History Main / ReroutedFromHeaven

*** Kodlak Whitemane, harbinger of the [[AdventureGuild Companions]], wants to go to the [[WarriorHeaven Nordic afterlife of Sovngarde]] but, since he's a [[OurWerewolvesAreDifferent werewolf]], knows that the Hircine, Daedric Prince of [[TheWildHunt the Hunt]] and MonsterProgenitor of [[OurWerebeastsAreDifferent were-creatures]], will claim his soul after death instead. Kodlak is killed when his home is attacked by werewolf hunters, but the [[PlayerCharacter Dragonborn]] is able to break his curse after his death, freeing his soul from Hircine's realm. Kodlak's parting words suggest that he might gather some other warriors from Sovngarde and [[InvokedTrope invoke]] this trope himself with a raid to rescue some of the other dead werewolves' souls from Hircine's Hunting Grounds. A few of the Companions refuse to use the cure when it's found, preferring Hircine's realm anyway.

* In ''Literature/WarriorCats'', when Flametail dies and goes to [=StarClan=] (the feline equivalent of Heaven), he ends up lost and winds up in the Dark Forest (Hell). The Dark Forest cats are planning war on the Clans, so Brokenstar orders [[ReverseMole Ivypool]] to [[IfYoureSoEvilEatThisKitten prove her loyalty by]] [[CessationOfExistence killing Flametail's spirit]].

** Tamriel's [[OurGodsAreDifferent many religions]] offer differing ideas of just what happens to a mortal's soul upon death. Some cultures, like the ProudWarriorRace Redguards and Nords, have their own versions of a WarriorHeaven. The Imperial [[SaintlyChurch Church of the Divines]] seems to imply that the souls of the faithful dead end up in Aetherius, the realm of magic. The [[OurElvesAreBetter Altmer (High Elves)]] believe in {{reincarnation}}, and have been known to MercyKill undesirable offspring so that their souls have the chance to be reincarnated in better forms. The Dunmer (Dark Elves) practice ancestor worship (among other forms of worship), and call upon the spirits of their honored dead for guidance and protection. Out of game [[WordOfGod developer-written]] "[[LooseCanon Obscure Texts]]" go into greater detail, explaining that the souls of the dead enter the "Dreamsleeve", where they are broken down, reassembled, and rebirthed as new beings on Mundus. All of that said, it is known that [[YourSoulIsMine some souls are claimed]] by the [[OurGodsAreDifferent Daedric Princes]] or other such divine beings, usually as part of a pact made when the mortal in question was still alive. In this case, the mortal's soul goes to the realm of the deity in question to serve for eternity.

* In the episode "[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dead_Run_%28The_Twilight_Zone%29TheEighties Dead Run]]" from ''Series/TheTwilightZone1985'', a truck driver takes a job delivering dead souls to Hell. However, the people he's delivering there seem way too nice to deserve damnation. It turns out the new CelestialBureaucracy that has taken over is using an overly-literal fundamentalist interpretation of Literature/TheBible, mainly due to them being paper-pushing {{Obstructive Bureaucrat}}s rather than actual malevolence. In the end, the driver begins to invert the trope by releasing those souls whom he feels undeserving of damnation before reaching Hell, allowing them at least a chance to find Heaven.

** The final sketch in ''[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS8E24TheSimpsonsSpinOffShowcase The Simpsons Spin Off Showcase]]'' has Grandpa getting hit by a car, this WingedSoulFliesOffAtDeath but collides with a plane and falls back to Earth, ending up haunting Moe's Love Tester machine. As the intro says he "floated up toward Heaven and got lost along the way".

* At the end of one episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'', TheRapture happens and Lisa (but no other Simpson) is being lifted bodily into Heaven. Homer grabs her ankle and makes her go to Hell with the rest of the family.

* ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'': It's revealed that after Sylvannas burned the city of Teldrassil to the ground out of spite, she went further and ''rerouted their souls to an evil god's domain'', where they get to burn in a ghost version of their charred tree-city forever.
** And she / her conspirators did the same to every soul who has died since the Cataclysm.

* ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'': It's revealed that after Sylvannas burned the city of Theramore to the ground out of spite, she went further and ''rerouted their souls to her Old God's domain'', where they get to burn in a ghost version of their charred tree-city forever.

Alternately, it may not be specifically malicious. The {{Obstructive Bureaucrat}}s running the CelestialBureaucracy may have cocked things up or perhaps the AfterlifeExpress hit the wrong switch-track. In these cases, you can also end up with unrepentant monsters trashing FluffyCloudHeaven.

* ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'': In an early episode (later retconned?) we learn that only Mormons get into Heaven, everyone else goes to Hell. But Satan, having had it up to here with UsefulNotes/SaddamHussein, gets God to send Hussein to Heaven along with all the Mormons (because, to Hussein, [[IronicHell that is Hell]]).

* ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'': It's revealed that after Sylvannas burned the city of Theramore to the ground out of spite, she went further and ''rerouted their souls to her Old God's domain'', where they get to burn in a ghost version of their charred city forever.

* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Wakfu}}'', Sadlygrove dies in the first season finale. In the second season we see his soul ascending to join the Legend (Iop WarriorHeaven essentially), but then his soul is dragged back down by Rubilax. Rubilax then shoves Sadlygrove's soul into his original sword prison while he takes over Sadlygrove's body for his own purposes.

* In ''WesternAnimation/SouthParkBiggerLongerAndUncut'', Kenny is denied access to heaven, and he falls straight into Hell.

* ''TabletopGame/{{Pathfinder}}'': The "River of Souls" that carries the dead across the VoidBetweenTheWorlds and into the Outer Planes is guarded by powerful [[HeavenAndHell angels and fiends]] alike, so this trope is rare but possible. The Night Hag WitchSpecies tries to [[YourSoulIsMine trap souls]] for barter, while one variety of OmnicidalManiac Daemon exists solely to [[SoulEating devour souls]] from the River.

** The basic premise is that Eleanor Shellstrop finds herself in a heavenly realm for a life of saintly good works she didn't do, and has to prevent her similarly saintly neighbors from discovering her real self. Later on, she learns that Jianyu was also mistakenly sent to the Good Place and is actually a petty criminal named Jason instead of the Buddhist monk he was believed to be. Even later on, she meets the [[NamesTheSame other Eleanor Shellstrop]] who was mixed up with her and got sent to the Bad Place as a result. [[spoiler:''[[SubvertedTrope However]]'', it turns out all of this has been a gigantic lie -- Eleanor and Jason are exactly where they should be because [[ThisIsntHeaven they've been in the Bad Place all along]] and the other Eleanor is actually a demon pretending to be the real Eleanor's good counterpart to further add to her guilt.]]
** In season 3 it's revealed that [[spoiler: ''nobody'' actually ends up in the Good Place, regardless of how good they are, due to the arcane points system used to decide who goes where.]]

* Bobby Singer of ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'' went to Hell instead of Heaven after his permanent death because Crowley, the King of Hell, had it in for him, which we discover in [[Recap/SupernaturalS08E19TaxiDriver "Taxi Driver" (S08, E19)]].

* In the ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' module ''A [[ThePaladin Paladin]] in Hell'', during the funeral of a powerful paladin, ''the entire temple'' hosting the service is dragged into Hell to claim his soul. The players have to travel to Hell, find the temple, and free his soul. Oh, and the module is close to ''TabletopGame/TombOfHorrors'' in terms of unfair difficulty.
* In the ''TabletopGame/ForgottenRealms'' setting, souls that end up in the Fugue Plane (those that were religious but didn't devote themselves to a specific patron deity, those who betrayed their creed, and atheists) can have this happen to them courtesy of fiends. The baatezu (a.k.a. devils, LawfulEvil fiends) have an agreement with the Fugue Plane's administration that they can try to talk unclaimed souls into going with them, while the tanar'ri (a.k.a. demons, ChaoticEvil fiends) simply resort to mass kidnapping.

* The premise of ''Series/TheGoodPlace'' is that Eleanor Shellstrop finds herself in a heavenly realm for a life of saintly good works she didn't do, and has to prevent her similarly saintly neighbors from discovering her real self. Later on, she learns that Jianyu was also mistakenly sent to the Good Place and is actually a petty criminal named Jason instead of the Buddhist monk he was believed to be. Even later on, she meets the [[NamesTheSame other Eleanor Shellstrop]] who was mixed up with her and got sent to the Bad Place as a result. [[spoiler:''[[SubvertedTrope However]]'', it turns out all of this has been a gigantic lie -- Eleanor and Jason are exactly where they should be because [[ThisIsntHeaven they've been in the Bad Place all along]] and the other Eleanor is actually a demon pretending to be the real Eleanor's good counterpart to further add to her guilt.]]

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* ''ComicStrip/TheFarSide'' has a cartoon of a man and pigs in FluffyCloudHeaven, captioned "Through an unfortunate celestial error, Ernie is sent to Hog Heaven".

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* In the ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' module ''A [[ThePaladin Paladin]] In Hell'', during the funeral of a powerful paladin, ''the entire temple'' hosting the service is dragged into Hell to claim his soul. The players have to travel to Hell, find the temple, and free his soul. Oh, and the module was close to ''TabletopGame/TombOfHorrors'' in terms of unfair difficulty.
* In the ''TabletopGame/ForgottenRealms'' setting, souls that end up in the Fugue Plane (those that were religious but didn't devote themselves to a specific patron deity, those who betrayed their creed, and atheists) can have this happen to them courtesy of fiends. The baatezu (a.k.a. devils, LawfulEvil fiends) have an agreement with the Fugue Plane's administration that they can try to talk unclaimed souls into going with them, while the tanar'ri (a.k.a. demons, ChaoticEvil fiends) simply resort to mass kidnapping.
* An interesting take in ''TabletopGame/AllFleshMustBeEaten''. One potential setting is in a world with reincarnation, save for a few old souls which managed to stay in place and judge what all other souls are reincarnated as. When those old souls begin fighting, the system breaks down and people begin reincarnating into dead bodies... and sometimes not even their ''own'' dead body.
* In ''TabletopGame/{{Exalted}}'', the Sidereal Exalted did this with the Solar Exaltations. Normally, when a Solar Exalt dies, their Exaltation returns to the god Lytek to be polished up and sent onto their next incarnation. When the Sidereals murdered the Solars, they sent a hit squad to Lytek's office to hold him prisoner and capture the returning Solar Exaltations to prevent the Solars from reincarnating.

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* ''Franchise/TheElderScrolls''

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*** Kodlak Whitemane, harbinger of the [[AdventureGuild Companions]], wants to go to the [[WarriorHeaven Nordic afterlife of Sovngarde]] but, since he's a [[OurWerewolvesAreDifferent werewolf]], knows that the Hircine, Daedric Prince of [[TheWildHunt the Hunt]] and MonsterProgenitor of [[OurWerebeastsAreDifferent were-creatures]], will claim his soul after death instead. Kodlak is killed when his home is attacked by werewolf hunters, but the [[PlayerCharacter Dragonborn]] is able to break his curse after his death, freeing his soul from Hircine's realm. Kodlak's parting words suggest that he might gather some other warriors from Sovngarde and [[InvokedTrope invoke]] this trope himself with a raid to rescue some of the other dead werewolves' souls from Hircine's Hunting Grounds. Most of the Companions refuse to use the cure when it's found, preferring Hircine's realm anyway.