Maybe we should look at the attributes of angels first. Angels are gods who live in the sky, and because they have to act as messengers, they often have to go from one space to another, such as from heaven to earth.
If the transformation of this space is realized by walking with feet, it is not like a god. Therefore, angels must come down to earth in an imaginative way. If angels do "free fall" and reach the ground, most people will think it is a bad thing. Flying is undoubtedly better, as light and beautiful as a bird. The word flying itself has described the form of human imagination, the so-called "plug in the wings of imagination."
In this case, angels are required to either have their own flying organs or borrow flying tools. What choice should they make? In stories and legends, many gods descended to earth with flying tools instead of their own organs. For example, Harry Potter could not fly by himself, but had to use a flying broom. For example, in China's story, Guanyin stepped on Xiangyun and Nezha stepped on hot wheels to realize space transformation. But that's not exactly what God used. Why? This is mainly due to the "invisibility and description impossibility" of angels. If we borrow tools from outside the body, then angels are invisible. Therefore, the creator of the story and later writers and painters were very clever, and they chose the scheme of "having wings by themselves" when designing angels and making them concrete.
Secondly, wings have a natural aesthetic feeling, which is in line with the mission and personality of angels.
Rilke, an Austrian poet, once praised angels as "soul birds". It seems that wings are a beautiful image. Plato said in the Phaedo: "In essence, the power of wings can lift and drive those things that are pressed on the hills where the gods live." Of all the things connected with the body, wings can share divinity best. " From this point of view, wings are compatible with the identity of angels.
Ficino even said that "it transcends the beauty of the body", and Jia Deneys of ancient Greece has a sentence that can be used as a footnote-"The lightness of wings symbolizes the severance from all earthly temptations and the thorough and pure impulse to rush to the top without all heavy fatigue". When angels become synonymous with "truth, goodness and beauty", it is not surprising that a pair of wings symbolizing "the pure impulse to cut off worldly temptations and forge ahead" become "registered trademarks".
Then, the combination of wings and people has long been a classic story and legend, which provides a paradigm for angels to show people with winged images.
this legend has something to do with architects. About 1,3 years ago BC, an architect named Daedalus made two pairs of wings to escape from the castle with his children, glued them to his body with wax, and then jumped into the air from the height of the castle to fly. It's a pity that my son Icarus forgot Daedalus's advice before taking off-don't fly too close to the sun, but fly higher and higher. As a result, the wax melted under the scorching sun, causing the wings to fail. Icarus fell into the sea and died, and the story ended in tragedy.
On the left is a brick sculpture of ancient Rome. Daedalus made two pairs of wings with the help of his son Icarus. On the right is an illustration of a 17th century book. Icarus, whose wings are melted by the sun, is falling, and Daedalus can't help it.
considering that it is not reliable to stick wings to your body, it is impossible to choose that scheme when designing angels. Wings must grow firmly on the angel's body, instead of sticking them with wax to avoid breaking them.
Figurative angels, with wings, fly around and have excellent abilities as messengers; It also represents kindness and purity. Although angels only exist in myths and legends and other stories, no one really sees them, but when people talk about "angels", the lovely image with wings has become a convention.