eleven]] when it's revealed that {{spoiler|Monica has been helping ''[[Jesus Was Way Cool|Jesus]]'' unawares.}}
** ''[[Highway to Heaven]]'' uses the same premise, only it's one male angel (played by Michael Landon) instead of two female angels. He's been sent to Earth to do enough good to "earn his wings"
* ''[[Supernatural (TV series)|Supernatural]]'': [[Archangel Gabriel]], who had been hiding as {{spoiler|The Trickster}} since ''seasons'' prior. (Bonus [[Almighty Janitor]] since that was the cover the Winchesters first encountered him under.) He has been hiding on Earth for millenia and done such a good job of it that other magical beings and even non-Christian gods do not realize that he is an angel and not one of them. Also the season 5 finale: {{spoiler|[[Author Avatar|Chuck]] finishes writing his story and vanishes with a knowing smile on his face. Debate is raging in the fandom about whether this means the writer was literally God.}}
** Castiel (pictured above) and Anna also fit this trope; their human vessels spent some time in mental institutions as schizophrenic patients.
*** Canon has not declared Castiel's vessel Jimmy to have been institutionalized, merely to have been taking medication, which is implied to be for a mental disorder; {{spoiler|though a coming episode in season 7 seems to be heading in that direction for [[Trauma-Induced Amnesia|an amnesiac Castiel]].}} As stated below, Jimmy's wife did insist he "take his pills" just before he gave himself to Castiel.
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** Any interactions Cas had with humans not involved in the Apocalypse while he was on Earth counts for them. That hooker, for example.
*** That only applies to Anna. Castiel's vessel (Jimmy) was an ordinary guy. Though, admittedly, when Castiel started talking to him (which only he could hear) his wife ''did'' think he was losing it.
* The homeless girl in the episode "So-Called Angels" of ''[[My So
* In the finale of ''[[Ashes to Ashes]]'', {{spoiler|Gene Hunt is revealed as a deceased human who, although having no conscious knowledge of it, has acted as a guide to the other cops stumbling across him in cop purgatory}}.
* There's a recurring homeless woman who might be this in ''[[Sons of Anarchy]]'' if [[Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane|she's not just crazy]].
* ''[[
== Music ==
* The Eighties Matchbox B-Line Disaster's song "I Could be an Angle" is based on the [[Rouge Angles of Satin|misspelled]] sign of a beggar who was trying to invoke this trope.
* This idea is the main theme of Michael W. Smith's "Angels Unaware," undoubtedly inspired by the [[Trope Namer]]:
{{quote|
''Who's that stranger there beside you?
''Don't be smug and don't be cruel
''Maybe we are entertaining angels unaware. }}
== Mythology and Religion ==
* In [[Norse Mythology]], Odin was known to wander around as an old traveler. He tended to wear a blue cloak and a hat that was pulled down to hide his missing eye. This avatar, Grimnir, is often considered to be the origin of the [[Robe and Wizard Hat|classic image of the wizard]].
* In [[Greek Mythology]], [[The Metamorphoses
** You must appreciate exactly how often this sort of thing happens in Greek and Roman tradition. Even the fact that Evander treated Heracles nicely as a stranger was treated as a throw away line in
* [[
** According to the Book of Acts, Paul and Silas were taken to be Zeus and Hermes in disguise during their travels. Denying it got them in a
** In the story of Lot, two angels visit the city of Sodom and are put up for the night by Lot and his family, who protects his divine guests when his neighbors want to ''rape them in a mob''. Lot refuses to let the mob do so, even offering his own daughters instead, but the mob refuses. (Gen. 19:1-11) Lot offering his daughters in exchange isn't seen all that favourably by many people.
** When he first appears, the Archangel Raphael is disguised as Azarias, the son of the great Ananias, and is seen traveling with Tobias. After traveling a bit, Raphael proceeds to show him how to drive off the demon Asmodeus, who had killed the seven men Tobias' bride Sarah had married before, after which he(Raphael) bound the demon. He also showed Tobias’ how to cure his father’s(Tobit’s) blindness, before revealing himself as the Archangel. It's a cool story.
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** According to some traditions, be became Sandalphon, an angel associated with prayer and children.
== Tabletop
* The ''Qashmallim'', from ''[[
** There are also, in a case of this trope being a two-edged sword, the True Fae Charlatans from ''[[
▲* The ''Qashmallim'', from ''[[Promethean: The Created (Tabletop Game)|Promethean: The Created]]'' roleplaying game line. Interesting in that these entities, while unquestionably powerful and apparently representatives of a higher power, might not be actual ''angels'' as such. Their presentation, however, is very much angelic (often in the more inhuman "wheels with wings and eyes" vein).
▲** There are also, in a case of this trope being a two-edged sword, the True Fae Charlatans from ''[[Changeling: The Lost (Tabletop Game)|Changeling: The Lost]]'', [[The Fair Folk|very, very nasty and amoral fairies]] that have gone into the human world and lost all of their power and forgotten whom they are.
* In ''[[Warhammer Fantasy Battle]]'' both the Brettonian Green Knight and Grombrindal, the White Dwarf could possibly be this; the Green Knight may be the founder of Brettonia, while there are a ''lot'' of theories on the White Dwarf, again including the possibility that he's the founder of the Dwarven nation.▼
▲* The case for most background NPCs in ''[[In Nomine (Tabletop Game)|In Nomine]]''.
▲* In ''[[Warhammer]]'' both the Brettonian Green Knight and Grombrindal, the White Dwarf could possibly be this; the Green Knight may be the founder of Brettonia, while there are a ''lot'' of theories on the White Dwarf, again including the possibility that he's the founder of the Dwarven nation.
** And in 40k, The God Emperor loved doing this to people.
* In ''[[
** In some versions, these seven canaries are actually seven ancient gold dragons in disguise. Do not mess with this guy. Even if it looks like [[Circling Birdies|he's just been hit and is an easy target.]]
== Theatre ==
* In ''[[An Inspector Calls]]'' it is
▲* In ''[[An Inspector Calls]]'' it is neavily implied that the inspector is not what he seems, although it is not explicit.
== Video Games ==
* In ''[[Sonic Unleashed]]'', Sonic's amnesiac new friend {{spoiler|Chip, is revealed to be Light Gaia, the opposite of the final boss}}.
* {{spoiler|Arcia}} turns out to have been a celestial being all along at the end of ''[[Granstream Saga]]''. Considering that this character is also one of the worst [[Purity Sue
* {{spoiler|Joshua}} in ''[[
** {{spoiler|And then, once you start getting the secret reports, you learn that Mr. H is ''literally'' an Angel. As well as Joshua's boss. Wings and everything, in the secret ending.}}
* ''[[Red Dead Redemption]]'' contains the Stranger side-missions "I Know You" where a well dressed stranger from John's past meets up with him three times in each of the game's main locations. (New Austin, Nuevo Paraíso, and West Elizabeth/)The final meeting is the most notable, as {{spoiler|John, finally fed up with not getting any answers from this guy, shoots him three times as he's walking away. The bullets apparently pass right through the guy, but leave no evidence that they even touched him. When John looks away for a moment, he's gone.}}
** The man calls the last place that they meet "a fine spot." {{spoiler|That same area is where John, his wife, [[And Zoidberg|and Uncle]] are eventually buried.}}
{{quote|
'''The Strange Man:''' {{spoiler|Yes, many have.}} }}
* The [[Interactive Fiction]] game ''[[Vespers]]'' begins with the Biblical quote, and begins as the characters, Medieval monks, grant a place to stay to an almost-dead, beautiful girl that arrives at their gates. {{spoiler|It's a subversion: she's a ''demon''.}}
== Web Comics ==
* In ''[[No Rest for The Wicked (
{{reflist}}
[[Category:Angelic Tropes]]
[[Category:Religion Tropes]]
[[Category:Secret Identity Tropes]]
[[Category:Older Than Feudalism]]
▲[[Category:Angel Unaware]]
|