History Main / AncientConspiracy

** Then again, maybe they discovered the Dead Sea Scrolls ages ago, and only informed the rest of the world in the 1950s...

* The particular incarnation of the Sith that appears in the ''StarWars'' films is similar to this, except that most of its actions were devised and implemented by Palpatine alone, as opposed to being planned out in advance.

* The Genoharadan in ''VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublic''. Oddly enough, they did not appear in any other ''StarWars'' works, not even in the comic series of the same name.
** Granted, although they were meant to be ''highly secretive'' assassins...
*** And the option is open to have Revan kill the entire Genoharadan leadership. This was 3,956 years before the first film.
**** The Genohardan are mentioned in later Star Wars works, such as the first Darth Bane book, as well as the Darth Plagueis novel, implying they survived at least until the years leading up to Episode I.

** The first book in ''EmpireFromTheAshes'' reveals that the Moon's mutinous crew have been manipulating human civilization from the very beginning, sometimes to halt scientific progress... and sometimes just ForTheEvulz. They have complete control over a variety of terrorist organizations and have puppets in all the major governments as well. [[spoiler:And then there are the counter-mutineers who have been waging a secret war against them.]]

* Mercilessly [[ParodiedTrope parodied]] in the ''Website/CollegeHumor'' video '[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zbl-vMN2gzo Deceptive Deceptions]]', also providing examples of ConspiracyTheorist and InsaneTrollLogic. Truly something to behold, for among the things "uncovered" as part of a massive conspiracy embracing all of humanity in this "truthumentary" are events that include: the shooting of TupacShakur, Dan Akroyd's role in ''{{Caddyshack}} 2'' and ''NothingButTrouble'', John Candy, {{PaulMcCartney}}'s replacement by a doppelgänger, Helter Skelter possessing UsefulNotes/CharlesManson with the spirit of the Anti-Christ, AdolfHitler actually being a cyberganic demon created by Nazi scientists, who created a faux-space agency called {{NASA}} to fake the moon landings on a special stage, the JohnFKennedy assassination ([[CriticalResearchFailure which is described as "Tupac-esque"]]), the moon being a prehistoric hologram hiding a gigantic spaceship, ''Film/CloseEncountersOfTheThirdKind'', Dick Cheney, a pentagram of corporations that control our world (comprised of Nabisco, AOL, CITGO, Atkins, Adidas, [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking and the New York Knicks]]), Hooters, and Website/{{Google}}. And the identity of the secret cabal that is more powerful than [[TheGovernment the American government]], the Freemasons, and TheIlluminati: [[spoiler:The College Humor staff]].

* Mercilessly [[ParodiedTrope parodied]] in the ''Website/CollegeHumor'' video '[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zbl-vMN2gzo Deceptive Deceptions]]', also providing examples of ConspiracyTheorist and InsaneTrollLogic. Truly something to behold, for among the things "uncovered" as part of a massive conspiracy embracing all of humanity in this "truthumentary" are events that include: the shooting of TupacShakur, Dan Akroyd's role in ''{{Caddyshack}} 2'' and ''NothingButTrouble'', John Candy, {{PaulMcCartney}}'s replacement by a doppelgänger, Helter Skelter possessing UsefulNotes/CharlesManson with the spirit of the Anti-Christ, AdolfHitler actually being a cyberganic demon created by Nazi scientists, who created a faux-space agency called {{NASA}} to fake the moon landings on a special stage, the JohnFKennedy assassination ([[CriticalResearchFailure which is described as "Tupac-esque"]]), the moon being a prehistoric hologram hiding a gigantic spaceship, ''CloseEncountersOfTheThirdKind'', Dick Cheney, a pentagram of corporations that control our world (comprised of Nabisco, AOL, CITGO, Atkins, Adidas, [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking and the New York Knicks]]), Hooters, and Website/{{Google}}. And the identity of the secret cabal that is more powerful than [[TheGovernment the American government]], the Freemasons, and TheIlluminati: [[spoiler:The College Humor staff]].

->'''Supergirl:''' GlobalWarming? Military upheavals in the third world? [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking Actors elected to public office]]?

** It is highly unlikely that the "Dead Sea Scrolls" are the actual historical or publicly known scrolls, in so much as the Lance of Longinus is not the historical spear(s) of destiny nor are Adam and Lillith their biblical counterparts. Perhaps, like the spear, it is an ancient piece of advanced technology crafted by the First Ancestral Race, acting as an outline the usage of Eva's and instrumentality.

* ''TabletopGame/{{Paranoia}}'' is a game set in a post-apocalyptic, dystopian city where everything is controlled by The Computer. The Computer is extremely paranoid about ancient conspiracies and has the players hunt them down. Some of the conspiracies actually exist. Okay, a lot of them do. Unfortunately, the players are always part of [[FlockOfWolves at least one ancient conspiracy]], and have to hide this fact.

* The "Syndicate" group from ''Series/{{The X-Files}}''.

* The Inner Circle from ''VideoGame/MaxPayne''. Lampshaded by Max himself; a member of the circle, Alfred Woden, provides an in-depth description of the organization and its activities, following which Max [[DeadpanSnarker snarks]]: "[[YouWatchTooMuchX You've been watching too much]] [[Series/{{TheX-files}} X-Files]]."

* As our Risen Savior J.R. "Bob" Dobbs, founder of the Church of the [=SubGenius=], has revealed, in real life the Conspiracy's greatest strength is that it is not even aware it ''is'' a Conspiracy.

An almost incomprehensibly powerful group that has lurked in the shadows throughout centuries of history, such as TheIlluminati or the Masons. Their reach is vast, and they have unlimited numbers of EvilMinions with which to strike at the heroes. They may control TheGovernment, [[CorruptCorporateExecutive industry]], or both, and their goals may be refreshingly mundane (political power, wealth) or horrifyingly supernatural (summon the [[EldritchAbomination Great Old Ones]], trigger the Apocalypse). Killing one member of the Conspiracy, even its "leader", does no good, for there is always another waiting behind him to take his place and continue the group's work seamlessly. Likely to use a MultilayerFacade.

Sometimes the AncientConspiracy is neutral or actually a force for good, such as an AncientOrderOfProtectors, but more often than not it is evil (when it ''is'' a force for good, it often still does extremely evil things, but because its members believe [[KnightTemplar they serve the greater good]]). Occasionally (primarily in series by writers who actually ''understood'' earlier source material such as the ''{{Illuminatus}}!'' trilogy), the obvious AncientConspiracy is later discovered to be an offshoot of an even more AncientTradition which has lost its way; in such cases, the real AncientTradition may provide some veiled and ambiguous assistance to the protagonists, though they will remain aloof themselves.

This trope often has an interesting combination of research failure and ShownTheirWork. On the one hand, many writers clearly have spent hours poring over books on history and symbolism and can throw out dozens of completely factual precedents and weave them into an interesting narrative. But these same authors often display a horribly deficient understanding of how the social sciences actually work. This can make for very frustrating instances where a writer's knowledgeability in one area is completely undermined by their ignorance in another.

Since the AncientConspiracy often draws on conspiracy-theorist lore, don't be surprised when certain names keep coming up. TheKnightsTemplar are quite popular, as are TheHashshashin. In [[ValuesDissonance older works]], [[OnceAcceptableTargets Jewish]] secret domination of the world through the banks is practically the norm. The Freemasons might crop up occasionally, but as a real, semi-secret society, they're generally not scary enough, so expect them to be a front for the ''real'' secret society, at best. By far the most common, however, are TheIlluminati, who have been used as an AncientConspiracy so many times that the term has practically become generic, and need not have anything to do with the historical Bavarian Illuminati at all. Occasionally they might reference [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adam_Weishaupt Adam Weishaupt]], but don't count on it.

When it appears in a television series, it is usually the BigBad behind almost everything, TheManBehindTheMan to all others. Expect to see a lot of them in the form of TheOmniscientCouncilOfVagueness. They also tend to employ EvilPlan and the GambitRoulette. In modern times, an AncientConspiracy commonly overlaps with TheSyndicate.

* In ''VideoGame/AzraelsTear'', the [[spoiler:Prieuré de Sion (think Priory of Sion from ''Literature/TheDavinciCode'', albeit different in details) believes it has a holy obligation to acquire the Holy Grail at a specific time and has devised a centuries-long XanatosGambit to acquire it]].

* The fashion industry in ''Zoolander''.

* Trystero, a mail-based (and possibly imagined) conspiracy in ThomasPynchon's ''The Crying of Lot 49''.

* The Secret Society in ''House of Anubis''.

* Eugene Sue was an innovator of this with the Jesuits in ''The Wandering Jew''. And also indirectly (and unintentionally) inspired ''The Protocols of Zion'' with the last chapter of ''Mysteries of a People''.

* The Grail in ''{{Preacher}}''.

* The Clan Akkaba of the ''Comicbook/{{X-Men}}'' made up of the descendants of [[VillainSue Apocalypse]].
* The Nine Families in ''LeScorpion'' who ruled ancient Rome and seek to control the world by controlling the catholic Church in the 18th century.
* The Secret Monarchy of the World in Ed Brubaker's ''Comicbook/{{Sleeper}}''.

* The villains of ''TheUnwritten''.
* Following the {{New 52}} reboot, the Franchise/{{Batman}} comics introduced the [[ComicBook/NightOfTheOwls Court of Owls]], a group that has supposedly ruled Gotham in secret since colonial times.

* Mercilessly [[ParodiedTrope parodied]] in the ''Website/CollegeHumor'' video '[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zbl-vMN2gzo Deceptive Deceptions]]', also providing examples of ConspiracyTheorist and InsaneTrollLogic. Truly something to behold, for among the things "uncovered" as part of a massive conspiracy embracing all of humanity in this "truthumentary" are events that include: the shooting of TupacShakur, Dan Akroyd's role in ''{{Caddyshack}} 2'' and ''NothingButTrouble'', John Candy, {{PaulMcCartney}}'s replacement by a doppelgänger, Helter Skelter possessing CharlesManson with the spirit of the Anti-Christ, AdolfHitler actually being a cyberganic demon created by Nazi scientists, who created a faux-space agency called {{NASA}} to fake the moon landings on a special stage, the JohnFKennedy assassination ([[CriticalResearchFailure which is described as "Tupac-esque"]]), the moon being a prehistoric hologram hiding a gigantic spaceship, ''CloseEncountersOfTheThirdKind'', Dick Cheney, a pentagram of corporations that control our world (comprised of Nabisco, AOL, CITGO, Atkins, Adidas, [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking and the New York Knicks]]), Hooters, and Website/{{Google}}. And the identity of the secret cabal that is more powerful than [[TheGovernment the American government]], the Freemasons, and TheIlluminati: [[spoiler:The College Humor staff]].

->'''Supergirl:''' GlobalWarming? Military upheavals in the third world? [[ArsonMurderandJaywalking Actors elected to public office]]?

* The Grail Brotherhood from TadWilliams' ''{{Otherland}}''. It isn't that old (its leader and founding member is a mere 200 years old), but it fits all the other criteria.

* Following the {{New 52}} reboot, the Franchise/{{Batman}} comics introduce the [[ComicBook/NightOfTheOwls Court of Owls]], a group that has supposedly ruled Gotham in secret since colonial times.

* The Disciples of Andraste from ''VideoGame/DragonAgeOrigins''. Originally the followers of the setting's most important religious figure, [[TheMessiah Andraste]], they secreted away her ashes to Ferelden after her death at the hands of [[TheEmpire the Tevinter Imperium]]. For centuries they guarded the mountain temple where her ashes were kept. Interestingly, this AncientConspiracy lost its original purpose a long time ago and no longer care about guarding the Urn of Sacred Ashes. They have become an AxCrazy dragon cult who believe that their prophet has been reborn in the form of a [[OurDragonsAreDifferent high dragon]], who also makes its lair in the mountain temple. The PlayerCharacter has the option of assisting the cultists by defiling the Ashes, which they believe are somehow holding back the reborn "Andraste" from reaching her full power.

* In ''VideoGame/AzraelsTear'', the [[spoiler:Prieuré (think Priory of Sion from ''Literature/TheDavinciCode'') wants the Holy Grail for purposes unknown and has devised a centuries-long XanatosGambit to acquire it]].

->'''Supergirl:''' GlobalWarming? Military upheavals in the third world? [[RonaldReagan Actors elected]] [[ArsonMurderandJaywalking to]] [[Creator/ArnoldSchwarzenegger public office]]?

* The Conspiracy from the {{Batman}} ''Legends of the Dark Knight'' three-issue {{arc}} of the same name.

* Following the {{New 52}} reboot, the {{Batman}} comics introduce the [[ComicBook/NightOfTheOwls Court of Owls]], a group that has supposedly ruled Gotham in secret since colonial times.