History Main / InfernalParadise

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[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/hanuda_paradise_better_92.png]]

[[caption-width-right:350:"The vision of paradise depicted here is distinctive to [[VideoGame/{{Siren}} Hanuda]]."]]

* The Mana cult in ''VideoGame/{{Siren}}'' has an [[OurZombiesAreDifferent unique take on the whole ever-lasting life thing.]] Not everybody involved knows just ''how'' sinister their religion actually is, but the various religious objects you can collect in the game still paint a rather creepy image of the paradise these people yearn for.

* A joke that's appeared in everything from ''Bizarro'' to ''Non Sequitur'': "Dog heaven is where the bad squirrels (or cats, in some versions) go."
* ''ComicStrip/TheFarSide'' postulated that Dog Heaven is Mailman Hell.

* Heaven for Viking men was an endless cycle of fighting battles, followed by drinking mead taken from the udder of a magical goat that heals all wounds. After a night of feasting, the men would battle all day once again. It was expected that all Vikings should think that constant battle and feasting is [[TestosteronePoisoning just awesome]]. There's a certain amount of both FridgeBrilliance and ValuesResonance when you realise this would be an awful lot like getting together with your buddies to play violent video games and sink a few bevvies between games. [[MundaneAfterlife For eternity.]]
* ValuesResonance for at least one former soldier in the Civil War, who speculated perhaps Heaven would be like the war, where both sides would get together, play checkers, drink coffee and whisky, smoke, fight in battle, and then do it all over again. Creator/HarryTurtledove, who often writes Civil War related fiction, did the same idea (quite possibly inspired from this, since he researches thoroughly on all his subjects and is a historian) in a short story about an old veteran finding out Heaven is like this for him after dying.

* At least one SpeculativeFiction story ("Desertion") does this for the surface of ''Jupiter.'' In this story, people turn themselves into native lifeforms to explore inhospitable worlds and it works great until people stop coming back from exploring Jupiter. The hero heads out to see for himself where everyone has been going and it turns out that being a Jovian rocks so hard that their explorers don't want to come back.

* If the Church of the [[PiecesOfGod Broken God]] of the Wiki/SCPFoundation universe ever manages to reunite all the pieces of their "god", the result will most likely be everything on Earth (''including the Earth itself'') turning into clockwork.

[[caption-width-right:350:"The vision of paradise depicted here is distinctive to [[VideoGame/{{Siren}} Hanuda."]]]]

** The Fall of the Eldar was caused by the Eldar being so depraved on a racial level that it birthed an entire new Chaos God. Slaanesh, prince(ss) of excess, who now delights in consuming the souls of the Eldar, and whose followers inflict physical and mental sensation on each other and their enemies (pleasure and pain, but mostly pain). It turns out some of the Eldar were actually working ''towards'' this happening, as they were hoping to create a never-ending source of physical sensation. [[FateWorseThanDeath They got their wish.]]

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* An example in ''Fanfic/WithStringsAttached'' is the continent of Baravada, which used to be swarming with monsters and the conquering reptilian Tayhil. However, the skahs warriors wiped them out 25 years ago. Unfortunately, the skahs were, and still are, so addicted to adventure and combat that their now essentially utopian, danger-free world is a dystopia for them. Brox is working to return monsters to the continent to restore their combat utopia. The ActualPacifist four, who much prefer things as they are, are not pleased when they inadvertently provide Brox with the means to do this, [[spoiler: though they manage to spoil these plans in the end.]]

[[folder:Film -- Live-Action]]
* The Cenobites' dimension in ''Franchise/{{Hellraiser}}''. A dimension where pain and pleasure are synonymous. They even lampshade it themselves, like when Pinhead describes himself and the other Cenobites as "Angels to some, demons to others." In fact they are usually summoned by someone "seeking the pleasures of heaven or hell, it doesn't matter which". They tend to change their mind about how much like a paradise that sounds after a couple of decades.

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* A joke that's appeared in everything from ''Bizarro'' to ''Non Sequitur'': "Dog heaven is where the bad squirrels (or cats, in some versions) go."
* ''ComicStrip/TheFarSide'' postulated that Dog Heaven is Mailman Hell.
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* A joke told of an avid {{FPS}} (VideoGame/{{Doom}} in this version of the joke) gamer who discovers he won't be let into Heaven, but St. Peter grants him a consolation prize of three wishes. His wishes? [[GodMode IDDQD]], [[MoreDakka IDKFA]], you can drop me [[{{Hell}} down]] now.

** The ThirdOption in the original game is to screw both sides and create a more balanced, humane society in which people have freedom, but with restrictions to protect the weak and rein in the strong, and in which different philosophies and both humans and demons are allowed to coexist... but canonically, both the Chaos and Law sides exploit the freedom, fairness, and permissiveness of this society to undermine it and enact their own "utopia," with Law ultimately winning out and creating the society we see in ''VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiII''

* ''VideoGame/TheElderScrolls''

** [[spoiler:He's then sent to the Nightmare difficulty, where none of the cheat codes work.]]

* In one of his short stories, Creator/MarkTwain deliberately invokes this: the protagonist finds himself in the heaven of an alien race, which is full of beer, women, and song. He is horrified -- he ''wanted'' to go to FluffyCloudHeaven. He and the aliens each see the other's idea of heaven as this trope.
** In Letters From the Earth, Twain's Satan writes back to the other Archangels about how crazy Man's heaven is, clearly portraying it as an infernal paradise. It consists of an incredibly boring endless praise service for the Abrahamic god (as opposed to the Creator Satan and the other Archangels actually served). Here, everyone sings even though most of us are terrible at it, everyone is in an endless prayer service though most humans view church as a terrible chore, everyone has to play music though most of us are bad at it, no one can exercise their intellect though all humans long to, and worst of all, no sex.
* In Literature/TheWheelOfTime, most of the Darkfriends, Black Ajah and even the Forsaken are following the Dark One because of the "promised rewards" they think they'll get once the Dark One takes over (you know, power, getting to rule the world, etc.). Ishamael seems to be the only one who serves the Dark One knowing that once the Dark One gets out of his prison and takes over the world, he will destroy the world and everyone in it.

* ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'' : Heaven is basically TheNothingAfterDeath combined with the LotusEaterMachine and ''Film/TheMatrix''. With a bunch of [[EldritchAbomination crazy]] [[OurAngelsAreDifferent angels]] on the sidelines.
** Though averted in that when Sam and Dean meet people they knew who had died, those people were all very happy with their current situation. Even one of them who died pissed off at angels was very happy with heaven.

** GaryLarson also postulated that Dog Heaven is Mailman Hell.

* In ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}'', there is a tale of a full battalion of soldiers who wandered into the [[NegativeSpaceWedgie Eye of Terror]] and landed on a planet ruled by Khorne. Now they are cursed to fight the planet's daemons to the death, only to be revived every day. [[BloodKnight Those guys happen to be Orks]], so they consider it WarriorHeaven.

** Signature character of ''TabletopGame/VampireTheMasquerade'', Sascha Vykos has a similar goal to this, wanting to create a 'vampiric utopia' out of the [[BodyHorror flesh and bones of thousands of people]]. Hilariously, he got the idea from his [[AGodAmI batshit insane]] teacher, Michael. Fortunately for, well, everyone, Sascha really is no closer to achieving this goal.
* ''TabletopGame/{{Exalted}}'' has the whole hierarchy of death (the [[EldritchAbomination Neverborn]], their Deathlord servants, and the Abyssal Exalted) directed to follow the idea that the complete CessationOfExistence that would come about by feeding all of Creation into Oblivion would bring about eternal peace and bliss. This is mainly because the Neverborn themselves [[AndIMustScream have been dealing with flesh-eating bacteria of the soul for millennia on end]], and can't pass on as long as Creation exists to fetter them to it. And even then, many of their Deathlord servants are in it for their own ends, with only three really preaching the blessed peace of Oblivion.

* Some of the Outer Planes in ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' (where souls go after death) can be like this, since there is at least one for every CharacterAlignment (and they are accessible by mortals through Plane Shift and similar spells). The Heroic Domain of Ysgard probably isn't everyone's cup of tea, being basically a giant battlefield where everyone fights endlessly, only to come back to life every day. The Norse would have loved it. Olidammara's realm is an eternal party filled with wine, women, and song, but probably wouldn't appeal to a straitlaced paladin very much. Elysium is so pleasant that it's impossible ''not'' to feel good while you are there...but you will eventually lose your memories, and many would rather avoid that.

* Played around with in ''TabletopGame/DemonTheDescent''. All demons are looking to achieve their InfernalParadise, their personal Hell, as part of their end-goal, but what that actually ''is'' varies between demons, and some are particularly surprising. For example, there are demons who seek a Suburban Hell, which is literally nothing more than settling down to a nice, quiet, ''normal'' human life with family and friends somewhere.
** Perhaps the closest examples of this are the Colonial Power and Hellscape paths for Hell-seekers presented in the ''Demon Storyteller's Guide''. Colonists want to escape the God-Machine by seeking refuge ''elsewhere'', to the point of trying to found colonies in defunct timelines, alien worlds and the setting's various {{Dark World}}s. The Devils, on the other hand, want something similar to the Colonists, but deliberately stylized to resemble more classic depictions of hell -- as in, stocked with not only loyal servitor-monsters, but ''also'' damned enemies suffering in endless torment for the Devil's amusement and pleasure. [[EvenEvilHasStandards Other demons almost invariably turn on Devils once they realize what the Devil's Hell actually entails.]]

* The Mythic Dawn's afterlife in ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIVOblivion'' is called "Paradise" but is actually quite hellish for the formerly human residents. A few of them do seem to like it there; most don't.

* The Twilight's Hammer cult in ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'' is all over this.

* ''Franchise/ShinMegamiTensei'': No matter ''which'' [[OrderVersusChaos utopia]] [[MultipleEndings you get]] humans do NOT have it easy. On the one hand you have Chaos, which has as its ideal world one where [[TheSocialDarwinist the strong do whatever they want]] no matter how horrible with no laws or organizations to stop them and the weak are constantly preyed upon. The alternative of a Law utopia? Well, the strong in society wouldn't be allowed to do anything like that to the weak. Because God is going to be the strongest, [[GodIsEvil morally ambiguous at the best of times]] and usually [[MindRape doesn't]] [[TheEvilsOfFreeWill tolerate]] [[GettingSmiliesPaintedOnYourSoul any]] [[FateWorseThanDeath dissent or strife]]...

* The Sithrak cult from ''Webcomic/{{Oglaf}}'' are eager to tell you that Sithrak will torture your soul for all eternity, but why not worship him anyway?
** Subverted -- it turns out Sithrak is actually a pretty nice guy who was just an angsty teen when he wrote down the poetry they're taking as holy texts. The cult assumes he's toying with them and even more sadistic and cunning than they imagined.

* ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'': Elder Garth from the synagogue of Anti-Semites, who wants to defeat Moses and bring forth the age of Haman.

** In a related matter, {{Satan}} wound up getting his [[DomesitcAbuser boyfriend]], Saddam Hussein, sent to Heaven, which was otherwise populated only by Mormons who cheerfully spend eternity putting on plays. He clearly considers this a far worse punishment than Hell, [[AHellOfATime with its odd mixture of torture and luaus]].

* Heaven for Viking men was an endless cycle of fighting battles, followed by drinking mead taken from the udder of a magical goat that heals all wounds. After a night of feasting, the men would battle all day once again. It was expected that all Vikings should think that constant battle and feasting is [[TestosteronePoisoning just awesome]].
** There's a certain amount of both FridgeBrilliance and ValuesResonance when you realise this would be an awful lot like getting together with your buddies to play violent video games and sink a few bevvies between games. [[MundaneAfterlife For eternity.]]
** ValuesResonance for at least one former soldier in the Civil War, who speculated perhaps Heaven would be like the war, where both sides would get together, play checkers, drink coffee and whisky, smoke, fight in battle, and then do it all over again. Creator/HarryTurtledove, who often writes Civil War related fiction, did the same idea (quite possibly inspired from this, since he researches thoroughly on all his subjects and is a historian) in a short story about an old veteran finding out Heaven is like this for him after dying.
* Many atheists see monotheistic / Abrahamic depictions of Heaven as this, since they'd be forced to spend eternity with a group of devoutly religious people. Or in regards to some depictions of heaven, like spending all of eternity singing repetitive praises to God while living with the knowledge that many many people, most likely including loved ones are suffering forever in Hell. Worse, some Christians like Thomas Aquinas have said watching the damned be tormented will be ''entertainment'' for them in Heaven.
** Some Christians believe that [[https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Revelation+21%3A4&version=KJV Revelation 21:4]] means that God will provide divine comfort to those whose loved ones will not be joining them in Heaven. Of course, it could come off as GettingSmiliesPaintedOnYourSoul to some if true.

* [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allegory_of_the_long_spoons One allegory for Heaven and Hell]] holds that both feature people chained to benches in front of a feast, restrained in a way that prevents them from feeding themselves. The difference is that Heaven gives people silverware long enough to reach the other people at the table, letting them feed each other while those in Hell starve.

[[caption-width-right:240:"The vision of paradise depicted here is distinctive to [[VideoGame/{{Siren}} Hanuda."]]]]

[[quoteright:240:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/hanuda_paradise_8.png]]

[[caption-width-right:240:"The vision of paradise depicted here is unique to [[VideoGame/{{Siren}} Hanuda."]]]]

* In ''ComicBook/SecretSix'', Catman's parents are both dead, and he meets them both on a visit to hell--his abusive father chained up, and his mother a lioness. When he questions Etrigan about why his mother isn't in heaven, Etrigan states that one chooses their heaven, and his mother's heaven is being his father's tormentor in hell.

** In a related matter, {{Satan}} wound up getting his BastardBoyfriend, Saddam Hussein, sent to Heaven, which was otherwise populated only by Mormons who cheerfully spend eternity putting on plays. He clearly considers this a far worse punishment than Hell, [[AHellOfATime with its odd mixture of torture and luaus]].