History Main / HellIsWar

[[folder: Live-Action TV ]]

[[folder: Mythology and Religion]]

[[folder: Tabletop Games ]]

[[folder: Video Games ]]

* Violence layer in ''VideoGame/{{ULTRAKILL}}'' embodies this in levels after 7-1. Notably it's not just any war, but [[spoiler:according to the Terminal entries it's all Hell's most faithful replica of the Final War that humanity suffered before they almost wiped themselves out and declared peace. Every last one of the new machines, even the Earthmovers, was something the nations of Earth wielded against one another at some point in it]].
** 7-2 is a huge battlefield over the Phlemegethon blood river, with multiple bases, anti-air fire, new foes arriving in drop pods, collapsing landmarks such as an enormous clock tower and leapfrog mines scattered throughout, all this while enormous MechanicalAbomination in quantity of three are overlooking the whole ordeal.
** 7-3 focuses on traversing Forest of Self-Violence, but the theme is still present. You see, the same update introduced enemy infighting, and while it doesn't happen normally, it does happen here multiple times, giving us the first look at different machines, demons and husks all fighting for survival. The final fight tops them all as it pits every single enemy except Insurrectionists and Ferrymen both against you and each other.
** 7-4 is a boss fight [[spoiler: against THR-1000 "Earthmover", a machine so gigantic you have to perform a ColossusClimb to get to its heart to take down the whole thing from within. ]]All the while, drop pods continue to land,[[spoiler:Earthmover itself is having a BehemothBattle with another Earthmover]] and the sky is covered in flames from all the combat.

* Violence layer in ''VideoGame/{{ULTRAKILL}}'' embodies this in levels after 7-1. Notably it's not just any war, but [[spoiler:according to the Terminal entries it's all Hell's most faithful replica of the Final War that humanity suffered before they almost wiped themselves out and declared peace. Every last one if the new machines, even the Earthmovers, was something the nations of Earth wielded against one another at some point in it]].

* Violence layer in ''VideoGame/{{ULTRAKILL}}'' embodies this in levels after 7-1.

* Violence layer in ''VideoGame/ULTRAKILL'' embodies this in levels after 7-1.

* ''VideoGame/PlanescapeTorment'' is set in a cosmological/ideological neutral plane where [[BanOnPolitics the presence of Gods is banned]] (as certain beliefs can literally manifest themselves in dangerous ways here), but the infernal races are permitted to recruit soldiers for their eternal Blood War against each other. Anyone who may have been blameless before enlisting is certain to earn an eternal position in the armies of the lower planes before their tour of duty is done, and if they haven't, that term can be extended. The Nameless One meets an ex-soldier lecturing against the lures and lies of the recruitment campaign and figures out that he had escaped by desertion. [[spoiler: In the [[MultipleEnding sort of better endings]], the Nameless One -- who has ResurrectiveImmortality -- finally dies normally and has to fight in the Blood War to make amends for the sins of his past lives, though not necessarily forever.]]

Compare and contrast WarriorHeaven, where [[BloodKnight getting]] to fight forever is your ''reward''. Although note that several examples are ''both'' [[HellOfAHeaven depending on]] [[AHellOfATime which combatant you ask]]. Compare ForeverWar, a war in the living world that's been going on for a ''really'' long time.

* ''VideoGame/PlanescapeTorment'' is set in a cosmological/ideological neutral plane where [[BanOnPolitics the presence of Gods is banned]] (as certain beliefs can literally manifest themselves in dangerous ways here), but the infernal races are permitted to recruit soldiers for their eternal Blood War against each other. Anyone who may have been blameless before enlisting is certain to earn an eternal position in the armies of the lower planes before their tour of duty is done, and if they haven't, that term can be extended. The Nameless One meets an ex-soldier lecturing against the lures and lies of the recruitment campaign and figures out that he had escaped by desertion.

[[folder:Film]]

Compare and contrast WarriorHeaven, where [[BloodKnight getting]] to fight forever is your ''reward''. Although note that several examples are ''both'' [[HellOfAHeaven depending on]] [[AHellOfATime which combatant you ask]]. Not to be confused with ForeverWar, which is an actual war that's been going on for a ''really'' long time.

[[folder: Mythology and ]]

[[folder: Mythology]]

[[folder: Religion ]]
* The Asura realm in {{UsefulNotes/Buddhism}}, a whole world of endless carnage. Supposedly, souls that incarnate here used to be extremely violent in their past life/lives.
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Compare and contrast WarriorHeaven, where [[BloodKnight getting]] to fight forever is your ''reward''. Although note that several examples are ''both'' depending on which combatant you ask. Not to be confused with ForeverWar, which is an actual war that's been going on for a ''really'' long time.

* A number of punishments for [[SevenDeadlySins Wrathful]] [=SOULs=] in ''Videogame/Afterlife1996'' are like this, but the ultimate punishment is "[[ShoutOut War! (What is it Good For?)]]," where the damned fight a perpetual war as they are revived shortly after being killed.

Compare and contrast WarriorHeaven, where [[BloodKnight getting]] to fight forever is your ''reward''. Although note that several examples are ''both'' depending on which combatant you ask.

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* Inverted in ''Literature/OddThomas:'' Stormy, Odd's girlfriend, believes that life on Earth is a sort of "boot camp" and that the afterlife is a lighter version of this; good, noble, and brave souls are recruited into service to combat evil on a higher plane, while the rest, well ... [[CessationOfExistence don't]]. According to her, the rewards for this service will be given in a person's third life. Odd himself mentions disliking this theory, mainly because it implies that all the horror on our little rock is preparation for something ''worse.''
* The titular ''Literature/{{Mogworld}}'' in the book by Creator/BenCroshaw is slowly turning into this after an event 15 years previously. Now that every (living) creature comes back to life shortly after death, DeathIsCheap in the extreme, and various hostile groups fight, raid and slaughter each other weekly purely for something to do. [[spoiler: The reason: these are [[NonPlayerCharacter NPCs]] respawning. It's up to the reader whether ''every single persistent game world'' they've played in is such a hell.]]
* In ''The Defense of Hill 781'', soldiers who die are sent to the US Army National Training Center as Purgatory. If they win they get to go to heaven.
** It is not said whether the army copied the [[TheSpartanWay NTC from Purgatory]] or [[CrapsackWorld Purgatory was copied from the NTC]].
* ''Literature/CreaturesOfLightAndDarkness'' blurs the line a bit with WarriorHeaven. Anubis sometimes makes dead people fight each other and sometimes the winner gets a job and a name.

** The Lower Planes, seven separate dimensions of endless torment, are eternally embroiled in the Blood War, a massive genocidal conflict between the [[LawfulEvil disciplined legions of the devils of Hell]] and the [[ChaoticEvil endless hordes of the demons of the Abyss]], with both sides throwing massive armies of abominations at each other in an attempt to wipe their rivals from existence. This war has been raging for eons, and is maintained by the Good-aligned gods who throw an InfinityPlusOneSword in the fray now and then to ensure neither faction is stronger than the other--because if the Lower Planes were to be unified, they'd overthrow the heavens in no time. The NeutralEvil yugoloths (a.k.a. daemons) hire themselves out as mercenaries to the devils and demons both, while secretly playing them against each other for their own benefit.

* TabletopGame/{{Infernum}} does this in miniature with the [[CirclesOfHell Circle of]] [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Slaughter]]. This was the testing ground for the demons back when the First Fallen were running the show, and even nowadays, it's an endless meatgrinder of demons versus demons, demons versus humans, and demons versus spawn. And sometimes [[MeleeATrois demons versus humans versus spawn versus other demons]]. Blood rains from the sky and forms gory mists that induce homicidal rage, the earth buckles and spews lava in response to artillery and sorcery barrages, and untold millions of demons are wiped out without a single thought. After all, a single demon can be rendered down to produce as many as thirty-six new demons, which will be fully grown and ready to kill about six or seven months after being "born".
** It's the primary holding ground of House Sturrach, whose Hat is basically being all of the evil tropes associated with armies and soldiers. Since they are quite comfortable with the fact they were bred as soldiers to fight against Heaven, and their House is strongly implied to seek a ForeverWar once they have conquered Hell -- their "flavor text" is an elder of the House explaining to a curious youngling that, once they have Hell under their command, they will storm Heaven and claim it for themselves, then they'll invade and conquer Earth, then they will seek out yet more worlds to crush, all in pursuit of "war without end" -- they see Slaughter more as a brutal form of WarriorHeaven.
* The fate of souls (and demons) who fall under the purview of Baal, Demon Prince of the War, in ''TabletopGame/InNomine''. In theory all of Hell is devoted to the war effort, but only Baal fights what could really be considered conventional war.
* The Realm of Fighting Spirits in the TabletopGame/{{Old World Of Darkness}}'s ''TabletopGame/KindredOfTheEast'' game. While ''technically'' not a hell realm in that it was not created specifically for punishment, many souls there ARE imprisoned as punishment. The realm has everything from [[AnachronismStew feudal ninja and samurais to WWII bombers and giant robots]].

* The FinalBoss of ''VideoGame/{{Painkiller}}'' takes place in Hell, which is portrayed here as a freeze-frame of war, depicting war throughout various points in history, from medieval sieges to an atomic blast.
* This is the setting of the strategy game ''Lost Souls'', according to [[AllThereInTheManual the manual]]. It neglects to specify whether there's any benefit to winning the fights rather than losing, other than that winning lets you go on to the next level.
* In ''VideoGame/{{Folklore}}'', you get to visit several different afterlives, based on the beliefs of various people throughout time... one of them is a war-torn wasteland born of the feverish nightmares of soldiers serving in the trenches of the two World Wars, as their vision of the ultimate hell.
* A number of punishments for [[SevenDeadlySins Wrathful]] [=SOULs=] in ''Videogame/Afterlife1996'' are like this, but the ultimate punishment is "[[ShoutOut War! (What is it Good For?)]]," where the damned fight a perpetual war as they are revived shortly after being killed.
* The Fissure of Woe in ''VideoGame/GuildWars''. It's [[WarGod Balthazar's]] domain, after all.
* This is one interpretation of ''VideoGame/SpecOpsTheLine''. The main character may be suffering this, with a healthy dose of IronicHell and ThroughTheEyesOfMadness to boot.
* In ''VideoGame/JadeEmpire'', the [[PlayerCharacter protagonist]] was rescued from a bloody battle between [[TheEmpire the Jade Empire]] and [[{{Psychopomp}} the Spirit Monks]] [[MosesInTheBulrushes as a child]]. We later discover that [[spoiler: the Spirit Monks and Imperial troops are basically forced to fight one another forever as ghosts, because the Water Dragon, goddess of reincarnation, [[HaveYouSeenMyGod has been incapacitated]].]]

* The ''Land of Carnage'' in the ''Franchise/{{Disgaea}}'' franchise, is a world where Prinnies (sinners reincarnated as penguins) fight each other endlessly; given that this is an area usually locked behind post-game content, these Prinnies are often [[LethalJokeCharacter Lethal Joke Characters]] (the most lethal being Pringer Z, a demonic Prinny-shaped mecha).
* In VideoGame/DeathStranding, everyone has an individual AfterlifeAntechamber called a Beach, which usually looks exactly what it sounds like. However, many people dying at once causes their Beaches to merge into one. And many people dying in battle, filled with anger and resentment, warps their merged Beach into an endless war where the dead fight forever, incapable of finding peace or moving on.

** Khorne's fortress is also the site of perpetual battle where his faithful continuously fight in his name, serving as arriorHeaven. The "hell" part applies to those who've displeased him: Cowards and deserters and captured sorcerers ([[DoesNotLikeMagic see: cowards]]) are forced to toil in huge forges, making weapons fthat they'll never get to use for Khorne's favored champions.

** One [[OurOrcsAreDifferent Ork]] Warboss and his WAAAAGH! was treated to this trope after invading several Daemon Worlds (each one a literal WorldOfChaos) until his WAAAGH! was finally stopped and exterminated at the private daemon world of a [[EldritchAbomination Daemon]] [[AscendedToAHigherPlaneOfExistence Prince]] of [[WarGod Khorne]]. For invading this Prince's world and castrating him, they were punished by being forced to fight for all eternity on that world, dying each day and rising anew every morning to fight again. The Orks, however, [[WarriorHeaven don't see it as much of a punishment]]. And [[SubvertedTrope it may not even be meant to be much of one]] since Khorne cares only about violence, [[BloodKnight especially for its own sake]].
** There are also several other Daemon Worlds where the Daemons fight each other, and indeed the Realm of Chaos itself consists mostly out of the legions of the Chaos Gods fighting an endless war with each other.

WarIsHell? So what better way to punish your foes than to make them fight forever?

WarIsHell. So what better way to punish your foes than to make them fight forever?