Fallen angel

=== Neutral angels ===
In Christian folklore tales about encounters between men and spirits, the spirits were often explained as fallen angels. They would have been cast out of heaven, damned to roam the world as demons, but were not so evil that they were sentenced to hell, like Lucifer and his devils. Yet they were still not as good to remain in heaven.<ref>Mack, C. K., Mack, D. (1998). A Field Guide to Demons, Fairies, Fallen Angels, and Other Subversive Spirits. USA: Arcade Pub. p. xxiii</ref> Therefore, they would live between heaven and hell among humans in liminal spaces.

[[Caesarius of Heisterbach]]'s ({{Circa|1180|1240}}) asserted that not all fallen angels are equally bad. Some fallen angels would be banished for not actively defending God against Lucifer, but since they did not side with the devils, would not be sentenced to hell. They remain loyal to God on earth, do good deeds, and bearing some resemblances to saints, as seen in the ''Dialogus Miraculorum'', in which a knight is guided by a fallen angel to lead him back on the path of piety.<ref name="Newman, Coree 2018">Newman, Coree. "The Good, the Bad and the Unholy: Ambivalent Angels in the Middle Ages." Fairies, Demons, and Nature Spirits: 'Small Gods' at the Margins of Christendom (2018): 103-122.</ref> In another tale, a neutral fallen angel became an assistant of a noble knight. However, when the knight learned that his best assistant was actually a demon, he dismissed him. When the knight wants to pay the demon for his service, the demon asserted that the knight should spend the money on a new bell for the church, instead.<ref name="Newman, Coree 2018"/>

According to [[The Brendan Voyage]], during the Medieval Age, Brendan meets a group of angels referred to as "wandering spirits". On holy days, they were embodied as white birds, symbols usually used for purity and the holy spirit. In later versions, such as the 15th Century Dutch and German variant, the fallen angels are much more depicted as akin to grotesque demons. Although they would not have supported Lucifer in his evil schemes, they would have been passive and not fighting for good, thus turned into animal-like creatures cast out of heaven.

Such earthly fallen angels were used as a possible origin of [[fairy|fairies]] in Irish and Scandinavian folk-tales. Depending on the place they fell, they will remain as spirits of the specific element, but are usually benevolent and harmless.<ref>Wilde, J. F. E. (1888). Ancient Legends, mystic Charms, and Superstitions of Ireland: With Sketches of the Irish Past. To which is Appended a Chaper on "The Ancient Race of Ireland". USA: Ticknor and Company. p. 89</ref> If such fairies were identified with the Biblical fallen angels, their salvation after Judgement Day was usually denied, since the fallen angels could not return to heaven.<ref>Christiansen, R. Th. (1971). Some Notes on the Fairies and the Fairy Faith. Béaloideas, 39/41, 95–111. {{doi|10.2307/20521348}}</ref> Later [[Protestantism|Protestant thinkers]] increasingly dismissed belief in fairies and neutral angels as part of either fairy-tales or a delusion cast by Satan.<ref>Oldridge, Darren. "Fairies and the Devil in early modern England." The Seventeenth Century 31.1 (2016): 1-15.</ref>