Automoderated users, Autopatrolled users, Bureaucrats, Comment administrators, Confirmed users, Forum administrators, Interface administrators, Moderators, Rollbackers, Administrators
116,469
edits
m (Remove useless categories) |
Looney Toons (talk | contribs) (replace bad link, added another) |
||
(14 intermediate revisions by 5 users not shown) | |||
Line 6:
Sometimes a character or group of characters are (or come to believe that they are) chosen for a specific mission by their god. Sometimes they are called upon to help people in need (or maybe just [[Putting the Band Back Together|bring members of a band back together]]), or to unite a divided country. But sometimes their mission takes on a more violent form, with the characters kicking ass or even killing for their god.
Whether or not the mission is justified depends largely on the fruits of their work, but it's worth knowing that it takes a special kind of person in order to avoid becoming so [[Holier Than Thou|caught up in one's religious fervor]] that they lose sight of what they are actually doing to the world and take things too far, becoming [[Well
This is both a case of [[Truth in Television]], as people from all over the world have gone on Missions From God, both in real life and in fiction, changing the world both for the better and for the worse. Who was right and who was wrong concerning such missions is a subject of much controversy, and while good examples of such missions definitely exist, we are more familiar with misguided missions that take things too far, such as witch-hunts and past and present-day holy wars.
See also [[Church Militant
{{examples|Examples:}}▼
== Anime
* Michel from ''[[Mermaid Melody Pichi Pichi Pitch]]'' has been convinced that [[Kill All Humans|killing humans]] and turning the world into [[Mordor]] is a Mission From God. His actual purpose, planted by a [[Man Behind the Man]], is far different.
* ''[[Kaitou Saint Tail]]'' was a [[Kaitou]] that righted wrongs against the devout by stealing back their stolen goods. It's heavily implied that she got her [[Magical Girl]] powers from God.
Line 20:
* ''[[Kamikaze Kaitou Jeanne]]'' is all about this. Too bad {{spoiler|that the angel who was sent to help her has been brainwashed by the devil, so she will bring the caught demons to HIM instead of God! Turns out the suspicious black angel was actually her stand-in, rather than a bad guy.}}
* In ''[[Tokyo Godfathers]]'' Miss Hana does say something like this about the baby. With Blues Brothers-like [[Deus Ex Machina]] in the movie it does seem likely.
* Everthing made by everyone in ''[[Saint Seiya]]'' is in the name of some God.
* In [[Amakusa 1637]], it looks like the six [[Time Travel
== Comic Books ==
* Jei in ''[[Usagi Yojimbo]]'' thinks he's been chosen by the gods to free the world from evil; unfortunately, he also thinks that [[Ax Crazy|just about everyone]] is evil.
* The 1980s comic ''Evangeline'', about a secret agent/commando nun in the 23rd Century, had the tagline, "She really ''is'' on a mission from God."
* [[Wonder Woman]] is one a mission from her gods to bring amazonian peace to the Patriarch's world.
* ''[[
▲== Films ==
▲* ''[[The Blues Brothers (Film)|The Blues Brothers]]'' go on a mission to reunite their old band for a gig to raise the money to save the old Catholic home where they grew up. For obvious reasons, the brothers consider this to be a mission from God, as seen in the quote above.
** The fact that they have a [[Cool Car|magic car]] would seem to indicate that ''someone's'' helping them..
** Never mind the fact that for the entire movie, everything works very much in the favor of the brothers, all the way until {{spoiler|the last second after they finish the job, and have successfully saved the orphanage from foreclosure.}} This is to the point that their car survives every possible pratfall and mishap right up until they don't need it anymore, [[Critical Existence Failure|at which point it immediately falls to pieces.]]
** You're not pronouncing it right: it's Mission from [[The Windy City|Gaaahd]].
* ''[[The Boondock Saints]]'' is about two Irish Catholic brothers who believe they are on a mission from God to kill evil men and become vigilantes.
* ''[[The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc]]'' is one of many movies concerning the life of Saint [[Joan of Arc]].
* The kung-fu priest from Peter Jackson's zombie comedy ''Braindead'' certainly qualifies: "I kick arse for the Lord!"
* ''[[Monty Python and
* An extreme example would be the [[So Bad
* ''[[Dogma]]''. Not the angels but pretty much everyone trying to stop them.
** Interesting in that this particular
* In ''[[Frailty]]'', Matthew McConaughey's family is commanded by God to destroy demons. One of the kids sees "destroy demons" to mean "kill people," hence the drama.
** {{spoiler|And then it gets ''weird'' when the kid and father, who think they are destroying demons, turn out to be ''right''.}}
* In ''[[From Dusk
* The protagonist of ''[[The Book of Eli]]''. ("And you did all this because a voice told you to?" "I know what I hear, I know what I heard, I know I'm not crazy, I didn't imagine it").
* Deconstructed in ''[[Kingdom of Heaven]]'' by the Hospitaller. He says that throughout his life he's seen various madmen and killers proclaim their actions as the will of God, and he also observes a short way into the movie that even though a number of Templars are dying for what the Pope would command them to do, Jesus probably wouldn't want them to do it.
* Done literally in the first two ''[[Oh, God!]]'' films, with John Denver and Louanne Sirota selected to be God's messengers.
* This is what drives the plot of ''[[Season of the Witch]]''.
== [[Literature]] ==▼
* Parodied in ''[[
▲== Literature ==
** Which is presented as a reference to the page quote from ''[[The Blues Brothers]]''. It happens again later on, when they order "four whole fried rats and some coke". (And a previous book, ''[[
▲* Parodied in ''[[Discworld (Literature)/Soul Music|Soul Music]]'' by [[Terry Pratchett]], where the characters are "on a mission from Glod" (a dwarf).
▲** Which is presented as a reference to the page quote from ''[[The Blues Brothers]]''. It happens again later on, when they order "four whole fried rats and some coke". (And a previous book, ''[[Discworld (Literature)/Moving Pictures|Moving Pictures]]'', had a parody of the "108 miles to Chicago" line.)
*** It should also be clarified that the aforementioned coke was neither drugs nor soda, but an actual chunk of coal. Hey, a [[All Trolls Are Different|troll]] has to eat ''something''.
** Done more literally with the Great God Om in ''[[
** [[Discworld]] looks at the whole
** Also used in the Discworld novel ''[[
* The [[Stephen King]] novel ''[[
** In another King novel, ''[[Under the Dome]]'', Chef Bushey and {{spoiler|Andy Sanders}} ''believe'' that they are on a mission from God to keep a meth lab out of the hands of the 'bitter men' from town by [[Stuff Blowing Up|any means necessary]]. Of course, they are actually just stoned out of their minds on meth, but {{spoiler|that doesn't keep them from going through with it}}.
* The titular [[American Law Enforcement|FBI]] group of [[John Ringo]]'s ''[[
* Sparhawk and his friends are on a Mission From Goddess in the ''[[Elenium]]'' trilogy of books. Done with a twist, because the goddess in question is not the deity they worship (the knights are members of the story world's equivalent of the Catholic Church, and worship a god), and they don't realize for a long time who's pulling the strings. It's actually something of a concert effort...[[It Makes Sense in Context|sort of]].
== Live-Action TV ==
* ''[[Joan of Arcadia]]'' is given a
* Dean Winchester from ''[[Supernatural]]'' appears to be on one, or at least so the Angels say.
** Which might even be a subversion of the trope, considering that the angels are openly described (by both the show's creators and characters in canon) as dicks and apparently none of them are answering to God throughout S4.
** The villain in "Bad Day At Bad Rock" started thinking he was on one after he managed to track down Sam Winchester through a series of remarkable coincidences and believed them to be signs from God. It was actually just a [[Necro Non Sequitur]] caused by Sam's possession and subsequent loss of a [[Bad Luck Charm]].
* ''[[Eli Stone]]'' is about a lawyer who gets messages from God through a brain aneurysm. [[Rule of Cool|In the form of musicals that involve whoever's around him at the moment.]]
== Music ==
* Long Arm and Butchie from ''My Brother's Blood Machine'' are told by their deluded mother that they have a mission from God: To become Death. The thing is, they're not certain how to collect souls. So, they build a giant corpse-mangling apparatus called the Blood Machine.
== Tabletop Games ==
* Certain games, most notably ''[[Dungeons
* In ''[[Exalted]]'', more or less ''all'' the [[PC
* The hunters of ''[[Hunter: The Reckoning]]'' start their missions when [[Powers That Be|the Messengers]] send them a direct message about [[Crapsack World|the true state of the world]] and reveal [[Glamour Failure|the monsters lurking behind human guises]].
* The protagonists of ''[[Scion]]'' are the children of the gods, who first truly receive their powers when their absent parents appear to them and draft them into the war against the Titans.
* The Lancea Sanctum from ''[[Vampire: The Requiem]]'' believes that vampires are damned by God for a
* Sometimes during an ''[[In Nomine]]'' game, an angelic character will be played as a perfect [[Knight Templar]] because the angel is literally on a Mission From God. Players of demonic characters tend to avoid over-the-top behavior.
== Video Games ==
* Many of the antagonists in the ''[[Silent Hill]]'' series go on the violent, rampaging sorts of missions.
** Particularly Claudia from ''[[Silent Hill 3]]'', who just can't seem to shut up about that wonderful God of hers.
* ''[[
* Likewise, [[God of War (
* This is more or less the premise of ''[[
* Depending on which installment of the series is being examined, some of the ''Zelda'' games may qualify for this. The actual importance of the three Hyrulean goddesses on the plot varies from one game to another. ''[[The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
* Though not ''exactly'' gods, the Focuses that the fal'Cie assign to humans-turned-l'Cie in ''[[Final Fantasy XIII]]'' are this trope in essence. That said, the l'Cie [[
** In the ENGLISH trailer for the Sequel, Lightning apparently give herself one, saying (paraphrased): "I'll forever hold up the memory of you, Lindzei."
* Recruitable character [[Jeanne D
* A couple different recruitable cohorts in ''[[
==
* In ''[[Order of the Stick]]'', Redcloak's actions are all based on a plan given to him by his patron deity, the Dark One.
** Then there's [[Lawful Stupid|Miko]], who ''thinks'' she's on a mission from the twelve gods....
Line 103 ⟶ 96:
** On the other side of the war, Ansom's belief that royal privilege has been ordained by the Titans underlies his determination to eradicate Stanley.
* The One Electronic, Calabash, and {{spoiler|Angel Eye}} from ''[[Rice Boy]]'' have been hired by a being who calls himself God to find the Fulfiller who will realize a particular prophecy, in exchange for eternal life.
{{quote|
* [[Played With]] in [[Dubious Company]]. The temple elder shoos the heroes out, ''[[Blatant Lies|claiming]]'' they are now on a mission for ''[[Random Number God|Phred]]''. He really just didn't want them sponging off ''[[The Casino|the temple]]''.
== Western Animation ==
* Optimus Primal in ''[[Transformers]]: [[
* Parodied in an episode of ''[[The Simpsons]]'' that tells the story of Joan of Arc. Joan (Lisa) is captured and put on trial by the English. She calls on God as a witness, who states that he did, in fact, tell her to lead the French to victory. An English/Scottish solider (Groundskeeper Willie) stands up and claims that God told him to lead the English to victory over the French. God embarrassingly admits he never expected them to be in the same room together and quickly leaves.
* In ''[[
{{reflist}}
[[Category:Religion Tropes]]
[[Category:Truth in Television]]
[[Category:Older Than Feudalism]]
[[Category:Plots]]
▲[[Category:Trope]]
|