Our Angels Are Different: Difference between revisions

[[File:our-angels-are-different2_6896different2 6896.jpg|frame|<small>{{smallcaps|[[Catch Phrase|Fear not.]]}}</small> ]]

'''Castiel:''' Read the Bible. Angels are warriors of God. I'm a soldier.|''[[Supernatural (TV series)|Supernatural]]''}}

Angels in fiction tend, by default, to be of a [[Lowest Cosmic Denominator|vaguely Abrahamic]] nature, and may or may not have [[Winged Humanoid|big fluffy feathery wings]] or [[Holy Halo|Holy Halos]]s. They generally are found doing [[God]]'s will as part of some sort of grand plan, helping mortals (sometimes [[Angel Unaware|incognito]]), or otherwise staying aligned with Good. If one refuses to do so or makes a [[Face Heel Turn]], they became a [[Fallen Angel]] or a [[Our Demons Are Different|Demon]].

* '''Are they [[Winged Humanoid|Winged Humanoids]]s?''' Although now standard, this depiction is actually a relatively recent idea. In their earliest appearances in Jewish and Christian art and literature, angels either appear fully human, or else they look like some sort of [[Eldritch Abomination]] -- six—six wings, four faces, a wheel of fire with eyes lining the rim -- yourim—you name it. They didn't traditionally introduce themselves with "Fear not!" for nothing.

* '''Are they jerks?''' Regardless of whether they're supernatural or moral, sometimes angels are portrayed as [[Jerkass|jerks]], to keep with a [[Crapsack World]] or [[World Half Empty]] setting. It may occasionally overlap with [[Light Is Not Good]], but often most people take a direct [[Dark Is Evil]] aproach at describing evil angels. [[Fallen Angel|Fallen angels]], if portrayed as good, are always within the [[Dark Is Not Evil]] realm. If they are jerks, may be [[Screw You, Elves|treated as annoying arrogant magical creatures]].

* '''Can they fall from grace? And if so, do they become Demons, [[Fallen Angel|Fallen Angels]]s, or can they [[Humanity Ensues|become human]]?''' If a central character is an angel, expect an answer to this one; otherwise, tends to be left vague. May be able to fall in love with a mortal and give up their angelic nature.

* '''How powerful are they?''' [[Winged Humanoid|Winged Humanoids]]s and angels are sometimes weak or at least [[Glass Cannon|easily damaged]] when their supernatural aspect is missing or not played up. More often however, they are portrayed as divinely powerful badasses. They do go toe to toe with [[Evil Counterpart Race|demons]], after all, and are canonically more powerful than human beings.

* ''Archangel'' -- The—The highest class. [[Archangel Michael|Michael]] is the only angel specified to hold this rank in the Protestant and Jewish [[The Bible|Bible]] canons. It's worth noting that "Arch-" as a prefix has a dictionary definition along the lines of "Pre-eminent among all others of its kind", so linguistically there should only ever be one Archangel (Or Arch-Enemy, or Arch-Anything).

* ''Living Creatures'' -- These—These angels are a specific set of four ''Cherubim'' mentioned in both Ezekiel and Revelation. Their descriptions vary slightly from both accounts, but they seem to have faces varying from that of a lion, ox, man, and eagle, eyes all over their bodies, and more than one pair of wings. (In other words, they are the angels most likely to fit the page image.)

* ''Angels'' -- These—These are the ordinary inhabitants of Heaven; if something needs doing on earth, these are the guys who generally do it.

* ''Thrones'' or ''Ophanim'' -- Hold—Hold up God's throne, or are the living wheels of His chariot. They serve as the [[Genius Loci|headquarters]] of the Virtues and the Upper Choirs and control the natural laws as well as being the bringers of God's justice who represent His authority (and badassery). They have the most alien physical descriptions of all the angels: wheels nested within wheels, constantly spinning, with rims covered in eyes. They may be "beryl-colored" (probably a greeny-yellow) and/or on fire.

* ''Dominions'' -- Not—Not mentioned in Protestant and Jewish [[The Bible|Bible]] canons. Wear crowns; represent God's power. Each serves as the patron angel of a nation [[Our Presidents Are Different|and ruler of all angels assigned to that nation.]]

* ''Virtues'' -- Not—Not mentioned in Protestant and Jewish [[The Bible|Bible]] canons. Traditionally wear armor and swords and are considered to control the heavenly bodies. They live in the Thrones. The previous three choirs form the bulk of the heavenly army.

* ''Powers'' -- Not—Not mentioned in Protestant and Jewish [[The Bible|Bible]] canons. Carry flaming swords and chains to bind [[The Devil]]; serve as [[Guardian Entity|guardians]]. In Christian tradition the Angel with the [[Flaming Sword]] in Eden was one of these, the Archangel Jophiel. Are considered [[Internal Affairs|Angels Of Justice]] and are considered perfect, incorruptible ultimate angels created by God himself. ([[RoboCop|Sound familiar]]?) [[AIA.I. Is a Crapshoot|Naturally ]] some beliefs list [[The Devil|Satan]] as a former Power.

* ''Principalities'' -- Not—Not mentioned as a group in Protestant and Jewish [[The Bible|Bible]] canons, but the Book of Daniel refers to a spirit that Gabriel calls "the Prince of Persia." Gabriel also identifies Michael as the Prince of Israel. Principalities traditionally bear armor and swords, and watch over rulers and nations. As well as acting as [[Da Chief|the head of a specific group of angels.]]

* ''Archangels'' -- According—According to apocryphal works there are seven, including [[Archangel Michael|Michael]], [[Archangel Gabriel|Gabriel]] (mentioned in [[The Bible]] canon but only as a normal angel), and [[Archangel Raphael|Raphael]] (appears in the deuterocanonical book of Tobit). (Names for the others, such as Zadkiel, Uriel, and Ithuriel, don't seem to have caught on.) Each archangel is the head of one of the remaining upper choirs.

* ''Angels'' -- Used—Used as a name of an angelic choir, these are usually the lowest rung of the hierarchy. They function as messengers to and from Earth.

== Anime &and Manga ==

* ''[[Angel Sanctuary]]'' --— Where they do drugs, have [[Reincarnation|reincarnated]] incestuous lesbian relationships, and brainwash people through video games. Also, some have disabilities, some are born with only one wing, Metatron is a perpetual infant, and Rosiel doesn't just go batshit insane; {{spoiler|in the end, he starts aging backwards and decaying in the first place. Also, Rosiel's beauty is because he ''removed Alexiel's skin and grafted it onto his own body.''}} Let's face it, Rosiel is about as far into WTF territory as you can get.

* ''[[Digimon]]'': Most of the angels in Digimon are pretty blond [[Winged Humanoid|Winged Humanoids]]s, while most Fallen Angel Digimon are black-clad [[Winged Humanoid|Winged Humanoids]]s with really sharp claws. The Angemon and Devimon "family" are quite large, mostly consisting of advanced, [[Distaff Counterpart|female]], or [[Palette Swap|Palette Swapped]]ped versions of the original, with [[Power Gives You Wings|the number of wings increasing with the level of power]]. (Lucemon may look like a child, but he's got 12 wings to Angemon's six, and is not a nice guy. [[Oh Crap|This is the part where you run away]].) Cherubimon's the exception to the rule. If they become corrupt, they evolve into fallen-angel counterparts. Oddly enough, the fallen angels outnumber the regular angels, thanks to [[Evil Is Cool]].

** Funnily enough, the Angel-type mon seem to be one of the most powerful types overall -- Angemonoverall—Angemon manages to single-handedly destroy a [[Big Bad]] that the rest combined couldn't touch, and he only digivolves into MagnaAngemon, at the end of the show. Although only an Ultimate-Level digimon, seems to be able to fight on even grounds or even with an upper hand, against Mega-Level digimon.

* Archangel/ cherubim Jophiel from ''[[Lucu Lucu]]'' is... somewhat different, as in: four faces, arms and wings. Plus he's essentially immaterial spirit who has to possess mortals to be able to stay in mortal plane. Though, of course, [[Older Than You Think|this is how cherubim were described in the Bible]].

* The angels of ''[[Ah! My Goddess]]'' are [[Winged Humanoid]] [[Cute Mute|Cute Mutes]]s, except when [[Magic Music|singing]] --— or at least the audience can't hear their speaking voices. They serve as the personifications of goddesses' souls. They also hatch from minuscule eggs.

* Angels in ''[[ToA AruCertain Majutsu noMagical Index]]'' appear to mostly be decent/lawful neutral guys, but if {{spoiler|separated from Heaven, they will go absolutely berserk in their attempts to get back, capable of incredibly powerful destruction.}} On top of that, immense power, flight, very orderly ways of thought such as {{spoiler|some guy brought me to Earth -> I want to go home -> Kill original spellcaster -> can't find him -> Go home the more destructive way, which happens to involve destruction along the lines of nuclear war.}}

* The Proxies of ''[[Ergo Proxy]]'' are sort of like angels (although the word is never used). They exist to fulfill the will of a Creator {{spoiler|actually humans who fled from Earth in the far past}} and have nearly god-like powers. Two of those shown, Kazki's Proxy and Monad Proxy have wings, and the former calls to mind [[Fallen Angel]] imagery (he's an evil [[Bishounen]] whose true form is a black, horned creature). There's also the fact that [[Ergo Proxy]] {{spoiler|the protagonist Vincent, thus an [[Angel Unaware]]}} calls to mind the Angel of Death with his [[Catch Phrase]], "I am Ergo Proxy, the agent of death."

* In ''[[Koi Cupid]]'', cupids exist to bring couples together so their baby can be born.

* In ''[[Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt|Panty and Stocking With Garterbelt]]'', Panty and Stocking spend their time engaging in [[Seven Deadly Sins|lust and gluttony]], respectively, and in a rather human form. They remove undergarments to use as weapons and assume a slightly more angelic form via [[Transformation Sequence|pole-dance]].

* ''[[One Piece]]'' has a few examples, the natives of Sky Island being the most obvious. Their wings are never seen or mentioned to be functional. In fact, the only person who seems to comment at all on their appearance is Sanji, and only with respect to the women. The fact that the Shandorians seem to have had wings even before they were, ahem, relocated just makes it more peculiar.

* The [[Mind Screw|Mind Screwy]]y [[Warren Ellis]] ''Hellstorm'' series introduced the [http://www.marvunapp.com/Appendix/asuraa.htm Asura], AKA the Assassins of Heaven, typical [[Winged Humanoid]] angels who prove [[Light Is Not Good]] by fanatically trying to stamp out free will, figuring that to be the source of evil. They later get [[Retcon|Retconned]]ned as a race of bird-people (of which several exist in the [[Marvel Universe]]) altered by magic, rather than actual angels, and the "God" they follow as the arch-demon Chthon trying to eliminate the competition, or something.

* The angels in ''[[The Sandman]]'' (and ''[[Lucifer (Comic Bookcomics)|Lucifer]]'') are mainly warriors. The exception is cherubim which are balls of light that communicate in emotions.

== Fan-Fic Works ==

* No angels actually appear in ''[[Thirty30 Hs (Fanfic)|Thirty Hs"H"s]]'', but it features [[Harry Potter]] [[It Makes Just As Much Sense in Context|wielding a super-guitar "laced with vessels that pulsed with angels' menstrual blood".]]

{{quote| '''Gabriel:''' I'm an angel. I kill firstborns while their mamas watch. I turn cities into salt. I even, when I feel like it, rip the souls from little girls, and from now till kingdom come, the only thing you can count on in your existence is never understanding why.}}

* In Terence Blacker's ''[[The Angel Factory]]'', Thomas Wisdom discovers that a number of humans on Earth, including his parents, are actually angels created by an alien race. They don't have wings or supernatural powers, but they're more predisposed than "imperfect" humans to be good and kind, and their creators from above believe they are the key to stopping mankind from [[Humans Are Bastardsthe Real Monsters|destroying itself]]. {{spoiler|In the end, Thomas rejects their offer to run things on Earth, and all the angels living on Earth gradually become human.}}

** By contrast, the seraphim and nephilim in the later book ''[[Many Waters]]'' are more like what a contemporary audience would think of as angels, being winged humanoids, but correspond to "the sons of God" as described in Genesis 6:4 rather than current stereotypes. The seraphim are basically servants of God on earth and usually have eyes and wings coloured in some variant of gold, silver or blue. The nephilim, which are implied to be fallen angels, have eyes and wings of more vivid colours like red and violet. They are all immortal, and not outright antagonistic with each other, but the nephilim are trapped on earth where the seraphim can return to heaven. Nephilim are male and enjoy sleeping with human women and fathering children on them; seraphim are androgynous and celibate (although they sometimes fall in love). Also, each one, seraphim and nephilim, has an animal form into which he can change -- thoughchange—though the nephilim take the shapes of [[What Measure Is a Non-Cute?|worms, snakes, dragons, and other ugly things.]]

* [[C. S. Lewis|CS Lewis]] provides one of the more original examples in his ''[[Space Trilogy]]''. Angels, or ''eldila'' (singular ''eldil'') are beings whose bodies are purportedly made out of light, and occupy a different state of matter, [[Energy Beings|moving with respect to the universe]] (rather than with respect to the planet's surface). They occupy a different 'speed' or state of matter, having no precise location. Human eyes can barely detect them as shimmers of light, only allowing themselves to be seen for what they are when the purpose serves them.

* The short story "[https://web.archive.org/web/20140929135832/http://salvoblue.homestead.com/wings.html A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings]" by [[Gabriel Garcia Marquez]] features [[Exactly What It Says on the Tin]]. The "angel", as he is referred to by the villagers who find him, is an old, flea-infested, wrinkled man with no teeth and crippled, barren wings. He could be injured, ate food (albeit mashed up as he couldn't chew), did not recognize men of the cloth, and spoke in a strange tongue. Note that the whole point of the story is the question of whether the man was really an angel or not.

{{quote| He's also specifically stated to be a principality:<br />

** ''Good Omens'' also states that angels are sexless unless they really want to make an effort.

* ''[[His Dark Materials]]'' -- Angels—Angels aren't really divine higher powers (though they like to tell you they are)! They're actually self-aware incarnations of the [[Applied Phlebotinum]] that feed off sentience and powers the universe. They can either just spring into existence or, a ghost, with the help of another angel, can rise to angelic status. They die, [[We Are as Mayflies|have immeasurably long lifespans]], and envy humans for our bodies -- angelsbodies—angels have no real bodies, so they cannot experience real sensations. They appear in the books as translucent, winged humans but this is simply for the convenience of humans, and because human minds are too tiny to comprehend their true appearance; their real forms are described as being somewhat like architecture.

* The Maiar from [[J. R. R. Tolkien|JRR Tolkien]]'s Middle-earth (''[[The Lord of the Rings]]'', etc.) are functionally angels (a step below the godlike Valar and two steps below creator god Eru) and are incorporeal spirits, but are able to take on any physical form they choose to. None of them follows the usual feathered-wings-and-halo motif; Gandalf, the Balrog, and Sauron (and possibly the dragons and giant eagles) are all Maiar. Of course, the Balrog is a pretty traditional [[Our Demons Are Different|demon]]. They marry, usually each other; Melian is a Maia who married an elf-king named Thingol and became the mother of Luthien, the ancestor of the lineage of Elrond, Arwen and Aragorn.

* Cynthia Leitich Smith's ''Eternal.'' Guardian angels go on to a new charge when their old one dies, and might just fall in love with them. And they can be temporarily made human, kickstarting the romance. Which can even happen if their beloved is no longer in their charge and has become a vampire -- andvampire—and yes, vampires are satanic. Forbidden lovers anyone? ({{spoiler|the girl involved manages to redeem herself and die before her vampire nature destroys her soul completely. It's [[Better Than It Sounds]] and a bittersweet [[Tear Jerker]].}})

* In Laura Anne Gilman's ''[[Retriever]]" series angels are just one of many nonhuman races known as the Fatae although they're among the oldest and most powerful. They are also (by reputation, the only one actually met is dead at the time) a race of [[Jerkass|Jerkasses]]es.

* The first volume of the encyclopedia series "Man, Myth, and Magic" describes angels and how peoples' perceptions of them changed over time. One part of the entry described a female angel who's [[Attack of the 50 -Foot Whatever|96 miles tall]] (that's 506,880 feet for those who are curious).

* ''[[I, Lucifer]]'' features angels who are not winged humanoids but rather celestial beings of metaphysical energy. Angels suffer from pain if they commit evil acts (Angelic Pain), as well as corrupt their essense. This means demons are ''technically'' still Angels but are consumed with unimaginable pain constantly and their visage is a horriffic reflection of their nature. They are also immortal and their numbers are unchanged since God brought them into existance.

* In ''Angelology'' angels fall into three political categories: the loyal, who it is suggested are all female; the rebellious, who were apparently destroyed; and the Watchers, who also fell by mating with human women and producing [[Half-Human Hybrid|the Nephilim]], a race of [[Complete Monster|Complete Monsters]]s. The Watchers were imprisoned on Earth in a deep cave system which is where the story of Hell comes from. Meanwhile, the Nephilim spread and enslaved humanity until they were wiped out in the Flood--exceptFlood—except for one who killed Noah's son Japheth and took his place. [[Unfortunate Implications|All Caucasians are descended either from Japheth's human children or from the Nephilim who killed him]]. The descendants have manipulated and ruled humanity from behind the scenes ever since.

* [[The BookofBook of All Hours]] - the Unkin. {{spoiler|humans that experienced an unique event in their life that allowed them to touch the Vellum underneath reality.}} In the multiverse inscribed on the surface of the Vellum, these meta-humans have long since [[Our Angels Are Different|taken up different roles]], [[Our Gods Are Greater|presenting themselves]] to mortal humans [[Our Demons Are Different|in different ways]] in pursuit of power.

* In ''[[A Dirge for Prester John]]'' Qaspiel calls itself an anthropteron. John's complete fascination with it confuses everyone.

** This is carried over to ''[[Touched By an Angel]]'', though the titular angels do get an inner light when they're being particularly inspirational, which isn't always a good thing. One episode of ''[[Touched By an Angel]]'', set in October 30, 1938, had then-rookie angel Monica turning on her angel glow to calm down a crowd that was panicked by reports of a Martian Invasion (they were listening to Orson Welles' radio broadcast of ''[[The War of the Worlds (novel)|The War of the Worlds]]''). It didn't quite work.

* The {{spoiler|Vorlons}} in ''[[Babylon 5]]'' pretend to be angels of the big fluffy wings variety, but they are really just [[Sufficiently Advanced Alien|Sufficiently Advanced Aliens]]s.They have the neat trick of appearing to "less advanced" species as their archetypal holy messenger, thanks to a few tens of thousands of years grooming (read, genetically manipulating) new species. So to humans at least, they look like fluffy-winged angels. Londo Mollari, however, saw nothing. Though never outright stated, it's implied that he didn't see anything because he's been touched by the Shadows (other theories like Mollari being an Atheist or that the Centauri weren't groomed by the Vorlons have also been put forward).

* ''[[Supernatural (TV series)|Supernatural]]'' got into the game by introducing Castiel (an [https://web.archive.org/web/20130521041331/http://www.sarahsarchangels.com/C.html angel of Thursday] apparently) who dragged Dean out of Hell, and gave us the page quote. The angels of this setting give every indication of being fundamentally beings of light, though [[Unreliable Narrator|Zachariah]] says "in Heaven I have six wings and four faces, one of which is a lion," and in the next season [[Estrogen Brigade Bait|Castiel]] refers to his own true form as being "roughly the size of your Chrysler Building," after which Dean tells him [[Bigger Is Better|"All right, all right,]] [[Freud Was Right|quit bragging."]] As they are unable to ''safely'' or effectively interact with matter in these forms, they must, with explicit permission, occupy human hosts to do anything in the world. (Demons in the setting do the same thing, but without asking permission.) The collateral damage from their forms is also apparently the preferred form for combat, since an otherwise-improbable percentage of the dead angel count are killed by stabbing while in vessels.

** Poor Castiel sided with humanity, died, [[Back Fromfrom the Dead|was resurrected]], spent a season Falling into humanity, died again, this time by gory on-screen explosion, [[Death Is Cheap|was resurrected again with extra powers]], went power-mad trying to save the world ''again'', betrayed literally everyone it was possible for him to betray, [[A God Am I|declared himself God]], and was eaten from the inside out in an apparently final death. {{spoiler|He got better, of course.}}

* The Weeping Angels in ''[[Doctor Who]]''. These are explicitly aliens, "creatures of the abstract", "as old as the Universe itself or very nearly". An [[Always ChaoticExclusively Evil]] race of sadistic, murderous psychopathic ''ideas'' (really, ''memes'' are the best way to describe them), they normally kill someone by sending them back in time and space to a point from where they will live a good, fulfilling alternate life, but that is just part of the complex way they feed- if they can afford it, they '''will''' kill you, brutally and painfully, [[For the Evulz]], probably after playing cruel mind games about your impending death for the hell of it. They look like statues of [[Winged Humanoid|Winged Humanoids]]s, but ''only when they're being observed''. When there's no sentient observer, they can move freely about, [[Paranoia Fuel|and do so at incredible speed]]. In addition, they have [[Mind Over Matter|powerful telekinetic abilities]] and can kill you with a single touch. They reproduce according to the saying "whatever holds the image of an Angel becomes ''itself'' an angel", which means that new ones can emerge from photographs, videos or recordings of them, and even from the mental image you have in your head once you've seen one. So, essentially, if you're not looking at them, they'll kill you horribly, and if you ''are'' [[Brown Note|looking at them]], you'll end up [[Body Horror|turning into one]].

* ''[[Dungeons and& Dragons]]'' has multiple species of "celestials", which can be broken down into categories such as angels, guardinals, eladrin, and archons. They're generally considered the servants of good-aligned gods.

** Fourth Edition shakes things up by declaring angels to be "expressions of the Astral Sea", basically [[Energy Beings]] who mostly act as servants and mercenaries for the gods on their own initiative according to their individual inherent natures. They're depicted as glowy, winged, legless humanoids and can now be of any alignment (yes, evil gods can have angelic servants, too). Some of the other older 'celestial' terms have had their meaning changed fairly radically, too -- 4Etoo—4E eladrin are now the 'fair folk' elf subtype and available as a player character race, and 4E archons are elemental servants of the Primordials and thus technically ''enemies'' of the gods and those who work for them.

* The "angels" (if they can still be called that; they sure think they can) of ''[[Demon: The Fallen]]'' are split up into seven celestial Houses, based on which day of creation they had a role in (for instance, the Rabisu, responsible for the sixth day and all the creatures of the Earth, have control over animal life, plant life, and flesh). As the Quotes page indicates, the pre-Fall angels were quantum beings that existed in multiple states -- thestates—the actual debate that led to the Fall is described by one angel as simultaneously being a verbal debate ''and'' clashing elements of a symphony ''and'' a struggle between elemental forces. Actual angels have disappeared from Creation by the time the game begins, [[Have You Seen My God?|as has God]].

* The Living Saints of ''[[Warhammer 4000040,000]]'' are chosen vessels of the God-Emperor's might, and meet all of the criteria for being angels. However, ''these'' angels are known for wielding flaming chainsaw-swords and declaring they will ''purge'' the land... monumental ass-kicking tends to ensue whenever one shows up.

* Meanwhile, [[Warhammer Fantasy Battle]] has the [http://www.goblin-online.net/download/allumina.txt daemons of Alluminas], one of the [[Light Is Not Good|gods of law]], which resemble angels and are named after angelic classes.

* A creature type in ''[[Magic: The Gathering|Magic the Gathering]]'', the most famous of which is the classic [https://web.archive.org/web/20090411232947/http://ww2.wizards.com/gathererGatherer/CardDetails.aspx?id=270 Serra Angel].

** While most are under the domain of White, there are other more atypical ones such as the [https://web.archive.org/web/20090526072034/http://ww2.wizards.com/gatherer/CardDetails.aspx?&id=185136 Maelstorm Archangel] and the [httphttps://ww2web.wizardsarchive.comorg/gathererweb/CardDetails20191017152229/https://status.aspx?&id=48580wizards.com/ Platinum Angel]. And of course, Black has its share of [https://web.archive.org/web/20080810130350/http://ww2.wizards.com/gatherer/CardDetails.aspx?&id=26660 Fallen Angels].

** Each plane's angels are a bit different: [http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=46546 Mirrodin] has cyborg angels, while others [http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=188965 were cyberneticized] during the Conflux of Alara. All but the [http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=193660 most] [http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=190407 powerful] of Zendikar's angels were shackled by [[Eldritch Abomination|the Eldrazi]] with their [http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=189159 haloes] [http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=197160 as blindfolds]. The [http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=5578 standard] [http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=197006 Serra] [http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=113519 family] come from an artificial plane created by the planeswalker Serra that was scrapped by the Phyrexians. Ravnica's angels are aligned with either the [http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=205362 Boros] [http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=89074 Legion] or the [http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=83869 Orzhov Syndicate]. A [[Mirror Universe]] version of [[Knight Templar|Akroma]], [http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=193871 Angel of Wrath] is [http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=122432 mono-red] instead of white. The rebirth of Mirrodin into New Phyrexia features the angels being surgically rebuilt into sociopathic monsters -- appropriatemonsters—appropriate enough, given that Phyrexia is basically a freakin' horror ''refinery''.

** Avacyn from Innistrad is basically a goddess of her own right (albeit [[Deus Ex Homine|a created one]], by the vampire Sorin Markov), lording not only over her church, but also over the plane's [[White Magic]], down to the fact that the other angels are much weaker without her. She also a lunar deity (think [[Classical Mythology|Selene]], only more of a protective deity), and a goth. And while the rest of the angels in Innistrad are the traditional [[Winged Humanoid]] sort, Innistradi angels are further divided into three groups: Flight Alabaster ([[Barrier Maiden]] and occasional [[Psychopomp|psychopompspsychopomp]]s), Flight Goldnight ([[Church Militant]]), and Flight of Herons (healing and scouting).

* In the Devil Children subseries of ''[[Shin Megami Tensei]]'', angels are robotic, slightly humanoid creatures and are total [[Knight Templar|Knight Templars]]s who massacred a bunch of creatures for playing in a casino.

** Samael is a [http://images1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20080705012920/megamitensei/images/b/b2/Samael.png Dragon that's a deep red color and has a serpent like appearance in the series]. Though whether he's a Angel or not depends on the game. Tzaphkiel is a [http://images1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20110815200744/megamitensei/images/7/79/Tzaphkiel.jpg huge eyeball with wings] and Kushiel is a [http://images3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20110815200848/megamitensei/images/7/7d/Kushiel.jpg faceless humanoid.]

* [[The Elder Scrolls]] has a race of beings called "Jills," which are described as "the minute-maidens of Akatosh," and function as Angels in relation to him. In [[The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim|Skyrim]] they will make their first in-game appearance as massive black Dragons that will try to eat your face off with some regularity.

* ''[[Tales of Symphonia]]'' has two different stages of angel cosmology -- precosmology—pre-spoilers, and post-spoilers. Pre-spoilers, the [[Chosen One|Chosen of World Regeneration]] becomes a [[Winged Humanoid]] angel after awakening all of the summon spirits and regenerating the world. Post-spoilers, {{spoiler|becoming an angel involves using a parasitic stone to absorb one's soul from one's body. The angels try to reincarnate the "goddess" (actually the [[Big Bad]]'s [[Dead Little Sister|deceased older sister]]) by [[Body Snatcher|Body Snatching]] the various Chosens emptied this way and eventually intend to turn all people into soulless angels to stop [[Fantastic Racism]]}}.

** [https://web.archive.org/web/20120913051935/http://diablo.incgamers.com/gallery/data/510/medium/1920x1200_NFR_Imperius_by_Holyknight30001.jpg Imperius] (Valor) and Malthael (Wisdom) almost had mankind destroyed for being a "taint on creation" via a vote among the 5-Archangel council: Imperius voted for destruction, while Malthael abstained, which meant the same thing. Tyrael (Justice), the good angel of ''Diablo 2'', only turned to humanity's side after watching a particular human [[Heroic Sacrifice|blow himself up to save the world]]. The other two angels sided with him, opting to wait and observe how humans would develop.

* ''[[Riviera: theThe Promised Land]]'' has Grim Angels, which look somewhat like anime versions of the stereotypical "humanoids with wings" angels. They function both as messengers of the Gods, and those that pass down the gods' judgments, leaving their morality in somewhat of a gray area in the game... {{spoiler|particularly when the head angel they're taking orders from turns out to be the [[Big Bad]]}}.

** It can assumed that the Angels of the pre-HOMMV games (including just plain [[Might and Magic]]) were... not all that supernatural that they might appear: [[Word of God]] stated that if you thought the Devils were bad, you'd find the truth of the Angels even worse -- andworse—and those Devils are [[Alien Invaders]].

* The angel girl in ''[[Cat Planet]]'' is a [[One-Hit-Point Wonder]]. Who collects [[Ridiculously Cute Critter|Ridiculously Cute Critters]]s.

* The Nimbis in ''[[Super Paper Mario]]'' are cute little guys who speak in [[Ye Olde ButcheredButcherede EnglishEnglishe]] and live in the [[Fluffy Cloud Heaven|Overthere]], where pure souls go after [[Never Say "Die"|their games are over]]. They answer to Grambi, the Overthere's benevolent, bearded ruler. {{spoiler|And it's heavily implied that Bonechill, the giant, monstrous boss of the level, is a fallen Nimbi.}}

* The Heavenly hosts in ''[[Blip]]'' include white-robed [[Winged Humanoid]] [[Chibi|chibischibi]]s, white-robed [[Winged Humanoid]] [[Bishonen]], some [[Children of the Corn]], [[Jesus|and at least one former human who's still wearing his street clothes]]. There's also the Adversary, who may or may not count as an angel, and wears a tuxedo and a [[White Mask of Doom]]. Angels serve the will of God, and are pretty big assholes.

* ''[[Catena]]'' (see http://catenamanor.com/) by DeBray and Tracy Baily have angels. They're cats.

* The Paedagogusi in ''[[Errant Story]]'' more or less fit the angel role, by any other name... while they look (and occasionally act) like fairies... and they're ''different'', all right.

* In the [[Religious Horror|short story]] ''[http://everything2.com/user/Jet-Poop/writeups/Requiem+Aeternam ''Requiem Aeternam]'', angels {{spoiler|[[I Am a Humanitarian|are hungry]]}}.

* The Angyls from the [[Warhammer 40000|Warhammer 40,000]] fanfic ''[[The Shape of the Nightmare to Come]]''. While the Gods of Chaos are served by Daemons, the Star Father, a God of Order, is served by the Angyls who are androgynous, faceless, glowing humanoids with dozens of razor-feathered wings who seek to create a universe of perfect, self-defeating order.