View source for Archangel Gabriel

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[[File:Anton Raphael Mengs - Annunciation.jpg|frame|Gabriel lets Mary know that [[Virgin Power]] has its uses.]]
One of the best known angels (and one of three to be specifically named), Gabriel is the messenger of God. According to the Bible, it was he who foretold the births of Jesus and John the Baptist. Because he is explicitly mentioned as being the angel who comes to earth to inform the people, he will often be the main angel interacting with humans, in addition to the higher angels' role as warriors. Many also identify him as the angel of the Last Judgement. Gabriel, known as Jibril, plays a similar role in [[Islam]] (he appears to Muhammad, and the revelations so transmitted are [[The Quran]]) and the Baha'i Faith.

He (and nowadays sometimes "she") is a [[Public Domain Character]], from ''[[The Bible]]'' of course, though his status as an Archangel is never specified in the book itself.

Gabriel has commonly been depicted heralding messages with a horn, so the Horn of Gabriel may show up in fiction quite a bit. Said horn is often granted the epithet ''"Gabriel's Horn of Truth"'', and is occasionally seen as being used to herald the coming of the apocalypse itself. Gabriel himself is strongly associated with [[Seers]], prediction and clairvoyance in his messages.

Because of [[Meaningful Name|meaningful names]], most characters simply named Gabriel will generally be good guys. Since they are Gabriel [[In Name Only]], please don't list them here.

See also [[Archangel Michael]], [[Archangel Raphael]], [[Satan]], and [[Our Angels Are Different]].

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== Anime and Manga ==
* An important angel named Gabriel appears in ''[[Saint Beast]]'' but he's [[Zig-Zagging Trope|probably not]] modeled on the traditional Gabriel as the work's cosmology is a bit of a melting pot and this Gabriel actually allies himself with Lucifer and goes to Hell.
* Archangel Gabriel appears in ''[[A Certain Magical Index]]'' {{spoiler|as "Misha Croitsef", modelling itself after a girl in Russia named Sasha Croitsef}} after a spell which forcibly casts angels out of Heaven is cast. It attempts to go back to Heaven by [[There Is No Kill Like Overkill|''casting the spell which destroyed Babylon'' to kill the one responsible for the spell]]. Later on, it's properly summoned by {{spoiler|Fiamma of the Right}} to restore the balance altered by the Star of Bethlehem. The entire might of France and England couldn't lay a scratch on it!
** Acqua of the Back, {{spoiler|William Orville}}, is the member of God's Right Seat who pulls his power from Gabriel. He's explicitly stated to be just as skilled as Gabriel [[No Biological Sex|itself]] at water magic.
** Also, it should be noted that every person stated to be aligned with the Archangel Gabriel have power over water.
* ''[[666 Satan]]'' features 10 demons and angels, one of which is Gabriel.
* Baguramon from ''[[Digimon Xros Wars]]'' is the Demonic inversion of Archangel Gabriel.
* In ''Shaman King'', Archangel Gabriel appears as a spirit ally to minor character Meene Montgomery.

== Fan Works ==
* In ''[[Manchester Lost]]'', a ''[[Good Omens]]'' fanfic, he appears as a [[Deadpan Snarker]].

== Films -- Live-Action ==
* In ''[[Legion]]'', Gabriel is the one sent to find and kill off the new savior baby during the angel apocalypse
* In 2007, the Australian film ''Gabriel'' tells the story of an "Arc" Angel who fights to bring light back to purgatory place where darkness rules and save the souls of the city's inhabitants. Actor Andy Whitfield portrays the title role. He's also a [[Badass Longcoat]] with a lot of firepower.
* In ''[[The Prophecy (film)|The Prophecy]]'' trilogy, the angel Gabriel, played by [[Christopher Walken]], is portrayed as a villain and is jealous of humans for being [[God]]'s favorites and wishes to [[Kill All Humans|destroy them all]]. In the second film, he is [[Brought Down to Normal|banished to be a human]]; this causes him to change his opinion of them. After helping Danyael out through the third movie, Gabriel is granted a second chance as an angel and [[Ascend to a Higher Plane of Existence|ascends to Heaven once again]].
* In ''[[Van Helsing]]'', it is [[Angel Unaware|implied]] that {{spoiler|Van Helsing is actually the angel Gabriel.}}
* In ''[[Constantine]]'', Gabriel is played by [[Bifauxnen]] [[Tilda Swinton]].  {{spoiler|(S)he resents God's love for an unworthy humanity and plots to release Hell on Earth [[Well-Intentioned Extremist|so that humanity can earn God's love.]] }}

== Literature ==
* In ''[[Paradise Lost]]'', John Milton made Gabriel, with horn, chief of the angelic guards placed over Paradise. He's really badass.
* The Hebrew poem ''Elifelet'' by Nathan Alterman, put to music and often heard on the Israeli Radio, tells of a heroic, self-sacrificing Israeli soldier being killed in battle. Upon the protagonist's death, the angel Gabriel descends to Earth, in order to comfort the spirit of the fallen hero and take him up to Heaven.
* Salman Rushdie's ''The Satanic Verses'' has his main character be the modern incarnation of Gabriel.
* In ''[[Incarnations of Immortality]]'', he's actually God's second in command, and the one running the place while God is busy contemplating his own greatness for centuries on end.
* Mentioned in passing as the Messenger by Mab in ''[[The Dresden Files]]'' after Uriel, most mysterious and probably most powerful of the Archangels drops by.
* Gabón is Gabriel's counterpart in ''[[Stationery Voyagers]]''. He is the most popular member of the Communacadrim, who control messages and manage parts of Providence pertaining to maintaining the integrity of universal information. In addition to his role in the Annunciation, he doubles as a bodyguard for the Voyagers along with Levío. He's not an archangel, however. Andélito, Rickrod, [[Archangel Michael|Martarel]], and [[Satan|Luminarod]] were the original four archangels mentioned. While Martarel is mentioned once in a blue moon, Andélito [[Chuck Cunningham Syndrome|completely disappears]] after "Scalding Inquiries."
* ''[[The Bible]]'' of course is the [[Trope Maker]], making Gabriel [[Older Than Feudalism]]. He is described as "one having the appearance of a man," with a tendency to make people fall down in fright. Usually, he has to reassure them and tell them not to be afraid. In addition to announcing the birth of [[Jesus]] in the New Testament, Gabriel first appeared to the prophet Daniel to help interpret his [[The End of the World as We Know It|apocalyptic visions]] of the future.

== Live-Action TV ==
* In an episode of the original 1959 ''[[The Twilight Zone]]'', entitled "A Passage for Trumpet", trumpet player Joey Crown (played by Jack Klugman) makes a decision to live or die with the help of a trumpet player who later [[Angel Unaware|turns out to be the angel Gabriel.]]
* In a Season 5 episode of ''[[Supernatural (TV series)|Supernatural]]'' it is revealed that  {{spoiler|the recurring character the Trickster is actually the Archangel Gabriel. His role as messenger seems to be fulfilled in his modus operandi, teaching the conceited that there are powers above them. Interestingly, he is also the Norse God, Loki. Gabriel himself refers to this as his own personal "Witness Protection."}} It should be known that he and Castiel are perhaps the only angels who actually followed what God asked of them, which may include Anna. Dean and Castiel just weren't too fond of the way she did this since {{spoiler|her plan involved killing Sam.}} Gabriel's horn is referenced in season 6, though it is not seen or relevant to the plot, only assumed to be.
** He also gets what is possibly the most hilarious line spoken between angels,<ref>Except for maybe Castiel calling the [[Archangel Michael]] "Assbutt"</ref> when he says: "Lucifer, you're my brother and I love you, but ''[[Supernatural (Anime)/Funny|you are a great big bag of dicks.]]''"
* Alluded to in an episode of ''[[Star Trek: The Original Series|Star Trek the Original Series]]''. McCoy jokes that he'd like to beam down to a planet and say "Behold, I am the archangel Gabriel."
{{quote|'''Spock:''' "I fail to see the humor in that situation, Doctor."
'''McCoy:''' "Naturally. You could hardly claim to be an angel with those pointed ears, Mister Spock. But say you landed someplace with a pitchfork..."  }}

== Radio ==
* Two entirely separate Archangel Gabriels appear in ''[[Old Harry's Game|Old Harrys Game]]''. However they're both officious creeps who'd like to see Satan somehow sent somewhere even ''worse'' than Hell.

== Tabletop Games ==
* In the ''[[Witchcraft]]'' RPG, he is the biggest douche of the Archangels. {{spoiler|His machinations resulted in the creation of the Combine, every evil organization stereotype out there. His douchebaggery resulted in [[Archangel Michael|the archangel]] [[Gender Bender|Michelle]], leaving heaven to form the Alliance.}}
* In ''[[In Nomine]]'', Gabriel is a [[Mad Oracle]] who lives in a Heavenly volcano. He may have been driven to madness by the persecution of the Archangel Dominic, who believes that Gabriel wrote ''[[The Qur'an]]'' and created Islam without authorization, or by the strain of sharing a Word with a Demon Prince. These days, Gabriel more frequently appears as a woman.

== Theatre ==
* [[Cirque Du Soleil]]'s ''[[Mystere]]'' has a loose take on this character; its Archangels (usually called Les Laquais nowadays) are selfless guardians of Earthlings. The [[All There in the Manual]] backstory of the aerial cube act, the first big acrobatic setpiece in the show, is that of Gabriel resisting the temptations of [[The Vamp]].
* Referenced in [[August Wilson]]'s ''[[Fences]]''.
* The [[Show Stopper]] number in [[Anything Goes]] is "Blow, Gabriel, Blow," about how Gabriel's trumpet saved the singer from sin.

== Video Games ==
* In the ''[[Shin Megami Tensei]]'' series, Gabriel is portrayed as the only female Seraph and, in the second installment, stands apart from the other Seraphim when their goals diverge from God's.
** Generally appears as a Persona of the Empress Arcana in the ''[[Persona (video game)|Persona]]'' series. Except in ''[[Persona 2|Persona 2: Eternal Punishment]]'', where her arcana is Judgment, to match Ellen's personal arcana.
* The ''[[Dawn of War]]'' main campaign features a saintly (by Imperial standards) [[Space Marine]] named Gabriel Angelos. Now, the name might just be a coincidence, but the Emperor's Space Marines do refer to themselves as His "Angels of Death"...
* The ''[[Star Ocean]]'' (and ''[[Valkyrie Profile]]'' and a few other Tria games) have a bonus boss named "Gabriel Celeste", one half of a duo and the lesser male [[Half Identical Twin]] of an even stronger Angel [[Bonus Boss]] named Iseria Queen. The "Celeste" part is to differentiate from a [[Person of Mass Destruction]] named after the angel Gabriel who was the boss of ''[[Star Ocean the Second Story]]''.
* The [[Eroge]] ''Makai Tenshi Djibril'' has an angel named Loveriel apparently transforming girls into the angel Djibril. It has a [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nBGWD-Ef8T4 cute opening.]

== Web Comics ==
* In ''[[Misfile]]'', Gabriel appears in flashback as the father of [[The Stoner|Rumisiel]] and [[Knight Templar|Vashiel]].

== Other ==
* In mathematics, the trumpet-like shape generated by rotating the graph of 1/X around the X-axis is called Gabriel's Horn, since it has infinite surface area but only finite volume, thereby linking the divine with the mortal.
* Gabriel and his horn are featured in the final line of "[[wikipedia:The Eyes of Texas|The Eyes of Texas]]".
* Gabriel and/or his horn is often referenced in African-American spirituals.
* A heckler once told Australian Prime Minister Robert Menzies "I wouldn't vote for you if you were the Archangel Gabriel!" Menzies replied, "If I were the Archangel Gabriel, you wouldn't be in my constituency."
* In many [[Tarot Motifs|tarot decks]], particularly the famous Rider-Waite version, the card "Judgement" depicts Gabriel blowing on his horn to announce the Day of Reckoning.

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[[Category:Angelic Tropes]]
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[[Category:Biblical Motifs]]
[[Category:Older Than Feudalism]]
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[[Category:Public Domain Character]]
[[Category:Gothic Horror Tropes]]
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