Grigori Rasputin in popular culture

Manga and anime

• Rasputin appears in
  Detective Conan: The Last Wizard of the Century
  as the ancestor of Seiran Hoshi a.k.a. "Scorpion", who shoots her victims in the right eye to avenge him.
• Rasputin is a primary antagonist in the anime Master of Mosquiton. In the series, he is an immortal alien who has been on Earth since the dawn of humanity, and the name Rasputin is simply the latest of his many aliases.
• Rasputin appears in the manga Steel Angel Kurumi as one of three mystics who helps set up a barrier for a Steel Fight.
• Rasputin is a primary antagonist in the anime
  Raimuiro Senkitan
  .
• Rasputin makes a small cameo in the
  Soul Eater
  manga and anime, where he briefly fights the living scythe Soul Eater and Soul's wielder and partner, Maka.
• Rasputin is an antagonist in the Blood+ manga and anime, where he serves Diva as the second of her Chevaliers.
• Rasputin is an antagonist in the manga Drifters as well as its anime adaptation (voiced by Masahiko Tanaka), where he, together with the Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna of Russia, serves the Black King as an Ends.^[16]
• Rasputin makes a cameo in the Beyblade series where it is revealed he was the one who created the Sacred Beast for the Beyblade Black Dranzer.
• A descendant of Rasputin named Rasputon appears as the antagonist in the
  Lupin III television special
  episode "From Russia With Love".
• In Record of Ragnarok, Rasputin is listed as one of the 13 warriors representing humanity in the tournament against the gods.

Books

• Rasputin appears as a comical antagonist in the 1978
  Nicholas II calls for him after his son Alexei Nikolaevich falls and strikes his head on a desk. Rasputin enters the room, chants over the suffering child, and then leaves. The alien visitors Raf, Ari, Valmis and Dark are soon told about Alexi's Haemophilia by Nicholas. They cure Alexi within three days after they are able to reproduce a necessary protein it using machinery and injected the new blood into the czarevitch. With Alexi cured, Nicholas II no longer has any use for Rasputin and he is thrown out of the Royal palace by Imperial soldiers. He eventually makes his way to New York City
  and later becomes successful in the advertising and film industries.
• In the 1999 book Our Dumb Century produced by The Onion, one of the articles for the March 16, 1923 edition is "Russians Continuing to Kill Rasputin", in which Rasputin not only is poisoned, shot, stabbed, and drowned, but is also run over by a freight train, shot from a cannon, set on fire, and decapitated twice (among many other things), yet still refuses to die.
• In the 1999
  The Wages of Sin, the Third Doctor and his companions Jo Grant and Liz Shaw
  meet Rasputin prior to his death and learn that he is actually a more pleasant individual than history records — since all evidence of his villainy was written by his enemies — but the Doctor is nevertheless forced to allow Rasputin to die, in order to preserve history.
• In the 2003 novel The Romanov Prophecy by Steve Berry, Rasputin is depicted as a mysterious and prophetic figure who predicts his own demise, as well as that of the Russian Empire, but then a return of the Romanovs to power. The first two of those prophecies are based on an actual letter that the historical Rasputin wrote.^[17]
• In Mikheil Javakhishvili's novel Kvachi, the eponymous character befriends Rasputin through a ruse. Kvachi exploits his connection to him to gain favor with the tsar. After recognizing that the political tide is turning towards to Bolsheviks, however, Kvachi and his associates assassinate him in exactly the same way as is historically described.
• In the 2013 book The Blood Gospel, the first novel in the Order of the Sanguines series by James Rollins, Grigori Rasputin is portrayed as an exiled Russian vampire who reigns over a religious cult he created, and is one of the main antagonists of the series.
• The 2016 crypto-thriller
  The Apocalypse Fire by Dominic Selwood features cryptographs
  contained in personal notebooks belonging to Rasputin.
• Jeremy Robinson’s 2016 novel Empire portrays Rasputin as Vladimir, president of Russia. He met Alexander Diotrephes, the mythical Hercules, and obtained his elixir for immortality centuries prior. He is also responsible for the resurrection of Julie Sigler, sister of Jack Sigler, callsign: King, and brainwashing her into serving him. The book’s epilogue shows King infiltrating Valdimir’s private quarters and learning his true identity before stripping him of his immortality. Rasputin is rumored to return in the sequel novel, Kingdom.
• Nicholas II as a companion to the tsar's son, Alexei. As a member of the royal entourage, Rasputin is featured in events both fictional and factual, leading up to his death.^[18]

The rock musician Jon Symon performed mainly in the 1970s under his stage name Rasputin.

Bands

• The cello rock band Rasputina, formed in 1992, derive their name from Rasputin; the lead singer Melora Creager was "into [him] at the time".^[19]

Songs

• "Rasputin" was a hit song by the disco band Boney M. The song loosely describes Rasputin and some of the events of his life, emphasizing and exaggerating his sexual liaisons. Bobby Farrell had dressed up as Rasputin in some band performances of the song. Coincidentally, Farrell died on December 30, 2010, the anniversary of Rasputin's death, in Saint Petersburg, the same city in which Rasputin was killed.^[20][21] In 2007, Finnish folk metal band Turisas released a cover of the song.
• The American progressive metal band Mastodon released a concept album in 2009 entitled Crack the Skye. It features a track called 'The Czar' which is about Rasputin.^{[citation needed]}
• "Let Rasputin Do It" is a song on the Swedish rock band Fireside's 1998 album Uomini d'Onore.^{[citation needed]}
• Rasputin is the subject of a song by Therion, "The Khlysti Evangelist" on their album Sirius B.
• The
  HMO"; this portrayed Rasputin as being unable to obtain medical treatment from his HMO despite having been poisoned, burned, exploded, shot, and thrown in a river.^{[citation needed}
  ]
• The Brazilian/American thrash metal band Cavalera Conspiracy wrote a song entitled "Rasputin" on their second album Blunt Force Trauma.^{[citation needed]}
• The Indigo Girls' 1989 song "Closer to Fine" includes the lyrics "I went to see the doctor of philosophy/With a poster of Rasputin and a beard down to his knee".
• Radio Tapok recently released a song named "Rasputin", narrating his death and the events which led to it.

Album covers

• Rasputin is on the album cover of Electronic's third album, Twisted Tenderness (1999).
• A rendering of Rasputin's face is visible on the single Thirty-Three by The Smashing Pumpkins.
• Rasputin is depicted on the cover of Type O Negative's 2007 album, Dead Again.
• The cover of the Raskol EP by polish band Batushka, released on 2020, shows Rasputin being struck by seven blades, resembling the Seven Pains of the Holy Mary.

Other

• Rasputin Music is an independent chain of music stores located in and around the San Francisco Bay Area. The first store, founded in Berkeley, California in 1971, was named after the Russian monk, and the chain today uses pictures of Rasputin in their store decorations and marketing/promotional materials.
• In the second-season finale of the
  Epic Lloyd). Vladimir Lenin (Nice Peter), Mikhail Gorbachev (Epic Lloyd), and Vladimir Putin
  (Nice Peter) joined as well.

Computer and video games

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Games named after Rasputin

• Rasputin was a platform game released by
  Firebird for the Commodore 64, ZX Spectrum^[22] and Amstrad CPC
  in 1985. The player takes the role of a knight tasked with preventing The Spirit of Rasputin from destroying the universe by destroying the source of his power, the Jewel of Seven Stars.

• Grigoria Rasputin plays a major role in the game Shadow Hearts: Covenant. In the game, he is a genuine mystic with dark powers, and he is head of a secret group which is plotting the overthrow of the Czar.
• Rasputin appears as a primary antagonist in
  Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner: Raidou Kuzunoha vs. The Soulless Army
  .
• Rasputin appears as a Servant in
  Kirei Kotomine
  , in an antagonistic role during the second arc of the game.
• Rasputin appears as an antagonist during the Third Arc storyline in Wizard101 who first appears in Polaris, a world based on Russia in the time where Rasputin was alive. During Polaris, he acts as an adviser to the Empress.
• Rasputin appears as a major character in 2024 game, The Thaumaturge.

Characters based on Rasputin

• The main character in the
  PS2/Xbox game Psychonauts
  is called Razputin (better known as 'Raz'). Due to his psychic abilities, he is presumably named after Rasputin. The backstory of the character Raz includes a fear of drowning (like Rasputin's siblings) and a life in the circus (like his daughter Maria).
• In
  Yuri
  was most likely inspired by Rasputin; he is a mysterious man with special powers who has a hold on the Russian leader.
• In the Adult Swim cartoon Metalocalypse, the character of Vater Orlaag bears a physical resemblance to Rasputin, and is a spiritual advisor, much like Rasputin was to Tsar Nicholas II in real life
• In the game Resident Evil 4, the village chief Bitorez Mendez bears a striking resemblance to Rasputin. Also, as Rasputin cared for the peasantry, Chief Mendez is the only possessor of a dominant Plagas that shows any care for the ganados as revealed by a note encountered shortly before the boss battle with him. Mendez' voice actor, Jesse Corti, even voiced him in a similar manner to Rasputin from the Hellboy film. His bio in supplementary materials also reveal he was formerly a Christian priest before the Los Illuminados arrived,^[23] just like how Rasputin was a monk.
• In the game Destiny and its sequel, Rasputin is an artificial intelligence built to defend Old Earth. A major non-player character, Rasputin plays a significant role in the game's somewhat mysterious story. The AI will occasionally speak to the player in Russian, quoting 19th century literature.^[24]
• A character named Rasputin can be found as a playable character in the
  Alpha Denshi and SNK, being the leader of a pansexual love cult based in Russia.^[25] He has the ability to create fire, ice, and lightning projectiles, and his super attack heavily implies him sexually assaulting his foe.^[26]

Theme parks

One of the 11 portraits (Sinister Eleven), a Marc Davis concept which appears in Walt Disney's Haunted Mansion dark ride in the Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World (Florida) and Tokyo Disneyland, is dedicated to Grigori Rasputin.

Other

• In
  Shadow Lords). The second edition of Wraith: The Oblivion has a description of the 'Stamina' attribute referring to the stories of Rasputin's assassination. The in-game "truth" is still disputed, though Ethan Skemp (developer of Werewolf) has since mentioned that the multiple conflicting stories were meant as little more than an in-joke running through many of White Wolf's early books.^[27]
• In Team Fortress 2, there is an achievement for the Heavy class named after Rasputin, given for being shot, burned, bludgeoned and exploded in a single life. This is a reference to Rasputin's alleged survival of being poisoned, being shot several times, and being badly beaten before finally being shot in the head and being dropped into the Malaya Nevka River.
• In
  codices describe Rasputin as a Templar
  agent who infiltrates the Czar's palace so he can steal a powerful artifact in the Czar's possession.

Other media

• Todd McFarlane's toy company, McFarlane Toys, made a Rasputin action figure.
• Skaters Natalia Bestemianova and Andrei Bukin performed an ice dance program titled Rasputin in 1991. Choreographed to tell the story of the Romanovs, Bukin as Rasputin "died" four times at the beginning of the program. Rasputin is considered one of the most over-the-top ice dancing routines ever seen, and led to an IOC rule that skaters must not "die" as a part of their routine.^[28]
• In the collaborative alternate history project Ill Bethisad (which began in 1997), Rasputin was never killed, and lives until the mid-20th century; he is canonized as an Orthodox saint in 1979.^[29][30][31]
• Imperial stout bears his name. According to its website, the stout is brewed in the tradition of 18th-century English brewers that supplied the court of Catherine the Great
  .
• Rasputin and The Mad Monk appear as playable collectable figures in the HorrorClix game produced by WizKids Games.
• One
  Paizo Publishing features Rasputin (two years after his own death) as the son of Baba Yaga and a major villain for the player characters to thwart.^[32]
• Irish professional wrestler John Howard (1943-2013) aka Sean Doyle, was billed as Rasputin while wrestling in the UK in the 1980s and 1990s. Howard, as Rasputin, wrestled in bouts televised on
  World of Sport and subsequent stand-alone Wrestling show as well as S4C's Reslo programme.^[33]

References

1. ^ David Napley, Rasputin in Hollywood (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1989).
2. ^ Bergan, Ronald (4 November 2003). "Elem Klimov". The Guardian. Retrieved 27 December 2014.
3. ^ "Alan Rickman". Los Angeles Times. 14 January 2016. Retrieved 20 May 2017.
4. ^ "Le Figaro - Cinéma : Depardieu dans la peau de Raspoutine". Le figaro. France. 15 April 2011. Retrieved 29 January 2012.
5. ^ Orquiola, John (28 January 2020). "Legends Of Tomorrow Reveals Yet Another Way To Remember The Arrowverse Before Crisis On Infinite Earths". ScreenRant. Retrieved 10 November 2023.
6. ^ "Doctor Who: Former companions to join Jodie Whittaker's farewell". BBC News. 17 April 2022. Retrieved 17 April 2022.
7. ^ Chibnall, Chris (writer); Stone, Jamie (director) (23 October 2022). "The Power of the Doctor". Doctor Who. Series 13. Episode 9. BBC. BBC One.
8. ^ "Johnny Knoxville on why his gassy Rasputin in 'History of the World Part II' is a dream come true". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on 21 March 2023.
9. ^ "Chilling Adventures of Sabrina (2018) s02e01 Episode Script | SS". Springfield! Springfield!. Retrieved 29 April 2019.
10. ^ "Jay Jeff Jones - complete guide to the Playwright, Plays, Theatres, Agent". Doollee.com. Retrieved 29 January 2012.
11. ^ "beardo". Davemalloy.com. 1 May 2011. Retrieved 29 January 2012.
12. ^ "Former journalist wins drama award". York Press. Retrieved 29 August 2020.
13. ^ "Rasputin's Mother at The Old Joint Stock". The Birmingham Press. 22 March 2013. Retrieved 29 August 2020.
14. ^ "Rasputin's Mother – BBC author interview". YouTube. Retrieved 29 August 2020.
15. ^ "Rasputin". Image Comics. Retrieved 18 February 2015.
16. ISBN 978-4-7859-3714-0
    .
17. ISBN 978-0345504395
    .
18. ISBN 978-0552775410
    .
19. ^ "Rasputina Biography". Archived from the original on 21 October 2013. Retrieved 2 September 2013.
20. ^ "Boney M frontman Bobby Farrell died on same day as Rasputin".
21. ^ "The death of Boney M's singer Bobby Farrel has occurred on the same day and in the same city as the death of Rasputin, the "lover of the Russian queen"". 12 February 2017.
22. ^ "Rasputin". World of Spectrum. Retrieved 31 May 2017.
23. ISBN 978-0744013214
24. ^ Hillier, Brenna (22 September 2014). "Ever wondered what Destiny's Rasputin is saying?". VG247. Retrieved 31 May 2017.
25. ^ "Rasputin (World Heroes)". Fightersgeneration.com. 18 May 2012. Retrieved 31 May 2017.
26. ^ "RASPUTIN LIKES 2 TAKE IT SLOW". YouTube. 26 October 2013. Archived from the original on 19 December 2021. Retrieved 31 May 2017.
27. ^ Darkling #19. "Rasputin in the World of Darkness". Darker Days Podcast. Retrieved 26 February 2012.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
28. ^ [1] Archived September 27, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
29. ^ "Porfiri Bogolyubov - IBWiki".
30. ^ "History of Russia in Ill Bethisad".
31. ^ "Russia - IBWiki".
32. ^ "Pathfinder Adventure Path #71: Rasputin Must Die! (Reign of Winter 5 of 6) (PFRPG)". paizo.com. Retrieved 31 May 2017.
33. ^ "Rasputin the Mad Monk was warm gentle giant".