Number of the Beast: Difference between revisions
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{{trope}}
[[File:
{{quote|''Woe to you, Oh Earth and Sea, for the Devil sends the beast with wrath, because he knows the time is short...Let him who hath understanding reckon the [[Trope Namer|number of the beast]], for it is a human number; its number is Six hundred threescore and six.''|'''[[Book of Revelation]]''' 12:12, 13:18}}
You know what this is. Six hundred sixty six, the
Sometimes gets truncated to 66 or lengthened to 6666 if 666 is too high or too low a number, yet still evokes the [[Numerological Motif]].
The actual number, however, is a subject of debate among theologians and historians: many say the number is actually 616, as some of the older Latin copies of Revelation list it as that rather than 666; all the Greek ones list it as 666, and most probably the name it indicated had a different sum according to their numerological schemes in different alphabets. However, 666 is so much better known that if you try to go with 616 instead it will likely [[Viewers Are Geniuses|fly over the heads of most readers and viewers]]. Note that either way, it is the value six hundred and sixty six or six hundred and sixteen, not just three sixes in a row (I'm looking at you, June
Interestingly enough, another interpretation is 216, as some older translations define this enigmatic number as "6 by 6 by 6" or 6 cubed.
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** ''[[Rebuild of Evangelion|Rebuild]]'''s Mari Illustrious Makinami {{spoiler|hijacks Unit-2 in order to fight the last Angel in You Can (Not) Advance, she activates the Eva's Berserker mode with Code: 666, named, you guessed it, The Beast}}
** Ironically, the new version of [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V2N8woYX7io The Beast] has the vocals (rather, vocal, as it's only one word) of ''Hallelujah''...which, given the use of Handel's [[Crowning Music of Awesome|Messiah Chorus]] in the original continuity, [[Mind Rape|caused many fans to freak out]].
* In one Japanese ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh!]]!'' episode, we see a card with 666 ATK and 666 DEF points. The US version [[Bowdlerise
* In the Eighth Child arc of ''[[Digimon Adventure]]'', a prophecy stated that the [[Big Bad]] Vamdemonm, [[Not Quite Dead|who was thought to be killed moments ago]], will rise in [[Satan|his true form]] at the hour of the Beast. And that evening, at 6:06 PM and 6 seconds, his insanely powerful [[One-Winged Angel]] form arises. Surprisingly, this plot point survived completely intact in the dub.
** In the broader ''Digimon'' canon, the Seven Great Demon Lords possess a series of crests, the rings of which state of a "Level 666". No defined meaning is given to the statement, but given that no Digimon is classified by numerical power levels, odds are it's only there because for [[Rule of Symbolism]].
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** In the dub, his name is "Hercule". Probably more fitting, what with his reputation as the greatest fighter and all. I don't remember whether or not they kept the triple sixes.
* ''[[AMV Hell]] Championship Edition'' was released on June 6, 2006.
* The ''[[Gundam]]'' franchise has two [[Humongous Mecha]] with 666 in their model numbers, the ZGMF-X666S Legend Gundam from ''[[Gundam Seed Destiny]]'' and the NZ-666 Kshatriya from ''[[Gundam Unicorn]]''. With the Kshatriya it actually makes sense,<ref>It's a descendant of ''[[Gundam ZZ]]'''s NZ-000 Queen Mansa and ''[[Chars Counterattack]]'''s NZ-333 Alpha Azieru</ref>
* In the manga version of ''[[Higurashi no Naku Koro ni|Matsuribayashi-hen]]'' [[Break the Cutie|Mi]][[A God Am I|yo]] [[Nietzsche Wannabe|Ta]][[Deadly Doctor|ka]][[Axe Crazy|no]] says God keeps showing her the "one" face on the dice, but she'll force all the dice to be 6 on their faces. There are a number of dice on screen for the "one" dice, but only 3 for the "six" dice. Considering the speech given an issue or two before, this wasn't likely unintentional.
* In ''[[Berserk]]'', the Eclipse, which heralds the birth of a new member of the demonic Godhand, happens once every 216 years, or 6 x 6 x 6.
* In ''[[Katekyo Hitman Reborn]]'', there are six powerful Mist-rings known as the Hell Rings. New Varia member [[Deadpan Snarker|Fran]] owns the one with the number 666 on it.
* In the opening pages of the manga ''[[Biomega]]'', we see the protagonist driving along an abandoned bridge...going 666
* ''[[Highschool of the Dead]]'' mentions the USA's National State of Emergency Tactical Regulation 666D.
* The ''[[Litchi Hikari Club]]'''s [[Artificial Human]] Litchi runs on a series of commands issued by a clunky looking calculator. His activation code? "The Number Of The Beast".
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** Earth-666 is the [[Fan Nickname]] for the ''Marvel Zombies'' reality.
* In ''[[The DCU]]'', there is a demonic [[Big Bad]] called Neron which, numerically, translates as 666.
* [[Green Lantern
* ''[[Kingdom Come]]'' has an Anti-Hero who's name is 666. Not only that but he has a huge "6" tattoo on his face and two more 6s on his chest. Alex Ross used Brian Azzarello as the model.
* The address of the title character in ''[[Johnny the Homicidal Maniac]]'' is 777. A man taking a survey points this out and jokingly asks if it's the number for Heaven. Johnny growls "Does this look like Heaven?" According to the comic, 777 is the "number of the moose".
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* In ''Flesh'': "Texas", McGurk brands Gorehead three times with a symbol that looks like the number 6. This is enough for Pastor Sunday to declare that Gorehead is in fact Satan.
* One ''[[Ghost Rider]]'' arc (Vicious Cycle, if anyone's curious) had Johnny Blaze accidentally bring Lucifer with him when pulling a [[Like a Badass Out of Hell]] stunt, at which point Lucy fragmented and possessed a number of recently-dead people. If you can't guess how many from the page you're on, there is nothing we can do to help you.
* The first ''[[Silent Hill]]'' comic, ''Dying Inside'', mentioned and invoked this trope, when the main character declared a door code to be her own personal
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== Live Action TV ==
* In ''[[Doctor Who]]'', the atmosphere readings of "The Impossible Planet"/"The Satan Pit" are 66.6, the gravitational field is "6^6 every 6 seconds", and the name of the base, "SB6" is seen gradually melting into "666". The two-part episode was episode was even aired over the week of
** As an extra metatextual touch, the official web site's Fear Forecasters gave "The Impossible Planet" a Fear Factor score of 3/6/6/6 -- on a scale that usually only goes up to 5. ("The Satan Pit" got straight 5s.)
** Another ''[[Doctor Who]]'' example: the coordinates for The
** Also invoked in "Midnight": When Mrs Silvestri starts repeating what everybody says, the teenaged Jethro says "six six six" to get her to repeat it.
** The [[Arc Words|prevalence of 666]] in the Doctor Who universe has lead observant fans to come up with [[WMG|theories]] to explain it.
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* In ''Dungeons & Dragons'', according to most editions' Dungeon Master's Guide, one of the planes, the Abyss, has supposedly infinite layers, but "conventional wisdom" says the bottom layer is the 666th.
* The secret Grey Knights chapter of [[Super Soldier|Space Marines]] in ''[[Warhammer 40000]]'' is Chapter 666. They are an all-psyker, elite-among-elites group serving under the aegis of the Inquisition's Ordo Malleus and dedicated to combating Daemonic threats.
** Also before they join they have to go through the 666 Rites Of The Emperor, which can be described as 666 [[Mind Rape
** [[Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking|And their favorite]] [[Sound Off]], the Canticle of Absolution, is [[Numerological Motif|sixhundredsixtysix words long]]
** It's implied somewhere that they chose this number [[Genre Savvy|specifically because of the bad connotations]]; the Grey Knights are such an elite force that they can handle whatever it means for them.
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* Beelzebub (human form) in Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne has 666 HP.
** Evil Land gives 666 damage to demi-humans at LV 6.
* In ''[[Castlevania: Symphony of the Night]]'', Death is level 66, the vampire Olrox and the Succubus have 666 HP, and the Malachi (which was ''supposed'' to be called [[Cthulhu Mythos
** Actually, the number shows up all over the place in the monster stats throughout the series. Dracula in particular.
* Magus, the leader of the Mystics in ''[[Chrono Trigger]]'', has 6666 [[Hit Points]] and 666 Magic Points as a boss.
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* In ''[[Pikmin]] 2'', there's a [[Defanged Horrors|creepy doll's head]] that's worth 670 pokos; in the Japanese game, it's worth 666.
* ''[[Tsukihime]]'' features a villain called Nrvnqsr Chaos who controls 666 animal familiars. And Nrvnqsr is numerically equal to 666.
** The reference is even more direct. Look real close at "Nrvnqsr"
*** His name is also [[Spell My Name with an "S"|pronounced Nero]].
* In the old ''[[Ultima II]]'' computer game, the Earth was located at coordinates (6,6,6) in the solar system.
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* ''[[Kingdom of Loathing]]'' spoofs this with the 668 scroll, allowing you to summon the ''neighbor'' of the beast.
* In ''[[Killer7]]'', Emir Parkreiner's locker is #666. Looking in locker #616 leads the player to Mask's final mask.
* The original ''[[Quake (series)|Quake]]'' features a powerup called the [[Invincibility Power-Up|Pentagram of Protection]], which puts a red 666 on your armor counter, although that's just for symbolic and aesthetic
* The demon morph [[Super Mode]] from ''[[Painkiller]]'' is activated by Daniel's absorption of 66 souls. At least, without a powerup that reduces the number to 50.
* In ''[[Disgaea 3: Absence of Justice]]'', Mao calculates that it will take exactly 666 Nether hours (after Mao hijacks his "Hero" title) until [[Heroic Wannabe]] Almaz becomes a full-fledged demon.
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* In ''[[Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories]]'', Marluxia's final form has a sleight that is activated by using three six cards (looking like 666 when it shows up on the screen). This forces Sora to have to break all his cards or else instant death.
* 666 is the phone number for Hell in ''[[Sam and Max]]'''s second [[Season Finale]].
* The page image is from ''[[Lemmings]]''. It's not even close to being a [[Scrappy Level|level from hell]],
** Several ports of the game replace "All the 6s" with a completely new
* Galm Team from ''[[Ace Combat]] Zero'' is the Ustio 6th Air Division, 66th Squadron. By the way, "Galm" is a mistranslation of "Garmr", a hellish wolf in [[Norse Mythology]] that kills Tyr during the Ragnarök. And the Galm 1's callsign is "[[Louis Cypher|Cipher]]", in case you still didn't catch any symbolism.
** The final mission of ''Shattered Skies'', appropriately a [[Scrappy Level]] with tunnel-flying, has Mobius One start at 6666 feet.
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** There are 666's in many places in the game, barely disguised. For instance, there is a statue of a serpent in Zangarmarsh with 666 in it's scales. However, it was far more common during The Burning Crusade and Wrath of the Lich King expansions than it is now. In fact, there was a warlock spell that did 666 base damage, but that has since been changed. There were also icons for warlock and demon spells with stylized 666's in them, these have all been removed.
* ''[[Blaz Blue]]'' has Ragna, Nu-13 and Hazama give the line "Restriction 666 released" when activating their [[Artifact of Doom|Azure Grimoires.]]
* In the [[Woolseyism|English version]] of ''[[Snatcher]]'', the date of "[[After the End|the Catastrophe]]" was moved from June
* ''[[Eternal Darkness]]'' places great significance on 3:33 times on both digital and analog clocks.
* In ''[[Final Fantasy XIII]]'', the Tonberry staggers at 666%.
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** Had two extra strips not been added to commemorate the deaths of D's co-creators, OotS #666 would have featured a scene of three fiends revealing their diabolical intentions to a fourth.
* In ''[[Blip]]'', strip #666 features the very ominous arrival of [http://blipcomic.com/666/ some kind of demon-baby].
* The author of ''[[
* ''[[Ansem Retort]]'' Season 7 [http://www.ansemretort.org/ansemretort/index.html?comic=666 ended] on this exact strip number. As did the use of Comic Sans in the comic. {{spoiler|And AR's dominance of [[Reality TV]] since Season 6, with the premiere of rival show Shibuya Shore.}}
* Causes a customer to freak out in [[Mike Bookseller]].
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== Web Original ==
* Both used and subverted in the ''[[SCP Foundation]]''. [http://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-616 SCP-616] is a hellish door with a strong [[Brown Note]] effect and vaguely specified "bad things" happening when it opens, but [http://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-666 SCP-666] seems slightly more benign.
* In v4 ''[[Open Blue]]'', the date of the foundation of the [[The Federation|Axifloan Coalition]] is June
* 666 causes [[Nightmare Fuel]]-y things to happen to [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7iFXyLah2oQ YouTube].
** What the Hell this video is stupiTHAT'S OKAY I DIDN'T WANT TO SLEEP TONIGHT ANYWAY
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** It was probably chosen not for symbolism, but because it has a lot of "s" sounds for Daffy to lisp.
* In the first episode of ''[[The Boondocks]]'', Huey tries to convince Ed Wunsler's garden party that [[Ronald Reagan]] is the devil by pointing out that Ronald, Wilson, and Reagan each have six letters in them. Therefore, 666. However, this just makes him even more adorable to the guests.
** The comic strip had a similar joke about Santa Claus. Huey evidently went through several possible "proofs" before landing on the fact that the date of Santa's annual errand, December
* ''[[Wakfu]]'' episode 4: In the flashback showing the backstory of the Ugly Princesses, there is such a long line of princes wanting to woo them that they use a "[[Take a Number]]" device. Then comes the god Osamodas, who picks number 666 before laying a curse on the disrespectful princesses.
** In episode 9 of season 2, some of the protagonists are trapped in the Shushu world. They are forced to invoke the Rush, the favorite pastime of the Shushu, in order to avoid immediate execution. The Rush pits them against [[Zerg Rush|666 pyralshus]] until they fall. And to make ''sure'' they fall, Rushu also sends his [[The Dragon|Dragon]] Anathar into the fray.
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== Real Life ==
* Scholars contend that the number in the Revelation was a code for Nero. When treated as Hebrew numbers, the letters of "Nero Caesar" add up to 616, and "Neron Kesar", the Greek version of his name, to 666.
** The scholarly theory is that Revelation is written as "prophetic allegory"
** One theory relies on the assumption that 666 is purely symbolic, not some code: basically, the number 6 is supposed to represent man ("a human number"), because man was made on the 6th day. Also, the fact that there are ''three'' 6s is meant to stand for [[Satan]], the Beast of the Sea, and the Beast of the Earth being an evil mockery of the Holy Trinity. This theory is total hogwash; as noted above, the number would have been written in [[wikipedia:Greek numerals|Greek numerals]], and the idea of "six-hundred-and-sixty-six" having anything to do with "three sixes" is a bit of a stretch (place-value notation would only have just been invented in India at the time, and it would not arrive in the Middle East until transmitted by Muslim Persian mathematicians in the 9th century).
* It was a joke in Real Life during Ronald Reagan's presidency because "Ronald Wilson Reagan" is 6 letters, 6 letters, 6 letters. (Furthermore, Ronald Reagan had his house, 666 St. Cloud Road, renumbered 668, from superstition.)
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** US Route 666, from Gallup, NM to Monticello, UT was re-numbered US 491 in 2003, but retains the "Devil's Highway" nickname. It was the subject of various superstitions, as well as a target for sign theft.
* Another highways example. On northbound Interstate 29 just north of North Sioux City, South Dakota, there was a sign that used to read "Elk Point 6 / Sioux Falls 66." At some point in the mid-00s, the sign was changed to read "Elk Point 7 / Sioux Falls 66." Either the small town of Elk Point moved a mile to the north, or people got uncomfortable about the 666 associations and asked to have the sign changed.
* There's another theory that this was just a way to express "a large number" in roman
* The P.O. Box address for This Is
* SF and computing journalist [[Dave Langford]] once wrote a computer program that could prove that ''any'' name [http://www.ansible.co.uk/writing/ft107.html adds up to 666]. You just have to assign numbers to the letters correctly (and there are hundreds, if not thousands, of ways to do that), then manipulate the numbers the right way (and there are more hundreds, if not thousands, of ways to do ''that'').
* A problem for Intel; back in the
** Not that it's still avoiding the trope, but Intel could get away with it by fudging with the numbers. The increment suggests the clock speed was divided by 3 somewhere. 2/3 is 0.6666... Which at any given point you decide to chop off how many 6's you want, you could round up the last one to 7.
* A church was "lucky" enough to get 666 as part of its phone number. They quickly changed it. On the other hand, the University of San Francisco, a Catholic medical college, had 666 as one of its proprietary prefixes throughout the '90s, mostly for dormitory rooms.
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* [[The ABC]]'s Canberra radio station is numbered 666. Being that the ABC is government-funded, [[Epileptic Trees]] ensued.
* Interestingly, if the number is actually 616 and not 666, several places have been afraid of the wrong number all along. Examples include: The USA, who changed highway 666 to highway 491 ion 2003, the UN, who always leave seat 666 free at any meetings, and most especially the Moscow transport department, who changed the 666 bus route to... 616
* The first [[Apple Macintosh|Apple]] computer ([[Exactly What It Says on the Tin|the Apple I]]) went on sale in July 1976 at the price of $666.66. This was due mostly to a collection of mundane coincidences: Steve Jobs setting the price at $500 (plus a 1/3rd markup), because Steve Wozniak "liked repeating digits" and both Steves' general ignorance of the significance of the number.<ref>
* Up until 1999 there was a bus # 666 in Moscow. At the request of the local Christian folk it was changed...[[Hilarious in Hindsight|into]] [[Did Not Do the Research|616]]. I kid you not.
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