"This house, this is the house of the dead. And here, where the sun strikes, this is where they threw the hearts that were not consumed. No, my darlings, they most certainly were not savages. You see, they believed that the sky could fall on their heads and they truly, truly believed that offering blood was the only way of stopping this from happening."
—Oswald Mandus, Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs
In fiction, as in real life, there are various religious groups that worship the sun. However, most fictional sun cults follow the same pattern: they are fixated on order (or what they consider order), and they are morally questionable, if not outright evil. Expect a lot of talk about miscreants being "unable to hide from the sun's gaze" or "purged" by celestial fire. The religion will always have a strict hierarchy, with the sun (or a personified Sun-King) at the top. It will value social conformity very highly, and in more dangerous settings, enforce it. Sun worshippers who don't meet these criteria do not belong on this page.
The trope may be garnished with optional traits, most commonly; some degree of patriarchy in the religion, a desert homeland, a distaste for magic (except in a hypocritical, state-secret kind of way), a Male Sun, Female Moon dynamic, being foreign to the freer, more egalitarian land where the story actually takes place and making plots to conquer that land. If the worshippers do have magic, it will always be fire or light-based.
This trope has roots in early Feminist Fantasy series, when authors disillusioned with Abrahamic religion — some of them practicing pagan beliefs that venerated the earth or moon — created settings that expressed those feelings. Jesus Was Way Cool (and difficult to incorporate into fantasy worlds), so the solution was to construct religions that reflected everything bad about "orthodox" beliefs but venerated a less controversial object: the sun.
The trope also provides Watsonian advantages; it enables authors to make a statement about the dangers of religion without having to focus on actually writing a tyrannical religion, it provides The Usual Adversaries in droves, and it enables All of the Other Reindeer plots where an angsty-but-morally-flawless refugee can be reassured by the other Good Guys that their magic makes them special. Most importantly, it fills up the deserts that seem mandatory in every fantasy setting. (Why desert dwellers would love the sun threatening their lives on a daily basis is rarely explained.)
Notable adherents are likely some combination of The Fundamentalist, The Empire, and The Savage South, and often overlap with Light Is Not Good. They may be a Fantasy Counterpart Culture of civilizations whose sun gods were central to their religion, like the Aztecs (which is why Mayincatec settings are prone to this trope) and Ancient Egypt. If you're looking for an Abrahamic, technologically modern culture with many of the same connotations, that's over on the Qurac page—though ironically, the symbol of Islam is the crescent moon. On the rare occasions the sun god is both real and as malicious as its priests claim, it is a Sinister Sentient Sun.
Examples:
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Anime & Manga
- Fire Force: The "White-Clad" terrorist group aims to turn Earth into a new sun, incinerating everything alive (including themselves) in an apocalyptic conflagration. They are led by the Evangelist, an immortal being who "created" Earth's sun that way billions of years ago and is, unbeknownst to the Church of the Holy Sol, the true object of their worship.
- Fullmetal Alchemist: The inhabitants of Lior worship the Sun God Leto, brought to the poor town by the false prophet Cornello. "Letoism" deliberately conditioned followers to participate in a dangerous coup d'état, and instilled fear and obedience towards Cornello in the population. Fortunately, the Elric brothers managed to dismantle the whole sham by defeating Cornello.
Fan Works
- Dungeon Keeper Ami: The dwarf species — unlike their own gods, and every other Light-worshipping culture — is fanatically xenophobic, doing their utmost to shoot servants of Dark gods on sight in a setting where such servants may be peaceful or coerced.
- Frigid Winds and Burning Hearts: The Princesses are creator gods, but they don't need worship, so Luna is very angered by the religion that Celestia (Princess of the sun) set up to venerate herself. Everything bad in the fic's version of Equestria is caused by this religion — including tyranny, aristocracy, book-burning, misogyny, and centralized government — and all villains in the story adhere to it.
- RainbowDoubleDash's Lunaverse is an Alternate History fic with the premise that Princess Celestia was the sister who went insane and was banished for a thousand years instead of Luna, and that she remains a threat after her return from banishment. There were sun cults that worshipped her before and after her return, some of them insane enough to believe that her returning to the throne would be a good thing. They've been spreading their message and gaining recruits since then, especially in neighboring countries where she isn't nearly as feared or remembered.
- In The Winx Club Loops 16.8
, the Fairy of the Sun somehow inspires a cult that includes at least one proponent of Human Sacrifice. Even before the heroes arrive to stop the cult, it fractures into a violent schism between the "Solar Empire" and "Lunar Republic" (no, not those ones).
- Wizard's Duel: The Almighty Sun appears to be an expy of how YHVH is depicted in the Shin Megami Tensei series, complete with speaking through a Mouth of Sauron and sending angels to interrogate everyone in the city to find the titular wizards. Granted, the wizards played some harmless but drastic pranks on the world while drunk, including moving an entire city to the top of a mesa and making a forest curse at passerby.
Literature
- Father Brown: In "The Eye of Apollo", there's Kalon, the Large Ham priest of a sun-worshipping religion. He is clearly used to cowing naysayers into submission and making grandiloquent public speeches to his god, an act he drops when it's clear his scheme to murder a rich heiress has failed.
- Heralds of Valdemar has Karse, whose own god got so tired of their bullshit that he descended from on high to anoint a reformist as their new leader. Conveniently, the reformist is not only egalitarian but believes in the exact brand of 21st-century morals espoused by the country next to hers and Real Life America.
- Inheritance Trilogy: The Arameri followers of Bright Itempas have brought order to the Hundred Thousand Kingdoms and gotten rid of all the other gods.
- A Memory Called Empire: The imperialist Teixcalaanli Empire worships their sun and incorporates solar iconography into much of its architecture. Its natives have a distinct lack of privacy, and uniformly consider foreigners uncivilized barbarians who must be brought in line by conquest.
- The Tough Guide to Fantasyland explains that the masculine "one God" is solar in character, if detailed at all. His cruelty is implicitly tied to his masculinity:
Even when his worshippers see him as benign, they tend to hate women and MAGIC USERS (especially WITCHES, who are both). At their worst, they become extremely cruel: they make strict and arbitrary laws and stamp out all other beliefs as heresy. They also have a tendency to build a lot of oppressive TEMPLES. If, on the other hand, the one God believed in is female, she will be a GOOD deity and her worshipers nice people.
- Tortall Universe: Many men worship Mithros, who brought mathematics and law to the world as well as sunlight. Mithros is generally good, but like his wife, he waited over 200 years to reintroduce gender equality to Tortall, and they brutally conquered the indigenous gods and people of the Copper Isles.
- In A.J Hammer's Versions of the Sun, the priests of an unnamed solar temple are forbidden by strict hierarchy to leave it, and live in luxury while ordinary people are starving. Then again, the story concludes that all complex religions are wrong; the solar temple is just the first and clearest example given of this.
- The Witcher: The authoritarian militarist Empire of Nilfgraad's official religious institution is the sun-worshipping Cult of the Great Sun, where the ruling emperor is considered to be the faith's high priest. In terms of its politics and expansionist tendencies, the state is more or less portrayed as a fantastic medieval version of the Third Reich and sun motifs show up quite often in their state insignia and military emblems.
Live-Action TV
- Raised by Wolves: The Mithraic religion is based on the sun god Sol. It decrees that all non-believers lack souls and need to be destroyed, and instates its clerics as the ruling class in society.
- Star Trek: The Original Series: In "Bread and Circuses" the crew of the Enterprise are extremely surprised to find that the "Children of the Sun" are a peace-loving, egalitarian movement that is persecuted by the Roman Empire government. They discuss that most sun-cults are the exact opposite. The episode closes with the reveal that they are not worshippers of the sun, but rather son (of God). i.e. Jesus.
Music
- "My God is the Sun" by Queens of the Stone Age. The narrator beseeches someone (presumably his god) to heal 'them' with 'fire from above', which is probably not a good thing, and later starts talking about 'godless heathens'.
Myths & Religion
- Pharaoh Akhenaten was infamous for banning Egypt's many gods after his rise to power, ordering that their temples be defaced and all worship be directed to him instead. Only he was allowed to worship a god, and only the new sun god "Aten" (distinct from Amun-Ra, the previous one). Akhenaten's subjects obeyed him for obvious reasons, but after his death, everyone went back to polytheism, striking any mention of him they could find. (They missed an obscure site, which is why we know of Akhenaten today.)
Tabletop Games
- Blue Rose has Jarzon, whose oppressive theocracy and Witch Hunts provide backstory for many heroic refugees. There is one sympathetic non-heretical NPC from Jarzon, who has no character beyond that.
- The Dark Eye: The god Praios of the Pantheon of the Twelve and his church have some shades of this, especially the more fanatical branches like the Rays of Light.
- Exalted: The Cult of the Illuminated is a cult in every sense of the word, censorship and extralegal punishments included. Of course, their recruitment spiel only mentions the glorious restructuring of the world, a utopian future in which mortals can expect to be... ruled by a different set of superhumans than the ones ruling them now. But, you know, in a nice way.
- Greyhawk: Nearly all followers of Pholtus are stern traditionalists trying to enforce monotheism in a universe that is very obviously polytheistic. In cosmopolitan areas, the group is just an annoyance (especially to followers of more benevolent gods, like Saint Cuthbert or the rival sun deity Pelor), but wherever they can get away with it, they establish iron-fisted religious dictatorships. There's a reason Pholtus's main sobriquet is "the Blinding Light".
- Magic: The Gathering:
- During the Dark Age, Terisiare's dominant faith was the Church of Tal, which worshipped the sun god of the same name. Church doctrine was intolerant of both magic and technology, because both were abused in the cataclysmic "Brothers' War" that caused the Dark Age. However, Church doctrine grew increasingly repressive over time, persecuting scholars and forcing wizards into hiding. Its influence faded after people discovered that Tal priests' "divine powers" were actually White Mana spells, which disillusioned many of its followers.
- Heliod was the dominant god of Theros and the personification of its sun, styling himself as the ruler of the gods (which the rest of the pantheon strongly disagreed with). His worshippers were so dogmatic that they followed him on a crusade to eradicate all other cults, ensuring his dominance.
- In Ixalan, the "Threefold Sun" god has three aspects, two of which govern order (Kinjalli) and conservatism (Ixalli), among other things.
- Pathfinder: The Keleshite Empire worships Sarenrae — a Neutral Good deity presiding over healing, redemption, and the sun — as their patron goddess. However, Kelesh's tribute demands include 300 concubines a year, and neighboring continents are very worried the empire may turn expansionist... again. These actions are explicitly not supported by Sarenrae, who ultimately revoked her blessings from those of her followers who have supported slavery.
- Warhammer Fantasy: Solkan the Avenger is a solar deity who champions a vision of absolute, unyielding, unforgiving justice, desiring for all wrongdoers to be punished in full measure and with little interest in mercy or compassion. His followers despise magic as a form of Chaos corruption, and view flirting, music, and dance as detestable frivolities.
Video Games
- Crusader Kings II has a playable example in the Zun pagans, sun-worshipers that occupy a few counties in modern-day Afghanistan in the 763 AD start. Their religion (unlike most pagan faiths) does not permit female priests, and its unique reformation doctrine solely empowers men to have concubines and multiple spouses. Of course, moral decisions other than that are decided by the player, but this is Crusader Kings. The game is largely about empires doing shady things to get power.
- Dragon Age: The Dragon Age: Inquisition DLC Trespasser sheds more light on how the elven Creator gods were worshipped in the original empire of Arlathan. The head of the pantheon and god of the sun, Elgar'nan, was a draconian Hanging Judge whose solar fury would burn everything — and everyone — that displeased him. His worshippers and devotees were much the same. Like the other Creators, he wasn't even a god, just an enormously powerful elven mage who managed to climb the ladder of power.
- Final Fantasy XIV: The nomadic Xaela tribes of the Azim Steppe primarily worship the moon goddess Nhaama, with the exception of the Oronir who instead worship the sun god Azim. The Oronir are considered the mightiest tribe on the Steppe and frequently win the Xaela's yearly martial contest for overall control. They are in turn a proud and haughty people, and rule from the elevated Dawn Throne, one of the only permanent settlements in the Steppes, where they may literally look down on the other tribes.
- Horizon: The Carja tribe combine this trope with Mayincatec. They're highly nationalistic and patriarchal sun-worshippers who, under their previous "Sun-King", practiced mass slavery and Human Sacrifice before La Résistance (including many heroic Carja and the crown prince) overthrew the government and started improving things. Unusually for the trope, not all Carja have white skin (because all Horizon tribes are a redistribution of old-world races and ethnicities), and they accept transgender rights (if Warden Janeva's authority is any indication).
- Laura Bow: The heroine must escape being sacrificed to Amon Ra by a covert American cult. She tries to point out that the Ancient Egyptians they're mimicking did not practice human sacrifice, but they don't care.
- The Solari of League of Legends check all the boxes, being heavily rigid, dogmatic, and repressive. They committed genocide on the moon-worshipping Lunari a long time ago, forcing the rest to go into hiding, and in modern times the Solari have erased any knowledge about the Lunari and the moon. This even extends to their playstyle in Legends of Runeterra—their Daybreak cards gain flashy bonuses upon being the first card you play each turn, encouraging a rigid, orderly playstyle.
- One of the factions within Majesty is the Solarii, an all-female group that worships Helia, the Sun Goddess, inside temples dedicated to her. They have fire-based attacks and wield huge maces. They are not evil, but they can be stern and arrogant. They also have an intense rivalry with the adepts who worship Helia's rival, Lunard, the moon god.
- In Moon Hunters, Ashur the sun god destroyed the body of his lunar sister (a goddess of nature and pluralism in this setting) and seeks to kill her foremost heroes. If not killed or converted by those heroes, he and his high priest will plunge the world into ignorance.
- In Persona 5, a deluded street preacher claims to be "the Sun God". His proclamations consist entirely of empty, self-aggrandizing threats to unpopular politicians and lies that celebrities he's never met endorse him. Unfortunately, his lone supporter hasn't realized this.
- In Ravenmark, the Kaysani faction is essentially made up of conquest-obsessed criminals who never got over their completely justified exile to the wilderness. Why do we know their exile was justified? Well, present-day Kaysani have a policy of killing any captives who don't convert to Kayes worship. And about half of the faction don't even give "infidels" the opportunity to convert. Naturally, they practice sunsoul magic, which lets them control fire and cause eclipses.
- Silent Hill: Followers of "the Order" consist of two types: those who want to torture people because they think doing so will somehow create heaven on earth, and those who just want to torture people. They worship an equally sadistic goddess who was born from prayers to the sun (although she is associated with darkness too), and represented by the "Halo of the Sun" Sigil Spammed everywhere, which her human mom can use as a Save Point. Among the goddess's creations are time and death, which the cult idealize a lot.
Heed my words and speaketh them to all, that they shall ever be obeyed even under the light of the proud and merciless sun.
I shall bring down bitter vengeance upon thee and thou shalt suffer my eternal wrath. - Six Ages: Ride Like The Wind centers around a good sun-worshipping culture, whose people eschewed slaveholding and misogyny once they realized elitism wasn't helping them survive the post-Nivorah world. Instead, this trope is upheld by their "cousins" and Evil Counterpart Race, the Samnali.
- World of Warcraft has the Adherents of Rukmar, a sun goddess, who throw people they don't like into mutating, crippling pools of blood before killing them. (Other sun gods and worshippers in the setting are more benevolent.)
Web Videos
- Critical Role: Campaign Two: In the harsh and authoritarian Dwendalian Empire, only six gods are approved for legal worship. One of these is Pelor the Dawnfather, the foremost sun god of Exandria. All temples to Pelor are government-owned and -run, and any found worshipping unapproved gods are imprisoned. Downplayed, since there are five other gods available to worship, the Empire only allowed worship to Pelor at all in order to stop a rebellion years before (so it's more of a begrudging respect), and Pelor himself, who appeared in Campaign 1, is characterized as more of a strict but fair figure.
Western Animation
- Avatar: The Last Airbender: Downplayed. The Sun Warriors who appear in "The Firebending Masters" are an ancient civilization of firebenders who see fire as an extension of the sun's life-giving energy. While they are not hateful or morally corrupt like the Fire Nation that descends from them, they are strict about keeping their continued existence a secret and test any who wish to learn firebending from them for worthiness, on threat of death. Any deemed worthy are sworn to secrecy, also on threat of death.
- The Dragon Prince: Those who connect with the Sun Primal, one of the six sources of magic, have a dual nature: they can conjure spells of light, growth, nurturing, and transformation, but can also call upon fire, heat, and destruction. They can use its light to heal and purify or to banish sickness and decay.
- The Sunfire Elves protect the Breach at the border of Xadia from the human kingdoms, but are ruthless against said humans, and threatened to cross the breach into Katolis after the assassination of the last Dragon King. In addition, they use the Light from their Sunforge to detect the purity of others', particularly humans', intentions — while Amaya comes out unscathed because she has a pure heart, it's implied she could have been blinded or worse if she failed the test. Viren, on the other hand, is sentenced to be purified of his dark magic, which Janai believes would leave very little left of him. In a subversion, they are a mostly good, egalitarian society — their Fatal Flaw is their hate and arrogance towards humans.
- The Archdragon Sol Regem, also connected to the Sun Primal, decides to kill Callum the minute he detects a trace of dark magic on him, even though Callum only used it once and swore never to use it again. Earlier, Sol destroyed an entire city of innocent humans to punish the man who invented dark magic.
- Played for Laughs in Rick and Morty with the Knights of the Sun, an order of knights who lived on the sun and kept peace in the solar system between the civilizations of each planet. They quickly revealed themselves to be a Bitch in Sheep's Clothing who recruit Morty to their cause with deliberately vague platitudes before ordering him to castrate himself as per their tradition.
