title: Brooks Robinson

text: In 153 games in 1972, Robinson batted .250. His eight home runs and 64 RBI were his lowest totals in those categories since 1961. During the season, he criticized Weaver publicly when Weaver suggested that some of the Oriole veterans were getting too old to play. "I find the remark embarrassing," Robinson said. "I don't enjoy going places to hear people say I'm over the hill, or know that they're thinking it." He recognized that Weaver was a great manager, however, and observed a couple years later that "Rarely have I questioned his action." Robinson still won the Commissioner's Award, presented annually to the individual who best represented baseball as a player and as a person.


title: Brooks Robinson

text: Robinson hit two home runs on Opening Day in 1973, but his batting average was under .200 by the middle of June. He still made the All-Star Game, but sportswriters observed that his selection had more to do with popularity than it did with his performance that season. On May 4, he had his 2,417th career hit, breaking Pie Traynor's record for most hits by a third baseman. Defensively, he started two 5-4-3 triple plays – on July 7 against the Athletics, and on September 20 against the Tigers. On August 20, he made his 2,500th hit against the Twins, a 9th-inning RBI single to tie the game, with the Orioles going on to win 4-3. In the season's final months, he batted nearly .300. He played 155 games, batting .257 with nine home runs and 72 RBI as the Orioles returned to the playoffs after a one-year absence. In the ALCS against Oakland, he batted .250 with a run scored and two RBI as the Athletics defeated Baltimore in five games.


title: Brooks Robinson

text: Though Robinson made more errors than usual in 1974, he was batting .311 at the All-Star break. In the second-to-last game of the year, Robinson scored from first on a pinch-hit double by Andy Etchebarren. The run provided the margin of victory in a game that, coupled with a Yankee loss later that day, made the Orioles AL East champions. Robinson batted .288 with seven home runs. His batting average was the best it had been since 1965, though his RBI total was at its lowest since 1959. Oriole historian Ted Patterson wrote that 1974 was "his last solid season." The Orioles again faced the Athletics in the ALCS; in Game 1, Robinson dove to catch a ball hit by Dick Green, then threw him out at first, adding a solo home run in Baltimore's 6–1 win. He would bat just .083 in the series, which Oakland won in four games.


title: Brooks Robinson

text: Plagued by a sore thumb and declining ability in 1975, Robinson missed the All-Star Game for the first time since 1960. His batting average was .159 at one point, and on July 7, a pinch-hitter was substituted for him for the first time since 1958. In 144 games, he batted .201 with six home runs and 53 RBI. On the bright side, he led AL third basemen in fielding percentage for the 11th time.


title: Brooks Robinson

text: The Orioles had a young third base prospect named Doug DeCinces, and on May 17, 1976, Weaver informed Robinson that DeCinces would be taking over his position; though still a fine fielder, Robinson was only batting .165. Robinson requested a trade to a team that would give him more playing time and was nearly sent to the White Sox, but he vetoed the deal because Chicago did not want to give him a contract through 1978. In 71 games, he batted .211 with three home runs and 11 RBI. 1977 would be his final season; his playing time was infrequent. "Brooks' last great moment," according to Patterson, came against the Indians on April 19, when he pinch-hit in the bottom of the 10th inning of a game against the Indians which Baltimore trailed 5–3. There were two men on base, and after working the count full and fouling off several pitches, Robinson hit a walkoff home run against Dave LaRoche for a 6–5 Oriole win. He made his final batting appearance on August 5 at Anaheim Stadium, pinch hitting for Belanger in the top of the eighth inning and lining out. However, he would play briefly in one more game, eight days later at Memorial Stadium against the Athletics. He entered as a pinch hitter for Al Bumbry against the left-handed Bob Lacey. When Oakland manager Bobby Winkles replaced Lacey with right-hander Doug Bair, Weaver replaced Robinson with left-handed Tony Muser before the at bat even started. With the Orioles needing another roster spot when Rick Dempsey returned from the disabled list, Robinson retired on August 21, with more than a month to go in the season.


title: Brooks Robinson

text: Robinson batted .267 in his 23-year career, accumulating 2,848 hits, 268 home runs, and 1,357 RBI. In 39 postseason games, he batted .303 with 5 home runs and 22 RBI. Several of these statistics were achieved during what biographer Wilson terms the "second dead ball era" (1962–68), in which very few players hit over .300. Defensively, Robinson set an AL record by leading the league in fielding percentage 11 seasons. His career fielding percentage of .971 was higher than that of any other third baseman when he retired. Other third baseman's records he holds include most games played at the position (2,870), most putouts (2,697), most assists (6,205), most total chances (9,165), and most double plays (618). Prior to Robinson, no other player in MLB history had spent as many as 23 seasons exclusively with one ballclub; the only player to do so since is Carl Yastrzemski. Robinson reached 18 straight All-Star Games (1960–74) and participated in the World Series four times. His AL record of 266 career home runs as a third baseman was broken by Graig Nettles in 1980.


title: Brooks Robinson

text: Robinson was very animated while waiting to hit. He would grab the top of his helmet, swing his bat with his left hand, and rock forwards and backwards before pitches. Though he was not a fast baserunner, he would swing his arms as he ran the bases, emphasizing the fact that he was running as fast as he could. As a hitter, Robinson's trademark was his custom-made batting helmet with a 1-inch bill that was much shorter than the standard. He would use a hacksaw blade to shorten the bill to keep it from distracting him at the plate.


title: Brooks Robinson

text: His strong defensive play caused him to be nicknamed the "Human Vacuum Cleaner" and "Mr. Hoover," as he was so skilled at catching balls hit towards third base. As a fielder, he was always on the move, not typical for third basemen of the time. His arm did not appear to be one of baseball's strongest partly because he was so quick at letting go of the ball. Instead of cocking his arm back before throwing, he would transfer the ball from his glove to his hand and fire it "in one seamless motion," according to Wilson. He had a knack for knowing which play to make, and he was well-known for running towards the plate to field bunts or other slow ground balls. "He didn't have a typical athletic body, he was kind of slump-shouldered, not a real muscular guy, and he didn't appear to have a strong arm," said teammate Chuck Estrada. "But then watching him play, you found out that none of that mattered, because he had great hands, a quick release, and the runner was always out." Robinson's 16 Gold Glove awards at third base are tied with Jim Kaat for the second most won by any player, behind Greg Maddux's 18.


title: Brooks Robinson

text: Jim Murray of "The Los Angeles Times" wrote during Robinson's career that "In the future, Brooks Robinson will be the standard every third baseman will be measured by"; writing 40 years later, Wilson said "That statement has withstood the test of time." Casey Stengel and Home Run Baker, each of whom was involved in the game of baseball for over 50 years, both agreed that Robinson was the greatest third baseman they ever witnessed. Traynor, a great third baseman of the past to whom Robinson was often compared, said, "I once thought of giving him some tips, but dropped the idea. He's just the best there is." Umpire Ed Hurley said, "He came down from a higher league."


title: Brooks Robinson

text: Robinson was very particular about his glove. He would try the gloves of different players and trade two of his own for theirs if he really wanted it. Once he found one he liked, he would take a year to prepare it. When he felt it was ready for game action, he would use it exclusively during games, using others for batting practice and infield workouts. He was also picky about his bat, though he would use different ones from game to game, sampling those of his teammates and even opposing players before he found one he wanted to utilize.


title: Brooks Robinson

text: Aside from his playing ability, Robinson endeared himself to the Orioles fans because of his personality. "Other stars had fans," goes a quote in Patterson's book. "Robby made friends." He treated them with patience and kindness while taking an interest in them as well. “When fans ask Brooks Robinson for his autograph,” commented Oriole broadcaster Chuck Thompson, “he complied while finding out how many kids you have, what your dad does, where you live, how old you are, and if you have a dog. … His only failing is that when the game ended, if Brooks belonged to its story – usually he did – you better leave the booth at the end of the eighth inning. … By the time the press got [to the clubhouse] Brooks was in the parking lot signing autographs on his way home." "Never has a player meant more to a franchise and more to a city than Brooks has meant to the Orioles and the city of Baltimore," wrote Patterson.


title: Brooks Robinson

text: In 1961, Robinson became the part owner of Brooks and Eddie Robinson's Gorsuch House restaurant, located near Memorial Stadium. He started Brooks Robinson Sporting Goods in 1963; the company did a great deal of wholesale business with Baltimore-area teams. By the 1970s, they had established multiple locations in the Baltimore area. They briefly supplied uniforms for the Orioles, then later outfitted the short-lived Baltimore Claws of the American Basketball Association. In 1974, the company took out a loan to expand to York, Pennsylvania, but delays in construction of the new store ran the company into debt, forcing it to cease operations shortly thereafter. A judge ordered Robinson's house to be sold in the fall of 1976 to pay the company's debt, but Robinson managed to keep the house by paying nearly $180,000 out of his personal savings. He became a spokesman for Crown Central Petroleum in 1968 and spent over 30 years working for them. After the sporting goods business failed, Robinson and Ron Shapiro founded Personal Management Associates, which managed money for athletes.


title: Brooks Robinson

text: Following his retirement as a player, Brooks began serving as a color commentator for the Orioles' television broadcasts, travelling to around 50 road games for the Orioles and calling 10 home games as well. He served as a broadcaster until 1993, when he decided to spend more time focusing on his business pursuits. In 1982, Robinson helped start the Major League Baseball Players Alumni Association, an organization that helps retired players secure benefits, promotes baseball, raises money for charity, and helps retired players interact with each other. He succeeded Kaat as president of the organization in the late 1980s and is still its head.


title: Brooks Robinson

text: Robinson became a part owner of Opening Day Partners, an organization which owns several minor league teams, in 2005. The group owns four teams in the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball, and Robinson played a significant role in establishing the York Revolution. Founded in York, Pennsylvania, in 2007, the team was York's first since 1969; Robinson himself had played minor league ball for the York White Roses in 1955. The team's stadium, PeoplesBank Park, is located at 5 Brooks Robinson Way, and the plaza at its entrance is named in his honor. In the 1980s and again in 2006, Robinson helped raise money to restore Lamar Porter Field in his hometown of Little Rock, where he had played baseball while growing up.


title: Brooks Robinson

text: Robinson's jersey number (5) was retired by the Orioles on April 14, 1978. In 1983, Robinson was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame, one of 16 players to have been honored on the first ballot since the inaugural class of 1936. Coincidentally, Kell got in the same year. "It was unbelievable that two kids raised just 90 miles apart, and with the same churchgoing backgrounds and the same ideals, would go into the Hall of Fame the same day," Kell said. "You couldn't write the script any better." Brooks and Frank were the first members of the Baltimore Orioles Hall of Fame in 1977, and Brooks was selected to the Arkansas Hall of Fame the following year. Robinson and former Baltimore Colts football player Johnny Unitas had plaques in their honor in the lobby of Memorial Stadium. When the Orioles played their last game there on October 6, 1991, Robinson and Unitas were invited to throw out the ceremonial first pitches. Robinson threw a baseball, while Unitas threw a football. After the game, Robinson led 119 former Oriole players in uniform out onto the field, where they took their old positions.


title: Brooks Robinson

text: In 1999, Robinson ranked Number 80 on "The Sporting News" list of the 100 Greatest Baseball Players and was elected to the Major League Baseball All-Century Team. Fans elected Robinson to the All-Time Rawlings Gold Glove Team in 2008; Robinson accumulated the most votes of any player elected. In 2015, Robinson was selected as one of the Orioles Franchise Four, recognizing the four greatest living players in Orioles history, along with Jim Palmer, Frank Robinson, and Cal Ripken Jr. He was the 2020 National Baseball Hall of Fame Recipient of the Bob Feller Act of Valor Award for his service in the Vietnam War.


title: Brooks Robinson

text: Robinson has won several awards not specifically for baseball players as well. In 1984, he was presented the Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement. He was awarded the Silver Beaver Award by the Boy Scouts of America in 1990. Radio Tower Drive, a road in Pikesville, Maryland, was renamed Brooks Robinson Drive in honor of Robinson's 70th birthday on May 16, 2007.


title: Brooks Robinson

text: Three statues of Robinson have been created. The first was placed in the Brooks Robinson Plaza outside PeoplesBank Park in York in 2008. On October 22, 2011, the second was unveiled on Washington Boulevard in downtown Baltimore. This statue depicted Robinson preparing to throw out a runner at first base. Present for the unveiling of the statue, Robinson commented that it "gave him more hair than he deserved." The Orioles unveiled a larger-than-life bronze sculpture of Robinson at Oriole Park at Camden Yards on September 29, 2012, as part of the Orioles Legends Celebration Series during the 20th anniversary of the ballpark.


title: Brooks Robinson

text: Robinson met his future wife, Constance Louise "Connie" Butcher, on an Orioles team flight from Kansas City to Boston in July 1959, where she was working as a flight attendant for United Airlines. He was so smitten with her that he kept ordering iced teas from her. Some of his teammates encouraged him to go talk to her. After drinking his third glass, he returned it to her in the galley. There he told her: "I want to tell you something. If any of these guys, the Baltimore Orioles, ask you for a date, tell 'em you don't date married men. Understand? I'm the only single guy on the team." Actually, nearly half of the Orioles were single. Before the plane landed in Boston the two had made a date to go out. The two were married in her hometown of Windsor, Ontario, Canada on October 8, 1960. They reside in Owings Mills, Maryland, a suburb of Baltimore. They have four children: Brooks David (b. 1961), Chris (b. 1963), Michael (b. 1964), and Diana (b. 1968).


title: Brooks Robinson

text: Raised a Methodist, in 1970 Robinson converted to Catholicism, his wife's faith. He was inspired to do so when his son, Brooks David, asked why he always went to a different church than the rest of the family on Sunday mornings. In deciding to convert, Robinson sought the advice of family friend Father Martin Schwalenberg, who taught Robinson about the Catholic faith. "For me, there is still one absolute–Jesus Christ," Robinson wrote in his 1974 autobiography. "The rest of us are still trying to reach his spiritual perfection, and that's the significant goal, no matter what form our worship takes." He has been a member of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes since early in his baseball career.


title: Brooks Robinson

text: One of Robinson's biggest hobbies is reading; while he was with the Orioles, he was a part of multiple book clubs. "Books about the Civil War and about World War II especially appeal to me," he wrote in his 1974 autobiography. He also enjoys country western music.


title: Brooks Robinson

text: Robinson was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2009, but it was discovered early, and treatments were successful. In 2010, doctors performed a large abdominal operation on Robinson. While recovering from it, he developed an infection on March 31, 2011, and spent nearly a month in the hospital. Even after he was released, further complications with the condition left him weakened the rest of the year. In January 2012, Robinson attended a charity banquet at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in South Florida. While sitting on the third level of a raised platform on a stage, he leaned backwards, and his chair fell off the platform, resulting in another month-long hospital stay and more rehab. In April 2014, Robinson and his attorneys sought a $9.9 million settlement with the Seminole Tribe of Florida as a result of the accident.


title: The Illuminatus! Trilogy

text: The Illuminatus! Trilogy is a series of three novels by American writers Robert Shea and Robert Anton Wilson, first published in 1975. The trilogy is a satirical, postmodern, science fiction–influenced adventure story; a drug-, sex-, and magic-laden trek through a number of conspiracy theories, both historical and imaginary, related to the authors' version of the Illuminati. The narrative often switches between third- and first-person perspectives in a nonlinear narrative. It is thematically dense, covering topics like counterculture, numerology, and Discordianism.


title: The Illuminatus! Trilogy

text: The trilogy comprises three parts which contain five books and appendices: The Eye in the Pyramid (first two books), The Golden Apple (third and part of fourth book), Leviathan (part of fourth and all of fifth book, and the appendices). The parts were first published as three separate volumes starting in September 1975. In 1984 they were published as an omnibus edition and are now more commonly reprinted in the latter form.


title: The Illuminatus! Trilogy

text: The authors went on to write several works, both fiction and nonfiction, that dealt further with the themes of the trilogy.


title: The Illuminatus! Trilogy

text: "Illuminatus!" has been adapted for the stage, as an audio book and has influenced several modern writers, artists, musicians, and games-makers. The popularity of the word "fnord" and the 23 enigma can both be attributed to the trilogy.


title: The Illuminatus! Trilogy

text: The plot meanders between the thoughts, hallucinations and inner voices, real and imagined, of its many characters—ranging from a squirrel to a New York City detective to an artificial intelligence—as well as through time (past, present, and future), and sometimes in mid-sentence. Much of the back story is explained via dialogue between characters, who recount unreliable, often mutually contradictory, versions of their supposed histories. There are even parts in the book in which the narrative reviews and jokingly deconstructs the work itself.


title: The Illuminatus! Trilogy

text: The trilogy's story begins with an investigation by two New York City police detectives (Saul Goodman and Barney Muldoon) into the bombing of "Confrontation", a leftist magazine, and the disappearance of its editor, Joe Malik. Discovering the magazine's investigation into the assassinations of John F. Kennedy, Robert F. Kennedy, and Martin Luther King Jr., the two follow a trail of memos that suggest the involvement of powerful secret societies. They slowly become drawn into a web of conspiracy theories. Meanwhile, the magazine's reporter, George Dorn—having been turned loose without support deep in right-wing Mad Dog, Texas—is arrested for drug possession. He is jailed and physically threatened, at one point hallucinating about his own execution. The prison is bombed and he is rescued by the Discordians, led by the enigmatic Hagbard Celine, captain of a golden submarine. Hagbard represents the Discordians in their eternal battle against the Illuminati, the conspiratorial organization that secretly controls the world. He finances his operations by smuggling illicit substances.


title: The Illuminatus! Trilogy

text: The plot meanders around the globe to such locations as Las Vegas (where a potentially deadly, secret U.S. government-developed mutated anthrax epidemic has been accidentally unleashed); Atlantis (where Howard, the talking porpoise, and his porpoise aides help Hagbard battle the Illuminati); Chicago (where someone resembling John Dillinger was killed many years ago); and to the island of Fernando Poo (the location of the next great Cold War standoff between the Soviet Union, China and the United States).


title: The Illuminatus! Trilogy

text: The evil scheme uncovered late in the tale is an attempt to "immanentize the eschaton", a secret scheme of the "American Medical Association", an evil rock band, to bring about a mass human sacrifice, the purpose of which is the release of enough "life-energy" to give eternal life to a select group of initiates, including Adolf Hitler. The AMA are revealed to be four siblings (last name Saure) who comprise four of the five mysterious Illuminati Primi. The identity of the fifth remains unknown for much of the trilogy. The first European "Woodstock" festival, held at Ingolstadt, Bavaria (place of origin of the "real" historical Illuminati, also known as Bavarian Illuminati), is the chosen location for the sacrifice of the unwary victims, via the reawakening of hibernating Nazi battalions from the bottom of nearby (fictitious) Lake Totenkopf (literal translation to contemporary American styled English- "dead head"). The plot is foiled when, with the help of a 50-foot-tall incarnation of the goddess Eris, the four members of the AMA are killed: Wilhelm is killed by the monstrous alien being Yog-Sothoth, Wolfgang is shot by John Dillinger, Winifred is drowned by porpoises, and Werner is trapped in a sinking car.


title: The Illuminatus! Trilogy

text: The major protagonists, now gathered together on board the submarine, are menaced by the Leviathan, a giant, pyramid-shaped single-cell sea monster that has been growing in size for hundreds of millions of years. The over-the-top nature of this encounter leads some of the characters to question whether they are merely characters in a book. This metafictional note is swiftly rejected (or ignored) as they turn their attention to the monster again. The threat is neutralized by offering up their onboard computer as something for the creature to communicate with to ease its loneliness. Finally Hagbard managed to defeat the Illuminati Primi and went to Alpha Centauri in 1999.


title: The Illuminatus! Trilogy

text: The titles of the three volumes or parts (the front covers were titled "Illuminatus! Part I The Eye in the Pyramid", "Illuminatus! Part II The Golden Apple" and "Illuminatus! Part III Leviathan") refer to recurring symbols of elements of the plot.


title: The Illuminatus! Trilogy

text: "The Eye in the Pyramid" refers to the Eye of Providence, which in the novel represents particularly the Bavarian Illuminati, and makes a number of appearances (for example, as an altar and a tattoo).


title: The Illuminatus! Trilogy

text: "The Golden Apple" refers to the golden apple of discord, from the Greek myth of the Judgement of Paris. In the trilogy it is used as the symbol of the Legion of Dynamic Discord, a Discordian group; the golden apple makes a number of appearances, for example, on the cover, on a black flag, and as an emblem on a uniform.


title: The Illuminatus! Trilogy

text: "Leviathan" refers to the Biblical sea monster Leviathan, which is a potential danger to Hagbard's submarine "Leif Erickson" (from the name of the Icelandic discoverer of America). It also refers to Thomas Hobbes' seminal work of political philosophy, "Leviathan", as a metaphor for an all-encompassing, authoritarian state – a common metaphor used in libertarian discourse.


title: The Illuminatus! Trilogy

text: The trilogy was originally written between 1969 and 1971 while Wilson and Shea were both associate editors for "Playboy" magazine. As part of the role, they dealt with correspondence from the general public on the subject of civil liberties, much of which involved paranoid rants about imagined conspiracies. The pair began to write a novel with the premise that "all these nuts are right, and every single conspiracy they complain about really exists". In a 1980 interview given to the science fiction magazine "Starship", Wilson suggested the novel was also an attempt to build a myth around Discordianism:


title: The Illuminatus! Trilogy

text: There was no specific division of labor in the collaborative writing process, although Shea's writing tended towards melodrama, while Wilson's parts tended towards satire. Wilson states in a 1976 interview conducted by Neal Wilgus:


title: The Illuminatus! Trilogy

text: According to Ken Campbell, who created a stage adaptation of "Illuminatus!" with Chris Langham, the writing process was treated as a game of one-upmanship between the two co-authors, and was an enjoyable experience for both:


title: The Illuminatus! Trilogy

text: The unusual end product did not appeal to publishers, and it took several years before anybody agreed to take it on. According to Wilson, the division of "Illuminatus!" into three parts was a commercial decision of the publisher, not the authors, who had conceived it as a single continuous volume. Shea and Wilson were required to cut 500 pages to reduce printing costs on what was seen as a risky venture, although Wilson states that most of the ideas contained therein made it into his later works. The idea that the top secrets of the Illuminati were cut from the books because the printer decided to trim the number of pages is a joke typical of the trilogy.


title: The Illuminatus! Trilogy

text: Dell Publishing first released these individual editions (with covers illustrated by Carlos Victor Ochagavia) in the United States in 1975, to favorable reviews and some commercial success. It became a cult favorite but did not cross over into large mainstream sales. In Britain, Sphere Books released the individual editions (with different cover art by Tony Roberts) in 1976. The individual editions sold steadily until 1984, when the trilogy was republished in a single omnibus volume for the first time. This collected edition lost the "what has gone before" introduction to "The Golden Apple" and the "Prologue" to "Leviathan". Some of the material in that foreword, such as the self-destruct mynah birds (taught to say "Here, kitty-kitty-kitty!"), appears nowhere else in the trilogy, likely a result of the 500 pages of cuts demanded by Dell. The omnibus edition gave a new lease on life to flagging sales, and became the most commonly available form of the trilogy from then on.


title: The Illuminatus! Trilogy

text: The trilogy was translated and published in German, again both as separate volumes (the three covers of which formed a triptych) and an omnibus. The face of J. R. "Bob" Dobbs was split across the first two volumes, despite the Church of the SubGenius not being featured in the novel (although Wilson had become a member). The Church was founded by "Illuminatus!" fans, and the image of "Bob" is widely considered to be a representation of Wilson himself.


title: The Illuminatus! Trilogy

text: "The Illuminatus! Trilogy" covers a wide range of subjects throughout the book. These include discussions about mythology, current events, conspiracy theories and counterculture.


title: The Illuminatus! Trilogy

text: Although the many conspiracy theories in the book are imaginary, these are mixed in with enough truth to make them seem plausible. For example, the title of the first book, "The Eye in the Pyramid", refers to the Eye of Providence, a mystical symbol which derives from the ancient Egyptian Eye of Horus and is erroneously claimed to be the symbol of the Bavarian Illuminati. Some of America's founding fathers are alleged by conspiracy theorists to have been members of this sect.


title: The Illuminatus! Trilogy

text: The books are loaded with references to the Illuminati, the Argenteum Astrum, many and various world domination plans, conspiracy theories and pieces of gnostic knowledge. Many of the odder conspiracies in the book are taken from unpublished letters to "Playboy" magazine, where the authors were working as associate editors while they wrote the novels. Among the oddest was the suggestion that Adam Weishaupt, founder of the Bavarian Illuminati, killed George Washington and took on his identity as President of the United States. This is often noted in Illuminati-conspiracy discussion. Proponents of this theory point to Washington's portrait on the United States one-dollar bill, which they suggest closely resembles the face of Weishaupt.


title: The Illuminatus! Trilogy

text: The nonsense word "fnord", invented by the writers of "Principia Discordia", is given a specific and sinister meaning in the trilogy. It is a subliminal message technique, a word that the majority of the population since early childhood has been trained to ignore (and trained to forget both the training and that they are ignoring it), but which they associate with a vague sense of unease. Upon seeing the word, readers experience a panic reaction. They then subconsciously suppress all memories of having seen the word, but the sense of panic remains. They therefore associate the unease with the news story they are reading. Fnords are scattered liberally in the text of newspapers and magazines, causing fear and anxiety in those following current events. However, there are no fnords in the advertisements, thus encouraging a consumerist society. "Fnord" magazine equated the fnords with a generalized effort to control and brainwash the populace. To "see the fnords" would imply an attempt to wrestle back individual autonomy, similar to the idea of , especially since the word fnord was actually said to appear between regular lines of text.


title: The Illuminatus! Trilogy

text: The word makes its first appearance in "The Illuminatus! Trilogy" without any explanation during an acid trip by Dr. Ignotum Per Ignotius and Joe Malik: "The only good fnord is a dead fnord". Several other unexplained appearances follow. Only much later in the story is the secret revealed, when Malik is hypnotized by Hagbard Celine to recall suppressed memories of his first-grade teacher conditioning his class to ignore the fnords: "If you don't see the fnord it can't eat you, don't see the fnord, don't see the fnord..."


title: The Illuminatus! Trilogy

text: Numerology is given great credence by many of the characters, with the Law of Fives in particular being frequently mentioned. Hagbard Celine states the Law of Fives in Appendix Gimmel: "All phenomena are directly or indirectly related to the number five." He gives away the secret when he adds, "given enough ingenuity on the part of the demonstrator. That's the very model of what a scientific law must always be: a statement about how the human mind relates to the cosmos." (Late in the work, Celine demonstrates the meaninglessness of the Law of Fives by showing another character a picture of a young girl with six fingers on each hand and saying, "If we were all like her, there'd be a Law of Sixes.") Another character, Simon Moon, identifies what he calls the "23 synchronicity principle", which he credits William S. Burroughs as having discovered. Both laws involve finding significance in the appearance of the number, and in its "presen[ce] esoterically because of its conspicuous exoteric absence." One of the reasons Moon finds 23 significant is because "All the great anarchists died on the 23rd day of some month or other." He also identifies a "23/17 phenomenon." They are both tied to the Law of Fives, he explains, because 2 + 3 = 5, and 1 + 7 = 8 = 2³. Robert Anton Wilson claimed in a 1988 interview that "23 is a part of the cosmic code. It's connected with so many synchronicities and weird coincidences that it must mean something, I just haven't figured out yet what it means!".


title: The Illuminatus! Trilogy

text: The books were written at the height of the late 1960s, and are infused with the popular counterculture ideas of that time. For instance, the New Age slogan "flower power" is referenced via its German form, "Ewige Blumenkraft" (literally "eternal flower power"), described by Shea and Wilson as a slogan of the Illuminati, the enemies of the hippie ideal. The book's attitude to New Age philosophies and beliefs are ambiguous. Wilson explained in a later interview: "I'm some kind of antibody in the New Age movement. on the rewrite we deliberately threw in a couple of references to it, but we had worked out the structure on our own, mostly on the basis of the nut mail that Playboy gets".


title: The Illuminatus! Trilogy

text: The prevalence of kinky sex in the story reflects the hippie ideal of "free love"; characters are both liberal-minded and promiscuous. The authors are well aware that it also provides an excuse for mere titillation: in a typically self-referential joke, a character in the story suggests the scenes exist: "only to sell a bad book filled with shallow characters pushing a nonsense conspiracy". Similarly, the books espouse the use of mind-altering substances to achieve higher states of consciousness, in line with the beliefs of key counterculture figures like Timothy Leary, who is mentioned throughout the three novels. Dr. Leary himself called the trilogy "more important than "Ulysses" or "Finnegans Wake,"" two novels by author James Joyce—who appears as a character in "The Illuminatus! Trilogy" and is a favorite author of Robert Anton Wilson. This quote is blurbed on the covers or front page of its various printings.


title: The Illuminatus! Trilogy

text: Every view of reality that is introduced in the story is later derided in some way, whether that view is traditional or iconoclastic. The trilogy is an exercise in cognitive dissonance, with an absurdist plot built of seemingly plausible, if unprovable, components. Ultimately, readers are left to form their own interpretations as to which, if any, of the numerous contradictory viewpoints presented by the characters are valid or plausible, and which are simply satirical gags and shaggy dog jokes. This style of building up a viable belief system, then tearing it down to replace it with another one, was described by Wilson as "guerrilla ontology".


title: The Illuminatus! Trilogy

text: This postmodern lack of belief in consensus reality is a cornerstone of the semi-humorous Chaos-based religion of Discordianism. Extracts from its sacred text, the "Principia Discordia" by Malaclypse the Younger, are extensively quoted throughout the trilogy. It incorporates and shares many themes and contexts from "Illuminatus". Shea and Wilson dedicated the first part "To Gregory Hill and Kerry Thornley", the founders of the religion. The key Discordian practice known as "Operation Mindfuck" is exemplified in the character of Markoff Chaney (a play on the mathematical random process called Markov chain). He is an anti-social dwarf who engages in subtle practical joking in a deliberate attempt to cause social confusion. One such joke involves the forging and placing of signs that are signed by "The Mgt." (leading people to believe they are from "The Management" instead of "The Midget") that contain absurdities like "Slippery when wet. Maintain 50mph."


title: The Illuminatus! Trilogy

text: There are several parts in the book where it reviews and jokingly deconstructs itself. The fictional journalist Epicene Wildeblood at one point is required to critique a book uncannily similar to "The Illuminatus! Trilogy":


title: The Illuminatus! Trilogy

text: Several protagonists come to the realization that they are merely fictional characters, or at least begin to question the reality of their situation. George Dorn wonders early on if he "was in some crazy surrealist movie, wandering from telepathic sheriffs to homosexual assassins, to nympho lady Masons, to psychotic pirates, according to a script written in advance by two acid-heads and a Martian humorist". Hagbard Celine claims towards the climax that the entire story is a computer-generated synthesis of random conspiracies: "I can fool the rest of you, but I can't fool the reader. FUCKUP has been working all morning, correlating all the data on this caper and its historical roots, and I programmed him to put it in the form of a novel for easy reading. Considering what a lousy job he does at poetry, I suppose it will be a high-camp novel, intentionally or unintentionally."


title: The Illuminatus! Trilogy

text: For a work of fiction, "Illuminatus!" contains a lot of references to songs, films, articles, novels and other media. This is partly because the characters themselves are involved in doing research, but it is also a trademark of Wilson's writing.


title: The Illuminatus! Trilogy

text: The novel "Telemachus Sneezed" by the character Atlanta Hope with its catchphrase "What is John Guilt?" is a spoof of Ayn Rand's "Atlas Shrugged", the origin of the character John Galt. Ayn Rand is mentioned by name a few times in "Illuminatus!", and her novel is alluded to by Hagbard who says, "If Atlas can Shrug and Telemachus can Sneeze, why can't Satan Repent?" Rand is also disparaged in one of the appendices concerning property, ostensibly written by Hagbard, which serves as an explanation of anarchist Pierre-Joseph Proudhon's views on the subject. There are also references to Thomas Pynchon's "The Crying of Lot 49" and his "Gravity's Rainbow", an equally enormous experimental novel concerning liberty and paranoia that was published two years prior to "Illuminatus!" Wilson claims his book was already complete by the time he and Shea read Pynchon's novel (which went on to win several awards), but they then went back and made some modifications to the text before its final publication to allude to Pynchon's work. The phrase "So it goes" is repeatedly used in reference to death, a deliberate echoing of Kurt Vonnegut's "Slaughterhouse-Five".


title: The Illuminatus! Trilogy

text: Author H. P. Lovecraft is alluded to often, with many mentions of characters (e.g., Robert Harrison Blake, Henry Armitage, Klarkash-Ton), monsters (e.g., Tsathoggua, Yog-Sothoth, Cthulhu), books ("Necronomicon", "Unaussprechlichen Kulten") and places (Miskatonic University) from his Cthulhu Mythos. He even appears himself as a character, as does his aunt Annie Gamwell and one of his acquaintances, Hart Crane. Interest in Lovecraft reached new heights in 1975, with two full-length biographies published in the same year as "The Illuminatus! Trilogy".


title: The Illuminatus! Trilogy

text: The books have received laudatory reviews and comments from "Playboy", "Publishers Weekly", the American Library Association's "Booklist" magazine, "Philadelphia Daily News", "Berkeley Barb", "Rolling Stone" and "Limit". "The Village Voice" called it "The ultimate conspiracy book ... the biggest sci-fi-cult novel to come along since "Dune" ... hilariously raunchy!" John White of the "New Age Journal" described it as:


title: The Illuminatus! Trilogy

text: "The Fortean Times" was also enthusiastic, whilst acknowledging the difficulties many readers would have attempting to follow the convoluted plot threads:


title: The Illuminatus! Trilogy

text: "Illuminatus!" even garnered some attention outside literary criticism, having several pages devoted to it in a chapter on the American New Right in "Architects of Fear: Conspiracy Theories and Paranoia in American Politics" by George Johnson (1983).


title: The Illuminatus! Trilogy

text: In more recent years, it was complimented in the bibliography to the "New Hackers Dictionary" as a book that can help readers "understand the hacker mindset." The Dictionary described it as:


title: The Illuminatus! Trilogy

text: It was also included in the "Slack Syllabus" in "The Official Slacker Handbook" by Sarah Dunn (1994), a satirical guide aimed at Generation X.


title: The Illuminatus! Trilogy

text: Wilson and Robert Shea went on to become prolific authors. While Shea concentrated mainly on historical novels, Wilson produced over 30 works, mixing fictional novels with nonfiction. Although both authors' later work often elaborated on concepts first discussed in "Illuminatus!", the pair never collaborated again. The trilogy inspired a number of direct adaptations, including a stage play and a comic book series, and numerous indirect adaptations that borrowed from its themes.


title: The Illuminatus! Trilogy

text: Wilson subsequently wrote a number of prequels, sequels and spin-offs based upon the "Illuminatus!" concept, including an incomplete pentalogy called "The Historical Illuminatus Chronicles", a standalone work entitled "Masks of the Illuminati" and "The Illuminati Papers", in which several chapters are attributed to the trilogy's characters. Many of Wilson's other works, fictional and nonfictional, also make reference to the Illuminati or the "Illuminatus!" books. Several of the characters from "Illuminatus!", for example, Markoff Chaney ("The Midget") and Epicene Wildeblood, return in Wilson's "Schrödinger's Cat Trilogy", which also carries on some of its themes. The third book of the "Cat" trilogy, "The Homing Pigeons", is actually mentioned as a sequel to "Illuminatus!" in "Appendix Mem". In 1998, Wilson published an encyclopedia of conspiracy theories called "Everything is Under Control", which explains the origins of many of the theories mentioned in "Illuminatus!".


title: The Illuminatus! Trilogy

text: Wilson and Shea did plan to collaborate again on a true sequel, "Bride of Illuminatus", taking place in 2026. It was rumored that it would feature a resurrected Winifred Saure (the only female member of the American Medical Association) exerting her influence through virtual reality. However, Robert Shea died in 1994 before this project came to fruition. An excerpt was published in Robert Anton Wilson's "Trajectories Newsletter: The Journal of Futurism and Heresy" in spring 1995. In a 1994 interview for "FringeWare Review", Wilson suggested he may even "do a Son of Illuminatus later". In "Intelligence Agents" by Timothy Leary (1996) he was credited with having already authored "Son of Illuminatus" in the 1980s.


title: The Illuminatus! Trilogy

text: Shea, meanwhile, never wrote another "Illuminatus!"-related book, although many of his later novels include references to the themes of that work. "Locus" describes Shea's Saracen novels as "Deep background for the "Illuminatus" trilogy".


title: The Illuminatus! Trilogy

text: An audacious proposal by the English experimental theater director Ken Campbell to stage "Illuminatus!" in its entirety at The National Theatre in London was met with surprisingly open arms, particularly given its inordinate length: a cycle of five plays—"The Eye of the Pyramid", "Swift Kick Inc.", "The Man Who Murdered God", "Walpurgisnacht Rock" and "Leviathan"—each consisting of five 23-minute-long acts. Sir Peter Hall, director of the National at the time, wrote of Campbell in his "Diaries", "He is a total anarchist and impossible to pin down. He more or less said it was a crime to be serious."


title: The Illuminatus! Trilogy

text: The adaptation became the very first production at the National's Cottesloe Theatre space, running from 4 March to 27 March 1977. It had first opened in Liverpool on 23 November 1976. The first night of the London version featured Robert Anton Wilson, accompanied by Shea, as a naked extra in the witches' sabbat scene. Wilson was delighted with the adaptation, saying: "I was thunderstruck at what a magnificent job they did in capturing the exact tone and mixture of fantasy and reality in the book. I've come to the conclusion that this isn't literature. It's too late in the day for literature. This is magic!"


title: The Illuminatus! Trilogy

text: The 23-strong cast featured several actors, such as Jim Broadbent, David Rappaport and Chris Langham, who went on to successful film, stage and television careers. Broadbent alone played more than a dozen characters in the play. Bill Drummond designed sets for the show, and it was eventually seen (when it moved to London, with Bill Nighy then joining the cast) by the young Jimmy Cauty. Drummond and Cauty later went on to form the "Illuminatus!"-inspired electronica band The KLF.


title: The Illuminatus! Trilogy

text: In thanks, Wilson dedicated his "" (1977) to "Ken Campbell and the Science-Fiction Theatre Of Liverpool, England." The play was later staged in Seattle, Washington in 1978.


title: The Illuminatus! Trilogy

text: No film or video exists of the performances at The National Theatre. However a full audio recording does exist and is available as a limited edition perk in the crowdfunding for the 2014 stage play of Wilson's book , adapted by Daisy Eris Campbell (Ken Campbell's daughter).


title: The Illuminatus! Trilogy

text: An attempt was made to adapt the trilogy in comic book form beginning in the 1980s, by "Eye-n-Apple Productions" headed by Icarus! Icarus! met with Wilson in 1984 and subsequently obtained permission from Wilson's agent to adapt the trilogy. "Illuminatus!" #1 was issued in July 1987, then reissued in substantially revised form later that year by Rip Off Press (who had published the original 4th edition of the "Principia Discordia" in 1970).


title: The Illuminatus! Trilogy

text: A second issue followed in 1990, and a third in March 1991, after which the venture stalled (although several ashcans of the as yet unpublished Fourth Trip were distributed at comic book conventions in the Detroit and Chicago areas between 1991 and 2006).


title: The Illuminatus! Trilogy

text: The infamous 1980s computer hacker Karl Koch was heavily influenced by "The Illuminatus! Trilogy". Besides adopting the pseudonym "Hagbard" from the character Hagbard Celine, he also named his computer "FUCKUP", after a computer designed and built by that character. He was addicted to cocaine and became extremely paranoid, convinced he was fighting the Illuminati like his literary namesake. In 1987 he wrote a rambling seven-page "hacking manifesto of sorts, complete with his theories on Hagbard Celine and the Illuminati". The 1998 German motion picture "23" told a dramatized version of his story; Robert Anton Wilson appeared as himself.


title: The Illuminatus! Trilogy

text: A card game, "Illuminati", inspired by the trilogy, was created by Steve Jackson Games. Using the "Illuminatus!" books as "spiritual guides but not as actual source material", it incorporated competing conspiracies of the Bavarian Illuminati and Discordians and others, though no characters or groups specific to the novels. A trading card game () and role-playing game supplement ("GURPS Illuminati") followed. The instruction booklets' bibliographies praise the novel and Wilson particularly, calling "Illuminatus!" in part "required reading for any conspiracy buff". Robert Shea provided a four-paragraph introduction to the rulebook for the Illuminati Expansion Set 1 (1983), in which he wrote, "Maybe the Illuminati are behind "this game." They must be—they are, by definition, behind "everything."" Despite this initial involvement, Wilson later criticized some of these products for exploiting the "Illuminatus!" name without paying royalties (taking advantage of what he viewed as a legal loophole).


title: The Illuminatus! Trilogy

text: "The Illuminatus! Trilogy" is steeped with references to the 1960s popular music scene (at one point a list of 200 fictional bands performing at the Walpurgisnacht rock festival is reeled off (including a handful of actual bands of the 60s), and there are numerous references to the famous rock and roll song, "Rock Around the Clock"), and has influenced many bands and musicians. One of the aliases of anarchic British band The KLF was named after a secret society from the trilogy. They released much of their early material under the name "The Justified Ancients of Mu Mu"/"The JAMMs", cf. "The Justified Ancients of Mummu"/"The JAMs" from the trilogy, and much of their work was Discordian in nature. They mirrored the fictional JAMs' gleeful political tactics of causing chaos and confusion by bringing a direct, humorous but nevertheless revolutionary approach to making records. The American band Machines of Loving Grace took the name of a sex act performed by one of the main characters during a Black Mass for the title of their song "Rite of Shiva" on their eponymous album. UK chillout maestro Mixmaster Morris also named his band The Irresistible Force after one that appears at the festival in the last part of the trilogy. Together with Coldcut he organised a huge Robert Anton Wilson Memorial Show at the Queen Elizabeth Hall in London on 18 March 2007.


title: The Illuminatus! Trilogy

text: In general, "The Illuminatus! Trilogy" can be credited with popularizing the genre of conspiracy fiction, a field later mined by authors like Umberto Eco ("Foucault's Pendulum"), Charles Cecil () and Dan Brown ("Angels & Demons", "The Da Vinci Code", "The Lost Symbol"), comic book writers like Alan Moore ("V for Vendetta", "From Hell"), Dave Sim ("Cerebus") and Grant Morrison ("The Invisibles"), and screenwriters like Chris Carter ("The X-Files") and Damon Lindelof ("Lost"). In particular, the regular use of the Illuminati in popular culture as shadowy central puppet masters in this type of fiction can be traced back to their exposure via "The Illuminatus! Trilogy".


title: Erg

text: The erg is a unit of energy equal to 10joules (100nJ). It originated in the Centimetre–gram–second system of units (CGS). It has the symbol "erg". The erg is not an SI unit. Its name is derived from (), a Greek word meaning 'work' or 'task'.


title: Erg

text: An erg is the amount of work done by a force of one dyne exerted for a distance of one centimetre. In the CGS base units, it is equal to one gram centimetre-squared per second-squared (g⋅cm/s). It is thus equal to 10 joules or 100 nanojoules (nJ) in SI units.


title: Erg

text: In 1864, Rudolf Clausius proposed the Greek word () for the unit of energy, work and heat. In 1873, a committee of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, including British physicists James Clerk Maxwell and William Thomson recommended the general adoption of the centimetre, the gramme, and the second as fundamental units (C.G.S. System of Units). To distinguish derived units, they recommended using the prefix "C.G.S. unit of ..." and requested that the word "erg" or "ergon" be strictly limited to refer to the "C.G.S. unit of energy".


title: Erg

text: In 1922, chemist William Draper Harkins proposed the name micri-erg as a convenient unit to measure the surface energy of molecules in surface chemistry. It would equate to 10 erg, the equivalent to 10 joule.


title: Erg

text: The erg has not been a valid unit since 1 January 1978 when the European Economic Community ratified a directive of 1971 that implemented the International System (SI) as agreed by the General Conference of Weights and Measures. It is still widely used in astrophysics and sometimes in mechanics.


title: Celtic Otherworld

text: In Celtic mythology, the Otherworld is the realm of the deities and possibly also the dead. In Gaelic and Brittonic myth it is usually a supernatural realm of everlasting youth, beauty, health, abundance and joy. It is described either as a parallel world that exists alongside our own, or as a heavenly land beyond the sea or under the earth. The Otherworld is usually elusive, but various mythical heroes visit it either through chance or after being invited by one of its residents. They often reach it by entering ancient burial mounds or caves, or by going under water or across the western sea. Sometimes, they suddenly find themselves in the Otherworld with the appearance of a magic mist, supernatural beings or unusual animals. An otherworldly woman may invite the hero into the Otherworld by offering an apple or a silver apple branch, or a ball of thread to follow as it unwinds.


title: Celtic Otherworld

text: The Otherworld is usually called "Annwn" in Welsh mythology and "Avalon" in Arthurian legend. In Irish mythology it has several names, including "Tír na nÓg, Mag Mell" and "Emain Ablach". In Irish myth there is also "Tech Duinn", where the souls of the dead gather.


title: Celtic Otherworld

text: In Irish mythology, the Otherworld has various names. Names of the Otherworld, or places within it, include "Tír nAill" ("the other land"), "Tír Tairngire" ("land of promise/promised land"), "Tír na nÓg" ("land of the young/land of youth"), "Tír fo Thuinn" ("land under the wave"), "Tír na mBeo" ("land of the living"), "Mag Mell" ("plain of delight"), "Mag Findargat" ("the white-silver plain"), "Mag Argatnél" ("the silver-cloud plain"), "Mag Ildathach" ("the multicoloured plain"), "Mag Cíuin" ("the gentle plain"), and "Emain Ablach" (possibly "isle of apples"). It is described as a supernatural realm where there is everlasting youth, beauty, health, abundance and joy, and where time moves differently. It is the dwelling place of the gods (the Tuatha Dé Danann) as well as certain heroes and ancestors. It was probably similar to the Elysium of Greek mythology and both may have a shared origin in ancient Proto-Indo-European religion. The Otherworld is elusive, but various mythical heroes—such as Cúchulainn, Fionn and Bran—visit it either through chance or after being invited by one of its residents. In Irish myth and later folklore, the festivals of Samhain and Beltane are liminal times, when contact with the Otherworld was more likely.


title: Celtic Otherworld

text: In the tales, the Otherworld is often reached by entering ancient burial mounds, such as those at Brú na Bóinne and Cnoc Meadha. These were known as "sídhe" ("Otherworld dwellings") and were the dwellings of the gods, later called the "aos sí" or "daoine sí" ("Otherworld folk"). Irish mythology says the gods retreated into the "sídhe" when the Gaels (Milesians) took Ireland from them. In some tales, the Otherworld is reached by going under the waters of pools, lakes, or the sea, or else by crossing the western sea. In Irish "Immrama" ("voyage") tales, a beautiful young Otherworld woman often approaches the hero and sings to him of this happy land. Sometimes she offers him an apple, or the promise of her love in exchange for his help in battle. He follows her, and they journey over the sea together and are seen no more. Their journey may be in a boat of glass, in a chariot, or on horseback (usually on a white horse, as in the case of the goddess Niamh of the Golden Hair). Sometimes the hero returns after what he believes is a short time, only to find that all his companions are dead and he has actually been away for hundreds of years. Sometimes the hero sets out on a quest, and a magic mist descends upon him. He may find himself before an unusual palace and enter to find a warrior or a beautiful woman who makes him welcome. The woman may be the goddess Fand, the warrior may be Manannán mac Lir or Lugh, and after strange adventures the hero may return successfully. However, even when the mortal manages to return to his own time and place, he is forever changed by his contact with the Otherworld.


title: Celtic Otherworld

text: The Otherworld was also seen as a source of authority. In the tale "Baile in Scáil" ("the phantom's ecstatic vision"), Conn of the Hundred Battles visits an Otherworld hall, where the god Lugh legitimizes his kingship and that of his successors.


title: Celtic Otherworld

text: In Irish myth there is another otherworldly realm called "Tech Duinn" ("House of Donn" or "House of the Dark One"). It was believed that the souls of the dead travelled to "Tech Duinn"; perhaps to remain there forever, or perhaps before reaching their final destination in the Otherworld, or before being reincarnated. Donn is portrayed as a god of the dead and ancestor of the Gaels. "Tech Duinn" is commonly identified with Bull Rock, an islet off the west coast of Ireland which resembles a portal tomb. In Ireland there was a belief that the souls of the dead departed westwards over the sea with the setting sun. West-ward also being the location of the phantom island, anglicised as, Hy-Brasil.


title: Celtic Otherworld

text: In Welsh mythology, the Otherworld is usually called "Annwn" or "Annwfn". The Welsh tale of "Branwen, daughter of Llyr" ends with the survivors of the great battle feasting in the Otherworld, in the presence of the severed head of Bran the Blessed, having forgotten all their suffering and sorrow, and having become unaware of the passage of time. "Annwn" is ruled by the Otherworld kings Arawn and Gwyn ap Nudd.


title: Celtic Otherworld

text: In the First Branch of the Welsh tales known as the Mabinogi, entitled "Pwyll, Prince of Dyfed", the eponymous prince offends Arawn, ruler of Annwn, by baiting his hunting hounds on a stag that Arawn's dogs had brought down. In recompense, Pwyll swaps places with Arawn for a year and defeats Arawn's enemy Hafgan. Meanwhile, Arawn rules Dyfed. During this year, Pwyll does not sleep with Arawn's wife, earning himself gratitude from Arawn. On his return, Pwyll becomes known by the title "Pen Annwn", "Head (or Ruler) of Annwn".


title: Celtic Otherworld

text: The Gauls divided the universe into three parts: "Albios" ("heaven, white-world, upper-world"), "Bitu" ("world of the living beings"), and "Dubnos" ("hell, lower-world, dark-world"). According to Lucan, the Gaulish druids believed that the soul went to an Otherworld, which he calls by the Latin name "Orbis alius", before being reincarnated.


title: Celtic Otherworld

text: Greco-Roman geographers tell us about Celtic belief in islands consecrated to gods and heroes. Among them were Anglesey ("Môn"), off the north coast of Wales, which was the sacred isle of the druids of Britain; the Scilly isles, where archaeological remains of proto-historical temples have been found; and some of the Hebrides, which were, in the Gaelic tradition, home to ghosts and demons: on one of them, Skye, the Irish hero Cúchulainn was taught by the warrior woman Scathach.


title: Celtic Otherworld

text: Byzantine scholar Procopius of Caesarea described the Otherworld of the ancient Gauls. He said it was thought that the land of the dead lay west of Great Britain. The Continental Celtic myths told that once the souls of the dead had left their bodies, they traveled to the northwest coast of Gaul and took a boat toward Britain. When they crossed the Channel, the souls went to the homes of the fishermen, and knocked desperately at their doors. The fishermen then went out of their houses and led the souls to their destination in ghostly ships.


title: Celtic Otherworld

text: There are still remains of those beliefs in the folklore of Brittany, where the name "Bag an Noz" is used to denote those ships who carry the dead to their goal: Anatole Le Braz describes in his book "La légende de la mort chez les Bretons armoricains" the existence of souls' processions which make their way toward coastal places like Laoual, to start their last travel from there.


title: Celtic Otherworld

text: In Asturian mythology, there are many stories which describe human encounters with "xanas", fairies which are dancing around a chief fairy, the "Xana Mega", or the "Queen of Fairies", known as in Galicia. The "castro" of Altamira is said to hide an enormous underground realm which is ruled by a royal couple, and whose entrance is found some place on the hill.


title: Mark Philippoussis

text: Mark Anthony Philippoussis ( ; born 7 November 1976) is an Australian former professional tennis player of Greek and Italian descent. Philippoussis' greatest achievements are winning two Davis Cup titles with Australia in 1999 and 2003, winning the deciding rubber in the final of each. He also reached the final of the 1998 US Open and the 2003 Wimbledon singles tournaments. Philippoussis reached a career-high singles ranking of world No. 8.


title: Mark Philippoussis

text: Philippoussis has had a minor career in modelling and starred in the American reality television dating show "Age of Love". He is nicknamed 'the Scud', after the Scud missile. He is also known in Australia as “The Pou”.


title: Mark Philippoussis

text: Philippoussis was born in Melbourne to a Greek father, Nikolaos ("Nick"), and an Italian mother, Rossana; and was educated at Maribyrnong College and later at Wesley College. He is of the Catholic faith.


title: Mark Philippoussis

text: Coached by his father, Nick, the right-hander has played tennis since he was six years of age. He was an Australian Institute of Sport scholarship holder. He was briefly coached by former 1987 Wimbledon champion Pat Cash, which ended in an acrimonious split in 2000. In 1994, he finished third in singles ranking for juniors. Philippoussis also finished as junior doubles champion with Ben Ellwood in Australia, Wimbledon, and Italy. He turned professional in 1994.


title: Mark Philippoussis

text: In 1995, at the age of 19, he was the youngest player in the year-end top 50. In 1996, he reached the 4th round of the Australian Open upsetting Pete Sampras in the 3rd round and in doubles with Patrick Rafter. On 25 May 1997, he recorded a personal best 229.0 km/h (142.3 mph) serve in a game he lost to Albert Costa. During the height of his career, Philippoussis was known as having one of the fastest serves in the game.


title: Mark Philippoussis

text: At the 1998 US Open U.S. Open, Philippoussis reached his first Grand Slam final, losing to fellow Australian Patrick Rafter. In January 1999, Philippoussis and Jelena Dokić won the Hopman Cup for Australia, defeating Sweden's Åsa Carlsson and Jonas Björkman in the final tie. This was the first time that Australia won the Hopman Cup and the only time until Nick Kyrgios and Daria Gavrilova won in January 2016.


title: Mark Philippoussis

text: On 29 March 1999, Philippoussis entered the top 10 for the first time and stayed there for 10 weeks. He advanced to the quarter-finals at Wimbledon in 1999 for the second straight year, where he retired in the second set against Sampras after having won the first set. During that match, Philippoussis suffered a moderate cartilage tear in his left knee and underwent arthroscopic surgery four days later. Sampras later remarked that he "dodged a bullet out there". Philippoussis returned to professional tennis seven weeks later at the Indianapolis Tennis Championships and lost his second-round match after receiving a bye in the first round. He did not play again until October in Singapore, where he lost in the second round. He finished 1999 at No. 19.


title: Mark Philippoussis

text: 2000 was the fourth consecutive year in which Philippoussis finished in the top 20, at No. 11. He reached the fourth round at the Australian Open, losing to eventual champion Andre Agassi. He defeated No. 2 Sampras 8–6 in the fifth set at the French Open in a first-round match, but lost in the fourth round to Juan Carlos Ferrero. For the third consecutive year, he made it to the quarterfinals at Wimbledon, losing again to Agassi. He appeared in his second Olympic Games in Sydney, losing in the third round to eventual gold medalist Yevgeny Kafelnikov.


title: Mark Philippoussis

text: Philippoussis finished 2002 in the top 100 (seventh time in eight years), despite not winning a title. He moved from Miami to the San Diego area in September 2002.


title: Mark Philippoussis

text: Philippoussis has always claimed to be proud of representing his country in Davis Cup, but personal differences with John Newcombe and Tony Roche interfered with his commitment early in his career. Despite several highly publicised feuds, Philippoussis played a large part in giving Australia their 27th Davis Cup triumph—second only to the United States with 31—but it was their first since 1986. In 1999 he defeated Cédric Pioline, 6–3, 5–7, 6–1, 6–2, in Nice, France.


title: Mark Philippoussis

text: Injuries plagued Philippoussis's availability for Davis Cup and was the cause of a public rift between team-mates Patrick Rafter and Lleyton Hewitt. Rafter publicly accused Philippoussis of jerking the team around after he withdrew from a Davis Cup tie in late 2000. Philippoussis said Rafter was ill-informed and upset by the lack of support and understanding from his team-mates.


title: Mark Philippoussis

text: Knee surgeries forced Philippoussis out of Davis Cup until February 2003. By then, Pat Rafter had retired, and John Fitzgerald and Wally Masur were the new Davis Cup captain and coach. Philippoussis sealed victory for Australia in the Melbourne Final against Spain. Philippoussis beat Spain's Juan Carlos Ferrero in a 7–5, 6–3, 1–6, 2–6, 6–0 battle. Philippoussis suffered a pectoral tear at the end of the second set, which caused him to lose the third and fourth sets. He regrouped in the fifth set and beat Ferrero 6–0.


title: Mark Philippoussis

text: After three knee operations, Philippoussis embarked on a protracted comeback. He made himself available regularly for Davis Cup, hired a new physical trainer, and took up surfing as his new recreation. He made the 2003 Wimbledon final, finally losing to Roger Federer, 6–7(5), 2–6, 6–7(3).


title: Mark Philippoussis

text: During a 2003 Wimbledon tennis match against Andre Agassi (6–3, 2–6, 6–7 (4–7), 6–3, 6–4), he set a new Australian tennis record of 46 aces served in a match, three aces short of the overall ATP Tour record then held by Richard Krajicek.


title: Mark Philippoussis

text: Philippoussis broke a two-year singles-title drought by winning the Shanghai Open in 2003. On 30 November 2003, he defeated Juan Carlos Ferrero of Spain to win the fourth match of the Davis Cup final in Melbourne, securing the title for Australia. At the end of 2003, Philippoussis received the ATP Comeback Player of the Year award.


title: Mark Philippoussis

text: The honeymoon period with the Australian public, however, did not last. 2004 proved a disastrous year in terms of his tennis career and public profile. After shouldering most of the blame for losing Australia's Davis Cup tie with Sweden with an unexpected below-par performance, Philippoussis struggled through to the Wimbledon fourth round in June 2004. From Wimbledon in June until the end of the season in October, he failed to win a single ATP tennis match and finished with one of his lowest rankings since turning professional in 1994.


title: Mark Philippoussis

text: In October 2004, a much-publicised affair with Delta Goodrem had soured and seriously damaged his standing, after newspapers alleged that he had dated Paris Hilton while with Goodrem. In March 2005, he became engaged to actress and model Alexis Barbara. "The Age" reported the pair had split in July 2006, but Philippoussis denied this to Australian tabloid "New Idea"; they did split some time before he began filming "Age of Love".


title: Mark Philippoussis

text: He confirmed to Sydney's "Daily Telegraph" on 23 August 2006, that he "parted ways with" his father as his coach and rehired Peter McNamara in an attempt to revive his career.


title: Mark Philippoussis

text: After some controversy over his wildcard selection after a disappointing 2006 Australian Open, Philippoussis made more headlines when he again earned entry into the 2006 Wimbledon. He was defeated in the second round.


title: Mark Philippoussis

text: Leading into the Campbell's Hall of Fame Championships as a wildcard, his record was a modest 6–7. He had a fantastic run in the tournament, getting to the final, where he defeated Justin Gimelstob in straight sets to claim his first title in almost three years.


title: Mark Philippoussis

text: Philippoussis, then ranked No. 114, lost to Rafael Nadal as a wildcard entry in the first round of the 2006 US Open. The Australian Davis Cup team lost against Argentina in an unpredictable 5–0. On 22 September, Philippoussis was defeated by David Nalbandian 4–6, 3–6, 3–6, in the first match of the series.


title: Mark Philippoussis

text: Philippoussis played in a series of Challenger tournaments after the Davis Cup semifinals. Philippoussis won the Calabasas tournament, defeating Amer Delic, 6–7(4–7), 7–6(7–4), 6–3, in the final.


title: Mark Philippoussis

text: Philippoussis beat Russian Dmitry Tursunov, 6–4, 7–6, at the 2007 Hopman Cup. However, during his second match against Jérôme Haehnel, he was forced to retire after hyperextending his knee. An MRI showed that he had torn cartilage in his knee, forcing him to miss the rest of the season.


title: Mark Philippoussis

text: Philippoussis acquired a protected ranking of No. 119 and was allowed to use that ranking for entry into eight tournaments. Tennis Australia, not being happy with his lack of matchplay and unwillingness to play the Australian Open wildcard playoff, told him that he would not be given any special treatment and would have to earn his wildcard. This forced him to use one of his protected ranking tournament entries.


title: Mark Philippoussis

text: In his first match of the Australian Open Wildcard playoff, he was drawn against reigning Australian Open juniors champion Brydan Klein and had a fiery contest. After a remark from Klein, Philippoussis was quoted as saying, "You say that to me again and you're in trouble; you're not playing juniors any more." He came out the victor in straight sets, 6–3, 7–5, and thus began his comeback in good form. Philippoussis then lost his second match to Sam Groth, 4–6, 3–6, but due to other players' injuries, he advanced to the quarterfinals, where he was to play Rameez Junaid. However, due to another knee injury requiring surgery, Philippoussis was unable to play.


title: Mark Philippoussis

text: Philippousis appeared in a pro tour match for the first time since November 2006, when he lost to fifth seed Michael Yani, 4–6, 4–6, in the first round of the Challenger of Dallas. Philippousis also competed in some of the events on the Champions Series, winning two tournaments and topping the rankings for 2010.


title: Mark Philippoussis

text: Philippoussis has played for the Philadelphia Freedoms of World Team Tennis this summer. The Freedoms used the No. 1 overall pick to draft Philippoussis, who previously played for the team in 2002. He was the team's marquee player on 25 July 2012 when they faced the Boston Lobsters and travelled with the team to their matches against the Sacramento Capitals and Orange County Breakers.


title: Mark Philippoussis

text: Philippoussis contested his first match on the ATP World Tour in nine years since winning the 2006 Newport title, after receiving a wild card into the qualifying rounds of the 2015 Hall of Fame Tennis Championships at 38 years of age.


title: Mark Philippoussis

text: He lost to Eric Quigley 6–7(1), 6–7(4). Philippoussis also played doubles in the tournament with Ryan Harrison, winning the first round to make it to the quarter-finals before losing to the second seeds Austin Krajicek and Rajeev Ram.


title: Mark Philippoussis

text: Afterwards, Philippousis said: "It was just about playing one event. There’s no talk about a comeback. Down the line if I see something, maybe close to California, I might do that. It’s one event and that’s it."


title: Mark Philippoussis

text: In early 2000s, Philippoussis wore apparel manufactured by Fila on court, and used Dunlop 200G racquet.


title: Mark Philippoussis

text: In 2020, Philippoussis competed as the 'Echidna' in the second season of "The Masked Singer Australia" and was the first contestant eliminated, placing 12th overall.


title: Mark Philippoussis

text: Philippoussis starred as the bachelor in the reality television dating show "Age of Love" on the NBC television network, in June 2007.


title: Mark Philippoussis

text: The show centred around women in or near their 40s and women in their 20s competing for his affection. At first Philippoussis, unaware of the special format of the show, was shocked at the ages of the "cougars" as the older women were called. He was shocked again after learning he would also be dating younger women ("kittens"). The final dates occurred in his hometown of Melbourne, Australia, including a date at Moonlit Sanctuary. In the end, Philippoussis chose Amanda Salinas (the 25-year-old Nashville Predators dancer) because it "wouldn't work out" with Jen, the 48-year-old assistant to Jerry Buss.


title: Mark Philippoussis

text: In 2004, he began a nine-month relationship with Australian singer Delta Goodrem. Her "comeback" single, "Out of the Blue", was written about his support during her cancer battle. The couple's relationship ended in controversy when newspapers reported Philippoussis had been unfaithful.


title: Mark Philippoussis

text: In May 2009, Philippoussis declared that all his money was gone and that he would lose his home of residence. In a writ lodged with the Supreme Court on 15 May 2009, it was alleged Philippoussis took out a loan through his company Mergis Pty Ltd which he personally guaranteed. The writ claims Mergis – of which Philippoussis is the sole director, secretary and shareholder – defaulted less than a year later. The lender is seeking $1,313,351.96, plus interest, costs and possession of the house, or is threatening to go to trial. The Perpetual Trustee Company Ltd is listed in court documents as the plaintiff, but a company spokesman said her firm had provided funds to another company which was the one foreclosing. The other company is not detailed on the writ, but Philippoussis said it was Pepper Home Loans – a company that provides loans through mortgage brokers. Philippoussis took out a mortgage in February 2008. He said he was three months behind, adding that each monthly payment was more than $10,000. "I haven't played tennis since 2006, and tennis is one of those sports where if you don't play, you don't get paid", he said.


title: Mark Philippoussis

text: Later in 2009, while in the US attempting to restart his tennis career, he dated and was engaged to actress Jennifer Esposito but the engagement ended a year later.


title: Mark Philippoussis

text: He married Romanian-born model Silvana Lovin in September 2013. Lovin gave birth to their first child, a boy, in 2014, and had their second child, a girl, in 2018.


title: Speculation

text: In finance, speculation is the purchase of an asset (a commodity, goods, or real estate) with the hope that it will become more valuable shortly. (It can also refer to short sales in which the speculator hopes for a decline in value.)


title: Speculation

text: Many speculators pay little attention to the fundamental value of a security and instead focus purely on price movements. In principle, speculation can involve any tradable good or financial instrument. Speculators are particularly common in the markets for stocks, bonds, commodity futures, currencies, fine art, collectibles, real estate, and derivatives.


title: Speculation

text: Speculators play one of four primary roles in financial markets, along with hedgers, who engage in transactions to offset some other pre-existing risk, arbitrageus who seek to profit from situations where fungible instruments trade at different prices in different market segments, and investors who seek profit through long-term ownership of an instrument's underlying attributes.


title: Speculation

text: With the appearance of the stock ticker machine in 1867, which removed the need for traders to be physically present on the stock exchange floor, stock speculation underwent a dramatic expansion through the end of the 1920s. The number of shareholders increased, perhaps, from in 1900 to in 1932.


title: Speculation

text: The view of what distinguishes investment from speculation and speculation from excessive speculation varies widely among pundits, legislators and academics. Some sources note that speculation is simply a higher-risk form of investment. Others define speculation more narrowly as positions not characterized as hedging. The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission defines a speculator as "a trader who does not hedge, but who trades with the objective of achieving profits through the successful anticipation of price movements". The agency emphasizes that speculators serve important market functions, but defines excessive speculation as harmful to the proper functioning of futures markets.


title: Speculation

text: Via Benjamin Graham in "The Intelligent Investor", the prototypical defensive investor is "...one interested chiefly in safety plus freedom from bother". He admits, however, that "...some speculation is necessary and unavoidable, for, in many common-stock situations, there are substantial possibilities of both profit and loss, and the risks therein must be assumed by someone." Thus, many long-term investors, even those who buy and hold for decades, may be classified as speculators, excepting only the rare few who are primarily motivated by income or safety of principal and not eventually selling at a profit.


title: Speculation

text: Nicholas Kaldor has long recognized the price-stabilizing role of speculators, who tend to even out "price-fluctuations due to changes in the conditions of demand or supply", by possessing "better than average foresight". This view was later echoed by the speculator Victor Niederhoffer, in "The Speculator as Hero", who describes the benefits of speculation:


title: Speculation

text: Let's consider some of the principles that explain the causes of shortages and surpluses and the role of speculators. When a harvest is too small to satisfy consumption at its normal rate, speculators come in, hoping to profit from the scarcity by buying. Their purchases raise the price, thereby checking consumption so that the smaller supply will last longer. Producers encouraged by the high price further lessen the shortage by growing or importing to reduce the shortage. On the other side, when the price is higher than the speculators think the facts warrant, they sell. This reduces prices, encouraging consumption and exports and helping to reduce the surplus.


title: Speculation

text: Another service provided by speculators to a market is that by risking their own capital in the hope of profit, they add liquidity to the market and make it easier or even possible for others to offset risk, including those who may be classified as hedgers and arbitrageurs.


title: Speculation

text: If any market, such as pork bellies, had no speculators, only producers (hog farmers) and consumers (butchers, etc.) would participate. With fewer players in the market, there would be a larger spread between the current bid and the asking price of pork bellies. Any new entrant in the market who wanted to trade pork bellies would be forced to accept this illiquid market and might trade at market prices with large bid–ask spreads or even face difficulty finding a co-party to buy or sell to.


title: Speculation

text: By contrast, a commodity speculator may profit from the difference in the spread and, in competition with other speculators, reduce the spread. Some schools of thought argue that speculators increase the liquidity in a market, and therefore promote an efficient market. This efficiency is difficult to achieve without speculators. Speculators take information and speculate on how it affects prices, producers and consumers, who may want to hedge their risks, needing counterparties if they could find each other without markets it certainly would happen as it would be cheaper. A very beneficial by-product of speculation for the economy is price discovery.


title: Speculation

text: On the other hand, as more speculators participate in a market, underlying real demand and supply can diminish compared to trading volume, and prices may become distorted.


title: Speculation

text: Speculators perform a risk-bearing role that can be beneficial to society. For example, a farmer might consider planting corn on unused farmland. However, he might not want to do so because he is concerned that the price might fall too far by harvest time. By selling his crop in advance at a fixed price to a speculator, he can now hedge the price risk and plant the corn. Thus, speculators can increase production through their willingness to take on risk (not at the loss of profit).


title: Speculation

text: Speculative hedge funds that do fundamental analysis "are far more likely than other investors to try to identify a firm's off-balance-sheet exposures" including "environmental or social liabilities present in a market or company but not explicitly accounted for in traditional numeric valuation or mainstream investor analysis". Hence, they make the prices better reflect the true quality of operation of the firms.


title: Speculation

text: Shorting may act as a "canary in a coal mine" to stop unsustainable practices earlier and thus reduce damages and form market bubbles.


title: Speculation

text: Auctions are a method of squeezing out speculators from a transaction, but they may have their own perverse effects by the winner's curse. The winner's curse is, however, not very significant to markets with high liquidity for both buyers and sellers, as the auction for selling the product and the auction for buying the product occur simultaneously, and the two prices are separated only by a relatively small spread. That mechanism prevents the winner's curse phenomenon from causing mispricing to any degree greater than the spread.


title: Speculation

text: Speculation is often associated with economic bubbles. A bubble occurs when the price for an asset exceeds its intrinsic value by a significant margin, although not all bubbles occur due to speculation. Speculative bubbles are characterized by rapid market expansion driven by word-of-mouth feedback loops, as initial rises in asset price attract new buyers and generate further inflation. The growth of the bubble is followed by a precipitous collapse fueled by the same phenomenon. Speculative bubbles are essentially social epidemics whose contagion is mediated by the structure of the market. Some economists link asset price movements within a bubble to fundamental economic factors such as cash flows and discount rates.


title: Speculation

text: In 1936, John Maynard Keynes wrote: "Speculators may do no harm as bubbles on a steady stream of enterprise. But the situation is serious when enterprise becomes the bubble on a whirlpool of speculation. (1936:159)" Keynes himself enjoyed speculation to the fullest, running an early precursor of a hedge fund. As the Bursar of the Cambridge University King's College, he managed two investment funds, one of which, called Chest Fund, invested not only in the then 'emerging' market US stocks, but to a smaller extent periodically included commodity futures and foreign currencies (see Chua and Woodward, 1983). His fund was profitable almost every year, averaging 13% per year, even during the Great Depression, thanks to very modern investment strategies, which included inter-market diversification (it invested in stocks, commodities and currencies) as well as shorting (selling borrowed stocks or futures to profit from falling prices), which Keynes advocated among the principles of successful investment in his 1933 report: "a balanced investment position... and if possible, opposed risks".


title: Speculation

text: It is controversial whether the presence of speculators increases or decreases short-term volatility in a market. Their provision of capital and information may help stabilize prices closer to their true values. On the other hand, crowd behavior and positive feedback loops in market participants may also increase volatility.


title: Speculation

text: The economic disadvantages of speculation have resulted in a number of attempts over the years to introduce regulations and restrictions to try to limit or reduce the impact of speculators. States often enact such financial regulation in response to a crisis. Note for example the Bubble Act 1720, which the British government passed at the height of the South Sea Bubble to try to stop speculation in such schemes. It remained in place for over a hundred years until repealed in 1825. The Glass–Steagall Act passed in 1933 during the Great Depression in the United States provides another example; most of the Glass-Steagall provisions were repealed during the 1980s and 1990s. The Onion Futures Act bans the trading of futures contracts on onions in the United States, after speculators successfully cornered the market in the mid-1950s; it remains in effect .


title: Speculation

text: The Soviet Union regarded any form of private trade with the intent of gaining profit as speculation () and a criminal offense and punished speculators accordingly with fines, imprisonment, confiscation and/or corrective labor. Speculation was specifically defined in article 154 of the Penal Code of the USSR.


title: Speculation

text: Some nations have moved to limit foreign ownership of cropland to ensure that food is available for local consumption, while others have leased food land abroad despite receiving aid from the World Food Programme.


title: Speculation

text: In 1935, the Indian government passed a law allowing the government partial restriction and direct control of food production (Defence of India Act, 1935). It included the ability to restrict or ban the trading in derivatives on food commodities. After achieving independence in 1947, India in the 1950s continued to struggle with feeding its population and the government increasingly restricted trading in food commodities. Just at the time the Forward Markets Commission was established in 1953, the government felt that derivative markets increased speculation, which led to increased food costs and price instabilities. In 1953 it finally prohibited options- and futures-trading altogether. The restrictions were not lifted until the 1980s.


title: Speculation

text: In the United States, following passage of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has proposed regulations aimed at limiting speculation in futures markets by instituting position limits. The CFTC offers three basic elements for their regulatory framework: "the size (or levels) of the limits themselves; the exemptions from the limits (for example, hedged positions) and; the policy on aggregating accounts for purposes of applying the limits". The proposed position limits would apply to 28 physical commodities traded in various exchanges across the US.


title: Speculation

text: Another part of the Dodd-Frank Act established the Volcker Rule, which deals with speculative investments of banks that do not benefit their customers. Passed on 21 January 2010, it states that those investments played a key role in the financial crisis of 2007–2010.


title: William Riker

text: William Thomas "Will" Riker is a fictional character in the "Star Trek" universe appearing primarily as a main character in "". Throughout the series and its accompanying films, he is the "Enterprise"s first officer, and briefly captain, until he accepts command of the USS "Titan" at the end of "". Riker is played by actor Jonathan Frakes.


title: William Riker

text: Riker is usually referred to as "Will". He is also usually (and informally) called "Number One" by Captain Picard, because of his position as first officer on the "Enterprise".


title: William Riker

text: Riker was originally scripted as a much more serious, by-the-book officer, but by the middle episodes of the first season, it was felt that he was too "official", and his character was toned down and became more of a ladies' man. For the first two seasons, Riker is portrayed as a bold, confident and sometimes arrogant, ambitious young officer; however, over time Riker's character becomes more reserved, as experience teaches him the wisdom of a patient, careful approach. He becomes comfortable on the "Enterprise", repeatedly turning down offers of his own command, and he learns to cherish the company of his fellow officers. Nonetheless, Riker retains a willingness to occasionally disregard the chain of command.


title: William Riker

text: Although Riker was clean-shaven for the first season, he grew a mustache and beard at the start of the second season that later would become something of a trademark. Frakes had grown a mustache and beard between seasons, for his role in the Civil War miniseries "North and South", and Gene Roddenberry asked him to keep it, because he thought it made Riker look more nautical. Because Frakes' growing of a mustache and beard coincided with what fans and critics perceived as an improvement of the show's writing quality, "growing the beard" has become an internet colloquialism for a once subpar television series achieving a dramatic level of improvement. Riker did shave his mustache and beard during the events of "Star Trek Insurrection", to the amusement of Data.


title: William Riker

text: Riker's background is first explored in the second-season episode "The Icarus Factor". In the episode, Riker's estranged father, Kyle, visits the "Enterprise" to offer his son the command of the USS "Aries", which Riker refuses. We learn that Riker grew up in Alaska; that his mother, Elizabeth (Betty), died when he was two years old; and that he was raised by his father until the age of 15, when he left home. In the episode, Riker had not spoken with his father for 15 years, but they manage to partially mend their relationship over a game of martial-arts sparring called Anbo-jitsu. In the episode "" a waiter at Ten Forward mistakenly states that Riker is Canadian, and in the same episode Riker clarifies that he grew up in Alaska. According to the "Voyager" episode "" (in which Riker made a guest appearance), Riker's distant ancestors also lived in the United States: during the American Civil War, his ancestor Colonel Thaddeus Riker fought on the Union side, as an officer in the 102nd New York Infantry Regiment during the Atlanta Campaign.


title: William Riker

text: In the two-part episode "" Riker takes command of the "Enterprise", promoted to the rank of captain through a field promotion, and orchestrates Picard's rescue. This episode also explores the idea of Riker being unwilling to take chances since he had grown comfortable in his role as First Officer aboard the "Enterprise". By the end of the episode, when he orders the "Enterprise" to fire on former Captain Picard, now Locutus of Borg, Riker has grown into a more confident leader. The sixth-season episode "" reveals that Will Riker was duplicated long ago by a transporter malfunction. The "second" Riker takes the name "Thomas", which is revealed to be William Riker's middle name. In the seventh-season episode "", Riker must confront his former commanding officer, Admiral Erik Pressman, over a cover-up related to the destruction of the USS "Pegasus". The "Pegasus" had illegally developed a radically different type of cloaking device that also allowed it to phase through matter, resulting in it becoming fused within an asteroid when unstable power consumption forced the cloaking device offline. In the "Enterprise" series finale, Riker appears as a never before seen cook discussing matters of life, duty, and sacrifice with the crew. It is revealed that his presence is part of a holodeck simulation of historic events that Riker initiated in order to help himself make the decision to inform Captain Picard of the illegal research once conducted by Admiral Pressman aboard the "Pegasus".


title: William Riker

text: Before the beginning of the series, Riker was involved in a romantic relationship with Counselor Troi on her home planet Betazed. They often refer to each other as "imzadi", a Betazoid term of endearment meaning "soulmate". The novel "Imzadi" takes place before the beginning of the series and explores the history of the relationship between the two characters. The two characters are close friends throughout the series, but their relationship does not resume until "", the third "Star Trek" film set in the "Next Generation" era, although Thomas Riker, the duplicate created by a transporter malfunction, attempts to respark their relationship in "Second Chances". The following movie, "", begins with their wedding reception on board the "Enterprise"-E. At the start of the film, Riker finally accepts a promotion to Captain and an offer to command the USS "Titan"; during the movie's final scenes he bids Picard, and the "Enterprise", farewell.


title: William Riker

text: Frakes reprised his role of Commander Riker in the 2005 "" series finale, "These Are the Voyages...".


title: William Riker

text: Riker returns to the screen in an episode of "", titled "Nepenthe". In that episode, taking place in 2399, Riker is married to Deanna Troi; they have two children, Thad (now deceased), and Kestra. Picard and his gynoid companion Soji visit the Rikers' home, a National Parks-style lodge on the planet Nepenthe, and are welcomed with open arms. Will and Deanna are retired from Starfleet although Will describes his status as being on "active reserve."


title: William Riker

text: Riker makes another "Picard" appearance in the Season 1 finale, "Et in Arcadia Ego, Part II". In that episode, Riker has been reinstated to active duty. He is temporarily in command of the USS "Zheng He", the lead ship in a Starfleet squadron sent to the planet Coppelius to protect its inhabitants from imminent Romulan attack.


title: William Riker

text: Riker appears in "No Small Parts", the finale of the first season of "" as captain of the USS "Titan" alongside his wife Deanna Troi. Riker appeared in the first and second episodes of the second season.


title: William Riker

text: Frakes appeared in dual roles in "Second Chances", a "TNG" episode in which it was established that Riker had a "twin" created years earlier by a transporter malfunction. Frakes appeared as the twin, Thomas Riker, in the "" episode "Defiant", in which he impersonates the other Riker to commandeer the starship "Defiant" as a member of the Maquis.


title: William Riker

text: In 2019, Cinema Blend ranked Riker the fifth best "Star Trek" Starfleet character of all time. They point out he is good at his job as "Number One", first officer to Captain Picard on the starship USS "Enterprise" 1701-D. In 2009, IGN rated William Riker the 22nd best character of all "Star Trek" up to that time.


title: William Riker

text: In 2018, "The Wrap" placed William Riker as 5th out 39 in a ranking of main cast characters of the "Star Trek" franchise. In 2017, IndieWire ranked Riker as the 2nd best character on "Star Trek:The Next Generation". In 2016, the First Officer Riker was ranked as the 6th most important character of Starfleet within the "Star Trek" science fiction universe by "Wired" magazine.


title: Rachel DiPillo

text: Rachel Katherine DiPillo (born January 26, 1991) is an American actress. She is best known for her roles as Andie in The CW's comedy drama television series "Jane the Virgin" and as Dr. Sarah Reese in NBC's medical drama television series "Chicago Med".


title: Rachel DiPillo

text: Rachel Katherine DiPillo was born on January 26, 1991, in Flint, Michigan. She grew up in Nashville, Tennessee.


title: Rachel DiPillo

text: She starred in NBC's comedy pilot "Cuckoo" based on the British sitcom of the same name with Michael Chiklis and Cheryl Hines in spring 2015, but the network ultimately passed on the project.


title: Rachel DiPillo

text: DiPillo played Sarah Reese in "Chicago Med", which premiered on November 17, 2015. She made appearances with the character throughout Chicago PD and Chicago Fire.


title: Designer drug

text: A designer drug is a structural or functional analog of a controlled substance that has been designed to mimic the pharmacological effects of the original drug, while avoiding classification as illegal and/or detection in standard drug tests. Designer drugs include psychoactive substances that have been designated by the European Union as new psychoactive substances (NPS) as well as analogs of performance-enhancing drugs such as designer steroids. Some of these were originally synthesized by academic or industrial researchers in an effort to discover more potent derivatives with fewer side effects, and shorter duration (and possibly also because it is easier to apply for patents for new molecules) and were later co-opted for recreational use. Other designer drugs were prepared for the first time in clandestine laboratories. Because the efficacy and safety of these substances have not been thoroughly evaluated in animal and human trials, the use of some of these drugs may result in unexpected side effects.


title: Designer drug

text: The development of designer drugs may be considered a subfield of drug design. The exploration of modifications to known active drugs—such as their structural analogues, stereoisomers, and derivatives—yields drugs that may differ significantly in effects from their "parent" drug (e.g., showing increased potency, or decreased side effects). In some instances, designer drugs have similar effects to other known drugs, but have completely dissimilar chemical structures (e.g. JWH-018 vs THC). Despite being a very broad term, applicable to almost every synthetic drug, it is often used to connote synthetic recreational drugs, sometimes even those which have not been designed at all (e.g. LSD, the psychedelic side effects of which were discovered unintentionally).