History Main / BrokenAngel

** "Rainbow Dash loses/hurts her wings" is one of the single most common [[MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic MLP:FiM]] fanfic plotlines, right up there with "Twilight messes up a spell".

Contrast ButYourWingsAreBeautiful. No real overlap with OneWingedAngel, except if the being still has enough juice to enter a SuperMode which prominently features their one good wing. Not to be confused with but similar to BrokenBird.

That is the Broken Angel, a fantastic creature that has been crippled in their fantastic. This can take many forms: the titular [[OurAngelsAreDifferent angel]] with broken wings, broken horned {{unicorn}}s, newly mortal [[OurElvesAreDifferent elves]] (or any other immortal being), magicless wizards, robots whose body is centimeters from going offline, etc. When played for drama, this is usually used to evoke deep sadness. This is a [[WhatMeasureIsANonUnique unique]], beautiful creature that has been cruelly torn asunder. Not even killed, but [[ToThePain left alive to suffer being flawed]] after having been perfect or at least "the way I was meant to be." As you can imagine, a ''lot'' of {{Fallen Hero}}es have this as a backstory.

* PeterSBeagle's ''Literature/TheLastUnicorn'' which features the titular unicorn being turned into a human girl to save her life. Shmendrick the magician is very happy he managed to do this because his magic worked and he saved her life. Molly, who is a bit more GenreSavvy in terms of unicorns, is horrified:

* In ''Skellig'', the titular character is a weak, arthritic WingedHumanoid found in the back of the protagonist's garage and is heavily implied to be a real angel.

* In ''Skellig'', the titular character is a weak, arthritic man with [[WingedHumanoid wings]] found in the back of the protagonist's garage and is heavily implied to be a real angel.

* In [[Skellig ''Skellig'']], the titular character is a weak, arthritic man with [[WingedHumanoid wings]] found in the back of the protagonist's garage and is heavily implied to be a real angel.

** Heck, most of NewWho shows the Doctor as a broken veteran of the Time War, and the last of his race. In the 'The Girl in the Fireplace,' Reniette calls him her Lonely Angel.

** "Rainbow Dash loses/hurts her wings" is the single most common [[MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic MLP:FiM]] fanfic plotlines, right up there with "Twilight messes up a spell".

* The trope codifier might as well be Peter S. Beagle's ''TheLastUnicorn'', which features the titular unicorn being turned into a human girl to save her life. Shmendrick the magician is very happy he managed to do this because his magic worked and he saved her life. Molly, who is a bit more GenreSavvy in terms of unicorns, is horrified:

** The entire rest of the story could be seen as a rather complex analysis of this trope.Indeed. The unicorn-turned-human eventually comes to believe that being a human is more like being CursedWithAwesome after falling in love with someone -- something that unicorns can't experience. Unfortunately, she still has a quest to finish and abandoning it to live as a human isn't really an option.

* In ''TheLastUnicorn'' Amalthea becomes one after being transformed into a human. Rather than being pleased that her life is no longer in danger (as the antagonist is seeking a unicorn, not a human girl), she's tormented by the feeling that her mortal body is dying around her, cell by cell, and begs to be changed back.

* There are a lot of ''GoodOmens'' fanfics in which Hell/Heaven catch up with Crowley/Aziraphale and tick them off for the whole averting-the-Apocalypse debacle. In most cases, it's [[BodyHorror fairly brutal]]. It often seems to involve their wings, in a hideously painful way.

* [[{{Exalted}} The Demon Realm of Malfeas]] is what happens when you do this to a couple dozen [[EldritchAbomonation world making titans]] and stuff them inside of one another. May [[OurDemonsAreDifferent demons]] (who are the [[AnatomyOfTheSoul component souls of their masters]]) also have a distinct impression of this.

* In the first GhostInTheShell movie, [[spoiler:Motoko]] takes on an enemy one number to big for her and ends up ruining her mechanic body by [[HeroicRROD overexerting herself]], leaving her limbs shattered. Helpless, half-naked and unable to move, she makes for quite a sad sight.

-> And what would you wish of me, mortal? Speak your mind and leave me to my memories of paradise.
-->-- '''Trias, the Betrayer''', ''PlanescapeTorment''

* In ''The Last Unicorn'' Amalthea becomes one after being transformed into a human. Rather than being pleased that her life is no longer in danger (as the antagonist is seeking a unicorn, not a human girl), she's tormented by the feeling that her mortal body is dying around her, cell by cell, and begs to be changed back.

** ...[[UnreliableNarrator Of course, that's their version]].

* In the "Cigarette Burns" episode of ''{{Masters of Horror}}'', the main character encounters a pale, gaunt, vaguely male figure with healed stumps at its shoulderblades. It is strongly implied that this was the angel that was mutilated in ''La fin absolue du monde'', the short film that the protagonist seeks.

* Farrago in ''{{Jack}}'' spends quite some time as one.

* In one episode of ''TinyToonAdventures'', [[CloudCuckooLander Gogo Dodo]] asks Buster, Babs, and Plucky rescue his friends from a CircusOfFear. Said friends include a Dragon, a Pegasus, and a Sphynx. The poor creatures are being magically tortured to perform and there's a risk they will disappear forever if they don't return to Wackyland in time.
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-> '''Trias, the Betrayer''', ''PlanescapeTorment''