The Knights Templar

Nearly seven hundred years after their unjust suppression, the legendary tales of the Knights Templar still captivate modern artists, writers, filmmakers, and audiences across all mediums. This resilient "Templar-mania" speaks to the truly epic nature of their rise and fall - a real-life historical drama encapsulating chivalry, guardianship of holy relics, haunting conspiracies of cover-ups by the powerful, and ultimately, martyrdom.

In many ways, the Templars embodied the ideal blend of romantic hero and tragic victim. As pious Christian warrior-monks, they exemplified bravery, noble sacrifice, and unwavering loyalty to a sacred code. Yet they were also an order steeped in arcane rituals, pseudo-religious mysticism, and persistent allegations of guarding civilization-upending secrets - all of which culminated in their undoing by the very Church they served.

This rich dichotomy bred a mesmeric mythos ripe for enduring interest and speculative storytelling that have propelled the Templars to cultural iconography on par with Greco-Roman legends.

Literature's Gateway to Templar Obsession

Literature provided the initial mainstream gateway for fueling Templar-mania. The 1819 novel Ivanhoe by Sir Walter Scott sparked new romanticism around these "noble Christian Soldiers." Later works like Umberto Eco's literary juggernaut, Foucault's Pendulum and Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code exploded interest by spinning fanciful yarns positing the Templars as keepers of the Holy Grail and explosive ancient documents threatening Church canonical authority.

Brown's page-turner became a global phenomenon upon release in 2003, selling 80 million copies and inspiring a 2006 film that grossed over $750 million worldwide. The appetite for conspiracy-laden fiction featuring Indiana Jones-ian heroic knights uncovering history's greatest secrets - an association the Templars inspired - clearly resonated with modern readers and moviegoers.

Hollywood's Big Budget Templars

Hollywood has been more than happy to capitalize on popular Templar enchantment by pumping out revisionist crusader epics portraying them as bravehearted, morally-sound martial champions regularly squaring off against nefarious foes.

Ridley Scott's 2005 film Kingdom of Heaven starred a little-known Orlando Bloom opposite an all-star cast yet earned over $211 million by depicting the Templars' courage and moral fortitude on the battlefield during conflicts in Jerusalem. More recently, Ron Howard's 2016 blockbuster thriller Inferno featured the Templars in a central mystery for hero Robert Langdon (played by Tom Hanks) to unravel ancestral ties to Dante's works.

Even the enormously successful Assassin's Creed video game series found mass appeal through meticulously rendered virtual worlds that let gamers live out the Templar-Assassin rivalry during medieval times. Millions embraced exploring cities like Damascus, training as Templar knights, and fighting to preserve holy relics in cinematic quests spanning decades of franchise releases.

The Cult of Templar Mythology

Clearly, mainstream modern culture has found a profound wellspring of inspiration in Templar mythology and their legendary exploits entangled with biblical relics, controversial heresies, and the constant pursuit of secret knowledge hidden by the Church.

According to experts, the persisting Templar cult phenomenon stems from tales that captivate universal human desires - heroic courage, underdog status, secret elite societies uncovering historical realties, and of course, the age-old struggle between good and evil.

Many experts believe the public's enchantment further stemmed from the Knights' dramatic downfall being one of the Middle Ages' biggest scandals - persecution of an ostensibly holy military order based on dubious charges, coerced confessions, and potentially a conspiracy by King Philip IV to seize their wealth.

This tantalizing recipe of ambiguous historical events, rumors of the Templars being keepers of a curse or lost holy treasures, and allegations of Church corruption in suppressing them resonates today as it did centuries ago - providing grist for conjecture around every modern fictional conspiracy tome or thriller blockbuster.

Whether lovers of their origin myth or critics wary of fictionalizing an Order executed as heretics, few historical groups have fueled modern imaginations quite like the Templars. Their enduring cultural presence and storytelling potential will only continue to build with each fresh artistic reinvention probing their legendary mystique.