[Quora Answer] Was Rasputin Real?

Someone on Quora wanted to know whether Rasputin was real or fictional. Given that I am mildly obsessed with Rasputin and the Romanov family, I gave this answer a shot.

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Was Rasputin Real? Or Was He Fictional?

Rasputin was a real person, though his tale grew greatly in the telling.

Rasputin was a self-proclaimed monk (or, perhaps more accurately, pilgrim, as he had no official position in the church) active in Russia in the years leading to the Bolshevik Revolution (arriving somewhere between 1903 and 1905). Due to sheer charisma, he became a popular figure in Russia at the time, popular enough, in fact, to meet with Tsar Nicholas II. After this meeting, he became a “healer” for Empress Alexandra’s ailing son, Alexei.

Alexandra was extremely worried about her son. Alexei had a condition known as hemophilia (which could be very dangerous) and he was Nicholas’s only heir. No matter what they did, nothing seemed to help the boy. But, through unknown means, Rasputin managed to convince her that he could help. In so doing, he soothed her worried heart and managed to earn her trust.

He had a reputation as something of a charlatan, but a popular one, which irked the church greatly. So when Nicholas left the capital, leaving his wife in charge (and thus increasing Rasputin’s influence over the country, due to his influence over her), many people were understandably a bit concerned.

There is some evidence to suggest that Rasputin did whatever he could to increase his own influence. At the very least, most of his contemporaries seemed to think so, including Grand Duke Nicholas (different guy from Tsar Nicholas), who once threatened Rasputin with death if he ever dared to go to the front to bless the Russian troops.

In 1916, several nobles had had enough of Rasputin’s influence over Alexandra. They assassinated him by luring him to one of their homes and shooting him three times (one of these shots was to the head). Many legends and reports state that there were…oddities, shall we say…around his death. He had apparently been poisoned with cyanide, but seemed to be unaffected by it. He was given poisoned wine, but again was unaffected. After they had shot him once and left for dead, he apparently sprang to his feet and attacked them when they came back to make sure he was actually dead. They then threw him in a river to dispose of the body.

When the police found his body, they found evidence of the gunshot wounds, as well as several traces of trauma. But no trace of poison.

Since most of what we know about him is hearsay and rumor anyway, and this man generated many rumors, fantasy writers tend to go nuts with Rasputin’s life story. He seems to have said some deeply creepy stuff over the course of his life, and just look at him. Give that man magic powers and he could terrify anyone. Add to that the fact that he’s always been surrounded by mystery, and again, fantasy writers go wild.

We do know that Rasputin had a talent for attaining power and influence, that his hold over Empress Alexandra was incredibly strong (perhaps supernaturally so), that he apparently survived things no man should be able to survive, and that very strange things seemed to happen around him.

Coincidence? Perhaps.

Either way, it makes for a good story.