History Main / SelfInflictedHell

** People get pulled into each other's dark worlds. In the first Harry is pulled into Alessa's dark world and while the majority of ''Silent Hill 2'' takes place in James', we also get to see a glimpse of what Angela's is like and one of the monsters in the game (Abstract Daddy/Doormen) is Angela's creation while the rest of them are James'.

* ''TabletopGame/ChroniclesOfDarkness'': ''TabletopGame/MageTheAwakening'' features the Supernal Realm of Pandaemonium, associated with the Arcana of Mind and Space and appearing very much like a FireAndBrimstoneHell. Why? Well, Space bends at the limits of the Realm, meaning that the inhabitants are stuck within and without much besides their own thoughts. Which inevitably turn towards the more negative impulses... and take solid form.

* In the world of ''TabletopGame/InNomine'', by Steve Jackson Games, a mortal only goes to Hell if they achieve their Fate, the darkest, most selfish possibility for their existence. And it truly has to be self-inflicted -- if a demon (or an angel!) pushes them too hard in that direction, it doesn't count and the soul escapes.

* In ''Theatre/NoExit'', Hell is only hellish for our three protagonists because they're [[AttentionWhore attention whores]] who simply cannot leave the others they're locked in with alone. [[spoiler: And they weren't as locked in as they thought, and could have escaped at any time they wanted. But even when the door straight up pops open at the end, they are held back by their flaws and insecurities, and no one even ''attempts'' to leave.]]

* ''VideoGame/CityOfVillains'' features this in one story arc: you're tasked with rescuing the soul of a singer who made a DealWithTheDevil for his success, and he's convinced that it's being held somewhere hidden. His soul turns out to have been within him all along, tortured by his knowledge of his undeserving nature - in the form of demonic hecklers reminding him of this, as he croons light jazz of his plight for all eternity.
* Also applies to players of video games as well. For instance, someone who [[ComplacentGamingSyndrome uses only the most powerful weapons and tactics]] throughout the game might complain about how the game is too repetitive. Or a [[StopHavingFunGuys Stop Having Fun Guy]] who uses every glitch and exploit ever discovered in the game to beat the 20-hour campaign in under 5 minutes might complain about how the game was too easy and/or short. Or someone getting tired of spending dozens of hours hunting down every secret for HundredPercentCompletion, even when it's totally optional.
* ''VideoGame/FallenLondon'' has the Seeking Mr. Eaten's name quest, which consists of player character deliberately doing increasingly horrible things to themselves over and over. The quest is onerous both in-game [[MoneyGrinding and out]], consumes your items, resources, and even [[LevelDrain your stats]] in enormous quantities, and finishing it will brick your account and render it permanently unplayable. The quest was written as an experiment in seeing what players would be willing to do to themselves just to know what would happen next.
* Ajunta Pall in ''VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublic'' was one of the founders of the first [[TheEmpire Sith Empire]], whose [[SpiritAdvisor Force ghost]] is met in his tomb on Korriban. Unlike other ghosts, Pall never became one with [[BackgroundMagicField the Force]] upon death as he used his knowledge of Sith alchemy to [[BarredFromTheAfterlife tether his soul to the physical world]], essentially [[AndIMustScream trapping himself in a self-made purgatory]]. After realizing BeingEvilSucks 3000 years too late, [[KarmaMeter Light Side]] players can help him embrace the Light as well and move on.
* Hell Temple in ''VideoGame/LaMulana'', especially the original (non-remake) version, designed to be the worst experience possible for the player. Memorably reduced LetsPlay/DeceasedCrab to anguished wailing several times.
* Those taking Joy in ''VideoGame/WeHappyFew'' would rather ruin themselves and stay in a self-imposed, self-destructive bubble than to admit they did [[NoodleIncident A Very Bad Thing]]. It's heavily implied that [[spoiler: the rest of Britain are doing fine but by acknowledging that fact, it also means acknowledging that Wellington Wells was perhaps the only town to deport their children to the Germans.]]
* This is TheReveal of ''VideoGame/MyLovelyDaughter'': [[spoiler:the events of the game were orchestrated by the Master Warlock, aka [[FutureMeScaresMe a future version of Faust himself]], in order to guarantee his own existance, [[FreakyFridayFlip steal Faust's body]] and prolong his own life. He succeeds; then Faust becomes the Master Warlock, decides that he enjoys his newfound power and wealth, and goes back in time to put his past self through the same ordeal]].

-->'''Roy's Father:''' "That's not fair!"\\
'''Solar:''' "Yes it is. And that's why you're upset."

* In David Hopkins' ''Webcomic/{{Jack|DavidHopkins}}'', Hell punishes sinners with this and IronicHell, and it makes a point of having particularly damned souls take up the mantle of the SevenDeadlySins, who arguably get worse treatment themed around the sin that's consumed them. [[spoiler:The titular Jack in particular cannot truly repent for his sins involving Wrath (and earn forgiveness) as he ''cannot remember them''; he asked for it before he died.]]

* [[http://www.viruscomix.com/estar.html Captain Estar Goes to Heaven]] by [[Webcomic/{{Subnormality}} Winston Rowntree]] contains probably the most heartbreaking example ever conceived in how it concludes.

* ''[[Fanfic/TheCosmosMiraculousLadybug The Cosmos]]'': Nino ends up in a waking version of this once the titular group returns. Unlike most of his classmates, he recognizes that Lila is a ManipulativeBitch, but isn't willing to stand up to her or call her out. His unwillingness to act means that he's ForcedToWatch as she digs her claws deeper into his friends, well aware that karma is coming for them all, but too scared to speak up and risk her wrath.

* While it took a while for the story to admit it in any way, ''Fanfic/InfinityTrainBlossomingTrail'' has this as part of Chloe's true origin story for her time on the Infinity Train. While her school life ''was'' a legitimate hell, her issues with her father's workplace were a hell she made for herself. She could have left it at any time (Ash and Goh were hardly relucant to invite her on adventures), she could have expressed her distress with the adults present at any time, she could have asked for more to do at any time, and she could have told her parents she wasn't happy at any time.

* ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverseTheMovie'': The antagonist, [[spoiler:Spinel]], wants {{revenge}} because she [[spoiler:was abandoned for 6,000 years by [[PosthumousCharacter Pink Diamond]] in her garden when Pink left to work on what ended up being her only colony, Earth. The humiliating part, however, is that there was ''nothing'' physically keeping Spinel in the garden, [[AndIMustScream standing perfectly still]] in one spot. She was just trying to do what Pink told her to do as perfectly as possible. On top of wasting a maddeningly-long length of her life, she ends up feeling like a complete idiot when she finds out that Pink is gone for good and abandoned her.]]

* ''Film/CruelAndUnusual'': The authorities in the afterlife seem to imply it is this, and that if the condemned accept their sins they can move on. [[spoiler: However, only Doris is seen to do this, solely because Edgar took her place.]]

* ''Literature/ParadiseLost'' points this out many times. At the end of the War in Heaven, Satan and his followers retreat from the Son and throw ''themselves'' into Hell. While Hell is a physical location, Satan escapes it pretty easily and pontificates the nature of his damnation. He acknowledges that he could seek forgiveness and receive it, but concludes that he is too prideful to submit to God again, so he will stay damned. As the page quote suggests, Satan realizes that his damnation is his own fault.
* OlderThanPrint: Though the rest of the ''[[Literature/TheDivineComedy Inferno]]'' delights in IronicHell, Dante demonstrates how Satan, at the center of Hell in its deepest circle, is in the worst self-inflicted Hell of all: his six wings flap constantly, freezing the lake around him and leaving him stuck fast in the ice. Why does he keep flapping his wings? Because he wants to return to Heaven. Where did the water of the frozen lake come from? They are Satan's ''tears,'' as he is weeping, having separated himself from the source of all his now-lost beauty and power.
** It ''is'' possible to [[EscapedFromHell escape from Hell]], even if it is known to be a place known for its unscalable, inescapable walls. The only thing you need to do is to go deeper and on the opposite direction, as Satan's prison is also the location of a tunnel that leads to Purgatory. Implying that, if a person is willing to suffer greatly for their sins even more, they will indeed find freedom.
%%* ''Literature/TheNightsDawnTrilogy'' by Creator/PeterFHamilton.

* In the SF novel ''Waiting For The Galactic Bus'', aliens accidentally cause the evolution of humanity and then have to deal with their spirits when they die. One opens up Heaven, AKA "Topside", and the other runs Hell, "Below Stairs." Everyone who turns up Below Stairs seems to expect torture, so he provides it, but the EXIT signs are brightly lit and the rest of the place is a pretty decent place to live.\\
\\
Ironically, this also pops up in Topside: A Palestinian soldier killed by Israeli snipers turned up demanding his 72 virgins. He gets them[[labelnote:*]]Well, one - an ex-prostitute who volunteered for the task.[[/labelnote]]... ends up bored after about an hour and breaks down in tears of despair. After a discussion with the SufficientlyAdvancedAliens who built the place, he mentions his love of baking and is given a much happier afterlife as the guardian spirit of a bakery.
* In ''Literature/TheMasterAndMargarita'', the theory that everyone gets what they believe is listed by Woland ({{Satan}}) among possible afterlife theories. It is unclear from the novel if this theory is always true; it is shown, however, that the afterlife does exist, but Woland ensures that one atheistic character gets exactly what he believed in: nothing.\\
\\
The outcome may be based on deeds. [[spoiler: It is explicitly stated that Margarita gets her eternal peaceful being with Master away from everything for her love. Neither Master nor Margarita believed in that outcome, called ''not deserving the Light, but deserving the peace''. One can argue, though, that the lack of belief on their part was an important part of not deserving the Light. Behemoth the Cat also had the afterlife fate that he didn't expect.]]

* Creator/RobertAHeinlein:
** ''Literature/JobAComedyOfJustice'' has a variant, in that whatever belief structure you believe in is the one you get to experience the afterlife for. So if you're Christian, you'll get heaven/hell/purgatory, if you're Hindu you'll get reincarnated. The Christian main character finds this out the hard way when he dies and goes to heaven but his wife is not there. So he assumes she's in hell, and only when he's trapped in Hell does anyone explain this to him. She's in Valhalla, and since he didn't believe in Valhalla, he can't get there.
** Heinlein did this before, in the short story ''Literature/{{Elsewhen}}'' in which he flatly stated that ''no human being has the capacity to believe in their own death'', so when a person dies, they get whatever afterlife they expect they will find. If they were very religious, they go to a form of heaven where they subsist with God, etc. But nobody ever ceases to exist because it's impossible to believe in annihilation.
* Creator/CSLewis:
** In the novel ''Literature/TheGreatDivorce'', there's actually bus service from Hell (which in this story is just a drab and miserable city separated from God) to the outskirts of Heaven, and the damned are under no obligation to actually ''return''. The problem is that until they give up the sins they were damned for (which most are unwilling to do), they are MadeOfPlasticine compared to Heaven and ''everything'', including blades of grass, goes right through them.
--->There are only two kinds of people in the end: those who say to God, "Thy will be done," and those to whom God says, in the end, "''Thy'' will be done." All that are in Hell choose it.
** Also by Creator/CSLewis: the fate of the FlatEarthAtheist dwarfs in ''Literature/TheLastBattle''. Even in [[{{Heaven}} Aslan's country]], they delude themselves into thinking that it's still the dark stable they were thrown into. Aslan demonstrates the depths of their [[IRejectYourReality rejection of reality]] by conjuring up a feast for them- when they eat it, they convince themselves that the sumptuous food is lettuce, straw, and dirty water -- the sort of things one would find in a stable.
** ''Literature/TheScrewtapeLetters'' are written from the perspective of the titular demon, who has the self-awareness to know that he and his colleagues reside in Hell by their own choice. He explicitly acknowledges (as Creator/JohnMilton did) that Satan himself could return to Heaven in an instant if he gave up his pride and apologized, but Screwtape supports his adamant refusal to do this. He even admits that Hell does not ''need'' to be a place of suffering and torment, but he emphatically insists that it ''should'' be.
* In Kelley Armstrong's novel ''[[Literature/WomenOfTheOtherworld Haunted]]'', Eve meets Lizzie Borden (long story) in a literal self-inflicted hell. Lizzie punishes herself by murdering illusions of her parents over and over for eternity.
--> Her cheek twitched, eyes filling with genuine guilt and remorse, the kind Amanda Sullivan couldn't imagine, much less feel.
--> "So this is your punishment, then," I said, my voice softer.
--> "Punishment?" A confused glance my way. "This is what I deserve."
--> "A hell of her own making," Kristof murmured. I looked up at him. "I think this is her own doing," he said. "She's created her own hell and trapped herself in it. No need for anyone to punish her. She does it herself."
* The short story ''Other People'' by Creator/NeilGaiman had a twist on this - [[spoiler: his torment was ''literally'' self-inflicted: due to the [[StableTimeLoop fluid nature of time]] in Hell, the demon torturing him is himself after enduring millennia of torture.]] As the worst part of the torture is being forced to understand every negative thought and action of his life and their consequences, it seems both aspects are part of his penance.

* ''Literature/HarryPotter'''s Voldemort, as Creator/JKRowling indicates that [[spoiler:he's stuck as a mutilated, dismembered soul (because of the way he used murder to split his soul) in a sort of limbo. He has, in effect, created his own hell. His only recourse to leave and heal himself is to show genuine remorse, suggesting this is not necessarily a permanent state.]]
** It is also implied that showing true remorse would actually kill Voldemort. Given his mortal fear (no pun intended) of death, he might PREFER this fate.
--->'''Harry''': What is that, [[spoiler: Professor]]?
--->'''[[spoiler: Dumbledore]]''': Something that is beyond either of our help.
* In Ted Chiang's "Hell is the Absence of God", Hell is ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin -- it doesn't contain any torments; it's just an eternity of being cut off from God's attention. For non-religious people who don't really care about God, it's a bigger deal that they don't get to spend eternity with any of their loved ones who went to Heaven.
* At the start of ''Literature/AndAnotherThing'', Arthur, Ford, Trillian, and Random have -- from their own perspectives -- spent several decades in a personal Heaven courtesy of the ''Guide'' Mk II. Arthur relaxes on a beach with all the tea he wants. Ford spends time at a resort where he has all the parties, {{gargle blaster}}s and sex he wants while his health and chin steadily improve. Random unites Earth and is elected President of the Galaxy. Trillian gets to become the most respected journalist in the galaxy, but it ends up being Hell for her.

* In the world of the ''Literature/ColdfireTrilogy'', belief shapes reality. Hell only exists because the priests told their followers that it did. That is the precise reason why the founder of the religion deliberately did ''not'' have any mention of Hell in his original writings: To make it not exist. [[spoiler:When the religion he created turned against him, he made a DealWithTheDevil (which involved sacrificing his wife, two of his children, and his humanity) to escape the hell his former followers created for him.]]
** A slightly less literal form of this was also a plot point in the second book. Tarrant made a deal for immortality in no small part because he was curious to see if his centuries-long experiment to create God would work or not. It did, but due to the deal he made for immortality, he can never look upon Him. And he can never repent because he can never truly be sorry that he got to know the truth rather than dying ignorant. So a metaphorical -- as well as a literal -- SelfInflictedHell.
* In L. Jagi Lamplighter's ''[[Literature/ProsperosDaughter Prospero Regained]]'', Hell is this.
* Invoked, and magnificently denied, in ''The Greatest Torment'', by the false Swedenborg, written in (1873) - the real Swedenborg is documented below in Other:
--> ''Demons told me that there is a hell for the sentimental and pedantic ones. [[OntologicalMystery They are abandoned in an endless palace that is emptier than fuller, and windowless. The Condemned run through it as if they were searching for something]] and [[ClicheStorm you already know the rest]]: After a while they start to say that'' [[{{Wangst}} the greatest torment is not to participate in the vision of God, that the moral pain is more alive than the physical pain, etc]]. '' [[AnAesop Then the demons threw them into the sea of fire, where no one ever will get them out]].''
* In the ''Literature/RiverOfDancingGods'' stories, there is an unusual subversion. People get what they expect, but whether it is a reward or a punishment is determined by what kind of a person they are. A bad person who believes they will go to a traditional Heaven will discover just how horrible it can be to sit on a cloud and play a harp for eternity, while a good person who believes they will go to Hell discovers that Hell may be filled with sinners and fire, but it will be an enjoyable Hell full of sinners and fire.

* There's a joke where a man, for some reason or another, dies and goes to Hell. He's given the grand tour by Lucifer, and much to his surprise finds it to be a rather pleasant place. Then as the tour wraps up, they come upon a fire-and-brimstone lake where demons prod naked souls with pitchforks. "What is that?" the man asks. "Don't worry about it," Lucifer replies. "We built that for the [Insert AcceptableReligiousTargets here]. They ''insisted'' on it!"

* There's a joke where a man dies, and finds himself at [[FluffyCloudHeaven the Pearly Gates]]. St. Peter asks him, "What religion are you?" and the man answers. He is directed to a room but told to be quiet when passing by a particular other room. Several more people go through this. Finally, one person asks why they have to be quiet when passing by that particular room. St. Peter explains that "Well, you see, that's where [insert AcceptableReligiousTargets here] are, and they think they're the only ones here. We wouldn't want to spoil that for them, now would we?"

* ''Film/ThePlatform'' is a pretty clear allegory for this. The movie depicts a prison made of several hundred cells with a food-laden platform passing through each of them every day. Prisoners are free to eat all they want, but they only have a small time window to do so and cannot keep any of the food after the platform moves on. So each day the first (or top) cells gorge themselves, the middle ones scrounge on leftovers, and the bottom ones are left with nothing and are driven to starvation, cannibalism or suicide. Here's the catch - every month prisoners are shuffled between cells. So those who'd left their prison-mates starve by refusing to ration food now suffer from the same injustice, those who'd spent time below and came to vehemently hate the selfish "abovers" relish their brief elevated (literally) position to stuff their faces and shit (some times literally) on the despised "belowers", and the vicious cycle continues.

* The French comic ''ComicBook/LeDernierTroyen'' (a sci-fi version of Literature/TheIliad) has Tartarus filled with self-inflicted punishment and reward. Laocoon is forever tortured by what he deems his failure to defend Troy, while another loathsome traitor has a magnificent villa in a state of constant partying, because that's what they both think they deserve.

* ''Manga/{{Berserk}}'': The final fate of every deceased Apostle. Since they are humans turned into demons by [[MoralEventHorizon sacrificing the people they love and opening up to evil]], and with the only commandment being “do whatever you want”, which includes the most depravated action (rape, genocide, etc.), if they die, their soul is dragged to Hell by the spirits of their own victims.

** This idea was thrown out for ''Film/{{Constantine}}'', the (very loose) film adaptation of ''ComicBook/{{Hellblazer}}'', and replaced with a more conventional system based on Catholicism.

[[folder:Films — Animation]]
* ''WesternAnimation/DCShowcaseConstantineTheHouseOfMystery''. ComicBook/TheSpectre sentences John Constantine to the House of Mystery for creating another Flashpoint. While at first he sees himself as living there with his friends, married to Zatanna with two children, things quickly become horrific when they all morph into demons and kill him, only for Constantine to be resurrected for the whole process to begin again. After ''centuries'' experiencing TheManyDeathsOfYou he escapes and gives Spectre a WhatTheHellHero, only to be told that the House was meant to be a LotusEaterMachine where Constantine could live forever with those he loved, but his guilt and self-loathing made it otherwise.

[[folder:Films — Live-Action]]

* ''Series/{{Lucifer|2016}}'': In this universe, souls in Hell relive their worst sins and/or their consequences over and over for eternity. Lucifer claims he takes absolutely no part in this process: humans drag themselves down and do this to themselves. They can leave if they believe they no longer deserve to be tortured - and Lucifer has never seen ''anyone'' manage it.
-->'''Lucifer''': And the best part — the doors aren't locked. You could leave any time. It says something that no one ever does, doesn't it?

** Poor Angela suffers from the most tragically direct example of this. [[spoiler:She, Eddie and James have all been drawn to Silent Hill because each one did something that they feel guilty for. In Angela's case, she snapped and stabbed her sexually abusive father to death, possibly even in the act of violating her. Very few would condemn her for doing such a thing, but the years of physical and psychological torment heaped upon Angela by her father and mother led her to believe that she ''deserved'' it. As such, her personal dark world is an almost literal Hell, a burning place filled with graphic reminders of the abuse she suffered, not because the town itself is passing judgement on her, but because that's where she's convinced herself she belongs.]]

** Poor Angela suffers from the most tragically direct example of this. [[spoiler:She, Eddie and James have all been drawn to Silent Hill because each one did something that they feel guilty for. In Angela's case, she snapped and stabbed her sexually abusive father to death, possibly even in the act of violating her. Very few would condemn her for doing such a thing, but the years of physical and psychological torment heaped upon Angela by her father and mother led her to believe that she ''deserved'' it. As such, her personal dark world is an almost literal Hell, a burning place filled with graphic reminders of the abuse she suffered, because that's where she's convinced herself she belongs.]]

* Creator/IsaacAsimov's short story "The Last Florida Man" has everyone resurrected on Earth while everything else -- buildings, clothing, machinery, possessions -- crumbles and all the landscape flattens out, to leave the damned with nothing but each other and their own thoughts for eternity.

* ''WesternAnimation/DCShowcaseConstantineTheHouseOfMystery''. ComicBook/TheSpectre sentences John Constantine to an eternity in the House of Mystery for creating another Flashpoint. While at first he sees himself as living their with his friends, married to Zatanna with two children, things quickly become horrified when they all morph into demons and kill him, only for him to be resurrected for the whole process to begin again. After ''centuries'' experiencing TheManyDeathsOfYou he escapes and gives Spectre a WhatTheHellHero, only to be told that the House was meant to be a LotusEaterMachine where Constantine could live forever with those he loved, but his guilt and self-loathing made it otherwise.

* * ''ComicBook/HulkTheEnd'', set centuries after all of mankind except for [[ComicBook/TheIncredibleHulk the title character]] died in a nuclear war, concludes with the Bruce Banner part of the Hulk dead and the savage personality trapped alone on a nuclear-ravaged Earth with nothing to look forward to except wandering aimlessly and being daily devoured by gigantic mutant cockroaches from which he always heals. Hulk could have died with Banner or die at any time by reverting to Banner. But the Hulk's own stubbornness at admitting weakness ever, viewing dying as a form of defeat or weakness, the idea he needs someone else, or being anything less than the "strongest one there is" would in his mind mean his old, dead enemies triumphant over him means he is trapped in a hell he could escape at any time.

* ''ComicBook/HulkTheEnd'', set centuries after all of mankind except for [[ComicBook/TheIncredibleHulk the title character]] died in a nuclear war, concludes with the Bruce Banner part of the Hulk dead and the savage personality trapped alone on a nuclear-ravaged Earth with nothing to look forward to except wandering aimlessly and being daily devoured by gigantic mutant cockroaches from which he always heals. Hulk could have died with Banner or die at any time by reverting to Banner. But the Hulk's own stubbornness at admitting weakness ever, viewing dying as a form of defeat or weakness, the idea he needs someone else, or being anything less than the "strongest one there is" would in his mind mean his old, dead enemies triumphant over him means he is trapped in a hell he could escape at any time.

* ''ComicBook/HulkTheEnd, set centuries after all of mankind except for [[ComicBook/TheIncredibleHulk the title character]] died in a nuclear war, concludes with the Bruce Banner part of the Hulk dead and the savage personality trapped alone on a nuclear-ravaged Earth with nothing to look forward to except wandering aimlessly and being daily devoured by gigantic mutant cockroaches from which he always heals. Hulk could have died with Banner or die at any time by reverting to Banner. But the Hulk's own stubbornness at admitting weakness ever, viewing dying as a form of defeat or weakness, the idea he needs someone else, or being anything less than the "strongest one there is" would in his mind mean his old, dead enemies triumphant over him means he is trapped in a hell he could escape at any time.

* In ''ComicBook/WeaponX2017'', while on a trip to Hell to stop William Stryker from resurrecting himself, Sabertooth is outraged that Stryker lives in a ''castle'' in Hell instead of being tortured. [[SatanicArchetype Marduk Kurios]] tells Sabertooth he is: Stryker is so consumed by his hatred of mutants that he is incapable of ''enjoying'' his life of luxury in Hell and instead just mopes and drones on and on about his petty grievances against the mutants until he [[DeathIsCheap comes back to life]] and [[ComicBookDeath later dies]] so the cycle can start all over again. Kurios doesn't even have to ''do'' anything to him.

* ''Anime/PuellaMagiMadokaMagicaTheMovieRebellion'': [[spoiler:Homura creates a world at the end of the movie that is bar none the happiest we've seen in the series: all of the characters (and newcomer Nagisa) are alive and well, Kyouko and Sayaka are sharing Pocky together, the aforementioned Nagisa is a companion for Mami, and Madoka has been freed of her godly duties and is back with her family. There are no Witches to be seen (though their familiars seem to be just wandering around not hurting anyone), and the Incubators are living a [[LaserGuidedKarma long-deserved]] tortured existence under Homura's heel. But in order to accomplish this, Homura essentially stabbed Madoka in the back, erased her memories and stuffed her in a GildedCage, and as far as Homura is concerned she has irrevocably ruined their friendship; for her, this happy little world is one of crushing guilt, an existence without Madoka's friendship or affection. The others may be having fun in this new universe, but for Homura, it's misery beyond her worst nightmares, all at her own hand, and all of it deserved in her mind.]]

** Lucifer ultimately comes to see this system as unfair when [[spoiler:despite all of Dan's CharacterDevelopment and performing a HeroicSacrifice, the latter ''still'' ends up in Hell due to his past as a DirtyCop. In the SeriesFinale, Lucifer willingly returns to Hell to become a therapist and allow the damned to overcome their guilt and reach Heaven.]]

* This is the Hell shown in Creator/NeilGaiman's ''Comicbook/TheSandman'' and its spinoff, ''Comicbook/{{Lucifer}}'' (though not everyone goes to Lucifer's particular Hell, so not everyone chooses their own damnation).
** Lucifer states explicitly as much in ''Comicbook/TheSandman'':
--->'''Lucifer:''' "Ten billion years spent providing a place for dead mortals to torture themselves. And like all masochists, they called the shots -- 'Burn me', 'Freeze me', 'Eat me', 'Hurt me'. And we did."
--->'''Lucifer:''' "They live their own tiny lives. I do not live their lives for them. And then they die, and they come here (having transgressed against what they believed to be right), and expect us to fulfill their desire for pain and retributions. I don't make them come here."
** In ''Death: At Death's Door'', several damned souls are people who ''definitely'' don't deserve to be in Hell, but are because they sincerely believe they deserve it. For example, one was a little boy who was beaten by his mother. While he was alive, during beatings, his mother said she hated him for being born because the pregnancy ruined her figure, so he [[TearJerker naively thinks suffering in Hell will make her love him]].
** When Lucifer closes Hell and its inhabitants wander the Earth, a boy who encounters them notices that they seem to have brought their own hells with them. He even manages to [[EpiphanicPrison convince one of them to give it up and come with him.]]

* While it took a while for the story to admit it in any way, ''Fanfic/InfinityTrainBlossomingTrail'' has this as part of Chloe's true origin story for her time on the Infinity Train. While her school life ''was'' a legitimate hell, her issues with her father's workplace were a hell she made for herself. She could have left it at any time (Ash and Goh were hardly relucant to invite her on adventures), she could have expressed her distress with the adults present at any time, she could have asked for more to do at any time, and she cold have told her parents she wasn't happy at any time.

* ''ComicBook/TheChroniclesOfWormwood'' has a system that largely revolves around this, but some adjustments are made on a case-by-case basis. For instance, suicide bombers go to Heaven and get 72 virgins, but all 72 are babies that they have to care for eternity. Also, the road to hell is literally paved with mimes, who go to hell regardless.