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16[[quoteright:350: [[VideoGame/FarCry5 https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/fc_falls_end_ncsa.jpg]]]]
17[[caption-width-right:350:"I am your father, and you are my children."]]
18
19->'''Roseanne:''' ''Edelweiss Corrections School''? What's that, some kind of brainwashing camp?\
20'''David:''' No. It says right on the brochure -- "This is not a brainwashing camp."
21-->-- ''Series/{{Roseanne}}'', "Springtime For David"
22
23A '''cult''' is a religious movement that's unusual in some way. Its exact definition in RealLife can vary considerably; most such definitions are controversial, viewing cults in a negative light. Our [[Analysis/{{Cult}} Analysis page]] lists the most common definitions. But in fiction, a "cult" is generally a pejorative term for a relatively new and unusual religious movement.
24
25The most stereotypical fictional cult -- and thus the most tropeable -- is a small and relatively obscure group of people, centered around a single charismatic leader, which recruits the credulous and vulnerable and [[{{Brainwashed}} brainwashes them]] to believe something weird. The leader is often a [[ConMan grifter]] who demands absolute loyalty and abuses their power.
26
27Cults can be [[PlayingWithATrope played a number of ways]]. In a CrimeTimeSoap or PoliceProcedural, they show up as the bad guys. In comedy, they may be relatively harmless but [[CargoCult believe in something truly ridiculous]] like [[AlienTropes aliens]] or {{Ancient Conspirac|y}}ies. In ScienceFiction, the aliens they worship might be real, but so {{sufficiently advanced|Alien}} that the cultists cannot understand their technology; or such aliens might be leading the cult in a GodGuise. Many a drama show will [[RippedFromTheHeadlines draw from infamous real-life religious groups]] like the [[UsefulNotes/JimJones People's Temple]][[note]](committed ritual suicide and in the process helped [[TropeNamers name the trope]] DrinkingTheKoolAid)[[/note]], Heaven's Gate[[note]](also committed suicide, hoping to hitch a ride on a UFO)[[/note]], the Branch Davidians[[note]]a subset of the Seventh Day Adventists portrayed in the media as a RightWingMilitiaFanatic group -- the truth is more complex -- most of whom died (including 25 children and two pregnant women) when their home was raided and they were gassed by U.S. federal agents[[/note]], or Aum Shinrikyo[[note]](responsible for the 1995 sarin attack on the Tokyo subway)[[/note]]. Many a comedy show, meanwhile, will base a funny cult on the ChurchOfHappyology.
28
29Certainly, only a minority of cults are like this. But these are the most interesting, so that's why fiction likes that kind of cult.
30
31Broadly speaking, fictional cults fall into one of these subtropes:
32* The ''ApocalypseCult'', which tries to induce TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt;
33* The ''CargoCult'', which worships a non-living MacGuffin of some kind;
34* The ''BreedingCult'', which intends to populate Earth with a specific type of human, often a superhuman of some kind;
35* The ''ReligionOfEvil'', which likes to do evil things like worship a GodOfEvil, conduct HumanSacrifice, or awaken powers that [[EvilIsNotAToy really should be left alone]] -- often defined with respect to an established religion (''e.g.'' {{Satan}} worshippers) or story (''e.g.'' Franchise/{{Cthulhu|Mythos}} worshippers);
36* The ''ScamReligion'', which doesn't actually believe anything -- it's run by a ConArtist looking to take advantage of people.
37Some also blend in with a few other groups that aren't strictly considered cults. They might overlap with believers in an AncientConspiracy but be seeking to revive it. Or they might believe in AncientAstronauts or other aliens and start worshipping them, couching their religious beliefs in [[HollywoodScience sketchy science]]. Or they might be a very strange offshoot of an established religion, painting their leader as the SecondComing of an established religious figure.
38
39Regardless of the kind of cult, on TV they often do at least some of the following:
40* '''A charismatic and exploitative leader.''' A ManipulativeBastard who often employs {{Brainwashing}} (or, in less realistic works, MindManipulation). The leader preys on vulnerable people, exploiting their fears and neuroses for their own ends. Nobody ever questions the leader; anyone who does is punished or expelled. Many cults have a strict hierarchy, allowing multiple layers of manipulation and providing members the illusion of upward mobility. The leader may or [[StrawHypocrite may not]] actually believe their own story; if they don't, the cult is probably a ScamReligion. Sometimes a leader is shown believing they are really in touch with spiritual realities and trying to provide help and salvation, but that it's sometimes necessary to employ deception and trickery in the course of getting people to listen. They’re pretty much by definition a FalseProphet, except in the unlikely case [[TheCuckoolanderWasRight the cult’s beliefs turn out to be true]].
41* '''Total retreat from society.''' Members abandon their former lives and move in with the cult, usually in an isolated place far from civilization. They can no longer associate with people outside the cult. They are often expected to give up their worldly possessions (sometimes to the leader). Communal living is common; the cult will want to be self-sustainable, with no help from the outside world. This often requires manual labor from the rank-and-file, which usually goes unpaid. Some might interact with the outside world offering a product or service; one can expect that the proceeds all go to the leader.
42* '''Absolute secrecy.''' This is the hallmark of a TV MysteryCult, which can overlap with any of the subtypes above. The cult's beliefs are only shared with its members; outsiders cannot learn anything. And even within the cult, the full range of beliefs is only shared with the absolute highest levels, forcing members to prove their worth if they want to learn more. Expect a SecretCircleOfSecrets. Cults are also obsessed with hiding any internal conflict, particularly from the outside world; it may be that HappinessIsMandatory.
43* '''Paranoia and belligerence.''' TV cults often ensure obedience by painting the outside world as scary and dangerous. They may amass weapons and prepare to fight any intruders. They'll be extremely distrustful of government authorities (which, in a PoliceProcedural, includes the protagonists, hence the popularity of this type of cult). This belief usually conditions members to take extreme measures, like mass suicide, ambitions to TakeOverTheWorld, or causing TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt. Alternatively, they may employ an ArmyOfLawyers and simply threaten to sue anyone who criticizes them. This paranoia extends to ''within'' the cult as well; members are [[BigBrotherIsWatching always being watched]], to prevent them from doing anything subversive.
44* '''Loss of individuality.''' TV Cult leaders look for absolute conformity, to the point of essentially creating a HiveMind. Everything the members do is dictated by the cult, from how they dress (nothing says "cult" like a group of people all with matching jumpsuits and [[ImportantHaircut shaven heads]]) to what they eat[[note]]Many TV cults enforce [[StrawVegetarian vegetarianism]], which may have a biological purpose -- if you don't get enough protein, or if you're just hungry all the time, it's harder to think for yourself[[/note]] to how they have sex. Indeed:
45* '''Bizarre sexual practices.''' TV cults often focus on sex. In many cases, the manipulative leader is a HaremSeeker[[note]]Real cults are just as likely to be led by women, but a TV cult leader is usually male[[/note]]. The cult may engage in sexual practices ranging from the potentially dangerous ([[ExoticExtendedMarriage polygamy]]) to the extremely harmful ([[PedoHunt pedophilia]]). They often [[BureaucraticallyArrangedMarriage arrange marriages]] for their members, and occasionally hold mass wedding ceremonies. Women may be forced to become {{Baby Factor|y}}ies, especially in a BreedingCult. Children are often taken from their parents and raised communally, often abusively. SexMagic may be involved. The leader is often shown enthusiastically partaking in these sex things, suggesting the cult's entire purpose is to give them a set of {{Sex Slave}}s.
46* '''Bizarre beliefs and rituals.''' In general, a TV cult's gotta believe something ''weird''. Aliens, [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt impending cataclysms]], {{Ancient Conspirac|y}}ies, you name it. Rituals will often be harmful or dangerous, often involving self-harm of some kind; BloodMagic and {{Slave Brand}}ing is common. At their worst, cults engage in HumanSacrifice, especially of [[WouldHurtAChild children]] or {{virgin|Sacrifice}}s. They may also believe that ScienceIsBad and reject modern medicine, often leading to someone [[LittlestCancerPatient tragically dying of a treatable condition]].
47* '''Political conquest.''' These types of TV cults will try to gain any political recognition whenever possible. After all, there's a reason for the saying "Spread the word of god!"
48
49In some works, there may be an emphasis on deprogramming. In The70s in particular, the ''deprogrammer'' was a bit of a subtrope of its own -- a single heroic, knightly figure will rescue (read: kidnap) a cult member, subject them to hours of debriefing, and teach them how to question the cult and its leader. Said cult member is usually an attractive young woman who hooks up with the deprogrammer in the end.[[note]]This particular portrayal was so common -- indeed, even in RealLife (partly due to [[LifeImitatesArt well-meaning counselors taking television examples as instruction manuals]]) -- that deprogrammer Joe Szimhart wrote [[http://www.icsahome.com/articles/persistence-of--deprogramming--stereotypes-in-film a whole article]] on how filmmakers could more realistically portray deprogramming.[[/note]] Anyone who successfully leaves a cult is a CultDefector.
50
51Not to be confused with the horror RolePlayingGame ''TabletopGame/{{KULT}}'', the {{Freeware Game|s}} ''VideoGame/{{Cult}}'', the series ''Series/{{Cult}}'', or with the rock band Music/TheCult. And while [[Music/BlueOysterCult brilliant blue sea creatures do exist]], they're never venerated. Nor should it be mistaken for a CultClassic, which has nothing to do with a cult (although some cult classics can be ''about'' cults, like ''Film/TheWickerMan1973'' and ''Film/ManosTheHandsOfFate'').
52
53Although this trope is TruthInTelevision, Administrivia/NoRealLifeExamplesPlease. Allowing real life examples would just encourage people to add religious groups they don't like, regardless of whether or not they're really cults.
54
55[[noreallife]]
56----
57!!Examples:
58
59[[foldercontrol]]
60
61[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
62* The cult revolving around "Friend" in ''Manga/TwentiethCenturyBoys''. This begins to change as the cult forms the Friendship Party of Japan and initiate a totalitarian takeover of the Japanese political system [[spoiler:and, eventually, that of the rest of the world]].
63* ''Manga/AfterschoolCharisma'' (aka ''Japanese WesternAnimation/CloneHigh'') has a bizarre cult that takes root among the clones lead by a clone of the legendary 3rd century Japanese witch-queen Himiko who worship the spirit of Dolly the Clone Sheep.
64* ''Manga/AiKora'' has a truly bizarre example, the Church of Bluish-Purple, run by a loony with a fetish for bloomers (as in ''buruma'', super-short girl's gym shorts).
65* In the manga ''Manga/{{Arisa}}'', the titular character's class has been sucked into a cult revolving around "The King" whose followers text him their wishes, and each "King Time" he selects one to grant.
66* ''Literature/{{Baccano}}'':
67** The Lemures, who worship the immortal MadScientist Huey Laforet. They believe that if they serve him, they may obtain eternal life for themselves. [[spoiler:Huey is not actually capable of making others immortal, and regards them with amusement and scorn for believing this.]]
68** In the novels, there's SAMPLE, a cult that worships ''pain''. They designate a child as their "sacrificial god", then brutally torture the child, supposedly as a means of having them take on all the pain the worshippers would be feeling instead.
69* The worldwide cult of Kira in ''Manga/DeathNote''. They did not know who Kira was, but believed him (just as [[AGodAmI he believed himself]]) to be TheScourgeOfGod.
70%%* ''Manga/{{Dokuro}}'': The [[CorruptChurch Nirvana Church of Creation]].
71* ''Anime/DragonBallGT'' had the Luud Cult, and alien cult that worshipped a giant machine.
72* In ''Manga/FairyTail'', Black Mage Zeref is worshiped as a god by at least one cult. Several characters were once slaves to a cult dedicated to reviving him [[spoiler:never knowing that he wasn't actually dead.]] Dark Guild Grimoire Heart and Dark Guild Tartaros were cults in all but name dedicated to Zeref as well [[spoiler:the former of which was led by a wizard who knew Zeref was still alive and wanted to use him to create a "Grand Magic World" while the latter was filled with his own genocidal demon creations dedicated to destroying mankind and reuniting with ''killing'' Zeref because [[DeathSeeker that's his dearest wish]].]]. [[spoiler:During the TimeSkip after Tartaros' defeat and Fairy Tail's disbandment]], "Avatar", yet ''another'' cult of Zeref worshipers appears. Zeref seems to attract fanatical worshipers like honey attracts flies.
73* One drives the plot of a ''Manga/FrankenFran'' chapter. A man comes looking for his missing daughter, having gotten a lead suggesting they might know something about what happened to her. It eventually turns out that she was kidnapped and ended up becoming their messiah figure, but she fell ill, so they brought in the eponymous experimental surgeon. Fran saved the girl's life by [[spoiler:converting her into an enormous factory, with her physical body reconfigured to be hooked up to the facilities. The stereotypical low-pay work the cultists were doing was running the machines that stood in for her digestive, endocrine, respiratory, and reproductive systems. Yeah, reproductive. She's pregnant, [[{{Squick}} at age ten]], on top of everything else]].
74* The Cult of the Sacred Eye plays a major role in ''Manga/FutureDiary'', as the Sixth Diary Holder is its leader. She is worshiped by them as an oracle, and has lived in the temple complex for almost all her life (she herself is well aware that she isn't an oracle, but plays the part because that's what she's done all her life). [[spoiler:Revealed later to be a hoax started by her parents when she was a young child, and after her parents were killed in a car crash, the other leaders of the cult imprisoned her and used her as a SexSlave. It's not made clear exactly how she regained control of her followers since then.]]
75* ''Manga/KamiKatsu'': Cult heir Yukito is Isekai'd to a world without religion, but quickly learns that the world-ruling Empire is practically a cult; citizens happily commit suicide when ordered, and everyone is brainwashed with LackOfEmpathy while anyone who shows resistance to the brainwashing is sent to a concentration camp and eventually executed. The closest anyone comes to reverence is absolute faith in the immortal Emperor's abilities. In response, Yukito rebuilds the Cult of Mitama to strengthen his own goddess for war.
76* ''Manga/KenganAshura'' The Army of God was a cult that tried to take over the government using chemical weapons. The death of their leader lead to the cult falling apart.
77* In ''Manga/KingOfThorn'', the [[HumanPopsicle Cold Sleep]] project was sponsored by a cult called Venus Gate. They planned to harness the power of [[TheVirus Medusa]] to remake the world, only to discover too late that EvilIsNotAToy.
78* In ''Manga/KotouraSan'', Hiyori's family run one in the manga, named after their family name. The anime changed it into a ''dojo''.
79* ''Literature/Overlord2012'':
80** This is how the [[TheLegionsOfHell denizens of Nazarick]] worship [[VillainProtagonist Momonga/Ainz]] and the other Supreme Beings. A lot of the amusing mistakes Momonga makes is not recognizing this, and how he tries to operate Nazarick like a corporation instead.
81** After Neia is [[spoiler:brought back to life by Ainz]], she unknowingly has new levels in classes that make her the leader of a cult dedicated to spreading the glory of the Sorcerous Kingdom.
82* An example appears in ''Manga/PetShopOfHorrors: Tokyo,'' but it's hard to tell if it's a straight example or subversion. In one of the stories, a teenage delinquent is accepted into a group led by a woman claiming to be an Angel. None of the girls do anything ''wrong,'' as everyone says: they do community work, farming, visit the sick and elderly...the only law seems to be that the girls must give up their cellphones and never eat a bird. Suddenly, all of the girls drop dead, seemingly at the exact same time, and their leader is nowhere to be found. However, it turns out that [[spoiler:they all died of grief after learning the food they ate was contaminated and accidentally mixed with chicken meat. They were so horrified that they ate bird, they all dropped dead at once. [[MaybeMagicMaybeMundane Count D says he firmly believes the leader was an angel who took the girls to Heaven.]]]]
83* The God-Eye Association in ''Manga/TomodachiGame'' is led by a ManipulativeBastard and DirtyOldMan by the name of Saika Kamishiro, who manages to successfully convince people that he's omniscient through his [[SinisterSurveillance intimate knowledge of their personal lives]] and spends the sixth game manipulating ReluctantFanserviceGirl Kotorogi into trusting him.
84* The Doma Organization in ''Anime/YuGiOh'' is half-corporation, half-cult, in that its corporate side is merely a front and financial supplier to its members' worship of [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt the destruction of (to their eyes) a world filled with irredeemable evil]].
85* Similarly, the Hikari no Kessha ("Society of Light") in ''Anime/YuGiOhGX'' has corporate backing, but are just in it to destroy a world full of sinners. In both, the penultimate figure their beliefs are based on is [[EldritchAbomination an ancient, corrupting, semi-sentient influence from beyond the stars]]. Both Doma and the Society recruit their members by MoreThanMindControl.
86* Yiliaster from ''Anime/YuGiOh5Ds'' is somewhat similar to the two mentioned above, but they don't recruit members and are hinted at being much more powerful.
87[[/folder]]
88
89[[folder:Comic Books]]
90* ''ComicBook/{{Batman}}'': ''ComicBook/BatmanTheCult'' deals with the Caped Crusader and his investigation into mysterious goings on with kidnapped vagrants. [[spoiler:A cult ran by Deacon Blackfire captures Batman and [[BreakTheBadass breaks him]] before Jason Todd rescues him. They, then, proceed to take control of Gotham until Batman and Robin reclaim the city.]]
91* ''ComicBook/JudgeDredd'': Far too many to count. Let's just say that in a city as big as Mega-City One, there are quite a few crackpot cults and religions led by wannabe godheads that the Judges have dismantled. The scarier examples aren't beyond human sacrifice or even worship monsters like the Dark Judges.
92* ''ComicBook/{{Kobra}}'': Kobra is the perennial Evil Cult in Creator/DCComics. Originally the villains of a short-lived [[AntagonistTitle eponymous]] series by Creator/JackKirby, in which the leader's brother continually thwarts them with the CIA's help, they've since appeared sporadically as enemies of the ComicBook/{{The Outsiders|DCComics}} or ComicBook/WonderWoman.
93* ''ComicStrip/{{Nero}}'': In the album "De Boze Tongen" it is a sect that is the antagonist. Though the name is not known. All we know is that they want Nero to be their president. They would then carry out a collection of horrible actions under his name. Nero refuses and the sect attempts throughout the whole album to force him to become the president.
94* ''ComicBook/Robin1993'': Tim and "Stephen" confront the last survivor of a cult that had been obsessed with the EndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt and started a commune designed to be completely self-reliant to survive such an eventuality only for just about all of them to mysteriously die over a possible connection to the EldritchAbomination Tim stumbled across. While the connection is confirmed (the creature had posed as a human and had been in charge of getting the group meat, which eventually someone discovered was ''human'' meat cut from someone who it then immediately healed) it doesn't help Tim figure out anything further about the creature except that it seems to live a peaceful life between its violent transformations.
95* ''ComicBook/SpiderMan'': In ''ComicBook/WebOfSpiderMan'' issues #40-43, Peter tries to rescue his former lover, now friend, Betty Brant, from "The Cult of Love", after she joined them following Ned Leeds's death and unmasking as the Hobgoblin.
96* ''ComicBook/SpirouAndFantasio'': The two people from a small sect that appeared in album #37, called ''Le réveil du Z'', is this. Their name of it is not known at all and all we probably know else is that they greet with the term Kakebuke. They have aside from the belief that aliens landed on planet earth also the belief that the earth is flat, like a flying saucer. The reason that these two are in the album is to talk with Fantasio about the events that happened in the previous album, which was called ''L'horloger de la comète'', in the hope that it proves that their beliefs are true. After they hear his story they find out that he is not useful enough to justify their beliefs and proceed to make him drunk.
97* ''ComicBook/{{Superman}}'': Back during the Dan Jurgens era of ''Superman'', there was a cult of people who praised Superman like a God. [[StopWorshippingMe It wasn't something he liked]]. After [[ComicBook/TheDeathOfSuperman Superman died]], they began seeing him as a more messianic light, waiting for the day he would rise from the grave. And when four people bearing the S-Shield rose, ''factions'' took hold, each one rooting for the four bearers. It got to the point where Maggie Sawyer started to worry that a gang war of sorts would break out between the four.
98** Another group of Superman worshipers would emerge years later, kidnapping and attempting to kill Lois Lane for marrying Clark Kent rather than Superman.
99* ''ComicBook/TheTransformersMoreThanMeetsTheEye'': The series has an unusual case in the Circle of Light. [[BigGood Optimus Prime]] despises them and always refers to them as a "cult", partially because their leader Dai Atlas is such an abrasive HolierThanThou sort that he accuses Optimus of being not better than [[BigBad Megatron]] and undeserving of bearing the Matrix of Leadership. It doesn't help that while the Autobot/Decepticon war rages, the Circle sets up a {{Utopia}} where there is no conflict or energy shortage[[note]]thanks to being entrusted with the secret resting place of an ancient Titan who was able to provide such energy[[/note]] but refuse to aid outsiders. Unluckily for them, this means that no one knows where they are when they come under attack, and as a result, over 90% of their population are horribly butchered as victims of sadistic experiments.
100* ''ComicBook/TheUltimates'': Thor has a cult of followers that consider him a messiah.
101* ''ComicBook/WonderWoman'':
102** ''ComicBook/WonderWoman1942'': Golden Age Wonder Woman had two unrelated villains who started a cult in order to scam people out of money, though Zara is the more villainous of the two they're both murderers.
103** ''ComicBook/ComicCavalcade'': Prof. Plasm started a cult, which the willing members join and agree to serve him in return for his concoction that makes them feel happy, and obedient, while not being allowed to know the full secrets of the cult and attending meetings by going to certain locations and being blindfolded before transportation.
104[[/folder]]
105
106[[folder:Comic Strips]]
107* Dogbert in ''ComicStrip/{{Dilbert}}'' started his own cult on one occasion:
108-->'''Dilbert:''' I think you've taken this cult idea of yours too far.\
109'''Dogbert:''' Who says it's a cult?\
110'''Dilbert:''' ''You'' said it's a cult!\
111'''Dogbert:''' That word has a bad connotation. I prefer to think of it as a bunch of morons who have nothing better to do with their lives.
112[[/folder]]
113
114[[folder:Fan Works]]
115* ''Fanfic/AgesOfShadow'': The Shadow Walkers started off as secret society of shadow magic users, more interested in personal power and bullying villagers into submission than anything else. Then [[FallenHero Jade]] found them and reorganized them into a proper ReligionOfEvil based on the [[AGodAmI worship of her "Yade Khan" persona]], at which point they dedicated themselves to [[TakeOverTheWorld conquering the world in her name]].
116* ''Fanfic/BecomingATrueInvader'': The faction of Heboadians led by Pel believe in a prophecy (that Tel made up to entertain his sister but she took seriously) that a living Gateway will come and summon the Great Boad, who will then purge all the condemned (with "condemned" here meaning anyone who doesn't abide by [[KnightTemplar Pel's authoritarian rules]]).
117* In ''Fanfic/CampNightmare'', [[spoiler:the alleged day camp is actually a front for a ''very'' wide-spread cult.]]
118* ''Fanfic/CultStuck'' has a rare sympathetic example. The Sufferists are a little eerie and a lot fanatical, but they're also dedicated to bringing peace and nonviolence to an extremely [[CrapsackWorld brutal world]], and they look downright saintly [[ALighterShadeOfGrey compared to the totalitarian empire they're opposing.]] [[KnightInSourArmor Karkat]] is worshiped by the titular Cult, as they believe him to be the Sufferer's reincarnation ([[MaybeMagicMaybeMundane which may or may not be true]], though Karkat himself [[StopWorshippingMe strongly denies it]]). He dislikes this--with good reason; they forced him to act as their messiah, and his duties involve spreading a lot of ridiculous propaganda--but admits that just being a normal cultist would be a pretty good life.
119* ''Fanfic/EbottsWake'': The [[ThePlace titular town]] used to be under the control of a cult called the Guardians of the Legacy of the Magi, [[SomeCallMeTim or "the Sages" for short]]. Their primary tenet was that there were monsters under Mount Ebott (true) who were going to try to TakeOverTheWorld at some point (false). For a long time, they mostly kept to themselves, until Asriel showed up with Chara's body. They then became convinced that the invasion was imminent, so they prepared to fight it off, and anybody who got in their way for any reason disappeared. They basically held the town of Ebott's Wake at gunpoint until the Bureau of Drugs, Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms showed up and got rid of them.
120** Part of the reason the humans of Ebott's Wake accepted the monsters so quickly was because they refused to give the Sages any more credit than was necessary. If the Sages were right about there being monsters under Mt. Ebott, well, they had to be wrong about them wanting to take over the world. As fallacious as the reasoning was, the conclusion turned out to be correct.
121** When the [[FantasticRacism Anti-Monster League]] collapses, it turns out that they were being manipulated by remnants of the Sages, who now start attempting to stop the monsters [[FantasticTerrorists much more violently]].
122* ''Fanfic/TheElementsOfFriendship'' has the Cult of Pi, from which the Pie family is descended. They worshiped Discord during his original reign, and after his petrification, they started preaching his return and how his enemies would be turned to stone themselves. Over time, this evolved so that they stopped worshiping Discord, and switched entirely to rocks.
123* ''Fanfic/FearNoEvil'', a ''Manga/MyHeroAcademia'' fanfic,has a different take on the cult from the World Heroes Mission movie. Humarise is a cult of doomsday conspiracists that fear Quirk Singularity will wipe out humanity except for Quirkless people. The cult worships Quirkless people, especially children, to a fetishistic extent thinking that being around them would purify them. They go as far to kidnap quirkless under the pretense of protecting them from the world.
124* The villains of ''Fanfic/MegamiNoHanabira'' are the Flock, who manages to somehow combine ScamReligion with ReligionOfEvil: although their motivations (or at least those of [[BigBad Father Phillips]]) are self-serving and deceptive, they have genuine metaphysical backing from the [[LightIsNotGood Forces of Law]], who figure that in the end, the Flock's endgame furthers [[GodIsEvil YHVH]]'s [[ControlFreak cause.]]
125* Parodied in the ''WesternAnimation/MiraculousLadybug'' fanfic ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13023254/8/Operation-Golden-Lotus Operation Golden Lotus]]'', where Plagg, after getting tired of Adrien bemoaning that he is love with both Ladybug and Marinette [[TwoPersonLoveTriangle and doesn't know that they are the same person]], decides to conspire with the titular group[[note]]Alya, Mylene, Rose, Juleka, and Alix[[/note]] to get the two together. Though in return for his plan, the girls must agree to become his Cheese Cult and worship him in various ways. These include offering him a cheese wheel each every week and naming their first-born child after a type of cheese.
126* ''Fanfic/PastSins'': A cult trying to resurrect Nightmare Moon performs the ritual that underwent the MagicMisfire that started the plot.
127* ''Fanfic/ShadowsOverMeridian'': Tyrian is a member of a religious sect that was long banned in Meridian for worshiping the Shadow Realm and prophesying that [[TheAntichrist a goddess would emerge from it to engulf the Infinite Realms in darkness]]. Since Jade happens to match that goddess' description, Tyrian decides to start worshipping her, [[StopWorshippingMe much to her annoyance]].
128* ''Fanfic/WhiteSheepRWBY'': Adam's faction of the White Fang were always violent fanatics, but following the attack on Beacon ([[spoiler:and Adam's death]]), the Albain brothers smoothly transition them into an insane cult worshiping him. The heroes end up allying with Sienna Khan, the leader of the mainstream White Fang who until recently was encouraging all of Adam's worst impulses, because [[SanityHasAdvantages at least she's not insane]]. Blake, Adam's ex-girlfriend, is especially annoyed when they have to infiltrate the cult and she keeps hearing people praising Adam with every breath. Ren exploits this to [[BerserkButton send her on a killing spree]] just by telling her "trust in Adam, and he will watch over you." [[spoiler:When Blake kills the Albain brothers, some quick-thinking on Sun's part makes the cult think she's Adam's prophet. She is ''not'' amused]].
129* The ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' fanfic ''[[https://www.fimfiction.net/story/450229/worshiping-at-the-altar-of-knowledge Worshiping at the Altar of Knowledge]]'' is about how Twilight discovers she has a cult dedicated to her. Celestia and Luna are less helpful than she was hoping, and treat the whole thing like a fun milestone.
130-->'''Celestia:''' Dear Twilight, if you don't have at least one every decade or two you're probably doing something wrong.
131[[/folder]]
132
133[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
134* ''Film/{{Borderland}}'': On a college trip in Mexico a group of friends uncover a religious cult that practices human sacrifice after one of them goes missing.
135* [=MindHead=] from the Creator/SteveMartin movie ''Film/{{Bowfinger}}'', a blatant parody of Scientology.
136* ''Film/BubbleBoy'' has a cult of cheery people led by none other than Fabio. The cult even has all members with the same name, similar to the King of the Hill example.
137* ''Film/CanEllenBeSaved'' from 1974 has Creator/JohnSaxon as a heroic deprogrammer hired by Creator/LeslieNielsen and Creator/LouiseFletcher to kidnap their teenage daughter (Creator/KatherineCannon) from The Children Of Jesus and its seductive leader, played by Michael Parks.
138* In ''Film/TheCaseOfTheBloodyIris'', Jennifer used to be a member of a sex cult named 'Iris' before escaping into modelling. The leader, Adam, is harassing her to get her to return: warning her if she doesn’t come back to him, there will be consequences.
139* ''Film/{{Castaways}}'': Cara tells Emily that when the pandemic hit her parents had joined a cult. They planned to make her get married and have a family after turning fifteen. Overhearing, she ran away to escape this.
140* ''Film/ChildrenOfTheCorn'' has a community of children who have killed everyone over 19 in their community and worship "He Who Walks Behind the Rows", who it turns out is quite real.
141* ''Film/Class2021'': The acting class that Max joins seems to be this as they are led by SadistTeacher, Adam, who seems to want nothing but praise from them and they are completely obedient to him.
142* ''Film/Compulsion2016'': The villa turns out to be the home of one which hosts not only sex parties but has ritually sacrificed multiple people. Alex and Francesca naturally are part of it, the latter sacrificing Sadie's ex-boyfriend Thierry when she won't.
143* ''Film/{{Dagon}}'' is based on "Literature/TheShadowOverInnsmouth" by Creator/HPLovecraft.
144* ''Film/TheEndless'' revolves around two brothers, Justin and Aaron, who escaped what was described as a UFO death cult ten years earlier. When Aaron receives a tape from the cult that seems to indicate that they didn't kill themselves yet but might be about to do so now, the two decide to go to visit the group one last time. The commune seems a bit more sane than expected, and it eventually turns out that the version Justin has been telling the world and Aaron included lies to make the group sound bad. At the same time, there's definitely something strange going on in the area -- something supernatural, but that might be seen as justifying the group's beliefs just as easily as indicating there's something wrong. [[spoiler:Ultimately, it turns out Justin wasn't all that wrong when the thought there was something sinister going on and he needed to make up excuses to get them out of there: the group isn't suicidal in the normal sense, but they're caught in a long, inescapable GroundhogDayLoop at the end of which they always die and start again.]]
145* In ''Film/TheEroticRitesOfFrankenstein'', Cagliostro is the head of a cult who meet in a crypt under his castle. As his plan involves mating the FrankensteinMonster to an artificially created woman to bring forth a new master race, it is unclear exactly why he needs a cult. Nevertheless, they gather round to watch the Monster have sex with the woman.
146* In ''Film/FreshMeat'', Heri Crane is attempting to resurrect an old Maori cult called Solomonism that believes that [[IAmAHumanitarian cannibalism]] is the path to [[ImmortalityImmorality immortality]].
147* The Order of the Coagula from ''Film/GetOut2017''. [[spoiler:Its elderly white members seek immortality by [[GrandTheftMe transplanting their brains into younger, healthier African American bodies]].]]
148* ''Film/HallowedGround'': The main antagonists are a small town cult who believe the protagonist is destined to give birth to a body for their deceased founder to return in.
149* ''Film/HollywoodChainsawHookers'': The main antagonists are a cult that stems from Ancient Egypt and worships chainsaws.
150* ''Film/IndianaJonesAndTheTempleOfDoom'' had the Thuggee, a ReligionOfEvil which worships Kali with HumanSacrifice and is planning to TakeOverTheWorld.
151* The main antagonists of ''Film/KeeperOfSouls'' are a backwoods cult making sacrifices to a demon.
152* ''Film/LordOfIllusions'' features a Cult led by an evil wizard named Nix in the Mojave Desert.
153* Zero Church from ''Film/LoveExposure''. There are obvious public suspicions early on, but Yu and his friends later discover that it is far more insidious than it could be believed, as the cult abducts entire families and brainwashes them into doing their bidding.
154* ''Film/MarthaMarcyMayMarlene'' has a young woman escaping a religious cult and trying to reorient herself in the everyday world.
155* ''Film/TheMenu'': The staff at the Hawthorne restaurant operate an awful lot like a cult, with Chef Slowik as their charismatic leader and figurehead. They all live and work on an island isolated from the rest of society, but Slowik has a private residence that no one else is allowed to enter, while his employees are crammed together in a dormitory where the toilets are just a few feet away from the beds without even a partition for privacy. Despite this, they have absolute loyalty to Slowik to the point of [[spoiler:going through a murder-suicide pact with him, which may or may not have actually been suggested by Slowik's sous chef.]]
156* ''Film/{{Midsommar}}'' has The Hårga, an isolated community in Sweden performing a festival once every 90 years which involves multiple {{Human Sacrifice}}s (some voluntary, others not so much).
157* ''Film/MouthToMouth'' is based on director Alison Murray's actual experiences with a cult made up of homeless teenagers who want to stop using drugs and seek to change the world.
158* ''Film/RaceWithTheDevil'': Frank and Roger and their wives take off for Colorado in a recreational vehicle, looking forward to some skiing and dirt biking. While camping en route, they witness a Satanic ritual sacrifice, but the local sheriff finds no evidence to support their claims and urges them to continue on their vacation. On the way, however, they find themselves repeatedly attacked by cult members, and they take measures to defend themselves.
159* ''Film/RedState'' has the Five Points Trinity Church, a group of Fundamentalist Christians led by SinisterMinister Abin Cooper who lure in "sinners" to kill them.
160* ''Film/RosemarysBaby'' has straight-ahead Satanists.
161* ''Film/TheSacrament'' has journalists documenting their effort to save a coworker's sister from a Jonestown-like group.
162* The 1989 movie ''Film/SantaSangre'' provides a surrealist example with Concha’s eponymous church (whose name means holy blood in Spanish). The cult believes in the salvation of the world by the worshipping of a schoolgirl who was long ago brutally raped, dismembered and left to die in a pool of her own blood.
163* ''Film/TheSilence2019'': The main human antagonists are the Hushed, a doomsday Christian cult that believes the vesps to be a punishment from God unto a sinful world and that ritualistically removes its members' tongues.
164* ''Film/SilentHill'' has a Manichean-type religion with Puritanical Christian overtones and apparently worships a goddess. It is not the same cult from the [[Franchise/SilentHill game series]].
165* ''Film/TheSisterhoodOfNight'': The Sisterhood is accused of being one in the news media based on the accusations made against them.
166* ''Film/SoundOfMyVoice'' is about two documentarians infiltrating (and getting sucked into) a mysterious cult led by a young woman who claims that she's from a post-apocalyptic future.
167* ''Film/{{Sweetwater}}'': Josiah formed a small one made up of a few men and his two wives after apparently leaving Mormonism in Utah. His men are unhappy they don't have wives of their own as he promised them yet though.
168* ''Film/ThouShaltNotKillExcept'': The main antagonists are a cult on a killing spree.
169* In ''Film/TheThirstyDead'', beautiful young girls are kidnapped off the streets of Manila by a death cult that needs their blood to remain immortal.
170* ''Film/TheWickerMan1973'', which gets bonus points for being a cult film that's actually ''about'' a cult.
171* ''Film/XMenApocalypse'': [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pastin69D5c Moira informs Charles and Alex]] that cults began to sprang up after the public discovered the existence of mutants, and some of these secret societies believe those with special abilities are part of a SecondComing.
172* The Children of the Yeti, from the Creator/{{Troma}} film ''Film/YetiALoveStory''.
173[[/folder]]
174
175[[folder:Literature]]
176* When you get closer to its core membership, The Sharing in ''Literature/{{Animorphs}}'' is constructed much more like a cult than the all-ages scouting program it pretends to be. Of course, its actually a recruitment method for [[PuppeteerParasite the Yeerks]], but this is part of the way they lure people in.
177* ''Literature/Area51'': After aliens have been revealed to exist, along with their ships, overnight a religion emerges worshiping them as saviors (under leadership of their brainwashed servants). Other sects also get mentioned, with some more like Heaven's Gate, which perform mass suicides like them believing they'll be taken to a better place by the aliens.
178* ''Literature/ArlyHanks'': Subverted in ''Maggody And The Moonbeams'', where a reclusive all-female Christian sect is actually [[spoiler:a front for a group of battered women in hiding, whose members are being exploited for cheap manual labor by their corrupt leader]].
179* ''Literature/TheBelgariad'' has the Bear-Cult, which is a schismatic offshoot of the Alorn Church, mostly focused on being manipulated by whichever villain is in the area that week. Its tenets range from the harmlessly ridiculous -- wearing bear-skins and staggering drunkenly about the woods is a common manifestation of their faith -- to a much less entertaining vein of overt racism; based on an ambiguous phrase in Belar's holy book, they believe the Alorns have to lead the other nations into the war with the Angaraks by subjugation, a plan which would embroil the West in a massive war and leave it wide open for Torak to conquer most of the world. Most of the characters treat Bear-Cultists as morons who are dangerous mostly because they're too stupid and ill-informed to know how counterproductive their approach would actually be.
180-->'''Barak:''' A good Bear-Cultist isn't thinking about fighting Angaraks, because all of his attention is focused on subduing Sendaria, Arendia, Tolnedra, Nyissa and Maragor.\
181'''Durnik:''' Maragor doesn't even exist any more.\
182'''Barak:''' That news hasn't reached the cult yet. After all, it's only been about three thousand years now.
183* ''Literature/BenSnow'': In "The Edge of the Year 1900", Ben spends New Year's Eve 1899 with a group following a woman who had vision that the world would end withe coming of the year 1900.
184* In ''Literature/{{Bumped}}'' there is a Christian cult called Goodside. They are more or less like Amish people TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture.
185* In Creator/SandyMitchell's ''Literature/CiaphasCain'' novels, a footnote mentions that a cult worships Cain as the physical embodiment of the Emperor's will -- something that would have horrified him if he ever found out, as they paint him in a considerably more heroic and Emperor-fearing light. For example, responding to a daemon princess' temptation with "Frak this!" gets transcribed by a witness as:
186-->Then the prophet spake: saying\
187"Frak this, for my faith is a shield proof against your blandishments."
188--> [[spoiler:Alem Mahat]], ''The Book of Cain'', Chapter IV, Verse XXI
189* The Survivors in the ''Literature/CHERUBSeries'' are a cult that is an offshoot of Christianity, linked to an eco-terrorist group called Help Earth. They have a fortified and armed compound in the middle of the Australian outback, where they further brainwash the most intelligent children of cult members. This compound is destroyed at the end of the book.
190%%* In ''Literature/ConvertingKate'' by Beckie Weinheimer, the protagonist Kate was raised in the Holy Divine Church, but leaves it after her father's death.
191* The ''Literature/DeptfordMice'' trilogy and its prequels feature ''three'' [[ReligionOfEvil violent cults]]. These include the rat followers of [[BigBad Jupiter]], the Hobbers, and the Scale.
192* ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'': In ''Literature/GuardsGuards'', Ankh-Morpork is revealed to be rife with tiny little cults who are ostensibly trying to bring their dark god to power (so much so that a cultist actually gets about halfway through an extensive password routine before it falls apart and the guy behind the door realizes he's got the wrong address); most of them just wanted to add a little mystery to their lives to impress chicks, though.
193%% ** The book-burning Star People in ''Literature/TheLightFantastic''.
194* ''Franchise/DoctorWhoExpandedUniverse'':
195** One spinoff relates to a cult worshipping paradox itself -- Franchise/FactionParadox. DependingOnTheWriter, they're either dangerous madmen, or the only people who can see past Gallifrey's lies to understand how time ''really'' works. Or, of course, both.
196** There is also a ''Literature/NewSeriesAdventures'' book entitled ''Night of the Humans'' which features a cult based around a horrible picture of a clown. The whole book is, essentially, a very paranoid and more than slightly creepy rant about religion (but specifically Christianity). The book's entire message is, literally, "Be very very afraid of [[ArtisticLicenseReligion what I imagine religion to be]]".
197* In the ''Literature/DredChronicles'', two of the six gangs on the lawless PrisonShip Perdition are basically cults. One, led by a guy just known as Priest, essentially worships its leader. The other is led by a woman called Silence, and they're essentially death-worshippers. The latter are considerably smaller, but turn out to be more dangerous.
198* ''Literature/EddieLaCrosse'': In ''Burn Me Deadly'', Father Tempcott's group are basically a dragon cult, believing that dragons are real and will return to [[ApocalypseCult burn the whole world]] apart from the few faithful. [[spoiler:They're a little bit right, since dragons are real and eggs have indeed survived, but they're wrong about dragons being basically gods — they're just particularly smart animals, and wouldn't care about cultists.]]
199* The Mysteries from ''Literature/{{Elantris}}'' are a cult that spun off from the benign Jesk religion- where Jesk worships a Force-esque life energy called the Dor, followers of the Mysteries seek to manipulate it to their advantage. The Mysteries is characterized by secrecy and bizarre rites that sometimes involve HumanSacrifice- as such, it's not very popular and tends to exist only in small, secretive groups.
200* In the first book of ''Literature/TheEldestCurses'' Alec and Magnus are trying to stop the Crimson Hand, a demon worshiping cult that uses HumanSacrifice. The cult was apparently founded centuries ago by Magnus himself, as a joke...
201* Fidelia of ''Literature/TheEmpiriumTrilogy'' is a group of angel worshipers who aid the Undying Empire in their various experiments. They're ultimately the ones behind the abduction of countless women and girls.
202* ''Literature/FatherBrown'' has an odd example in "The Eye of Apollo", where the cult appears to be limited to its leader Kalon, who bears all the hallmarks of a religious leader (LargeHam, magnetic charisma, claims that all diseases can be surpassed with a sufficiently strong will, argues with more established and supposedly repressive religion) and worships Apollo as the sun god. [[spoiler:It's part of an extremely complex plot to get a very rich woman (the only follower seen) to leave her riches to him by deliberately encouraging her to go blind by staring at the Sun, then ensuring she falls down an elevator shaft because she didn't see it wasn't there. However, the woman's sister had secretly switched the victim's pen for an empty one to prevent the will from existing at all.]]
203* Several in the comic neo-noir ''Literature/GetBlank''. Mostly Satanist in flavor, with the First Reformed Church of the Antichrist, the Order of the Morning Star, and the Sons of the Crimson Gaze, but there are others including the Ordo Templi Orientis and the [[ChurchOfHappyology Rosicrusophists]].
204* ''Literature/TheGirls'' is a RomanAClef about [[UsefulNotes/CharlesManson The Manson Family]] and the 1969 murders. Teenaged Evie is drawn into a cult led by a scruffy would-be musician named Russell. Russell lords it over a ragged collection of young women who worship him and sexually service him.
205* In ''Literature/TheHandmaidsTale'', a [[TheFundamentalist fundamentalist]] [[UsefulNotes/{{Christianity}} Christian]] cult has managed to gain a stronghold in {{Eagleland}}, following a series of [[GreenAesop environmental disasters]], {{Sterility Plague}}s, and social upheaval. They even took over the country, and managed to change its name to Gilead, and established [[TheTheocracy a theocratic government]] there. Women are treated as second-class citizens and have been divided along the lines of their fertility and marital status, while women who don't conform to Gilead's ideals are sent to work camps to clean up radioactive sludge without any personal protective equipment. Scientists, abortion doctors, Catholic priests, homosexuals, and people of color are executed, either by hanging, or by being sent to the aforementioned work camps.
206* ''Literature/HerculePoirot'': Poirot runs up against one in his Labours, where they take the symbolic role of Geryon's flock. It's run by an extremely charismatic man who encourages his flock to find peace and tranquility away from a cruel and unjust world (something he should know about, as he was kicked out of Nazi Germany due to his mother being Jewish), with regular feasts where members feel the power to accomplish anything including fixing the world. Naturally, it's all a scam where he eventually entices older members to leave their fortune to him, then inoculate them with a virulent strain of disease they showed weakness to in the past (others get the euphoria-inducing drugs he uses to further their dependence on him), making his murders untraceable. Oh, and he made up the part about his mother being Jewish, in case you still had any sympathy for him.
207%% * Creator/HPLovecraft: The ReligionOfEvil cults in the short stories "Under the Pyramids", "The Horror at Red Hook" and ''Literature/TheCallOfCthulhu''.
208%% * The Order of the Rings of God in Faye Kellerman's ''[[Literature/JupitersBones Jupiter's Bones]]''.
209%% * All over the place in ''Literature/{{Kraken}}'', ranging from the Lovecraftian-but-relatively-benign Church of God Kraken to the dreaded [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast Chaos Nazis]].
210* ''Literature/TheMagicCottage'': The Synergists, housed in a mansion retreat, for their peddling of homemade goods and attempt to indoctrinate the local youth, gain a disdainful such reputation. Their seemingly peaceful bid to commune with "the Divine Will" turns out to be not so harmless -- [[spoiler:leader Eldritch P. Mycroft is a power-crazed fanatic]].
211%%* The Christians are regarded this way by Literature/MarcusDidiusFalco, a PrivateDetective in AncientRome.
212* The Children Inside the Light in ''Literature/MyLifeWithTheLiars'' are a more realistic take on a cult. They live on a compound in the Arizona desert, are led by a corrupt man called Father Prophet, and raise girls to believe they are doomed if they aren't formally inducted into the cult by their thirteenth birthdays.
213* ''Literature/TheNaturals'':
214** [[spoiler:Lia]] reveals that she was raised in a cult and sexually abused by its leader. To avoid his unwelcome advances, she started a witchhunt within the cult. This was the beginning of her [[ConsummateLiar lies]].
215** In the last book, the group investigates a murder cult [[spoiler:that's been killing people for decades according to the Fibonacci sequence]]. Many familiar characters are revealed to be members or victims of this cult.
216* ''Literature/TheOneWhoEatsMonsters'': The Hidden One, the god causing most of the problems in the book, runs one. Ryn tells O'Rourke to follow one of the cultists in order to sweep up most of the conspiracy at once. O'Rourke says that they can't arrest people just for having meetings. Ryn says that the Hidden One still follows the old ways; they'll find something they can arrest them for. Apparently when the police arrived, [[HumanSacrifice the cultists were feeding people to a giant snake]].
217* In ''Literature/OryxAndCrake'' and ''The Year of the Flood'', it's clear that most people in-universe see the God's Gardeners as a cult. Whether or not it really is a cult depends largely on the reader's perspective, although parts of the latter book told by members of God's Gardeners provide a more nuanced view.
218* ''Literature/{{Pact}}'' has protagonist Blake Thorburn being recruited by a cult while homeless, wherein sex was used by the cult leader to control his followers and food was limited. The experience left him with a [[HatesBeingTouched instinctive negative reaction to physical contact]], because he came to associate it with being manipulated and used.
219* A rare positively portrayed example in Creator/OctaviaButler's ''[[Literature/ParableOfTheSower Parable]]'' series. The main character, Lauren Olamina, starts a cult called Earthseed which believes that God is change. They are persecuted by the Christian America sect, which probably fits more of the cult stereotypes.
220* ''Literature/ThePatronSaintOfButterflies'' by Cecilia Galante is about Mount Blessing, which is a religious commune in Connecticut led by the charismatic leader Emmanuel. Agnes loves the cult, meanwhile her cousin Honey rebels against its strict rules. Their grandmother, Nana Pete, who isn't in the cult, takes them away from the cult when Emmanuel refuses to send Agnes' seriously injured brother to the hospital. The book is based in the author's childhood experiences in a cult.
221%% * The cult of Ravinia in ''Literature/ThePendragonAdventure'''s ninth book, ''Raven Rise''.
222* ''Literature/{{Petaybee}}'': Shepherd Howling leads a doomsday cult that encourages pedophilia and other interesting forms of child abuse.
223* The gradually revealed backstory of ''Literature/{{Piranesi}}'' features a small-scale, actually quite realistic cult under the control of a charismatic, sociopathic intellectual, who ran it as a kind of small-scale MysteryCult, for his own amusement and benefit. Conveniently for him, [[spoiler:he developed genuine quasi-magical powers, which helped him control the group. While he was a total KarmaHoudini, it didn't end well for anyone else]].
224* ''Literature/TheRippleSystem'': Tyrann, a popular streamer, creates an in-game religion called the Cult of Information, dedicated to sharing all information in the game without exception, even outside their religion. Tyrann wants Ned's Ax of Unbridled Knowledge to unlock every secret in the game. Ned disagrees with this on principle, since it will turn the game into yet another "solved" experience, where there are only a few "right" builds to get to endgame. Also, Tyrann is secretly hoarding the best information for himself.
225* ''Literature/TheRunningGrave'': Private detectives Cormoran Strike and Robin Ellacott are engaged by a rich guy to find and rescue his son, who's cut off contact with his parents after joining a cult. Robin infiltrates the cult by pretending to be a new convert, and finds it a scary place indeed, where the members are beaten and starved into submission, while the church leaders use them as sex slaves while confiscating their assets to live a life of luxury.
226%% * Black Lotus in the ''Literature/SanoIchiro'' series.
227* The Society of the Meek Ones in ''Literature/{{Scorpius}}'' is a mish-mash of various religious doctrines, and its true purpose is to produce suicide bombers for profit.
228* The cult led by L. Bob Rife (an apparent portmanteau of Ross Perot and Creator/LRonHubbard) in Creator/NealStephenson's ''Literature/SnowCrash.''
229* The followers of R'hllor in ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'' throw people into fires as sacrifices and claim to see visions in fires. This is in [[Administrivia/TropesAreTools total contrast to the very mainstream]] fantasy counterpart religions of Faith Of The Seven, also called the New Gods (Catholic/High Church of England) and worship of the Old Gods (a naturist religion).
230** However the Ironborn are quite similar to R'hllor worshipers. The Ironborn worship the Drowned God, and drowning people to the sea is an acceptable act of sacrifice to their god. Also the worshipers of the Old Gods use to conduct human sacrifices to the Godswoods.
231* In ''Literature/Stray1987'', Pufftail is attacked and forced into living in a feral cat community dubbed "the Commune". They act as a cult who worships their tyrannical leader, Tom-Cat. Cats are forced into staying in the Commune by threats and fear, with Tom-Cat saying that only he could protect them the Van which takes them to an AnimalTesting facility. Eventually, most of the cats in the Commune end up [[spoiler:taken into the animal testing lab]].
232* ''Literature/TheSubjectSteve'': The Center for Nondenominational Recovery and Redemption could be described as a cult and a rest home, combined.
233* The Unspeakable Darkness from ''{{Literature/Valhalla}}'' and ''Ragnarök'' have all the hallmarks of a cult, though they may also qualify as the EldritchAbomination most cults worship.
234* The second novel in Taylor Stevens' ''Literature/VanessaMichaelMunroe'' series, ''The Innocent'' (2012) has Munroe infiltrating a cult called the Chosen of God to rescue a child who was forced into its ranks eight years earlier, and has since been subjected to brainwashing and repeated sexual abuse. This cult is a thinly veiled {{Expy}} of the Children of God, which Stevens herself was born into and escaped from, after which she completed her education and turned to thriller writing.
235* ''Literature/TheWarAgainstTheChtorr''. The renegades led by Jason Delandro, who worship the alien invaders.
236* ''Literature/{{Ward}}'' has the Fallen, a cult that worships the [[{{Kaiju}} Endbringers]]. They had briefly appeared in ''Literature/{{Worm}}'', but mostly as one-note villains who were easily brushed aside by greater powers. In ''Ward'', in the aftermath of the [[ApocalypseHow Gold Morning]], they have become ''much'' more prominent and powerful, preying on the numerous frightened displaced refugees and survivors. Their practices mirror many real-world cults in how they operate, such as religious indoctrination, ruling through fear and abuse, and ArrangedMarriage within the "clan".
237* ''Literature/WearingTheCape'':
238** The Fellowship of Awakened Theosophy is a pro-[[TraumaticSuperpowerAwakening Breakthrough]] cult that believes superhumans are a higher state of being, and once enough people have awakened then the rest of humanity will all gain superpowers at once. They offer meditation and counseling sessions which have an extremely low but still notable chance of causing a "soft" Breakthrough, without the horrific trauma most have to go through. Unfortunately, the Fellowship is just the front for the Ascendancy, which thinks all the meditation is too slow, and causes disasters to make Breakthroughs the normal way.
239** One government cape was part of a Christian offshoot cult with elements of Buddhism and emphasis on the "light of life." He broke through and gained powers based on these beliefs, letting him manipulate life energy in a variety of powerful ways... and was promptly exiled by the cult leader for being a threat. [[HollywoodAtheist He's an atheist now]], but his powers haven't changed.
240* The Luskentyrians in ''Literature/{{Whit}} or Isis Among the Unsaved'' by Creator/IainBanks is a small cult based in a farmhouse in Scotland. Although the main character is a True Believer, she's also intelligent and insightful enough to recognise that, while the cult's founder (her grandfather) is obviously the Chosen of God, he's also a bit of an old rogue. [[spoiler:It turns out he's much more of a rogue than she imagined, while at the same time less of a fraud than the reader might expect. He really did have a religious experience, and devoted the rest of his life to figuring out what it meant. It's her brother who wants to turn it into a ScamReligion.]]
241[[/folder]]
242
243[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
244* ''Series/The100'': Sees multiple cults throughout the series.
245** The artificial intelligent ALIE creates one by recruiting people into the "City of Light". Mind control helps.
246** Octavia becomes the cult leader of the Wonkru survivors in the Second Dawn bunker, styling herself "Bloodreina". It started out as DirtyBusiness in an attempt to keep them all alive (a staple for the show). Six years in she has become completely DrunkWithPower, and her followers obey her absolutely.
247** Season 6 and 7 introduce Sanctum and the Disciples respectively, who are full-on [[CultColony cult colonies]].
248* A few different ones in ''Series/The4400''; Jordan Collier is involved in most of them. The most obviously cultish is the 4400 centre.
249* This trope is one of the central themes of ''Series/AmericanHorrorStoryCult''. It starts out as a group using serial killings and large-scale psychological warfare in order to tap into the public's fear and anger, in the hopes of overthrowing the corrupt system and bringing about an equal society. Except that's all a lie fed to its members -- cult leader [[DarkMessiah Kai]] just uses all that fear and anger to get himself a political career, at which point he shifts to far right-wing beliefs (racism, misogyny and totalitarianism) and works towards using his new influence to institutionalize all those beliefs.
250* ''Series/AvocadoToast'': Elle, after having a nervous breakdown, has been drawn into a therapeutic cult whose leader Omnira has her sell her condo to give her wellness center as a gift. At first Elle doesn't want to see it and always rebuffs her family or friends telling her it's toxic. However, Omnira starting to molest Elle as she gives her a massage finally has her see Omnira's bad, and she flees.
251* ''Series/BarneyMiller'' once dealt with an ordinary Middle America couple who wanted their daughter kidnapped from her cult, The Light of the East Temple and Herbarium. The cult has a Hindu-Buddhist ambience, while their leader LooksLikeJesus and seems reasonable. He reassures the parents that many young people are not up to the discipline required (no drugs, no tobacco, no alcohol, no sex) and the turnover at the temple is very high.
252* In ''Series/BoyMeetsWorld'', Shawn joins a cult who convinces him to give up all his friends. He leaves when Mr. Turner is in a motorcycle accident, and the leader wants Shawn to not see him, so he rejects the group.
253** Other than that, it's very non-cultish. The Center isn't difficult to locate, there's no chanting or monetary aspect, and everybody appears well rested and nourished. They even have video games.
254* ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'':
255** Glory (the Big Bad of season five), being a god, naturally had a cult who worshiped her, even though she was an evil, de-powered and kind of obnoxious god. And her followers were mostly barely-competent minor demons.
256** "Lie to Me" included a cult of teenagers that worshiped vampires.
257** "Reptile Boy" had fratboys who serve (girls to) a demon.
258* ''Series/{{Cannon}}'': In "A Deadly Quiet Town", Cannon is hired to recue a girl from a Charles Manson style cult preying on the children of promient families in a quiet university town.
259* ''Series/CarnivalRow'': The Faun sect, who whip themselves in the streets, sacrifice human bigots and try to kill the Chancellor while worshiping a mysterious figure they call "the Hidden One" (whether a deity or something else is not clear).
260* ''Series/CobraKai'': It's downplayed, but the titular dojo has some of the hallmarks of a cult, minus the religious aspect (or not, depending on how broadly you interpret their "Cobra Kai is life" mentality). Sam at one point even calls it out, lamenting that her friends have been brainwashed by this crazy karate cult.
261* A running gag on ''Series/TheColbertReport'': [[http://thecolbertreport.cc.com/videos/07oysy/john-green here]] an interviewee asks Stephen Colbert if he's a cult leader. There's a pause of about two seconds where Colbert looks at the camera and this sinks in, and then the audience ''howls'' and starts a chant of "Ste''phen!'' Ste''phen!'' Ste''phen!''" Way to allay suspicion, Nation.
262* An episode of ''Series/ColdCase'' dealt with a cult that preached a new beginning by eliminating the past; in a slight subversion, instead of a mass-suicide, the cult was planning mass-''patricide'', killing their fathers as a tribute to their "new" father figure, the cult's leader.
263* On ''Series/{{Community}}'' Pierce insists that he is a Laser Lotus Reformed Neo-Buddist but the rest of the group keeps telling him that he is actually in a cult. Notable claims of his religion include that people's essences are stored in jars called "Energon Pods" until they develop the technology to give them new bodies (these jars bear a striking resemblance to lava lamps), and that its members can develop superhuman powers by advancing to high levels in the church.
264* ''Series/CriminalMinds'' sees the BAU tangle with a number of cults:
265** Season One episode "The Tribe" has one kill college students at a party and members of a racist group, using Native American war rituals. Reservation Police John Blackwolf is brought in and note that the murders are [[TheThemeParkVersion confused mishmashes of tribal rituals]]. It turns out they are actually racist white people stirring up racial tensions to start a race war. Hotchner and Blackwolf stop them from shooting up a Native American school while pretending to be members of the racist group getting revenge.
266** Season Four episode "Minimal Loss" features a cult that was once a libertarian compound before an exiled member returned and took over. Prentiss and Reid try to go in undercover, but end up as hostages and the rest of the BAU must negotiate for their release.
267** Season Nine episode "Persuasion" has a cult of homeless vagrants inhabiting the sewers. The leader Ceaser has them commit petty thefts while giving him a share, and is controlled by a mysterious man known as The Doctor. They are being investigated by the BAU for the drowning deaths of members who did not give their shares to the leader, as well as a man named Finn Bailey looking for his sister. The Doctor turns out to be [[spoiler:Marvin Caul, the stage magician who introduced Finn to the cult]].
268** Season Ten episode "The Forever People" has a cult that convinces people the world is going to freeze over, and that they must freeze themselves to prepare for this. The BAU believes them responsible for the freezing deaths of ex-members and [[spoiler:they are half right as the murders are being committed by a member behind the leader's back]].
269* An episode of ''Series/CSICrimeSceneInvestigation'' had the team investigate a cult-induced mass suicide. [[spoiler:The sole survivor found out the leader was a fraud (who founded cults, drugged the members and left with all the money they'd collected from their families before they woke up), but believed he was just testing her and killed him. Since she didn't realise that the "poison" would just knock them out for a while, she ends up getting something stronger to "make sure nobody suffers"...]]
270* ''Series/{{Cult}}'' is, [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin as you'd expect]], all about this. Specifically, the cult seems to be composed entirely of obsessive fans of the titular ShowWithinAShow, which is also about a cult. [[MindScrew Head hurting yet?]]
271* Colombian {{telenovela}} ''Series/DecisionesExtremas'' had an episode, "A Las Puertas del Paraíso" (At the Gates of Paradise) that dealt with its protagonist Sandra ending up joining one of these.
272* Echo infiltrates a Branch Davidian style cult in the ''{{Series/Dollhouse}}'' episode ''True Believer'', with an outcome similar to that in Waco.
273* In an episode of ''Series/EverybodyLovesRaymond'', Robert gets suckered into a lame but loving cult, but is horrified to discover that they too like Raymond better.
274* ''Series/TheExorcist'' has the Friars of Ascension. A supposed [[CorruptChurch Catholic charity organization]], whose members include many "[[VillainWithGoodPublicity pillars of society]]", they're actually a collection of Satanists, who willing play [[DemonicPossession host]] to demons in exchange for wealth and power.
275* The ''Series/{{Flashpoint}}'' episode "The Farm" sees the team dealing with a rehab facility turned cult at the titular farm.
276* From ''Series/TheFollowing'':
277** SerialKiller Carroll's titular following. He prefers to think of them as his friends. It begins to fall apart shortly after he escapes from prison and takes control of it, since it's members are all ''psychos.''
278** Debra Parker, Hardy's new superior, keeps on telling him not use any word relating to the word cult, and doesn't want the FBI to label it a cult, noting the implications it carries. He later finds out she's the head of the FBI cult (Alternative Religions) unit. [[spoiler:Then it turns out she was raised and abused in a cult herself.]]
279* ''Series/{{Friends}}'': Joey was a part of a cult but "[[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything Five hundred bucks to]] [[ChurchOfHappyology get to level 3?]] Forget it!"
280* ''Series/GameOfThrones'': Craster and his daughter-wives seem to worship the White Walkers as gods. He claims the Walkers will not trouble him because he is a "godly man" and even without him, his wives greet the birth of a male child as "a gift for the gods."
281* It all happens offscreen, but Liz and TJ apparently joined a cult during ''Series/GilmoreGirls A Year in the Life''. They thought it was an agricultural commune, but it turned out to be a "vegetable cult" that contracted them to a billion years of service. The reason Jess is in town is so that he and Luke can coordinate an extraction. Then the cult kicks them out for being too weird, so Jess can focus on Rory. Of special note: Liz and TJ have a ten-year-old daughter who should logically be with them, but she's never mentioned throughout the special. Was she in the cult? Is she ''still'' in the cult?
282* In Volume Five of ''Series/{{Heroes}}'', we are introduced to Samuel Sullivan, who runs a carnival that is essentially a cult for "[[DifferentlyPoweredIndividual specials]]."
283* ''Series/HomeAndAway'' has had a couple of cult stories. The one from more recent memory involved Tash getting involved with The Believers, whose leader had a prophetic dream involving her and her then-unconceived child. Which meant that the plan involved the leader's son getting Tash pregnant with her daughter Ella.
284* Played for laughs in the ''Series/ItsAlwaysSunnyInPhiladelphia'' episode "Ass-Kickers United: Mac and Charlie Join a Cult", where Dennis starts the titular cult as an elaborate effort to make Mac stop eating his thin mints.
285* Nina on ''Series/JustShootMe'' once belonged to a Moonies-like cult called the Church of the Rising Star. It has been suggested throughout the series that Nina has belonged to various other cults.
286* "The Ugly Ducklings" are the focus in two episodes on ''Series/KamenRiderFourze'' lead by a ballerina who worships a Zodiarts known as Cygnus and where other students do good deeds which is valued on a point system. [[spoiler:One of those members actually ''is'' Zodiarts and the cult--being stupid--forces him to transform into Cygnus. They disband after that.]]
287* ''Series/LawAndOrder'', during an investigation of a bombing, turned up a cult in the middle of Manhattan worshipping a con man as a new messiah. He was a semi-delusional fraud; as he was convicted, he used thumbtacks to give himself stigmata. His entire "flock" killed themselves hours later.
288* Between the original show and the ''Series/LawAndOrderSpecialVictimsUnit'', the good guys have encountered several cults; the SVU episode "Charisma" had a particularly heinous one. When a pregnant preteen girl is brought to the hospital, a path is traced to a cult she's a member of. During a standoff at the start of the episode, all the children in the compound are killed by its leader. In the climax of the episode the pregnant girl threatens to kill Olivia if she tries to stop him and cannot be talked down. A horrific ending (as Olivia might have to shoot the child to save herself) [[spoiler:was barely averted because the leader claimed in a rant he was greater than God -- the girl killed him instead.]]
289* ''Series/LegendsOfTomorrow'' reveals in its third episode that [[BigBad Vandal Savage]] has his own cult which [[LikeAGodToMe worships him as a god]]. In exchange for their loyalty and financial support for his {{Evil Plan}}s, he shares with them the blood of Carter and Kendra each time he kills their latest reincarnations, as it [[BloodMagic extends their own lives significantly]].
290* On ''Series/TheListener'' the IIB investigates the death of a cult member. The cult itself turns out to be mostly benign and the killer turns out to be [[spoiler:a crazy member of the group who took it's message way beyond what the leader intended]]. The leader even admits his insistence that his followers cut all ties to their past was a big mistake and works to make the group less insular.
291* The titular character of ''Series/TheMandalorian'' is part of a tribe that's quite different from what's been seen of Mandalorians in other parts of the ''Franchise/StarWars'' franchise, having very strict lifestyle rules (most prominently never taking their helmets off in front of anyone, even each other). When he encounters more mainstream Mandalorians in Season 2, we learn that this is because he's part of a group called the Children of the Watch, religious fanatics who broke away from mainstream Mandalorian culture to try and reestablish ancient traditions. Din is understandably pissed to be told that he's been living in a cult his whole life, but never to the extent of accusing his leader of brainwashing him.
292* ''Series/TheMentalist'' has the reoccurring cult "Visualize."
293* ''Series/Millennium1996'':
294** The eponymous Millennium Group, at least in the second season and parts of the third.
295** Selfosophy, a [[ChurchOfHappyology Scientologyesque]] cult.
296* An episode of ''Series/{{Monk}}'' had the eponymous OCD detective infiltrate and get completely sucked into a cult, whose charismatic leader is played by real life OCD sufferer Howie Mandel. Humorously, while Stottlemyer's partner Randy and several other characters were trying to deprogram Monk, Monk manages to convert Randy. In a plot twist double-whammy, Monk manages to both alibi the cult leader ''and'' break up the cult: [[spoiler:the leader claimed that he was never, ever sick, but on the night in question he was secretly receiving cortisone injections to deal with back pain. The cultists, upon discovering their leader is a fake, simply abandon him.]] Even liars sometimes speak the truth. For some reason Monk seems not to have appreciated, afterwards, that however dishonest the cult leader might have been, he had more success than Dr. Kroger ever had had in helping Monk overcome his OCD.
297* In the ''Series/MrShow'' episode, "Heaven's Chimney," [[Creator/DavidCross David]] has apparently joined a cult lead by "The Bob [Odenkirk]" and is planning on "going up Heavey's Chimney." Creator/TomKenny and a few other cast members have to deprogram him. The sketch was a RippedFromTheHeadlines reference to the Heaven's Gate cult. It also includes the cult's greeting "Terra-da-loo!" which fans of the show tend to quote frequently.
298* ''Series/{{Neighbours}}'' had some of the characters drawn into a cult that was very much a BrandX version of Scientology, which turned out to be the work of a con-man who became a recurring villain.
299* On ''Series/TheOfficeUS'', [[CloudCuckooLander Creed]] claims:
300--> "I've been involved in a number of cults, both as a leader and a follower. You have more fun as a follower. But make more money as a leader."
301* On ''Series/OrangeIsTheNewBlack'', Norma reflects on how she joined a hippie cult back in TheSeventies, [[BecauseYouWereNiceToMe because its leader accepted her in spite of her shyness and severe stutter]]. She (and several other women) eventually got married to the cult leader, though as time went on, his other "wives" left the cult and left him. Norma was the only one left after the rest of the cult eventually disbanded, and he felt disillusioned. He told her to leave, like the others, and she promised him that she wouldn't, causing him to lash out at her. In response, she calls him a "son of a bitch" and pushes him off a cliff in a fit of anger. Later, while in {{Prison}} for manslaughter, she becomes the center of a cult, and shows herself to be not that different from her cult-leader husband.
302* ''Series/OrphanBlack'' has the Prolethians, [[TheFundamentalist fundamentalist]] Christians who are against the existence of clones and try to eliminate them at every opportunity. In their initial appearances, they are portrayed as believing that ScienceIsBad, but later [[spoiler:they do in-vitro fertilization using Helena, so obviously science can't be that bad.]]
303* ''Series/TheOutpost'':
304** The Season 3 episode "Kill the Rat, Kill the Kinj" features a group of humans who worship the [[OurDemonsAreDifferent Lu'quiri]] as gods and [[HumanSacrifice sacrifice people to them]].
305** Meanwhile, Season 3's [[BigBad main threat]] comes from the Blackblood priestess Yavalla, who gains control of the white kinj, which enables her to place people into a HiveMind known as the United, in which they're enslaved to her will. In this state, the United venerate Yavalla as a goddess (a view [[AGodAmI she shares]]).
306* ''Series/ThePath'': Meyerism, a New Age religious sect which is at the center of the series.
307* ''[[Series/MadanSenkiRyukendo Ryukendo]]'' has the whole town temporarily turn into a UFO-worshiping cult in one episode, complete with dancing and chanting. It turned out to be a trick by the MonsterOfTheWeek, but they weren't aware of that.
308* ''Series/SabrinaTheTeenageWitch'' had a cult around a fake "witch" who also hoarded its members' worldly possessions. (And made them eat mungbeans.)
309* An episode of ''Series/{{Seinfeld}}'' featured a cult that used a cleaning company as a front in order to gain access to people's homes and brainwash them into joining. George hires them despite knowing this because they're the cheapest option available, plus he's confident that he can beat the brainwashing. [[ArentYouGoingToRavishMe He gets offended when they just clean his apartment, bill him, and leave without even attempting to brainwash him]], and gets even more offended at the end of the episode when he sees that they've brainwashed his boss Mr. Wilhelm.
310-->'''George:''' ''Him'' you brainwashed?! What's ''he'' got that ''I'' don't have?!\
311'''Cultist:''' ''[shrug]''
312* ''Series/StargateSG1'': the Goa'uld Seth, after spending a long time as a disembodied symbiote in a canopic jar, takes a new host and tries to found a new religion on Earth to worship him as in days of old. The cults he founds always end up either being disbanded by the police or committing mass suicide, with Seth escaping in yet another new host; this pattern is how SG-1 and Jacob find him.
313* In the ''Series/StarskyAndHutch'' episode "Bloodbath", Starsky is abducted by the followers of the memorably creepy Simon Marcus.
314* In ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'', a cult arises that worships the Pah-wraiths, the equivalent of demons in the Bajoran religion, its members think that the Pah-wraiths are the true gods of Bajor, who have been demonized by The Prophets. However, the fact that the cult leader is [[spoiler:[[Characters/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineGulDukat Gul Dukat]]]] makes it clear that the Pah-wraiths are evil.
315%%Administrivia/RepairDontRespond** Actually, the cult already existed. It's not a Doomsday cult; it's one that worships the Pah-Wraiths because they have lost faith in the Prophets following the Occupation, believing therefore that their Pah-Wraith enemies might not be so bad after all. He just subverted it to his own ends, claiming that the Pah-Wraiths were giving him visions. They actually were, and so the Kool-Aid may really have been their idea. [[SealedEvilInACan The Pah-Wraith really are evil]], and the cult are just mistaken.
316* Parodied on ''Series/StrangersWithCandy'' in the two-part episode "Blank Stare," where Jerri is lured into a "collective cooperative community service operation outreach program project." The leader/messiah of the cult ends up hating her so much that he forces her to ''leave'' despite her enthusiasm and willingness to assimilate.
317* ''Series/Supergirl2015'': "[[Recap/Supergirl2015S3E4TheFaithful The Faithful]]" involves a man named Coville started a religion based around worshiping the Kryptonian god Rao, with Kara being their Christ (he and the original followers were all saved by her in the past). She's unnerved, [[UnwantedFalseFaith disliking this false worship of her]], but can't dissuade him. This wouldn't be so bad, misguided though it may be, but then she learns he's encouraging new members to endanger themselves so that Kara will rescue them, for a kind of initiation. However they can't do anything to stop him as he didn't explicitly order illegal acts. Later though he sets off a bomb under a crowded stadium to be their biggest ritual rescue thus far. Kara is weakened by the bomb containing Kryptonite, and convinces Coville he's wrong about her being divine, making him help defuse it.
318* ''Series/SupermanAndLois'': Season 2 features the Inverse Society, an organization whose leader [[DarkMessiah Ally Ashton]] preaches a philosophy that people suffer because they're incomplete and must merge with their "shadow self" in order to be full and happy, all of which is aimed at manipulating the emotionally vulnerable into obeying Ally's every command. So far, a typical ChurchOfHappyology... until it turns out that Ally actually knows what she's talking about, with the "shadow selves" being a person's [[AlternateSelf counterpart]] in a BizarroUniverse, where the Society has all but completely taken over the world. Ally and her counterpart intend to bring about [[MergedReality a merger between universes]] in order to fuse everyone together and turn them into {{Physical God}}s (with her in charge, of course).
319* The ''Series/TouchedByAnAngel'' gang encountered one and revealed themselves when the leader was about to commence a mass suicide in response to authorities arriving. Monica convinces everyone to leave instead; the deluded leader starts a fire in response. The angels rescue everyone but him, as he refuses to accept their help.
320* The first season of ''Series/TrueDetective'' is a police procedural about two mismatched cops investigating a cult over an extended period of time.
321* A subversion appears in the first season of ''Series/VeronicaMars''. Secrecy (sort of), organic diet, isolation, authority clash... and they're actually decent people, whose "secret crop" is Christmas poinsettia flowers. The kid Veronica "saves" is "deprogrammed" back into a jerk, though she learns about his real soft spots and he remembers her somewhat fondly from her time infiltrating the cult, making him a useful source of information in a later episode.
322* An episode of ''Series/WalkerTexasRanger'' has Walker's female partner infiltrate a cult camp to rescue somebody's daughter, but then she becomes a prisoner herself that requires Walker to come to her rescue, [[WhatHappenedToTheMouse leaving the fate of the daughter in question]].
323* Franchise/TheWalkingDeadTelevisionUniverse:
324** ''Series/TheWalkingDead2010'':
325*** The Saviors are as much this trope as they are a gang, as Negan has built a CultOfPersonality around himself as a messianic figure who will save and protect everyone so long as they obey him.
326*** The Whisperers are built around Alpha's StrawNihilist belief that civilization in any form no longer has a purpose and everyone should live in the wild, a belief she enforces on her followers through violence and sheer force of will.
327*** The Reapers are the most clear-cut example, being PrivateMilitaryContractors who turned [[TheFundamentalist fundamentalist]] after managing to survive the chaotic early days of the ZombieApocalypse, having become convinced that God chose to spare them specifically.
328*** The community in the Riverbend apartment complex has the trappings of one. The building is covered in crosses, the Commonwealth's intel says that they has mass multiple times a week, and their leader runs the place with an iron fist while dismissing the trappings of pre-Fall society by bringing up things like whores and drugs.
329** ''Series/FearTheWalkingDead'':
330*** The Abagail compound becomes this under Celia Flores' leadership, due to following her firm beliefs that the walkers are the beloved dead returned by God and should be welcomed rather than killed.
331*** The otherwise-unnamed "The End is the Beginning" group led by Teddy, who believe that due to death being part of nature's cycle, then the ZombieApocalypse should be welcomed rather than fought, and thus any attempt to cling to pre-apocalypse civilization should be torn down [[spoiler:even if that means using nukes to do so]].
332* Played for laughs in the ''Series/WhatsHappening'' episode "Rerun Sees the Light." They worship Ralph, a head of lettuce.
333* An episode of ''Series/WhatWeDoInTheShadows2019'' has Nandor join a "Wellness Center" for vampires who want to live again as humans. It turns out to be a {{scam|Religion}}, as the leader Jan brainwashes the depressed vampires into thinking they're on the track to becoming a human. In TheStinger, Jan disposes of her followers (who are starting to question whether or not the Wellness Center is good for them) via SuicideBySunlight.
334* The Church of Synthiotics in ''Series/WildPalms,'' with its "New Realism" philosophy.
335* Occasionally on ''Series/WithoutATrace'', the trail of a missing person leads to a cult. This typically results in the team trying to rescue other members the cult has trapped.
336* ''Series/TheXFiles'':
337** A vegetarian cult that believes in "walk-ins" (moments of spirit possession) that turns out to be tied to the abduction, drugging, branding, and inoculation with extraterrestrial DNA of a group of small-town teens, though somewhat indirectly, in "[[Recap/TheXFilesS02E10RedMuseum Red Museum]]". The cult's founder is involved with the conspiracy and enforces vegetarianism because the conspiracy is running a secret experiment involving the town's meat supply and they need a control group.
338** A Satanic cult made up of the members of a small-town PTA in "[[Recap/TheXFilesS02E14DieHandDieVerletzt Die Hand Die Verledzt]]".
339** A doomsday cult that believes in reincarnation and ends up taking part in a mass suicide in "[[Recap/TheXFilesS04E05TheFieldWhereIDied The Field Where I Died]]".
340** A murderous cult that worships a slug-like parasite that they believe to be the Second Coming of Christ in "[[Recap/TheXFilesS08E04Roadrunners Roadrunners]]".
341[[/folder]]
342
343[[folder:Music Videos]]
344* Music/ENomine features one of the ReligionOfEvil variety in the video for "Das Omen."
345[[/folder]]
346
347[[folder:Pro Wrestling]]
348* Wrestling/KevinSullivan's Army of Darkness was basically his own personal cult in the original run of [[Wrestling/NationalWrestlingAlliance Championship Wrestling from Florida]]. He would visit NWA Ring Warriors long after its demise to preach about political correctness ruining the world.
349* Basically any stable ever run by Wrestling/{{Raven}} has been one of these, be it in Wrestling/{{WCW}}, Wrestling/{{ECW}}, or Wrestling/{{TNA}}. Some are more insane than others, such as the rather {{Narm}}y Serotonin.
350* Back during the Wrestling/AttitudeEra, the WWF had Wrestling/TheUndertaker's Wrestling/MinistryOfDarkness where Taker would go kidnap C-level guys on the roster and "convert" them into his followers with new names. There was also to a lesser degree [[VampireTropes The Brood]], who were briefly part of the Ministry themselves.
351* In 2005, Cibernético started his own religion, La Secta Cibernética, centered around worship of himself and against Wrestling/{{AAA}} founder Antonio Peña. His main followers were Charly Manson, Chessman and the Black Family. While nursing a knee injury Cibernético's religion was usurped by Muerte Cibernética, who renamed himself Asesor Cibernético. Though Charly and Chessman remained loyal to Cibernético, they no longer believed he should be worshiped.
352* The Order of the Neo Solar Temple in Wrestling/{{CHIKARA}}. Led by Wrestling/{{UltraMantis Black}}, they've been known for brainwashing and converting enemies. The crowd usually bows to them when they enter, even.
353* Wrestling/{{WWE}} has had the [[SmugStraightEdge Straight Edge]] [[BaldOfEvil Society]], as led by Wrestling/CMPunk (incidentally, a former member of Raven's Wrestling/ImpactWrestling group the Gathering), and later [[Wrestling/TheNexus The New Nexus]], which seemed very culty with the whole "Faith" thing they were doing. Cults in general were Punk's thing throughout his career -- his most iconic wrestling theme was, after all, "Cult of Personality" by Living Colour.
354* Wrestling/TheWyattFamily have some very creepy cult-like trappings to their gimmick, although the word "cult" has actually been used overmuch concerning them. Wyatt himself comes across like a mash-up of [[Film/{{Fallen}} Azazel]], [[Film/CapeFear Max Cady]], and Charles Manson with his deranged promos, and he's accompanied by two devoted "sons" (Wrestling/LukeHarper & Wrestling/ErickRowan) that obey him without question.
355* Wrestling/JamesStorm's Revolution, which involved him manipulating and sometimes outright kidnapping other wrestlers and "transforming" them in a backwoods shed lead to some viewers calling him a cult leader.
356[[/folder]]
357
358[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
359* The {{Mook}} level monster in ''TabletopGame/ArkhamHorror'' are Cultists, specifically Cultists dedicated to awakening whichever sleeping God is trying to wake up and destroy the world this session. They usually have a few extra rules that change depending on which [[CosmicHorror Ancient One]] is in play.[[labelnote: Examples]]Cthulhu's worshippers are particularly grotesque and horrifying, Hastur's ride flying monsters, Nyarlathotep's are without number, etc [[/labelnote]]
360* ''TabletopGame/BattleTech'': The Thuggee cult worships Kali Liao as the avatar of the Hindu goddess Kali, acting as her personal terrorist organization. As she's already prone to [[RoyallyScrewedUp madness]], having people who believe she's an actual deity has done nothing to help her sanity.
361* ''TabletopGame/CallOfCthulhu'' has a number of cults as furniture and backdrop as much as villains of a scenario.
362* Very common in ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' (though evil gods who are ''actual'' gods--as opposed to demons or devils--tend to have organized churches). Most recurring Arch-Devils and Demon Princes have their own cults, as do certain powerful elementals and other pseudo-deific entities.
363** One of the very first ''D&D'' adventures, ''The Temple of the Frog'', concerned a raid on the cult of an evil amphibian-god.
364** The 3rd Edition version of the ''Deities & Demigods'' {{Sourcebook}}, which contained guidelines for designing religions and godly pantheons, described the dwarven earth goddess Dennari, whose followers were described as a benign MysteryCult.
365** ''TabletopGame/{{Eberron}}'' has the Cults of the Dragon Below (everywhere) and the Blood of Vol (which has a couple of temples in most countries but is mostly kept secret), both of which fall under the heading of ReligionOfEvil in most cases.
366** ''TabletopGame/ForgottenRealms'' has the Cult of the Dragon as one of the setting's major villainous factions. They worship [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin dragons in general]] but especially {{dracolich}}es, as they believe in a prophecy that states that "dead dragons shall rule the world entire" and are dedicated to bringing this about. By early 5th edition, a splinter faction dedicated to the dragon goddess Tiamat had taken over the Cult and shifted their focus more heavily towards venerating living dragons.
367* Also extant in ''TabletopGame/{{Exalted}}''. In its setting, the term "cult" is value-neutral, though. The makers [[LampshadeHanging even said in one book]] that if the word had the same negative connotation in Creation as it does in real life, many organizations normally calling themselves cults would vehemently deny that they were such.
368** There is actually a "Cult" background, which specifically refers to your character having worshippers. Some, most notably the Alchemicals, try to [[UnwantedFalseFaith dissuade them]]. Pretty much everyone else responds with "w00t, free [[{{Mana}} motes]]!" The main cults not directly related to worshipping Exalts are typically devoted to [[OurDemonsAreDifferent Yozis]], local deities, or their ancestors, and one signature character -- the deathknight known as the White Walker or Harbinger of the Ghost-Cold Wind -- has dedicated his existence to forcing a fair arrangement on both sides.
369* In ''TabletopGame/HcSvntDracones'' "University" has come to mean "bloodthirsty, brainwashing cult" in the greater Sol lexicon after a scandal at Mars' first center of higher learning [[spoiler:in which human-supremacist faculty tried to use the Master's Voice effect to start a StagedPopulistUprising among the Vector students.]] The novel ''[[Literature/HcSvntDracones Blood in the Mist]]'' centers around one such University that professes to bring Vectorkind to godhood, via ritual suicides.
370* A few pop up in the Freedom City setting for ''TabletopGame/MutantsAndMasterminds'', mainly dedicated to [[HollywoodVoodoo Baron Samedi]] and [[EldritchAbomination the Unspeakable One]].
371* In the skirmish game ''TabletopGame/{{Necromunda}}'', using a 40K variant and set on the eponymous planet, a player's force could belong to the Redemptionist Crusade, a sect that relates to the normal Emperor-Worshipping Imperial Citizens (you know, dogmatic, intolerant, heretic-burning, etc.) about in the same way that David Koresh-style sects relate to standard Evangelical Christianity. They are TOO fanatic even for Imperial Society, and hence are outlaws to be killed on sight.
372* ''TabletopGame/NewWorldOfDarkness'' is filled with all kind of variants, with various books covering them:
373** ''Antagonists'' has an entire chapter dedicated to the various types of cults in the setting, how they work and how they can be used in your campaigns. These include sex cults, murder cults, frauds, secret societies and cults led by actual supernatural beings.
374** ''TabletopGame/MummyTheCurse'' has it as a core elements; most mummies have a cult surrounding them, serving as their anchor to the real world.
375** ''TabletopGame/LeviathanTheTempest'' likewise has cults as a core game element, as befits a game about playing creatures straight out of Lovecraft. There are even mechanics for defining exactly what ''kind'' of cult you have: whether it's an actual ReligionOfEvil with formal worship services and a priesthood, a secret society where everyone meets in masks and black robes, or a gated community with its own culture in which everyone is a member of the cult.
376*** The game also specifically notes that a Leviathan's cult will almost always conform to most of the negative stereotypes associated with the word "cult". [[MindRape The Wake]] means that every single one of a Leviathan's Beloved is a mentally broken and psychologically dysfunctional individual, and only the iron-fisted control a sterotypical cult provides will allow the Leviathan to keep his Beloved pointed in the right direction and even vaguely stable.
377** In ''TabletopGame/PrincessTheHopeful'', mortals corrupted by [[TheDarkSide The All-Consuming Darkness]] will often organize into cults to seek greater power and lure in more victims to corrupt. Most Dark Cults end up drawing the attention of the mortal authorities, but the few that are smart enough to operate concealed can make for terrifyingly dangerous opponents.
378* The same applies in ''TabletopGame/RuneQuest'', older by about 25 years; practically every resident of Glorantha joins a "cult" of one of the hundreds or thousands of gods, and gains some magic from that god. Even the state religion of the Lunar Empire is technically a "cult".
379** The game uses the older, anthropological definition for a "cult", a tiered religion that teaches deeper mysteries of the cult's beliefs to those in higher positions than those in the lower ranks. Since religious understanding comes with very real supernatural power and responsibility, it makes sense for nearly all religions to form as cults -- especially after the God Learners unintentionally demonstrated what happens when people try to collect as much of the knowledge as possible without giving a thought to the responsibilities.
380* ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'':
381** Everywhere. Most are devoted to the Chaos Gods, or are set up by [[FaceFullOfAlienWingWong Genestealers]] to call down the [[HordeOfAlienLocusts Tyranid hive fleets]]. But the "[[BlackAndGrayMorality good guys]]" have them too -- there are many cults dedicated to the Emperor in unorthodox but non-heretical ways, while [[SuperSoldier Space Marine]] Chapters tend to incorporate their Primarch or the beliefs of their homeworld into their religious practices. Naturally, the [[ChurchMilitant Inquisition's Ordo Hereticus]] keeps a close eye on these tolerated cults.
382** The [[MachineWorship Adeptus Mechanicus]] worships a living machine for a god. But it's okay, ''really'', because it's an aspect of the Emperor. They're probably not fooling anybody, but nobody wants to piss them off too much since they're pretty much the only ones who know how to use most of the machines and have their own in-house paramilitary forces to boot. The fact that they might actually be worshiping the [[EldritchAbomination Void Dragon]] and this being Warhammer, probably doesn't bode well.
383* In ''TabletopGame/WarhammerFantasy'' the two primary religions in The Empire are the Cult of Sigmar and the Cult of Ulric. Sigmarites worship Sigmar the founder of the Empire who ascended to godhood, while the the latter worships Ulric the god of winter. The two are more benign examples as they are dedicated in protecting the Empire, but the two groups often have a tug of war for power and influence over the Empires rule.
384[[/folder]]
385
386[[folder:Video Games]]
387* Dr. Wood in ''VideoGame/DieAnstalt'' starts one among the patients partway through his therapy. He takes their most precious material possessions from them, and in return gives them little ravens-claw trinkets and goes through a little "faith-healing" routine with them. He never does anything with the items, only taking them to bolster his own percieved self-importance.
388* ''Franchise/AssassinsCreed'': Both the Assassins and the Templars qualify, to an extent, and outsiders often identify them as such. Both have a somewhat sinister ideology (Assassins believe in ensuring humanity's freedom by... well, the name is a clue; Templars believe that the truly enlightened- themselves- should have absolute control of humanity's government), induct members with spooky rituals, and so on. They don't publicly advertise themselves, unlike many cults, and many of their more far-out beliefs (like the one about {{Precursor|s}} aliens) are actually completely justified.
389** They're outdone by the Instruments of the First Will, a group of weirdoes devoted to [[spoiler:Juno, the setting's GreaterScopeVillain]], and who are fanatically devoted to them. Even the Templars are weirded out by these guys.
390* The Cabal in ''VideoGame/Blood1997'', and [[VideoGame/BloodIITheChosen 100 years later]] [=CabalCo=] (essentially the same cult disguised as a multinational coporation).
391* ''VideoGame/Borderlands2''
392** The Children of the Firehawk, who worship Lilith as a fire goddess. Lilith herself is mostly ambivalent towards them as they're mainly obsessed with setting themselves on fire but keeps an eye on them in case they do anything particularly bad, such as human sacrifices. Similarly, the Bloodshots have come to worship arms dealer Marcus Kincaid as "The Gunbringer" after he sends them a shipment of complimentary weapons in an attempt to sell to both them and the Crimson Raiders, even erecting a massive six-armed statue of him that spits out guns in exchange for human sacrifices.
393** The ''Player'' gets a cult after the end of the Firehawk cult questline, where you save people from the Children of the Firehawk. Lets just say anything and everything can possibly create a cult on Pandora.
394* ''VideoGame/Borderlands3'' has the Children of the Vault, a galaxy-spanning cult that consists of practically every single bandit led by the maniacal Calypso Twins.
395* ''VideoGame/BreathOfFireII'''s Church of St. Eva.
396* Brother Lightbeard's cult from ''VideoGame/BrokenAge'' is a rare fictional example of a merely controlling and manipulative cult. Most of the members are people in the middle of a mid-life crisis or some other state of emotional vulnerability who were recruited via promises of a healthier, more enlightened way of life and pulled the rest of their families with them while cutting all ties to their former lives. They donate their money to the cult leader (who routinely breaks all of his own sacred commandments, a fact which is accepted by the cult-members since he's believed to be beyond human flaws), use aggressive psychological warfare tactics in order to break hesitant subjects into conforming to the rules (using an implied "spiritual scoring system" with "demerits" for such things as bad hygiene resulting in punishment), and eventually even get to the point of physically preventing anyone from leaving their community (claiming that it's so perfect that if anybody wishes to leave it, it must be a problem with them).
397* ''VideoGame/CampSunshine'', a 16-bit survival horror game, has a cult that [[spoiler:put demons into the killer when he was a child, which is why he kills in the first place.]]
398* There is a rather disturbing one called Black Circle in the sixth game of the ''VideoGame/CarolReedMysteries''.
399* The Brotherhood of the Dark Rapture from ''VideoGame/CliveBarkersJericho'', a cult dedicated to unleashing the malevolent Firstborn unto the world.
400* ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquerTiberianSeries'': The Brotherhood of Nod, led by the man named [[DarkMessiah Kane]], ''started out'' as a secret society/cult whose members believed Kane's prophecy [[ImportedAlienPhlebotinum Tiberium]] will allow humanity to achieve ascension. When Tiberium actually arrived on Earth in the 1990's, Nod gradually went from a secret society to a global terrorist movement to [[NGOSuperpower something resembling the Islamic State]] in terms of reach, influence and ability to field armed forces. In ''[[VideoGame/CommandAndConquerTiberiumWars Tiberium Wars]]'', Kane uses Tiberium to summon an AlienInvasion. In ''[[VideoGame/CommandAndConquerTiberianTwilight Tiberian Twilight]]'', [[spoiler:he and his followers use a portal left behind by the aliens to actually ascend.]]
401* ''VideoGame/CorruptionOfLaetitia'': There's a mysterious cult of cloaked figures who are publicly unaffiliated with the Elysian order, but [[spoiler:they're being manipulated by Marian to protect a demon-weakening stone]]. One of them suicide bombs a bridge to prevent the party from getting to Ostburg [[spoiler:due to his hero worship of Marian]]. They are also responsible for killing Celeste's human mother and Riliane's mother, [[spoiler:and this is implied to be part of Alfredus's agenda]].
402* The {{Freeware Game|s}} ''VideoGame/{{Cult}}'', [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin obviously]], revolves around the protagonist infiltrating one. It's not made clear what they worship, but it seems to involve meditation and the Bible.
403* Part of ''VideoGame/CultistSimulator'' is starting one, based on whatever your chosen bit of eldritch lore is. You can turn acquaintances into cultists, and from there into exalted cultists -- as long as they line up with the principle of your cult.
404* ''VideoGame/CultOfTheLamb'' is a game about the cutest death cult ever, [[EvilVsEvil which fights other, definitely-evil cults]].
405* Cultists can show up anywhere in ''VideoGame/DarkestDungeon''. The front-line berserkers mostly spam "Rend for the Old Gods", which can leave your adventurers battered and bleeding, while the Acolytes mix [[MindRape Stress damage]] and pushing heroes around the battleline to screw with your plans. [[spoiler:When you get to the Darkest Dungeon itself, you find that the Heart of Darkness has mutated some of its most faithful cultists into new, horrible-looking forms with {{Lovecraftian Superpower}}s. And now, their brawlers spam "Rend for the ''New'' God".]]
406* [[ChurchOfHappyology The Church of Unitology]] in ''Franchise/DeadSpace'' is a very large, very successful cult by the time the games take place, but it is still a cult. One that seeks to control an [[ArtifactOfDoom artifact of evil]] that turns people into [[BodyHorror necromorphs]], and spread it throughout humanity under the mistaken belief that it will bring eternal life after death. [[TheFundamentalist Good luck trying to convince them of the truth]].
407* ''VideoGame/Destiny2'': While most Fallen belong to either [[SpacePirate one of several Houses that have been reduced to piracy]] or [[BanditClan the more bandit-like House of Dusk]], The Scorn (first introduced in ''Forsaken'') instead resemble a mad cult that worships The Darkness. Due to their ''extreme'' differences physically and culturally from normal Elkisni, both the lore and gameplay treats them as a different species from normal Fallen. Rather disturbingly, their technology and aesthetics makes them very similar to either [[ReligionOfEvil the Hive]] or [[OurZombiesAreDifferent the Hive]]. [[spoiler:Tellingly, the Scorn become the Darkness' new favored {{Mooks}} from ''The Witch Queen'' onwards after Savathun betrays the Witness]].
408* In ''VideoGame/{{Dishonored}}'', the Abbey of the Everyman is a slightly creepy, but otherwise perfectly normal religion with a number of harsh penalties for sin. Probably doesn't even count as a ReligionOfEvil. Their biggest problem is probably that they're too eager to blame things on the Outsider, the local [[SatanicArchetype devil analogue]]. The Outsider in turn strongly dislikes them ([[SeenItAll he's too old to really hate]]), and flippantly refers to them as "that cult dedicated to hating me." In ''VideoGame/DishonoredDeathOfTheOutsider'', it is revealed that the Abbey [[spoiler:is descended from the cult that originally created the Outsider by murdering an orphan boy in a profane ritual. The most high-ranking members of the Abbey always knew that the Outsider was not the ultimate evil they claimed he was. This makes the Outsider's comment more true than it seemed at the time; all of the Abbey's power comes from using him as a scapegoat]].
409* ''VideoGame/DragonsDogma'' has Salvation, a cult that worships Grigori, the dragon, and prays for him to come and bring destruction to all of Gransys.
410* The Happy Happy Religious Group headed by Mr. Carpainter from ''VideoGame/EarthBound1994'', which kidnapped Paula and was obsessed with the color blue. The quest that involves them would also mark the StartOfDarkness for Pokey, which would ultimately see him becoming TheDragon to BigBad Giygas, [[spoiler:and later becoming a major villain in ''Earthbound'''s sequel, ''VideoGame/Mother3'', as well]].
411* ''Franchise/TheElderScrolls'' series has a variety, mostly falling under one of the sub-tropes, including ApocalypseCult ([[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIVOblivion Mythic Dawn]], the [[ANaziByAnyOtherName Thalmor]] from a certain point of view), ReligionOfEvil ([[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIIIMorrowind Sixth House]], [[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim Dragon Cults]], [[JerkassGods certain]] Daedric Cults, Hackdirt), and ScaryAmoralReligion (most other [[OurGodsAreDifferent Daedric Cults]]). Breakdowns are available on those trope pages.
412* The Cult of the Eternal End in ''VideoGame/EndlessLegend'', they are led by malfunctioning [[{{Precursors}} Endless]] robots, who's main goal is to destroy all traces of the Endless in Auriga. Their faction specialty is the ability to forcibly convert neutral villages into their faction, and get free units from them.
413* ''VideoGame/EternalDarkness'' had at least one cult worshipping the [[EldritchAbomination Ancients]]. The main branch was run out of a French cathedral, and used a made-up Christian relic to lure in human sacrifices.
414* Creator/SpiderwebSoftware's ''VideoGame/{{Exile}}''/''VideoGame/{{Avernum}} III'' allows you to join an anti-magic cult. If any of your characters have magical abilities, they give up their use permanently. This choice makes the game a bit more difficult, and in particular prevents you from stopping a plague of cockroaches, since you can't cast a fireball spell. However, you can always do that quest before joining the cult. The Anama appear again in ''Avernum 5''.
415* ''VisualNovel/ExtraCaseMyGirlfriendsSecrets'': Sally's mother, in her grief over losing her husband, joined the Cult of Nya and donated most of her savings, since the cult promised precognitive powers to give their members peace of mind. She became so obsessed with the cult that she neglected her daughters and made them feel unloved.
416* ''VideoGame/{{Fahrenheit}}'' has not one but two cults that are MacGuffin organizations.
417* ''VideoGame/FallenLondon'' and ''VideoGame/SunlessSea'' feature a cult that worships an EldritchAbomination. An uncontrollable HorrorHunger that compels them to eat everything in sight (and sometimes feed themselves to each other) isn't even the worst thing that happens to those who pursue this too far.
418** There's also a growing movement that believes in 'Judgements', deities who decide what is real, and how everything weird that goes on in the Neath is because they have trouble judging what they can't see. [[spoiler:They're ''right''; the Judgements are the ''stars'' in the sky, [[JerkassGods and they are all soul-devouring jerkasses]]]].
419* The Children of the Atom in ''VideoGame/Fallout3'', a group of people in the Town of Megaton who worship the giant unexploded bomb the town is named for. Their essential belief is everytime a nuke explodes a new universe is created. They're obviously crazy, or at the very least completely unaware of exactly how the bombs work which isn't surprising considering there aren't many people left who can properly explain how an Atom bomb works to them. Despite their obviously nutty beliefs they're quite harmless and the residents of Megaton tolerate them, even if most of them think they're nuts. The even gather round at times to watch Confessor Cromwell, the Church's leader, preach about how the bomb is so great! Probably because its good entertainment or they're one of his followers. Even if you effectively disable the bomb Cromwell continues to preach about its gloriousness. Of course, blowing up the bomb and killing him and everyone else, according to him, would probably be a blessing to everyone.
420** Lampshaded in-game, where the sign that points to the Church building in Megaton reads 'Local Cult'.
421** The Children of Atom take a nasty twist in the DLC ''Broken Steel'', when one of the high-ranking members starts [[spoiler:Stealing the Aqua Pura destined for megaton, and then irradiating it to lethal levels]].
422*** Amusingly you can talk them out of it by pretending to be their CrystalDragonJesus.
423** The original game had the Children of the Cathedral, a front for that game's BigBad. The second game has [[ChurchOfHappyology Hubologists]], a cult the player can either join or massacre.
424*** One of the many bits of unimplemented content in ''VideoGame/Fallout2'' was a quest to procure fuel for their incompetently rebuilt two hundred year old space shuttle which they intended to use to return to their "Sky Father". A fully voiced epilogue for them exists in the game's code, apparently if the player character got them their fuel they would take off shortly after... and find out that they failed to make the hull airtight. Not getting them fuel would result in them concocting a fuel-analogue and blow the shuttle to hell during takeoff. Too bad it wasn't implemented because it'd be pretty damned funny.
425*** Sounds like this idea influenced a quest in ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas''. In this particular quest, you can choose to aid a group of ghouls in their quest to use an old rocket in order to reach space and leave behind the racist human oppressors. Their leader is more or less a cult leader, though he's much nicer and decidedly not psychotic. If you get them the fuel, they take off successfully (unless you deliberately sabotage the launch). [[spoiler:Amazingly enough, if their flight goes off without a hitch, the epilogue states that they actually survive and return to Novac in order to help defend it from Caesar's Legion.]]
426*** The Hubologists return in the Nuka-World DLC of ''VideoGame/Fallout4'', now lead by the descendant of the cult's founder. They believe a UFO ride to be an actual spacecraft and wish to use it to travel to space. [[spoiler:Depending on how much power you give the UFO, they either survive with or get die from the G-force]].
427** Also in ''New Vegas'', Caesar's Legion fits many of the hallmarks of a cult, albeit a highly militant one that has conquered/assimilated much of the American Southwest. Several people recognize in-game that the Legion is entirely built atop Caesar's personality and will quickly crumble after his death.
428* ''VideoGame/FarCry5'' deals with a doomsday cult that is obviously inspired by the Branch Davidians that has somehow managed to take over an entire county in Montana.
429* The Cult of Kefka from ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVI'', which was formed after Kefka became a god over the ruined world, and worshipped Kefka for no other reason than possibly fear. Also referred to the Fanatics. They also have a theme song that has ominous chanting.
430* ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoV'' has three such cults that can be engaged in side diversions:
431** The Epsilon Program are a ChurchOfHappyology-esque group that are referenced a few times throughout the ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAuto'' series, mostly in passing on the radio. Here they take a larger role in a series of side-quests for Michael, asking him to perform various tasks in order to advance through the Program's ranks, many of which involves paying increasingly larger amounts of money.
432** The Altruist cult is malevolent cult made up of mentally-ill Baby Boomers disconnected from society who believe that all of society's current ills are caused by the younger generations and that, by [[ImAHumanitarian cannibalizing teenagers and twenty-somethings]], they can reclaim the youth and prosperity they had back in their day. They have a deal going with Trevor where they will pay him to "deliver" any youthful hitchhikers he comes across up to their compound, [[spoiler:but after four such deliveries they turn on Trevor and try to abduct him too, [[MuggingTheMonster to their detriment]].]]
433** Children of the Mountain is therapy-like cult that Franklin could be member if he wants and also happens that one of two Frankin's safehouse happens be living beyond their headquarters.
434* The cult in ''VideoGame/GuardiansCrusade'' screams of evil but never ''actually'' does anything bad... until a certain point later in the game. From this point, the player can (optionally) return to towns from earlier in the game to stop the cult members that have transformed into optional bosses.
435* ''Franchise/{{Halo}}'':
436** The Covenant, a multi-species theocratic hegemony whose leaders don't even realize [[spoiler:they're running a suicide cult]].
437** The Covenant's more religious remnants, like the one introduced in ''VideoGame/Halo4'', are often referred to as "cults" by the UNSC.
438** On the human side of things, there's the Triad, which teaches that every human has three lives, with spiritual transcendence only occurring when you linked all three. Its leader is the rather sinister Dasc Gevadim.
439* ''VideoGame/HoneyIJoinedACult'' is a simulation of building a cult to fleece money out of your followers; if not get involved with dark, occult powers. Default cults include worshippers of {{Eldritch Abomination}}s, Myth/EgyptianMythology, the atomic bomb, or [[Series/HappyDays the Fonz]].
440* ''VideoGame/TheIncrementaliTree'': The last layer is a cult where you can reset incrementali for followers who can be spent on Evangelists to divide the follower requirement and Mythologists to unlock up to 3 new shrines and improve their effect.
441* The Disciples of Ragnos are the antagonists of ''VideoGame/JediKnightJediAcademy''. The cult's goal was to try to resurrect the ancient Sith Lord Marka Ragnos, with their leader being [[VideoGame/JediKnightIIJediOutcast the last game]]'s [[TheDragon Dragon]], Tavion.
442* Spaghetti Cultists, who [[AnonymousRinger worship a Flying Spaghetti Monster]] from ''VideoGame/KingdomOfLoathing'', the EvilCounterpart of the game's Lawful-Good [[{{Whatevermancy}} Pastamancers]].
443* Atris' splinter of the Jedi Order in ''VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublicIITheSithLords'' is a frighteningly realistic example. Atris' handmaidens are raised in the order, worships Atris as a perfect savior who can do no wrong, and are taught to have no critical thinking skills whatsoever. During their conversations with the Exile, they will handily dismiss any and all inconsistencies in Atris' plans for rebuilding the order.
444* ''VideoGame/LikeADragon'':
445** In ''VideoGame/Yakuza0'', one of Majima's sidequests involves a woman asking him to check on her daughter after she's been swept up in a cult. The cult leader has his followers perform a variety of bizarre rituals peppered with gibberish to make it seem more spiritual, and scams his followers out of their money while also grooming young female members for sex. Majima plays along long enough to get close to the daughter and jog her memories before he beats the shit out of the cult leader, leaving him whimpering in agony while his cult [[WorstAid tries to heal with their special healing ritual instead of calling an ambulance]].
446** Decades later, in ''VideoGame/Yakuza6'', Kiryu comes across a revival of the same cult in Onomichi, now scamming pensioners instead of impressionable young folks. Kiryu is asked by the original founder of the cult to help him take it down so he can save the woman he's fallen in love with, and eventually Kiryu beats the shit out of the new leader when he finds them out, leaving him whimpering in agony while his cult [[HistoryRepeats tries to heal with their special healing ritual instead of calling an ambulance]] (which the old leader finds oddly familiar).
447** Years later in ''Videogame/LikeADragonInfiniteWealth'', Kiryu can once again meet Munan Suzuki dressed up in his cult get-up and seemingly streaming his sermons in public. However, he reveals that he's actually hosting an educational channel where he's using his experience as a cult leader to teach people online how to deal with cult tactics. The game also has [[spoiler:Palakena, an ancient Hawaiian religious organization that has infiltrated every echelon of Hawaiian society and rules the criminal underworld, with all of their agents being suicidally devoted to their leader Bryce Fairchild]].
448* ''VideoGame/{{Manafinder}}'': Octavius's nomad tribe is an enemy faction that worship the fourth and traitorous goddess, Illia, and seek to destroy manastones in her name. This seems to be a recent development, since they apparently had their own religious beliefs before Azain introduced them to Illia, whose social darwinist ideals are similar to their own.
449* ''VideoGame/MassEffect1'': One mission is you being sent to break a cult of biotic extremists up. Admiral Hackett explicitly calls the group a cult, noting they call their leader "Father Kyle", and that they've already murdered two Alliance officials. Depending on your choices, you can either convince the leader to turn himself in and disband the cult, or you can just storm the place and kill everyone.
450* ''VideoGame/MetalSaga'' has the Gluteus Maximus cult, which is a cult of bodybuilders. [[spoiler:You can even join this cult and get one of the bad endings, in which your party comes out with {{Heroic Build}}s. It doubles as a NonStandardGameOver since you also get this scene if you lose any battle while in the church.]]
451* The first ''VideoGame/NeverwinterNights'' had the "People of the Eye", who worshipped, and were attempting to resurrect, the [[LizardFolk Creator Race]]. It's stated a few times that many of the cult's lower-ranking members had only a vague idea of the cult's actual goals, which might explain why they were working to ressurect a race of creatures that despised all warm-blooded races and were planning to kill or make slaves of them the minute they came back.
452* Each and every one of the [[PowersThatBe Elder Powers]] from the ''VideoGame/NexusWar'' series had one in the first game, which were even directly called Cults. They mostly advocated killing followers of other cults that their god didn't like, and once you joined one, [[ResignationsNotAccepted you could never leave]]. The Powers mellowed out a bit by the time of the second (current) game, and now ask for dedication through Guilds that offer fewer rewards to the faithful but that it's possible to leave for a [[BoltOfDivineRetribution price]].
453* A rogue group of machine lifeforms in ''VideoGame/NierAutomata'' break off from the network to find religion, which eventually ends in a mass murder-suicide that 2B and Pascal must escape from while machine fanatics swarm the building helping the few reluctant members of the church follow the example of the church's recently deceased founder and [[DeadlyEuphemism "become as gods"]].
454* [[spoiler:The Cult of the Black Goat]] in ''VideoGame/NightInTheWoods'', [[spoiler:a group of townspeople who worship the [[EldritchAbomination Black Goat]] they believe dwells in the mines. They believe that unless they sacrifice people to the Black Goat, it will strike the town with disasters and eventually cause the surrounding area to dry up, with the town fading away in the end.]]
455* In ''VideoGame/NoUmbrellasAllowed'', Jane Kim establishes a cult called the Garden of Cocoons [[spoiler:to cope with her son Wonsu getting Fixed]], where she trains Fixies, or people who were rendered emotionless by the Fixer drug, to be reborn as "Saeras". Whether or not you attend her 3-day training session, she'll give you a role in spreading the word of her group by selling books about it with fake covers. Some of your customers feel scammed and threaten to report you if you don't accept their refund, while others don't mind it, and they feel enlightened by Jane's teaching. [[spoiler:Because Jane believes that one must become a Fixie first in order to become a Saera, she threatens to stop Prof. Choi's Umbrella project, where he plans to pour the antidote all over Ajik City to cure everyone of Fixer.]]
456* The Divine Ascension in ''VideoGame/PandoraFirstContact'', its a combination of Scientology, North Korea, and [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking Facebook]]. When people enter it all information about them used to blackmail them into obeying the groups orders, or they could face being sent to a reeducation camp in Siberia. Its leader Lady Lilith Vermillion started the whole thing as a started to believe she was a god, after surviving a bullet to her head. When Pandora is discovered she sets her sights to it, with the intent of claiming the planet for her own.
457* ''VideoGame/PokemonDiamondAndPearl'''s Team Galactic, whose leader wishes to [[AGodAmI remake the universe in his own image]], and whose primary targets are essentially the Pokemon version of ''gods'', are actually more closely related to the thug like Team Rocket than cult like Magma and Aqua. Most of the {{Mooks}} you encounter are unaware of [[BigBad Cyrus's]] goals. In contrast, ''every'' member of Teams Magma and Aqua are aware that succeeding in their plan will result in the world being flooded/dried up.
458* Team Aqua and Team Magma of ''VideoGame/PokemonRubyAndSapphire'', to the point where they are thought to actually be a cult villainous group.
459* {{Subverted|Trope}} in ''VideoGame/Receiver2''. The eponymous Receivers seem like this on a surface level — doing yoga, having secret messages to one another through tapes, training obsessively with firearms and distrusting the media. But deep down they actually do want to help people, shown when they turn around the lives of many once-suicidal folk, stress focus on strength of the self, and nonetheless frown upon competitive hierarchies.
460* ''VideoGame/RedDeadRedemptionII'':
461** By a lot of measures, the Van der Linde gang are this with Dutch as the cult leader. Dutch cultivates himself as an authoritarian leader who is the most important person in the gang who had "saved" members from desperate situations. Arthur privately describes Dutch as "something else", Tilly straight up calls Dutch the closest thing to a perfect person, various other characters such as Bill and Javier express an almost religious devotion to him. Dutch repeatedly invokes this by stressing the importance of faith and calling out and complaining about Arthur, Hosea and John for being "doubters". The gang begins to fall apart once they start seeing that Dutch is undeniably human, selfish and fallible while Dutch attempts to rein them in more and more. It's telling that Dutch doesn't have an issue with John until mid-way through the story when John starts becoming a better husband and father to Abigail and Jack. Dutch sees this as Abigail "poisoning" John against him and John having more loyalty to his family than to him.
462** There's also the Chelonians, a religion based around the ideal of safety. They consider turtles holy animals and believe in an utopian society called 'Chelonia'. Members wear white robes with turtle embroidery, and band together in what they call the "shell of safety" to protect specific members from outsiders who want. [[spoiler:They also jump off cliffs to reach Chelonia, as seen if you kill a Chelonian as Arthur or observe their ritual as John in the epilogue.]] One of the missions involves convincing Mary Linton's brother Jamie to leave the cult, which involves chasing Jamie down on horseback and forcibly preventing him from committing suicide, after which he realizes the error of his ways.
463* ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil4'' had Los Illuminados, essentially a cult of {{Puppeteer Parasite}}s.
464* ''VideoGame/RuneScape'' has Humans Against Monsters, who are technically more of a religiously-motivated hate group but have a rather cult-like ambience to them all the same. They believe that humans are the chosen race of the God of Order Saradomin and are thus entitled to do whatever they please to nonhuman races, which is rhetoric fairly close to a number of RealLife racist organizations. Despite the unfortunate acronym of "HAM," they aren't played for laughs at all and have a number of rather disturbing deeds to their name, including reviving the Ogres' dead with magic to wipe out the living Ogres and attempting a mass drowning of the Goblins.
465* The ''VideoGame/SengokuBasara'' series has Xavism, a ParodyReligion of Christianity with Happyology elements that worships founder Pontiff Xavi. While extorting money from people does play a role in the religion, Xavi it seems is a genuine LoveFreak who does actually believe in his silly dogma. For the most part, the Xavists are largely the comedic relief of the series and even have a talent for [[EasyEvangelism getting other characters to convert]], most notably [[TheChessmaster Motonari]], AKA "Sunday Mori".
466* In ''VideoGame/SecretFiles: Tunguska'', the cult in the game believes that they were descendants from aliens. [[spoiler:They are also responsible for your father's kidnapping, but turns out to be the ''good guys'', kidnapping him to protect him from the evil corporation trying to create mind-control machine from the remains of TheTunguskaEvent and silencing anyone related after [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness they have outlived their usefulness.]]]] The sequel has a more traditional doomsday religious cult [[spoiler:who's responsible for all those disasters]].
467* The [[TheUnfettered Gaians]] and the [[CorruptChurch Messians]] in ''Franchise/ShinMegamiTensei''.
468* The ancient Pagan-Supernatural-Judeo-Christian-Kabbalistic mishmash cult from the ''Franchise/SilentHill'' series. Though it's rather overlooked in the second game, the first game explains it in great detail, and in the third game, [[spoiler:being a chronological sequel to the first]], that same cult becomes a very important part of the storyline.
469* Fygul Cestemus from the ''VideoGame/SoulSeries'', who were responsible for the creation of Astaroth, and for turning the Spartan warrior Aeon Calcos into Lizardman.
470* The Tarronians from a [[NothingIsScarier particularly creepy]] mission in ''VideoGame/SWAT4'' are part ChurchOfHappyology and part [[BrainwashedAndCrazy batshit insane]] apocalyptic cult. Toward the end, you find [[spoiler:the child graveyard in the basement and learn that they've murdered their own kids in preparation for the end]].
471* ''VideoGame/ThiefIITheMetalAge'' revolves around the apocalyptic Mechanist cult which has schismed from the [[CrystalDragonJesus Pseudo-Catholic]] Hammerite church.
472* ''VideoGame/TroubleshooterAbandonedChildren'': The Spoonists are this to a T. All members wear white, face-covering masks at all times and are utterly devoted to their leader Sharky, who is supposed to lead them to a paradise of eternal plenty known as the Land of Feasts. They also live on the outskirts of the city, making homes in forests and old abandoned military installations, are more heavily armed than most actual mercenaries you run into, staunchly devoted to the collective, and intent on razing society. [[spoiler:It turns out that many of the more militant aspects of the Spoonist faith are the result of the BigBad using them to trigger a revolution, and their is plenty of evidence that Spoonism originally was a kooky but largely well-meaning religion.]] And, to be fair, it's not like Valhalla is really worth preserving.
473* ''VideoGame/UFOAfterblank'': The Cultist faction in ''Aftershock''.
474* The Fellowship in ''VideoGame/UltimaVII''. The entire cult is modelled after the [[ChurchOfHappyology Church Of Scientology]], from the founder and leader who bears more than a passing resemblance to Creator/LRonHubbard, to the obviously rigged personality test the Avatar receives early on.
475* In ''VideoGame/VerdictGuilty'', there's a cult dedicating to waking the people up through chaos and destruction, and Yohan is a foot soldier in it. [[spoiler:Actually, it's a tool of the BigBad, who's out for money and power.]]
476* ''VideoGame/{{Warcraft}}'':
477** "'''The Cult of the Damned!''' ''... I need to print more brochures.''"
478** The multiple other cults in ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'', like the Wyrmcult, or the Burning Blade Clan.
479** Twilight's Hammer, the Auchenai ... "I always wanted to start my own religion. ...so I did!"
480*** The Twilight's Hammer became {{Dragon Ascendant}}s in ''World of Warcraft''. Back in ''[[VideoGame/{{Warcraft}} Warcraft II]]'', the Twilight's Hammer was just another orc clan. In ''[[MeaningfulName Cataclysm]]'', they (as well as [[EldritchAbomination the Old Gods]] they venerate) were seeking to [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt destroy reality]].
481** "[[SuspiciouslySpecificDenial We're not a cult, so much as a maniacal group of fanatical, blade-wielding zealots.]]"
482* ''VideoGame/{{Fallout}}'''s spiritual predecessor ''VideoGame/{{Wasteland}}'' and its [[VideoGame/Wasteland2 sequel]] has a few cults of its own.
483** Similar to Fallout's Children of Atom, the Servants of the Mushroom Cloud refer to radiation as the "Great Glow" that guides them while worshipping Albert Einstein and J. Robert Oppenheimer. In Nevada they have a radical offshoot of the cult known as the Mad Monks who worship a nuclear missile and ensure peace by threatening to [[TakingYouWithMe use it on the region if they're attacked]].
484** The God's Militia is a cult in Los Angeles based around a violently militant interpretation of the King James Bible that wants to take over Hollywood.
485** The Children of the Citadel are a cult led by the BigBad that believes turning people into cyborgs is the next step in human evolution.
486* ''VideoGame/WoodruffAndTheSchnibbleOfAzimuth'': The Schnibble Cult.
487[[/folder]]
488
489[[folder:Web Animation]]
490* ''WebAnimation/EtraChanSawIt'':
491** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WNR8yU4ZxsM Yuri]] lived in a house consisting of four families that she considered as her own family, the big family was led by a woman who she thought was her grandmother, Azami. Yuri was the only one who went to school while the other children didn't. After Yuri told her teacher about her family, they broke apart and Yuri left her mother behind with her father and brother. [[spoiler:It was later revealed that the "family" was actually a religious cult that discouraged education and none of them were biologically related to Yuri's family at all, and Azami was the leader of the cult. Yuri's mother also remained devoted to the cult even after Azami's death.]]
492** In one [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qBnHuWN8RD8 story]], Yuzuriha finds out that her in-laws are followers of a shady cult, [[spoiler:her daughter is eventually indoctrinated by them]].
493** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=njoZv4ajzB8 Akane, Azami and Yuzuriha]] witnessed Karin saving a cat, they later come to her apartment believing she was a knight and chosen by God for her braveness, much to her annoyance. They also keep returning to Karin's apartment to annoy her with their babbling nonsense. In an attempt to get rid of those women, Karin pretends to be a follower of a cult named "Ramenism" and talks nonsense to them about the nonexistent cult, they decide to stop harassing her afterwards.
494** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qmbN0TBWa80 Tachibana]] [[spoiler:is extremely devoted to a cult named Yorozuism, they forbid the use of medicine as they believe using them is an act of defiance against their god, Yorozugami-sama. His devotion to the cult ended up making him neglect his own wife and two daughters. In the end of the episode, it's revealed that Yuri is also a follower of Yorozuism.]]
495** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gDowZANKsyk Azami]] attempts to get Yuzuriha into joining her cult. Fortunately, Yuzuriha is smart enough to reject her offer. However, Azami doesn't give up easily and she decides to get Yuzuriha's mother Tsutsuji into joining the cult after coincidentally seeing Yuzuriha at the hospital. Irritated by Azami's behavior, Yuzuriha tells Azami's father about the cult she's following, causing him to teach her a lesson. Yuzuriha also manages to convince Akamatsu who also attempted to scam her into joining Azami's cult after losing his money and it eventually turns him into a devout follower of the cult.
496* ''WebAnimation/HomestarRunner'':
497** Marzipan runs a kindergarten program she calls "LURN": "Life-blossoms Undergoing Re-programming Naturally". The "children" (actually dimwitted grown men Homestar, Homsar, and Strong Mad) are referred to as "life-blossoms", the crayons all have politically correct names ("dermal discoveries" instead of "skin flesh", or "blue" instead of "black") and can't color ("so that no one life-blossom outshines the others. That way, they're ''all'' special!"), and the grades are renamed things like roots and grass to give an eco-friendly image even though they still map to letter grades in concept. Strong Bad is somewhat incredulous.
498--->'''Strong Bad:''' Marzipan, what kinda cult you runnin' here?
499--->'''Marzipan:''' Oh, pretty standard.
500** In another toon, Homestar starts a movement called ABD ("Always Be'sing and Do'sing") which purports to improve your life by teaching you how to always [[MeaninglessMeaningfulWords be's be'sing and do'sing instead of cheesing and choosing]]. Strong Bad sums it up by saying Homestar's started a cult, to which Homestar replies, "Yeah, kinda." He walks this back later, with the ad for his seminar declaring the ABD movement "60% Less Culty!"
501* ''WebAnimation/MoniRobo'':
502** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=znBsQ9W03bI Suneo]] started his own cult after his parents disowned him. However, the cult is a scam and Suneo pretends to help people while he profits off them by overcharging for charms. Shizuka eventually brought him down by showing a video of him confessing to her about his scam to his followers. Suneo was sued and went into debt.
503** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xdw4UGrQV4I Kotomi's]] mother joined a cult which sells water that apparently heals and she borrowed a lot of money to keep buying the water. Kotomi was forced to steal from her friend Kayo to fuel her mother's spending. When Kotomi told Kayo about her money troubles, she exposed the cult in the magazine that she works for and the cult was arrested. The last time Kotomi's mother was seen, she is getting treatment.
504[[/folder]]
505
506[[folder:Webcomics]]
507* A group of cultists shows up on a couple of occassions in direct opposition to the Light Warriors in ''Webcomic/EightBitTheater''. It's name is never mentioned as it "cannot be said or written without driving you mad." The cult is a good example of a ReligionOfEvil and appears to worship beings similar to those found in Creator/HPLovecraft's works.
508* Timothy/Camellia in ''Webcomic/ButImACatPerson'' spent a couple of his teenage years in a doomsday cult focused on one of the series' resident {{Mon}}s.
509* ''Webcomic/DICETheCubeThatChangesEverything'': After the TimeSkip a team of Dicers called Brotherhood of the Dice God emerges, who look like Catholic priests and are devoted to X without an understanding of his personality.
510* The world of ''Webcomic/{{Drowtales}}'' has several groups who are seen in-universe as cults:
511** The Kyorl'solenurn clan is the largest, with the most direct influence on the politics of the world. Originally a more zealous branch of the religion of Sharess, ever since the mainstream religion began it's decline several centuries ago, they've grown increasingly isolationist and extreme. They are somewhat tolerated since they gladly hunt demons for the other clans. [[spoiler:They're secretly run by Light Elves (who order their Drow subordinates to persecute and exterminate their former brothers and sisters), and seek to turn Demon Summoning into a secret elite privilege]]. After [[GodBeforeDogma Anahid]] takes over they mellow out, but are still ChurchMilitant zealots.
512** On the opposite end are Nether Cults like the group that eventually became the Vloz'ress, which started as [[http://www.drowtales.com/mainarchive.php?sid=444 a fairly harmless group]] who kept to themselves but still faced persecution for their beliefs. Once [[ManipulativeBitch Sene'kha]] took it over and killed most of the mode moderate members, including the original leader, things went FromBadToWorse, ending as a literal ApocalypseCult seeking to summon a demon overlord who could brainwash everyone into submission. [[note]]They failed; even the overlord couldn't control absolutely everyone, and Quaintana kicked their ass. The surviving clan dispersed after that.[[/note]]
513** The Nidra'chal are a horde of demon summoners who created a mutant army of demonically-possessed Drow to try and take over the nation. Little is publicly known about them beyond their straightforward desire for conquest. [[spoiler:They're the creation of the Sharen royalty, who used the clan as a diversion to assassinate their Empress-mother and take over Chel. Over the next three decades, they infiltrate multiple clans to influence politics, with the ultimate goal of turning the Drow race into half-demon multiversal conquerors with [[TheSociopath Snadhya'rune]] as their God-Empress.]]
514* In ''Webcomic/ElGoonishShive'', the man known as "Tengu" enslaves minds one by one and makes them physically identical with no sense of personal identity through a magic enchantment. The process took him months the first time he did it but in a magic saturated area he was able to do it in a single night. He refers to his victims as his flock and thinks of himself as a shepherd.
515* ''Webcomic/EnnuiGo'': In the "Crisis on Two Comics" crossover arc, Izzy works with [[Webcomic/BlackHole2019 Diana Nox]] to take down the Gardeners: a magic sex cult that sprung up on Key Manati. Additionally, several other cults are mentioned at the beginning of the arc.
516-->'''Izzy:''' Key Manati has a cult?
517-->'''Renee:''' Another cult, yes.
518-->'''Izzy:''' We got MORE?
519-->'''Renee:''' Quite. There is the Apostles of Ape-Shaving, the Church of the Eternally Suspended, the Fidget-Men, Followers of the Great Milky Mommy, Bobby's Guys, Latter Day Disco Revival, Smellnothingans, and [[TakeThat American Christianity]].
520* In ''Webcomic/GunnerkriggCourt'', Robot S13 has started a cult that worships Kat as an angel (which might be a symptom, or a cause, of Kat having some Eldritch Abomination traits). It's implied it's [[http://www.gunnerkrigg.com/?p=1143 not his first time]], this tendency is why Antimony found him disassembled in the first place.
521* In ''Webcomic/KevinAndKell'', the non-civilized areas (particularly around Domain) are referred to as "The Wild". As it turns out, there is a cult in The Wild that refers to itself as "The Wild" as well. At one point, Rudy Dewclaw ended up [[https://kevinandkell.com/1997/kk0618.html getting pulled into the cult]] when he tried to escape civilization after a breakup with his girlfriend. Ralph Dewclaw (Rudy's uncle) tried to join the cult during the MillenniumBug arc, but [[https://kevinandkell.com/1999/kk0223.html was rejected due to his poor hunting skills.]]
522* In ''Webcomic/{{Lackadaisy}}'', Serafine leads a cult that practices a corrupted form of Voodoo and worships the ''loa'' Maitre Carrefour. She invites Mordecai to join, and forcibly carves a Voodoo symbol into his chest when he refuses.
523* In the BackStory of ''Webcomic/LastRes0rt'', Arikos's crimes stem from leading a cult of Talmi who believed that he could turn them (back) into humans. In truth, Arikos used the cult as a means to produce his Celeste offspring, and not only killed off any "failed" offspring , but also any members of the cult who had outlived their usefulness (specifically older members who could no longer work / bear children) throughout the process.
524* ''Webcomic/{{MAG ISA}}'' -- The antagonists are part of a fictional cult known as [[http://mag-isa.thecomicseries.com/comics/pl/119615 ''The Order'']]. Their belief system is a mixture of Christianity and New Age beliefs.
525* In ''Webcomic/MeatyYogurt'', a possible alien landing prompts the creation of an alien-worshiping cult called [[http://rosalarian.com/meatyyogurt/2013/06/10/the-smile-time-cosmic-farm-co-op/ The Smile Time Cosmic Farm Co-Op]].
526* In ''Webcomic/OurLittleAdventure'', the group comes across a poster for 'Angelo's Kids', and since [[ExpositionFairy Julie wasn't there]], Rocky had to explain to the others that 'Angelo's Kids' is both a youth cult and a pyramid scheme.
527* Nutritionists form a cult around a “Lemonade” soda sticker in ''Webcomic/RomanticallyApocalyptic''.
528* ''Webcomic/SaturdayMorningBreakfastCereal'': The comic for [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/2014-09-10 2014-09-10]] shows the appeal of joining a cult:
529--> "Excuse me. Would you be interested in living for free on a country farm where you get to work with your hands every day and have 100% job security?"
530--> "What's the catch?"
531--> "You have to believe in a very simple cosmology with clear rules, which was designed to make you feel good about yourself."
532* ''Webcomic/TheSecretKnots'': Parodied in "How to make the best of your time in airports", which advocates for forming a cult based on the interpretations of flight numbers and their meanings with the other passengers while waiting in an airport, with neck pillows being declared heretical.
533* The demon K'Z'K has its own cult in ''Webcomic/SluggyFreelance'', complete with a leader who plays fast and loose with her interpretation of scripture. Very much a ReligionOfEvil.
534* In ''Webcomic/TemplarArizona'' there is a cult of people founded by 'Jake', whose core beliefs revolve around theft, polygamy, and breeding, and refer to themselves as 'Jakes' or 'Jakeskin' (Jake's kin).
535[[/folder]]
536
537[[folder:Web Original]]
538* Gail from ''WebVideo/DeagleNation'' may be a part of one, considering she reads from and follows the teachings of a "Forgotten Bible".
539* ''WebVideo/DontHugMeImScared'' has the Cult of Malcolm, a cult led by a butterfly named Shrignold that worships a sick version of love.
540* The Landover Baptist Church is a long-standing parody on the excesses of American religion and skewers the idea of a toxic blend of right-wing politics, prescriptive religion and authoritarian leadership working from inside a remote security-fenced compopund in Leasehold, Iowa. the [[https://landoverbaptist.org/ Church website]] is well worth a visit.
541* The Hymn of One in ''WebVideo/{{lonelygirl15}}'', which was [[PathOfInspiration actually a front]] for an evil organisation. The Hymn of One also appears in ''WebVideo/KateModern'', which portrays it in a slightly more sympathetic (though still villainous) light.
542* Website/TheOnion: Parodied in a column titled "[[https://www.theonion.com/you-call-this-a-doomsday-cult-1819583836 You Call This a Doomsday Cult]]?", whose author is dissatisfied with the fact that the cult he joined involves ''no'' abuse, no stockpiling guns, no elaborate end-of-the-world prophecy, and his family isn't even worried about him.
543* In the ''{{Website/Neopets}}'' plot "Spooky Food Eating Contest", during the catacombs phase, you can encounter three kinds of cultists; Evil, Indifferent, and Friendly. Depending on your actions, they can either reward you with an item or curse you, no matter what kind you bump into.
544* ''WebVideo/SMPLive'' has several — Jadarko's [[GiantAnimalWorship Salmonism]], [=ShadowApples=]'s [[CargoCult Bread cult]], and [[spoiler:Ted Nivison's [[TheSacredDarkness Void cult]]]].
545* ''ARG/SpectacularOrganic'' is, in fact, run by a cult with unknown motivations. They appear to worship scarab beetles, and want to initiate viewers into their rank through their videos.
546* In ''[[https://zaubererbruderasp.deviantart.com/art/X-691003917 X]]'', there is a cult, heavily implied to be TheKlan, who summon [[ThoseWackyNazis Adolf Hitler]] out of Hell.
547* [[http://www.featherlessbiped.com/filk/evilfilk.htm Here]] one more sinister assembly is revealed in the best tradition of Cult Investigation (and they [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking use the dandelion as their symbol]]!).
548[[/folder]]
549
550[[folder:Western Animation]]
551* In ''WesternAnimation/Ben10UltimateAlien'', the Flamekeepers' Circle is a cult that worships an alien named Dagon, whom they believe uplifted early humanity. The Circle believes that Dagon will return to Earth one day and bequeath more alien technology to humans and transform Earth into a paradise. In the meantime, the Circle promotes the use of alien technology to improve life on Earth via modernization of schools, hospitals, etc. -- this aspect of the Circle is what draws in Julie. All in all, a fairly benevolent cult. [[spoiler:Too bad [[ArchEnemy Vilgax]]'s OneWingedAngel form looks exactly like Dagon...]] [[spoiler:And when Dagon does return, he transforms everyone on Earth into his FacelessGoons.]]
552* In ''WesternAnimation/BojackHorseman'', Todd is feeling lonely and considers joining Scientology, only to get distracted and join an improv group instead. Said improv group turns out to be a cult with high membership fees, a hypocritical leader who lives in luxury while forcing the others to live in squalor, and a cruiseship that they use to isolate and recondition their members. [=BoJack=] also mentions that he learned a lot about cults while ''he'' was a Scientologist (he happened to read a book about cults during that time).
553* Parodied in ''WesternAnimation/{{Brickleberry}}'', Woody's new girlfriend has him join a cult and they are going to jump off a cliff and be taken by a spaceship. Malloy asumes its a suicide cult and grabs him in time,[[spoiler:then its revealed that there really was a spaceship and Woody gets left behind and blames Malloy.]]
554* One episode of ''WesternAnimation/ChipNDaleRescueRangers'' had Gadget (as part of a TenMinuteRetirement) join the "Cola Cult". It worshiped TV commercials for soda ("Come along, you belong, feel the fizz of Coo Coo Kola!"), and instead of mass suicide, it had the followers give up their worldly possessions, where they were secretly hoarded by the cult's brutish second-in-command. In a mild subversion, the leader fully believed in the commercial's rather upbeat message, though the Cult was still broken up at the end.
555* On ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'', Meg is drawn into a cult based almost completely on the Heaven's Gate. Although she's got no idea it's a cult. And then there's Peter founding his own, though short-lived (and more benign), cult.
556* ''WesternAnimation/GIJoeRenegades'' has one being led by Tomax and Xamot, with some AppliedPhlebotinum {{brainwash|ed}}ing.
557* ''WesternAnimation/InfinityTrain'' introduces a cult primarily composed of children called the Apex in Book 2. While everyone trapped on the eponymous train is supposed to work to get a number on their hand down to zero (the higher it is indicates the further you are away from solving the personal issue that ''got'' you on the train in the first place) the Apex is instead dedicated to jacking up their numbers as high as possible. Due to the way the train works, this means the children cultivate their numbers as high as possible by ignoring their personal problems and wreaking random havoc on the train, which they see as their "right." The object of their worship is the mysterious Conductor, the one on the train with the highest number--[[spoiler:who turns out to be an old woman who, as Book 3 shows, was completely unaware and uncaring such a thing existed.]]
558* On ''WesternAnimation/KingOfTheHill'', Luanne gets caught in a cult whose members all take the name of Jane.
559** And guess what happens when Peggy tries to get her out?
560*** "You're thinking of Blonde Jane and Old Jane."
561* ''WesternAnimation/{{Metalocalypse}}'' had one posing as a P.R. firm, whose founder had already created several other different cults, all of them destructive.
562* The ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' season 5 premiere has the settlement known as Our Town. It's populated by ponies who thought something was missing from their lives and thought they found it in this commune, led by a charismatic leader called Starlight Glimmer. She preaches that individuality and differences -- in this show's context, ponies' cutie marks and corresponding special talents -- lead to disharmony, and to reach true friendship, everyone should have their cutie mark and individual magic removed via magic, replaced with a = sign for a cutie mark and bland mediocrity. The settlement itself and the ponies there have a dull, uniform look ([[AmazingTechnicolorWildlife relatively anyway, for the ponies]]), at first sight everyone's always smiling suspiciously broadly, and under the happy surface any trace of individuality or longing for a different state of affairs is heavily policed against. Oh, and they also try to use actual old-fashioned Hollywood brainwashing when necessary, locking ponies in a room with propaganda constantly playing on a loudspeaker.
563* Parodied on ''WesternAnimation/{{Recess}}'' in the episode "Swing on Thru to the Other Side", where Spinelli develops a cult devoted to following the teachings of Swinger Girl.
564* ''WesternAnimation/RockosModernLife'': Rocko was set to confront his archnemesis Dingo but he had joined a cult led by a unicorn.
565** Don't forget the Schnitzel Club, which Heffer falls into.
566* The Movementarians on ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' drew the titular family, and most of Springfield, into a collective based on worshiping a UFO. (They made them eat lima beans, although a diet of low-nutrition gruel was used to break down hard cases. Homer compensated by eating an entire month's supply.)
567** It turns out the writers based the Movementarians mostly on Scientology. They managed to do this as Nancy Cartwright, a Scientologist, doesn't believe it's a cult. Go figure.
568** Although it is also a combination of other religious groups, such as osho (Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh) or raëlism.
569** In the episode "Lisa's First Word", Homer mentions that his cousin Francine (originally Frank) joined a cult: "I think his name is Mother Shabubu now."
570* ''WesternAnimation/StrokerAndHoop'' were targeted by a cult of "enlightened cannibals", who drug people and surgically remove their vestigial organs for the group's consumption.
571** Though they ''did'' commit mass suicide via poisoned appendixes to ascend to a comet, so not that enlightened.
572* ''WesternAnimation/WaitTillYourFatherGetsHome'' had an episode in which the daughter joined a cult. It was a relatively benign cult in the sense that the leader was simply scamming for money-- sort of like the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osho Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh]] without the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1984_Rajneeshee_bioterror_attack bioterror attacks.]]
573[[/folder]]

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