Council of Angels: Difference between revisions
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The problem with [[God]] is that His given definition is one of [[Story-Breaker Power|omnipo]][[The Omnipotent|tence]] and [[God Is Good|benevolence]]. This can make it tricky to depict Heaven, especially if you want to add some [[Rage Against the Heavens|grey]] in there; or the notion that [[The Legions of Hell]] are actually a threat. So we go down in Cosmic Denominators; though not quite to the [[The Lowest Cosmic Denominator|lowest.]]
The
Oh, even with God around, don't expect them to clear up whether Judaism, Christianity or Islam is right; often they're not sure themselves. If they do know, there seems to be an unspoken rule against telling anyone. It's also not uncommon for different angels to have different viewpoints on the nature of "good", often associated with human viewpoints.
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== Card Games ==
* ''[[Magic: The Gathering]]'' has never had TRUE gods per se, but it has plenty of angels. Both the settings Bant and Serra's Realm were ruled by a
** The player's position is that of a planeswalker, which may be a human ascended to world-shattering power or some kind of inhuman force of purpose (such as whatever drives Phyrexia). So in a sense, the players are competing gods. Just crappy squabbling ones.
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* The vampire comic book ''Crimson'' had a Council Of Angels show up in one issue. [[God]] made it too, but didn't say anything. And only Lucifer recognized him, anyway.
* ''[[Lucifer (comics)|Lucifer]]'' featured a few small subplots about angels arguing about whether they should attack Lucifer and whether or not it was God's will. God was notably quiet on the matter, although he did turn up a couple of times in various guises afterward.
* A Council Of Angels turned up in ''[[Preacher (Comic Book)]]'', although their [[God]]'s absence from Heaven was actually part of the
** God eventually showed up in ''[[Spawn]]'' as the being in charge of Heaven. He was of equal power to Satan (they were portrayed as brothers), and he only had power over Heaven and things Heaven owned. Then the "Mother of Creation" was introduced, as the being who made God and Satan and everything. And the Mother of Creation was Jesus. So, basically, God wasn't really God. The MoC is God, God is basically really just the "Head Angel in Charge". "God" does serve as a sort of one-man
*** ''Spawn'' was closer to a Gnostic viewpoint. God was the god of the Old Testament who acted supreme, but was not. MOC created the universe and a race of nigh-omnipotent, immortal beings and gave each a world to form as they wished. God and Satan both got Earth and refused to share acting like spoiled three-year olds, but were equal in power and could not kill each other. God created heaven, Satan created hell and they used angels, demons and humans to fight a proxy war. MOC grew disgusted with their fighting and removed them from their thrones to try and teach them to behave. This did not work. So God was god in the sense of the creator and ruler of heaven who also created the angels. But he was not the supreme being. However, he and Satan were both so far above anything and everything else save their mother they could be considered gods. None of their other brothers were ever shown and with power equal to their Spawn easily trashed their combined armies.
* In the DCU cosmology, there are the four King-Angels (each head of the four hosts of Heaven: Eagle, Human, Bull, and Lion). Asmodel (the [[Big Bad]] of one of the JLA [[Story Arc|story arcs]]) is King-Angel of the Bull Host.
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** The Court of Stars, leaders of the [[Chaotic Good]] eladrins ([[Name's the Same]] not to be confused with 4th edition eladrin, which are a PC race and can be of any alignment). They're more like fairy lords than angels, but embody [[Chaotic Good]] all the same.
* ''[[In Nomine]]'' depicts Heaven this way. Nobody in Heaven has actually seen [[God]] since the Middle Ages (although He is known to be in one of the higher, inaccessible levels of Heaven), and the Seraphim Council is running things as best they can in the meanwhile.
** At the same time this is mildly subverted, in that Yves, one of the archangels on the Council, occasionally acts as a vessel for direct communication by
** Another theory is that Eli, Archangel of Creation, is God in disguise. [[Epileptic Trees|There's a lot of theories.]]
* In the [[Old World of Darkness]] game ''[[Demon: The Fallen]]'', God ''couldn't'' run things himself, because the Infinite touching the Finite would have disastrous results. Thus he created the angels to run the universe. The drawback to this was that they had a lot of time to think things over without divine supervision, eventually resulting in the Fall.
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* [[The Gods of Arr-Kelaan]] eventually revealed one of these.
* In ''[[Misfile]]'', heaven is a corporation of angels, with all the expected inefficiencies and [[Obstructive Bureaucrat
== Web Original ==
* As a slight variation, the atheist [[YouTube]] contributor [[Non Stamp Collector]] often portrays a
== Video Games ==
* The setting of Sanctuary in which the ''[[Diablo]]'' series takes place primarily concerns a war between demons from the Burning Hells and angels from the High Heavens. The demons are led by the three Prime Evils and the four Lesser Evils, and in the final book of "The Sin War" trilogy, a council of five angels referred to as the Angiris Council decide the fate of the world after the main conflict is over. The angels, by the way, are doing a [[Crapsack World|really lousy job]], but then they're kind of jerks anyway, the main exception being Tyrael, the archangel who cast the deciding vote for humanity to continue to exist.
* Celestia from ''[[Disgaea: Hour of Darkness]]'' game has the angels (and in one of the [[Multiple Endings]], the [[Noble Demon]]) praying to [[God]]; though he doesn't actually seem to live there. It's implied that there is a higher heaven (where Kurtis's dead family is); and "lower" hells. Although, to be technical, Celestia and the Netherworld aren't Heaven or Hell at all, but the Japanese concepts of Tenkai (literally "Heavenly world") and Makai (literally "Demon world") that don't have equivalents in modern Western thought.
** In the bonus chapter of the PSP remake, Volcanus tries to trick Flonne by calling out to her and ''claiming to be God''. Make of that what you will.
*** Considering [[Jerkass|what a dick]] Vulcanus is {{spoiler|- being burned by the anti-evil pendant and all -}} it's probably fair to say he's not a reputable source to be listening to in terms of what might or might not be God's intentions in the series.
* ''[[Tears to Tiara]]'' had the Twelve Angels/the White Angels. Then one died and {{spoiler|Arawn}} took his place. And then quit spectacularly. Because the rest of the angels are ''[[Colony Drop|assholes.]]'' God is probably dead. The angels aren't sure, but they're no longer looking for him, though they claim to carry on his work.
* In the [[Dept. Heaven]] series, the council of the Seven Magi rule Asgard after Ragnarok causes the gods to (apparently) die out. It's implied that there will be some second advent of the gods someday, but the Magi are there to run things until that happens. Too bad [[Villain with Good Publicity|Hector]] is one of the Magi and his six fellows don't seem to be on to him.
** This is an interesting example because the Magi all seem to belong to the ''humanoid'' race living in
* In ''[[Shin Megami Tensei I]]'' and ''2'', there's a Council of selfish and evil angels who do most of the work on the Law side. [[God Is Evil|God is actually even worse]], just less willing to get personally involved unless he has to.
** ''[[Devil Survivor]]'' also has a small council of Angels working in the containment zone, but they're a little bit nicer than [[Shin Megami Tensei II]]'s Angels. That's because instead of the four main Seraphs (Michael, Uriel, Gabriel and Raphael) they're actually lower angels who ''aren't'' [[Knight Templar
** {{spoiler|The Three Wise Men}} of ''[[Strange Journey]]'' take this role, {{spoiler|taking the opportunity provided by the Schwarzwelt to initiate their own plans for an eternal kingdom of the Lawful God. They "graciously" give the Protagonist and his crew access to the Demon Summoning Program so they do their dirty work}}.
* In the ''[[Fall From Heaven]]'' mod for ''[[Civilization]] IV'', the Creator of Erebus is nowhere in sight. Everything is run by angels, who call themselves gods. Most of the problems for the mortals are due to the interference of the angels.
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