YMMV / Book of Revelation

• Applicability: As the only book of the Bible about the future, the events depicted are really confusing and each have dozens of interpretations. Loads of fiction thus loves to call attention to elements of Revelation in their story, though usually just the most well known elements like Armageddon, the Antichrist (though there was no Antichrist in the book to begin with), and demons.
• Broken Base:
  • Is "The man named John" John the Apostle? There's been quite a debate over this.
  • Is the Book genuinely intended as a prophecy of the future, or is it a stealth Take That! at Emperor Nero? Note that "666" corresponds in Jewish numerology to "Neron Kaisar," the Greek form of his name. Especially considering that the book was specifically addressed to the leaders of churches that existed in John's day but no longer exist.
    • Other theories as to this "Nero" refer to the belief that Nero would arise again to wreak destruction on the world, or as a Roman à Clef for Domitian, whose self-deification and megalomania led others to draw parallels to Nero.
  • Regarding the fate of the damned, it's been debated whether or not they will be sent to the Lake of Fire to be permanently destroyed, hence being called the "second death" or to be consciously tormented for all eternity. Some even take a third Opinion, most notably Gregory of Nyssa, and say that it will a place of Fire Purifies with the souls of the damned joining the kingdom of heaven after their souls have been made pure.
• Common Knowledge: In canon, the white horseman is actually Conquest, but popular culture knows him as Pestilence. Perhaps because Conquest's schtick is already kind of covered by War.
  • It's likely that, due to Conquest's use of a bow, he was confused with Apollo, who also used a bow and used it to spread plague.
• Continuity Lockout: The book has more than five hundred references to previous scriptures. It was really meant to be read last.
• Ensemble Dark Horse: The four riders of the apocalypse. They have exactly one scene and have no mentioning in any other biblical book (apocryphal or not), and only one of them even gets a name (Death). They are amazingly popular in popular culture.
• Esoteric Happy Ending: The world goes through near-literal Hell on Earth and gets destroyed at the end, but the good news is that all those who believe get to live in a shiny New Jerusalem God has prepared especially for them. Everyone else burns for all eternity in the Lake of Fire.
• Everyone Is Jesus in Purgatory: Studying the various conflicting interpretations of scholars and preachers and theologians trying to figure which things symbolize what can be quite the Mind Screw.
• Fandom-Enraging Misconception:
  • It's not called the Book of Revelations, as many think, it's The Book of Revelation, singular.
  • Contrary to some adaptations, the title "Antichrist" as such is actually not used in this book. In Revelation, the Antichrist figure is always called simply "The Beast" (whence also the Mark and Number that most people are familiar with even today).
  • The Rapture is also not in Revelation. It comes from Paul's letters to Timothy. ^note  And the LaHaye/Jenkins Left Behind conception of the same is a belief that has its origins in the Evangelical movement in North America, and came into being in the mid 19th Century.
  • "Armageddon" is not the name for the final battle between heaven and hell, but the Greek name for Mount Megiddo, a mountain in Israel where said battle takes place.
  • "Apocalypse" means "unveiling" or "revelation", not "supernatural world-ending disaster". (That the apokalypsis of this work is a End Of The World As We Know It scenario was more meant to be a shock.)
• Harsher in Hindsight: The book features a toxic meteorite named Wormwood, and as conspiracy theorists never tire of reminding us, Chernobyl means Wormwood.
• Memetic Mutation: 666
  • THE NUMBER OF THE BEAST!
  • Biblically accurate angels as depicted in these texts have become somewhat of a meme as of late. Usually highlighting the disturbing nature of their appearances.
• Nightmare Fuel: As a detailed account of the entire world being horrifically destroyed, it naturally takes up most of the Nightmare Fuel of the New Testament.

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