History Main / CultOfPersonality

* ''LightNovel/ExpectingToFallIntoRuinIAimToBecomeABlacksmith'': AllLovingHero Kururi, after being [[FrameUp wrongly imprisoned]] in a PenalColony, takes charge using AsskickingEqualsAuthority and manages the prisoners so well and fairly that they develop what looks very much like a cult. He later gets given the prisoners by the Crown Prince, to help make a railroad through his domain, but since they can't get along with regular workers, he makes the prisoners his ArmyOfThievesAndWhores.

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* In ''VisualNovel/Danganronpa2GoodbyeDespair'', it is revealed that [[spoiler:the students, save for Nanami, were members of Ultimate Despair, a personality ApocalypseCult devoted to the original Ultimate Despair herself, Junko Enoshima. Such was their devotion that when Junko died, the surviving Ultimate Despair members ''chopped up her body and replaced their own body parts with hers''. [[{{Yakuza}} Kuzuryu]] took one of her eyes in order to 'see her despair', while [[StepfordSmiler Nagito Komaeda]] chopped off his hand and attached one of her hands to the stump. By far the most disturbing is one member (heavily implied to be [[TheMedic Mikan]]) trying to [[ILoveTheDead bear children using Junko's corpse]]. ]]

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* Implemented by Timmy's Dad in ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddparents'' episode "Father Time". Timmy destroys his father's childhood trophy with heat vision so he goes back in time to stop his dad from winning the race that got him the trophy in the first place. Timmy succeeds but his father is sent to Dictator School as punishment for losing the race and Timmy returns to his time to find that his dad now rules the world, and [[HappinessIsMandatory forces everyone to only think happy thoughts]], always smile, and call him "father", reinforcing this with video surveillance and billboards claiming that "Dad is always watching!"
--> '''Dad''': "Aaaaand here's where I'd put my trophy... IF I HAD ONE!"

* An unintentional example appears in ''Film/Joker2019'', after Arthur kills three violent drunks on a train in self-defence (because they were beating him up). The lower class public rallies behind the murders, since they were of wealthy [=WayneTech=] employees, and it is believed mistakenly that the killer was a vigilante that targets the rich. Arthur finds that his clown persona is idolized as a symbol of economic and social inequality in Gotham, and [[spoiler:once he completes his transformation into the Joker, comes to revel with his violent followers and the destruction they cause]].

* ''Literature/AClockworkOrange'': Alex adores classical music in general and Music/LudwigVanBeethoven particularly (the film [[AdaptationDistillation distills]] it just to Beethoven).

* British satirical magazine ''Magazine/PrivateEye'' skewered excitable people in the ruling Conservative Party who, during TheEighties, were explicitly saying that any criticism of UsefulNotes/MargaretThatcher, however slight, was tantamount to treason. They ran a spoof of ''ComicBook/{{Commando}}'' war comics where Thatcher was elevated to The Fuhrer, mighty beloved leader and guardian of the Thousand Year Right, where Tory Party conferences became uniformed affairs held at Nuremberg. This was to make the point that a cult of personality focused on an infallible strong Leader is not a healthy thing for ''any'' country to have, least of all a notional democracy.

** Stalin's Cult was more deliberately created and something which Stalin took great interest in promoting and preserving. Ships, [[{{Egopolis}} cities]], buildings, and a prize (the Order of Stalin, which was later renamed Order of Lenin) were named after him. After his death, Nikita Khrushchev made a process to de-stalinize the Soviet Union, so statues and cities were destroyed and renamed and only the cult of Lenin survived. Stalin privately expressed irritation with his own cult, and as per a well-known anecdote, mocked it in an exchange with his son:

'''Josef Stalin''': No you're not. You're not Stalin and I'm not Stalin. (Indicates Portrait of himself) That is Stalin. Stalin is Soviet power. Stalin is what he is in the newspapers and portraits, not you, no, not even me.

* No pre-20th Century dictator took as much of an active interest in building and promoting a Cult than UsefulNotes/NapoleonBonaparte. From very early in his career as Revolutionary General, Bonaparte used his considerable skills as a writer and published regular bulletins to his army building a particular style of address and relationship with his soldier. He also befriended Creator/JacquesLouisDavid the famous Revolutionary painter who had fallen into political disrepute over his association with UsefulNotes/MaximilienRobespierre to paint several portraits of him, many of which became iconic and were widely distributed across Europe. As dictator, he had near total control over the press and his propagandists greatly enhanced and added to his already considerable military prowess by inventing whole battles, while sliding over some of his mistakes and near misses. He continued to build his cult even after his defeat at Waterloo, where he dictated memoirs in Saint Helena to an admirer that self-consciously painted him as a reflective tragic figure, courting himself a lot of sympathy in the process.

** The revolutionary regime promoted the Pantheon, which was an attempt to make a cult of several intellectual figures like Creator/{{Voltaire}} and Creator/JeanJacquesRousseau. When Mirabeau, the great statesman and leader of the early years of the Revolution, died, he was interred into the Pantheon. Then it was revealed that he had secretly corresponded with the King and indulged in corruption and this tarnished his reputation and eventually, they disinterred his body and threw him out of the Pantheon and even years later despite being rehabilitated, his remains are lost.

* In China, UsefulNotes/MaoZedong used to be the center of a Cult Of Personality. Though still held in high regard and also mummified and put on display, the worship is not as fanatical as during his lifetime. In fact, much of the contemplation for Mao lies with nostalgia for the '50s and '60s from which those that grew up in that era would reminisce over the zealous cult that was developed during Mao's lifetime. His successor Deng Xiaoping deliberately avoided having further cults of personality forward, in order to prevent the disaster that was the Cultural Revolution.

* In the United States, UsefulNotes/GeorgeWashington and UsefulNotes/AbrahamLincoln are certainly eligible for being featured on this page. They are highly regarded by many Americans as the most perfect presidents they ever had, to the point that Washington is believed to have "never told a lie" and Lincoln is nicknamed "Honest Abe"; pointing out the political and ethical shortcomings the two actually displayed[[labelnote:such as...]]Washington's poor response to the French Revolution, destruction of Indian communities during the French and Indian War, signing of the Jay Treaty (which is widely credited for galvanizing the ideological divisions that led to the partisan system of American politics that Washington himself condemned), and ownership of slaves; Lincoln's suspension of ''habeas corpus'' (which, to be fair, was at the time permissible of the president to do in the context of a rebellion like the Civil War, but later changes in legislation made suspension something only Congress could enact) and open racism, which had the knock-on effect of making him slow to act on abolition[[/labelnote]] is a good way to draw ire from most Americans who ''aren't'' history buffs.

*** One of the more notable examples, this has been attempted (apparently successfully) by [[UsefulNotes Donald Trump]], who was the country's 45th president, to the point where after he lost the 2020 election, he railed over and over again that it was rigged against him, which his committed base then ate up. He then sent a mob of them to the Capitol building to try and stop the election certification for Joe Biden, causing a sizable amount of destruction and five deaths. Even well after Biden was formally certified, his most rabid followers still believed that the election was illegitimate (even after election officials from ''both'' parties said the win was legitimate) and that he would be reinstated at some point in the near future. Even before that day, however, Trump had a rabid fanbase that disbelieved every news outlet except ones that Trump voiced his support for, claimed he had been sent by God to "save" America, and is the greatest president ever. Alongside Trump himself, conspiracy theories have also fueled this, particularly the [=QAnon=] conspiracy that alleges that the Democratic Party is full of Satanist cannibal pedophiles that Trump would arrest and have executed at any moment.

* Imperial Japan fostered one around its Emperor up until roughly the ''Humanity Declaration'' by the Showa Emperor (Hirohito) at the behest and request of the American occupation government. Afterwards, he became a figure of post war stability and democratization, but no where near to the often suicidal levels of devotion he had been receiving prior to the end of the war. That said, the extent to which Hirohito's cult saw him as a PhysicalGod or GodEmperor appears to be disputed based on Western and Japanese definitions of cults and Godhood, meaning his treatment was either at home here or more appropriate for the latter trope.
* Subverted with Cuba's two most iconic dictators, Batista and Castro. The two didn't bother cultivating personality cults for themselves, although unofficial ones formed anyway. Batista was referred to as 'My General' among his supporters and had statues of himself put up all across Cuba. Castro instead favored a cult of his fellow revolutionary Che Guevara, who himself is an almost messianic figure amongst many communists as an aspiration, and heavily promoting the existing personality cult of Cuban national hero, revolutionary poet Jose Marti. Castro officially forbid any personality cult of himself and banned the building of statues of him in Cuba, but it didn't stop the Communist Party from giving out portraits of him, putting his face on street art, or having government officials weep in the presence of Castro (who usually reacted by giving them one of his famous bear hugs.)
* Josip Broz Tito fostered one for himself in Communist Yugoslavia as both the father of the socialist state ''and'' more importantly, a figure of South Slavic unity given the multiple ethnic groups within his state. In fact, his death and the demise of his personality cult gave one less things for the Yugoslav peoples to agree on in the build up to the Yugoslav wars. While not state enforced in any post-Yugoslav nation today, Tito still enjoys relative popularity for South Slavic and socialist "Brotherhood and Unity", a phrase popular in Yugoslavia.
* Hồ Chí Minh enjoys a personality cult to this day in Vietnam, though not as much for socialism (which isn't considered a priority in Vietnam anymore) as much as he is a revolutionary hero and Vietnamese patriot, ironically akin to how Americans would consider George Washington. Shrines to him can be found around the country. For cultural context: Vietnam's folk religion involves ancestor worship, and deification/canonization of military heroes. Trần Hưng Đạo, a general who successfully led resistance efforts against Yuan-Mongol armies, is a good example of a worshipped hero. Hồ's avuncular public image and politician/military leader status qualifies him for worship, as an honorary family member to the entire nation and as a savior from foreign domination. It hews closely to the "devotion to a saint" definition above. Similar to Lenin, he did not want to be mummified and put on display. His comrades promptly ignored his will, which stipulated that he was to be cremated and the ashes spread through the country so he could forever be with his family (i.e. the whole nation). The results is the Hồ Chí Minh Mausoleum and Museum in Hanoi, which preserved his corpse, as well as his living space and workplace. It's a popular location for field trips nationally so that schoolchildren can be taught about his legacy, and adults who lived through the war can get a chance to see the man they fought for.

** One of Duterte's predecessors, Ferdinand Marcos, also was a subject of the personality cult, and is portrayed as a war hero, a strong leader, and a wise man. Marcos was affectionately called as "Apo Lakay", meaning "Wise Elder" in the Ilocano language in which Marcos was a native speaker of. He was even portrayed together with his wife Imelda as a Filipino version of Adam and Eve (Malakas and Maganda), lit. Strength and Beauty in some official portraits, and once had a a monument of himself clearly intended to emulate Mount Rushmore. There is overlap between the supporters of Marcos and Duterte, due to the latter having a positive opinion of Marcos and had the former president be given a heroes' burial. His son, Bongbong Marcos, was elected as the President of the Philippines in 2022 and did his best to rehabilitate his late father's image.

** In recent years independents have gained increasing levels of popularity. Sydney-based independent Zali Steggal is one of the more famous ones, managing the impressive feat of unseating a former Prime Minister and being able to convince affluent Liberal voters that renewable energy is a good idea.

* ''Machinima/CultOfPersonality'' focuses on oWn (Our World Now) started by a rebel Medic waging war on both RED and BLU.

A cult of personality refers to the massive adulation of a political or historical figure. Wiki/TheOtherWiki defines it as "when an individual uses mass media, propaganda, or other methods, to create an idealized, heroic, and, at times god-like public image, often through unquestioning flattery and praise." Often the subjects of cults of personality are treated as gods, held responsible for the good things affecting a country, policies are tied to a certain figure and epoch. The cult may often claim outlandish accomplishments for the subject in order to bolster their popularity. On the other hand, heroic stories about the subject's life may be endlessly repeated in order to reinforce the cult.

*** Most recently, this has been attempted (apparently successfully) by [[UsefulNotes Donald Trump]], who was the country's 45th president, to the point where after he lost the 2020 election, he railed over and over again that it was rigged against him, which his committed base then ate up. He then sent a mob of them to the Capitol building to try and stop the election certification for Joe Biden, causing a sizable amount of destruction and five deaths. Even well after Biden was formally certified, his most rabid followers still believed that the election was illegitimate (even after election officials from ''both'' parties said the win was legitimate) and that he would be reinstated at some point in the near future. Even before that day, however, Trump had a rabid fanbase that disbelieved every news outlet except ones that Trump voiced his support for, claimed he had been sent by God to "save" America, and is the greatest president ever. Alongside Trump himself, conspiracy theories have also fueled this, particularly the [=QAnon=] conspiracy that alleges that the Democratic Party is full of Satanist cannibal pedophiles that Trump would arrest and have executed at any moment.

*** Most recently, this has been attempted (apparently successfully) by [[UsefulNotes Donald Trump]], who was the country's 45th president, to the point where after he lost the 2020 election, he railed over and over again that it was rigged against him, which his committed base then ate up. He then sent a mob of them to the Capitol building to try and stop the election certification for Joe Biden, causing a sizable amount of destruction and five deaths. Six months later, his most rabid followers still believe that the election was illegitimate (even after election officials from ''both'' parties said the win was legitimate) and that he'll be reinstated in August. Even before that day, however, Trump had a rabid fanbase that disbelieved every news outlet except ones that Trump voiced his support for, claimed he had been sent by God to "save" America, and is the greatest president ever. Alongside Trump himself, conspiracy theories have also fueled this, particularly the [=QAnon=] conspiracy that alleges that the Democratic Party is full of Satanist cannibal pedophiles that Trump would arrest and have executed at any moment.

* ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas'': Caesar's Legion is a cult following Caesar himself. Legionnaires are brought up (or brainwashed, if they're not born into it) being taught that Caesar is the Son of Mars, charged with conquering the entire world to bring civilization and purpose to land otherwise concerned with nothing but meaningless survival. Caesar himself realizes that this model will almost certainly result in the Legion collapsing with his death, and so is attempting to conquer New Vegas so that he can transfer the cult to the city and have his legacy survive him.

* ''VideoGame/HalfLife2'' have Dr. Wallace Breen who was the hero's former boss from Black Mesa, tries to making this and real followers of him are getting love the Combine, But came out pretty strongly {{subverted}}, [[spoiler:However the real hero Gordan Freeman and really have strong of this trope itself as Heroic example and even have title by his followers, like "Savior" and "Messiah", even he mortally responsibly let Combine taking Earth in first place and rest of all events of series.]]

** UsefulNotes/MargaretThatcher is to UK Conservatives what Reagan is to US Republicans: believed by Tories for her introduction of neoliberal policies, dismantling of "inefficient" public sectors through privatization, and aggressive confrontation of striking unionists and the Soviet Union. To various working class Britons as well as Welsh and Scots, she is pretty much the devil incarnate who dismantled the country's coal industry and their associated communities, and that's not mentioning her support of Chilean dictator UsefulNotes/AugustoPinochet and hostility towards LGBT Britions. Even her funeral divided the country: while she was given a £10 million state funeral in London, protesters flocked elsewhere to protest her legacy and held impromptu street parties, and the song "Ding Dong, the Witch is Dead!" topped the charts.

* In North Korea dictators Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong-Il are worshipped as gods. Literally! There are giant statues of them everywhere and almost every activity is done in celebration of the "Great Leaders". Of course, their corpses are also mummified and put on display.

* In China, UsefulNotes/MaoZedong used to be the center of a Cult Of Personality. Though still held in high regard and also mummified and put on display, the worship is not as fanatical as during his lifetime. In fact, much of the contemplation for Mao lies with nostalgia for the '50s and '60s from which those that grew up in that era would reminisce over the zealous cult that was developed during Mao's lifetime.

** One of Duterte's predecessors, Ferdinand Marcos, also was a subject of the personality cult, and is portrayed as a war hero, a strong leader, and a wise man. Marcos was affectionally called as "Apo Lakay", meaning "Wise Elder" in the Ilocano language in which Marcos was a native speaker of. He was even portrayed together with his wife Imelda as a Filipino version of Adam and Eve (Malakas and Maganda), lit. Strength and Beauty in some official portraits, and once hada a monument of himself clearly intended to emulate Mount Rushmore. There is overlap between the supporters of Marcos and Duterte, due to the latter having a positive opinion of Marcos and had the former president be given a heroes' burial.

* UsefulNotes/VladimirPutin can probably rival Stalin's use of this concept when it comes to UsefulNotes/TheNewRussia, having turned himself into a MemeticBadass who is absolutely beloved by the Russian people at large, who think he can do no wrong.

* UsefulNotes/ChiangKaiShek had statues of himself put up all around Taiwan, which were mostly torn down after his death. The fact that numerous statues were set up to him was used as an argument that he wasn't a dictator- he actually publicly decried them later on, but darn it, people insisted on erecting statues to him all over the place. Chiang also had coins minted with his face on them, large portraits of himself put up whenever possible, and children were taught to laud him as the savior of the nation in schools.

* Chiang Kai-shek had statues of himself put up all over Taiwan, which were mostly torn down after his death. The fact that numerous statues were set up to him was used as an argument that he wasn't a dictator- he actually publicly decried them, but darn it, people insisted on erecting statues to him all over the place.

* In the United States, UsefulNotes/GeorgeWashington and UsefulNotes/AbrahamLincoln are certainly eligible for being featured on this page. They are highly regarded by many Americans as the most perfect presidents they ever had, to the point that Washington is believed to have "never told a lie" and Lincoln is nicknamed "Honest Abe"; pointing out the political and ethical shortcomings the two actually displayed[[labelnote:such as...]]Washington's poor response to the French Revolution, controversial signing of the Jay Treaty (which is widely credited for galvanizing the ideological divisions that led to the partisan system of American politics that Washington himself condemned), and ownership of slaves; Lincoln's suspension of ''habeas corpus'' (which, to be fair, was at the time permissible of the president to do in the context of a rebellion like the Civil War, but later changes in legislation made suspension something only Congress could enact) and open racism, which had the knock-on effect of making him slow to act on abolition[[/labelnote]] is a good way to draw ire from most Americans who ''aren't'' history buffs.

* Subverted with Cuba's two most iconic dictators, Batista and Castro. The two didn't bother cultivating personality cults for themselves, although unofficial ones formed anyway. Batista was referred to as 'My General' among his supporters and had statues of himself put up all across Cuba. Castro instead favored a cult of his fellow revolutionary Che Guevara, who himself is an almost messianic figure amongst many communists as an aspiration, and heavily promoting the widespread personality cult of Cuban national hero, revolutionary poet Jose Marti. Castro officially forbid any personality cult of himself and banned the building of statues of him in Cuba, but it didn't stop the Communist Party from giving out portraits of him, putting his face on street art, or having government officials weep in the presence of Castro (who usually reacted by giving them one of his famous bear hugs.)

* Frank Herbert intended ''Literature/{{Dune}}'' to be a deconstruction of this (and in the process [[ItSucksToBeTheChosenOne invoking another trope]]), with [[MessianicArchetype Paul Muad'dib]] becoming trapped by the popular perceptions of him, leading to his FallenHero status and his son Leto becoming a literally inhuman tyrant for thousands of years.

** Special mention goes to Jesus, who Christian doctrine describes as having been completely free of sin to the point where he appears to have been physically incapable of sinning.

* ''LightNovel/ExpectingToFallIntoRuinIAimToBecomeABlacksmith'': Kururi, after being [[FrameUp wrongly imprisoned]] in a PenalColony, takes charge using AsskickingEqualsAuthority and manages the prisoners so well and fairly that they develop what looks very much like a cult. He later gets given the prisoners by the king, to help make a railroad through his domain, but since they can't get along with regular workers, he makes the prisoners his standing army as a retinue instead.

* ''LightNovel/RebuildWorld'': Katsuya, a {{Satire}} of the StockShonenHero, develops a harem of women who force their way into his squad rotation. When Viola asks the FemmeFatale Carol why she didn't try to seduce Katsuya despite having met him, Carol explicitly describes the friends around Katsuya as a cult which feels terrifying to deal with. This cult, not exclusively women [[BattleHarem (although they dominate his unit)]], eventually extends to literally hundreds of hunters and dominates his PrivateMilitaryCompany Drankam. [[spoiler:This is the result of a PsychicLink network from him being an old world connector. The reason he developed this and not Akira, is because he's open hearted instead of paranoid. The link involves shared emotions to a degree and makes the people in it NotHimself. They fall unconscious when Katsuya dies.]]

--> '''Stalin's Son''': But I am a Stalin too.\\

* In ''LightNovel/Overlord2012'', the denizens of Nazarick treat Ainz as an infallible GodEmperor, due to being programmed during their origins as [=NPCs=] to be loyal to the player members of the guild, of whom Ainz is the only one left. To his credit, Ainz is uncomfortable with the worship and keeps trying to encourage them to think more for themselves beyond automatically deferring to his will.

** Universal Century gives us several Zeonic personality cults, modeled on Zeon Zum Deikun (after his death), [[Anime/MobileSuitGundam the Zabi family]] (especially [[TheEvilPrince Gihren]]), LadyOfWar [[Anime/MobileSuitGundamZZ Haman Kahn]], and AcePilot Characters/GundamCharAznable (who is also Zeon Zum Deikun's son and heir).

Cults as frequently represented in fiction are self-created but in practice, cults can also be developed independently of the subject's active will and desire. After a person's death, the new cult is hijacked by parties or other factions so as to claim a certain tradition, which otherwise does not really exist in the present for them to claim, and so give their new and fresh ideas an aura of legitimacy and continuity in the eyes of the people, who otherwise would see the new team as merely a political outsider and new upstart. Cults often derive from new regimes and revolutions. It is also present in the kingdom and TheEmpire where a new regime, if he is an UnexpectedSuccessor, TheConqueror, TheUsurper, or *gasp* a woman, would need to go out of their way to make their ideas presentable and acceptable to the people with memories of the YeGoodeOldeDays before this upstart with their fancy new ways arrived. In this manner, a cult of personality is merely a highly cunning PR stunt.

* Subverted with Cuba's authoritarian right and left wing rulers Batista and Castro. The two didn't bother cultivating personality cults for themselves, though Castro instead favored a cult of his fellow revolutionary Che Guevara, who himself is an almost messianic figure amongst the radical left as an aspiration. Eventually, even Castro developed a cult of personality himself, in many cases, alongside Che Guevara's.

* Chiang Kai-shek had statues of himself put up all over Taiwan, which were mostly torn down after his death. The fact that numerous statues were set up to him was used as an argument that he wasn't a dictator- he publicly decried them, but darn it, people insisted on erecting statues to him all over the place.

** One of his predecessors, Ferdinand Marcos, also was a subject of the personality cult, and is portrayed as a war hero, a strong leader, and a wise man. Marcos was affectionally called as "Apo Lakay", meaning "Wise Elder" in the Ilocano language in which Marcos was a native speaker of. He was even portrayed together with his wife Imelda as a Filipino version of Adam and Eve (Malakas and Maganda), lit. Strength and Beauty in some official portraits, and once hada a monument of himself clearly intended to emulate Mount Rushmore. There is even a local cult who consider him Jesus Christ!