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{{trope}}
[[File:
{{quote|''When you do things right, people won't be sure you've done anything at all.''
|'''God(?)''', ''[[Futurama]]'', "Godfellas"}}
The Lord (or suitable [[Dungeon Master|equivalent thereof]]) works in mysterious ways. How mysterious? Really mysterious. Like, chaos theory mysterious. I mean, who knew that ending a war could be as easy as helping one little old lady cross the
▲{{quote|''When you do things right, people won't be sure you've done anything at all.''|'''God(?)''', ''[[Futurama]]'', "Godfellas"}}
▲The Lord (or suitable [[Dungeon Master|equivalent thereof]]) works in mysterious ways. How mysterious? Really mysterious. Like, chaos theory mysterious. I mean, who knew that ending a war could be as easy as helping one little old lady cross the street--or letting the [[Girl of the Week]] get [[Star Trek|run over by a truck]]?
▲[[In Mysterious Ways]] is what happens when the divine interacts with the mundane in ways that don't make sense... at first appearance, that is. In time, however, the results are palpable. This is usually done to convey a sense of omniscience; after all, if you can see how all events play out, it's more likely you'd go the subtle route than try to [[Kill It With Fire|rain fire from Heaven every time things don't go your way]].
Characters who fall under this trope are unlikely to use an [[Omniscient Morality License]]; why put the hero through hell when you can save the day by moving a book across the room? Unless, of course, [[Helping Would Be Killstealing|this was the only way for them to grow as a person]]...
Implies [[For Want of a Nail]]. See [[Xanatos Roulette]] for when this trope is not justified by the planner being omniscient. Compare [[Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane]] and [[Butterfly of Doom]]. Often used as flimsy justification for [[Deus Ex Machina]] and [[A Wizard Did It]].
{{examples}}
== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ==
* Satoshi Kon's Christmastime masterpiece ''[[Tokyo Godfathers]]'' embodies this trope, tying the fates of three homeless bums with that of an abandoned baby called Kiyoko. There are [[Contrived Coincidence
== [[Film]] ==
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* The Eternals in [[Isaac Asimov]]'s ''The End of Eternity'' work like this; at the very start of the novel, the protagonist changes the course of history by moving one particular item to a different shelf. It turns out they work this out with a particular branch of mathematics.
** In the short story "Spell My Name With an S", two angels, on a bet, manage to completely avert nuclear war just by convincing one man to spell his name with an S instead of a Z.
* At the end of ''[[
** Near the beginning of the book it is said that God does not play dice with the universe, He plays an ineffable game of His own devising which might be described from the vantage of the other players, ie everybody, as 'playing a complex and unintuitive version of poker in a pitch black room with blank cards for infinite stakes, with a dealer who won't tell you the rules and who ''smiles all the time'' ' (paraphrased).
* There was no god involved, but in ''The Science of [[Discworld]] III: Darwin's Watch'' Hex claims that the voyage of the Beagle was almost as significant an event as Joshua Goddelson leaving his house by the back door in 1734, leading to commercial nuclear fusion being perfected 283 years later.
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** And in [[All Clear]], a theory is presented that the universe regarded {{spoiler|the Germans winning [[World War II]]}} as such an error, and has since corrected it via time travel through amazingly subtle coincidences without anyone realizing it.
* In [[Robin Hobb]]'s ''[[Soldier Son]]'' trilogy, {{spoiler|the Speck magic, as well as Orandula the god of balances}} manipulate the protagonist through a series of convoluted chains of events, most of them set off by tiny, seemingly insignificant actions, like {{spoiler|giving a stone to Caulder Stiet, which leads to the discovery of gold in the plains, which leads to almost all Gernian troops being pulled from the Specks' land, thus protecting the Ancestor Trees from being cut}}.
* [[Kurt Vonnegut]]'s novel ''[[
** Of course Bokononism admits that it's all bull shit.
* ''[[Bridge of Birds]]'' manifests this eventually, in a [[Innocuously Important Episode|seemingly random,]] [[Million-to-One Chance|seemingly impossible]] way.
* It's implied throughout [[
== [[Live
* God's interactions with Joan on ''[[Joan of Arcadia]]''. God will tell Joan to do something, for reasons that aren't immediately apparent, but which makes sense by the end of the episode. For example, in the pilot, God tells Joan to take a job at a bookstore. After coming home from work one night, Joan runs into a man who she thinks is God in another avatar, but who's actually the serial killer her dad's been following. Joan figures this out and escapes from his car, causing him to crash, causing the police to find him and arrest him.
** As well as this, it motivated Joan's brother to get out of the house and get a job.
{{quote|
* Similarly (to the point that FOX [[Screwed
* ''[[Quantum Leap]]''. At one point, Al theorizes that "God, time, fate, whatever" is responsible for Sam's leaps, as ''something'' is obviously helping Sam leap into people who need help. In the series finale, Sam meets that "something" in the form of a bartender. The bartender points out that, contrary to what Sam believed, his leaping has had a significant impact on the world. Sam may have only helped one life at a time, but those lives touched others, and those others. The bartender congratulates Sam, telling him that he has done a lot of good. {{spoiler|This convinces Sam to continue leaping instead of trying to get back home.}}
* Almost subverted in ''[[Supernatural (TV series)|Supernatural]]'', where God's presence is pretty much zero for the first three seasons. Then in season 4, {{spoiler|He sends an angel to revive Dean from Hell}} and starts being a lot more proactive. When Dean questions Castiel about it, Castiel begins to state this trope, but Dean cuts him off and warns him, "If you say '
** A later episode shows that God's ways are so mysterious, even Castiel doesn't know what's going on.
*** Or (according to Anna) if God even exists. The archangels, and Lucifer, all seem very certain their father is real, but that he is either dead or just gone forever. As one might imagine this distresses them a tad. Castiel wants to find him and ask what's up.
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*** Even later, it is revealed that {{spoiler|Chuck, the prophet who began writing Dean and Sam's adventures for profit, was actually God the whole time and was slightly guiding them. Of course, considering some hints from Gabriel, Lucifer and others and the way all angels and humans are, it still doesn't excuse him of being one hell of a lousy father, considering Gabriel decided to ditch them and turn into the Trickster, Lucifer... well, you know the rest.}}
**** Which, in retrospect, means {{spoiler|that when Chuck was apologizing for making them live bad writing, he was apologizing for their entire lives.}}
* In ''[[
* [[Sufficiently Advanced Aliens|The Prophets]] ''from [[Star Trek: Deep Space Nine]]'' speaking in cryptic nonsense, even when it's down right suicidal for them to do so.
** Although this could be because they're (benign) [[Starfish Aliens]] / [[Eldritch Abomination
* ''[[
* [[Eli Stone]] as he gains prophetic visions, usually of George Michael, that help him with his cases and his personal life.
* ''[[Journeyman]]'' had the main character being randomly shunted throughout time to aid others and set history "back on track," which is quite similar to...
* The re-imagined ''[[Battlestar Galactica
* The short-lived show ''Mysterious Ways'' revolves around a trio of friends who investigate "miraculous phenomena." The tile is obviously a reference to this trope, though the miracles are rarely, if ever, directly linked to God (they usually leave that to the audience to decide.)
== [[Music]] ==
* Despite of the above disclaimer, many interpret the [[
* Probably the [[Trope Namer]], though a slight case of [[Beam Me Up, Scotty]], is [[William Cowper]]'s 1779 hymn: "God moves in a mysterious way / His wonders to perform."
== [[Tabletop Games]] ==
* The qashmallim of ''[[Promethean: The Created]]'', "angels" made of the Divine Fire that gives Prometheans life. They manifest for only a short while, and have one particular purpose they must complete in that time. This purpose can range from bringing two people together to causing a nuclear meltdown, all in service of "the Principle."
* ''[[
== [[Theatre]] ==
* In [[Reduced Shakespeare Company|''The Bible: The Complete Word of God (abridged)'']], Solomon is asked to give his wisdom on how God in the New Testament could be so different from that in the Old Testament. He gives ''[[
{{quote|
** Alternatively, they'll use the various Batmans from the 90's movies (The official recording uses this version)
* This is the title of [[Gospel Revival Number|the opening number of the musical]] ''The Color Purple,'' celebrating God's power to bring good out of evil. However, there's powerful potential for [[Alternate Character Interpretation|Alternate Song Interpretation]] there - here's this church full of [[Gossipy Hens]] speculating on the life inside the home of a man whom they ''know'' is abusive, yet they don't lift a finger to remove his two daughters (one of whom is pregnant for the second time, and ''fourteen'') from his house.
== [[Video Games]] ==
* Parodied in ''[[
* One of the [[Sidequest|Strangers]] in ''[[Red Dead Redemption]]'' can be found lying in the desert, delirious and sick. The first time you offer to help her, she sends you away saying God will save her. If you come back to give her medical supplies, she decides that obviously she was right, because God sent ''you'' to help her.
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* ''[[Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal]]'' parodies it [http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=668 here].
** Also used in a comic about theodicy [http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=2292 here], with a minor add-on to the phrase.
{{quote|
* In ''[[Endstone]]'', [http://endstone.net/2010/08/09/4-13/ Kyri thinks she must have faith because of this.] (Albeit "the gods" rather than one.)
* In ''[[Sinfest]]'', [
== [[Western Animation]] ==
* Parodied on ''[[
{{quote|
'''Stan:''' What reason could there be?
'''God:''' Stan, I'm gonna level with you. If your family is allowed to live, Stanford's tennis team will go 0-and-8 in conference play. }}
* The closest thing ''[[Futurama]]'' seems to have to [[God]], a sentient nebula, believes that this is the way [[God]] ''should'' behave. Unlike many examples, it actually explains ''why'' it believes this way: If a deity does too much for its people, they will become dependent on it; if it does too little, then its people will not be able to deal with problems beyond their abilities. By working in mysterious ways the people are motivated to work hard and expand their knowledge, but can still receive help if they need it.
{{quote|
** It was also a stark contrast to how Bender played God to some tiny sapient beings living on him. By asking them to do him favors, it ultimately introduced crime, while maiming and killing hundreds, if not thousands. By trying to help, he killed scores of them and destroyed many of their crops. By doing nothing, those he hadn't payed attention to felt ignored and eventually waged all out war that resulted in mutually assured destruction, using weapons built from Bender himself. Speaking with the nebula changes Bender, and goes out of his way to rescue trapped monks. It is then revealed that, because this action was done of Bender's own will, but only because of the nebula's influence, the nebula saved the monks, though they will not credit him, thus showing his philosophy in action.
* Judge Frollo makes such a remark in the [[Disney]] version of [[The Hunchback of Notre Dame (Disney film)|The Hunchback of Notre Dame]], when mentioning that Quasimodo may end up being useful to him.
== [[Real Life]] ==
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[[Category:Religion Tropes]]
[[Category:In Mysterious Ways]]
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