Line #43 UsefulNotes/GrigoriRasputin


1	[[quoteright:347:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/RasputinTheMadMonk_9125.jpg]]
2	%%
3	->''Ra-Ra-Rasputin!\
4	Lover of the Russian queen!\
5	There was a cat that really was gone!\
6	Ra-Ra-Rasputin!\
7	Russia's greatest love machine!\
8	It was a shame how he carried on!''
9	-->-- '''Music/BoneyM''', "Rasputin"
10
11	Grigoriy Yefimovich Rasputin (Григо́рий Ефи́мович Распу́тин, 22 January [9 January in the Old Style calendar] 1869 – 30 December [17 December in the Old Style calendar] 1916) was a UsefulNotes/{{Russia}}n mystic and preacher. His family name was actually Novykh, but he is best known by the nickname ''Rasputin'' roughly meaning "the debauched one".
12
13	Born of peasant parents (his father was a former postman fired for [[VodkaDrunkenski alcoholism]]), he arrived in Saint Petersburg in the early 20th century, where he had some success in treating Tsarevich Alexei, who suffered from hemophilia. He managed to turn this, and the fascination in upper-class Russian circles with religious mysticism, healing, and sex, into becoming a close associate of UsefulNotes/{{Tsar\|Tsar Autocrats}} UsefulNotes/NicholasII's family and an important figure in [[UsefulNotes/TsaristRussia pre-revolution Russia]]. Rasputin also was never an ordained cleric or monk of the Orthodox Church (and had quite a lot of enemies among them); his official status in UsefulNotes/OrthodoxChristianity was that of a lay preacher. However, authors tend to forget that and call him a "mad monk".
14
15	When Tsarina Alexandra called upon him to pray for the healing of Tsarevich Alexei, he told Alexandra "God has seen your tears and heard your prayers. Do not grieve. The Little One will not die. Do not allow the doctors to bother him too much." Alexei's hemorrhage stopped the next day and he began to recover, something that even the doctor treating Alexei couldn't describe as anything but a miracle. Alexandra regarded Rasputin as a ''starets'', a venerable religious elder figure with a direct connection to God, and would manifest MamaBear-like instincts, fervently defending him and turning her wrath against anyone who dared to question "Father Grigoriy" after Alexei's miraculous healing. However, the famous song at the top of the page is incorrect. He debauched his way through St. Petersburg society with behavior that may have been illegal, but he was smart enough to keep all of that away from the Tsar's family; he was not the straitlaced and prudish Alexandra's lover, with no evidence that their relationship was anything other than one of religious fervor. None of that stopped gossip, of course, especially when Alexei's illness was only known by a handful of people.
16
17	Rasputin's healing ability was uncanny and apparently perfectly genuine. His effect on the tsarevich is well documented by hostile witnesses who admitted they couldn't explain it. Modern doctors suggest that Rasputin coincidentally gave Alexei the best treatment available by keeping their early-20th-century predecessors ''away'' from the boy -- doctors of the 1900s-10s would have prodded him a lot and recommended aspirin, the former of which could aggravate or even create new bleeds and the latter of which is a blood thinner [[WorstAid that would make bleeds worse]]. Some say his reassurances to Alexei and his mother [[HeartIsAnAwesomePower calmed both of them down, lowering the stress on both of them and making the hemorrhages less severe]]. Despite his many moral failings, he was genuinely loyal to the Tsar and Tsarina and saw himself as their God-appointed protector. Alexei wasn't the only Romanov child that became close to Rasputin; his four older sisters, Olga, Tatiana, Maria and {{UsefulNotes/Anastasia\|NikolaevnaRomanova}}, were grateful to him, and Rasputin responded in kind, reading them stories and generally being a good man towards them. Their official caretakers were quite leery, but the Grand Duchesses' letters show nothing but trust and affection and his answers give some excellent advice, even advising Nicholas not to go to war in 1914, [[CassandraTruth correctly predicting that it would destroy the monarchy]]. Rasputin's own daughter, Maria, claimed he was a strict but affectionate father. She also wrote three memoirs about him (of questionable veracity), which painted him as a [[HistoricalHeroUpgrade borderline saint]] who was unjustly slandered by his enemies.
18
19	Rasputin's disproportionate influence over the Tsarina, and through her the Tsar, was resented by many, not without reason, and he became a target of anti-Romanov and anti-Tsarist groups in Russia. He was murdered in 1916, ostensibly by Prince Felix Yusupov [[note]]otherwise known for being a flamboyant bisexual crossdresser, and being married to the Tsar's niece[[/note]] and a band of his cronies. [[DatedHistory Yusupov's story]] (as embroidered and added to through the years) was that Rasputin was lured to a meeting with Yusupov where he was fed cakes and wine laced with cyanide; when that failed to kill him, he was beaten, shot, stabbed, had his genitals chopped off and was thrown into the Neva River, where he died of hypothermia after trying to claw through the ice. In reality, he was shot four times. No cakes ([[DisabilityImmunity he had a bad stomach and wouldn't have eaten them even if the cyanide could have survived the baking process]]), sipped a very small amount of wine, the first shots fired by Yusupov's trembling hand either missed [[OnlyAFleshWound or did not hit vital organs]], no beating, no freezing. Though he may have reincarnated as Creator/AlanMoore.
20
21	As an aside, some have theorized that the British Secret Intelligence Service was involved in the plot to some degree. While Yusupov himself did not have any obvious connections to the organization, its director at the time[[note]]Sir George Mansfield Smith-Cumming, aka "C"[[/note]] ''was'' a friend of a friend.[[note]]Bruce Lockhart, who frequently interacted with Yusupov in his capacity as Minister of Foreign Services[[/note]] The fact that he was pushing the Tsar to get Russia out of UsefulNotes/WorldWarI certainly gave the British a reason to want him dead, as that would have freed up a significant portion of Germany's forces for a push against Allied lines in western UsefulNotes/{{Europe}} (it did happen eventually, when the Bolsheviks signed the Treaty of Brest Litovsk with Germany in March 1918, though by that time the Allies were ready for counter-offensives).
22
23	TropeNamer for RasputinianDeath. The frequent myths and interesting history around him has made him a frequent target for a HistoricalVillainUpgrade, HistoricalDomainSuperperson or BeethovenWasAnAlienSpy, as well as a prominent figure in many a conspiracy theory.
24
25	No relation to the current Russian President, UsefulNotes/VladimirPutin (though Putin's grandfather very likely cooked food for him). Their surnames are actually ''antonymous'' in Russian, with Putin meaning "of the path" while Rasputin stands for "off the path" or, figuratively, "the libertine".
26
27	He is also (indirectly) the reason why nearly all films end with "This is a work of fiction. Any similarity to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events, is purely coincidental." in the credits. His assassin, Felix Yusupov, was exiled for his actions (ironically sparing him the fate of the other Russian royals who were killed during the revolution) but ended up destitute in Paris. In 1933, MGM produced the Rasputin biopic ''Film/RasputinAndTheEmpress'' (starring [[Creator/JohnBarrymore John]], [[Creator/EthelBarrymore Ethel]], and [[Creator/LionelBarrymore Lionel]] Barrymore) which Yusupov claimed to be defamatory. Not toward himself, though, because he openly bragged about being the assassin. Rather, it was defamatory towards his wife, Irina. They were awarded the equivalent of about $125,000 in today's money, the film was pulled from circulation for decades, and almost every other movie since has included that disclaimer to avoid similar issues.
28
29	----
30	!!Examples:
31	[[foldercontrol]]
32
33	[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
34	* Like the equally evil UsefulNotes/JackTheRipper, Mad Monk Rasputin has a bit role in the anime ''Manga/SoulEater''. In a dream sequence, no less!
35	* ''MasterOfMosquiton'' has him as an arguably NecessarilyEvil mastermind trying to prevent the return to Earth of evil "Star-Gods".
36	* Rasputin shows up during a flashback episode in ''Anime/BloodPlus''. Here he was a [[OurVampiresAreDifferent Chiropteran]] servant of the BigBad Diva. His powers enabled him to survive his historical assassination. Rasputin went into hiding in his hometown using his shapeshifting abilities to disguise himself as a young girl. It is hinted that Diva impersonated Anastasia at some point. He’s ultimately killed in a confrontation with Saya and Hagi in 1918. Notably the episode acknowledges that Rasputin is actually a nickname as well as correctly identifying his hometown as Pokrovskoye. The manga adaptation casts him as the leader of a Chiropteran cult who helped Diva pull a KillAndReplace on Anastasia. It oddly portrays him as clean-shaven and younger than his historical self unlike the anime which showed a photo where he looked exactly like his historical self.
37	* ''Manga/DanceInTheVampireBund'' makes him into an alias of a power-hungry Vampire Lord named Ivanovic who's willing to lie, kill, and steal. He's killed some 90 years after the Russian Revolution with the help of Anastasia, who he turned and made his plaything until she escaped him. The worst part? He was using poor Anastasia as practice to get himself ready for Mina.
38	* In ''Manga/{{Drifters}}'', Rasputin shows up on the side of the Ends as one of the chief servants and advisers of the Black King. Oddly, this puts him on the same side as Anastasia Romanova, a character he is more often portrayed as being antagonistic towards when they meet [[WesternAnimation/{{Anastasia}} in other]] [[VideoGame/ShadowHeartsCovenant media]].
39	* Rasputin is listed as one of Humanity's representatives in ''Manga/RecordOfRagnarok''.
40	[[/folder]]
41
42	[[folder:Comic Books]]
43	* ''ComicBook/CortoMaltese'': A sometimes-ally sometimes-rival of Corto Maltese is known as Rasputin (and looks a lot like the other one) — though [[BerserkButton he tends to feel insulted if he's "mistaken" for the "other" one]] (it's not quite clear, but since he's been active for quite some time after the historical one's death, they're ''probably'' two different people).
44	* ''ComicBook/{{Hellboy}}'': He is an antagonist of Hellboy's, in service of an EldritchAbomination. He also used to work for the Nazis in order to bring Hellboy into the world and bring about its destruction (unfortunately for them, Hellboy materialized in England, and received a very different education than what the Beast of the Apocalypse might be expected to have).
45	* ''ComicBook/InspectorCanardo'': The main recurring villain and ArchEnemy of Canardo is a cat named Rasputin, who is basically a CaptainErsatz of Rasputin in a FunnyAnimals setting. He's also a mystic from Siberia, but otherwise their stories are completely different.
46	* ''ComicBook/NikolaiDante'': While obviously dead by the 27th century, his legacy lives on, as a cult known as the Devil's Martyrs have dedicated themselves to his sexual practices. Every member is required to grow a beard like his, [[BeardedLady women included]].
47	* ''ComicBook/{{Superboy}}'': When Karl Kesel homaged elements of ''ComicBook/{{Kamandi}}'' in ''ComicBook/Superboy1994'' he introduced a ''Rat''sputin as the EvilChancellor of Great Caesar.
48	* ''ComicBook/XMen'': He is an ancestor of [[Characters/XMen70sMembers Colossus]] (aka Piotr/Peter Nikolaievich ''Rasputin''). An ancestor that is very eager to be reincarnated in one of his blood.
49	[[/folder]]
50
51	[[folder:Fan Works]]
52	* His equivalent in the Literature/{{Discworld}} is Gaz Putin, a scheming wizard who died boasting that he managed to seed the mighty Romanoff family with a streak of magic that they'll never be able to remove. Read more in the works of Creator/AAPessimal.
53	[[/folder]]
54
55	[[folder:Films -- Animation]]
56	* In the Creator/DonBluth film ''WesternAnimation/{{Anastasia}}'', Rasputin was a [[HistoricalDomainSuperperson sorcerer]] who made a DealWithTheDevil and [[OurLichesAreDifferent came back as an undead]]. Nevermind the other countless historical inaccuracies and fantasies, such as ''causing the [[HammerAndSickleRemovedForYourProtection (not quite Bolshevik?)]] Revolution with a curse'', somehow. Voiced by Creator/ChristopherLloyd for the dialogues, with Creator/{{Jim Cummings\|1952}} handling the singing for his VillainSong.
57	[[/folder]]
58
59	[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
60	* Played by Creator/KarelRoden in ''Film/Hellboy2004'' as a sorcerer who tamed the demon Samaël and helped the Nazis summon Hellboy.
61	* [[Film/HammerHorror Hammer]] did a movie about him called ''Film/RasputinTheMadMonk'', with Creator/ChristopherLee in the title role. (Which was fitting, because Sir Christopher had actually met the killers of Rasputin--guests of his aristocratic-born mother--in his childhood.)
62	* Lee's own favourite screen Rasputin was Creator/ConradVeidt, who played Rasputin in a 1932 German film. Veidt's performance was noted for being considerably understated in contrast to [[LargeHam some others]], and the film itself reads more like a documentary than a drama -- Rasputin isn't portrayed as particularily demonic, but as a sympathetic, if lumbering peasant.
63	* Creator/TomBaker of ''Doctor Who'' fame played a darkly charismatic Rasputin in the historical biopic ''Film/NicholasAndAlexandra''.
64	* Portrayed more stereotypically as a raving, demonic maniac by Creator/LionelBarrymore in the infamous ''Rasputin and the Empress'' (1932), opposite [[SiblingRivalry siblings John and Ethel]]. This movie's portrayal of certain surviving (and litigious) Romanovs led to the "ThisIsAWorkOfFiction. [[NoCelebritiesWereHarmed Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental]]" disclaimer.
65	* Creator/GertFrobe played Rasputin in ''I Killed Rasputin'', a 1967 French movie.
66	* The 2007 Russian film ''Conspiracy'' stars Ivan Okhlobystin as Rasputin and blames his death on a complex British conspiracy to keep Russia in the war. The Russian Orthodox Church gave its stamp of approval to the sympathetic portrayal of Rasputin (who was never actually ordained by the Orthodox Church or anyone else).
67	* Creator/GerardDepardieu played him in ''Rasputin'', a 2011 French-Russian film.
68	* Igor Karkaroff the [[AcademyOfEvil Durmstrang]] [[DeanBitterman Headmaster]] in ''Film/HarryPotterAndTheGobletOfFire'' is clearly an allusion to Rasputin in his looks and attire.
69	* The earliest drafts of ''Film/GhostbustersII'' had Vigo the Carpathian as Rasputin's apprentice, or at the very least a monk on par with Rasputin. In the end, Vigo's RasputinianDeath is all that survived of this concept.
70	* In Creator/{{Netflix}}'s ''Film/AnastasiaOnceUponATime'', he's a ''[[HistoricalHeroUpgrade heroic wizard]]'' for once, and [[TimeTravelEscape sends Anastasia forward in time]] to TheEighties through a portal to save her from the Bolshevik revolution.
71	* Creator/RhysIfans played Rasputin in ''Film/TheKingsMan'', the prequel to the ''Film/{{Kingsman}}'' film series, and combines both HistoricalVillainUpgrade and HistoricalBadassUpgrade, making him a member of the villainous Flock secret society that [[WarForFunAndProfit engineers World War I in order to eventually topple the British monarchy]], and also presenting him as a fighter of extreme combat skill.
72	* The 1980 Australian film ''Film/{{Harlequin}}'' is a modern-day take on Rasputin's story.
73	[[/folder]]
74
75	[[folder:Literature]]
76	* In Literature/TheDevilRidesOut, the Duc refers to Rasputin as the greatest dark magician of his age, who unleashed the four horsemen of the apocalypse and almost caused armageddon - i.e. the First World War.
77	* The ''Franchise/{{Doctor Who\|Expanded Universe}}'' Literature/PastDoctorAdventures novel ''Wages of Sin'' is set in pre-Revolution Russia and has Rasputin as a character. It's a historically-straight portrayal mostly, although his famous hard-to-kill-ness does turn out to be due to a time traveller trying to keep him alive.
78	* He gets [[GambitPileup far more hilarious]] in ''Literature/FactionParadox''. To start with, the Faction recruited him a few days before his death, took him to the [[EldritchLocation Eleven-Day Empire]], and replaced him with an exact duplicate. Then the Celestis came along, didn't realise the Faction had made the switch, and offered him their standard deal that includes resurrection. The duplicate had been briefed not to argue with any War-era powers it met, and so accepted the deal. By the time of the assassination attempt, the Great Houses noticed something was going on, assumed the Faction would try to take him to the Empire at the point of death, and so implanted a device that would replace the Faction duplicate with a Great House duplicate. House constructs are by default immune to poisoning. As such, when the poison failed, he was shot. Then the Celesti protocols resurrected him, producing a creature whose mind was struggling between Great Houses, Celesti, and Faction protocols which had to be shot repeatedly and beaten to death simply to get it to lie down long enough to be thrown ino the river, where it finally froze to death. As a result, none of the three powers involved like to talk about it and everyone in the War agreed to leave celebrities well alone. The real Rasputin, meanwhile, persuaded Anastasia (who was also a Faction recruit) to set up a rival state, then went mad and died under mysterious circumstances. Anastasia's Thirteen-Day Republic was shortly afterwards annihilated.
79	* ''Literature/HereticalEdge'' casts Rasputin as an [[TechnicallyLivingVampire Akharu]] who somehow managed to cast magic despite the blood curse that's supposed to prevent that; this enabled him to both perform his miraculous healings and fake his death. He was subsequently [[DemonicPossession possessed]] and forced to betray the Romanovs, but he nonetheless managed to save Anastasia by turning her into a vampire. Unfortunately, she doesn't know about the possession and is hunting him down for revenge.
80	* A Cahill from the Tomas branch in ''Literature/The39Clues''.
81	* ''Literature/ANightInTheLonesomeOctober'' has Rastov the Mad Monk.
82	* ''Literature/TheLastAmericanVampire'' has protagonist Henry, along with UsefulNotes/NikolaTesla, involved in killing off Rasputin, who was just a bit much for humans to handle, being a vampire himself.
83	* Literature/PercyJacksonAndTheOlympians[=/=]Literature/TheHeroesOfOlympus: [[AllThereInTheManual The Manual]] suggests that he's a son of Hades. Considering that the children of Hades we meet in story tend to be dark (if not necessarily evil), brooding, and somehow subtly wrong, it checks out (for the record, his half-siblings include a voodoo queen's kid who constantly summons cursed jewels, a kid whose only friends are the dead, and Hitler).
84	* One chapter of Julius Evolas "Eros and the mysteries of love" is almost entirely dedicated to Rasputin and his sex life.
85	* ''Website/TheOnion'' book ''Literature/OurDumbCentury'' features an article from 1923 called "Russians Continuing to Kill Rasputin." It's ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin.
86	[[/folder]]
87
88	[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
89	* He was the subject of an episode of ''Series/TheCrowStairwayToHeaven''.
90	* Creator/LeonardNimoy played a Rasputin-like character in "The Choice", an episode of ''Series/MissionImpossible'', indestructibility and all.
91	* Played by Creator/AlanRickman in HBO's 1996 biopic ''Rasputin'', aka ''Rasputin Dark Servant Of Destiny''. His portrayal argued Rasputin may actually have been a saint with legitimate supernatural powers derived from God and at the very least didn't deserve the crap piled on his memory.
92	* When the topic of Rasputin's death was brought up on ''Series/{{QI}}'', Bill Bailey, inspired by the Boney M song's line about Rasputin's glowing eyes, put forth the theory that Rasputin was, in fact, a {{Franchise/Terminator}}. Complete with him dragging himself along the panel like the end of the first film.
93	* Rasputin shows up among the army of wax droids in an episode of ''Series/RedDwarf'', serving mainly as Emperor UsefulNotes/{{Caligula}}'s lackey.
94	* ''Series/ForeverKnight''. [[BeethovenWasAnAlienSpy Rasputin is a vampire]] who gets executed on the orders of [=LaCroix=] the vampire so as to spark off the chaos of revolution.
95	* In the ''Series/{{Angel}}'' episode "Why We Fight", after Angel tells the vampire Nostroyev he's never heard of him, Nostroyev lists various atrocities he's responsible for, closing with "I was Rasputin's lover!"
96	** Meanwhile, over in ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'', during a history lecture on the circumstance surrounding Rasputin's death, Buffy wonders out loud whether he was [[BeethovenWasAnAlienSpy actually a vampire]]. The professor giving the lecture is not amused.
97	* ''Series/{{Grimm}}'': Aunt Marie's records indicate that Rasputin was the same kind of being as Koschei the Deathless, thus explaining how hard he was to kill and his supposed magic powers. No indication is given on whether he was evil, but the Koschei that the protagonists meet certainly isn't.
98	* ''Series/LegendsOfTomorrow'': In the Season 5 premiere, Rasputin is the first of the Encores resurrected from Hell by Astra in order to sow chaos across history. He bursts out of his coffin during his funeral, and immediately sets about planning to assassinate the whole royal family so that he can take over Russia. The Legends try to stop him, but the ResurrectiveImmortality provided by having his soul chip still in Hell impedes them, until finally Ray shrinks down to enter his mouth and grow to full size again, [[LudicrousGibs bursting his body apart]]; the Legends keep the remains in multiple jars to keep him from regenerating from that.
99	* In the ''Series/DoctorWho'' episode "[[Recap/DoctorWho2022CENThePowerOfTheDoctor The Power of the Doctor]]", [[ArchEnemy the Master]] appears using Rasputin's identity, although it isn't clear whether the Master [[BeethovenWasAnAlienSpy always was]] Rasputin, or was temporarily impersonating him (The script on the BBC website stated that he ''is'' Rasputin because there's a deleted scene where he gets thrown into a bag by a Prince who historically did that.). To cap it off, the Master even dances to Music/BoneyM's "Rasputin" while carrying out his EvilPlan.
100	[[/folder]]
101
102	[[folder:Music]]
103	* [[https://youtu.be/Nl_Eo2QzqU4 "Rasputin"]] by {{disco}} band Music/BoneyM, which refers to him as "Russia's greatest love machine". It's been covered by a number of bands and is a staple of the ''VideoGame/JustDance'' series. In a very odd and ironic twist of fate, Bobby Farrell died on a December 30 (2010) in Saint Petersburg, just like the Mad Monk.
104	* [[Music/GeorgeClinton Funkadelic]] put a photograph of him on the back cover of their album ''Music/OneNationUnderAGroove'' with the caption "Rasputin raps" and a SpeechBalloon of him saying, "Ahhh - dese Funkadelic ist very good for America!"
105	* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IOPO8K69u1A "Rasputin"]] by Austrian/Polish band Music/{{Kontrust}} seems to take a satirical look at his relationship with the Tsars.
106	* Rasputin serves as a spirit guide to the central character in the Music/{{Mastodon}} ConceptAlbum ''Crack the Skye''.
107	[[/folder]]
108
109	[[folder:Newspaper Comics]]
110	* One ''ComicStrip/{{Dilbert}}'' comic had the PointyHairedBoss hiring Rasputin, saying he had "charisma". He then proceeded to suffocate Asok with a DeathGlare. After that, he tried to do the same to Wally, but Wally's powerful ''anti-''charisma caused ''him'' to choke instead.
111	[[/folder]]
112
113	[[folder:Podcasts]]
114	* Dan Carlin's ''Podcast/HardcoreHistory'' covers Rasputin's relationship with the Romanovs in one of his UsefulNotes/WorldWarOne ''Blueprint for Armageddon'' episodes. Specifically likening him, appearance wise at least, to someone you'd expect to see out of a 70s metal band.
115	* ''Podcast/TheLastPodcastOnTheLeft'' did a four-part series on Rasputin, aimed at exploring his mystique while dissecting it. The hosts came to the conclusion that he was a somewhat modern thinker with a knack for politics and pattern recognition, aided and facilitated by Empress Alexandra's hunger for mysticism as a possible cure for her son Alexei's hemophilia. However, he was vastly out of his depth, the target of the press's hate because they didn't understand ''why'' he was hanging around the Romanovs (and the Romanovs couldn't very well say, lest the bloodline look weak), and he dragged a number of absolute clowns into the government, effectively promoting the image of institutional rot that led to the revolution. He also had no grand design: all he wanted was to live high on the hog and be "as Rasputin as he could be", and working his way into the royal court was the route he chose to achieve those goals.
116	* Creator/MikeDuncan's ''Podcast/{{Revolutions}}'' naturally includes him as a character in Season 10, which covers the Russian Revolutions of [[UsefulNotes/RomanovsAndRevolutions 1905, February 1917]], and [[UsefulNotes/RedOctober October 1917]]. He only appears briefly in two 1/3-length episodes released in April 2021,[[note]]They were supposed to be part of one larger episode covering the state of the Imperial Family between the Revolution of 1905 and the outbreak of World War I in 1914, but [[RealLifeWritesThePlot Duncan managed to get a second kidney stone within six months]] and had to break the episode up into smaller chunks[[/note]]and in which Duncan summarizes the modern research explaining why the Romanovs relied on him so much (and also why he wasn't so mad as he seemed).
117	[[/folder]]
118
119	[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
120	* Appeared in about a dozen books in the ''TabletopGame/OldWorldOfDarkness''... and each of them [[MultipleChoicePast told a different story]] with him as another type of supernatural. [[spoiler:They are all true — Rasputin became a Wraith after death and [[DemonicPossession possessed]] all the supernaturals he was featured as.]]
121	* Appears as the BigBad of part 5 of ''TabletopGame/{{Pathfinder}}'s'' ''Reign of Winter'' adventure path. In the ''Pathfinder'' mythos, [[BeethovenWasAnAlienSpy he is the estranged son]] of Literature/BabaYaga, who abandoned him on Earth. His magic allowed him to communicate with his distant sister Queen Elvanna of Irrisen on Golarion to conspire against Baba Yaga, kicking off the adventure path's plot. [[spoiler:He also took the time to have an affair with the Tzarina and father Anastasia.]]
122	* While the man himself doesn't appear in ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}'' (that we know of -- there are several immortal humans still running around), the Dark Angels had to put down a rebellion called the Rasputin Uprisings.
123	[[/folder]]
124
125	[[folder:Theme Parks]]
126	* While Ride/TheHauntedMansion was in development, imagineer Marc Davis had planned for [[https://weekinweird.com/2017/01/11/walt-disney-rasputin-ghost-haunted-mansion/ a portrait of Rasputin to be one of the changing portraits in the loading area at Disneyland.]] The portrait would have had Rasputin's staring eyes grow larger and larger until the portrait was all one eerily staring eyeball. Walt put the kibosh on that, though, as Rasputin still had living relatives who might have brought legal action against Disney. However, the original Marc Davis concept art was re-purposed into one of the "Sinister Eleven" portraits in Disney World with moving eyeballs. This one's officially known as "The Ogre", with a shaggy gray beard but a face and expression similar to Rasputin's. (Some fans refer to this portrait as Rasputin nonetheless.)
127	[[/folder]]
128
129	[[folder:Video Games]]
130	* He gets a mention in ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedII'', as an agent of the Templars who stole the Staff of Eden from Czar Nicholas and thus precipitated the revolution that would follow. The Assassin order were the ones who killed him, though naturally, it took a while.
131	* Yuri from ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquerRedAlert2'' is an expy, serving as a mysterious and manipulative advisor to a Romanov, with psychic powers to boot.
132	* ''VideoGame/{{Destiny}}'' features an [[DeusEstMachina ancient super-advanced AI]] codenamed Rasputin as a major supporting character. Since the series is set centuries AfterTheEnd, [[FutureImperfect nobody gets the significance of the name]], though Rasputin (the AI) himself is all too happy to brag about it:
133	-->I bear an old name. [[RasputinianDeath It cannot be killed]].
134	* A Rasputin shows up in the ''Muffinwind'' [[GameMod mod]] for ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIIIMorrowind''. His theme music is Boney M's ''Rasputin'', and at one point he slips up and refers to himself as Russia's greatest love machine (he tries to backtrack and claim that he meant Stros M'Kai when your character asks where in Oblivion this Russia he speaks of is), so it seems he is in fact ''this'' Rasputin. Yes, ''Muffinwind'' is not a very serious mod.
135	* In ''VideoGame/FateGrandOrder'', Rasputin appears in the Russian Lostbelt [[spoiler:possessing Kirei Kotomine, the main villain of ''VisualNovel/FateStayNight'']]. However, this version of Rasputin is remarkably accurate to how he was said to be in life — he acts as an advisor towards Anastasia, who still seems rather close to him, and devotes himself to [[spoiler:overthrowing the monstrous Ivan the Terrible ruling the [[AlternateTimeline Lostbelt]] so Anastasia can claim her birthright of the Russian Empire. Once he accomplishes his goal of making Anastasia the Tsar, he turns over control of the body back to Kirei]]. Rasputin did not become playable initially due to his role as [[spoiler:an Apostle of the Foreign God]], but he was eventually released as part of the New Year's 2023 Campaign.
136	* ''VideoGame/IronHarvest'' turns him into what is effectively [[spoiler:a Franchise/JamesBond villain leading a secret organization called Fenris, plotting world domination, starting wars for personal gain, and trying to steal a bunch of high-tech weapons from UsefulNotes/NikolaTesla]].
137	* In both ''VideoGame/{{Persona 2}}'' games, Rasputin appears as a Persona of the Magician Arcana. He is weak to all of the physical elements, but nulls all magical elementals in exchange.
138	* Ra'''''[[MyNaymeIs z]]'''''putin is the [[KidHero psychic prodigy star]] of ''VideoGame/{{Psychonauts}}''. [[AvertedTrope He lacks any major connection]] to his namesake besides a reference to Rasputin's supposed death by drowning, given Raz's curse-induced SuperDrowningSkills.
139	* [[spoiler:A robot from the future made in the image of]] Rasputin shows up as an antagonistic Devil Summoner in ''VideoGame/RaidouKuzunohaVsTheSoullessArmy'' (set years after his supposed death and in ''Japan'' no less).
140	* Showed up as a BigBad (though not THE BigBad, since he basically shows up in the middle of the game) in ''VideoGame/ShadowHeartsCovenant''. Turns out, he's secretly a demon. Fortunately, you've got the help of a camera-wielding Princess Anastasia, and her magical, flying Fabergé Egg!
141	* A ''VideoGame/TeamFortress2'' achievement for the Heavy references Rasputin. The Heavy needs to suffer several types of damage in a single life.
142	* ''VideoGame/TotalWarWarhammerIII'' introduces a Legendary Lord called Kostaltyn, the Supreme Patriarch of the Great Orthodoxy. He is the head of the official religion of Kislev (a FantasyCounterpartCulture to Russia), his appearance is heavily modeled after the Mad Monk himself and even possesses the man's legendary durability.
143	* ''VideoGame/{{Wizardry}}'' has {{Rat\|Men}}kin NPC named Ratsputin. Though he's a ninja, not monk -- the name is due to mice- and rat-related puns ThemeNaming.
144	* He shows up as a CampGay fighter in the ''VideoGame/WorldHeroes'' series.
145	[[/folder]]
146
147	[[folder:Visual Novels]]
148	* Rasputin is the final boss of ''VisualNovel/LimeIroSenkitan''. He's presented as a monk, at least. He's also presented as a villain mastermind with his own henchmen and an intent to take over Russia (and then, presumably, the world).
149	[[/folder]]
150
151	[[folder:Webcomics]]
152	* Rasputin [[http://wordwearycomic.blogspot.com/2011/04/19-april-2011.html (in one of his coolest appearances)]] is the main villain of the Dungeons and Dragons game the main characters of ''Webcomic/TheWordWeary'' play.
153	[[/folder]]
154
155	[[folder:Web Original]]
156	* WebVideo/CountDankula covered him as one of the Absolute Mad Lads, going over his background and his interactions with the Romanov royal family.
157	* Rasputin raps against UsefulNotes/JosefStalin [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZT2z0nrsQ8o in the Season 2 finale]] of ''WebVideo/EpicRapBattlesOfHistory''.
158	* The ''WebAnimation/OverSimplified'' video on the Russian Revolution featured Rasputin and how he contributed to the Tsar's reputation being destroyed.
159	* The ''Website/SCPFoundation'' currently have him contained as [[https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-4680 SCP-4680]], due to him possessing immortality, and keep him subdued with [[VodkaDrunkenski copious amounts of alcohol]]. While his immortality allows him to heal from wounds, it unfortunately doesn't grant him the ability to regrow severed parts, which is something he's not happy about due to his penis being currently held in a museum.
160	* At the end of the third season of ''Podcast/{{Tanis}}'', Nic meets a man in [[TheTunguskaEvent Tunguska]] known only as "The Father". As season four starts, Nic investigates the Father and discovers he has an uncanny resemblance to old photographs of Rasputin.
161	* ''WebAnimation/ExtraCredits'' detailed his life in one of their ''Extra History'' series.
162	[[/folder]]
163
164	[[folder:Western Animation]]
165	* In an ''WesternAnimation/{{Animaniacs}}'' short, Rasputin has the ability to hypnotize others instantly into doing his will...until he meets the Warners.
166	* Appears in a cameo towards the end of an episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheGrimAdventuresOfBillyAndMandy'' as a spirit manifesting from some ectoplasm Mandy has sucked out of Grim's skull, alongside UsefulNotes/AttilaTheHun and UsefulNotes/AbrahamLincoln. Mandy immediately asks Attila and Rasputin to tutor her, and for Lincoln to bring them snacks.
167	* ''WesternAnimation/TimeSquad'': In the episode, "Nobel Peace Surprise", Rasputin appears as one of Alfred Nobel's recipients for his Evil Prize, and along with other notoriously evil historical figures (including Lizzie Borden, Jack the Ripper, and Catherine O'Leary's cow) and attempts to try to murder the Time Squad officers.
168	* [[TheButlerDidIt Snerdly]] in ''[[WesternAnimation/TopCat Top Cat and the Beverly Hills Cats]]'' is a manipulative sleazy bastard posing as a loyal servant but with truly homicidal plans on his own. The name of his RightHandAttackDog? [[MeaningfulName Rasputin]].
169	[[/folder]]
170
171	----
172	->''[[Music/BoneyM Oh, those Russians.]]''

Context UsefulNotes / GrigoriRasputin