Cool, but not rude
The Archangel Raphael is one of the seven Archangels mentioned in The Bible, specifically in the Book of Tobit (which not all religious groups consider to be Canon). He is seen as a healer and guide, acting as an assistant to Death, as his Traveler persona, on some occasions. He is also seen in the Islamic faith as the trumpet blower for death, replacing Archangel Gabriel. Along with Gabriel and Michael, Raphael is one of the three archangels recognised by the Catholic Church, while Michael is the only archangel named in Biblical books that everyone considers canon.note
Raphael is associated with the element of water, and one of the most common images of him according to Wikipedia is of him holding a water flask. As water is associated with healing and life, it is fitting that he is the patron saint of doctors. He's sometimes also associated with air and is depicted with a bow and arrow. According to some sources, he is also a regent of the sun.
Subtrope of Celestial Paragons and Archangels. See his brethren in Archangel Azrael, Archangel Michael, Archangel Gabriel, Archangel Uriel, and (possibly) the Fallen Angel version in Archangel Lucifer, aka Satan. Also take a look at Our Angels Are Different. Contrast Asmodeus, his Arch-Enemy in the source material. See also The Medic.
Examples:
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Anime and Manga
- Angel Sanctuary: He is the greatest healer alive and the only one with the power to truly bring back the dead. He's also a giant sleaze. (At first anyway)
- A Certain Magical Index: Raphael is the patron of Terra of the Left and the source of his powers. Interestingly, in this series Raphael is associated with the element of Earth rather than Water (which would be the field of Archangel Gabriel).
- High School D×D: Name-dropped by Issei, but has yet to full appear in the story. He's one of the Four Great Seraphim, the Leaders of Heaven (due to God being dead and all that).
- King Of Cards: Raphael is one of the four archangels in the card game.
- Seven Heavenly Virtues: A Gender Flip version of Raphael is the Angel of Temperance, but she doesn't really live up to her title, since she overindulges in food, especially sweets. That said, she is one of the nicest and most levelheaded angels in the series and helps a man reach his dream of becoming a pastry chef.
- Shaman King: Raphael is the guardian ghost of John Denbat.
- That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime: Raphael is the name of one the Seven Virtue Series Ultimate Skills, specifically "Wisdom King Raphael". Rimuru's own "Great Sage" Unique Skill evolved into Raphael during Rimuru's ascension to Demon Lord status, which boosted its analysis and data-gathering abilities much higher befitting the archangel's association with being a guiding force. Rimuru himself is also heavily connected to water (as it was one of the first offensive abilities he mastered) and to healing (by virtue of creating extremely potent magical healing potions, a godly Healing Factor, and eventually straight-up the ability to heal fatal wounds of others and bring the dead back to life under proper conditions). This also leads to Raphael accelerating on its path to gaining its own ego until Rimuru renames her "Ciel", allowing her to become her own separate existence from him.
Fan Works
- Codex Equus: The alicorn deity Healing Dusk is the setting's counterpart of the Archangel Raphael, to go along with Ascending Dawn being Archangel Michael, Midday Morning being Archangel Gabriel, and Morning Star being Satan. His status as a healer and guide corresponds to Raphael being such, and his being a god of water corresponds to Raphael being symbolically connected to water as well.
- Earth-27: Raphael is an archangel known for his brilliant peacock-patterned wings, his stern demeanor, and his healing abilities, which are legendary even among angels. Although he was once gracious and loving, Raphael has lost his faith in Humanity and has turned his focus inward to improving the Heavenly Host and his own station. As the Keeper of Laws, he is often considered to be the third in Heaven's chain of command, beneath the Presence and Michael. Raphael once held the title of Metatron, over two thousand years ago, and longs for the day he might be restored to that title.
- Good Omens:
- A popular theory in the Tumblr community (especially after the release of the series) is that Crowley was Raphael before he sauntered vaguely downward.
- Manchester Lost: Raphael is Aziraphale's adopted father. Kind, loving and a little bit ditzy, nevertheless, do not threaten Aziraphale if you plan on living. He's still an Archangel, and he will show you why.
- How Can It This Be
: Michael has to explain to the Spice Girls what happened. He wears a court uniform upon his appearance and very nice to them.
- Sonic X: Dark Chaos: Raphael is referenced as one of four Archangels (himself, Gabriel, Michael, and Tephiroth) who lead the military forces of the Angel Federation. Because of his pacifistic nature, he is in charge of civil engineering and the federal economy.
Film
- Gabriel (2007): Known for his leadership skills, the Archangel Raphael is impeded from fighting the war in purgatory only after he receives a near fatal bullet wound.
Literature
- A Batalha do Apocalipse: Rapahel, God's Healing, was one of the five archangels that were created before the universe to help God fight Tehom, the Darkness. He was kind and honest, and left the known heavens after his brothers started killing humans.
- Damiano: Raphael appears as a major character in opposition to Lucifer.
- Dora Wilk Series: One of the leaders of the Archangel Council, Raphael fulfills his role of healer, as well as story's Big Bad.
- I, Lucifer: Raphael appears, along with Michael and Gabriel. Since Lucifier is narrating, he doesn't receive much in the way of characterisation.
- Paradise Lost: Raphael appears to re-warn Adam not to eat the fruit. It doesn't work.
- To Reign in Hell: Raphael and Michael help Yaweh as he oversees all of Heaven.
- Shadowmancer has Raphael as a misanthropic angel who goes by the alias Abram Rickards and who joins the protagonists in the last part of the book.
- Small Favor: Raphael is mentioned in passing by Mab. He is referred to as the Demon Binder, and Lab says that he likes to take matters into his own hands. In addition, Lasciel recognizes his style in the wards on Michael's safehouse.
- Wars of the Realm: Raphael holds the position of second-in-command in the angelic order of Messengers. He only appears once, delivering a special message straight from Elohim to the warrior angel Validus on earth.
- Women Of The Apocalypse: In the first novella, the archangel is charged to help Alexandra defeat Pestilence.
Live-Action TV
- Criminal Minds: In "The Big Game/Revelations", the killer is a man with three different personalities, one of whom is supposed to be the Archangel Raphael. This personality is a very bad man.
- Dominion: It's been confirmed Raphael exists, although he's yet to appear, with Michael stating that he's declared neutrality in the war between humanity and Gabriel's forces. He is also mentioned as being Uriel's twin being created at the same time.
- HEX: A particularly unsympathetic version appears as Ella's mentor. He acts completely ruthlessly towards her and everybody else, and gives rather creepy proto-"pick-up artist" romantic advice to Leon, before well and truly putting himself on the "evil" side by trying to rape her. She grabs him painfully by the balls, and he subsides before disappearing from the plot with no explanation.
- Supernatural: Raphael is one of the four archangels. Not as important as his brothers Michael, Gabriel and Lucifer at first, he becomes one of the main villains of season 6, where he wants to restart the Apocalypse.
- Touched by an Angel has a Raphael, played by Alexis Cruz (eventually better known as Skaara.) It's unknown, though, if he is the Raphael.
- The Watcher: Raphael cuts off his wings for a human named Sarah, who dies, leaving Raphael to wander as a Fallen Angel.
- Xena: Warrior Princess: Raphael is a good friend of Michael's, with whom he watched over the other angels of Heaven.
Mythology and Religion
- The Bible of course, with the Book of Tobit and its adaptations (as "Tobias and the Angel").
- One of the four main archangels in Islam (known in Arabic as Israfil), he is made reference to in The Qur'an, though not by name, as a trumpet angel, referring to his role as the angel who will sound the trumpet signaling the beginning of the end of the world. In other Islamic literature, he is given more detail as an archangel of music and healing.
Tabletop Games
- Anima: Beyond Fantasy: Raphael is one of the seven Beryls and female as all but one of them. She is equalled with the Mother Nature, encarnating life and — of course — nature.
- Engel: The archangel Raphael sends his angelic servants to heal the wounded and support the fight of the Angelitische Kirche against the demons send by the Lord of Flies. They have healing powers depending on their rank and age from healing minor wounds to regrow severed limbs and reviving the death. They discovered that it is possible to use their powers in reverse, enabling the most powerful of Raphaels Angels to turn their enemies to dust with a mere touch. And still the angels send by Gabriel refer to themselves as Deathangels...
- In Nomine: The Archangel Raphael is prominently missing from the ranks of Heaven. Canonically, Raphael (the Elohite Archangel of Knowledge) died in 1008 CE in the battle against Legion, the Demon Prince of Corruption. However, a sidebar in one of the supplements hints that there may be more to the story, that Raphael did not die outright but instead suffered the loss of all her Celestial forces to became a Remnant — effectively a Corporeal "ghost" of a former angel — and that the amnesiac Remnant became the Renaissance artist Raphael. A rumor among the demons instead claims that Kronos, the Demon Prince of Fate, collected Raphael's Remnant and used it create another Prince, Vapula; the reasoning goes that they have thematically similar domains (Knowledge and Technology), they are of matching Choir and Band (Habbalah like Vapula are fallen Elohim), and Vapula came around shortly after Raphael died.
Video Games
- Enigmatis: In the second game of the trilogy, the Detective learns from the prisoner in the catacombs of Ravenwood Park that when the Archdemon Asmodai and his Reapers ravaged the world, humanity pleaded to the heavens for a saviour — and God responded to their prayers by sending Raphael to slay the Archdemon. Raphael fulfilled the task given to him, weakening the Reapers greatly, but as he was weakened by the battle, they managed to turn Raphael into a Sealed Good in a Can, who in turn was imprisoning Asmodai as the Reapers began fighting among themselves, slaying each other so that eventually, the last survivor would become Asmodai's new host. In the climax of the third game, Raphael is freed from his imprisonment and, with the help of the Detective, destroys Asmodai once more before giving her a grateful bow and returning to the heavens.
- Granblue Fantasy: Raphael appears as a loyal follower of Lucifer, who is the strongest of the original Primal Beasts and their benevolent leader. He is the primarch of wind who exists to regulate the wind element, keeping it in balance with his power. He also has exceptional healing abilities, being able to heal people and primals alike with his magic. Unlike the other primarchs, not much is known about him due to his reticent personality, though his NPC profile describes him as wise. He tends to keep his distance from the other primarchs, leaving them in the dark about what he's thinking.
- Puzzle & Dragons has Raphael as part of the Archangel pantheon in the Rare Egg Machine. Ironically, he's the Light Attribute of the group. He's even sub-typed as Healer, and even his Active skill not only turns your entire board to heart orbs, but makes you immune to damage for two turns.
- Shin Megami Tensei: Raphael occasionally pops up as a high-ranking member of the Seraph Clan. His moral stance has varied from being a Well-Intentioned Extremist to an outright demented Knight Templar, but he has consistently specialized in support and healing spells, often having access to the Prayer skill.
Webcomics
- Angel Down: Raphael is one of the four archangels. Paladins appointed by him have a healing touch alongside their unique mark ability.
- Beyond the End: Raphael is one of the remaining archangels, but he's been missing from Heaven for a long time. It turns out he's been journeying through Purgatory, helping the citizens there at their level.
- Deities: Raphael is a minor character. In the comic his nickname is Ralph. According to Word of God he's God's medic, masseur, chiropractor, etc., and he hates his job more than anyone else in the Deities' universe.
- Holy Bibble: Raphael is a nerdy scientist angel. Unlike many of the other angels, he is one of the few who appears to actually be genuinely nice.
- Lessa: Rabiel — called Raphael by humans — is the Apostle of Medicine and the angel who's taken over Lessa's duty of escorting the dead.
Web Originals
- anachronauts: Raphael is the true source of British steam.
