Angels, Devils, and Squid: Difference between revisions

* ''[[The Dresden Files]]'' actually ''does'' feature angels, devils, [[Eldritch Abomination|Eldritch Abominations]], the [[Fair Folk]], and the three Billy Goats Gruff<ref>They're Titania's personal assassins, since you ask.</ref>. This means they have to take time to specify the difference between ordinary demons and [[Fallen Angel|Fallen Angels]], and why demon-summoning is allowed under the Laws of Magic but summoning Outsiders is most certainly ''not''.

** Demon-summoning (as in calling up demons for information) is technically allowed, as is bargaining to get, for example, a squad of mercenary pixies for the day in exchange for a dozen pizzas. Enthralling (as in crushing free will) is one of the few laws that protects nonhuman entities, mostly because people who enslave demons do not make them volunteer at the soup kitchen. But even trying to ''learn'' about the things beyond the Outer Gates is an instant death penalty.

* Possibly the case in [[Dungeons and Dragons]]. Originally there was no concept of good and evil, just order and chaos. The gods were opposed by infinite demons from a place called the Abyss, which wrecked all their works. They created angels to fight the demons for them and some of those angels, while remaining loyal to the concept of order, became as destructive and cruel as the demons they faced, seeing it as necessary to do their jobs. They became the first Devils. So now there were both [[Lawful Evil]] devils, who want to take over the universe, and [[Chaotic Evil]] demons, who want to destroy it. [[Unreliable Narrator|Or so the story goes, anyway]]; [[The Rashomon|it's just one of many versions of the creation myth]]...

** There's also the bizarre creatures from [[Eldritch Location|the Far Realms]], who have a very Lovecraftian vibe. Celestials (angels, archons, guardinals and eladrin) are pure good, fiends (devils, demons, yugoloths) are pure evil, but the creatures of the far realms are just plain ''alien''. Expect [[Combat Tentacles|tentacles]] and people [[Go Mad From the Revelation|going mad from encountering them]].

* Definitely the case in D&D 3.5's [[Spiritual Successor]], [[Pathfinder]]. At least two of the base setting's gods fit the squid bill (Rovagug and Zon-Kuthon {{spoiler|and maybe [[The Devil|Asmodeus]] too}}), as well as two out of ten of [[The Legions of Hell]] (kytons and qlippoth). As well as a huge number of other critters, many of them lifed straight from the [[Cthulhu Mythos]] (including Great Old Ones and Outer Gods).

* The [[Nightside]] has this going on in droves, but with an emphasis on the "Squid" more than the other two. Book 2 has a blend of all three, and devils make more appearances than angels, but in a place where [[Eldritch Abomination|Eldritch Abominations]] walk the streets... yeah.

* [[J. R. R. Tolkien|JRR Tolkien]]'s '[[Lord of the Rings|verse]] has angels (the Valar) and devils (Morgoth and Sauron), the latter of whom are classic 'fallen angels' in their origins having started out as members of the angelic order. Dotted through Tolkien's creation, though, are weird primordial creatures like Ungoliant, colossal dark spider-entity of pure blight and destruction, or the unnamed beings at earth's roots. The latter are more likely to be spiders than squid, due to the author's arachnophobia, but at least one squid (the Watcher in the Water) is confirmed.

** Middle-earth also, intriguingly, contains something of an inverse 'squid' in the shape of the being known to hobbits as Tom Bombadil: an ancient elemental force with no specific aims or objectives that simply loves existence, he seems not to be an angelic figure and takes no part in the battles between conventional good and evil, in the sure knowledge that before and after all of it he will be there still doing what he does. His only intervention is against Old Man Willow, another primordial entity that loosely fits under the 'squid' category, making Bombadil seem more akin to a 'good' counterbalance to mindless oblivion than anything.

* ''[[Legend of the Five Rings]]'' has [[Order Versus Chaos|the Kami on one side, the Oni on the other side]], and then there is the [[Power of the Void|Nothing]]. [[Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?|Which was on the receiving end of an epic butt-kicking in the previous edition]].

** Like everything else in it, this has some basis in [[Japanese Mythology]]: On one side you have the Celestial gods, on the other side you have the Terrestrial gods, and then there is the Amatsu-Mikaboshi.

** The Things crave the light and shape of "our" reality, and attempt to break through whenever [[Magic Is a Monster Magnet|some really powerful magic weakens the fabric between worlds]] - it's been said that if they ever succeeded, the effect would be that of an ocean trying to warm itself around a candle. They fit the "not evil so much as alien" bit mentioned above, as Rincewind realises they'd kill us without giving us "the dignity of hatred".

** The Auditors make sure the fundamental laws of the universe continue to work, but find life-forms of any kind infuriatingly unpredictable. When they're not looking for a way to wipe out people entirely, they're trying to make us less erratic by [[Discworld/Hogfather|eliminating belief]].

* ''[[GURPS]] Dungeon Fantasy'' does this with the Gods from Heaven, the Demons from Hell and the Elder Things from the Outer Void.

** It also has "nature" as a force, causing some fans to joke that the "alignments" of the game are Good, Evil, Squid and ''Bunny''.

* ''[[Berserk]]'' has a lot of overlap between the three archetypes, but they do exist to some extent. The Four Elemental Kings represent the Angels, the Apostles and the Godhand that create them are the devils, and the most powerful and malevolent spiritual beings like the Sea God are the squid.

* ''[[Johannes Cabal the Necromancer|Johannes Cabal]]'' shows devils in the first book and Lovecraftian types in the third. The heavenly host have not yet been shown, but Cabal claims to know of them, and is not impressed.