Angels are celestials of varying humanoid-like forms that originate from any of the celestial planes. They are traditionally of good alignment and serve a deity.^[1]

Appearance

In the Aramán cosmos

At least one angel, kept captive by House Halovar, was 30 feet tall, had claws, and had several rows of teeth like a shark, but they weren't pointed teeth. The angel had a shining body and its bodily fluids glowed. The wings were plucked.^[2][3]

Another angel was remembered as having the wings of a nightingale.^[4]

In the Exandria cosmos

Most angels have white or gold wings.^[5] Solars were known to use 12-foot-long bows made of pure celestial gold.^[6]

Angels serving specific deities can manifest physical traits similar to them. Examples of this are the blue skin and/or silver hair of the angels serving the Moonweaver,^[7][8] or the raven-like black wings of the angels serving the Matron of Death.^[9]

History

History in the Aramán cosmos

Olbalad, the Sister of Mists, served as an Angel of Death or psychopomp for the halflings.^[10]

The angel who was, as noted above, kept captive by House Halovar, was responsible for that family's innate magic; he was the grandfather of Wicander Halovar. His luminous blood was also tapped to be used for various purposes, such as ritual magic and to create glowing tattoos; the source of this substance, called Filament, was kept secret but all from a few in House Halovar.^[2]

History in the Exandria cosmos

Origins

The most widely accepted tales of the Founding, as recorded in the earliest histories held by Vasselheim, hold that "sentinels of order" arrived from a distant celestial realm, and the Prime Deities implored them for aid, including to help fight the demons who had emerged from the Abyss.^[11] Some of these celestial sentinels—not specifically identified as angels—who had helped fight the demon hordes, fell into tyranny and hate, and forged new hells as devils under the leadership of a fallen angel.^[12]

Asmodeus, the Lord of the Hells, who in actuality left the realm of Tengar along with other creatures of boundless possibility, and began to adopt some of his form even before arriving on Exandria,^[13] has claimed that when he arrived on the world, he was a celestial of light, but also that the gods were his kin.^[14]

By contrast with the above accounts, one angel spoke of gods like Corellon creating angels to fight for the good, including by helping to seal the Betrayer Gods. This angel recalled fighting for the length of the Calamity up to that point.^[15]

Age of Arcanum

In the Age of Arcanum, the city-state of Aeor engineered Aeorian hunters and a disease called frigid woe to fight, among other creatures, angels.^[16]

In the Calamity, many angels were slain, and those who weren't were often wounded.^[17] The black-winged angels of the Raven Queen were devoured by Tharizdun, and though they were freed at the mad god's banishment, they returned as mortal kenku.^[9] Several celestial followers of the Moonweaver martyred themselves to seal away the temple near Bazzoxan that served as prison for the Laughing Hand, a mad champion of Torog; they did so knowing they weren't able to permanently kill the monster once known as Ganix, so their only option was to lock him away.^[18]

Another of Sehanine's angels, a deva called Perigee, fought alongside Alyxian, but she was destroyed during Gruumsh's attack on Cael Morrow.^[19]

In the closing days of the Calamity, an angel smote an entity made of shadows in Snowgrave Pass, and then noticed a tower built by the army of the Strife Emperor. The celestial asked the soldiers inside if they believed in a world of freedom for everyone, and judged them based on their responses (both verbal and internal); only one of them, Gubbling, survived the experience (allegedly because he believed in those values in his heart), but the rest fell, their eyes scorched by the angel's radiance.^[20]

Era of Reclamation

After being re-formed at the Moonweaver's side, Perigee looked for Alyxian for centuries, until she found her way to the Netherdeep, where she was trapped by its corrupting influence and fell into despair. In this state she will attack those who she considers to be bothering the Apotheon's dreams and those who think they can take him on, but if she is defeated, she is cleansed of her corruption and returns to the Moonweaver's side.^[19] If that happens, and Alyxian later threatens the world, Sehanine may send Perigee to help the adventurers who freed her.^[21]

In early 812 PD, as Vecna's forces attacked Vasselheim, groups of clerics summoned devas to fight in defense of the city. A dozen such devas, summoned by one temple, fought against more than twice as many gloomstalkers, only for both groups to be swiped from the sky by Vecna's reanimated earth titan.^[22]

The apogee solstice of 843 PD caused several adventurers to be unwittingly teleported to the vicinity of Hearthdell. There they wound up in a violent conflict with a local temple to the Dawnfather, whose priestess, Flameguide Kiro, summoned a Dawnborn Angel to the temple's defense. One of the adventurers, Prism Grimpoppy, summoned a barlgura to bring down the angel and slay it.^[23]

Weeks later, during the preparations of the Exandrian Accord before attacking the Red Center, several celestials (mostly angelic) appeared through portals to fight alongside the mortal forces. During the battle in the Hellcatch Valley, an army of devils and other fiendish forces joined them to attack the Ruidians and the Ruby Vanguard, but the angels tolerated them since they had a common goal.^[24] When the battle was over, both heavenly and infernal forces started departing, saying ""The next fight we bring to them, to Issylra, to finish what they might not be able to. Come."^[25]

Soon after that, when Bells Hells had just defeated and contained Predathos, the party made for the portal to Lake Umamu. When they arrived, they ran into an army of diverse temporary allies pouring through the portal in the opposite direction. They spoke with General Okirai, who was flanked by two angelic beings, one of whom determined at a glance that Imogen Temult contained the god-eater. The angels looked to Okirai for instruction, but they didn't know what to do, since they didn't think they could contain Imogen as the Vessel. They eventually decided to escort Bells Hells back to the walls of Vasselheim. As Bells Hells approached the portal, they saw devils uncomfortably forced into close proximity with more angels.^[26]

Related races

Exandria cosmos

According to the chronicle of Vasselheim, many devils and at least one lord of the Hells were originally angels.^[27]

The kenku, as mentioned above, are descended from what used to be angels.^[9]

Aasimar have angelic ancestors and are guided by angels.^[28]

Types of angels

In the Exandria cosmos

There are three known types of angels that can be found on different planes and serving different deities:

• Devas
• Planetars
• Solars

Other types of angels have been depicted serving specific deities:

• Angels of death, serving the Raven Queen^[29]
• Dawnborn Angels, serving Pelor^[30]

Known angels

In Aramán

• Aetheon, a 30-foot-tall angel, held captive by House Halovar; Wicander Halovar's grandfather^[2]
• Olbalad, the Sister of Mists, psychopomp for the halflings in the afterlife^[10]
• Unnamed night angel, a spirit of song with the wings of a nightingale who ferried the souls of the elves to their afterlife in the Garden of the Spirit, a realm created for them by the Green Mother. The night angel was destroyed during the Shapers' War, and a different celestial associated to the same goddess used their essence to create the Stone of Nightsong, an artifact with the same psychopomp-like purpose.^[31][32]

In Exandria

• Acastriel, a solar, lieutenant of the Dawnfather who betrayed the Prime Deities and warned the mages of Aeor of the gods' plan to destroy the Factorum Malleus.
• Eclipse, a deva hiding in Bronbog, Tal'Dorei.^[33]
• Garathran, a planetar who abandoned his god during the divine truce to destroy Aeor.^[34]
• Perigee, a deva allied with the Apotheon during the Calamity.^[35]
• Samliel, Reani's angelic guide.^[36]
• Symphior, a corrupted planetar.^[37][38]
• Xalicas, a solar who served as Corellon's right hand in the Calamity but was grievously wounded and left behind in the Greying Wildlands.

Trivia

Exandria

• After Vax'ildan became the Champion of Ravens, his creature type changed to Celestial. He was sometimes called an angel, but as an ascended champion of his goddess he was not part of the classical hierarchy.^[39]
• Even though the Raven Queen's first angels were cursed by Tharizdun, since then she has created new angels of death who serve her by, among other tasks, chasing fleeing souls and summoning creatures to aid them in that duty.^[29]
• If an angel is destroyed, their deity can re-form them at their side.^[8]

References

1. ↑ See D&D: Monster Manual (2014), 5^th ed., p. 15.
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1 2.2} See "Broken Wing" (4x02) at 4:31:29.  See also "The Snipping of Shears" (4x03) at 20:29.
3. ↑ CR Cooldown C4 E002 at 1:55 (subscription required) (Transcript).
4. ↑ See "The Fall of Thjazi Fang" (4x01) at 4:24:36.
5. ↑ See "Where the Cards Fall" (1x75) at 3:02:59.
6. ↑ See "Excelsior" (E3x01) at 3:19:04.
7. ↑ See "Traveler Con" (2x108) at 2:18:37.
8. ↑ ^{8.0 8.1} See Call of the Netherdeep, pp. 168–169.
9. ↑ ^{9.0 9.1 9.2} See Explorer's Guide to Wildemount, p. 176.
10. ↑ ^{10.0 10.1} See "Broken Wing" (4x02) at 2:45:50.
11. ↑ See Tal'Dorei Campaign Setting Reborn, pp. 13–14.
12. ↑ See Explorer's Guide to Wildemount, p. 12.
13. ↑ See "Downfall: Part One" (3x99) from 0:13:11 through 0:42:35.
14. ↑ See "Bitterness and Dread" (E3x02) from 4:11:30 through 4:15:45.
15. ↑ See "Downfall: Part Two" (3x100) at 2:52:36.
16. ↑ See Explorer's Guide to Wildemount, p. 125. See also p. 282.
17. ↑ See Explorer's Guide to Wildemount, p. 33.
18. ↑ See "Beneath Bazzoxan" (2x66) from 4:09:25 through 4:10:37.
19. ↑ ^{19.0 19.1} See Call of the Netherdeep, pp. 168–169. See also p. 7.
20. ↑ See "Mirror and Key" (E4x03) at 0:44:57.
21. ↑ See Call of the Netherdeep, p. 186.
22. ↑ See "Vecna, the Ascended" (1x114) at 3:48:23.
23. ↑ See Crisis of Faith.
24. ↑ See "Assault on the Malleus Key" (3x113) at 1:07:26.  The band of devils arrived at "Assault on the Malleus Key" (3x113)4:25:23.
25. ↑ See "Fight for the Bloody Bridge" (3x114) at 4:35:57.
26. ↑ See "The Red End" (3x120) from 4:36:28 through 4:44:51.
27. ↑ See Explorer's Guide to Wildemount, pp. 11–12.
28. ↑ See Explorer's Guide to Wildemount, p. 167.
29. ↑ ^{29.0 29.1} See Tal'Dorei Campaign Setting Reborn, p. 214.
30. ↑ See "Crisis of Faith" (3x61) at 1:44:14.
31. ↑ See "The Fall of Thjazi Fang" (4x01) at 4:23:03.
32. ↑ CR Cooldown C4 E001 at 9:17 (subscription required) (Transcript).
33. ↑ See Tal'Dorei Campaign Setting Reborn, p. 110.
34. ↑ See "Downfall: Part Two" (3x100) at 2:48:00.
35. ↑ See Call of the Netherdeep, p. 168.
36. ↑ See "Manifold Morals" (2x74) at 24:38.
37. ↑ See "The Mines of the Many" (1x98) at 3:16:45.  Matt describes Symphior as appearing like a "cherub" with "angel-like wings".
38. ↑ See "The Mines of the Many" (1x98) at 4:22:43.  Matt notes that Symphior was a twisted version of a planetar, a type of celestial.
39. ↑ See Tal'Dorei Campaign Setting Reborn, pp. 274–275.

Images:

1. ↑ From back to front: a solar, a planetar and a deva, by Jeremy Jarvis from Monster Manual v.3.5, p. 12. This page contains unofficial Fan Content permitted under the Wizards of the Coast Fan Content Policy. Not approved/endorsed by Wizards. Portions of the materials used are property of Wizards of the Coast. ©Wizards of the Coast LLC.
2. ↑ Depiction of Perigee corrupted with ruidium, by Nikki Dawes from Critical Role: Call of the Netherdeep, p. 169. Used with permission. This page contains unofficial Fan Content permitted under the Wizards of the Coast Fan Content Policy. Not approved/endorsed by Wizards. Portions of the materials used are property of Wizards of the Coast. ©Wizards of the Coast LLC.
3. ↑ Official art of the Dawnborn Angel, by Elisa Serio (source). This file is a copyrighted work. Its use in this article is asserted to qualify as fair use of the material under United States copyright law.