Religion of Evil: Difference between revisions

[[File:99898_373.jpg|link=Eberron (Tabletop Game)|right]]

 

 

This religion has three common forms:

Media portrayals of Satanism tend to fall directly into this trope; for this, see [[Hollywood Satanism]].

 

 

{{examples}}

 

== Literature ==

* The worship of Torak in the ''[[Belgariad]]'', a prime example of the case where only the Grolims (priests) have any real faith and the masses follow out of fear. They keep the faith into the ''Malloreon'', even though Torak is now dead. At the end, it's said that {{spoiler|Eriond's}} first act as a god will be turning the Grolims towards a less vicious path.

* The Black Canons in [[Teresa Edgerton]]'s ''[[Celydonn]]'' trilogy. They are noted for camouflaging themselves by taking on the external trappings of whatever religion is currently in power.

* Played with in the ''[[Discworld]]''. There are a few demon-worshipping cults, and Evil Harry Dread has occasionally run a temple of evil, but most people who've compared Discworld demons to Discworld gods have decided the main difference is PR. The worshippers of [[Cosmic Horror|Bel-Shamharoth, the Soul Eater]], on the other hand, are clearly insane. And mostly very, very dead.

** It should be pointed out that there is a "Young Men's Reformed Cultists of the Ichor God Bel-Shamharoth Association", or "YMPA" in Ankh-Morpork...

** In the ''[[Island in The Sea of Time|Nantucket]]'' novels, the sadistic Dr. Alice Hong starts a cult in Bronze-Age Achaea (Greece), with herself as the avatar of the Lady of Pain, to be worshipped by [[Cold-Blooded Torture|torture]] and sacrifice. This cult actually has official status within the Sacred Collegium, as Hong is the senior wife and lieutenant of William Walker, King of Men.

** The Cult of Malik Nous, the Peacock Angel, in the alternate history novel ''[[The Peshawar Lancers]]''. It is the prevalent religion in the remains of tsarist Russia following a meteor shower that destroys most of the northern hemisphere and involves the worship of the Slavic dark god Tchernabog, cannibalism and [[Virgin Power|virgins who can tell the future]] (to make matters worse, their powers eventually drive them to insanity, at which point they are taken away to become [[Incest Is Relative|breeders for the next generation]]).

** Sauron also managed to convince Ar-Pharazôn and the Numenoreans to worship his master Morgoth/Melkor with [[Human Sacrifice]], as part of the chain of events that lead to the downfall of Numenor described in ''Akallabeth''.

* The religion of the Pah-Wraiths in the ''[[Star Trek]]: Millennium'' series may qualify, as the "Ascendants"' principle aim was to destroy the universe for reasons of cosmic harmony. This may also be an example of [[Utopia Justifies the Means]].

* The established church in [[Gene Wolfe]]'s ''[[Book of the Long Sun]]'' is basically this, since the gods being worshipped, with one or two exceptions, are [[Complete Monster|deranged sociopaths]] whose idea of a commandment is "Overthrow your government and let me know when it's done; if you sacrifice enough children you'll probably get my attention." Interestingly, though, the church itself is closer to a [[Saintly Church]]: individual clergy may be corrupt or unpleasant, but the church as a whole is a force for good, providing education and charity to the poor of the city.

* The entire plot of each ''[[Odd Thomas]]'' book is the titular character pretty much foiling one of these. The first book? Satanists. The second? A crazy woman that has studied evil religions all over the world. The third? A guy that ''claims'' he can create life. The latest has apparently radical Islamics that planned to assassinate important government officials before blowing up several American cities with nukes.

** It's notable that the profilers state "He doesn't kill because he believes in Satan, he believes in Satan because he kills."

* ''[[Lexx]]'' is built on this the first two seasons, with this "religion" being enforced on ''at least 20,000 worlds, ''in the '''''goddamn Light Universe''''', even going to the almost absurd levels of the quote above, the only difference being that that is a parody, where this is a black comedy. Turns out {{spoiler|it's just the ploy of an insect civilization to destroy [[Unwitting Pawn|humanity]] from the inside.}} And it worked.

** The Daleks in the series 1 finale. The last Emperor Dalek to survive the Time War developed a massive [[A God Am I|god complex]] and rebuilt the Daleks as religious fanatics who worshiped him. "[[Madness Mantra|DO NOT BLASPHEME! DO NOT BLASPHEME!]]

** The Disciples of Saxon in ''The End of Time'' worship The Master as a living god and ultimately bring about his resurrection.

** The promise of a coming of angels that will touch the bodies of the dead to transform them into heavenly beings that are reborn in paradise doesn't sound so bad by itself. It's only when you realize that these "angels are giant alien bats that will jam an arm-long spine into your skull and [[Body Horror|transform you into space zombies]], which neither bother to make a difference between belivers and non-believers, wait for your natural death, or make your death any less painfull than being torn to pieces, that one starts to doubt that path to paradise is really such a good idea.

** What really makes it ironic though, is that its "prophet" didn't start it, and in fact was opposed to it. He merely found the Black Marker and was immune to its effects, and people that were effected by it started worshiping him as a prophet. He began trying to blow the whistle on a government plot to use the Marker as a weapon. The two military officials that were in charge of the project kidnapped him and killed him with a Necromorph to martyr him in order to strengthen Unitology, which would most likely throw suspicion away from the government and quell social upheaval that Altman was causing.

* Pretty much every dungeon in ''[[Exile]]''/''[[Avernum]]'' will have an evil temple with skulls, bloodstains, and/or traps that unleash demons in it somewhere.

* Played straight and parodied in the ''[[Fable]]'' games with the Chapel of Skorm and the Temple of Shadows. The latter example involves a rather amusing parody. "On Wednesdays we drain the blood of virgin chickens. On Thursdays we annoint ourselves with said blood. Friday is poker night, of course"; and "If there's one downside to being an evil cultist, it's that we must take our tea without milk" indeed.

* Hinted at with the [[Scary Dogmatic Aliens]] in ''[[Duke Nukem]] II'': "We'd kill you, you see, but our religion prevents the interruption of suffering."

* The Civilization 4 Mod ''Fall From Heaven'' includes the Ashen Veil religion, which explicitly seeks to bring hell itself to Erebus.

* The Path of Dark in the old [[Might and Magic]] verse is heavily implied to be either this or a ''Philosophy'' of Evil - it has adherents that self-identify as [[Card-Carrying Villain|Villains]], some members of it call you a do-gooder, or criticise your lack of cruelty if you happen to align with the Path of Light...

* In addition to various examples from the usual suspects among the ''[[Forgotten Realms (Tabletop Game)|Forgotten Realms]]'' gods, ''[[Neverwinter Nights 2 (Video Game)|Neverwinter Nights 2]]'' has people who worship the King of Shadows (the [[Pure Magic Being]] [[Big Bad]]). The second expansion adds the cult of Zehir, worshipers of the yuan-ti god of poison who have set themselves up as the rival to a ''different'' [[Religion of Evil]], those who worship Sseth, the yuan-ti's normal patron deity.

 

 

[[Category:Older Than Print]]

[[Category:Villains]]