History Main / PortalDoor

[[caption-width-right:350: We know [[GoodThingYouCanHeal you can replace the arm]] [[DeceptivelyHumanRobots Data]], but you still [[HandInTheHole shouldn't stick it in weird places!]]]]

This is a door that opens to a location other than the one behind it; in time, space, and even ''[[PlaceBeyondTime outside of it!]]'' This door may be a CoolGate, but it can be of much more mundane make and manufacture.

How does this door bend space and time like a Dali painting? It may be a [[TeleportersAndTransporters technological teleportation device]], a TimeMachine (or both). It could also be made through magic (which usually justifies it being otherwise mundane looking), and may lead to the MagicLand, SpiritWorld or DarkWorld. Lastly, it may be some form of "naturally" occurring gateway of Eldritch origin that leads to an AlternateUniverse.

See also CoolGate, PortalNetwork, PortalBook and PortalPool. SubTrope of TeleportersAndTransporters.

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!!Examples:

* ''TheMatrixReloaded''. The doors that can open to different locations depending on which person or key opens them.
* Done in ''MonstersInc'' with the doors that serve as portals from the monsters' office building to the bedrooms of children they're supposed to scare.

[[folder:Literature]]
* DanSimmon's ''{{Hyperion}}'' overcomes the problem of space travel and communication with two different systems. The space travel system is essentially portals. Some very wealthy homes consist of rooms on different planets connected by these portals.
* In NeilGaiman's ''{{Neverwhere}}'' (book and show), Door and her family can open up doors anywhere. Their home is a bunch of unconnected rooms.

* The redstone doorways in ''{{The Wheel of Time}}'' look like empty doorframes, but walking through one will transport you to a dimension populated by weird aliens who see the future or grant wishes.

* In ''{{Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix}}'' during the battle in the Department of Mysteries, Sirius Black gets pulled into an ominous veiled archway after being cursed by [[RoyallyScrewedUp Bellatrix]]. [[AnyoneCanDie And he hasn't been back since]]...

* In {{The Chronicles of Narnia}}: {{Prince Caspian}} when Aslan sends the four Pevensies home and some of the Telmarines to the deserted island their ancestors came from through a door made of 2 vertical sticks and a horizontal one on top.
* Professor Chronitis's time-travelling study in ''DirkGentlysHolisticDetectiveAgency'' appears as a door in a convenient wall, or cliff face.

[[folder:Live Action TV]]
* The key in ''TheLostRoom'' can turn any door with a tumble lock into this.

[[folder:Tabletop RPG]]
* ''{{Planescape}}'' has Sigil, the City of Doors, which is pretty much made of this trope, though all "bounded spaces" can be portals, so not all the portals in Sigil are actual doors.

* The room doors in ''SilentHill2'''s nightmare hotel.

* In ''{{Webcomic/No Rest For The Wicked}}'', it's surrounded by [[RavensAndCrows crows]], [[http://www.forthewicked.net/archive/04-10.html it has to be dug up]], it's [[http://www.forthewicked.net/archive/04-47.html an ordinary door—flat in the ground]]; and [[http://www.forthewicked.net/archive/04-49.html when they open it]], [[http://www.forthewicked.net/archive/04-50.html it draws November and Clare in]].

* This is how Merlin's time machine appears in ''ArthurKingOfTimeAndSpace''; a heavy wooden door in the nearest available wall.

[[folder:WesternAnimation]]
* ''TheSimpsons'': In a TreehouseOfHorror episode Homer finds a portal to the "third dimension" behind the bookcase.

* Professor Chronitis's time-travelling study in ''DirkGentlysHolisticDetectiveAgency'' appears as a door in a convenient wall, or cliff face (unlike his ''DoctorWho'' counterpart, where the entire physical structure moves to the new time, like any other TARDIS).

* The WebOriginal/SCPFoundation has several:

** Frankly, Sirius though the trip was ''[[IncrediblyLamePun to die for]]''.

[[caption-width-right:350: We know [[GoodThingYouCanHeal you can replace the arm]] [[DeceptivelyHumanRobots Data]], but you still [[HandInTheHole shouldn't stick it in weird palces!]]]]

* The SCPFoundation has several:

* In ''VideoGame/StarOceanTillTheEndOfTime'' features the main hero Fayt Leingod's high level move, Dimension Door. This attack not only allows the player to teleport behind the enemy and strike, but holding the attack button can damage and potentially stun opponents.

* In ''VideoGame/StarOcean:TillTheEndOfTime'' features the main hero Fayt Leingod's high level move, Dimension Door. This attack not only allows the player to teleport behind the enemy and strike, but holding the attack button can damage and potentially stun opponents.

* In ''Video Game/StarOcean:TillTheEndOfTime'' features the main hero Fayt Leingod's high level move, Dimension Door. This attack not only allows the player to teleport behind the enemy and strike, but holding the attack button can damage and potentially stun opponents.

* In ''Star Ocean: Till the End of Time'' features the main hero Fayt Leingod's high level move, Dimension Door. This attack not only allows the player to teleport behind the enemy and strike, but holding the attack button can damage and potentially stun opponents.

* In ''{{Star Ocean: Till the End of Time}}'' features the main hero Fayt Leingod's high level move, Dimension Door. This attack not only allows the player to teleport behind the enemy and strike, but holding the attack button can damage and potentially stun opponents.

* In ''{Star Ocean: Till the End of Time}'' features the main hero Fayt Leingod's high level move, Dimension Door. This attack not only allows the player to teleport behind the enemy and strike, but holding the attack button can damage and potentially stun opponents.

* The veil found in the Department of Mysteries in ''{{Order of the Phoenix}}''. Sirius gets pulled into it after being cursed by [[RoyallyScrewedUp Bellatrix]], but it's unknown where the veil actually goes. All we know is that Sirius is [[AnyoneCanDie never coming back]].

* The veil found the Ministry of Magic in ''{{Order of the Phoenix}}'' that Sirius goes through after being cursed by [[RoyallyScrewedUp Bellatrix]]. It is unknown where it goes, but all we know is that Sirius [[AnyoneCanDie is not coming back.]]

* The veil found the Ministry of Magic in {{Order of the Phoenix}} that Sirius goes through after being cursed by [[RoyallyScrewedUp Bellatrix]]. It is unknown where it goes, but all we know is that Sirius [[AnyoneCanDie is not coming back.]]

* One means of getting around in the endless world of ''TheNeverendingStory'' is [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin The Temple of a Thousand Doors]] (Der Tausend-Türen-Tempel) which contains an infinite number of five-sided rooms with three doors each. Every door different in colour, shape, material etc. To get to the place you wish to go, you only need to pass through the rooms until you find the door that reminds you strongest of the thing/place/person you're looking for. This may take some time.

* ''{{Beetlejuice}}''. Following the instructions in a book, the ghostly protagonists use chalk to draw a door on a wall, open it and walk through it into the afterlife bureaucracy.

* ''KingdomHearts'' has lots of them. Most notably the door to the titular heart of all worlds. It's a game in which the main character wields [[ImprobableWeaponUser a gigantic key]]. Doors tend to be prominent.

* In ''DreamCatcher'' due to running in between the two worlds, Riza gets plenty of use out of a couple. One being a door, the other being the titular dreamcatcher.

* Done in ''MonstersInc'' with the doors that serve as portals from the monsters' office building to the bedrooms of children they're supposed to scare.

* ''TheMatrixReloaded''. The doors that can open to different locations depending on which key is used to open them.

[[AC:{{Anime}} and {{Manga}}]]

[[AC: ComicBooks]]

[[AC:{{Film}}]]

[[folder:Films -- Animation]]
* The door leading out of ''Film/HowlsMovingCastle''.

[[AC:{{Literature}}]]

[[AC:LiveActionTV]]

* The ''StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'' episode, "All Our Yesterdays" has the Atavachron, a machine that creates a portal door/wall to a time in that planet's past.

[[AC:TabletopRPG]]

[[AC:Videogames]]

[[AC:WebComics ]]

[[AC:WebOriginal]]

[[AC:WesternAnimation]]

* DanSimmon's ''{{Hyperion}}'' overcomes the problem of space travel and communication with two different systems. The space travel system is essentially portals. Some very wealthy homes consist of rooms on different planets connected by these portals.