History Main / CultOfPersonality

* George Orwell's ''Literature/NineteenEightyFour'' created "Big Brother," who was always watching. Citizens were brainwashed to love him as a father figure and devote their lives to his glory.

* Frank Herbert intended ''Franchise/{{Dune}}'' to be a deconstruction of this (and in the process [[ItSucksToBeTheChosenOne invoking another trope]]), with [[MessianicArchetype Paul Muad'dib]] becoming trapped by the popular perceptions of him, leading to his FallenHero status and his son Leto becoming a literally inhuman tyrant for thousands of years.
** Ironically, the book itself has almost become one, some fans call it the "sci-fi bible." The book has gone on to be considered an absolute masterpiece.
* [[ValuesDissonance "Heroic"]] (or perhaps rather [[AntiHero anti-heroic]]) example in ''Literature/{{Victoria}}'', if somewhat downplayed. While he is never seen overtly encouraging it himself, [[TheLeader William Kraft's]] followers gradually come to consider him a demigod of sorts, and build up a veritable cult around him. Toward the end of the story, he is all but literally worshiped by the masses much like FDR once was -- [[GodwinsLaw or Hitler]], to use a less favorably tinged example -- and the mere public statement of his views is enough to significantly impact popular opinion on major national issues.

* ''Series/BlackMirror'': ''[[Recap/BlackMirrorTheWaldoMoment The Waldo Moment]]'' presents a Britain TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture where one forms around a cartoon bear running in a by-election as a joke. The animator and voice actor for Waldo quickly finds himself being subsumed by his alter-ego, and then things go FromBadToWorse. [[spoiler:The story ends with Waldo losing the by-election, but his influence over the public is such that he can incite violence against politicians and he eventually becomes a figurehead for new world order. Waldo's creator ends up a homeless alcoholic who gets tasered and beaten by police for throwing a bottle at a Waldo poster. The FridgeHorror of this is that Stalin was a mortal man and his cult died with him; Waldo is a cartoon character who can live ''forever'' as long as the people behind him [[TheOtherDarrin keep bringing in new voice actors to play him]].]]
* Cassandra from ''Series/DoctorWho'' has this sort of relationship with her followers, with Chip even worshiping her as a god-like figure. She is an openly narcissistic and power drunk character, but in a bit of a subvertion, [[PetTheDog she does values the loyalty of her followers.]]

* British satirical magazine ''Magazine/PrivateEye'' skewered excitable people in the ruling Conservative Party who, during TheEighties, were explicitly saying that any criticism of UsefulNotes/MargaretThatcher, however slight, was tantamount to treason. They ran a spoof of ''ComicBook/{{Commando}}'' war comics where Thatcher was elevated to The Fuhrer, mighty beloved leader and guardian of the Thousand Year Right, where Tory Party conferences became uniformed affairs held at Nuremberg. This was to make the point that a cult of personality focused on an infallible strong leader is not a healthy thing for ''any'' country to have, least of all a notional democracy.

* Music/MichaelJackson is a notable non-political example. Quite a few pop stars have been elevated to legendary proportions by their fans, especially if they died relatively young -- Music/ElvisPresley was the most prominent example for decades, followed closely by John Lennon. But Jackson ''actively'' cultivated this trope in his lifetime, pushing the ForcedMeme of "The King of Pop" and casting himself as a great humanitarian and FriendToAllChildren. (Consider [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c93o05SrWzE this.]]) Moreover, he encouraged fans to regard '''anything''' negative reported about him as nothing more than persecution by the [[StrawmanNewsMedia sinister mass media]]. This worked; after his death they went publicly berserk, and the mythologizing around him only continues to grow -- as do conspiracy theories and harassment/demonization of those perceived as his enemies (in particular, ''multiple'' people who have accused him of sexually abusing them when they were young boys). This reached the point where after the reevaluation of Jackson's public legacy that the ''Leaving Neverland'' documentary spawned in 2019, the man's cult of personality responded with such intensity that it drowned out the documentary and led to it and its claims falling by the wayside by the end of the year.

* Josip Broz Tito fostered one for himself in Communist UsefulNotes/{{Yugoslavia}} as both the father of the socialist state ''and'' more importantly, a figure of South Slavic unity given the multiple ethnic groups within his state. In fact, his death and the demise of his personality cult gave one less thing for the Yugoslav peoples to agree on in the buildup to UsefulNotes/TheYugoslavWars. While not state enforced in any post-Yugoslav nation today, Tito still enjoys relative popularity for South Slavic and socialist "Brotherhood and Unity", a phrase popular in Yugoslavia.

*** One of the more notable examples, this has been attempted (apparently successfully) by UsefulNotes/DonaldTrump, who was the country's 45th president, to the point where after he lost the 2020 election, he railed over and over again that [[VoteEarlyVoteOften it was rigged against him]], which his committed base then ate up. He then whipped up his supporters at a rally-turned-riot on January 6th, 2021, leading to a mob of them breaching the Capitol building to try and stop the election certification for UsefulNotes/JoeBiden, causing a sizable amount of destruction and five deaths (one Trump supporter and four police officers). Even well after Biden was formally certified, [[IRejectYourReality his most rabid followers still believed that the election was illegitimate]] (even after election officials from ''both'' parties said the win was legitimate) and that he would be reinstated at some point in the near future. Even before that day, however, Trump had a rabid fanbase that disbelieved every news outlet except ones that Trump voiced his support for, claimed he had been sent by God to "save" America, and is the greatest president ever. Alongside Trump himself, conspiracy theories have also fueled this, particularly the [=QAnon=] conspiracy that alleges that [[SatanicPanic the Democratic Party is full of Satanist cannibal pedophiles]] that Trump would arrest and have executed at any moment. Presently, the enduring belief among Trump's personality cult is that ''any'' problem in America today would be instantly fixed if he returned to power -- that, in Trump's words back in his 2016 campaign, "[he] alone can fix it".

* While their followers are quick to contest the notion, many religions create a cult of personality around their gods and especially the human founder of their belief system, deifying them to the point where they're treated as practically infallible: Christians have UsefulNotes/{{Jesus}}, Jews have Moses and Abraham, Muslims have the Prophet Muhammed, Buddhists have Siddhartha Gautama, Scientologists have L. Ron Hubbard and Majority of Raelians have Raël (Claude Vorilhon).

* ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventure:'' Dio Brando (or as he renamed himself, just ＤＩＯ) has such insane charisma, that he, despite being basically a recently awakened vampire in the contemporary world, with no money or occupations, obtained a large following alongside extensive monetary resources in a short amount of time. He has followers from various parts of the globe, willing kill and die for him. To the point his most fanatical are willing to commit suicide on his word. His remaining right-hand man, Enrico Pucci was willing to orchestrate a complex plan that Dio entrusted him with alongside avenging his fallen friend's death. Dio's charisma is outright compared to Hitler's and other tyrants of history.

* Twilight Sparkle of ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' has had to endure some of this since her ascension to princess-hood in the Season 3 finale [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS3E13MagicalMysteryCure "Magical Mystery Cure"]]. Particularly in the Season 4 episode [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS4E15TwilightTime "Twilight Time"]] where a group of schoolchildren begins giving the Cutie Mark Crusaders attention because they have a private study session with the Princess of Friendship and all of the kids really just want to rub shoulders with Twilight.

* ''WesternAnimation/SheRaAndThePrincessesOfPower'': Horde Prime is a conqueror and destroyer of worlds whose only non-robot servants are numerous clones of himself. He does not allow his clones to have individual personalities or free will, instead conditioning them to treat him as a god and themselves as mere extensions of his power.
* In ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' episode "Kiss Kiss Bang Bangalore", Homer travels to India after the Nuclear Plant is outsourced, where he becomes corrupted and takes over, establishing himself as a God. The rest of the family travel to India where they meet Mr. Burns, who takes them in his boat to the plant. When they reach the plant, they find all of the workers chanting to Homer and that they have painted his face on a large silo. Homer is dressed like Mola Ram from TempleOfDoom and the workers are bowing to him as he sits on a throne. Turns out they just liked Homer's American labor benefits of personal days, coffee breaks, and "mylar balloons on your birthday."
* In ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'', all of the Homeworld Gems literally live to serve the Diamond Authority. Peridot expresses confidence that they're literally perfect, and she's probably not alone. This is seen a bit more frighteningly at the end of Season 3, where several Gems show the detrimental effects on someone's sanity this can have, and how fanatical they are to their Diamonds despite the Diamonds clearly not returning their devotion.

** Post-war Japanese leaders mostly lacked appeals to personality due to their short lengths in office and relatively conservative positions. Only Shinzo Abe has attracted a significant following among Japanese nationalists aka Netto-uyoku due to his proposal at remilitarizing Japan, overhauling the Japanese economy, and eventual assassination in 2022, making him a martyr for their cause.

* In Iran, a cult of personality developed around Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, and after his death, Ali Khamenei. Their quotes are often used along with those of the Quran and the Prophet Muhammad.

** UsefulNotes/MaoZedong used to be the center of a major personality cult. Though still held in high regard and also mummified and put on display, the worship is not as fanatical as during his lifetime. In fact, much of the contemplation for Mao lies with nostalgia for the '50s and '60s from which those that grew up in that era would reminisce over the zealous cult that was developed during Mao's lifetime. His successor Deng Xiaoping deliberately avoided having further cults of personality forward, in order to prevent the disaster that was the Cultural Revolution.