Inquisition - Derivative Works

Derivative Works

Some of the fictional works mentioned below reflect the popular reputation of the Inquisition as much as its historicity.

The Inquisitions appear in many cultural works. Some include:

  • Voltaire's satire Candide (1759) has a scene featuring the Portuguese Inquisition, with the title character and Dr. Pangloss both found guilty of heresy.
  • The short story by Edgar Allan Poe, "The Pit and the Pendulum" (1842) takes place against the background of the Spanish Inquisition.
  • The Grand Inquisitor, a parable told by Ivan to Alyosha in Fyodor Dostoevsky's novel The Brothers Karamazov (1879–1880).
  • The Spanish Inquisition, the subject of a classic Monty Python sketch of 1970 ("Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition!"), became referenced conspicuously in the film Sliding Doors (1998).
  • In Terry Pratchett's Small Gods, the Omnian church has a Quisition, with sub-sections called Inquisition and Exquisition: "... some of the inquisitors had an enviable knowledge of the insides of the human body that is denied to all those who are not allowed to open it while it's still working ..."
  • In the Warhammer 40,000 universe, the Holy Inquisition is one of the most powerful and influential factions in the Imperium of Man. Divided into many divisions ("ordos"), its agents are sworn to defend the Imperium from all threats, foreign and domestic. Inquisitors are authorised to burn entire planets and condemn billions of innocent souls to death in pursuit of this sacred duty. The three most prominent divisions of the Inquisition are the Ordo Xenos (which specialises in the study and destruction of aliens), the Ordo Malleus (demon slayers) and the Ordo Hereticus (witch hunters).
  • In J.K. Rowling's 2003 book Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Professor Dolores Umbridge sets up an Inquisition at the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry], with herself as the High Inquisitor.
  • Man of La Mancha, a Broadway musical, tells the story of the classic novel Don Quixote as a play-within-a-play performed by prisoners as they await a hearing with the Spanish Inquisition.
  • Arturo Ripstein's 1973 film The Holy Office (El santo oficio) about the Inquisition in New Spain (Mexico).
  • The 2006 film Goya's Ghosts features the Spanish Inquisition. The painter Goya attempts to save his muse, Ines, from persecution by the Holy Office.

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