Basic Trope: An secret organization that controls much of the world and its economy.
- Straight: The Illuminati is a secret organization that has planned much of recent human history.
- Exaggerated: The Illuminati have planned for everything, since the beginning of humanity.
- Downplayed:
- The Illuminati control many things, but they do not control everything.
- The Illuminati secretly has some form of influence over the government, but not direct control.
- Justified: Power conspiracies DID happen world over historically, as can be proven time and again by doing actual research on the subject. This one is just another to add to the list.
- Inverted: The protagonists have planned for every possible scenario against the villain.
- The conspiracy is actually the opposite of a controlling group - they are loosely affiliated cells who act to undermine power.
- Subverted: They are a powerful force, but not the most powerful secret force in the world. In fact there are many super-powerful world wide Ancient Conspiracies, though the Illuminati still get most of the blame.
- Double Subverted: ...But then it turns out they control all the other conspiracies and truly do manipulate the world, both things that are seen and unseen
- Parodied:
- The Illuminati are portrayed as buffoons who only really got lucky.
- They've planned so far as to do their final dinner arrangements.
- The Illuminati control the entire world. They are cunning. They are ruthless. They are omniscient. And they will not stop until they achieve their ultimate goal... to create the world's most perfect omelet.
- The Illuminati is built up to be a huge threat, only for The Reveal to be that they're just a bunch of ineffective morons who only think they rule the world.
- The Illuminati are just trolls whom spam the "Illuminati Confirmed" meme.
- The Illuminati spend all of their time and resources sneaking their "secret" symbols into pop music videos. If they have any greater goal beyond this, nobody knows it and they're not telling.
- The Illuminati are the creators of the show, they, by definition, control (nearly) everything that happens.
- Zig Zagged: The Illuminati control everything... wait, no! They're not real. Aha, that's just what they want you to think. Well, actually, the group is real but they're not that powerful and are kinda dumb. Actually, that group was just a front for the real Illuminati who do control everything and are quite dangerous.
- Averted: The Illuminati doesn't exist.
- Enforced: The writers want an evil, secret organization to be behind everything and the Illuminati is a good way to let the audience know exactly what the heroes are up against.
- Lampshaded: "They're the Illuminati. They've probably been behind everything since the dawn of time!"
- Invoked: The hero finds out the Illuminati exists and is behind his current case. Then he begins to wonder if they've been behind all of his other cases as well.
- Exploited: The Big Bad makes the hero think the Illuminati exists as a Red Herring.
- Discussed: The heroes wonder if the Illuminati exist.
- Conversed: "This show uses the Illuminati as the bad guys. Isn't that getting old?"
- Implied: "Do not seek to thwart us. We are everywhere and it has been that way for centuries. That is all you need to know."
- Deconstructed: The Illuminati is so secretive and corrupt that they have been fighting and backstabbing each other for centuries and have not gotten anything done.
- Reconstructed: As it turns out, there has been an even more secretive inner-circle that purposefully caused the in-fighting to eventually throw the world into chaos, allowing them to take over.
- Played For Laughs: The Illuminati is just a bunch of rich old farts with delusions of grandeur but they really just spend their time and money on hookers and silly little rituals.
- Played For Drama: The Illuminati is real and the heroes know they are in over their heads.
- Defied: The Illuminati was destroyed hundreds of years ago and never accomplished anything.
- Plotted A Good Waste: The work takes the conspiracy theory trappings of investigators and brings in real history to reveal the propaganda origins and refute them. The conclusion in the end is that figures like Barruel were at very best were Right for the Wrong Reasons or Metaphorically True as while the Bavarian Illuminati's members did not take over, similar enlightenment ideas won out, shaped the world, and remain today.
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