Afterpants: Afterlives (Hell)

Well it's been a few days since my last post and holee shyt has it gotten cold here.

Anyway, I debated as to whether I should do a post so I clicked on tvtropes, just to see what the next on the list was and, you guessed it....HELL! (see also Jahannam)

It's a little hard to resist talking about my favorite topic (the underworld) so I'm gonna go down the list:

Main topic "Hell"

Now personally, I use the term interchangeably with 'the underworld', "the afterlife", "Yomi", "meido" etc...but in the classical version, Hell proper is the opposite of "heaven" and the place 'bad people" go when they die.

Normally those people are ruled over by demons who's job it is to cause them suffering.

(side note: this is similar to the idea of Naraka/Diyu/Jigoku etc...in Hindu and Buddhist traditions)

Many western ideas about Hell were inspired by the Ancient Egyptian "Duat"

1st subtopic: "A hell of a time", of course classically this is supposed to be a literal impossibility. However, some stories show us that there are certain types of people who might enjoy such things. trope page shows a .jpg from South Park where all the celebs are dancing at a party with Satan

#2 "Bloody bowels of hell" Wherein Hell is supposed to take on the appearance of a giant creature in which it's denizens reside.

#3 Circles of hell Just like Dante, Hell is divided by the different kinds of bad things that humans do normally the bottom layer/circle/realm is reserved for the worst sinners of all.

#4 City of the damned Now, this trope is supposed to be for "hells that look like cities" but in many classical writings, Hell has vast landscapes and also cities...so...

#5 Dragged to hell (One need only remember the iconic scene in "Ghost" where the murderer is dragged into the darkness by shadowy demonic beings)

#6 Easy road to hell. This is not the implication that the road/stairway/river/train to hell is particularly comfortable...no, it implies that it's very easy to wind up in hell by even the tiniest infraction of whatever moral code the characters in a story follow.

#7. Firey Hell. Some ppl believe that hell is cold, some believe it's a desert, Christians specifically believe in fire and brimstone forever.

#8. Hellevator. Obviously, this is a modern trope as the elevator wasn't invented until 1743.

This is the idea that there is a real, physical elevator that one enters and is taken to the afterlife. I personally like this idea and I want to mention something about a small room that takes people under the ground... it's quite a powerful image!

#9 Hell has new management. While this idea at tvtropes is reserved for a character in a story that is so big and bad that they are strong enough to "take over hell" I've read plenty of stories where the idea is that the old boss quits and new management must be assigned. I even read one where hell is entirely emptied and the new people that end up there make hell into a business!

#10 Hell is war: The idea for these types of afterlives is that the character/s must fight with each other or fight monsters or whatever else FOREVER!

#11 Ironic Hell. This is supposed to be the idea of "the punishment fits the crime" but Im not sure the author quite understands irony. One definition of irony is "a state of affairs or an event that seems deliberately contrary to what one expects and is often amusing as a result."

That said, someone who eats too much and is deprived of food is a 1-1 ratio Hell. Tit for tat. Someone who eats too much in life then dies and is forced to eat constantly as a punishment is an Ironic hell. Irony is weird thing. I once knew a guy who believed in irony as a cosmic force.

#12. Hell is a physical place: and you can drive/boat/fly there. "Caution. You may be disappointed if you go to one of these "gates of hell" and there are no spirits or demons etc,,,

#13. Planet Heck. A Sci-fi and Fantasy trope for forever...there is a planet out there somewhere covered in fire and aliens that look like demons, etc...

(There's a smaller idea that Hell is actually another planet...though I imagine it's difficult for storytellers to actually get the characters there...like, nice idea...how are dead people going to get to Hell? A ghost-rocket ship?

#14. Self-inflicted Hell. This is the very generalized idea that the only reason you are in Hell is because you believe you deserve it. Therefore the Hell becomes whatever punishment you believe it should be.

#15. This isn't Heaven. The idea that while it can look like heaven, the character finds a huge and horrible flaw and realizes it's actually hell.

#16To Hell and Back. Of course, we've all heard/read a story that involves a character having to go to Hell for whatever reason and then having to escape. I find this trope amusing because it's a little storytelling secret that if your character "goes to the underworld" they're dead. Period. If they "come back" it's just for style.

Alright, well, that's about it. All the #'d links will take you to the tvtropes pages. All the links above that are to other posts I've made on those topics.

While I use the word in place of other words for the afterlife...the classical interpretation is :