Basic Trope: Characters in a story with supernatural elements never speculate about the possibility that Jesus (or any other widely accepted religious figure) got his powers from those same supernatural elements.
- Straight: It never occurs to Thaddeus that Jesus might have been a student of the same school of wizardry as himself, despite the fact that Thaddeus has walked on water several times and knows a transmutation spell that he's pretty sure could turn water into wine.
- Exaggerated:
- Thaddeus does the water-to-wine trick at parties all the time, walks across the lake to his day job, has come Back from the Dead four times, and spent a year in the Third World healing sufferers of leprosy. The possibility that Jesus was a wizard never occurs to him.
- Thaddeus is himself a god by the story's definition thereof. He observes Christianity and sees no contradiction.
- Downplayed: Thaddeus's feats aren't all that similar to Jesus's, and although he is theoretically capable of doing the same things the comparison would be a bit of a stretch.
- Justified:
- Thaddeus is a devout Christian and takes it on faith that Jesus was truly divine despite having similar powers to wizards.
- There is actual proof that Jesus was the Son of God.
- Jesus lived in a "null cycle" period of time. There was no mana at the time so he couldn't have been a wizard.
- Thaddeus is having too much fun and responsibility with his powers to think about Jesus, much less the possibility of him having had such powers.
- While Thaddeus has significant powers, the story compensated by making the miracles in the in-universe bible even more impressive.
- Magic has rules that the miracles of Jesus break, such as not being able to resurrect the dead.
- In the setting Thaddeus lives in, All Myths Are True and/or its a Fantasy Kitchen Sink, so the idea that Jesus was truly divine is a distinct possibility.
- Inverted: Jesus watches the show and does not speculate about the possibility of Thaddeus being an agent of God.
- Subverted: Thaddeus and his wizard friends are preparing for a huge and elaborate Christmas celebration, talking about how much they love Jesus and how they hope he will approve of their celebration in his honor. The doorbell rings...and it's Jesus, their good friend, whom they all know for a fact is a long-lived fellow wizard and not of divine nature.
- Double Subverted: In the above scenario, the viewer learns that Jesus is in fact a divine being. He just didn't tell Thaddeus and company as much because he didn't want to freak them out and/or it better suits his grand plan for them not to know.
- Parodied: Thaddeus is often called "The Savior" when he's playing D&D but he doesn't know anything about him.
- Zig Zagged: Modern mages know the spells to do everything Moses did. Some even ascribe him as the inventor of them. Even the most devout mages believe that he was a mage but hold that he was given the spells first as a reward for faith. Jesus's healing alone goes beyond all known capabilities of magic that would have been remotely plausible. Then a terrible deal with fair folk reveals secrets to healing. However even they can't resurrect.
- Averted:
- Jesus or the local equivalent is considered by some proportion of modern-day wizards to have been a wizard.
- Or, the show doesn't take place in a setting that contains both religions with teachings about miraculous powers and superheroes or wizards with similar, explicitly non-miraculous powers.
- Enforced: The creators are trying to avoid religious controversy.
- Lampshaded: "So was Jesus a...." "Shut up! Do you want to get cancelled?!"
- Invoked: ???
- Exploited: A wizard cult leader uses this to justify himself- if people can have faith Jesus was a real divine being and not just a wizard, why not him?
- Defied: All the wizards in the book are atheists for just this reason.
- Magic Is Evil, so it would be impossible for a divine being of good to use it.
- Discussed: A christian and atheist wizard get into a debate about whether they should consider Jesus just a wizard or a divine being.
- Conversed: "Y'know, you'd think it would occur to Thaddeus that Jesus might have been a wizard, seeing as how he came back from the dead for the third time last week..."
- Deconstructed: Thaddeus has been a devout Christian all his life, but as he delves further and further into wizardry and learns more about what it is capable of, he begins to wonder if Jesus was a mere mortal who studied wizardry, leading him to a crisis of faith. He never talks about it because he doesn't want to admit to anyone that his faith is wavering.
- Reconstructed: When Thaddeus finally does ask his Pastor about it in private, the Pastor suggests that being a wizard and being the son of God doesn't have to be mutually exclusive, and that if he was one then it's because God made him one. Thaddeus is at ease with his faith now, and in fact is able to feel closer to Jesus because of the possibility of them sharing this.
Back to No Such Thing as Wizard Jesus
