History UsefulNotes / RasputinTheMadMonk

Grigoriy Yefimovich Rasputin (22 January [9 January in the Old Style calendar] 1869 – 30 December [17 December in the Old Style calendar] 1916) was a Russian mystic and preacher.

Rasputin's influence over the Tsarina, and through her the Tsar, was resented by many, not without reason, and he became a target of anti-Romanov and anti-Tsarist groups in Russia. He was murdered in 1916, ostensibly by Prince Felix Yusupov and a band of his cronies. [[DatedHistory Yusupov's story]] (as embroidered and added to through the years) was that Rasputin was lured to a meeting with Yusupov where he was fed cakes and wine laced with cyanide; when that failed to kill him, he was beaten, shot, stabbed, and thrown into the Neva River, where he died of hypothermia after trying to claw through the ice. In reality, he was shot four times. No cakes ([[DisabilityImmunity he had a bad stomach and wouldn't have eaten them even if the cyanide could have survived the baking process]]), sipped a very small amount of wine, the first shots fired by Yusupov's trembling hand either missed [[OnlyAFleshWound or did not hit vital organs]], no beating, no freezing. Though he may have reincarnated as Creator/AlanMoore.

* HBO's 1996 cable ''RasputinDarkServantOfDestiny''. His portrayal argued Rasputin may actually have been a saint with legitimate supernatural powers derived from God and at the very least didn't deserve the crap piled on his memory.

* HBO's 1996 cable-r "RasputinDarkServantOfDestiny". His portrayal argued Rasputin may actually have been a saint with legitimate supernatural powers derived from God and at the very least didn't deserve the crap piled on his memory.

* HBO's 1996/RasputinDarkServantOfDestiny''. His portrayal argued Rasputin may actually have been a saint with legitimate supernatural powers derived from God and at the very least didn't deserve the crap piled on his memory.

* Creator/AlanRickman did a sympathetic portrayal of the man in the HBO original movie ''Film/RasputinDarkServantOfDestiny''. His portrayal argued Rasputin may actually have been a saint with legitimate supernatural powers derived from God and at the very least didn't deserve the crap piled on his memory.

* ''Manga/DanceInTheVampireBund'' makes him into an alias of a power hungry Vampire Lord named Ivanovic who's willing to lie, kill and steal. He's killed some 90 years after the Russian Revolution with the help of Anastasia, who he turned and made his play thing until she escaped him. The worst part? [[FridgeHorror He was probably using poor Anastasia as practice to get himself ready for Mina.]]

* ''Manga/DanceInTheVampireBund'' makes him into an alias of a power hungry Vampire Lord who's willing to lie, kill and steal. He's killed some 90 years after the Russian Revolution with the help of Anastasia, who he turned and made his play thing until she escaped him.
** The worst part? [[FridgeHorror He was probably using poor Anastasia as practice to get himself ready for Mina.]]

TropeNamer for RasputinianDeath. The frequent myths and interesting history around him has made him a frequent target for a HistoricalVillainUpgrade or BeethovenWasAnAlienSpy, as well as a figure in a UsefulNotes/ConspiracyTheory.

Grigoriy Yefimovich Rasputin (22 January [9 January in the Old Style calendar] 1869 – 30 December [17 December in the Old Style calendar] 1916) was a Russian mystic and preacher. Born of peasant parents[[note]]his father was a former postman fired for [[VodkaDrunkenski alcoholism]][[/note]], he arrived in Saint Petersburg in the early 20th century, where he had some success in treating Tsarevich Alexei, who suffered from hemophilia. He managed to turn this, and the fascination in upper-class Russian circles with religious mysticism, healing, and sex, into becoming a close associate of the Tsar's family and an important figure in pre-revolution Russia. Rasputin also never was an ordained cleric or monk in the Orthodox Church (and had quite a lot of enemies among those), his official status in Orthodox Christianity was that of a lay preacher. However, authors tend to forget that and call him a "mad monk", which is the source of this page's name.

* Creator/RhysIfans played Rasputin in ''Film/KingsMan'', the prequel to the ''Film/{{Kingsman}}'' film series, and combines both HistoricalVillainUpgrade and HistoricalBadassUpgrade.

When Tsarina Alexandra called upon him to pray for the healing of Tsarevich Alexei, he told Alexandra "God has seen your tears and heard your prayers. Do not grieve. The Little One will not die. Do not allow the doctors to bother him too much." Alexei's hemorrhage stopped the next day and he began to recover. Alexandra regarded Rasputin as a ''starets'', a venerable religious elder figure, and would manifest MamaBear-like instincts, fervently defending him and turning her wrath against anyone who dared to question him after Alexei's miraculous healing.

* Ra'''''[[MyNaymeIs z]]'''''putin is the [[KidHero psychic prodigy star]] of ''VideoGame/{{Psychonauts}}'', with [[AvertedTrope no other real connection]] to his namesake. The name is probably a reference to Rasputin's supposed death by drowning, given Raz's curse-induced SuperDrowningSkills.

->''RA-RA-RASPUTIN!''\\

->''RA-RA-RASPUTIN!''

Rasputin's influence over the Tsarina, and through her the Tsar, was resented by many, not without reason, and he became a target of anti-Romanov and anti-Tsarist groups in Russia. He was murdered in 1916, ostensibly by Prince Felix Yusupov and a band of his cronies. [[DatedHistory Yusupov's story]] (as embroidered and added to through the years) was that Rasputin was lured to a meeting with Yusupov where he was fed cakes and wine laced with cyanide; when that failed to kill him, he was beaten, shot, stabbed, and thrown into the Neva River, where he died of hypothermia after trying to claw through the ice. In reality, [[BoomHeadshot he was shot in the head with a .455 Webley which killed him instantly]]. No cakes ([[DisabilityImmunity he had a bad stomach and wouldn't have eaten them even if the cyanide could have survived the baking process]]), sipped a very small amount of wine, the first shots fired by Yusupov's trembling hand either missed [[OnlyAFleshWound or did not hit vital organs]], no beating, no freezing. Though he may have reincarnated as Creator/AlanMoore.

* Appears as the BigBad of part 5 of ''TabletopGame/{{Pathfinder}}'s'' ''Reign of Winter'' adventure path. In the ''Pathfiner'' mythos, [[BeethovenWasAnAlienSpy he is the estranged son]] of Literature/BabaYaga, who abandoned him on Earth. His magic allowed him to communicate with his distant sister Queen Elvanna of Irrisen on Golarion to conspire against Baba Yaga, kicking off the adventure path's plot. [[spoiler: He also took the time to have an affair with the Tzarina and father Anastasia.]]

->''Lover of the Russian queen!''
->''There was a cat that really was gone!''
->''RA-RA-RASPUTIN!''

* ''VideoGame/{{Wizardry}}'' has {{Rat|Man}}tkin NPC named Ratsputin. Though he's a ninja, not monk -- name is due to mice- and rat- related puns ThemeNaming.

No relation to the current Russian President, UsefulNotes/VladimirPutin (though Vladimir's grandfather cooked for him). Their surnames are actually ''antonymous'' in Russian, with Putin meaning "of the path" while Rasputin stands for "of pathless" or, figuratively, "of libertine".

* Portrayed more stereotypically as a raving, demonic maniac by Creator/LionelBarrymore in the infamous ''Rasputin and the Empress'' (1932), opposite [[SiblingRivalry siblings John and Ethel]]. This movie's portrayal of certain surviving (and litigious) Romanovs led to the [[NoCelebritiesWereHarmed "Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental"]] disclaimer.

** He gets [[GambitPileup far more hilarious]] in ''Literature/FactionParadox''. To start with, the Faction recruited him a few days before his death, took him to the [[EldritchLocation Eleven-Day Empire]], and replaced him with an exact duplicate. Then the Celestis came along, didn't realise the Faction had made the switch, and offered him their standard deal that includes resurrection. The duplicate had been briefed not to argue with any War-era powers it met, and so accepted the deal. By the time of the assassination attempt, the Great Houses noticed something was going on, assumed the Faction would try to take him to the Empire at the point of death, and so implanted a device that would replace the Faction duplicate with a Great House duplicate. House constructs are by default immune to poisoning. As such, when the poison failed, he was shot. Then the Celesti protocols resurrected him, producing a creature whose mind was struggling between Great Houses, Celesti, and Faction protocols which had to be shot repeatedly and beaten to death simply to get it to lie down long enough to be thrown ino the river, where it finally froze to death. As a result, none of the three powers involved like to talk about it and everyone in the War agreed to leave celebrities well alone. The real Rasputin, meanwhile, persuaded Anastasia (who was also a Faction recruit) to set up a rival state, then went mad and died under mysterious circumstances. Anastasia's Thirteen-Day Republic was shortly afterwards annihilated.

* Creator/RhysIfans played Rasputin in ''Film/KingsMan'', the prequel to the ''Film/{{Kingman}}'' film series.

* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kwh6078A-VU "Rasputin"]] by Boney M, which refers to him as "Russia's greatest love machine". It's been covered by a number of bands and is a staple of the ''VideoGame/JustDance'' series. In a very odd and ironic twist of fate, the FaceOfTheBand Bobby Farrell died on a December 30 (2010) in Saint Petersburg, just like the Mad Monk.

* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kwh6078A-VU "Rasputin"]] by Boney M, which refers to him as "Russia's greatest love machine." It's been covered by a number of bands and is a staple of the ''VideoGame/JustDance'' series. In a very odd and ironic twist of fate, the FaceOfTheBand Bobby Farrell died on a December 30 (2010) in Saint Petersburg, just like the Mad Monk.

No relation to the current Russian President, UsefulNotes/VladimirPutin (thought his grandfather cooked for him). Their surnames are actually ''antonymous'' in Russian, with Putin meaning "of the path" while Rasputin stands for "of pathless" or, figuratively, "of libertine".

* In the Creator/DonBluth film ''WesternAnimation/{{Anastasia}}'', Rasputin is a sorcerer who made a DealWithTheDevil, has a [[GratuitousAnimalSidekick talking albino bat as pet]] and came back as an undead. Nevermind the ''countless'' other [[ArtisticLicenseHistory historical inaccuracies]].

* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kwh6078A-VU "Rasputin"]] by Boney M, which refers to him as "Russia's greatest love machine." It's been covered by a number of bands and is a staple of the ''VideoGame/JustDance'' series.

* In the Creator/DonBluth film ''WesternAnimation/{{Anastasia}}'', Rasputin was a sorcerer who made a DealWithTheDevil and came back as an undead. Nevermind the other countless historical inaccuracies.

Grigoriy Yefimovich Rasputin (1869-1916) was a Russian mystic and preacher. Born of peasant parents[[note]]his father was a former postman fired for [[VodkaDrunkenski alcoholism]][[/note]], he arrived in Saint Petersburg in the early 20th century, where he had some success in treating Tsarevich Alexei, who suffered from hemophilia. He managed to turn this, and the fascination in upper-class Russian circles with religious mysticism, healing, and sex, into becoming a close associate of the Tsar's family and an important figure in pre-revolution Russia. Rasputin also never was an ordained cleric or monk in the Orthodox Church (and had quite a lot of enemies among those), his official status in Orthodox Christianity was that of a lay preacher. However, authors tend to forget that and call him a "mad monk", which is the source of this page's name.

The particular weapon he was shot with raises a lot of questions, as that was issued to British Secret Service agents. While Yusupov himself did not have any obvious connections to the organization, its director at the time ''was'' a friend of a friend.