History UsefulNotes / RasputinTheMadMonk

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[[redirect:UsefulNotes/GrigoriRasputin]]

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->''Ra-Ra-Rasputin!\\
Lover of the Russian queen!\\
There was a cat that really was gone!\\
Ra-Ra-Rasputin!\\
Russia's greatest love machine!\\
It was a shame how he carried on!''
-->-- '''Music/BoneyM''', "Rasputin"

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 Russian mystic and preacher.

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

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 accidentally gave the Tsarevich the best treatment available by keeping their early-20th-century predecessors ''away''--doctors of the 1900s-10s would have prodded the boy a lot and also recommended aspirin, the former of which could aggravate or even create new bleeds and the latter of which is a blood thinner that would make bleeds worse.) Despite his many moral failings he was genuinely loyal to the Tsar and Tsarina and saw himself as their God-appointed protector. He had a close relationship with the Romanov children, which their official caretakers found worrying, but the Grand Duchesses' letters show nothing but trust and affection and his answers give some excellent advice. Rasputin's daughter, Maria, claimed he was a strict but affectionate father.

When Tsarina Alexandra called upon him to pray for the healing of Tsarevich Alexei, he told Alexandra "God has seen your tears and heard your prayers. Do not grieve. The Little One will not die. Do not allow the doctors to bother him too much." Alexei's hemorrhage stopped the next day and he began to recover. Alexandra regarded Rasputin as a ''starets'', a venerable religious elder figure, and would manifest MamaBear-like instincts, fervently defending him and turning her wrath against anyone who dared to question him after Alexei's miraculous healing. Alexei wasn't the only Romanov children that became close with Rasputin, however. Alexei's sisters, Olga, Tatiana, Maria and [[UsefulNotes/AnastasiaNikolaevnaRomanova Anastasia]], were also happy for what he did, and Rasputin responded in kind, reading them stories and generally being a good man towards them.

Rasputin's influence over the Tsarina, and through her the Tsar, was resented by many, not without reason, and he became a target of anti-Romanov and anti-Tsarist groups in Russia. He was murdered in 1916, ostensibly by Prince Felix Yusupov and a band of his cronies. [[DatedHistory Yusupov's story]] (as embroidered and added to through the years) was that Rasputin was lured to a meeting with Yusupov where he was fed cakes and wine laced with cyanide; when that failed to kill him, he was beaten, shot, stabbed, 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.

The particular weapon he was shot with has raised some questions, as it was standard-issue for British Secret Service agents at the time. While Yusupov himself did not have any obvious connections to the organization, its director at the time ''was'' a friend of a friend, leading some to suspect British involvement in the plot. The fact that he was pushing the Tsar to get Russia out of UsefulNotes/WorldWarI certainly gave the British reason to want him dead.

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

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

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!!Examples:
[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder:Anime and Manga]]
* Like the equally evil UsefulNotes/JackTheRipper, Mad Monk Rasputin has a bit role in the anime ''Manga/SoulEater''. In a dream sequence, no less!
* ''MasterOfMosquiton'' has him as an arguably NecessarilyEvil mastermind trying to prevent the return to Earth of evil "Star-Gods".
* ''Manga/DanceInTheVampireBund'' makes him into an alias of a power hungry Vampire Lord named Ivanovic who's willing to lie, kill and steal. He's killed some 90 years after the Russian Revolution with the help of Anastasia, who he turned and made his play thing until she escaped him. The worst part? He was using poor Anastasia as practice to get himself ready for Mina.
* 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 Romanov, a character he is more often portrayed as being antagonistic towards when they meet [[WesternAnimation/{{Anastasia}} in other]] [[VideoGame/ShadowHearts media]].
* Rasputin is listed as one of Humanity's representative in ''Manga/ShuumatsuNoWalkureRecordOfRagnarok''.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Comic Books]]
* He is an antagonist (in service of an EldritchAbomination) in ''ComicBook/{{Hellboy}}''. 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 the US, and received a very different education than what the Beast of the Apocalypse might be expected to have).
* He is an ancestor of Colossus (aka Piotr/Peter Nikolaievich ''Rasputin'') in ''ComicBook/XMen''. An ancestor that is very eager to be reincarnated in one of his blood.
* When Karl Kesel homaged elements of ''ComicBook/{{Kamandi}}'' in ''ComicBook/{{Superboy}}'' he introduced a ''Rat''sputin as the EvilChancellor of Great Caesar.
* A sometimes-ally sometimes-rival of ComicBook/CortoMaltese 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 active for quite some time after the historical one's death, they're ''probably'' two different people).
* ''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.
* While obviously dead by the 27th century, his legacy lives on in ''ComicBook/NikolaiDante'', where 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]].
[[/folder]]

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

[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
* Played by Karel Roden in ''Film/Hellboy2004''.
* [[Film/HammerHorror Hammer]] did a movie about him called ''Film/RasputinTheMadMonk'', with Creator/ChristopherLee in the title role.
* 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.
* Creator/TomBaker of ''Doctor Who'' fame played a darkly charismatic Rasputin in the historical biopic ''Film/NicholasAndAlexandra''.
* Creator/AlanRickman did a sympathetic portrayal of the man in the HBO original movie
* 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.
* Creator/GertFrobe played Rasputin in ''I Killed Rasputin'', a 1967 French movie.
* 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).
* Creator/GerardDepardieu played him in ''Rasputin'', a 2011 French-Russian film.
* Igor Karkaroff the [[AcademyOfEvil Durmstrang]] [[DeanBitterman Headmaster]] in ''Film/HarryPotterAndTheGobletOfFire'' is clearly an allusion to Rasputin in his looks and attire.
* 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.
* In Creator/{{Netflix}}'s ''Anastasia: Once Upon a Time'', he's a ''[[HistoricalHeroUpgrade heroic wizard]]'' for once, and [[TimeTravel sends Anastasia forward in time]] through a portal to save her from the Bolshevik revolution.
* Creator/RhysIfans played Rasputin in ''Film/TheKingsMan'', the prequel to the ''Film/{{Kingsman}}'' film series, and combines both HistoricalVillainUpgrade and HistoricalBadassUpgrade.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Literature]]
* The ''Series/{{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.
* 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.
* A Cahill from the Tomas branch in ''Literature/The39Clues''.
* ''Literature/ANightInTheLonesomeOctober'' has Rastov the Mad Monk.
* ''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.
* 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).
* One chapter of Julius Evolas "Eros and the mysteries of love" is almost entirely dedicated to Rasputin and his sex life.
* ''Website/TheOnion'' book ''Literature/OurDumbCentury'' features an article from 1923 called "Russians Continuing to Kill Rasputin." It's ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
* He was the subject of an episode of ''Series/TheCrowStairwayToHeaven''.
* Creator/LeonardNimoy played a Rasputin-like character in "The Choice", an episode of ''Series/MissionImpossible'', indestructibility and all.
* HBO's 1996 cable ''Rasputin'', aka ''RasputinDarkServantOfDestiny''. His portrayal argued Rasputin may actually have been a saint with legitimate supernatural powers derived from God and at the very least didn't deserve the crap piled on his memory.
* 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.
* Rasputin shows up among the army of wax droids in an episode of ''Series/RedDwarf'', serving mainly as Emperor UsefulNotes/{{Caligula}}'s lackey.
* ''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.
* 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!"
** 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.
* ''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.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Music]]
* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kwh6078A-VU "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, the FaceOfTheBand Bobby Farrell died on a December 30 (2010) in Saint Petersburg, just like the Mad Monk.
* [[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.
* Rasputin serves as a spirit guide to the central character in the Music/{{Mastodon}} ConceptAlbum ''Crack the Skye''.
* [[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!"
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Newspaper Comics]]
* 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.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Podcasts]]
* 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.
* ''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.
* 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).

[[/folder]]

[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
* 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 possessed all the supernaturals he was featured as.]]
* 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.]]
* 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.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Video Games]]
* A ''VideoGame/TeamFortress2'' achievement for the Heavy references Rasputin. The Heavy needs to suffer several types of damage in a single life.
* 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!
* He shows up as a CampGay fighter in the ''VideoGame/WorldHeroes'' series.
* 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.
* [[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).
* In both ''VideoGame/{{Persona 2}}'' games, Rasputin appears as a Persona of Magician Arcana. He is weak to all of the physical elements but nulls all magical elementals in exchange.
* 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.
* ''VideoGame/{{Wizardry}}'' has {{Rat|Men}}kin NPC named Ratsputin. Though he's a ninja, not monk -- name is due to mice- and rat- related puns ThemeNaming.
* 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.
* In ''VideoGame/FateGrandOrder'', [[spoiler:Rasputin possesses 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 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.]]
* ''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:
-->I bear an old name. [[RasputinianDeath It cannot be killed]].
* ''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]].
* ''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) and his appearance is heavily modeled after the Mad Monk himself.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Visual Novels]]
* 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).
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Webcomics]]
* 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.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Web Original]]
* Rasputin raps against UsefulNotes/JosefStalin [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZT2z0nrsQ8o in the Season 2 finale]] of ''WebVideo/EpicRapBattlesOfHistory''.
* 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.
* The ''WebAnimation/OverSimplified'' video on the Russian Revolution featured Rasputin and how he contributed to the Tsar's reputation being destroyed.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Western Animation]]
* In an ''WesternAnimation/{{Animaniacs}}'' short, Rasputin has the ability to hypnotize others instantly into doing his will...until he meets the Warners.
* 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.
* [[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]].
* ''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 and Jack the Ripper) and attempts to try to murder the Time Squad officers.
[[/folder]]

----
->''Oh, those Russians.''

----

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

* While obviously dead by the 27th century, his legacy lives on in ''ComicBook/NikolaiDante'', where a cult known as the Devil's Martyrs have dedicated themselves to his sexual practices. Every member is required to grow a [[BadassBeard beard like his]], [[BeardedLady women included]].

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

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

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

->''Ra-Ra-Rasputin!''\\

''Lover of the Russian queen!''
->''There was a cat that really was gone!''
->''Ra-Ra-Rasputin!''
->''Russia's greatest love machine!''
->''It was a shame how he carried on!''

* ''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.

* ''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.

* ''Podcast/TheLastPodcastOnTheLeft'' episodes 310-313 are a series about the life of Rasputin and his effects on Czarist Russia. They note much of the information in this page's description and portray him less as the manipulator of myth and fiction and more a hedonist who primarily wanted to live high on the hog and be "as Rasputin as he could be" who viewed working his way into the trust of those in power as the way to achieve that.

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

-->-- '''Boney M''', "Rasputin"

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

* ''Podcast/LastPodcastOnTheLeft'' 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.

[[caption-width-right:347:I'm a little teapot, short and stout\\
This is my handle, this is my spout]]

->''Oh, those Russians.''

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. Despite his many moral failings he was genuinely loyal to the Tsar and Tsarina and saw himself as their God-appointed protector. He had a close relationship with the Romanov children, which their official caretakers found worrying, but the Grand Duchesses' letters show nothing but trust and affection and his answers give some excellent advice. Rasputin's daughter, Maria, claimed he was a strict but affectionate father.

The particular weapon he was shot with has raised some questions, as it was standard-issue for British Secret Service agents at the time. While Yusupov himself did not have any obvious connections to the organization, its director at the time ''was'' a friend of a friend, leading some to suspect British involvement in the plot.