Religion of Evil: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

 

This religion has three common forms:

Because [[Religion Is Magic]], devout practitioners and [[Authority Equals Asskicking|high ranking]] clergy will have powers, magic and other forms of [[The Dark Arts]]. You can expect the [[High Priest]] to emanate a [[Cross-Melting Aura]].

 

 

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

 

 

{{examples}}

* The DCU loves this trope. There is also the Cult of Kobra, which controls a billion-dollar international crime syndicate and seeks to usher in the Kali Yuga (an "age of chaos") via terrorist attacks.

** Speaking of Kali, Ravan, a member of the Jihad and later the Suicide Squad, is a member of an extremist Thugee cult with an opposite mission - to ''delay'' the coming of Kali Yuga - by killing. Every time he kills, Ravan says "Another thousand years, Kali..."

* Another DCU example is the unnamed group of evil-worshipping monks that trained Prometheus and gave him the key to enter an alternate dimension.

* And lets not forget Apokolips, where daily life for its billions of enslaved and brutalised denizens revolves around the endless, eternal worship of the resident despotic ruler and [[God of Evil|god-emperor of tyranny]], the cruel and malevolent [[Darkseid]].

== Films -- Live-Action ==

* The Kali worshippers in ''[[Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom]]'', very loosely based on the [[Real Life]] Thuggee cult. In truth, the Thugs were more like highway bandits, who strangled travelers with scarves in their sleep to rob them. While a cult did develop that gave religious motivations to their actions, it was not very widespread. Far from an evil cult goddess, Kali is the Goddess of eternal energy, the Punisher Of Evil, and is very popular in mainstream Hinduism.

* An early script for ''[[Freddy vs. Jason]]'' featured a deranged cult that worshipped undead serial killer Freddy Krueger. They were called the "Fredheads".

* Many early horror films employed Satanism as a religion of this type. ''[[The Black Cat]]'' (1934), ''The Seventh Victim'' (1943), and ''[[Rosemary's Baby]]'' (1968), ''[[The Omen]]'' (1976) are good examples.

* The Cult of Thorn from ''[[Halloween (film)|Halloween]]: The Curse of Michael Myers''. [[The Omniscient Council of Vagueness|Possibly]].

* The Deaders from ''[[Hellraiser Deader]]''.

* ''[[Waterworld]]'' features a [[Big Bad]] whose title is "Deacon of the Deep". His minions, known as Smokers to everyone else in Waterworld, are part of the Deacon's "Church of Eternal Growth", on a mission to conquer and consume all they survey.

* ''[[Dagon]]'' (2001): In a small town called Imboca on the coast of Galicia in Spain, {{spoiler|a drunken tramp named Ezequiel tells Paul how the denizens of the town have overthrown Christianity in favour of the fish god Dagon, who has brought them wealth from the sea in the form of fish and gold, and the only way to appease the fish god, Dagon was through Human Sacrfice, which [[Human Sacrifice|they did]] to Paul's girlfriend Barbara [[Downer Ending|in the end of the film]]. }}

* The Yuuzhan Vong from the ''[[Star Wars]]'' [[Expanded Universe]] have an entire priesthood devoted to genocide, non-consensual bio-forming, and extreme masochism.

* The Thebans in the ''[[Starfire]]'' books, who embark on a holy crusade to bring humans back into the light of worshipping Holy Terra. Never mind that they're aliens (explained later, trust me). There is seriously ''one'' Theban dude who does not like the prospect of the campaign.

** 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]].

* In ''Ape and Essence'' by Aldous Huxley, the post-apocalyptic Los Angeles is ruled by Belial worshipers. The devastation wrought by [[World War III]] made them lose belief in any deity but a malevolent one.

* Played with in the ''[[Books of Swords]]'': some of the gods, most notably Mars and Vulcan, are clearly malevolent, even evil. Interestingly, however, even though religion clearly exists in this world, we see very little organized religion. The only exceptions are the White Temple, which worships Ardneh, the Blue Temple, which ostensibly worships Tyche, and the Red Temple, which ostensibly worships Bacchus and Venus. Practically speaking, however, the White Temple is really a chain of hospitals, the Blue Temple is really just a bank, and the Red Temple is a chain of casinos and attached brothels. All three continue to function long after the gods they worship are dead. There is a reference in one book to a wizard bringing magical sacrifices or offerings to Mars to win his intercession in a battle, but that's about it for the explicit worship of any of the gods.

 

 

* The Harbingers who worship the First Evil in ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'', and pretty much every cult of the series. A list would cover at least an A4 page.

** At least one Wolfram & Hart security guard/soldier told Angel that he believed, specifically, in the cause of evil, by name. {{spoiler|Angel using the guy's own shotgun to blow his head off}} did make others at least briefly re-evaluate their positions, however.

** 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.

** Other major examples in the standard Third Edition ''D&D'' cosmology are the churches of Hextor, Nerull, Erythnul, Gruumsh, Maglubiyet, Tiamat, and any of the [[Demon Lords and Archdevils]].

*** Hextor's church falls between this and [[Path of Inspiration]]. Where his clerics have power, they openly preach his creed of militarism, conquest and tyranny. In other places, they claim he's a god of fitness, discipline and strength.

** ... And then played straight with the Blood of Vol. Uncharacteristically, the setting information tries to be fair to those guys, despite their obvious black-hat practices like human sacrifice, necromancy, and immortality experiments. The cult's guiding moral philosophy is explained at great length and often from a sympathetic perspective; the faithful truly believe that this life is a torment and undeath is an acceptable escape. It's almost too bad the cult was founded by a diabolically evil lich who is using it for her own nefarious ends. [[Word of God|Turns out]] she co-opted a pre-existing faith, and repackaged it into something more organized, and under her control.

** The Dark Six are a classical pantheon of evil deities cast away from the main pantheon... and [[Chaotic Neutral|The Traveller]]. It's possibly subverted, as the Dark Six [[Unreliable Narrator|could be]] ''gods of nature'' that were removed from the Sovereign Host not because they were evil, but because the Sovereign Host was becoming the religion of civilization. Which, together with Eberron's Absent Deities-situation, leads to their evil possibly being a result of the Dark Six-worshippers gradually, over the ages, beginning to believe the propaganda spread about their deities.

** Evil faiths in [[Ravenloft]] tend more toward the [[Path of Inspiration]] model, but there are a number of minor cults dedicated to various Religions Of Evil imported from other gameworlds via the Mists. Of faiths native to the Land of Mists, that of the Wolf God (divine patron of werewolves) is the best example of an openly-bloodthirsty, destructive faith that looks to lay waste to civilization.

** ''[[Planescape]]'''s Factions throw a wrench into this. There are quite a few of them who follow a belief system most of us wouldn't hesitate to describe as "evil" if we came across it in reality, but ''Planescape'' does its best to portray them from a detached, non-judgmental standpoint, often with inspiration from real life. The ridiculously callous and selfish Fated justify themselves based on, essentially, the writings of Nietzsche and Ayn Rand. The Dustmen, who have all of the trappings of a Religion of Evil (decorating things with skulls and wearing black robes and using zombies and such) have a belief system that is basically Buddhism with the added twist that they believe they've already lived their life and are now trapped in an existence of rebirth into a state of "False Death" until their souls learn to let go of suffering and attachment. The Doomguard has a philosophy centered around the inevitability of entropy, which can range from [[Omnicidal Maniac]] behavior to a simple acceptance that [[Equivalent Exchange|nothing can be accomplished without destroying something else]].

*** The Raven Queen also has a good bit of [[My Species Doth Protest Too Much]], as plenty of her worshippers are a bit overenthusiastic. (Shadar-kai especially tend to end up as random encounters.)

** The one that takes the cake is probably Tharizdun, the god of [[Omnicidal Maniac]] who has been imprisoned since the dawn of time by all the other deities (good, neutral, and evil) working together. ''He still has worshipers.''

* In the [[New World of Darkness]] game ''[[Vampire: The Requiem]]'' there's Belial's Brood, a covenant of vampires that are debauched and cruel even by vampire standards. And this is a [[Darker and Edgier]] [[Sick Sad World]] where being a [[Friendly Neighborhood Vampire]] is a pipe dream. So trust me: "Debauched and cruel by vampire standards" means they aren't so much at the bottom of the barrel as outside of it holding up a liquor store. Their cults believe that the [[Enemy Within|inner "Beast"]] that all vampires struggle with is actually a fragment of divinity caged by imperfect humanity; so, in an effort to "liberate" and master the Beast, they deliberately lead their followers in acts that drive the [[Karma Meter]] down faster than mercury in Antarctica.

** The Brood are a Religion of Evil''er'' to other vampires, while the Lancea Sanctum have set themselves up as a Religion of Evil to humanity, as they act as a dark mirror of Christianity (and other mortal faiths to an extent). Their message is "don't sin against God, or you will be [[Cursed with Awesome|cursed like us]]."

** And then there's the Sabbat, who could be considered the predecessors of both the Lancea Sanctum ''and'' Belial's Brood. Many of them worship Caine, the first vampire, and believe that during [[The End of the World as We Know It|Gehenna]], he will rise up and save his childer from [[Eldritch Abomination|the antediluvians]] that means to devour them. Their membership consists of the most amoral vampires (and ''that's'' saying something), who often have to pick up [[Blue and Orange Morality|alternate Paths of Enlightenment]] to avoid falling to their Beasts and practice twisted rituals that often involve human sacrifice. And the real kicker? They ''fucking hate'' infernalists.

** There's also the other side of that coin; the Gods of Chaos are the gods of bloodshed, disease, sexual perversion, and mutation. They're ''also'' the gods of Honor, Fortitude, Love, and Hope. Oh, you ''bet'' it's a [[Crapsack World]].

** That said, as mentioned by [[Ciaphas Cain]] (in [[Sandy Mitchell]]'s ''The Traitor's Hand''), many Chaos cultists start out presuming the organizations they're joining are relatively innocuous like crime networks, interesting occult or deviant pleasure groups, or even social reform movements; they often only grasp the true nature of what they've joined when they're far too corrupted to even care anymore. The cult in that book mostly consisted of the bored, and very few of them had any idea what they were getting themselves into.

*** At least in ''[[Warhammer Fantasy Battle]]'', many of the cults initially present themselves as organizations for social and political change, something that the Empire could rather use.

** It should be noted that Chaos Cultists tend to view the mutations and horrible deformities as blessings. Not to mention that there does exist for every follower of chaos a very small chance of getting immortality by basically being promoted to a demonic demi-god. Of course, most of them die or go totally insane way before ever getting close, but as with the D&D example above, most don't look at the likelihood of death or spawnhood and think "hey, that could be me"; they're convinced that they will be among those lucky enough to ascend to daemonhood.

** The best part? The other religions aren't that much better. At least Chaos is sort of honest about what it does, and doesn't pretend to be good.

** Let's not forget about the Genestealer cults. Worshippers of a [[Horde of Alien Locusts]], whose membership is made up exclusively of the victims of [[Face Full of Alien Wingwong]] and their [[Half-Human Hybrid]] children. They exist to increase their membership until they register in the [[Hive Caste System]], at which point the bugs turn up and devour everything on the planet, ''including the cult''.

* A small cult in the setting of the ''REIGN'' RPG believes in heaven for the good, hell for the evil and reincarnation for everyone else. They ''also'' believe that if you are killed by the archery-based martial arts style they invented, you get "promoted" in the afterlife. Thus, if you kill an evil person, they come back and get another chance, while killing anyone else gets them into heaven before they can do anything bad! They killed a ''lot'' of people.

* ''[[Final Fantasy VI]]'': Okay, sure, the Cult of Kefka is composed of people who have had their homes and possessions reduced to dust, friends and families <s>slaughtered</s> [[Death From Above|judged]] and [[Just for Pun|world ruined]] by [[A God Am I|K]][[Omnicidal Maniac|e]][[Nietzsche Wannabe|f]][[Monster Clown|k]][[Complete Monster|a]], and worshipping him is pretty much the only way you're allowed to keep your miserable life, so they're more ''The Church of Woobies'' than anything else, but really now; worshipping him (and being willing to go as far as to fight for him in order to escape his judgement) really isn't going to make it better.

* The Lopto Sect of [[Fire Emblem Jugdral]] is a cult devoted to the dark dragon Loptous (A alternate spelling of [[Norse Mythology|Loki, Norse God of Evil]]), and a once-former Empire founded by a ex-Bishop named Galle who became [[Faith Heel Turn|disenchanted with the divine dragons]] and [[Deal with the Devil|made a deal with Loptuous for power]] to conquer. They are rather keen on miss kidnapping of children to be used as human sacrifices to Loptous,and the tome that bears his name and was the source of Galle's power possesses the Final Boss, Prince Yurius, designed to be the dragon's vessel on Earth. All-in-all, a rather unpleaseant group.

** And in an expansion of the trope {{spoiler|The reaper Sovereign sees them as so inferior that it is insulted by the Geth's worship of it.}}

** The second game reveals that the vast majority of the Geth prefer a "live and let live" approach, the ones that followed Saren being seen as heretics.

** An indoctrinated Hanar combines this with [[Insane Troll Logic]] to come to the conclusion that since Hanar worship Protheans, and Protheans were turned into Collectors who now serve the Reapers, Hanar must worship the Reapers and aid them in their goal of total destruction.

* "Los Illuminados" from ''[[Resident Evil]] 4'' have a massive army of [[Black Cloak]] monks, cannibalism, institutionalized child murder, and colossal [[Body Horror]].

** Also, in ''[[The Elder Scrolls]] III: Morrowind'', there is the Dagoth Ur cult whose followers first start seeing things and then turn into semi-sentient monstrosities who can only do [[Big Bad|their master's]] bidding and are to be killed on sight.

** Most Daedric cults on the other hand are pretty friendly and just want to worship their kinda evil god in peace

* The ''[[Chzo Mythos]]'' series of games concerns {{spoiler|The Order of Blessed Agonies, a cult whose members worship the eponymous Chzo}}. The cult has prayer books, religious texts, a symbol, a founder, and a fairly clear objective. Chzo is referred to as a "pain elemental", and appropriately, all of the order are masochists.

* At first glance, the Order of the Harvest Moon from the adventure game ''[[Harvester]]'' seems like a slightly skewed [[Brotherhood of Funny Hats]]. Of course, once you've passed the final step of their initiation ritual, which involves navigating an [[Evil Tower of Ominousness]], killing horrible monsters, and having [[Nietzsche Wannabe|sinister and nihilistic]] conversations with really nasty people, you've discovered their true colors... and their true intentions.

* [[Lampshade Hanging]] in ''[[Star Control]] II'': the Ilwrath are theocratic self-declared worshippers of Evil and Death, but if the player confronts them over this ("If your actions are judged by your society as correct, aren't you, in fact, good?") they tie themselves into a logical knot before deciding to attack the player for being annoying.

* The Multitude in the [[Roguelike]] ''[[Incursion]]'' is a, well, multitude of demon ghosts who each want you to go kill and slaughter and rape and be generally depraved in that particular ghost's name, and are willing to bribe you with power for it. Zurvash is slightly more philosophical about it, making no bones about the fact that he has no regard for civilization, ethics, or foresight, and glorying in brutality and domination.

* ''[[EVE Online]]'': The Blood Raiders. Since their "religion" invovles vivisection with no anesthesia.... And to a lesser extent Sansa's Nation. They believe in turning people in to "true humans" by destroying the personality yet keeping intelligence and creativity intact.

* [[Soul Nomad and The World Eaters|The Thurists]] are very much this. ''Every'' member indulges in an [[Evil Laugh]], even in the battle quips (ordinary units will have the laugh replace their normal grunts and cries), their "god" is World Eater Thuris, the sickest of the lot (mentally, that is - Raksha's a [[Magnificent Bastard]] and Feinne is simply mindless), and they regularly purge other religions, especially the followers of Apis, who many of their members were converted from. {{spoiler|Danette is a survivor of one of these purges, which razed the town of Pulkina ten years ago.}} And if that wasn't bad enough, they have a reputation for indulging in the spread of Scarlet Iago - this may have killed {{spoiler|Shauna/Shari and}} Trish's parents 15 years ago during a vaccine panic, and if it weren't for a charitable donation by Cristophe and Levin, it could have claimed the Raide survivors under Nereid care as well. Of course, Kanan and her lot all fail to comprehend why evil religions are doomed to swift destruction - namely, [[Evil Is Not a Toy|that they are mere pawns for the "gods" they worship]].

* Church of the Key in ''[[Alundra 2: A New Legend Begins|Alundra 2]]''. They promise you happiness, they turn you into a soulless slave.

* The Order of the ''[[Silent Hill]]'' series worship a God that has promised to bring about the salvation of humanity and paradise on Earth. Given that their plans for helping God bring this about invariably involve physical and psychological torture and murder (''especially'' of children and childhood best friends) and that all of the Order members (with the possible exception of Claudia, who can be seen as just a ''[[Well-Intentioned Extremist]]'') encountered in the series are amoral, vicious sadists, and/or outright insane, one can be forgiven for wondering what exactly their paradise would entail. It's telling that the main antagonist of ''[[Silent Hill 3]]'', the Order priestess Claudia Wolf, who orchestrates a brutal murder and has the protagonist quite literally put through Hell, would apparently be considered one of the Order's more ''liberal'' theologians.

** Something else that makes the Order look like pure evil rather than just a [[Scary Amoral Religion]] is that their God literally thrives on suffering and hatred, although Claudia reasons that a truly compassionate God must first experience the horrors of the world through a human host.

* [[Halo]] has an interesting example. While the religion of the Covenant didn't start out this way, thanks to the Prophets misinterpreting the sayings of the Oracle in their holy city ( {{spoiler|actually a fragment of Mendicant Bias, a Forerunner AI who went nuts and joined the Flood for a while}}) and {{spoiler|their own corruption and thirst for power}}, it soon turns the Covenant into an alliance of [[Omnicidal Maniac|omnicidal maniacs]]. Granted, they didn't think ''they'' were going to be killed as well.

* In [[Mortal Kombat]], the Brotherhood of Shadow follows the fallen Elder God Shinnok.

* ''[[The Legend of Zelda]]'' occasionally portrays [[Big Bad|Ganon]] as being worshiped as a god, with his more devout followers [[Zelda II: The Adventure of Link|trying to]] [[The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons and Oracle of Ages|revive him]] or [[Deal with the Devil|selling their souls to him]] [[The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess|for power]]. Of course, the Triforce of Power, the source of his magic, ''is'' a third of the most powerful holy artifact in the series, so he does have deity-like powers.

* 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...

* ''Runescape'' originally had only three gods, Saradomin, Zamorak, and Guthix, who were basically good, evil, and balance. Zamorak is considered more chaotic now, and has some followers who are decent and suggest that their reputation is [[Written by the Winners]]. Still, the Zamorakians are arguably 99% evil, featuring all sorts of bloody murder, their members include vampires, werewolves, demons, and [[Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking|an Evil Chicken]], and many of their rituals actually use the word evil.

 

 

== Web Comics ==

* The Dimension of Pain demons in ''[[Sluggy Freelance]]'' worship the Demon King, who thinks the highest compliment he can give something is "How evil".

** The same goes for the cult of K'Z'K started up by Chilus.

* The doom cultists in ''[[8-Bit Theater]]''.

** And whatever Black Mage is worshipping that week. Though Black Mage admits he's only worshipping them for the express purpose of gaining their dark blessings until he is powerful enough to usurp them for his own ends.

* Vince's cult in ''[[Jack (webcomic)|Jack]]'' is a weird example in that the cultists are all ''already'' in Hell, and are turning to the cult to try and get them out. Vince has a lot of fun manipulating them.

{{quote|"Now each of you prove yourselves! Come to the centre of the arena and curse God's name! Denounce His only son! For only those with the courage to face God's wrath are worthy to bask in His glory!"

 

== Web Original ==

** The Cult of Kellith probably isn't a subversion, but a real example. The head of the cult was actively trying to turn Carmilla evil {{spoiler|until she killed him}}. Cultists have been seen to do things like sacrifice cute animals in her name. And there may be ''a hundred thousand'' of them out there doing god only knows what.