Messiahs in fiction and fantasy
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The idea of a messiah or a chosen one figure has long been an element in the genres of science fiction and fantasy. Perhaps the earliest use of a messiah figure in fantasy is the mythical figure of King Arthur.
The remainder of this article contains many plot spoilers for many different stories. Discretion is advised regarding unfamiliar stories.
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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/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.
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 prophesy 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.
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.
In the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Buffy Anne Summers 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 Buffy 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.
Deep Impact
In the movie Deep Impact, the name of 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.
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 annhilation 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 forseen 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.
Lord of the Rings
The One Ring being 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 is also a messiah figure; his death followed 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 Messianic personality who is destined to be the new King of Gondor and Arnor, in which the throne has been empty for ages, and unite again the kingdoms.
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.
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." Thomas A. 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. Students of Gnosticism will notice many of its themes touched upon. Other 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 changed 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 Trinity.
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.
Narnia
C. S. Lewis wrote the fantasy series The Chronicles of Narnia as a parable for the New Testament, to introduce readers to the Christian idea of a messiah; the lion Aslan dies for other people's sins but is reborn, and is part of a trinity.
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
In the science fiction television series, 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.
Star Wars
In Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace a young boy, Anakin Skywalker, is discovered by Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn, who believes him to be the "Chosen One" who is prophesied to bring balance to the Force and destroy the Sith. In support of this belief, Anakin seems to have been conceived by the Force itself, as his was a virgin birth.
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, Dark Lord of the Sith. Vader eventually 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.
Superman
The classic American superhero, Superman, came to be written as a messiah figure by no later than the 1980s. 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 inversion of the Christian mythology, in which God sacrifices his only son); 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.
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 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 Source. This caused all male channelers to go insane, 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 Callindor 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 Gaidon, will free mankind from the reemerging shadow, at least for a time. The Dragon will presumably be reincarnated once again when the cycle begins anew.
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.