Khipus in popular culture

The iconicity of khipus, both in form and idea, has lead to these knotted objects popping up in all sorts of places in popular culture.

Movies and television

Paddington in Peru (2024): A message is recorded in a khipu to provide directions to El Dorado.
Dora and the Lost City of Gold (2019): Dora "reads" a stone khipu by touch to uncover a treasure's location.
See: Characters in this series, who are blind, use knotted strings for communication.
Teekyu: In Season 4, Marimo uses a khipu to subdue Tomarin in a comedic sequence.
Earth: Final Conflict: A khipu and the Nazca Lines feature in the plot of Season 3, Episode 5.

The Wine-Dark Sea by Patrick O’Brian: A khipu conveys an important message in Chapter 9.
The Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O. by Neal Stephenson and Nicole Galland: Khipus are used by witches for navigating time travel algorithms.
This Is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone: A letter from "Blue" is hidden in pre-Columbian Peru as a "knot code."
Ammonite by Nicola Griffith: Knotted message cords, read by touch, facilitate communication across distances.
Catalina by Karla Cornejo Villavicencio: Researchers work to decode Andean khipus in a subplot.

Death Stranding: The character Amelie wears a khipu necklace, and a device inspired by the khipu—the Q-Pid—is featured.
Magic: The Gathering: The expansion set The Lost Caverns of Ixalan includes a card named "Braided Quipu," transforming from "Braided Net."