Angel Unaware: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

 

A character or entity that is implied to be, but never explicitly described or defined as, an angelic being or divine messenger. Sometimes [[God Was My Co-Pilot|revealed as such]] in the end of the story, but not always, leaving open the question of [[Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane]]. All in all, a good reason to be [[Sacred Hospitality|nice to your guests]], and [[Beware the Nice Ones]]. If the characters [[Gave Up Too Soon]], [[Dramatic Irony|only the audience will know]].

 

Compare [[King Incognito]]. [[Sub-Trope]] of [[Secret Identity]].

{{examples}}

* ''[[The Big O]]''. Subverted in that while [[Meaningful Name|she's called Angel]] and even has two scars on her back where there were once wings, she's not exactly an angel.

* ''[[El Cazador de la Bruja]]''. In the middle of Mexico/South of Mexico, there is an inn run by an old man; he stops the villains chasing the heroines for a day or two so that they can have some character development. This includes a [[Tyke Bomb]] and witch with magic powers, who he stops simply by looking at them. Apparently is really the Hopi Fertility Deity Kokopelli. He takes the form of a white author who died 3 years prior to the plot.

 

== Film ==

* The "dangerous lady" in the film version of ''[[A Prairie Home Companion]]''.

* In ''[[Love Actually]]'', [[Rowan Atkinson]]'s character is a angel, though it was more explicit in the original script. The only thing that was altered in his 'storyline' is a shot of him fading away as he walks off at the end.

* In ''[[Van Helsing]]'' the title character is implied to be one of these. He is in the service of God, is apparently immortal (he remembers fighting Romans at Masada, and was Dracula's murderer hundreds of years prior to the movie), and in the novelization he is said to have two scars on his back where wings may have been. Furthermore, Dracula refers to him as {{spoiler|"[[Archangel Gabriel|Gabriel]]."}}

* The Man In White in [[Pirates of the Great Salt Lake]]. He's assumed to be a [[Magical Native American]], at least until [[Fridge Brilliance]] sets in.

* [[Almost An Angel]]: Terry Dean is either this or merely a misguided human being deceived by his own beliefs.

* The titular character in ''[[The Legend of Bagger Vance]]'' is subtly hinted to be one of these. The most overt example is when he says there's a storm coming on a perfectly clear day, which later develops a storm that prevents the hero from running out of town.

* ''[[Pale Rider]]'': The "Preacher" rides out of the mountains on a pale horse as Megan prays for help against Lahood's men, and there are heavy implications that {{spoiler|he is a dead gunfighter sent back to Earth}}.

 

== Literature ==

* Lani, from ''What Happened to Lani Garver'' is a [[Magical Queer]] come to help the protagonist sort out her life, and who may or may not actually be an angel.

* The wizards in ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]'' fit this trope. They appear to be Men, but have magical powers and are very, very old and mysterious. Pippin at one point wonders just what Gandalf is, but gets distracted. Digging through the appendices and the Silmarillion, the dedicated reader can find that the five "Wizards" (the ''Istari'') are a group of Maiar sent to help the peoples of Middle-earth - essentially angels of the same order as Sauron. Two are never named: the other three are Gandalf, Radagast, and Saruman.

** And of course, Tolkien directly compared them to angels in his letters.

* In ''[[The Dresden Files]]'', a literal angel in human form ({{spoiler|specifically, the Archangel Uriel}}) makes a brief appearance.

** And that literal angel's own words imply that Mouse is also this trope, albeit in dogasaurus-form rather than human.

* Mr. Jingles from ''[[The Green Mile]]''. The narrator doesn't think so, but there's definitely room for doubt.

* ''The Raven's Knot'' by [[Robin Jarvis]] has a man who believed himself to have been saved by angels in WWII, but realizes eventually that he is one, trapped in human form since he descended. Oh, and angels look like [[Our Angels Are Different|giant two-headed dragons that breathe holy light]].

* In the short story "The Last Trump" by [[Isaac Asimov]], a character is revealed to be the ''Devil'' in the end - and it is unclear whether ''he'' is aware of that.

* Inverted in [[John C. Wright]]'s ''[[Chronicles of Chaos]]'': the protagonist is this to a minor character who gives her a lift. She and her friends later repay the favor by curing his [[Driven to Madness]] relative.

* Occurs in one of the stories in the children's book ''[[The Ten Tales Of Shellover]]'' - an old man finds a starving cat in the snow and takes her in. She eats all his bread, milk and meat, and makes him use up all his logs, but he doesn't throw her out. In the end, she leaves, and his milk, bread, meat and logs never run out from that day forth. Interestingly, he may suspect that she isn't an ordinary cat when she asks him why he doesn't drive her away and leaves no footprints.

 

* Mr. Roarke on ''[[Fantasy Island]].''

** {{spoiler|Well, they all seem to be visible to whoever they want and corporeal whenever they want. Remember the Virtual Six that picked Baltar up from the floor. In the end, as Virtual Six and Virtual Baltar talk, Six says they work for God and Baltar says the entity they work for does not care for that name. Which basically means it's either the/a god with a sense of humor, or a sufficiently advanced alien being/machine/whatever that some of these "virtual beings" deify.}}

* The show ''[[Touched By an Angel]]'' centered around this trope, taking the point of view of the angels who are [[Walking the Earth]] helping people. The finale, however, cranks it [[Up to Eleven]] when it's revealed that {{spoiler|Monica has been helping ''[[Jesus Was Way Cool|Jesus]]'' unawares.}}

* ''[[Supernatural (TV series)|Supernatural]]'': [[Archangel Gabriel]], who had been hiding as {{spoiler|The Trickster}} since ''seasons'' prior. (Bonus [[Almighty Janitor]] since that was the cover the Winchesters first encountered him under.) He has been hiding on Earth for millenia and done such a good job of it that other magical beings and even non-Christian gods do not realize that he is an angel and not one of them. Also the season 5 finale: {{spoiler|[[Author Avatar|Chuck]] finishes writing his story and vanishes with a knowing smile on his face. Debate is raging in the fandom about whether this means the writer was literally God.}}

** Castiel (pictured above) and Anna also fit this trope; their human vessels spent some time in mental institutions as schizophrenic patients.

* There's a recurring homeless woman who might be this in ''[[Sons of Anarchy]]'' if [[Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane|she's not just crazy]].

* ''[[Bones]]'' had an episode where Brennan talks, late at night while alone in the lab, with a janitor named Micah. Considering that this character never appeared on the show before or after, no one seemed to see him except Brennan, and the name does refer to a Biblical prophet, there was some speculation about him.

 

== Music ==

* The Eighties Matchbox B-Line Disaster's song "I Could be an Angle" is based on the [[Rouge Angles of Satin|misspelled]] sign of a beggar who was trying to invoke this trope.

* This idea is the main theme of Michael W. Smith's "Angels Unaware," undoubtedly inspired by the [[Trope Namer]]:

 

== Mythology and Religion ==

* In [[Norse Mythology]], Odin was known to wander around as an old traveler. He tended to wear a blue cloak and a hat that was pulled down to hide his missing eye. This avatar, Grimnir, is often considered to be the origin of the [[Robe and Wizard Hat|classic image of the wizard]].

* In [[Greek Mythology]], [[The Metamorphoses|Baucis and Philemon]] received with glad hospitality two weary travellers whom their neighbors had driven off. Since these were Zeus and Hermes, their neighbors' village got transformed into a lake, and them into fish, while Baucis and Philemon received their wish: [[Crowning Moment of Heartwarming|that they should die at the same moment so neither of them had to live widowed.]] And their bodies were transformed into two trees with entwined branches.

* [[The Bible]] quote above refers to the hospitality that Abraham offered angels, making this [[Older Than Feudalism]]. (Genesis 18:2-16). Unfortunately this is kind of a [[Broken Aesop]] - you're told to make your house open to all, but only because of the possible promise of a great reward later.

** In the story of Lot, two angels visit the city of Sodom and are put up for the night by Lot and his family, who protects his divine guests when his neighbors want to ''rape them in a mob''. Lot refuses to let the mob do so, even offering his own daughters instead, but the mob refuses. (Gen. 19:1-11) Lot offering his daughters in exchange isn't seen all that favourably by many people.

** When he first appears, the Archangel Raphael is disguised as Azarias, the son of the great Ananias, and is seen traveling with Tobias. After traveling a bit, Raphael proceeds to show him how to drive off the demon Asmodeus, who had killed the seven men Tobias' bride Sarah had married before, after which he(Raphael) bound the demon. He also showed Tobias’ how to cure his father’s(Tobit’s) blindness, before revealing himself as the Archangel. It's a cool story.

** According to some traditions, be became Sandalphon, an angel associated with prayer and children.

 

* The ''Qashmallim'', from ''[[Promethean: The Created]]'' roleplaying game line. Interesting in that these entities, while unquestionably powerful and apparently representatives of a higher power, might not be actual ''angels'' as such. Their presentation, however, is very much angelic (often in the more inhuman "wheels with wings and eyes" vein).

** There are also, in a case of this trope being a two-edged sword, the True Fae Charlatans from ''[[Changeling: The Lost]]'', [[The Fair Folk|very, very nasty and amoral fairies]] that have gone into the human world and lost all of their power and forgotten whom they are.

* The case for most background NPCs in ''[[In Nomine]]''.

** And in 40k, The God Emperor loved doing this to people.

* In ''[[Dungeons and Dragons]]'' the god Bahamut sometimes [[Walking the Earth|walks the material plane]] in the form of an elderly man who is accompanied by seven trained canaries.

** In some versions, these seven canaries are actually seven ancient gold dragons in disguise. Do not mess with this guy. Even if it looks like [[Circling Birdies|he's just been hit and is an easy target.]]

 

== Theatre ==

 

== Video Games ==

* In ''[[Sonic Unleashed]]'', Sonic's amnesiac new friend {{spoiler|Chip, is revealed to be Light Gaia, the opposite of the final boss}}.

* {{spoiler|Joshua}} in ''[[The World Ends With You]]'' displays an assortment of clearly divine powers before later being revealed as {{spoiler|[[Physical God|the Composer]]}}.

** {{spoiler|And then, once you start getting the secret reports, you learn that Mr. H is ''literally'' an Angel. As well as Joshua's boss. Wings and everything, in the secret ending.}}

* ''[[Red Dead Redemption]]'' contains the Stranger side-missions "I Know You" where a well dressed stranger from John's past meets up with him three times in each of the game's main locations. (New Austin, Nuevo Paraíso, and West Elizabeth/)The final meeting is the most notable, as {{spoiler|John, finally fed up with not getting any answers from this guy, shoots him three times as he's walking away. The bullets apparently pass right through the guy, but leave no evidence that they even touched him. When John looks away for a moment, he's gone.}}

** The man calls the last place that they meet "a fine spot." {{spoiler|That same area is where John, his wife, [[And Zoidberg|and Uncle]] are eventually buried.}}

'''The Strange Man:''' {{spoiler|Yes, many have.}} }}

* The [[Interactive Fiction]] game ''[[Vespers]]'' begins with the Biblical quote, and begins as the characters, Medieval monks, grant a place to stay to an almost-dead, beautiful girl that arrives at their gates. {{spoiler|It's a subversion: she's a ''demon''.}}

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Angelic Tropes]]

[[Category:Religion Tropes]]

[[Category:Older Than Feudalism]]