Angel Unaware: Difference between revisions
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{{trope}}
[[File:castielwings_7960.jpg|link=Supernatural (TV series)|frame| [[The Shadow Knows|The shadow gives it away.]]]]
{{quote|''Be not forgetful to [[Sacred Hospitality|entertain strangers]]: for thereby some have [[Trope Namer|entertained angels unawares]].''|'''[[The Bible
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]].
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* ''[[
* ''[[El Cazador
* In a somewhat... different example of this trope, {{spoiler|Rei Ayanami}} of ''[[
== Film ==
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* [[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 [[Pun|heaven's]] sake.
* 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}}.
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* 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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* [[Dragonlance|Reorx]] often walks Krynn disguised as a rather fashionable dwarf named Dugan Redhammer, often revealing himself at the end of the story.
* There is a short story by [[Isaac Asimov]], where a character is revealed to be the ''Devil'' in the end - and it is unclear whether ''he'' is aware of that.
* 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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* 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]].
* ''[[
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* 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 the ''[[The Aeneid
* [[
** 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 LOT of trouble.
** 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.
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== Tabletop RPG ==
* The ''Qashmallim'', from ''[[
** There are also, in a case of this trope being a two-edged sword, the True Fae Charlatans from ''[[
* The case for most background NPCs in ''[[
* 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.]]
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* 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|Purity Sues]] in video game history, this realization probably drove her past the point of likability for ''many'' players.
* {{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.}}
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== Web Comics ==
* In ''[[No Rest for The Wicked (
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