Illuminati

:This is an article about groups called the "Illuminati". For information on the games, see Illuminati (game) and . For the novels, see The Illuminatus! Trilogy.

The Illuminati in popular culture

The historical Illuminati have had several influences on popular culture, many of them satirical, humorous, or intended as pure fiction:

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• Illuminatus! by Robert Shea and Robert Anton Wilson is a three-book science fiction series published in the 1970s, which is regarded as a cult classic in the hacker community. The occult group Illuminates of Thanateros can be safely assumed to have named itself inspired by this book and claims heritage to the Illuminati at least in spirit.
• Robert Anton Wilson also wrote the Historical Illuminati Trilogy in the early 1980s. While this too is a fictional account of a young Italian Free Mason, the books are crammed with historical footnotes.
• Umberto Eco's Foucault's Pendulum is a labyrinthine novel about all sorts of secret societies, including the Illuminati and the Rosicrucians.
• Angels and Demons (German title: Illuminati, Dutch title: Het Bernini Mysterie), by Dan Brown, is about an Illuminati order plot against the Catholic Church. The book actually claims the Illuminati movement to be founded by Galileo Galilei and others as an enlightened reaction to persecution by the Catholic Church.
• The Illuminati was featured in a couple episodes of the Walt Disney animated series Gargoyles, but it played a background role for the most part. As well, one of the major antagonists of the series, David Xanatos, was referred to as a member of the Illuminati.
• The Principia Discordia, the infamous holy book of Discordianism, includes the Illuminati as one of the Greyface forces opposing Discordians.
• A small movement believes the Illuminati are a group of aliens that hold humanity on strings and control everything. This movement reads much like a science fiction novel (and was probably derived from one).
• In Simon West's movie ' (2001) a group of high society 'bad guys' call themselves Illuminati, developing a plan to rule the world. They and Lara Croft's father claim that the Illuminati have existed for millennia for this purpose.
• The anime series Serial Experiments Lain contains some references to the Illuminati and the Majestic 12.
• Two games from Steve Jackson Games are based on the mythos: Illuminati and its trading card game reincarnation '. "Secret conspiracies are everywhere, and where can you find the only truth? Certainly not in the game of Illuminati" states the advertising.
• Deus Ex, a video game, features the Illuminati. Its sequel, ' also features the Illuminati in a more active role.
• The videogame Resident Evil 4 features its main plot as that of preventing a religious cult known as 'Los Illuminados', from ultimately ruling the world: using parasites - 'Las Plagas' - to control and cleanse heathens.
• The video game Area 51 contains multiple references to the Illuminati.
• UK author Clive Barker, in his epic Imajica, imagines the Illuminati as a place where supernatural items are collected - and hidden/destroyed, so that the general public may never see them. Many of the items come from other dimensions, which the book expands on in great detail.
• The storyline of Street Fighter III revolves around an organization calling itself the Illuminati seeking to create a new utopia.
• In the DC Comics universe, there are at least two societies based on the Illuminati. The first was founded by Vandal Savage and Garn Danuuth in ancient Atlantis. The second was an organization known to its members as "Fiatlux" which was devoted to the release of a demon known as Hellrazer from the realm of Perdition.
• In a recent episode of The Dead Zone it was hinted that the Illuminati will play a large role in the apocalypse that the show's protagonist John Smith is supposed to prevent.
• In the Warhammer 40,000 table top miniatures game, these were humans who were possessed by daemons of Chaos, but were able to escape their grasp.
• The song 'No Purpose No Design' by Meat Beat Manifesto has some references to Bavarian Illuminati.
• The German movie 23 has some references to Illuminati topics.

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• In David Craig Simpson's Ozy and Millie comic strip, much of the world is manipulated, though somewhat satirically, by a Dragon Illumiati, which works off the very chaos the world itself creates.