WARNING: SPOILERS ahead for The Madness.
A mysterious figure under the online alias Brother 14 is the secret leader of a far-right white nationalist group called The Forge in Colman Domingo's Netflix conspiracy thriller series. The Madness. Created by playwright Stephen Belber The Laramie Project and Tape acclaim, The Madness follows the quickly unraveled life of Muncie Daniels after discovering a dead body in a remote cabin next door to their rented tree-lined home. Although The Madness Pulls a lot of inspiration from reality, or at least from reality-based people and ideologies found in modern American social and political climates, the Netflix limited series is not based on a true story.
Colman Domingo leads the cast of The Madness alongside John Ortiz, Deon Cole, Marsha Stephanie Blake and Tamsin Topolski. All over The Madness, Muncie is a CNN contributor who believes he is being framed for murder. He must rely on the support of his family and some helpful sources to clear his name. At the end of The MadnessMuncie tries to get revenge on a mysterious shadowy figure named Rodney Kraintz, who is a majority investor in the major technology company Revitalize. It connects a dark web between Kraintz, Revitalize, and The Forge, which is an armed extremist group led by the online thought leader known as Brother 14.
The Forge is a fictional domestic terrorist group
They were led by Mark Simon, also known as Brother 14
In Netflix's conspiracy thriller series The MadnessThe Forge is a fictional white supremacist and domestic terrorist group. Mark Simon, or Brother 14, was the leader of the group of neo-Nazis who gained a large following online through their extensive posts and forums. In The Madness, The Forge is portrayed as a group of a few dozen white men, but it is implied that The Forge has a national reach due to Brother 14's platform. As the founder of The Forge, Mark Simon orchestrated the meetings and planned events related to the extremist group and professed their ideologies.
The Forge is a collection of extremist individuals who have rallied around Brother 14's cause. Little did they know that Brother 14 was on Revitalise's radar. Rodney Kraintz became concerned about Mark Simon's growing online influence and interest in politics, which is why he killed him. Lost without its leader, the Forge didn't know what to do, but held meetings to try to get to the bottom of the matter. Despite appearing to support Mark Simon's wife, Lucie, the group was connected through a shared racist belief in white supremacy. The Forge doesn't do much in the series until the end in which a rogue member kills Rodney Kraintz.
The Forge represents white supremacy and far-right extremism
They were influenced by Mark Simon who was paid by Revitalize
The Forge is an inherently racist group of white supremacists, which means that Mark Simon, aka Brother 14, was without a doubt a racist man and thought leader. They are similar to and likely inspired by real white supremacist groups, but are not directly representative of any real people or organizations. Although Stu Magnusson worked closely with Rodney Kraintz and his eventual assassin, Julia Jayne, he was not a member of the Forge. He and Kraintz were majority owners of Revitalize, which paid Mark Simon to influence elections and public opinion. Due to this, Mark Simon could have simply been a conman spreading propaganda online for profit.
The Forge was the white supremacist group closest to Mark Simon and probably the only members who knew his true identity. The rest of his 5 million followers across the country knew him as Brother 14. The Madness doesn't spend much of its eight episodes addressing the specific ideologies and goals of The Forge. Their main purpose is to represent the loyal group of followers that Simon has among the masses. The rogue Forge member who killed Rodney Kraintz at the end of The Madness he did not receive any official orders from the extremist group and instead acted alone in the assassination.
Mark Simon or “Brother 14” was the leader of the forge
Brother 14 had over 5 million followers online
Muncie discovers that Mark Simon is the seemingly friendly neighbor who drives the truck that found Muncie in the first episode of The Madness. Simon was killed by Ant, a member of the Profane Discord, and Don Sloss Jr, an ex-military man. Revitalize hired them to kill Mark after Mark backed out of a business deal. Ant and Don were the two men who wore ski masks at the beginning of The Madness and tried to kill Muncie in the woods. Muncie managed to escape, but was relentlessly pursued by a secret broker named Julia Jayne, who was also a silent investor in Revitalize. At the end of The MadnessThe Forge is without its leader, but takes revenge by killing Kraintz.