Line #66 Main/WeDidntStartTheFuhrer


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9	[[quoteright:250:[[ComicBook/FourFavorites https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/hitler_devil.png]]]]
10
11	->"Whatever he was once like, Anu ''likes'' destruction now. It's almost as if it relieves his frustration, and it's probably part of his whole addiction to power, as well. But whatever causes it, it's real enough. He and his people certainly proved that a hundred years ago."
12	->''Colin nodded again, understanding completely. He'd occasionally wondered why Hitler had proved so resistant to assassination[...]. No wonder the bomb plot had failed; a man with full enhancement would hardly even have noticed it. And if anyone had ever shown a maniacal glee in taking others down with them, it had been the Nazi elite.''
13	-->-- ''Literature/EmpireFromTheAshes'': ''Mutineers' [[ThatsNoMoon Moon]]''
14
15	A specific type of HistoricalVillainUpgrade and BeethovenWasAnAlienSpy focused on UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler.
16
17	It is revealed that Hitler was not just a (particularly disturbed) human being, but was ''supernaturally evil'', and existed with the primary purpose of deliberately going about causing large-scale misery, or was himself either possessed or being directly manipulated by otherworldly forces (of evil). Aliens may also stand in for supernatural beings. Either way, the core concept is that Hitler was so inhumanly evil precisely because he ''wasn't'' human.
18
19	As befits a trope that's more about the legacy and legend of the War than its actuality, it's often done as [[HistoricalRapsheet backstory for the villain]] (''à la'', "How evil is he? Well, you remember Hitler...?"), rather than directly in a World War II setting.
20
21	Like HitlersTimeTravelExemptionAct, it could easily be done with other famous warmongers, but in practice almost never is, except as part of a JuliusBeethovenDaVinci where Hitler was also several other famously evil people (in which case, there's a good chance he was also UsefulNotes/GenghisKhan and UsefulNotes/JackTheRipper). At least, this is the case in Western media. Japanese media have something similar going on with UsefulNotes/OdaNobunaga; see DemonKingNobunaga for this trope's JidaiGeki counterpart.
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23	The trope can obviously overlap with StupidJetpackHitler and/or {{Ghostapo}}. Expect this to happen in a WeirdHistoricalWar set in WWII. If the villain was TheDragon for Hitler, but Hitler himself remains more or less the same as the historical one, see PiggybackingOnHitler.
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25	----
26
27	[[foldercontrol]]
28
29	!!Examples:
30
31	[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
32	* ''Manga/TheLegendOfKoizumi'' seems to be heading in this direction, as not only does it play StupidJetpackHitler and {{Ghostapo}} completely straight (there's a Nazi base on the ''Moon'', for crying out loud!) but Hitler is described as "the greatest sorcerer of the twentieth century" and has ridiculous occultic [[SeriousBusiness mahjong]] powers. [[spoiler: He got in a psychic duel with [[BigGood the Pope]], a man who literally had ''God on his side'', and won]].
33	[[/folder]]
34
35	[[folder:Comic Books]]
36	* An old ''ComicBook/BlueBeetle'' comic from back during WWII (pre DC) had Dan Garrett go to Germany, only to discover to his horror, that Hitler, was in fact, The Devil!
37	* The French comic ''ComicBook/{{Iznogoud}}'' has Hitler be an emissary of the Devil who is sent to our world to create destruction and terror.
38	* In Red Raven's ''Mercury'' comics (based on the god of the same name), {{Expy}} "Rudolph Hendler", the dictator of "Prussland", is secretly the god Pluto (EverybodyHatesHades). Since the time of writing, Marvel has acquired the character, retconned him into Makkari of the Eternals, and Pluto into Warlord Kro the Deviant. No word on Hendler's status.
39	* The French series ''{{Mutafukaz}}'' has as the BigBad a bunch of ShapeShifting monsters who have infiltrated all levels of the American government (including the President); their backstory not only shows they helped the Nazi party out, but also at one point [[KillAndReplace killed and replaced]] him. Fortunately a [[AncientTradition secret society]] of Mexican wrestlers saved the day (it's complicated...).
40	* ''ComicBook/NemesisTheWarlock'': It turns out that Hitler was one of the past incarnations of BigBad Torquemada, who is a warmongering fascist dictator in his own right, but unlike Hitler already rules over all humanity in the far future, so his enemy are the [[FantasticRacism "alien vermin"]].
41	* A story in the sixties weird-humor comic ''Plop!'' invoked this at the end of a story that [[ClicheStorm intentionally invoked many old comic book cliches]] with the biggest cliche of all...when the guy whose face you don't see until the end turns out to be Hitler.
42	* In Creator/ECComics' ''Weird Fantasy'' #14, the story "The Exile" concerns an alien criminal exiled to Earth. Three guesses what the twist ending is.
43	* In the ''1923'' flashback issue of ''ComicBook/TheWickedAndTheDivine'', it is revealed that the 1930s dictatorships and hence World War II were at least partly the result of a ritual by three particularly elitist and anti-democratic members of the Pantheon ([[spoiler:Baal, based on T S Eliot, Set, based on Virginia Woolf, and Woden, based on Josef Goebbels]]) intended to set Earth's history on a path that would be agreeable to them.
44	* In ''ComicBook/WonderWoman'' [[ComicBook/WonderWoman1942 Vol 1]] #2 it is claimed the God Mars, who has conquered the planet Mars, is responsible for war on Earth. His three lieutenants, the Earl of Greed, the Duke of Deception and Lord Conquest, are influencing the Axis Leaders. In the second chapter Greed is shown contacting Hitler, Agent NZ-1, whose 'warped mind' picks up the radio waves. When Greed in astral form speaks to Hitler, Hitler thinks it is his own intelligence.
45	* The ''ComicBook/WormwoodGentlemanCorpse'' arc "Mr. Wormwood Goes to Washington" casually mentions that the Third Reich was due to mass possession of its leadership by a malevolent extra-dimensional parasite species known as the Ghorass Fungus.
46	[[/folder]]
47
48	[[folder:Fan Fiction]]
49	* [[DownplayedTrope Downplayed]] in the ''[[FanFic/DayOfTheBarneyTrilogy Day of the Barney]]'' trilogy. In the prologue to Part III, Adolf Hitler is still human, but his life is saved and his plans encouraged by the AnimalisticAbomination BigBad [[Series/BarneyAndFriends Barney]].
50	* [[CrackFic Infamously done]] in ''Fanfic/UntilTheEndOfTime'''s second act, in which Goku fights Adolf Hitler, only to find that the latter is a Saiyan and that he had transformed into a Super Saiyan.
51	[[/folder]]
52
53	[[folder:Film -- Live-Action]]
54	* ''Film/IronSkyTheComingRace'', has Hitler surviving to the present day as a UsefulNotes/TyrannosaurusRex-riding Creator/DavidIcke-style [[ReptilianConspiracy reptilian]] in the HollowEarth, who presumably orchestrated the events of the first movie and will use the resulting chaos and destruction to try to TakeOverTheWorld once more. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WWo3ydIY_sc Enjoy the trailer.]]
55	[[/folder]]
56
57	[[folder:Literature]]
58	* In the ''Literature/CallahansCrosstimeSaloon'' story "Unnatural Causes", the alien Broodseven-Sub-Two Raksha claimed to have been Hitler and that the entirety of WWII an alien plot designed to push humanity into developing atomic weapons.
59	* {{Subverted}} in ''Literature/TheCampHalfBloodSeries''. Early books imply that the Axis leaders [[BeethovenWasAnAlienSpy were sons of Hades/Pluto]], but WordOfGod specifically says that Hitler himself wasn't a demigod at all. Which is weird, because Hazel actually notices a resemblance between him and Pluto.
60	* In the {{Magitek}}-based AlternateHistory of ''Literature/TheCaseOfTheToxicSpellDump'', the Hitler-analog is widely suspected to have born with [[TheSoulless "apsychia"]], meaning he had no soul. Hence, he felt no fear of damnation, no matter what horrors he wreaked.
61	* ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'': Bob implies that the evil necromancer Kemmler is ultimately responsible for WWII (he works with corpses and needed raw materials). Whether or not he's involved specifically with Hitler is less clear.
62	* In the beginning of the ''Literature/EmpireFromTheAshes'' trilogy, Hitler is singled out as having been one of the starship mutineers who have been manipulating humanity since the rise of civilization. He was doing it ForTheEvulz.
63	* In the Dutch YA novel ''Face in the Mist'' (by Paul Van Loon), it's mentioned that the demonic {{Cult}} villain used to be Adolf Hitler in one of his past incarnations.
64	* In James P. Hogan's ''[[Literature/GiantsSeries Giants' Star]]'', Terrans discover that a group of humans from another star system have infiltrated us for millennia, teaching superstition and bigotry, trying to hamper our development and later to make us destroy ourselves. During a confrontation, a Terran spokesperson says the enemy intended UsefulNotes/WorldWarII to be an all-out nuclear exchange, but didn't quite manage it, and asks:
65	-->What happened to the real Adolf Hitler? Or perhaps you operated from behind the throne--Alfred Rosenberg, perhaps?
66	* ''Literature/HarryPotter'' strongly implies that the rise of Grindelwald and the First Wizarding War may have had something to do with the UsefulNotes/SecondWorldWar; both events take place during the same time frame and mirror each other in quite a few ways (for example, Grindelwald's imprisonment in a Spandau-like prison). WordOfGod is that every last bit of the similarities are intentional, but is vague on whether Grindelwald actually influenced or helped Hitler.
67	* In Mark Frost's novel ''The List of Seven'', Hitler's birth is a "side effect" of a botched Satanic ritual enacted by the titular cult attempting to imbue the spirit of The Beast into a human child.
68	* In Creator/OrsonScottCard's ''Literature/TheMagicBox'', the protagonist struggles with a villain who wants to unleash an evil entity on the world. It's explicitly stated that UsefulNotes/WorldWarII was caused by the entity the last time it was released. Whether it directly possessed Hitler or effected the world in a more general way is never stated.
69	* It seems that Hitler himself was totally human in ''Literature/NightWatchSeries'', but he and the Nazis in general were strongly influenced by the Night Watch's [[UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans attempts to create a utopia]]. (There have actually been several such attempts, and they all backfired horribly in one way or another.)
70	** In another novel by the same author, ''Autumn Visits'', Hitler had a supernatural clone, the Vector of Art, who competed with six others like him (e.g. Stalin's clone, the Vector of Power, who [[KillAndReplace killed and replaced]] the original) to TakeOverTheWorld and lost.
71	* Implied in ''Literature/OperationChaos'' by Creator/PoulAnderson, where a group of demons in Hell includes one who bears a striking resemblance to Hitler (although the protagonist, being from an AlternateHistory, doesn't recognise him).
72	* In ''Literature/PrinceOmbra'' by Roderick [=MacLeish=], a supernatural evil from beyond time is periodically embodied on Earth to cause trouble. Last time around, it was Hitler.
73	* Another Creator/JamesPHogan book, ''Literature/TheProteusOperation'', has it that in himself Hitler did not amount to much - the Beerhall Putch fiasco in 1923 was the peak of his career and in the "original timeline" and he faded into obscurity after some years in prison. The world went on to prosper, the League of Nations was a great success and went on to unify the world, eliminate war and reduce the gap between rich and poor in a worldwide social democratic utopia. But the people who didn't like losing power and privilege went back in time, funded and advised Hitler into power, and in 1942 provided him nuclear bombs to conquer Russia - but when the privileged and powerful people of the future got ready to pack their bags and go to the nice spot which they prepared for themselves in the past, Hitler cut the line and kept the power to himself, engaging in further conquest and genocide in Africa. Then, in the 1970's President John Kennedy in the US, knowing that nuclear war with Germany and Japan was a just a matter of time, that the US was likely to lose and that in any case there will not be much left of the world, sent his own team into the past - whose interference created the world we live in.
74	* In ''Literature/TheSecretVisitors'' by James White, aliens are trying to wipe out the human race so they can take Earth's riches for themselves. The protagonist learns that Hitler's mania was caused or at least aggravated by the aliens, who deliberately egged him on in the hope that the Second World War would do the job for them. (The first World War was all our own doing, though.)
75	* In ''Literature/TheShadowspawn'', [[{{Dhampir}} vampiric race admixture]] is the explanation for the ruthlessness, high intelligence, nocturnal habits and [[BornLucky uncanny luck]] of many historical dictators: they are just enough vampire to have some low-key magic and typical mental characteristics, though not enough to hunt for blood. Hitler is said to be one example, with such abilities helping him survive his dangerous duties in World War I and later aiding his rise to power. Mildly subverted, in this instance, in that Hitler wasn't either a conscious vampire scion or in any way in on the vampires' [[TheConspiracy massive global conspiracy]] that secretly rules the world; if anything, he actually fought ''against'' it, with the Western Allied nations and the Communist USSR being its firmest strongholds during World War II. He just had some unusual abilities and talents that helped him pursue his own objectives.
76	* The ''Literature/{{Lensman}}'' prequel ''Triplanetary'' says that Hitler was actually an Eddorian agent in disguise. The same agent was also Kaiser Wilhelm and the guy who started WorldWarIII. (This would require him to be in two places at once, since Hitler and the Kaiser were both alive at the same time, but this is hardly the most implausible thing in ''Triplanetary'', which Creator/EEDocSmith originally wrote as "a yarn in which scientific detail would not be bothered about, and in which his imagination would run riot". In ''First Lensman'', he compounds the improbability, perhaps lampshade-wise, by adding Mussolini to the list.)
77	[[/folder]]
78
79	[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
80	* In ''Series/{{Grimm}}'', an episode had some ancient coins as an ArtifactOfDoom, giving their holder great charisma, but were addictive and drove the user mad. The hero's partner and later his captain were under their influence, and the villains of the episode were searching for them. It turns out their effects were responsible for Hitler and several other historical {{Big Bad}}s.
81	** Not only that, but it's revealed that Hitler was in fact a [[DifferentlyPoweredIndividual Wesen]] of the Schakale variety, who are socially skilled, though violent and aggressive {{Child Eater}}s.
82	** The series was fond of doing this with other historical characters as well. Like Caligula allowing alligator Wesen to live in his aqueducts, or implying Rasputin was a Wesen whose mystic deeds were all done by giving off natural chemotherapy.
83	* The Great Leader of Shocker from ''Series/KamenRider'' is not only implied to have been behind Hitler's rise, but also is secretly several 'later' [[HijackedByGanon Showa Rider main villains]], due to him being [[AsLongAsThereIsEvil a living embodiment of evil.]] He's also an alien... [[MultipleChoicePast or a mutant... or a demon...]]
84	* ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'':
85	** The demon [[TortureTechnician Alistair]] implies he had a hand in the creation of the extermination camps in Nazi Germany.
86	** In a later episode, the [[HorsemenOfTheApocalypse Horsemen War]] comments that he was over in Germany to cause havok during both World Wars.
87	* ''Series/TheTomorrowPeople1973'':
88	** The episode "Hitler's Last Secret" had neo-Nazis possessed by the same alien power that had been Hitler.
89	** An earlier episode, "The Medusa Strain", featured a [[ContinuitySnarl completely different]] "explanation" for Hitler: He was a con artist from the future who'd travelled back in time to evade justice. Although at least he was still human in that version.
90	* ''Series/TheTwilightZone1959'': The episode "[[Recap/TheTwilightZone1959S4E4HesAlive He's Alive]]" suggests that Hitler is some kind of supernatural being able to give advice (and orders) to those venerating his image.
91	[[/folder]]
92
93	[[folder:Video Games]]
94	* ''VideoGame/RocketRanger'' didn't have Hitler, but it put forth that Nazis were aliens who established their base of operations on the moon.
95	[[/folder]]
96
97	[[folder:Webcomics]]
98	* The webcomic ''GoodShipChronicles'' reveals that Nazi jokes are no longer PC as it was discovered all Nazi activities were the result of an alien mind-probe.
99	[[/folder]]
100
101	[[folder:Web Original]]
102	* {{Discussed}} in the ''WebVideo/QuintonReviews'' video "Bad Nazi Documentaries". Quinton says he rather dislikes documentaries that claim this trope was true in real life, because in his view, saying that Hitler been endowed with supernatural mind control powers via evil magic or whatever just downplays the very real human factors that led to his rise to power.
103	* [[ParodiedTrope Parodied]] in the video [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RC-_O08mEjg TOP 5 ALIEN HITLERS & FIDGET SPINNER UNBOXING]] by {{WebVideo/Vinesauce}} collaborator Jabroni Mike. Although it's more a mockery of asinine, Alex Jones-Esque conspiracies that [[PoesLaw Genuinely promote this]]. The Video describes Adolf Hitler as not being a human, but rather an entire species of alien of [[PlanetofHats that are genocidally racist, have toothbrush mustaches & are obsessed with painting]] and that our world is not "unique" for having only one Hitler.
104	[[/folder]]
105
106	[[folder:WesternAnimation]]
107	* One of the main plots of "Blood of the Father, Heart of Steel" from ''WesternAnimation/TheVentureBros'' revolves around a dog that had been (somehow) infused with the genetic material of Hitler by a neo-Nazi cult. These cultists try to coerce Dr. Venture into [[YouClonedHitler cloning an actual human being]] from the dog. It turns out that the dog became so purely evil in the process that Dr. Orpheus has to intervene, and prepares a complex ritual to properly re-kill Hitler.
108	[[/folder]]
109
110	!!Twists:
111
112	[[folder:Comic Books]]
113	* In ''ComicBook/TheUltimates'', it's revealed that the shape-shifting alien race known as the Chitauri were highly involved with the Nazis. However, it's unclear how much of what the Nazis did was their idea, and in fact it seems like the Nazis had a greater influence on the Chitauri, as post-WWII, they mention that they kept the [[PuttingOnTheReich Nazi uniforms and symbols]] because they liked them. It is also implied that the Chitauri did not really approve of the racism and death camps, regarding them as forgivable excesses for the greater good which, to them, was the eradication of individuality.
114	* In the first arc of Creator/GeorgePerez's run on ''ComicBook/WonderWoman'', Ares, the God of War, wanted to get all the glory of an atomic war. When he shows up, moments before the bombs were fired, Wonder Woman described him as the architect of all the madness around them. But Ares pointed her that she was overestimating him: he simply took the already existing madness, and shaped it for his own agenda.
115	[[/folder]]
116
117	[[folder:Fan Works]]
118	* In ''Fanfic/Plan7Of9FromOuterSpace'' the BigBad reveals that he's actually been various notorious villains throughout history, including the most evil man ever: Adolf Hitler! No-one is impressed, because in their AlternateHistory Hitler [[RichardNixonTheUsedCarSalesman is just a hack writer of]] [[Literature/TheIronDream pulp sci-fi novels]].
119	[[/folder]]
120
121	[[folder:Film -- Live-Action]]
122	* ''Film/Downfall2004'' took some criticism in Germany for portraying Hitler as a flawed and broken human. The director actually invoked this trope in his defense: if we continue to act like Hitler was some alien monster teleported to Earth to do very bad stuff, we as a nation and a race are never going to learn from the past.
123	[[/folder]]
124
125	[[folder:Literature]]
126	* Played with in ''[[Recap/DoctorWhoNewAdventuresTimewyrmExodus Timewyrm: Exodus]]'', where Hitler separately receives covert assistance from two different groups of aliens attempting to further their own ends -- but neither is able to control him, and what he does with their assistance is all entirely his own idea.
127	[[/folder]]
128
129	[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
130	* Discussed and [[DefiedTrope defied]] in ''TabletopGame/AchtungCthulhu'': a note by the game authors in the rulebook point out that they deliberately refused (and encourage the players to refuse) to make it a "Cthulhu is TheManBehindTheMan to the Germans!" game and water down their atrocities. The Germans are full of maniacs vile enough to try to make Mythos-powered Wunderwaffen; the Mythos [[BlueAndOrangeMorality does not gives a damn about mankind either way]] and [[EvilIsNotAToy will gleefully eat the Axis if the leash is not tight enough]].
131	* Paolo Parente's ''TabletopGame/{{Dust}}'' universe subverts Hitler's involvement in the Axis' AlternateHistoryWank -- one of the first things they did, after obtaining ImportedAlienPhlebotinum and begin to curb-stomp their way back to power (and conveniently turn the setting into an AdventureFriendlyWorld) was kick Adolph out.
132	* Played with in ''TabletopGame/InNomineSatanisMagnaVeritas'', as well as their American version, ''TabletopGame/InNomine'': Although some notable historical events (such as the Crusades) resulted from celestial or infernal intervention, Hitler's actions were independent and a complete surprise to both Heaven and Hell. Then again, a lot of other important historical events weren't directly caused by angels or demons, as a running theme is that most of them really aren't as good at playing "secret mastermind" as they think.
133	** Also, in the American ''In Nomine,'' Hitler's success at bringing about the Holocaust without infernal assistance actually ''torments'' the Demon Prince of Death, who becomes obsessed with finding a way to top it.
134	* In ''{{TabletopGame/Nephilim}}'' while there were some {{Nephilim}} who incarnated in Nazis, noone is sure if Hitler was. Or wants to take credit.
135	* Inverted in the classic ''[[TabletopGame/OldWorldOfDarkness World of Darkness]]''. Though the setting attributes many historical events to hidden supernatural causes, the creators felt putting one of the (many) supernatural groups in the FantasyKitchenSink behind the Nazis' horrors would cheapen the sheer horror of the Holocaust. If any supernaturals were involved in the conflict, they were either a) corrupted monsters (the Sabbat, Black Spiral Dancers and fomori, Nephandi, etc.) picking at the sides of the conflict, or b) trying to stop the carnage.
136	** Seriously, though-- ''inverted'', not ''averted.'' The lack of supernatural involvement in the Nazi atrocities is distinctly notable in a world that otherwise takes BeethovenWasAnAlienSpy to its limits. There's a joke in the fandom that the reason Hitler went insane(er) was from [[GoMadFromTheRevelation realizing]] he was the ''only'' normal human being around.
137	[[/folder]]
138
139	[[folder:Video Games]]
140	* In the ''Franchise/AssassinsCreed'' AlternateHistory, Hitler was actually a Templar, using the Apple of Eden to control Nazi Germany to start UsefulNotes/WorldWarII. In an interesting twist, Hitler was working with Churchill, Roosevelt, and Stalin, who were also Templars, and the entire point was to reshape the world order to be more favorable to the Templars. It is worth noting that in one of the letters than can be read in the game, it is all but outright said that Hitler was a lunatic anyway. And they would have gotten away with it too, if it weren't for those darned Assassins!
141	* Played with in ''VideoGame/Persona2: Innocent Sin''. Hitler is apparently revived using the power of rumors and a conspiracy theory that he escaped the bunker instead of committing suicide; however, [[spoiler: it's revealed that ''this'' Hitler is actually none other than [[Franchise/CthulhuMythos Nyarlatothep]]]].
142	[[/folder]]
143
144	!!Examples not involving Hitler:
145
146	[[folder:Comic Books]]
147	* ''ComicBook/PrettyDeadly'' does this with the First World War, which in the universe of the series was due to the [[TheGrimReaper Reaper of War]] getting above itself.
148	[[/folder]]
149
150	[[folder:Film -- Live Action]]
151	* ''Film/WonderWoman2017'' features [[ANaziByAnyOtherName General Erich Ludendorff]] as the primary BigBad. He is given a HistoricalVillainUpgrade with him murdering the German High Command and intending to continue UsefulNotes/WorldWarI (that the Germans already effectively lost) with a new gas weapon that can murder hundreds of civilians. This, combined with his WarIsGlorious speech, convinces Wonder Woman that [[GodInHumanForm Ludendorff is really Ares, the God of War, in disguise]] and that killing him would end the war immediately. Subverted: [[DeathByAdaptation When she finally did kill him]], to her dismay, the Germans still continue to fight and the ''real'' Ares reveals that while he did gave humans new weapons and formulas over the eons, he never pushed them into war... [[HumansAreWarriors They went to war by their own choice]].
152	[[/folder]]
153
154	[[folder:Literature]]
155	* ''Literature/ThePresidentsVampire'' by Christopher Farnsworth has UsefulNotes/OsamaBinLaden as a [[Franchise/CthulhuMythos Deep One]].
156	[[/folder]]
157
158	[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
159	* ''Series/SleepyHollow'' had Judas Iscariot's coins, artifacts which caused the holder to turn against the friends, family, and deeply held beliefs. One holder was Benedict Arnold.
160	* The ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'' episode "[[Recap/StarTrekS2E14WolfInTheFold Wolf in the Fold]]" has an entity that was UsefulNotes/JackTheRipper on Earth.
161	* ''Series/TheXFiles'': In the episode "[[Recap/TheXFilesS07E21JeSouhaite Je Souhaite]]", Mulder and Scully meet a JackassGenie who was responsible for Mussolini's rise and fall.
162	* In the ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' episode "[[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS6E7OnceMoreWithFeeling Once More, With Feeling]]", the musical demon Sweet (who causes people to spontaneously burst into song and dance until they catch fire and die) claims to have given Nero his first fiddle. Another throwaway line suggests that Caligula became a vampire and later the serial killer called Jack the Ripper.
163	[[/folder]]
164
165	[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
166	* The ''TabletopGame/OldWorldOfDarkness'' has another Inverted example, as of ''TabletopGame/VampireTheMasqueradeFifthEdition'': [[UsefulNotes/TheWarOnTerror September 11th, 2001]]. Sadly, no one told the Camarilla this before they pulled every string they could trying to confirm The Sabbat's (non-existent) involvement... [[BrokenMasquerade And revealed the existence of the Kindred to the Global Intelligence Community]]... [[NiceJobFixingItVillain Whoops...]]
167	* ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'': The daemon prince known as Doombreed is one of the strongest and oldest of his kind, ascended by Khorne due to the immense bloodshed he'd caused. About his mortal life, little is known, and while there is no shortage of warlords causing wanton slaughter on such vast scales, it is strongly implied that he was originally known as UsefulNotes/GenghisKhan (although other candidates include Hitler himself, Stalin, or Pol Pot). Which makes the existence of the White Scars SpaceMarines even funnier (being ''heroic'' Space Mongols with bikes and boltguns instead of horses and bows).
168	[[/folder]]

Context Main / WeDidntStartTheFuhrer