Cult: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

{{quote|'''Roseanne''': ''Edelweiss Corrections School''? What's that, some kind of brainwashing camp?

 

Beware. The word "cult" is very loaded, carrying severe negative connotations. Its value-neutral dictionary definition is just "a new religion." New religions, almost by definition, have questionable legitimacy (they're untested, after all), and aren't very well-established. Added to that, you have the disadvantage of the related prophet or messiah having been alive in living memory, or worse yet, still alive and wandering around potentially saying/doing embarrassing things this very moment. Of course, members of new real-world religions tend to respond badly to anyone calling it a cult. Like, say, Moonies or Scientologists. This is simply an example of words being misused in a political context, like 'Liberal' or 'Fascist.'

A cult-like cabal is often at the center of an [[Ancient Conspiracy]].

 

 

 

Even the most well-regarded cults should not be confused with [[Cult Classic]]s, which are almost always entirely different.

Former Cult members are given to coming up with [[Religion Rant Song]]s once disaffected.

 

 

* The Doma Organization in ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh!]]'' is half corporation, half cult, in that its corporate side is merely a front and financial supplier to its members' worship of [[The End of the World as We Know It|the destruction of (to their eyes) a world filled with irredeemable evil]].

* Similarly, the Hikari no Kessha ("Society of Light") in ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh! GX]]'' has corporate backing, but are just in it to destroy a world full of sinners. In both, the penultimate figure their beliefs are based on is [[Eldritch Abomination|an ancient, corrupting, semi-sentient influence from beyond the stars]]. Both Doma and the Society recruit their members by [[More Than Mind Control]].

* Yiliaster from ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's]]'' Is somewhat similar to the two mentioned above, but they don't recruit members and are hinted at being much more powerful.

* In ''[[King of Thorn]]'', the [[Human Popsicle|Cold Sleep]] project was sponsored by a cult called Venus Gate. They planned to harness the power of [[The Virus|Medusa]] to remake the world, only to discover too late that [[Evil Is Not a Toy]].

* The Lemures of ''[[Baccano!]]!'', who worship the immortal [[Mad Scientist]] Huey Laforet. They believe that if they serve him, they may obtain eternal life for themselves. {{spoiler|Huey is not actually capable of making others immortal, and regards them with amusement and scorn for believing this.}}

* One drives the plot of a [[Franken Fran]] chapter. A man comes looking for his missing daughter, having gotten a lead suggesting they might know something about what happened to her. It eventually turns out that she was kidnapped and ended up becoming their messiah figure, but she fell ill, so they brought in the eponymous experimental surgeon. Fran saved the girl's life by {{spoiler|converting her into an enormous factory, with her physical body reconfigured to be hooked up to the facilities. The stereotypical low-pay work the cultists were doing was running the machines that stood in for her digestive, endocrine, respiratory, and reproductive systems. Yeah, reproductive. She's pregnant, [[Squick|at age ten]], on top of everything else}}.

* The Cult of the Sacred Eye plays a major role in ''[[Mirai Nikki]]'', as the Sixth Diary Holder is the leader of said cult. She is worshipped by them as an oracle, and has lived in the temple complex for almost all her life (she herself is well aware that she isn't an oracle, but plays the part because that's what she's done all her life). {{spoiler|Revealed later to be a hoax started by her parents when she was a young child, and after her parents were killed in a car crash, the other leaders of the cult imprisoned her and used her as a [[Sex Slave]]. It's not made clear exactly how she regained control of her followers since then.}}

 

== Film ==

* ''[[Silent Hill (film)|Silent Hill]]'' has a Manichean-type religion with Puritanical Christian overtones and apparently worships a goddess. It is not the same cult from the [[Silent Hill|game series]].

 

* [[Names to Run Away From|The Doomsday Group]] in ''[[Maximum Ride]]''.

* The cult of Ravinia in ''[[The Pendragon Adventure]]'''s ninth book, ''Raven Rise''.

* The cult led by L. Bob Rife (an apparent portmanteau of Ross Perot and [[L. Ron Hubbard]]) in [[Neal Stephenson]]'s ''[[Snow Crash]].''

* The [[Religion of Evil]] cults in the short stories ''Under the Pyramids'', ''The Horror at Red Hook'' and ''The Call of Cthulhu'' by [[H.P. Lovecraft]].

* ''[[The War Against the Chtorr]]''. The renegades led by Jason Delandro, who worship the alien invaders.

* The Christians are regarded this way by [[Marcus Didius Falco]], a [[Private Detective]] in [[Ancient Rome]].

** There is also a New Doctor Who book which features a cult based around a horrible picture of a clown. The whole book is, essentially, a very paranoid and more than slightly creepy rant about religion (but specifically Christianity). The book's entire message is, literally, "Be very very afraid of [[You Fail Religious Studies Forever|what I imagine religion to be]]".

 

* On ''[[Stargate SG-1]]'': the Go'auld Seth, after spending a long time as a disembodied symbiote in a canopic jar, takes a new host and tries to found a new religion to worship him as in days of old. It takes the shape of a typical TV cult, complete with police stand-off.

* ''[[Law & Order|Law and Order]]'', during an investigation of a bombing, turned up a cult in the middle of Manhattan worshiping a con-man as a new messiah. He was a semi-delusional fraud; as he was convicted, he used thumbtacks to give himself stigmata. His entire "flock" killed themselves hours later.

* In the ''[[Starsky and Hutch]]'' episode "Bloodbath", Starsky is abducted by the followers of the memorably creepy Simon Marcus.

 

* Dogbert in ''[[Dilbert]]'' started his own cult on one occasion:

{{quote|'''Dilbert:''' I think you've taken this cult idea of yours too far.

 

== [[Professional Wrestling]] ==

** And now Punk is the leader of [[The Nexus|The New Nexus]], which is seeming very culty with the whole "Faith" thing they're doing.

* Back during the [[Attitude Era]], the WWF had [[The Undertaker]]'s [[Ministry of Darkness]] where Taker would go kidnap C-level guys on the roster and "convert" them into his followers with new names. There was also to a lesser degree [[Vampire|The Brood]], who were briefly part of the Ministry themselves.

* The Order of the Neo Solar Temple in [[CHIKARA]]. Led by UltraMantis Black, They've been known for brainwashing and converting enemies. The crowd usually bows to them when they enter, even.

 

** In the skirmish game ''[[Necromunda]]'', using a 40K variant and set on the eponymous planet, a player's force could belong to the Redemptionist Crusade, a sect that relates to the normal Emperor-Worshipping Imperial Citizens (you know, dogmatic, intolerant, heretic-burning, etc.) about in the same way that David Koresh-style sects relate to standard Evangelical Christianity. They are TOO fanatic even for Imperial Society, and hence are outlaws to be killed on sight.

** In [[Sandy Mitchell]]'s [[Ciaphas Cain]] novels, a footnote mentions that a cult worships Cain as the physical embodiment of the Emperor's will—something that would have horrified him if he ever found out.

* Also extant in ''[[Exalted]]''. In its setting, the term "cult" is value-neutral, though. The makers [[Lampshade Hanging|even said in one book]] that if the word had the same negative connotation in Creation as it does in real life, many organizations normally calling themselves cults would vehemently deny that they were such.

** There is actually a "Cult" background, which specifically refers to your character having worshippers. Some, most notably the Alchemicals, try to [[Unwanted False Faith|dissuade them]]. Pretty much everyone else responds with "w00t, free [[Mana|motes]]!" The main cults not directly related to worshipping Exalts are typically devoted to [[Our Demons Are Different|Yozis]], local deities, or their ancestors, and one signature character - the deathknight known as the White Walker or Harbinger of the Ghost-Cold Wind - has dedicated his existence to forcing a fair arrangement on both sides.

** One of the very first ''D&D'' adventures, ''The Temple of the Frog'', concerned a raid on the cult of an evil amphibian-god.

** The 3rd Edition version of the ''Deities & Demigods'' [[Sourcebook]], which contained guidelines for designing religions and godly pantheons, described the dwarven earth goddess Dennari, whose followers were described as a benign [[Mystery Cult]].

* A few pop up in the Freedom City setting for ''[[Mutants and Masterminds]]'', mainly dedicated to [[Hollywood Voodoo|Baron Samedi]] and [[Eldritch Abomination|the Unspeakable One]].

 

* The Cabal in ''[[Blood]]'', and 100 years later Cabalco (essentially the same cult disguised as a multinational coporation).

* The ancient Pagan-Supernatural-Judeo-Christian-Kabbalistic mishmash cult from the ''[[Silent Hill]]'' series. Though it's rather overlooked in the second game, the first game explains it in great detail, and in the third game, {{spoiler|being a chronological sequel to the first}}, that same cult becomes a very important part of the storyline.

* ''[[Breath of Fire]] II'''s Church of St. Eva.

* Spiderweb Software's ''[[Exile]]''/''[[Avernum]] III'' allows you to join an anti-magic cult. If any of your characters have magical abilities, they give up their use permanently. This choice makes the game a bit more difficult, and in particular prevents you from stopping a plague of cockroaches, since you can't cast a fireball spell. However, you can always do that quest before joining the cult. The Anama appear again in ''Avernum 5''.

* ''[[Resident Evil]] 4'' had Los Illuminados, essentially a cult of [[Puppeteer Parasite]]s.

* ''[[Eternal Darkness]]'' had at least one cult worshipping the [[Eldritch Abomination|Ancients]]. The main branch was run out of a French cathedral, and used a made-up Christian relic to lure in human sacrifices.

* [[Command & Conquer|The Brotherhood of Nod]] Led by [[Dark Messiah|Kane]] believe that [[Imported Alien Phlebotinum|Tiberium]] will allow humanity to achieve "Ascension".

** Subverted, in that {{spoiler|Kane and his followers did, in fact, ascend}}. Also, given how open with their views they eventually became, Nod began to move from cult to religion between the ''Tiberiun Sun'' and ''Tiberium Wars''.

* Fygul Cestemus from ''[[Soul Calibur]]'', who were responsible for the creation of Astaroth, and for turning the Spartan warrior Aeon Calcos into [[Reptiles Are Abhorrent|Lizardman]].

* The Fellowship in ''[[Ultima VII]]''. The entire cult is modelled after the [[Church of Happyology|Church Of Scientology]], from the founder and leader who bears more than a passing resemblance to [[L. Ron Hubbard]], to the obviously rigged personality test the Avatar receives early on.

 

 

* [[MAG-ISA]]—The antagonists are part of a fictional cult known as [http://mag-isa.thecomicseries.com/comics/pl/119615 ''The Order'']. Their belief system is a mixture of Christianity and New Age beliefs.

* In the [[Backstory]] of ''[[Last Res0rt]]'', Arikos's crimes stem from leading a cult of Talmi who believed that he could turn them (back) into humans. In truth, Arikos used the cult as a means to produce his Celeste offspring, and not only killed off any "failed" offspring , but also any members of the cult who had outlived their usefulness (specifically older members who could no longer work / bear children) throughout the process.

* Nutritionists form a cult around a “Lemonade” soda sticker in ''[[Romantically Apocalyptic]]''.

 

* The Hymn of One in ''[[Lonelygirl15]]'', which was [[Path of Inspiration|actually a front]] for an evil organisation. The Hymn of One also appears in ''[[Kate Modern]]'', which portrays it in a slightly more sympathetic (though still villainous) light.

* [[Homestar Runner|Marzipan]] runs a kindergarten program she calls "LURN": "Life-blossoms Undergoing Re-programming Naturally". The "children" (actually dimwitted grown men Homestar, Homsar, and Strong Mad) are referred to as "life-blossoms", the crayons all have politically correct names ("dermal discoveries" instead of "skin flesh", or "blue" instead of "black") and can't color ("so that no one life-blossom outshines the others. That way, they're ''all'' special!"), and the grades are renamed things like roots and grass to give an eco-friendly image even though they still map to letter grades in concept. Strong Bad is somewhat incredulous.

{{quote|'''Strong Bad''': Marzipan, what kinda cult you runnin' here?

* Rarity in ''[[Friendship Is Witchcraft]]'' belongs to one that worships the [[Eldritch Abomination]] [[Blob Monster|Smooze]]. Fluttershy is the [[Incredibly Lame Pun|colt]] leader.

 

* On ''[[Family Guy]]'', Meg is drawn into a cult based almost completely on the Heaven's Gate. Although she's got no idea it's a cult. And then there's Peter founding his own, though short-lived (and more benign), cult.

* The Movementarians on ''[[The Simpsons]]'' drew the titular family, and most of Springfield, into a collective based on worshiping a UFO. (They made them eat lima beans, although a diet of low-nutrition gruel was used to break down hard cases. Homer compensated by eating an entire month's supply.)

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Religion Tropes]]

[[Category:Villains]]