History Main / NumberOfTheBeast

u** A totally serious chain email in the late '90s claimed that Bill Gates was the Antichrist and that the Internet (which... [[FridgeLogic he owned?]]) was his Mark, by adding up the ASCII for "Bill Gates" (66 + 73 + 76 + 71 + 65 + 84 + 69 + 83) and [[AssPull adding 3 as in William Gates ''III'']]. It went on to say this method also worked for "Windows 95", and that "WWW" represented the Number because of its resemblance to "VI VI VI".

*** Also, in {{Persona 3}}, {{Satan}} has a unique move named "Black Viper" {a {{Shout Out}} to the Bible story}, which has a base power of 900 {a multiple of 6}, costs 60 MP, and is learned at level 86. I'll give you a hint, 6+6+6.

* The original ''{{Quake}}'' features a powerup called the Pentagram of Protection, which puts a red 666 on your armor counter, although that's just for symbolic and aesthetic purposes -- your health will not go down while this powerup is active, and anything that tries to spawn at your position will be reverse telefragged. Note that your armor will still take damage if you have any on.

Compare with its Asian counterparts [[OneHundredAndEight 108]] and [[FourIsDeath 4]].

*** Nero may be the trope namer, but it was about the only thing he ''didn't'' actually do to get his evil reputation.
*** Nero was most likely '''very''' bad, but one still has to consider the sources which were anti-caesarean and Nero was, well, not a genius. He may have been ahead of his time, in certain respects, and the persecution of Christians was neither devastating nor particularly anti-christian in the religious sense. No less an authority than the Emperor Traianus called the first five years of Nero's regency the best rule in Roman history -- although Nero was then under the influence of Seneca and the chief of the Praetorian Guard, Burrus. And just as an aside (well, mentioned above, but I had to embellish), Nero didn't fiddle around juring the great fire of Rome, but arrived as quickly as he could to organize fire quenching and relief for the victims.
** One theory that this troper has heard relies on the assumption that 666 is purely symbolic, not some code: basically, the number 6 is supposed to represent man ("a human number"), because man was made on the 6th day. Also, the fact that there are ''three'' 6s is meant to stand for {{Satan}}, the Beast of the Sea, and the Beast of the Earth being an evil mockery of the Holy Trinity.
* It was a joke in Real Life during Ronald Reagan's presidency because "Ronald Wilson Reagan" is 6 letters, 6 letters, 6 letters.
** Furthermore, Ronald Reagan had his house, 666 St. Cloud Road, renumbered 668, from superstition.
** As the ''TheColbertReport'' noticed, he's also nicknamed "Gipper", "Teflon", supported the "Contra", and was elected in a year (1980) whose numbers added together are equal to 6+ 6+ 6. He also noted that AdolfHitler and JosephStalin both have six-letter first and last names ([[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking also Stamos]], but his first is "John").
* Okay, a little math: Say that A = 100, B = 101, C = 102, and so on up the line. Add up the letters in Hitler's last name. Or that of hydrogen bomb creator Edward Teller. Or the word "Monday", for that matter.
* Converting "tropes" into decimal ASCII and adding up the letters gives us 116+ 114+ 111+ 112+ 101+ 115 = 669. And then by using the one total AssPull per theory allowed by the rules of numerology we can turn that annoying nine upside down to get 666. I'm on to you guys.
** A totally serious chain email in the late '90s claimed that Bill Gates was the Antichrist and that the Internet (which... [[FridgeLogic he owned?]]) was his Mark, by adding up the ASCII for "Bill Gates" (66 + 73 + 76 + 71 + 65 + 84 + 69 + 83) and [[AssPull adding 3 as in William Gates ''III'']]. It went on to say this method also worked for "Windows 95", and that "WWW" represented the Number because of its resemblance to "VI VI VI".

** and just to underline the numerological cultural divide, on that date, the number of weddings in Asia went through the roof, in the Western world...[[UnderStatement not so much]].

*** Speaking of transportation, in a complete spot of bad luck, a Moscow bus company changed its 666 route to 616. Oops.
* Did you ever wonder about [[BarneyAndFriends Barney]]? Take the words Cute Purple Dinosaur. Replace U's with V's for it to be Romanesque: Cvte Pvrple Dinosavr. Remove all letters that correspond to Roman numerals: C, V, V, L, D, I, V. Add them up: 100, 5, 5, 500, 50, 1, 5: It comes to 666.

** [[ITakeOffenseToThatLastOne Hey, don't group us lunatics in with the rest of those maniacs!]]
* The Drumming Out ceremony for expelled Virginia Military Institute cadets is held at 3:33am, a time nicknamed "halfway to hell" at VMI.

* SF and computing journalist DaveLangford once wrote a computer program that could prove that ''any'' name [[http://www.ansible.co.uk/writing/ft107.html adds up to 666]].
* Need proof that gambling is sinful? The "bubble" separating those who did well enough at the World Series of {{Poker}} to earn a cash prize and those who don't is likely determined by the size of the original field, but at the 2008 Main Event, only the top 666 finishers were in the money.

* Other personalities whose names were "proven" to add up to 666: Mohammed, Martin Luther, pope Leo X, and NapoleonBonaparte, as mentioned in ''{{War and Peace}}''. If not more.
* VoiceOfTheLegion might be related to this, since a Roman legion contained 6,666 men.
* Base [[NumerologicalMotif 7]] is clearly the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Positional_notation Positional Notation System]] of the Beast, 666 being the highest 3-digit number possible. Want more proof? Check out ThatOtherWiki article - it has pages on base-1, base-2, -3, -4, -5, -6... and then base-8. [[ScareChord Dun Dun Daaah...]]
* The Phone Number of the Beast: [[FiveFiveFive 555]]-[[Slipknot 666]].

* ''PointPleasant'' plays an odd variation. The mark on the protagonist's eye is a series of three six-figures, overlapped and rotated in a particular pattern.
** To clarify: it's probably a ShoutOut to the 666 mark on Damien's head in ''TheOmen'', which is three sixes with their tails in the center. The mark of ''Point Pleasant'''s heroine is a circle with three tails curving outward.
* ''{{Supernatural}}'': There was a [[strike:rather reviled]] Season 1 episode called "Route 666", and then there were the 66 out of 600 possible seals that needed to be opened in order to [[spoiler:set Lucifer free from his prison]].

* ''{{Diablo}}'' himself has [[strike:666]] 1,666 HP in the first game.

The actual number, however, may be 616, as some of the older copies of Revelation list it as that rather than 666. However, 666 is so much better known that if you try to go with 616 instead it will likely [[ViewersAreGeniuses fly over the heads of the readers/viewers]]. Note that either way, it is the value six hundred and sixty six (/six hundred and sixteen), not just three sixes in a row (I'm looking at you, June 6th 2006). In fact, back then it would have been written [[strike:DCLXVI (/DCXVI)]] χξϛ/χιϛ (chi - xi - sigma / chi - iota - sigma) in Greek and the guy who wrote ''Revelation'' would totally not get the stuff about three sixes in a row.

* {{Naruto}}'s 6-tailed state during his battle with [[spoiler:Pain]]. Note that he has never accessed more than [[FourIsDeath four]] of the [[SealedEvilInACan Nine-Tailed Fox's]] tails before. What makes this [[OhCrap even more dramatic]] is that the ''skeleton of the 9-Tailed Fox'' is engulfing his body, not to mention that all of his skin is burned off, his lifespan is being drastically reduced, ''[[DemonicPossession and it's not even Naruto who's in control!]]'' And I dare not say what goes [[HighOctaneNightmareFuel beyond that...]]

* In the ''{{Berserk}}'' anime, the eclipse is said to happen every 216 years, 6* 6* 6 for those not mathematically inclined.
** You mean six cubed?

* RealLife example: Steve Vai was born on June 6, 1960 (6/6/60) and has skills that could very well be described as not of this world.

* ''Hero System'' uses three six-sided dice for skill rolls and "to-hits". A roll of three sixes always fails, no matter how many bonuses the character has. (However, it's referred to as a roll of 18, or 6+ 6+ 6, not a roll of 666.)

* The Phone Number of the Beast: [[FiveFiveFive 555]]-666.

*** Ceramics... pottery... potters... HARRY POTTER! [[SarcasmMode Proof that Harry Potter is Satanist!]]

* {{Green Lantern}}s were forbidden from going to the world Ryut, where all life was obliterated by a Manhunter atrocity in the distant past. When Abin Sur crash lands there, he uncovers the prophecy of the Blackest Night, and the Anti-Monitor is turned into the Black Power Battery there. Earth is sector 2814 -- anyone wanna guess what sector Ryut is?

** [[RebuildOfEvangelion Rebuild]] Mari Illustrious Makinami [[spoiler: hijacks Unit-2 in order to fight the last Angel in You Can (Not) Advance, she activates Code: 666, named, you guessed it, The Beast]]

* In ''[[NeonGenesisEvangelion The End Of Evangelion]]'', Ritsuko uses program 666 to protect NERV from being hacked by SEELE.

-->-- '''[[TheBible Book]] of [[GannonBanned Revelations]]''' 12:12, 13:18

** Electronica group System 7 also has two different albums both titled ''777''. (The first of these is titled ''System 7'' except for in the United States, because of Apple's System 7 operating system.)

* Heavy metal band Loudness has an instrumental titled "222".

[[caption-width-right:320:OhCrap.]]

** The prevalence of 666 has lead observant fans to come up with [[{{WMG}} theories]] to explain it.

* Possibly unintentional, but the first time {{Naruto}} accessed more than [[FourIsDeath four]] of the [[SealedEvilInACan Nine-Tailed Fox's]] tails, he skipped straight to six.

* Asheron'sCall featured an event boss, Bael'zharon, who when inspected, was level 666. There is also the White Rabbit, who has 666 in every stat (and [[GameBreaker instant-kills you]] when you inspect it.)