A common antagonist in media is “the doomsday cult.” The cult swears up and down that the end is near, and they will try to make the end happen sooner. The leaders are persuasive, but normally aren’t acting for money or a harem. They and their faithful flock are positive that the deity they worship will spirit them away to paradise, or at the very least, keep them safe from the horror that is about to be unleashed on the world. 

Then, doomsday starts. The sky turns red, the streets are littered with bodies, monsters and demons are going nuts. The hero tries to stop the world from being destroyed. But, where is the cult? Are they whooping it up in their temple? Are they out in the streets participating in causing mayhem?

No. They’re fucking dead. It’s almost like they, as mortals, weren’t immune to the destruction.

The Mythic Dawn (The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion)

Leader: Mankar Camoran

What were they doing?

In the Elder Scrolls series, there are evil gods, known as Daedric Princes. Each one represents something (like lies, rape, and cannibalism), and has their own plane of Oblivion (Hell) to rule over. A lot of people across the series worshipped the Princes, but the Mythic Dawn cult worshipped Mehrunes Dagon, Daedric Prince of Destruction. The cult wanted to bring Dagon into the mortal world, so he could destroy it (of course). Then, the faithful would occupy the world, remaking it to their liking, with Dagon at the big metaphorical throne.

What happened to the cult? 

Here’s the funny thing about the daedric princes, though. They don’t care about anyone unless they are specifically that prince’s chosen one. Everyone else can get fucked.

Towards the end of this saga, the player character travels into Oblivion to fight Mankar Camoran, who is in a castle, eating bonbons and talking shit to you telepathically. Along the way, you find some very unhappy cultists (rather, their souls). If you ask them what happened, they explain that after they died, they ended up in this section of Oblivion to test their mettle and gain access to the castle. This means they get chased by demons all day long, and if they are caught, they get killed. But, because they’re already dead, they respawn and get chased all over again. Heaven forbid they completely renounce the cult or Dagon, then they get sent to the lava pits to burn forever.

The Ogdru Jahad (Hellboy)

Leader: No one in particular, but let’s use Rasputin

What were they doing?

This is kind of cheating, but these gross looking eldritch horrors DO get worshipped by some of the characters. By releasing the Ogdru Jahad from their otherworldly prison, it will either directly cause, or at least signal, the downfall of mankind and the destruction of Earth. Rasputin thinks that after the world is destroyed, it will be remade into a new Eden for the new human race.

What happened to the cult?

Again, there is technically no cult, but the people who try and free the Ogdru Jahad tend to not make it out of the situation unscathed, and I don’t mean just by Hellboy and his squad.

Herman von Klempt? His agents were all turned into monsters, then eaten by a lesser beast sent by the Ogdru. He is eventually killed by an Ogdru-possessed Rasputin.

Nimue? Possessed and used as a vessel by the Ogdru, transforming her into a dragon against her will. Then, Hellboy wrecked her shit.

Rasputin? He gets possessed and eventually killed a few times (as Rasputins are wont to do). After a while, he realizes that the Jahad were just using him, then tries attacking the first person he sees. This results in his soul getting trapped in an acorn for a bit. Once he recovers from that, the Ogdru Jahad try one last time to use Rasputin as a vessel, basically making him a thrall. This earns him a neck snap from Hellboy.

The Order (Silent Hill series)

Leader(s): Dahlia Gillespie; later, Claudia Wolf

What were they doing?

The Order of Silent Hill worshipped a sun-based goddess. This goddess was supposed to “cleanse the world with fire.” The faithful would be spared from this cleansing, and the world would become a paradise, where no suffering exists. The way they would do this would be to use a young woman as the vessel to birth the god. High priestess Dahlia opted to use her psychic daughter, Alessa, as the vessel. The ritual involved setting Alessa on fire and leaving her to suffer for years, as the god grew stronger from a combination of Alessa’s powers, hatred, and sorrow. When the time was right, the god would be born, and commence the cleansing.

What happened to the cult?

In Silent Hill 1, depending on the player’s choice in the game, the god can appear in two forms, a flying goat demon with titties, or a more mature looking Alessa. Regardless of the form, the first thing they do is kill Dahlia, arguably the most faithful person in the cult.

After beating the creature, storywise, the cult fractures, either because the dissenters start “vanishing” or their stalking of the new intended vessel isn’t going as they hoped. In SH3, The Order’s new high priestess, Claudia, tries bringing the god into the world again. But, unlike the other entries in this list, Claudia acknowledges that she won’t be spared from the destruction. But, not because the god is a literal “kill it all with fire” deity. Claudia apparently sinned too hard trying to bring the god into the world. Regardless, Claudia ends up dying for her cause. As for the rest of the cultists, they slowly fade into the background (at least until SH: Homecoming, but I’m not touching that one today).

However, it is implied that, because of the reality warping nature of Silent Hill, the humanoid monsters may not actually be “monsters.”

One must ask why would anyone, fictional or otherwise, would join a doomsday cult, especially one where people know that supernatural shit is at work. Well, it’s literally the way any religion works. Some people swear that they will go to paradise without suffering after everything turns to shit because they believed hard enough or slaughtered enough unicorns. But, unlike doomsday cults in real life, doomsday cults in fiction allow the viewer to see what waits for the cultists on the other side. We are then given the glorious ability to mock the cultists for their terrible decisions.