Messiahs in fiction and fantasy: Encyclopedia - Messiahs in fiction and fantasy

Messiahs in fiction and fantasy

The idea of a messiah or a Chosen one figure has long been an element in the genres of science fiction and fantasy, if not real-life religion.

The remainder of this article contains many plot spoilers for many different stories. Discretion is advised regarding unfamiliar stories.

Messiahs in fiction and fantasy - Akira

The manga and 1988 anime-movie Akira features both the themes of a returning saviour, and sacrifice based on compassion – two very strong reccurent themes in messianic literature. Cults in a Post-WWIII Neo-Tokyo herald the return of an entity known as "Akira", a codeword for a shady governmental project and an incident that destroyed Tokyo city at the outset of the war. The story follows Tetsuo, a latent psychic inextricably linked to the Akira project, and proclaimed by the cults to be Akira reborn. Tetsuo has no control over his powers, and threatens to set off a similar Akira-incident if he is not brought in check by the efforts of the army, other children in the experiment, and his friend and rival Kaneda.

The film itself is often pointed out as the progenitor of Anime fandom in North America. It has had strong cult influence on several contemporary works, including the Wachowski brothers' Matrix-trilogy.

Messiahs in fiction and fantasy - Army of Darkness

The protagonist of the film Army of Darkness, Ash (played by Bruce Campbell) and his 1973 yellow Oldsmobile are sucked into a time vortex caused by his reading the spell to defeat the demons which he defeated in The Evil Dead and Evil Dead II.

Ash ends up in England in AD 1300, where he is believed to be the "Hero From The Sky," the man destined to deliver mankind to salvation from the "Deadites," or demons. With scientific knowledge from books from his Oldsmobile's boot, he leads an army of humans to defeat the demons.

Messiahs in fiction and fantasy - Babylon 5

J. Michael Straczynski had a series of three messiah-figures in his television series Babylon 5; The Messiah is referred to as "The One". "The one who was" refers to Captain Jeffrey Sinclair, a man with ties to the Minbari prophet Valen, "The One who is" refers to Captain John Sheridan, who gave his life and came back from the dead at Z'ha'dum to save his people, and "The One who will be" refers to the Minbari Ambassador Delenn, who will lead her people into the future. It can be thought of as a Holy Trinity: One in Three parts. The prophecy of The One comes from the Minbari, who have a penchant for doing things in threes. Cryptically, Delenn later said that a place of leadership over all of her people was left open for "The One Who Will Come"; she said this after she had been told that she was "The One Who Will Be", so she was not referring to Sinclair, Sheridan, or herself. Possibly she was referring to David Sheridan, the first true Minbari/Human hybrid, unborn when the series ended.

Messiahs in fiction and fantasy - Buffy

In the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Buffy Summers, in addition to being a Run-of-the-mill Chosen One, has a Messianic role and Messianic duties.

Buffy is just a normal girl until she learns that she is a slayer, a person that is chosen in every generation and who is born with super-human abilities. As she is the only girl on Earth with such powers, she is the only person capable of stopping evil from spreading around the Hellmouth until she dies and another girl is chosen.

Messiahs in fiction and fantasy - Chrono Trigger

In the video game Chrono Trigger a group of heroes travels through time to stop an incredible evil. The leader of the group, Crono, is a messianic figure who even "dies" and is resurrected during the course of the story.

In addition to Crono, the group has a second "chosen" character, a knight named Glenn, who travels under the name 'Frog', and who is referred to as a "Legendary Hero". He bears a token known as the "Hero's Medal" and is destined to wield the Masamune sword against the sorcerer Magus.

There are many comparisons between the stories of Crono Trigger and the Holy Bible as nearly every character, many of the settings and most of the events in the game have biblical parallels.

Messiahs in fiction and fantasy - Deep Impact

In the movie Deep Impact, the space shuttle that saves Earth from a comet impact was named the Messiah. At the end of the movie the Messiah's crew sacrifice themselves by using the ship as a kamikaze missile to split the comet's nucleus.

Messiahs in fiction and fantasy - Dune

The concept of the messiah is central to the Dune series of books by Frank Herbert. The main character in Dune is Paul Atreides (titled Muad'Dib), the Mahdi of the Fremen people and the Kwisatz Haderach (also a messianic figure) of the Bene Gesserit order. The Bene Gesserit have abilities beyond that of normal humans, and the Kwisatz Haderach even more so, to the point of extreme prescience. Seeing mankind's future annihilation in almost all possible circumstances, Muad'Dib's foresight both allows and forces him to take over the galactic empire to ensure humanity's survival. He becomes the central religious figure of the empire in the process. However, he knows that for his foreseen Golden Path to come to pass, mankind's dependence on him must eventually be broken.

In Dune Messiah he wanders into the desert, leaving behind twin newborn children.

In Children of Dune, Muad'Dib's son Leto Atreides II achieves the same level of prescience as his father, and sees the same Golden Path as the only hope for humanity's survival. He attains perceived godhood by undertaking a metamorphosis into a sandworm, becoming a second messianic figure for the next 3,000 years. He is eventually assassinated in God Emperor of Dune, but the survival of humankind is seemingly assured by the sacrifices of both Paul and Leto. The Bene Tleilax later refers to him as The Prophet, a messianic figure, because they have kept their ancient beliefs in an abstract God.

Messiahs in fiction and fantasy - Fallout II

The main character, the descendant of the main character of the original Fallout, is called "Chosen One" by his fellow tribesmen, because he was meant to save his village, Arroyo, from death by starvation, by recovering the G.E.C.K. from the mythical Vault 13. However, this "chosen"-ness is hard to prove by means of "Messiah"-ness, as 'tribals' have easy to get spiritual about saviours they materially choose, in the name of the original Vault Dweller, however.

Messiahs in fiction and fantasy - Harry Potter

In the fifth book of the Harry Potter series, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, a prophecy is revealed concerning Harry and the books' chief antagonist, Lord Voldemort. Although the official recording of this prophecy is destroyed in the Ministry of Magic, professor Dumbledore knows the contents of the prophecy entirely, and reveals them to Harry using his Pensieve. As prophecized by Harry's Divination teacher Sybill Trelawney (although unknowingly), Harry is the only one in the wizarding community with the ability to destroy Voldemort and one of the two will have to die at the hands of the other.

In the sixth book of the series, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, some of the wizarding community begin calling Harry 'The Chosen One', although only guessing the contents of the prophecy. However, Professor Dumbledore, while discussing the matter with Harry, emphasizes that it will be Harry's hunger to avenge the death of his parents that will drive him to chase Voldemort, rather than anything said in the prophecy.

Messiahs in fiction and fantasy - Kingdom Hearts

In the Disney/Squaresoft game Kingdom Hearts, the main character Sora is "chosen" to wield the Keyblade, a weapon that has the ability to lock the Keyholes that lead to the core of a world, thus protecting it from the Heartless. His partners, Donald and Goofy were ordered by their King to follow him, in order to save all the worlds from dying out.

Messiahs in fiction and fantasy - Legacy of Kain

The Legacy of Kain video game series centers around a mysterious, messianic character known as the Scion of Balance, who is destined to restore Balance to the dying land of Nosgoth. The story, which has numerous twist and turns, does not reveal the Scion’s true identity until the end of Legacy of Kain: Defiance.

Messiahs in fiction and fantasy - Lord of the Rings

Catholic author J. R. R. Tolkien wrote the fantasy series The Lord of the Rings, from which many Christian parallels can be drawn (compare with Narnia, below, by fellow Inkling C. S. Lewis). It is worth noting that, while the parallels certainly exist, Tolkien denied having consciously developed the story as a Biblical allegory.

The One Ring, an instrument of power and evil, works also as a temptation. In the book it is described to be a heavy burden for the main character Frodo Baggins, reminding of the heavy Cross carried by Christ on the mount Calvary. Although Frodo fails on his quest to destroy the Ring, the Ring is destroyed by chance, and the world is saved by his quest.

Gandalf could also be considered a Messiah figure; His death followed by resurrection (The latter taking place in time for him to rescue his disciples), and his "white" robes after his return from death are parallel to the story of Jesus.

Aragorn is another long-expected Messianic personality who is destined to unite and be the new King of Gondor and Arnor, in which the throne has been empty for ages, only protected by a steward-regent.

Messiahs in fiction and fantasy - Marvel Comics

In the Marvel Universe, Cable is the Chosen One who was prophesied to defeat and destroy Apocalypse. Apocalypse was the first mutant born on Earth, and Cable was the first mutant born of mutant parents. Mister Sinister created Cable for the specific goal of creating an ultimate mutant to destroy his master, Apocalypse.

Messiahs in fiction and fantasy - The Matrix Trilogy

The Matrix movie trilogy also features a messianic figure referred to as "The One". "The One" has many prophecies relating to his role in humanity's salvation. In The Matrix, "The One" is described this way by the character of Morpheus: "When the Matrix was first built, there was a man born inside who had the ability to change whatever he wanted, to remake the Matrix as he saw fit. It was he who freed the first of us, taught us the truth. As long as the Matrix exists the human race will never be free. After he died the Oracle prophesied his return and that his coming would hail the destruction of the Matrix and the war, bring freedom to our people."

However, it was the opposite that actually happened in the movies....and Neo was taught the truth by Morpheus, instead.

Thomas Anderson -- Aka Neo, discovers that the world he lives in is merely a computer simulation intended to keep humanity enslaved. Not only does he penetrate this illusion, but he discovers that he has significant abilities to manipulate the simulation himself and joins with other rebellious humans to bring down the entire system. Mr. Anderson doesn't find true confirmation of his role as the One until he is killed in battle, but manages through his own power over the Matrix to somehow bring himself back to life immediately thereafter. There are several Gnostic-themes in the story. Other subliminal themes include the Free Will vs. fate-debate and the nature of reality, perception, enlightenment, and existence. In many ways The Matrix is about a kind of reality enforcement.

The Matrix Reloaded featured a Neo who had many new powers, among them, the power of flight, incredible fighting abilities, and the power to resurrect the dead. The film also expanded the role of "The One", revealing that the existence of "The One" was a recurring flaw inherent to the programming of the Matrix, and that his purpose is to return to the machine mainframe to assist in reloading the Matrix program. In addition to doing so, "The One" is meant to choose a number of individuals from the Matrix to repopulate Zion, the last human city, after its destruction. Neo is the sixth One, and the first to refuse to cooperate with the machines in favor of saving his Beloved.

In The Matrix Revolutions, Neo visits the machine capital in the real world to negotiate with the machines. Since the Matrix has at this point been taken over by a rogue-program, Smith, a former agent and a replicating virus, Neo negotiates an end to the war between humans and machines in return for Neo's help in destroying Smith. Smith ultimately copies himself over Neo, but is destroyed in the process, allowing for the Matrix to be Reloaded. Neo thus sacrifices himself to save both humanity (Who would have been destroyed by the Matrix system crash and the destruction of Zion) and the machines. In one of the closing scenes, the body of Neo, plugged into the Matrix in the machine city, glows with a bright white crucifix, the symbol of Jesus Christ, the Christian messiah.

Also, when he was blinded earlier from a blow of one of Mr. Smith's dominated "clones", he got called "The Blind Messias", although he could still see...in his mind.

Messiahs in fiction and fantasy - Narnia

Christian apologist C. S. Lewis wrote the fantasy series The Chronicles of Narnia, which deals heavily with Christian beliefs (Compare with The Lord of the Rings, above, by fellow Inkling J. R. R. Tolkien).

The talking lion Aslan is the Narnian version of Christ; He created the world, describes himself as the "son" of a mysterious god figure called the Emperor-over-the-Sea, willingly sacrifices his own life so that a traitorous human child can avoid punishment for his sin, and is Resurrected.

Messiahs in fiction and fantasy - Sailor Moon

In the shōjo manga and subsequent anime Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon by Naoko Takeuchi, the main-character Usagi Tsukino discovers that she is the reincarnation of Princess Serenity, the princess of an ancient Moon-kingdom. She adopts the identity Sailor Moon and is portrayed as the "Chosen One" in her many incarnations. In fact, during many times throughout the story, Usagi is referred to as the Messiah, or the Senshi who brings light, peace, healing, and hope and all things good. Consequently, being Sailor Moon, Princess Serenity (Whom is said to be descended from the ancient Moon goddess Selene), the future Neo-Queen Serenity, and the more distant future Sailor Cosmos associates her with the feminine nature and power of the Moon. Along with Usagi being the Messiah of Light, there is Mistress 9, the Messiah of Silence. She partakes Hotaru' body as seen in the series.

Messiahs in fiction and fantasy - Star Trek

In the various incarnations of Star Trek, created by Gene Roddenberry, there have been a number of messianic figures, applied to various cultures.

The Vulcans revere a man named Surak, a philosopher who helped save the Vulcan people from their violent nature by teaching them how to embrace logic. After his death (from radiation poisoning resulting from atomic wars), Surak presevered his katra (in essence his anima) in an artifact that would be found in 2137 by a man named Syrran, who would later place the katra in the mind of Jonathan Archer via a mind-meld. Through Surak's katra, Archer was able to locate an artifact known as the Kir'shara, a holographic tome containing Surak's original writings.

The Klingons revere a man known as Kahless the Unforgettable, who was renouned as the greatest warrior in the history of the Klingon race. It was Kahless who forged the code of honorable combat that all Klingon warriors are expected to follow. Kahless was known for his prowess in battle. According to legend, Kahless forged the first bat'leth from molten lava, battled his brother for twelve days and nights over a matter of honor and single-handedly defeated a 500-strong horde. It was prophesied that Kahless would someday return from Sto-Vo-Kor. In The Next Generation episode Rightful Heir, the prophecy was fulfilled (in a way). A group of Klingon scientists created a clone of Kahless from dried blood from the ancient dagger. Later, even thought the truth of Kahless' nature was revealed, he was appointed as a figurehead Emperor of the the Klingon Empire (with the true authority of state remaining with the High Council).

According to Ferengi beliefs, Gint the first Grand Nagus, who wrote the Rules of Acquisition and unified the competing Ferengi Commerce Zones into the great Ferengi Alliance, resides over the Divine Treasury, where Ferengi who led successful lives devoted to the acquisition of profit go when they die.

In Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Starfleet officer Benjamin Sisko takes command of space station Deep Space Nine (Formerly the Cardassian mining station Terok Nor) orbiting the planet Bajor. The Bajoran people herald him as their Emissary to the Prophets, their gods, when he finds the Bajoran wormhole, which the Bajorans refer to as the "Celestial Temple", in which they believe the Prophets reside. Throughout the series, events take place that prove him to indeed be the Emissary, and in the end, he sacrifices himself, in true messianic tradition, to stop the evil Pah-Wraiths, false-Prophets cast out of the Celestial Temple by the Prophets, whose desire is to burn the entire universe.

Messiahs in fiction and fantasy - Star Wars

In Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace a young junkyard slave, Anakin Skywalker, is discovered by Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn and his padawan, Obi Wan Kenobi, who (mainly Qui-Gon) believes him to be the "Chosen One" who is prophesied to bring balance to the Force and destroy the Sith. Qui-Gon Jinn is convinced on this fact when Anakin's mother reveals to him that Anakin has no father and was possibly conceived by the Force itself. This fact explains why Anakin has the highest midi-chlorian count of any lifeform. Also, the coming of the Sith'ari, an ancient Sith prophecy, became somewhat well known in Darth Revan's Sith Empire. The Sith'ari was said to be a perfect being who would rise to power and bring balance to the Force. According to prophecy, the Sith'ari would rise up and destroy the Sith, but in the process would return to lead the Sith and make them stronger than ever before. It is believed that the prophecy of the Sith Sith'ari and the prophecies of the Jedi Chosen One refer to the same individual; namely Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader, who made the Sith stronger than ever by wiping out the Jedi Knights and assisting Darth Sidious in his rise to power, but then destroyed the Sith when he betrayed and killed Sidious, sacrificing himself in the process, thus fulfilling the ancient prophecy of the Sith'ari.

Throughout the rest of the saga, Skywalker grows and is trained as a Jedi himself, but falls to the dark side of the Force and becomes Darth Vader. It doesn't look like he's the chosen one, but eventually he does destroy the Sith however, killing Emperor Palpatine and finding his own redemption in the light side of the Force through his son, Luke Skywalker. This completes the prophecy of the Chosen One as the newly redeemed Anakin Skywalker brings balance to the force, being the actual Messiah of Star Wars.

Much of the storyline follows a biblical parallel. Anakin was supposedly born by will of the Force in much the same way the Virgin Mary gave birth to Christ by the will of God to be the savior of man.

Messiahs in fiction and fantasy - Sonic the Hedgehog

In the Archie Comics production of Sonic the Hedgehog the character Miles "Tails" Prower is rumored to be the Chosen One of the universe, and in recent editions has been shown to be able to transform into a much larger, stronger version of himself when the time is right.

Messiahs in fiction and fantasy - Superman

The classic American superhero, Superman, came to be written as a messiah figure by no later than the 1980's. References to Superman as a messiah-figure were made subtly but clearly in many DC comics, this trend has slightly increased in the last few years. Many Superman-writers now make much of the fact that Jor-El (Superman's biological father) sacrificed his own life, allowing his only son to be saved. (An propable inversion of the Christian mythology, in which God sacrifices his only son, although not voluntarily); this last son of Krypton is sent to Earth to be a figure of leadership and hope, a clearly messianic message. Some versions of the Superman story (both comics, and the recent Smallville television series) have Jor-El desire that Kal-El (Superman's Kryptonian name) set up his own kingdom on Earth, to lead mankind in a new era (Another clearly messianic message.) Depending on the author of the story, such an intended kingdom is usually threatening to the existing human social order. In most versions of the Superman story, Superman rejects his primary identification as a Kryptonian, and sees himself as a man; He views Clark Kent as the actual person, and "Superman" as merely a public persona he adopts.

Messiahs in fiction and fantasy - The Terminator

In the film The Terminator (1984), John Connor is the future leader of the human Tech-Com resistance in the war against machines. He was trained by his mother Sarah Connor as a young man to carry out such a task. Sarah was aware that he would come to such a position based on the testimony of Kyle Reese, a man sent back in time by John Connor himself (from the future) to protect Sarah from being killed by a cyborg (also from the future) before John was born. As many messianic figures have unusual births, John was conceived by Kyle and Sarah when they met in the year 1984. Therefore, the paradox of time travel comes into play in his birth. As a teenager, a cyborg was sent again in the past to kill John himself in Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991). Another cyborg was sent by the adult John, from the future, to protect him. The latter cyborg was ultimately successful. In the final installment in the Terminator films, Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2003), John was again hunted down by a cyborg from the future. A similar cyborg as his protector in the second film is sent to protect him and his to-be wife, Katherine Brewster. As an adult, John Connor is assassinated by a T-800 Model 101 cyborg in the year 2032.

Messiahs in fiction and fantasy - Warhammer 40000

The British miniatures game, Warhammer 40,000, features a God-Emperor of humanity, not unlike the one from Dune (see above). The Emperor is immortal, has power over hyperspace travel, and is likely the only force that can save humankind from eminent extinction. Though he was nearly killed by one of his sons in a vast rebellion, he gave his life (or at least the better half of it) to preserve the Imperium.

Messiahs in fiction and fantasy - Wheel of Time

Robert Jordan's The Wheel of Time series, as the name indicates, deals with the idea of time as an eternal cycle of seven ages, neither beginning nor ending. At one focus of this cycle stands a messianic figure known in the series as the Dragon Reborn. His name and title may vary through the ages, but in at least two of the seven ages he plays an important role in determining the outcome of the battle against evil. At the end of what is currently known as the Second Age, Lews Therin, styled The Dragon, led the battle against the forces of the Dark One, the personification of evil. He succeeded in resealing the Dark One's prison at Shayol Ghul, but in the process the Dark One tainted the male half of the One Power. This caused all male channelers to go on a rampage, including The Dragon, who killed his entire family and earned himself the moniker "Kinslayer". Lews Therin and all other male Aes Sedai died, but not before causing extreme damage to their surroundings, reshaping the map of the world. This is later known as the Breaking of the World.

In the Third Age, in which the series takes place, the Dragon Reborn is expected with both hope and fear, as it is prophecied that he will save the world, but also break it once again. Rand al'Thor is eventually determined to be the reincarnation of Lews Therin by fulfillment of various prophecies, not the least of which is removing the sword Callandor from the Stone of Tear. In addition to being the Dragon Reborn of the continental peoples, he fulfills the prophecies of He Who Comes With The Dawn of the Aiel, and the Coramoor of the Atha'an Miere. Further prophecy seems to indicate that his death in the last battle, Tarmon Gai'don, will free mankind from the reemerging shadow, atleast for a time. The Dragon will presumably be reincarnated once again when the cycle begins anew, but that's yet to see...

Messiahs in fiction and fantasy - Xenogears

In the story of the game Xenogears, the male "Contact" and female "Anti-type" are dual consciousnesses perpetually continued over millennia by the "Wave Existence," a waveform contained by a monolithic device called the "Zohar". These two characters fill co-messianic roles, as "the Power of God" and "the Will of God" respectively. The Contact and Anti-Type are born, live, and die in five lifetimes in five separate bodies over a 10000-year period, each always within the other's lifetime. The story's Nisan sect religion actively venerates the Contact and Anti-Type, believing them to be two one-winged angels who must cooperate with one another in order to fly. In all attested incarnations before the fifth incarnation, the Anti-Type is always named "Elhaym", but prefers the familiar name "Elly"; At the end of Elly's life, she always selflessly sacrifices herself to save others, with each act of salvation being greater than before. During the time of the game's story, Fei Fong Wong and Elhaym Van Houten are the fifth incarnations. At the end, the fifth Elly attempts to sacrifice herself again, this time to save the entire planet from destruction, but is rescued from death by Fei piloting his gear Xenogears. For more details, see Xenogears. But, there are also many parallels between Fei and Elly, and Adam and Eve, as well as between Miang and Lilith.

Messiahs in fiction and fantasy - Yu-Gi-Oh!

In the Waking the Dragons arc in Yu-Gi-Oh!, Yugi Muto, Seto Kaiba, and Joey Wheeler are referred to as the three chosen duelists by Legendary Knights Timaeus, Critias, and Hermos while they release Yugi, Kaiba, and Joey's souls from getting absorbed by the Great Leviathan. This all happened when the Pharaoh defeated Dartz to end Dartz' plan to destroy the earth by gathering souls of mankind and beast with the power of the Orichalcos to give the Great Leviathan the power it needed to destroy mankind. 10,000 years before that, The Battle of Atlantis took place between Dartz, his Orichalcos soldiers, and the Great Leviathan and Ironheart, Chris, Skye, an army of Duel Monsters, and the Legendary Dragons (who used to be the Legendary Knights until the Pharaoh released them), Timaeus, Critias, and Hermos. Dartz was trying to destroy mankind with the power of the Orichalcos, and Ironheart (his father) tried to save it with the help of the three dragons. The battle had neither side victorious, and the Legendary Dragons were sealed away in the world of Duel Monsters.Then, 10,000 years later when mankind was in trouble again, Yugi, Kaiba, and Joey were called forth to release the three dragons to save mankind once again.

See also

• Chosen People
• Messiah
• Messiahs in fact and real life

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