History Main / TheUnderworld

* In Creator/RobertEHoward's "Literature/ThePhoenixOnTheSword," ConanTheBarbarian describes his people's gods: "Their gods are Crom and his dark race, who rule over a sunless place of everlasting mist, which is the world of the dead."
** In "Literature/TheSlitheringShadow", Natala is convinced that she and {{Conan}} have died, so strange is the city they find themselves in.

* In Japanese Mythology, Izanagi, the father of the gods, went to underworld to recover his wife, Izanami, after she died, but ran in terror from her when he saw she was now a rotting undead. Bizarrely, his son, the god Susano-o, on finding out his mother was there, just went to the underworld to live with her like nothing was wrong!

* ''WesterhAnimation/AdventureTime'' has the Land of the Dead seen in "Death in Bloom".

* In UrsulaKLeGuin's ''{{Earthsea}}'', the the Underworld is characterized by strange stars and total lack of water. [[spoiler:Late in the series, it's revealed that it's the result of a botched attempt at {{Immortality}}.]]

See also {{Heaven}} and {{Hell}}, the Underworld's more exclusive counterparts. Despite its normally neutral nature the Underworld, especially the GreekMythology version, is susceptible to being HijackedByJesus and becoming {{Hell}}. Expect intrepid mortals to mount an OrpheanRescue for a loved one.

* In RobertEHoward's "Literature/ThePhoenixOnTheSword," ConanTheBarbarian describes his people's gods: "Their gods are Crom and his dark race, who rule over a sunless place of everlasting mist, which is the world of the dead."

* The Underworld in ''{{Disney/Hercules}}'', based as the entire movie is on GreekMythology.

* In Japanese Mythology, Izanagi, the father of the gods, went to underworld to recover his wife, Izanami, after she died, but ran in terror from her when he saw she was now a rotting undead. Bizarrely, his son, the god Susano-o, on finding out his mother was there, just went to the underworld to live with her like nothing was wrong!

* The underworld map in the Fantasy game of ''{{Civilization}} 2: Test of Time''.

** In "The Slithering Shadow", Natala is convinced that she and {{Conan}} have died, so strange is the city they find themselves in.

* In RobertEHoward's "The Phoenix on the Sword," {{Conan}} describes his people's gods: "Their gods are Crom and his dark race, who rule over a sunless place of everlasting mist, which is the world of the dead."

[[quoteright:350:[[GodOfWar http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/God_of_War_III__Hades_Battle_by_andyparkart_6582.jpg]]]]

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* ''{{Exalted}}'''s Underworld didn't exist until the titular Exalted [[DivideByZero Divided By Zero]] by killing the creators of the universe, who had never designed the world with mechanisms to cope with their deaths. The result was a gaping hole in existence, the Well of Oblivion, around which the remnants of the dead Primordials, the Neverborn, gathered, and a shadowy reflection of the living world formed.
* The Underworld in the ''New WorldOfDarkness'' is where ghosts who never resolve their UnfinishedBusiness end up. It's divided into the Autochthonous Depths, a massive underground labyrinth that bears a vague resemblance to the underworld myths of the nearest living civilization, and the Lower Mysteries, which are alien realms governed by strange laws enforced by the Kerberoi.

TheUnderworld is often a gloomy, depressing realm, if only because it is often depicted as being BeneathTheEarth. [[CaptainObvious (The fact that people go there after they die might have something to do with it, too.)]] Still, [[DarkIsNotEvil it isn't evil.]] It's not {{Hell}}. ''All'' of the dead come here, whether they were [[LawfulGood saints]], [[ChaoticEvil total jackasses]], or [[TrueNeutral just kinda so-so]] in life. Some versions of TheUnderworld judge the dead and grant them different living standards (or unliving standards, if you prefer) depending on their conduct in life. In others, there's no real judgment, and life--or whatever--continues much as it did before. Possibly they receive, in due course, a chance to go back.

See also {{Heaven}} and {{Hell}}, TheUnderworld's more exclusive counterparts. Despite its normally neutral nature TheUnderworld, especially the GreekMythology version, is susceptible to being HijackedByJesus and becoming {{Hell}}. Expect intrepid mortals to mount an OrpheanRescue for a loved one.

* In GreekMythology, TheUnderworld is Hades, the realm of the god of the same name. Depending on their conduct in life, the dead can end up in the Elysian Fields, which are basically paradise, in the Fields of Asphodel, where they just sort of...hang out, or Tartarus, whose inmates are tortured for all eternity for crimes against the gods.

* In UrsulaKLeGuin's ''{{Earthsea}}'', the TheUnderworld is characterized by strange stars and total lack of water. [[spoiler:Late in the series, it's revealed that it's the result of a botched attempt at {{Immortality}}.]]

TheUnderworld is often a gloomy, depressing realm, if only because it is often depicted as being BeneathTheEarth. [[CaptainObvious (The fact that people go there after they die might have something to do with it, too.)]] Still, [[DarkIsNotEvil it isn't evil.]] It's not {{Hell}}. ''All'' of the dead come here, whether they were saints, total jackasses, or just kinda so-so in life. Some versions of TheUnderworld judge the dead and grant them different living standards (or unliving standards, if you prefer) depending on their conduct in life. In others, there's no real judgment, and life--or whatever--continues much as it did before. Possibly they receive, in due course, a chance to go back.

[[GodOfWar http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/God_of_War_III__Hades_Battle_by_andyparkart_6582.jpg]]
[[caption-width:350:The realm of Hades. Kratos [[LikeABadassOutOfHell comes here a lot.]]]]

* ''{{Beetlejuice}}'' has the Neitherworld, which is pretty much the Underworld, with a Waiting Room From Hell.

* The Underwhere of ''SuperPaperMario'' is actually very close to how the Underworld works in GreekMythology. The dead that you meet there are even called "shades", and they'll tell you about how they [[BreakingTheFourthWall lost their last life to spike pits.]] Aside from being darker, it's really not that bad of a place. (Unless you decide to take [[NightmareFuel a dive into the River Twigz...]])

* In GreekMythology, TheUnderworld is Hades, the realm of the god of the same name. Depending on their conduct in life, the dead can end up in the Elysian Fields, which are basically paradise, in the Fields of Asphodel, where they just sort of...hang out, or being tortured for all eternity for crimes against the gods.

* The Underwhere of ''SuperPaperMario'' is actually very close to how the Underworld works in GreekMythology. The dead that you meet there are even called "shades", and they'll tell you about how they [[BreakingTheFourthWall lost their last life to spike pit.]] Aside from being darker, it's really not that bad of a place. (Unless you decide to take [[NightmareFuel a dive into the River Twigz...]])

TheUnderworld is often a gloomy, depressing realm, if only because it is often depicted as being BeneathTheEarth. [[CaptainObvious (The fact that people go there after they die might have something to do with it, too.)]] Still, [[DarkIsNotEvil it isn't evil.]] It's not {{Hell}}. ''All'' of the dead come here, whether they were saints, total jackasses, or just kinda so-so in life. Some versions of TheUnderworld judge the dead and grant them different living standards (or unliving standards, if you prefer) depending on their conduct in life. In others, there's no real judgment, and life--or whatever--continues much as it did before.

* In ''{{Earthsea}}'', the TheUnderworld is characterized by strange stars and total lack of water. [[spoiler:Late in the series, it's revealed that it's the result of a botched attempt at {{Immortality}}.]]

!!!Examples:

* In HisDarkMaterials, God is a pretender who created an afterlife of near non-existence, where no one was happy; murderers and saints and poets and beggars all went to the same miserable, grey place.
* {{Beetlejuice}} has the Neitherworld, which is pretty much the Underworld, with a Waiting Room From Hell.
* In the FallFromHeaven backstory, most souls go to an underworld like place when dead.
* The underworld map in the Fantasy game of {{Civilization}} 2: Test of Time.

* The Underworld in {{Disney/Hercules}}, based as the entire movie is on GreekMythology.
* The Underworld in the New WorldOfDarkness is where ghosts who never resolve their UnfinishedBusiness end up. It's divided into the Autochthonous Depths, a massive underground labyrinth that bears a vague resemblance to the underworld myths of the nearest living civilization, and the Lower Mysteries, which are alien realms governed by strange laws enforced by the Kerberoi.

* In Japanese Mythology, Izanagi, the father of the gods, went to underworld to recover his wife, Izanami, after she died, but ran in terror from her when he saw she was now a rotting undead. Bizarrely, his son, the god Susano-o, on finding out his mother was there, just went to the underworld to live with her like nothing was wrong!
* PercyJacksonAndTheOlympians uses the underworld several times.
** Massacred in the movie, turning it into a clear FireAndBrimstoneHell.
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See also {{Heaven}} and {{Hell}}, TheUnderworld's more exclusive counterparts. Despite its normally neutral nature TheUnderworld, especially the GreekMythology version, is susceptible to being HijackedByJesus and becoming {{Hell}}.

** Massacred in the movie, turning it into a clear fire and brimstone {{Hell}}.

See also {{Heaven}} and {{Hell}}, TheUnderworld's more exclusive counterparts.

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