History Main / TheIlluminati

* ''FullmetalAlchemist'' has [[BigBad Father]], the Homunculi, and [[spoiler:[[TheGovernment Central Command]] actually running Amestris]] in a manner that fashions this trope in every way except without the name. The Homunculi are {{Anthropomorphic Personification}}s of the SevenDeadlySins [[spoiler:whose source of life is cultivated from a direct result of human character emotions and vices]], and their symbol is the Ouroboros. [[spoiler:Central, headed by King Bradley (who's actually [[UnstoppableRage Wrath]]), have controlled the economy, media, military, and politics of the nation, cultivated FantasticRacism, and used war propaganda, all to annex lands at central points to set the stage for Father's [[AncientConspiracy Ancient]] EvilPlan.]] It turns out that [[spoiler:Father even ''founded'' Amestris by teaching a group of people alchemy, which they used to grow into a powerful and prosperous nation - but secretly blocked them from using its true source, the energy released from the earth's movement underground (''[[ManipulativeBastard ''which was even part of what he had taught them]]''), through a series of underground tubes which ended with him and instead forced them to use the energy of his Philosopher's Stone and all the human souls trapped within.]] And what is Father's driving purpose, exactly? [[spoiler:[[{{Satan}} To conquer God]].]]

* {{TNA}}'s latest stable Immortal. Everything from the mass of foreshadowing to the ominous date of their takeover to the things they say to the quality of their regime's first show plays this straight.

* Los Illuminados in ''ResidentEvil 4''.

[[AvatarTheAbridgedSeries "And then he beat the crap out of him, muttering about Illuminati or something. I'm telling you, this guy is crazy"]]

[[AvatarTheAbridgedSeries "And then he [Jet] beat the crap out of him, muttering about Illuminati or something. I'm telling you, this guy is crazy"]]

* In MarvelComics, this was the name of a secret alliance between influential superheroes - IronMan, [[FantasticFour Reed Richards]], [[XMen Professor X]], SubMariner, DoctorStrange, and [[TheInhumans Black Bolt]] (they tried to recruit the BlackPanther, but well, he was able to read the next sentence in this paragraph). They're actually a subversion, however, as their goals were to protect the world, not rule it, and their secretiveness eventually came back to bite them repeatedly (see WorldWarHulk, SecretInvasion).

** And during the ''DarkReign'' StoryArc, [[SpiderMan Norman Osborn]] forms an evil version of the Illuminati called the Cabal, composed of himself, DoctorDoom, [[XMen Emma Frost]], [[TheMightyThor Loki]], TheHood, and the SubMariner - who, as mentioned above, is also a member of the good Illuminati. At the ''same time''. [[TrueNeutral He doesn't see the difference]].

* According to [[http://vigilantcitizen.com/?p=1676 this article,]] LadyGaga.

* Steve Jackson Games sells various conspiracy-themed card-games (collectable and otherwise) under the blanket name ''Illumninati'', while their line of ''{{GURPS}}'' role-playing material have published a couple of Illuminati-related source-books. The company has a trademark on a least one version of the "Eye in the Pyramid" design, and the other companies in this section often get official permission to use it.
* One of the secret societies in ''{{Paranoia}}''. [[spoiler:Though it doesn't actually exist, it's just an ULTRAVIOLET disguise for secret societies.]]

* One of the secret societies in ''{{Paranoia}}''

->''"There was a [[WhoShotJFK magic bullet]]! It was forged by Illuminati mystics to prevent us from learning the truth!"''

* {{Eminem}} mentions them a few times.
** In which songs?

--->There was a [[WhoShotJFK magic bullet]]! It was forged by Illuminati mystics to prevent us from learning the truth!
----> '''-TheQuestion''', [[JusticeLeague in all of his glory.]]

--->Question: There was a magic bullet! It was forged by Illuminati mystics to prevent us from learning the truth!
---->[[JusticeLeague The Question, in all of his glory.]]

* TheQuestion mentions ([[UnreliableNarrator under torture]]) in ''JusticeLeagueUnlimited'' that the Illuminati mystics forged the magic bullet that [[WhoShotJFK JFK was killed with]].

* In MarvelComics, this was the name of a secret alliance between influential superheroes - IronMan, [[FantasticFour Reed Richards]], [[XMen Professor X]], SubMariner, DoctorStrange, [[TheInhumans Black Bolt]] and The BlackPanther. They're actually a subversion, however, as their goals were to protect the world, not rule it, and their secretiveness eventually came back to bit them (see WorldWarHulk).

* Steve Jackson Games sells various conspiracy-themed card-games (collectable and otherwise) under the blanket name ''Illumninati'', while their line of ''{{GURPS}}'' role-playing material have published a couple of Illuminati-related source-books. The company has a copyright on a least one version of the "Eye in the Pyramid" design, and the other companies in this section often get official permission to use it.

* Robert Shea and Robert Anton Wilson's ''{{Illuminatus}}'' trilogy helped spread the name. The books are a MindScrew told by {{Unreliable Narrator}}s, but it probably boils down to this: [[spoiler:Thousands of years ago, Atlantis was home to a non-human (albeit primate) {{Precursor}} civilization, which was destroyed when an EldritchAbomination from CthulhuMythos they imprisoned got loose. Around the same time, a small splinter faction led by Gruad the Grayface strived to reform the Atlantean society by exploring the hidden potential of the mind. They called themselves "Illuminati" and, ironically, were the only Atlanteans to survive the catastrophe. After holing themselves up in an underground ocean underneath Himalaya mountains and disappearing from recorded history, they began covertly advancing human civilization in accordance with their ideals. However, in the millenia that followed, many secret societies claimed the name of "Illuminati", most recently, Adam Weishaupt's circle. Weishaupt rediscovered some of the real Illuminati's mind-altering techniques by chance, and was persuaded to use them to TakeOverTheWorld. These new Illuminati are opposed by the Discordians, Erisians, and other apprentices of the old Illuminati, and their EvilPlan culminates in the events described in the trilogy]]. The above explanation may be utterly wrong.
** Also, the "eye in the pyramid" symbol comes from [[spoiler:a primal fear of all Terran lifeforms: the Leviathan, a gargantuan single-cell life form slumbering in the deepest oceans, which grew from one of the two cells, into which the first ever living cell on Earth divided (we all come from the other one, which continued dividing, eventually evolving into multicellular organisms). Leviathan looks like a giant pyramid with tentacles at each corner and a glowing nucleus at its core (the proverbial eye)]].
** The Atlanteans [[spoiler:''were'' human; just human from before the time we lost most of our body hair, so they were furry.]]
** The novel is infamous for giving complex explanations for the origins of the Illuminati, and then subverting them later on, sometimes with information that is equally wrong. It doesn't help that there have been several groups throughout history under that name.