Good Wings, Evil Wings: Difference between revisions

[[File:GoodWingsEvilWings.jpg|link=Archangel Michael|frame|Because no-one says "Like a Bat out of Heaven".]]

 

 

The quote explains the trope pretty well all by itself, so let's just jump into the many different types of wings.

 

Basic types:

** '''Three sets of angel wings''' are also known as '''seraph wings''' and usually means this guy is either an [[Eccentric Mentor]] or [[One-Winged Angel|the final boss.]]

* '''Bird wings''' that aren't either pure black or pure white usually represent a naturally-occurring [[Winged Humanoid]]. Probably morally neutral, with a strong chance of being a [[Proud Warrior Race Guy]].

* '''Devil wings''' (red dragon wings) still usually represent evil. Still, these are subverted fairly often too.

* '''Metallic Wings''' are generally unseen outside of [[Heavy Metal]] album covers, but are quite popular there. Usually denotes the character as a [[Badass]] with [[The Power of Rock]], in addition to other implications based on type.

 

 

For further reading, see [[Power Gives You Wings]] and [[Winged Humanoid]].

{{examples}}

* Chimeramon in ''[[Digimon]]'' had several wings. But he was just an ultimate anyway.

** Lucemon has ''twelve'' wings that change as he grows more powerful (and evil); he starts off with all twelve white angel wings, switches to half white and half demon wings in his 'fallen angel' form, and becomes a huge black monster with twelve demon wings in his final, most demonic form. Note that even with all twelve white wings, he was a [[Knight Templar]] at best... the change just shows him getting ''much worse''.

** Beelzemon shows up with black angel wings in two seasons (Tamers and Xros Wars). Instead of showing him as a fallen angel, it's more representative of redemption and second chances at life. Not to mention sheer badassery.

* ''[[Getter Robo]]'': There were NOT "good wings" in this series. The winged [[Robeast|Mechasaurs]] had bat-like, membranous wings. Getter's wings were metallic... or bat-like, which it fits since being ''batshit'' crazy is a practically requeriment for being a Getter pilot.

** ''[[Mazinger Z]]'': Mazinger-Z's [[Mid-Season Upgrade]] was a [[Jet Pack]] equipped with red, metallic -and [[Razor Wings|razor]]- wings. Many flying [[Robeast|Mechanical Beasts]] were also equipped with all sort of wings: bat wings (Deimos F3, Deviler X1, Archerian J5...), bird wings (Harpy X7), manta ray wings...

** ''[[Great Mazinger]]'': Great Mazinger had two sets of wings: two red metallic wings unfolded from its back, and Big Booster (a grey [[Jet Pack]] docked on its back. Big Booster wings were triangular and grey-colored). Several squads of the Mykene Empire army were formed by animal-shaped, bio-mechanical [[Robeast]] (such like the Avian army or the Insect army), so it was usual seeing Monster Warriors equiped with wings of bat, bird or insect.

* Many arts (and in-story dreams) of ''[[X (manga)|X 1999]]'' feature the two Kamuis with the good, birdlike wings and evil, batlike wings, respectively, fighting each other. Interestingly, it's the Kamui who wants to ''destroy humanity'' who has the angel wings, while the one who wants to save it gets the bat wings. [[Light Is Not Good]] indeed.

* ''[[Gundam Wing]] [[The Movie|Endless Waltz]]'' has Wing Zero, [[The Hero]]'s Gundam, which has angel wings. [[Names to Run Away From Really Fast|Deathscythe Hell]] has bat wings, but belongs to [[The Lancer]], who nicknamed himself "[[Shinigami]]" and is an example of [[Dark Is Not Evil]]. In the TV series, Wing Zero had large booster pods in place of wings, while its [[Evil Counterpart]] Epyon had draconic wings to go along with its wyvern-like flight mode.

* While ''[[Gundam Wing]]'' has the more prominent example, Gundam has several stories with winged Gundam -in such cases energy wings help portrait the machine's sheer power. Best example: Victory 2 Wings of Light. This are sort of a swiss-blade: They can boost the mecha up to 20G (yeah 20), slice enemy goons and other things but mostly looking cool.

* ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam SEED|Gundam SEED]]'' and its sibling ''[[Gundam Seed Destiny]] have Destiny Gundam Wing of light and eponymous boy's Gundam too: Strike Freedom.

* ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam 00]]'' doesn't escape this trend. In the first opening we see the Exia featuring GN wings, which is never explained but then it wasn't a plot point either. The Gundam grandaddy, the 0 Gundam, had giant energy wings called GN Feather (which were caused by a faulty drive configuration mind you). Also, you could make a point of saying that the almighty 00 Raiser produces energy wings to show its might.

* ''[[SD Gundam Force]]'' had Zero Custom, Knight of Silver Wings for the angelic character. And Deathscythe, Knight of Drakness/{{spoiler|Deed the Icey Knight}} for the demonic one.

** Plus Nana, who is a bat anima, is very self-conscious about the fact she has the bat wings when she first meets the group.

* The [[Cape Wings]] sported by Femto (a.k.a. {{spoiler|Griffith}}) of ''[[Berserk]]'' look very much like the wings of a demon.

* Reversed in ''[[D.N.Angel]]'', where Dark is a good guy (with black wings) and Krad is a violent psychopath (with white wings).

* Setsuna of ''[[Mahou Sensei Negima]]'' is the child of a [[Winged Humanoid|Tengu]], crow demons of Japanese Mythology. She also suffers from a rare case of [[Heroic Albino|Albinism]], making her wings white instead of the usual black, which fits perfectly with her good guy alignment. Of course, it also made her anathema to her demon heritage, and she ended up being an outcast. This gave her an enormous complex about the wings, which causes her to [[Blessed with Suck|view herself as a monster.]] At least until all of her friends point out that [[Cursed with Awesome|having wings is awesome]] and [[But Your Wings Are Beautiful|make her look like an angel.]]

** {{spoiler|1=Hayate herself seems to have inherited both the wings and the bulk of said book's power as of ''StrikerS''...}} [[Dark Is Not Evil|good thing she's on the heroes' side]].

** Towards the end of ''[[Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha StrikerS|StrikerS]]'', Signum gets a pair of flaming wings when {{spoiler|unisoned with Agito}}, going nicely with her [[Flaming Sword]]. Again, both good and extremely [[Badass]].

* ''[[.hack]]'' has had several winged characters: both Subaru and Ryoko Terajima had (non-functional, and in Subaru's case, tiny) angelic wings on their characters, for purely decorative reasons. [[Knight Templar|Balmung]] also has angelic wings, and his are fully functional, given as a reward for striking the killing blow against a supposedly [[Hopeless Boss Fight]].

* ''[[Haibane Renmei]]'' is about people with wings that sprout ''[[Painful Transformation|very painfully]]'' shortly after arriving to the world. Although they're merely cosmetic, their color is important: normal people have gray wings, while those who are sin-bound have black wings.

* In ''[[Naruto]]'', [[Big Guy|Chouji's]] [[Dangerous Forbidden Technique|red pill of power]] burns all the stored fat in his body, and gives butterfly wings of pure energy. Sasuke has two hand-like "wings" on his back when he releases the [[Super-Powered Evil Side|cursed seal]]. The users of Kujaku in the anime get a swallow-like configuration. The [[Eldritch Abomination|Seven-Tailed Beetle]] has 3 pairs of dragonfly-like wings and a tail, despite it being an [[Mix-and-Match Critters|armored Rhinoceros Beetle]].

* One chapter of ''[[Soul Eater]]'' actually ''called'' 'Black wings versus white wings', pits 'angel' (or so she daydreams briefly) Maka with her winged Grigori soul, up against Gopher - a boy with a similarly shaped soul, only one filled with dark magic that has, it seems, turned the wings black.

** This is obviously similar to the demon/angel imagery used between Maka and Crona. The difference, other than how easily Gopher was beaten to show off Death Scythe Soul, is that he seems a genuinely nasty piece of work, who suggests giving Kid the bones of his friends to organise. And makes a creepy comment about Noah needing Maka's soul and not the rest of her.

* Proof that [[Playing with a Trope]] [[Tropes Are Not Good|is not good, either]]: In ''[[Bleach]]'', one of the final [[One-Winged Angel|forms]] of the [[Big Bad]] was {{spoiler|him, with ''butterfly wings''.}} As the entire fandom [[Narm|dissolved into fits of helpless laughter]], it was made clear just ''why'' this trope exists.

* ''[[Kamikaze Kaitou Jeanne]]'': The size and color of an angel's wings aren't simply decorative, but denote how much divine power they have stored. Full angels have large, pure-white wings, while the fallen angels, {{spoiler|like Fin's true form, ''and'' the [[Dark Is Not Evil|lowest rank of angels loyal to God]], including Access Time}}, have pitch-black wings.

* In ''[[Tenchi Muyo!|Tenchi Muyo]]'', Tenchi Masaki possesses energy wings, and are definitely a sign of power. Later on villain Z has them as well, only he has more.

* In ''[[Saint Beast]]'', all the angels who get sealed in hell have their formerly shining wings turned black.

 

* ''[[Elf Quest]]'' reverses this with Tyldak, whose arms were converted into bat-like wings by Winnowill. He initially comes across as a jerk, but turns out to have a [[Jerk with a Heart of Gold|heart of gold]].

* Inverted in the Top Cow universe. The Angelus (bad) has white feathered wings, while ''[[The Darkness]]'' ([[Anti-Hero]]) and The ''[[Witchblade (Comic Book)|Witchblade]]'' (good) have bat wings.

* The title character of ''[[Lucifer (comics)|Lucifer]]'' had his bat-like wings cut off before the start of the series. Separated from him, they regenerated into the old white-feathered angelic type. They remained white-feathered and angelic even after he reclaimed them, but it would be hard to argue that he was evil by that point (just wholly selfish and occasionally vindictive).

* The character of Bleez of the [[GL Red Lantern Corps/Characters|Red Lantern Corps]] once had angelic wings, until they were broken by a member of the Sinestro Corps. Upon becoming a Red Lantern and becoming infected with Rage, her wings turned bat-like.

 

** [[Does This Remind You of Anything?|Does This Remind You Of]]... [[Rozen Maiden|anything]]?

* Most [[Fan Fics]] in the ''[[Good Omens]]'' [[Fan Dumb]] tend to play this painfully straight, regardless of the fact that it's explicitly said that angel wings and demon wings are the same, save for the fact that demon wings are better groomed.

{{quote|Add wings. Lots of wings. Three sets of wings; an angel's, a demon's, and a fairy's. Add one more wing that slipped in there by mistake, a shiny rainbow-colored feathery one that might be found on more exotic species of parrots.}}

 

* Ridiculously, this trope applies to the mutant "birds" from ''Flu Bird Horror'', a SyFy direct-to-TV movie about plague-carrying giant flying featherless... things. With bat wings. Which the cast inexplicably insist on calling "birds" anyway. Either the CGI couldn't do feathers cheaply enough to match the already-shot live footage, or what should've been ''Bat Horror'' got retitled to milk the avian-flu scare's hype.

 

* In the novel ''[[Good Omens]]'', both angel and demon wings are the same, despite [[Covers Always Lie|what some of the cover art suggests]], though angel wings are described as being less groomed (because [[Evil Is Sexy|demons are more stylish]]). The [[Broken Base]] rages to a ridiculous degree over the colour of the wings; the division is between those who portray angels with white wings and demons with black wings (usually the [[Fan Girl]] subset) and those who interpret "the same" to mean they all have white wings (who usually take it as [[Serious Business]]). Which is silly, given that the colour is never specified on ''either'' side in the book, and the characters are all shapeshifters anyway, so they could have [[Discworld|octarine]] wings for all we know. The one exception is [[Grim Reaper|Azrael]], whose wings are described as being more like wing-shaped holes in space.

* Played with in [[Wicked Lovely]], with the few [[The Fair Folk|fey]] that have wings, that is.

** Keenan's summer court has a [[Horny Devils|sucubus]] named Cerise, who seems to be a rare exception to the bat wings=evil rule.

{{quote|''"A feather dropped from Heaven!" he breathed reverently. "Are the holy angels moulting? But no; if they were, it would be white. Maybe all the angels are not for being white. What if the angels of God are white and those of the devil are black? But a black one has no business up there. Maybe some poor black angel is so tired of being punished it's for slipping to the gates, beating its wings trying to make the Master hear!"''}}

 

* In ''[[Supernatural (TV series)|Supernatural]]'', because seeing an angel's true form will [[Eye Scream|burn your eyes out of their sockets,]] Castiel does the next best thing and shows off some seriously [[Badass]] ''shadow'' wings.

** Angel wings in general seem to be attached to the background. Dead angels may have their wings show up as scorch marks on the ground around them, and {{spoiler|Raphael's wings are represented by ''arcs of electrical current''}}. Each angel may show their wings differently, but they are all '''[[Badass]]'''.

 

* In ''[[In Nomine]]'' all the demons that have wings have bat wings, all the winged angels have feathered wings. Interestingly the Malakim, who are [[Proud Warrior Race Guy]] angels that never Fall have black feathery wings. (It is heavily implied that they did Fall, but refused to rebel against God anyways.)

** For that matter, [[Spelljammer|spelljamming vessels]] of elven design have butterfly-shaped living wings (sails/air-recycling plants). Some other ships are shaped like birds, several light ships are built like ''Hymenoptera'' (starting from Dragonfly). The Spelljammer itself resembles enormous manta ray.

** [http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/ex/20031003e Glouras] (Underdark fairies) has moth-like wings. It's just a part of "cave life" theme, though. They're nice little sprites... ''usually''.

** D&D 3.5 ''Complete Divine'' has "Favored Soul", character class for the character who's chosen of a particular deity. One of the high level class features is a pair of wings. Favored of good deities get feathery angel wings while favored of evil deities get leathery demonic wings. (If your deity is neutral, you get to choose.)

* The being pictured on Change Of Heart has one white angel wing and one black devil wing to show it's power to [[Mind Control|change the target's loyalty.]]

 

* One of the reasons we know Sparda is badass in ''[[Devil May Cry]]'' is that he has three pairs of wings. One bat and two insect.

* Many of the main character demons in the ''[[Disgaea]]'' series have small wings, including {{spoiler|Flonne, who has little angel wings that become bat ones after she becomes a fallen angel}}. In addition [[Everything's Better with Penguins|Prinnies]] also have them.

** ''[[Final Fantasy VI]]'', Kefka has four purple-bordering-on-white angel wings, and two purple-bordering-on-black demon wings.

** ''[[Final Fantasy VII]]'', Sephiroth has six white angel wings in place of a lower body, and a black angel wing in place of a right arm. His spin-off appearances have since incorporated a black angel wing over his right shoulder as part of his iconic appearance.

** In ''[[Final Fantasy XII]]'' Vayne gains a set of mechanical-energy wings when he fuses with {{spoiler|Venat}} for the last of the [[Boss Rush]] on the [[Very Definitely Final Dungeon|Bahamut]].

** And then in ''[[Dissidia Final Fantasy]]'', most of the above examples return, wing motifs intact. And then of course, from the original ''[[Final Fantasy]]'', is [[God Is Evil|Chaos]]. He has a pair of demon wings, though it's not very impressive compared to the rest since he ''is'' a demon.

** Also in the ''Wings of the Goddess'' expansion, Lady Lilith has huge bat wings. Guess whose side she's on.

* Flandre Scarlet from ''[[Touhou]]'' has multicolored crystal wings. She's a [[Person of Mass Destruction]].

** Speaking of ''Touhou'', it actually has a rather fair share of winged characters, mainly in the PC-98 series, but in the Windows series too. Mystia has feathered ones (she's a bird youkai), Aya is often also portrayed with feathered wings (she's a tengu), [[Our Vampires Are Different|Remilia]] has bat wings (she's a vampire). Cirno the tomboyish ice fairy has wings made of solid ice crystal (not that she needs them). Nue Houjuu is an Ex-Boss with the random ability to conceal her true form and abstract vaguely doodle-ish wings.

* ''[[Baten Kaitos]]: Eternal Wings and the Lost Ocean'': Kalas has [[One-Winged Angel|one angelic wing]] and one metallic wing. {{spoiler|Sure enough, he does a [[Face Heel Turn]], though he later returns to the good guys. Interestingly, when he's off being evil, his wings are stereotypical 'good' white angel wings; upon [[Heel Face Turn]]-ing, his wing reverts to a light shade of gray.}}

* Wings in ''[[City of Heroes]]'' run the entire spectrum from Feathered to Batlike to Bone to Insect/Butterfly and even technological while also coming in varying sizes. The player can choose whatever kind he/she pleases and color them to their liking.

** ''[[Champions Online]]'' is similar and since there's no option to be a villain, you can have truly demonic-looking super heroes flying with wicked-looking wings.

* Astranagant in ''[[Super Robot Wars Alpha]]'' has this when using the T-Link Feather attack

* Dizzy from ''[[Guilty Gear]]'' has a blue angelic wing named Undine and a black (it's actually green) angel wing named "Necro". Undine takes on the form of a woman, while Necro appears as a grim reaper. It's quite obvious they don't get along very well.

* In ''[[Dragon Quest IX]]'', the Celestrians have white, feathery wings. However, {{spoiler|after being corrupted by his hate for humanity, Celestrians Corvus' wings lose their feathers, revealing them as green and bat-like underneath. King Godwin, another boss and villian, has a second form which has bone wings.}}

* Nina has wings along with the rest of Wyndians in ''[[Breath of Fire]] I'' and ''[[Breath of Fire II|II]]'', but in ''II'' she has dark purple wings which signify her as an evil omen in Wyndian Prophecy, yet ironically instead of bringing disaster, she helps save the world.

 

== [[Web Comics]] ==

** Regina (a young Demon) has mixed wings (one demon wing and one bone wing) because [[Rule of Cool|she thinks it looks]] [[Badass]]

* In ''[[The Inexplicable Adventures of Bob]],'' Nemesites are butterfly-like aliens. The sympathetic Princess Voluptua has beautifully patterned wings, while the villainous Fructose Riboflavin has plain, frayed wings described as moth-like. In-universe, this is probably because Riboflavin is much older than she is.

* In ''[[Goblins]]'' {{spoiler|Kore finally uses a paladin power, and as a result temporarily manifests screaming faces on chains forming two huge wing shapes.}}

** Duv has a single white angel wing that marks her out as the savior of all goblinkind (she used to have two, but one was burned off in a fire). Then again, [[Light Is Not Good]]...

* ''[[Squid Row]]'' How to tell apart [[Good Angel, Bad Angel]] [http://squidrowcomics.com/?p=538 in cherub form].

* In ''[[El Goonish Shive]]'' Nanase's fairy dolls have butterfly wings, her Guardian Angel form has angel wings, Vlad had [http://www.egscomics.com/index.php?arcid=34 combination bat and bird wings] (justified because his creation involved bat and bird DNA among other types), Sirleck has bat wings, and the Taurcanis Draco has reptilian bat wings as befits a dragon like creature.

* In ''[[Pibgorn]]'', proposing to Drusilla gave a demon angel wings.

* In ''[[The Order of the Stick]]'': Celia ([[Lawful Good]]) is Sylph with four white insectish wings; Sabine ([[Chaotic Evil]]) is a [[Horny Devils|succubus]], has dark leathery bat wings.

* In ''[[Exterminatus Now]]'', [http://exterminatusnow.co.uk/2010-08-08/comic/voiding-your-warranty/target-recognition/ recognizing an angel in a demon-infested site is clinched by the white bird wings.]

 

* The eponymous characters of ''[[Gargoyles]]'' have leathery wings (which come out usually as bat like, though Brooklyn has pterosaur wings and Lexington's are like a cross between a bat and flying squirrel), and yet they're the [[Dark Is Not Evil|protagonists]]. Though people do find them terrifying to look at. Other gargoyles have feathered wings, but their moral alignment tends to vary.

** Discord has one angelic and one demonic wing, quite [[Knight of Cerebus|fittingly]]. Although this may be explained by him being a [[Mix and Match Critter]].

** In the episode "Luna Eclipsed", Princess Luna arrives in a sinister carriage pulled by Pegasi with accordingly sinister bat wings.