No Such Thing as Wizard Jesus/Playing With

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


Basic Trope: Characters in a story with supernatural elements never speculate about the possibility that Jesus (or any other widely accepted religious figure) got his powers from those same supernatural elements.

  • Straight: It never occurs to Thaddeus that Jesus might have been a student of the same school of wizardry as himself, despite the fact that Thaddeus has walked on water several times and knows a transmutation spell that he's pretty sure could turn water into wine.
  • Exaggerated: Thaddeus does the water-to-wine trick at parties all the time, walks across the lake to his day job, has come Back From the Dead four times, and spent a year in the Third World healing sufferers of leprosy. The possibility that Jesus was a wizard never occurs to him.
    • Thaddeus is himself a god by the story's definition thereof. He observes Christianity and sees no contradiction.
  • Downplayed: Thaddeus's feats aren't all that similar to Jesus's, and although he is theoretically capable of doing the same things the comparison would be a bit of a stretch.
  • Justified: Thaddeus is a devout Christian and takes it on faith that Jesus was truly divine despite having similar powers to wizards.
    • There is actual proof that Jesus was the Son of God.
    • Jesus lived in a "null cycle" period of time. There was no mana at the time so he couldn't have been a wizard.
  • Inverted: Jesus watches the show and does not speculate about the possibility of Thaddeus being an agent of God.
  • Subverted: Thaddeus and his wizard friends are preparing for a huge and elaborate Christmas celebration, talking about how much they love Jesus and how they hope he will approve of their celebration in his honor. The doorbell rings...and it's Jesus, their good friend, whom they all know for a fact is a long-lived fellow wizard and not of divine nature.
  • Double Subverted: Jesus is in fact a divine being, he just didn't tell Thaddeus and company as much because he didn't want to freak them out.
  • Deconstructed: Thaddeus has been a devout Christian all his life, but as he delves further and further into wizardry and learns more about what it is capable of, he begins to wonder if Jesus was a mere mortal who studied wizardry, leading him to a crisis of faith. He never talks about it because he doesn't want to admit to anyone that his faith is wavering.
  • Parodied: ???
  • Zig Zagged: Modern mages know the spells to do everything Moses did. Some even ascribe him as the inventor of them. Even the most devout mages believe that he was a mage but hold that he was given the spells first as a reward for faith. Jesus's healing alone goes beyond all known capabilities of magic that would have been remotely plausible. Then a terrible deal with fair folk reveals secrets to healing. However even they can't resurrect.
  • Averted: Jesus was a wizard, and this fact is common knowledge among modern-day wizards.
  • Enforced: The creators are trying to avoid religious controversy.
  • Lampshaded: "So was Jesus a...." "Shut up! Do you want to get cancelled?!"
  • Invoked: ???
  • Exploited: ???
  • Defied: The premise of the show is that Jesus was a wizard.
  • Discussed: ???
  • Conversed: "Y'know, you'd think it would occur to Thaddeus that Jesus might have been a wizard, seeing as how he came back from the dead for the third time last week..."

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