Cult: Difference between revisions

 

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

 

{{noreallife|as mentioned above, the word "cult" is very loaded, carrying severe negative connotations, and we don't need the [[Flame War]]s.}}

* 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]] ==

* Basically any stable ever run by [[Raven (wrestling)|Raven]] has been one of these, be it in [[WCW]], [[ECW]], or [[TNA]]. Some are more insane than others, such as the rather [[Narm]]y Serotonin.

** 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.

 

* Everywhere in [[Warhammer 40,000]]. Most are devoted to the Chaos Gods, or are set up by [[Face Full of Alien Wingwong|Genestealers]] to call down the [[Horde of Alien Locusts|Tyranid hive fleets]]. But the "[[Black and Gray Morality|good guys]]" have them too - there are many cults dedicated to the Emperor in unorthodox but non-heretical ways, while [[Super Soldier|Space Marine]] Chapters tend to incorporate their Primarch or the beliefs of their homeworld into their religious practices. Naturally, the [[Church Militant|Inquisition's Ordo Hereticus]] keeps a close eye on these tolerated cults.

** 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.

* 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.

* [[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.

* [https://web.archive.org/web/20131101012457/http://www.featherlessbiped.com/filk/evilfilk.htm Here] one more sinister assembly is revealed in the best tradition of Cult Investigation (and they [[Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking|use the dandelion as their symbol]]!).

* 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.)

 

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