Line #147 Main/HellGate


1	%%%
2	%%
3	%% This page has been alphabetized. Please add new examples in the correct order. Thanks!
4	%%
5	%%%
6
7	%% Image selected per Image Pickin' thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1295151842026330300
8	%% Please do not change or remove without starting a new thread.
9
10	[[quoteright:300:[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIVOblivion https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rsz_45-oblivion20the20true20evil_6346.jpg]]]]
11	[[caption-width-right:300:''[[Literature/TheDivineComedy Abandon all hope, ye who enter here.]]'' [[note]](Unless you're the [[PlayerCharacter Hero of Kvatch]], in which case, loot to your heart's content!)[[/note]]]]
12
13	->''"Legend has it that it was written by the Dark Ones.'' Necronomicon ex Mortis. ''Roughly translated: Book of the Dead. The book served as a passageway to the evil worlds beyond."''
14	-->-- ''Film/EvilDead2'', '''Opening Narration'''
15
16	A Hellgate is a connection -- [[CoolGate doorway, portal]], [[WhenDimensionsCollide interdimensional weak spot]], [[OurWormholesAreDifferent Wormhole]], NegativeSpaceWedgie, whatever -- between the normal world and someplace ''bad''. Whether it explicitly links to [[FireAndBrimstoneHell Hell]], [[HyperspaceIsAScaryPlace Hyperspace]], a DarkWorld or just to AnotherDimension, the primary plot function of the Hellgate to allow [[TheLegionsOfHell legions of]] [[DemonicInvaders scary, evil]] weirdness to [[AlienInvasion invade]] [[HellOnEarth our world]].
17
18	A Hellgate can be a permanent fixture of the setting, in which case it will function as a MagneticPlotDevice, putting the "adventure" in the CityOfAdventure and providing [[MonsterOfTheWeek a new monster for the protagonists to fight every week]].
19
20	Other times, the Hellgate itself is the driving force of the plot (or maybe just a MacGuffin): [[SealTheBreach the protagonists seek to close the gate, or to prevent it from being opened in the first place, or even to destroy it]]. This type of Hellgate tends to be more dangerous, and may even cause TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt if left unchecked.
21
22	Not to be confused with a [[IDontLikeTheSoundOfThatPlace body of water in New York City]] next to Astoria or the eponymous bridge over it.
23
24	SubTrope of CoolGate. Compare with GateOfTruth, {{Hellevator}}, PortalNetwork and TannhauserGate. Contrast ThePearlyGates.
25
26	----
27	!!Examples
28
29	[[foldercontrol]]
30
31	[[folder:Anime and Manga]]
32	* One of the later episodes of ''Manga/AkazukinChacha'' has a villain plotting to open one of these. The protagonists close it by [[spoiler:using their {{Transformation Trinket}}s, and thus removing Chacha's ability to transform into a MagicalGirlWarrior. [[note]]This is because only items belonging to gods can be used to shut the door, and the magical princess that Chacha transforms into was a warrior queen who got deified by the people.[[/note]]]]
33	* In ''Manga/BlackClover'', the Dark Triad's goal is to create the Tree of Qliphoth, a magic channel that would connect the underworld to the living world, allowing devils to pour in. It requires [[spoiler:Yami's Dark Magic and Vangeance's World Tree Magic.]]
34	* ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'':
35	** At one point early on, Ichigo purges a Hollow whose sins before becoming a Hollow were so great he could not go on to Soul Society (which is saying something considering it's inhabited by the likes of [[ManipulativeBastard Aizen]], [[BloodKnight Zaraki Kenpachi]] and [[MadScientist Kurotsuchi Mayuri]]), after which the Gates of Hell open up and [[DraggedOffToHell pull him in]].
36	** There's also the Garganta, which allows people to enter Hueco Mundo, the home of Hollows.
37	* ''Manga/BlueExorcist'': [[CoolGate Gehenna Gate]] is central to the plot, and {{Satan}} wants to open it.
38	* The GateOfTruth in ''Manga/FullmetalAlchemist'' contains "The Truth" (which looks suspiciously like "The Gate of Hell" sculpture in [[Anime/FullmetalAlchemist2003 the 2003 anime version]]). Anyone who enters it will gain PowerAtAPrice.
39	* ''Anime/HellGirl'' has a relatively mundane example during its third season. A torii gate on the river below the shrine in Saigawara briefly opens into Hell during the evening of a local festival meant to dispel sin and misfortune. When Yuzuki first goes up to it that night, she sees [[spoiler:herself as [[TheFerryman Hell Girl]]]]. [[spoiler:When the lantern Yuzuki used to send Ai off during the festival drifts through the gate, a miniature boat comes through the other way, allowing Ai to fully return.]]
40	* In ''Manga/InuYasha'', the heroes at one point have to go through one to recover a shard of the Shikon Jewel before Naraku gets it: the gate is a massive iron door chained and located in a stone grotto in a volcanic place, with petrified demons fused to the floor. First, it's guarded by the gigantic and invincible Youkai Gozu and Mezu, who will only let the dead pass (and if you're alive, then they'll help you with that). Second, even if you just smash the chain and open the gate by force, the light coming from the portal will turn all living beings in reach to stone. The heroes have to look for another way, but later Sesshomaru, thanks to his sword Tenseiga (which can actually hurt Gozu and Mezu, as well as reviving the dead) is allowed to cross the treshold safely.
41	* Present in the finale of ''Anime/PantyAndStockingWithGarterbelt''. [[spoiler:Turns out those oddly shaped buildings aren't horns, they're door handles.]]
42	* In ''Manga/SailorMoon'' Infinity arc or S season, Mistress 9 opens a portal to the Tau Nebula. While it is unsure whether the Nebula itself is hellish, the very act is bad for Earth because it allows Pharaoh 90 passage to Earth where, depending on the adaptation, he will either make the Earth his new home infested by Daimons, or simply destroy the planet.
43	* ''Manga/SaintSeiya'''s Underworld has a copy of the Arc de Triomphe with "[[Literature/TheDivineComedy Abandon all hope, ye who enter]]" written on it.
44	* The Underworld Gates in ''Manga/UshioAndTora'' are scattered all over Japan and usually resemble caverns or holes, sometimes closed by boulders wrapped in shimenawa. Harmless to living humans, they drag in wandering souls and living {{Youkai}}, sending them to the Underworld. Tora mentions seeing the claw marks of a monster outside one of these gates and he's nearly sucked inside one too. During the manga-only ''Mist arc'', they encounter a portal in northern Japan near Tono and use it to dispose of the NighInvulnerable mist Youkai Shumuna. [[spoiler: During the final battle against Hakumen no Mono, the mystic Saya and her ZashikiWarashi open a gate to the Underworld resembling an elaborated Japanese-style door to allow the CavalryOfTheDead to join the battle. A special ritual involving a bonfire and SacredBowAndArrows is required to open it, and the Zashiki has to sacrifice himself to close it from the inside once the battle is over.]]
45	* The tunnel to Makai/the demon world in ''Manga/YuYuHakusho''.
46	%%* ''Anime/YuGiOh5Ds'': Old Momentum, following the Zero Reverse.
47	[[/folder]]
48
49	[[folder:Art]]
50	* ''The Gates of Hell'' by Creator/AugusteRodin is a monumental {{sculptur\|es}}al work directly inspired by the Creator/DanteAlighieri poem ''[[Literature/TheDivineComedy Inferno]]'', with many of the various figures used in it later recycled into many of Rodin's more famous works like ''The Thinker'' and ''The Kiss''.
51	[[/folder]]
52
53	[[folder:Comic Books]]
54	* Gata from the ''ComicBook/AdventureTime'' comic series has one of these in her mouth when she sleeps. In order to stop the monsters from coming through her mouth, Finn and Jake's father had to use some [[RetGone RetGone-ing goop to wipe her from existence.]] Years passed, and Finn and Jake accidentally bring her back. They then travel into the mouth of their forgotten childhood friend (possibly adoptive sister) in order to stop the monsters at the source.
55	* ''ComicBook/BlackMoonChronicles'': It's opened by Haazheel Thorn on the Prince of Darkness's orders so TheLegionsOfHell can assist the [[ReligionOfEvil Black Moon]] in destroying the empire before laying waste to the rest of the world. [[spoiler:After Wismerhill discovers the plan was not simple to dismantle the empire but to create HellOnEarth all along, he marshalls his forces for an epic battle to banish Lucifer and his demons back to Hell and close the portal for good.]]
56	* In ''ComicBook/{{BPRD}}: The Dead'', a mad scientist uses [[PublicDomainArtifact the robe of Christ]] and TheSpearOfDestiny to open a portal to ''Heaven''. He ends up [[BodyHorror becoming the portal himself]], and the "angel" that comes through [[OurAngelsAreDifferent is not as nice as advertised]].
57	* Marvel's CrisisCrossover ''ComicBook/Inferno1988'' naturally has a few of these. ComicBook/{{Magik}} even has the power to open them.
58	* As the plot in ''ComicBook/LockeAndKey'' develops it's revealed that there is a large black door, that's existed since the American revolution that's a doorway to a dimension of [[PuppeteerParasite parasitic]] eldritch monsters, desperate to cross over. It simply appeared one day, as a mark on the wall in a cave used as headquarters for revolutionaries, before developing into a real door as people began to notice it resembled one.
59	* ComicBook/ManThing's swamp holds the 'Nexus of all Realities', which by extension is one of these on a wee bigger scope (it connects to every dimension in the Marvel multiverse; some are outright hell dimensions and some are ''just'' [[CrapsackWorld mundanely awful]]) than most of these things. In any case, its presence keeps the plot well-fueled with strange goings-on.
60	* In ''ComicBook/NancyInHell'', the only way to escape Hell is through the Gates of Hell, a massive set of doors with a goat-like skull decorating it. [[spoiler:It is later revealed that the demon Mr. Macabre had killed Nancy with the express purpose of opening the Gates so that HellOnEarth would commence]].
61	* ''ComicBook/WonderWoman1987'': One of [[Creator/GeorgePerez Perez]]'s most drastic changes to the Amazons' culture - instead of being just a HiddenElfVillage, they now guard Doom's Doorway, behind which lies a cave system leading straight to The LegionsOfHell. Their rate of success has had its ups and downs.[[note]] It's not clear if this is supposed to be the mythological Tartarus or something else entirely.[[/note]]
62	[[/folder]]
63
64	[[folder:Fan Works]]
65	* In ''Fanfic/TheBugTypeQueen'', Mr. Fuji creates a machine to poke a hole into the Spirit World in Lavender Town. It... goes about as well as you'd expect and Agatha of the Elite Four is called in to deal with it.
66	* ''Fanfic/DividedRainbow'': Profound Koan, the last Still Way grandmaster whom Lyra visited on her sabbatical, spent all his time fighting the demonic creatures that were spilling out of such a portal. Admittedly, the demons were pathetic specimens, but he was trying to prove a point to the bigger demons that were watching further back.
67	* ''Fanfic/ADragonInShiningArmour'' has the dark rifts, though they're usually only large enough for [[TheCorruption dark data]] to escape.
68	* ''Roleplay/EmbersInTheDusk'': Avernus has open Warprifts at the poles, but the wildlife there is so dangerous that any Warp entities that get through tend to get eaten. Literally.
69	* In ''Fanfic/EquestrianAllianceProjectOblivion'', the Protean Cybernetics Corporation ([=ProteC=]) has created a technology capable of sending matter instantaneously over long distances. Unfortunately, it proves to function equally well as a Hell gate, resulting in an alien invasion.
70	* ''Fanfic/TheEquestrianWindMage'': Any portal to the Dark World. And to add to the horror, Dethl can open new ones at will.
71	* In the first story arc of ''Fanfic/HellsisterTrilogy'', [[ComicBook/LegionOfSuperHeroes Colossal Boy]] and ComicBook/{{Supergirl}} enter Hell through a passageway to stop [[EvilSorcerer Mordru]] from making himself one with the embodiment of Evil.
72	* ''Fanfic/AKnightsTaleAsInquisitor'', has The Breach, "a massive Rift into the world of demons that grows larger with each passing hours".
73	* ''Fanfic/LoveOpensManyDoors:'' The [[WretchedHive Hive Ward]] of [[CityOfAdventure Sigil]] features what are known as "Ooze Portals"; seemingly innocuous muddy puddles that transform into one-way portals into regions of the Abyss associated with slime, filth and decay when stepped in before actively dragging the triggering individual through. This a slight variant on their traditional ''TabletopGame/{{Planescape}}'' appearance, where they instead led to the Paraelemental Plane of Ooze, Mud and Slime.
74	* ''Fanfic/NowYouFeelLikeNumberNone'': When Nemo performs Konso on Ishikawa, a Plus that she didn't know committed unforgivable sins in life, the Gates of Hell appear and drag Ishikawa in to be tortured for all eternity.
75	* In ''Fanfic/PokemonMaster'', the BigBad's goal is to open three hellgates and unleash upon the world all kind of monstrosities.
76	* In ''Fanfic/TheTeacherOfAllThings'', [=MagnaAngemon=]'s "Gate of Destiny" leads to a dimension full of banished enemies and {{Eldritch Abomination}}s. Whenever he uses the technique, he never allows it to stay open for very long for fear that they may escape.
77	* In ''Fanfic/TheVampireOfSteel'', [[Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer Buffy Summers]] and [[ComicBook/{{Supergirl}} Kara Zor-El]] join forces to stop a Kryptonian vampire from opening Sunnydale's Hellmouth and gathering a demon army.
78	* In ''Fanfic/YuYuGiDigiMoon'', any dimensional portal or may potentially become a door to Hell.
79	[[/folder]]
80
81	[[folder:Films -- Animated]]
82	* ''[[https://wikipedia.org/wiki/Dominator_(comics) Dominator]]'' starts with three sisters accidentally summoning the titular demon through a one-way Hellgate. He agrees to defend Earth from anything else that emerges until their exorcist father finds a way to send him home and close the gate.
83	* In ''WesternAnimation/ThePrincessAndTheFrog'', the gateway between Earth and the world of the voodoo spirits is inside the mouth of a large, sentient voodoo mask. Once Dr. Facilier’s talisman is destroyed, the spirits come to collect and drag him through the mask.
84	* When Mok from ''WesternAnimation/RockAndRule'' summons his demon, it emerges from a star-shaped portal. Mok gets knocked into it after the demon is driven back.
85	[[/folder]]
86
87	[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
88	* In ''Film/TheAmityvilleHorror1979'' the eponymous house has one in the basement that gets [[SequelEscalation bigger and nastier]] in every sequel.
89	* A very subdued but no less horrifying example exists in ''Film/AsAboveSoBelow''. Rather than some giant, flaming portal or the like, the entrance to Hell is a tight, cramped, dark hole deep in the catacombs beneath Paris that one must crawl through almost prone. The icing on the cake is the inscription over said hole, written in what looks like old blood; "''And they shall be made to crawl on their bellies to enter the kingdom of darkness.''"
90	* The eponymous spaceship in ''Film/EventHorizon'' opens a gateway to a hellish dimension when testing the first interstellar drive.
91	* ''Film/TheFieldGuideToEvil'': In "What Ever happened to Paganus the Pagan?", the small Greek island is home to a gateway to the underworld known locally as 'the World Below'. It opens once a year at Christmas to allow the goblins out to play tricks on mortals. After capturing a goblin, Paganus ventures into the World Below, and is enraptured by the blue flame, and remains there when the gate shuts.
92	* The 1980s B-movie ''Film/TheGate'': the eponymous gate is a entrance to hell open by a group of kids thanks to ritual in a heavy metal disc.
93	* Dana's apartment building in ''Film/{{Ghostbusters 1984}}'' was designed by its architect, Ivo Shandor, to resonate with occult energies like a supernatural antenna, with the end result that it starts releasing supernatural entities throughout New York, who eventually converge and create a portal on the roof of the building through which the ancient god Gozer intends to invade and destroy the world. The heroes destroy the portal by CrossingTheStreams.
94	* In ''Film/HeadlessHorseman'', there is a bubbling spring in Calvin Montgomery's cellar. This was where he used to place the bodies of his victims when he was human murderer. After being transformed into the HeadlessHorseman, he delivers the heads of his victims here to keep his pact with Hell.
95	* In ''Film/{{Hellboy\|2004}}'', Rasputin teams up with [[{{Ghostapo}} Nazi occultists]] for Project Ragna Rok, an attempt to open a portal to The Void and summon [[EldritchAbomination the Ogdru Jahad]] to destroy the world. Hellboy is all that comes through before the portal gets destroyed. 60 years later, Rasputin comes back to make Hellboy reopen the portal.
96	* Creator/LucioFulci did three films that deal with the concept of "The Seven Gates of Hell": ''Film/CityOfTheLivingDead/The Gates of Hell'', ''Film/TheBeyond / Seven Doors of Death'', and ''Film/TheHouseByTheCemetery''. The first one involves a gateway located in New England town of Dunwich, which resurrects the dead within the town which is opened when an evil priest hangs himself within the confines of a cemetery. The second deals with another of the Seven Gates of Hell, in an abandoned hotel in New Orleans which was opened when a local warlock trying to seal the doorway is killed by a lynch mob of dumb locals, turning their would-be protector into the head zombie in the process. The third involves the home of a mad scientist/ghoul named Doctor Jacob Freudstein as one of the Gates of Hell.
97	* In ''Film/MenInBlackInternational'', the Eiffel Tower is a hidden spaceport with a portal that lets alien refugees come to Earth. The Hive reroute it to their own planet so they can invade Earth.
98	* A hellgate resides in crematory oven of a funeral parlor in ''Film/NightOfTheDemons1988''.
99	* ''Film/PacificRim'' features one at the bottom of the sea where the {{Kaiju}} come through. As time progresses the portal becomes bigger and more stable allowing larger, greater numbers and a higher frequency of Kaiju attacks; the film's plot is the attempt to destroy the portal.
100	* ''Film/{{Poltergeist\|1982}}'' has the portal in the children's bedroom closet.
101	* In the horror film ''Film/TheSentinel1977'', the heroine moves to a remote building in New York that turns out to be an entrance to Hell.
102	* ''Film/ShredderOrpheus'' has the EBN goons drag Eurydice through a door to the Underworld; after Orpheus turns around, it closes automatically to reveal a solid wall behind it. [[spoiler:A second one is later discovered in a shady parking garage that can only be traversed with a special skateboard.]]
103	* The Tree of the Dead from ''Film/SleepyHollow1999'' became a gate to Hell after [[spoiler: Lady Van Tassel used the dark arts to sell her soul to Satan for a chance at revenge and taking over all the village's land, by being given control of the restless ghost of the Headless Horseman whose skull she kept with her.]]
104	[[/folder]]
105
106	[[folder:Literature]]
107	* ''Literature/TheCampHalfBloodSeries'' has several gates to the underworld, must like the classical mythology that it's based on. [[TheGrimReaper Thanatos]] uses the Doors of Death to travel, which serves as the main way in and out. There is also the Door of Orpheus in New York's Central Park, the DOA Recording Studios in Los Angeles, and many more.
108	** Percy and Annabeth fall down a chasam to Tartarus in ''Literature/TheHeroesOfOlympus''.
109	* In the Creator/ManlyWadeWellman short story ''Chorazin'' a man finds a gate to Hell [[EldritchLocation or someplace equally nasty]] in the side of a mountain. It's filled with piles of gold and precious jewels [[EldritchAbomination and some very unpleasant inhabitants]]. Wellman must have liked the idea, as he also used it in a Literature/SilverJohn story, though that one ended with John [[DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu defeating its master,]] [[DemonLordsAndArchdevils the demon Molech]].
110	* The boltholes in Sherrilyn Kenyon's ''Literature/TheDarkHunters'' series are temporary [[AnotherDimension spots]] where Daimons can slip back from the human world to Kalosis, the Atlantean Hell.
111	* In ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'', the overuse of sourcery attracts the Things from the Dungeon Dimensions, and eventually tears open a portal to said Dimensions. Completely appropriately to the setting, Hell is of course somewhere else entirely.
112	* Since ''Literature/TheDivineComedy'' represents Hell with a physical Underworld, the entrance to the kingdom of the damned is a literal gate that includes an inscription written by [[{{God}} the Author of Life]]. This inscription includes a description of the depravity of Hell, a recitation of the virtues of God that are rejected by entry, and a famous command: "Abandon all hope, ye who enter here."
113	%%* The tunnels in ''Literature/TheDemonata''.
114	* ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'':
115	** {{Inverted}}. The Outer Gates were constructed not to let [[EldritchAbomination Outsiders]] in, or even to keep them out. Instead, they prevent them from getting in ''unnoticed'', so that they can be turned back.
116	** In the fourteenth book, ''Cold Days,'' the Outer Gates are portrayed more like the Great Wall of China with [[spoiler: the endless hordes of Outsiders]] on one side and the forces of [[spoiler: the winter fae]] on the other. The latter fight non-stop to keep the former from crossing.
117	* The gate of the old gods in ''Literature/GilsAllFrightDiner''.
118	* In ''Literature/TheGirlFromTheWell'', Aitou village was the site of a ritual intended to open a hellgate, which resulted in its destruction and the entire surrounding forest becoming haunted.
119	* ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheOrderOfThePhoenix'' inverts this trope with the Veil in the Department of Mysteries, which is a one-way portal ''to'' the afterlife (meaning nothing can get into our world from the next).
120	* Ackerman's field in Creator/StephenKing's short story ''[[Literature/JustAfterSunset N.]]'', which keeps back a [[spoiler:terrifying monster called Cthun.]]
121	* ''Literature/ANetOfDawnAndBones'' has the Demongates, vast magical constructions built from HumanSacrifice, negative emotions and evil that allow demons to invade Earth from Hell with impunity. They are relatively rare because the knowledge and patience required to create a gate isn’t something most sorcerers can manage. The last few times one has been completed have caused catastrophes to occur including [[RealEventFictionalCause the Great Fire of London, the 1692 Jamaican Earthquake and the 1257 Mount Rinjani explosion]]. The BigBad is trying to create a new one in Intrepid, and has had twenty odd years to build the foundations, starting with using his older brother as a HumanSacrifice. [[spoiler: Despite the best efforts of everyone involved it opens of Halloween during ''Seeds of Blood'', before being destroyed by [[HolyHandGrenade celestially powered]] ColonyDrop.]]
122	* ''Literature/OliverTwisted'': Oliver's EitherOrProphecy mentions one of the outcomes being that Oliver would the one to close the doors of hell on all demons forever.
123	* What the Five Gatekeepers are there to guard and -- when necessary -- create in ''Literature/ThePowerOfFive''.
124	* In L. Jagi Lamplighter's ''[[Literature/ProsperosDaughter Prospero Lost]]'', there's a crate that hell hounds come out of. In ''Prospero in Hell'', when they decided on ToHellAndBack, they have to crawl through it and a tunnel behind to get to the rather more traditional gate -- which Dante got the inscription on, ''almost'' right even.
125	* In the ''Literature/SecretHistories'' series, an [[TheFairFolk Elf]] strike force tries to create one as a TakingYouWithMe tactic when the battle goes against them. They use the living body of one of their mages to do so. Fortunately they're stopped when all they have is a vaguely magical arch of viscera.
126	* Dungeon Number One and the Bottomless Whirlpool in ''Literature/SeptimusHeap'' are used in ''Darke'' as gateways for exiting and entering, respectively, the Darke Halls.
127	* The story of ''Literature/{{Spellbent}}'' kicks off when the protagonist participates in a simple magical ritual that is only supposed to call down some rain, but which somehow opens a portal to a hell instead.
128	* ''Literature/ThirdTimeLuckyAndOtherStoriesOfTheMostPowerfulWizardInTheWorld'': Magdelene has stairs leading right down into the Netherworld (or Netherhells) where demons dwell, in her sub-basement. It's convenient for her, as she can enter there easily, and also foil demonic invasions (being the most powerful wizard in the world) when they occur.
129	* ''Literature/VillainsByNecessity'': The main goal for the protagonists is to this, named the Dark Gate. However, in a twist this is needed for ''saving'' the world. Also, smaller ones named dark portals also exist. EvilSorcerer Valeria has one, the source of her power in the increasingly Light world.
130	* The Dark One's prison in ''Literature/TheWheelOfTime'' seems to be located around Shayol Ghul. More accurately, it is all over the world (hence the ''cuendillar'' seals being found everywhere), but it is ''weakest'' around Shayol Ghul, creating the Blight by allowing the Dark One's power to seep through.
131	** Eventually, Myrdraal drive the Trollocs through the Ways, destroying the hearts of several nations right before [[spoiler: the Last Battle]]. In an unexpected display of common sense and tactics, the Forces of Good don't allow the Trollocs to dictate their field of battle. They ignore the invaders except to evacuate civilians.
132	* ''Literature/TheWitchOfKnightcharm'': The Scholomance actually has a normal (if oversized) front door, but it’s suicide to use it. Instead, they use a room with magic wards that effectively function as teleportation spells so new recruits can pop into the Scholomance and current students can jump elsewhere in order to go on evil missions for the school.
133	[[/folder]]
134
135	[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
136	* Averted in ''Series/{{Angel}}'' at one point. Quor'toth doesn't have a portal to it because it's such a bad place. The opening made to it was a tear in reality. The gate to Pylea may count, though.
137	%%* The Thirdspace gate from ''Series/BabylonFive''.
138	* In ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'', that the town of Sunnydale was built on a Hellmouth (a portal between Earth and one or more demon dimensions) is a major plot point throughout the series, beginning with the series premiere [[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS1E1WelcomeToTheHellmouth "Welcome to the Hellmouth"]] and continuing right up to the series finale [[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS7E22Chosen "Chosen"]]. Sunnydale was literally founded on account of the Hellmouth (as part of a generations-long evil plan by Mayor Wilkins to give the demons sponsoring his Ascension a ready supply of victims), and plots by various {{Big Bad}}s to open the Hellmouth--and the efforts of Buffy and her friends to keep the Hellmouth at least mostly closed--are a recurring theme. Its presence also makes the town a general WeirdnessMagnet, justifying any given threat of the week - demons, monsters and magic users flock to Sunnydale and the laws of physics are occasionally bent there, resulting in things like ignored shy girls turning invisible or coma patients' nightmares taking over reality, and making MagicPoweredPseudoscience work.
139	** There's also the demon Acathla in the finale of Season 2, who once fully woken from stone would have sucked the entire world into Hell through a portal in his mouth if Buffy hadn't made him dormant again.
140	* In ''Series/ChillingAdventuresOfSabrina'', it's made clear that Gates of Hell are a real, physical place. [[spoiler: Specifically, in the depths of the Greendale Coal Mines, as that's the spot where Lucifer fell to Earth from Heaven.]]
141	* ''Series/TheCollector'': Temporary portals to Hell appear to collect the Devil's [[DealWithTheDevil debts]]. [[InvisibleToNormals Only his clients can see or hear them.]]
142	* The 2010 series of ''Series/DoctorWho'' gives us the cracks in time, which don't release any extradimensional nasties but can RetGone anyone and anything (even ''reality itself'') out of existence.
143	* ''Series/GarthMarenghisDarkplace'': Darkplace Hospital is built over the very gates of Hell itself.
144	* ''Franchise/PowerRangers'' has had a few of these over the years -- in ''[[Series/PowerRangersLightspeedRescue Lightspeed Rescue]]'' the demons' master plan is to open one to free their brethren from the barren "Shadow World". In ''[[Series/PowerRangersNinjaStorm Ninja Storm]]'', the entire season is a XanatosGambit by [[CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass Lothor]], who sent his [[MonsterOfTheWeek monsters]] to their deaths week after week to fulfill a prophecy whereby the "Abyss of Evil" would burst open from the pressure of all the evil spirits contained within it. In [[Series/PowerRangersMysticForce Mystic Force's]] backstory, Claire's mother sealed away [[EldritchAbomination The Master's]] legions the behind the one they used to attack the surface.
145	%%* The anomalies in ''Series/{{Primeval}}''.
146	* ''Series/StrangerThings'': It turns out that Dr. Brenner and Eleven unwittingly opened one prior to the story when he made her make contact with the Demogorgon. It's located in the underground Hawkins Lab and allows malevolent alien forces to seep into our dimension, so the cast has to close it.
147	* ''Franchise/SuperSentai'' is no stranger to this trope. In ''Series/MahouSentaiMagiranger'' the forces of [[GodOfEvil N Ma]] (the gate's creator who made so his army could attack the surface) had to be sealed from both the outside AND the inside. The parts relating to this were mostly the same in ''Magiranger'' and ''Mystic Force,'' but unlike Clare's mother, Lunagel didn't have to [[spoiler: CastFromHitPoints with the sealing spell, and so didn't turn to dust immediately afterwards]]. [[DiscOneFinalBoss Branken]] attempts to unseal the gate so he can attack the surface ([[MagicKnight Wolzard]] not having the power, or interest, so this the only he can leave), but after his death it's barely mentioned because all the monsters can freely travel to and from without it or any outside help.
148	* ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'' has had three:
149	** In the second season finale, the Devil's Gate is opened (using the "kill anything" [[RevolversAreJustBetter Colt]]) and an army of demons [[spoiler:and John Winchester]] escape from Hell.
150	** In the fifth season finale, rings taken from the Four HorsemenOfTheApocalypse are used to create a portal to Hell [[spoiler:through which Sam (possessed by Lucifer) and his little brother Adam (possessed by Michael) fall, trapping the two Archangels and ending the immediate threat of the Apocalypse).]] Appropriately enough, this occurs in a cemetery in Stull, Kansas, near the boys' hometown of Lawrence and, according to real life urban legend, home of a hellgate of its own.
151	** In the Season 14 finale, [[spoiler: [[EvilAllAlong God/Chuck]]]] tears opens a new portal to Hell (which appears as a massive hole in the ground) and unleashes all of the souls trapped within to rampage on Earth. The Winchesters and their allies spend the first few episodes of Season 15 fighting to contain these spirits and seal the rupture. [[spoiler: They finally succeed, but only with a HeroicSacrifice by Rowena.]]
152	%%* The Cardiff Rift in ''Series/{{Torchwood}}''.
153	* ''Series/TheTroop'' has Dimensional Mites, small creatures who resemble balls of light. Different from most other Hell Gates, in that they are actually '''LIVING''' Creatures who form together to make a portal to and from the Monster Dimension. The Troop keeps some of them in small capsules, which can be opened to make a portal anytime, and anywhere they please. The capsules are used to make a portal and send the monsters back to the Monster Dimension (though they can also be used to bring monsters over, as seen in episode 14)
154	* ''Series/WellingtonParanormal'': The Cuba Street Bucket Fountain, a beloved Wellington city landmark.
155	* In one "Weird Newscasters" game on ''Series/WhoseLineIsItAnyway'', Ryan Styles discovers that his weather board is a gate to Hell. He finds himself tortured by ''Series/{{Friends}}'', Music/MichaelBolton music, and Creator/DrewCarey having [[Series/TheDrewCareyShow two shows]].
156	[[/folder]]
157
158	[[folder:Myths & Religion]]
159	* In Literature/TheBible, more specifically the ''Literature/BookOfRevelation'', a gate to the bottomless pit is opened and demons led by [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast Abbadon]]. Whether this 'bottomless pit' is hell remains unclear, but what comes out are definitely TheLegionsOfHell.
160	* In Myth/NorseMythology, the gate to Hel is called "Helgrindi" which translates to "[[TropeNamer Hellgate]]".
161	* Numerous entrances to the Underworld Hades exist in Myth/ClassicalMythology:
162	** The river Acheron in Greece -- a route taken by Odysseus.
163	** Orpheus went to the underworld through a cave in Taenarum, southern Greece.
164	** In ''Literature/TheAeneid'', Aeneas travels through the underworld via Lake Avernus near Naples.
165	** "Pluto's Gate" in Hierapolis, modern-day Turkey.
166	[[/folder]]
167
168	[[folder:Music]]
169	* Music/{{Boondox}} makes mention of these in a few of his songs.
170	* Music/{{Gloryhammer}}: On their second album, ''Space 1992: Rise of the Chaos Wizards'', we learn that a portal under Dundee contains a gate to Hell, that will release [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast Korviliath The Elder God from the 18th Hell Dimension.]]
171	* The animated band Music/{{Gorillaz}} have a personal HellGate in their basement.
172	[[/folder]]
173
174	[[folder:Pinball]]
175	* The Underworld shot in ''Pinball/IronMaidenLegacyOfTheBeast'' is implied to be one of these - lighting a Battle mode displays an open gate to a fiery inferno.
176	[[/folder]]
177
178	[[folder:Roleplay]]
179	* ''Avernus from Roleplay/EmbersInTheDusk'' has open Warprifts at the poles, but the wildlife there is so dangerous that any Warp entities that get through tend to get eaten. Literally. Of course, every century or two, a full scale Daemonic Incursion comes through. That's when the planet ''truly'' shows what it's like.
180	[[/folder]]
181
182	[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
183	* Subverted in ''TabletopGame/ArsMagica'', where there is explicitly no way to access Hell aside from dying and being damned. Several alleged Hellgates exist, but they are all either sites warped by [[UnholyGround infernal power]] into {{Eldritch Location}}s or fakes created by [[MasterOfIllusion demonic illusion]].
184	* In ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'', Hellgates can be as simple as a temporary or permanent ''gate'' spell to one of the Lower Planes -- Acheron, the Nine Hells, Gehenna, Hades, Carceri, the Abyss, and Pandemonium -- or something more involved:
185	** Sigil, detailed in ''TabletopGame/{{Planescape}}'', is a massive city filled with portals to the Outer Planes, portals that might be obvious or so well hidden they might be opened accidentally. The Hive Ward, Sigil's [[TheCityNarrows City Narrows]], has its own unique flavor of Hellgates called "Ooze Portals," which are seemingly ordinary mud puddles that act as portals to the Paraelemental Plane of Ooze, Mud and Slime. If you step in one, it will try to drag you through on a one-way trip. They may also randomly extrude slimy pseudopods in an effort to reach out and grab victims, or just billow clouds of lethally poisonous fumes into the air.
186	** The Outlands, the PortalCrossroadWorld in the middle of the Great Wheel cosmology, has sixteen "gate towns" spaced equidistantly around the central spire over which Sigil hovers. Each of these settlements features a permanent portal to its corresponding Outer Plane, and seven -- Rigus, Ribcage, Torch, Hopeless, Curst, Plague-Mort, and Bedlam -- connect to the aforementioned Lower Planes. The catch is, if the overall CharacterAlignment of a gate town tips too far towards one of those planes', the entire settlement might vanish and reappear on that plane for a time. Those interested in keeping those towns on the Outland try to encourage people with opposite alignments to hang around and act as a balancing force.
187	** The Abyss, the embodiment of the ChaoticEvil alignment, is said by some to be [[GeniusLoci intelligent]] (and malevolent), seeking to expand its influence on the Material Plane. Places [[EvilTaintedThePlace tainted by acts of evil]] might see a spontaneous Abyssal portal appear, allowing demons to get a foothold on a world. These portals might be temporary or tenuous at first, and easily closed by heroes, but if an Abyssal portal is allowed to stabilize and reinforced by subsequent waves of fiends, a [[HellOnEarth full demonic invasion]] can be the result. In an absolute worst-case scenario, the entire world might be drawn into the Abyss to become a new layer of it. %%in-universe alignment
188	** On the subject of demons, concentrations of the fiends can generate enough evil from their mere presence that an Abyssal portal forms near them, though this is rare since most demons dislike staying put for several years. But in 5th Edition, the fiendish {{Blob Monster}}s known as alkaliths are more less sentient AlienKudzu, seeking to entrench themselves in an area to create a portal to the Abyss. For this reason, [[EvenEvilHasStandards even demonic cultists are reluctant to conjure up alkaliths]], because an unchecked Abyssal portal is dangerous to everyone.
189	** ''TabletopGame/ForgottenRealms'': Neverwinter, a densely-populated city on the Sword Coast, is just filled with these, specifically places where you can pass to Neverwinter's Shadowfell counterpart, Evernight.
190	* ''TabletopGame/{{Exalted}}'' has a few of these, some leading to the Underworld, some to [[{{Hell}} Malfeas]]. To get to the Underworld, you enter a [[CorpseLand shadowland]] and wait until nightfall. Voila -- now you're in the Underworld! Too bad the borders go back up at sunrise. There are sixteen secret ways into Malfeas from Creation, one of which is as simple as wearing green while riding through an area of desolation and ending up on the sands of Cecelyne, the Endless Desert (and yes, it's suggested [[FridgeHorror people do this accidentally]]).
191	* Creator/GamesWorkshop games:
192	** ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer}}'' has the collapsed Warp Gates at the poles, through which Chaos enters the world.
193	** ''TabletopGame/WarhammerAgeOfSigmar'':
194	*** During the Age of Chaos many [[PortalDoor Realmgates]] became corrupted and cursed by the Dark Gods and now lead to the nightmarish Realm of Chaos, abode of daemons and the Chaos Gods.
195	*** [[FeatheredFiend Lords of Change]] are capable of casting the Infernal Gateway spell. This spells sees the Greater Daemon open a portal to the Realm of Chaos itself, pulling in nearby enemy warriors to have their bodies and souls ripped apart by ravenous Daemons.
196	** ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}'':
197	*** The Eye of Terror is the largest (though there are others, such as the Maelstrom) [[HyperspaceIsAScaryPlace Warp]]-realspace overlay. It's a NegativeSpaceWedgie through which TheLegionsOfHell periodically attempt to destroy the galaxy, and at several thousand light-years wide, it might be the largest Hellgate in fiction.
198	*** Chaos-worshipers' plots generally revolve around creating localized ones (say, about the size of a solar system).
199	* Both ''TabletopGame/{{Malifaux}}'' and ''TabletopGame/HellDorado'' subvert this; it's humanity invading Malifaux/hell, instead of the other way around. Particularly glaring in Malifaux where the first time the breach was opened the Neverborn wiped the tresspassers, and closed the portal while throwing one body trough it before it fully closed. The body had one word written on it: Ours.
200	* In the [[TabletopGame/OldWorldOfDarkness Classic]] and ''TabletopGame/NewWorldOfDarkness'':
201	** Avernian Gates in ''TabletopGame/GeistTheSinEaters'' function as portals to TheUnderworld. The gates take their name from Avernus (mentioned below under Real Life). While most of them appear naturally in cemeteries, powerful Sin-Eaters can create their own.
202	** Similarly, there are Hedge Gates in ''TabletopGame/ChangelingTheLost'', which lead to the Hedge, an {{eldritch\|Location}} border zone between the human world and the LandOfFaerie. Changelings, hobs, and [[TheFairFolk the Gentry]] can pass through them easily, but even humans can fall through certain gates by using Keys (such as being the seventh son of a seventh son, menstruating on a new moon, or singing a nursery rhyme while turning three times widdershins) or being lured in through an apparent manifestation of their Vice (e.g.., a Lustful man lured in by the illusion of a woman bathing).
203	** A Dark Thaumaturgical ritual in ''TabletopGame/VampireTheMasquerade'' opens a gate into Hell for one day. Step one: [[PoweredByAForsakenChild Wash an entire wall with the blood of children.]] (Well, that's really step two. Step one is "Make damn sure [[EvenEvilHasStandards none of the other supernaturals are waiting to drag you into the daylight for even thinking about doing this]]".)
204	** The supplement ''Inferno'' gives details on opening gates to Hell. [[BrownNote Looking]] into an open gate is damaging to the sanity and morality, to say nothing of what might get out -- or try to [[DraggedOffToHell pull you in]].
205	* The main setting of ''TabletopGame/{{Pathfinder}}'' has a few permanent portals to the lower planes, but by far the most famous is the Worldwound, a hole to the depths of the Abyss the size of a city. The demon lord Deskari tore it open after the death of his divine rival with the intent to use it as the route for his armies to conquer Golarion. His efforts have yet to be successful, but the constant crusades to hold back his hordes are a major part of the political and cultural landscape. The Adventure Path ''Wrath of the Righteous'' deals with the [=PCs=] attempts to close it down.
206	* The entire game of ''TabletopGame/{{Rifts}}'' is built around countless eponymous gates opening up as a response to the world's mana rising after the Third World War, ripping open the fabric of time and space. Not as many open up as frequently as when the whole sequence started, but there are some stable gates -- such as the entirety of the St Louis Arch which is a permanent portal to various hell-like dimensions.
207
208	[[/folder]]
209
210	[[folder:Video Games]]
211	* ''VideoGame/AgeOfMythology'' grants the Greeks the ability to summon an Underworld Passage from one point of the map to another, averting the trope... but the ''Titans'' expansion gives the Atlanteans the power of creating a small Tartarean Gate, allowing dog-like demons to continually respawn until the gate is destroyed.
212	** The main campaigns of both game and expansion center around attempts to open ''much larger'' Tartarean Gates in order to release Kronos and his... ummm... "Kronies".
213	** And in normal gameplay of the expansion, each civilization can summon a [[OurGodsAreDifferent Titan or suitable mythological replacement]] from such a gate to help crush enemies and so forth. AOM really likes this trope.
214	* The chaos gate, the final destination of most players in ''VideoGame/AncientDomainsOfMystery''.
215	* In the ''{{VideoGame/Bayonetta}}'' franchise, Umbran Witches can use their hair as a conduit to open temporary gates to Inferno, this game's version of Hell, in order to summon Infernal Demons to do their bidding. In the sequel, it's revealed that the Umbran Witch counterparts, the Lumen Sages, can do something similar by opening up a temporary gate to Paradiso in order to summon Angels. However, LightIsNotGood is in full effect here and Bayonetta primarily fights angels, so despite Paradiso being eponymous to Heaven its implied to be just as bad as Inferno. Also in the sequel, ''{{VideoGame/Bayonetta 2}}'', the titular character needs to travel to the holy mountain, Fimbulventr, in order to access a permanent passageway to Inferno, fittingly called (through translation) the Gates of Hell. The mountain houses a permanent gateway to Paradiso as well, a Heaven's Gate.
216	* ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaDawnOfSorrow''[='s=] castle was built on "The Mine of Judgement" which leads directly into "The Abyss".
217	* ''VideoGame/CookieClicker'':
218	** The Portal building is stated to be a portal to the Cookieverse but is implied to be one of these. It costs [[NumberOfTheBeast 1,666,666 cookies to build the first one, and produces 6666 [=CpS=]]]. When the [[spoiler:grandmapocalypse]] reaches its late stages, your Portals power up [[spoiler:Grandmas]].
219	** In the old "Cookie Clicker Classic" version, the image for the portal in the game window resembles [[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIVOblivion an Oblivion gate.]]
220	* Like the original poem it's based on, ''[[VideoGame/DantesInferno Dante's Inferno]]'' features the gates of Hell. It also scores bonus points by being in the shape Auguste Rodin's "Gates of Hell" sculpture.
221	* In ''VideoGame/DarkestDungeon'''s backstory, the Ancestor dug up one of these in pursuit of power and out of boredom of his extravagant lifestyle, with rather predictable results. [[spoiler:It's not actually a portal to hell, but simply a gateway that goes deeper into the earth. Unfortunately, under the crust of the world is a giant, planet-sized EldritchAbomination.]]
222	* ''[[VideoGame/DawnOfWar Dawn of War II]]'''s Retribution expansion has this in one of the mission where the Chaos Space Marines working under [[spoiler: Kyras]] construct a port to the warp that they brag about every chance they get. Makes it all the more fun to destroy it.
223	* ''VideoGame/DevilMayCry'':
224	** ''VideoGame/DevilMayCry3DantesAwakening'': Temen-ni-gru is more of a Hell''[[EvilTowerOfOminousness tower]]'', but it is still a link that opens a portal between the Demon World and the Human World.
225	** ''VideoGame/DevilMayCry4'': Various giant monolith hellgates dot the island of Fortuna, guarded by the big demons that Nero and Dante face. Part of the BigBad's plan is opening one portal in Nero's hometown to justify the Savior's existence. They eventually get destroyed by Dante.
226	* ''VideoGame/DevilSurvivor'' has this in the endings where you don't run away. The whole freaking sky opens up into a demonic vortex [[spoiler: and reality starts to collapse as the Bels fight for the title of demon king.]]
227	* ''VideoGame/{{Diablo}}'' series:
228	** In ''VideoGame/Diablo1997'', reality is warped the deeper you go, until you finally enter what seems to be Hell. However, it's not the actual plane of Hell, but reality that has been warped by Diablo's presence and transformed into a place of nightmares.
229	** Apparently, whatever horrors were committed in the temple of the Zakarum under Kurast in ''VideoGame/DiabloII'' weakened the fabric of reality enough that it was easier to create a portal into Hell from there. This may have been because Mephisto didn't want to reveal himself to the world yet, though. In the ''Lord of Destruction'' expansion, the plateus are littered with portals to Hell. Those were likely forcibly created during Baal's ascent up the mountain, though, rather than being weak spots that always existed. Although maybe not -- Harrogath was always a very important location, cosmogically speaking.
230	** In ''VideoGame/DiabloIII'', the Demon Lord Azmodan invades the mortal realm via a portal in the crater of Arreat left by the climax of the previous game. The hero must enter and destroy the Sin Hearts that continually spawn Azmodan's minions. In the final Act, Diablo opens similar portals within [[spoiler: Heaven itself]], and the hero must again shut these down from the inside.
231	* The teleporters from ''VideoGame/{{Doom}}'' and slipgates from ''VideoGame/QuakeI''; both series are by the same developer and feature similar gameplay.
232	** In ''Doom''[='s=] case the teleporters weren't hellgates in themselves but rather UAC transporters that simply used Hell as a wormhole in order to move things around quickly. However the demons of hell realized that they could simply intercept the pipeline and use it to breach the mortal world, allowing them to overrun Phobos and Deimos as well as eventually make their way to Earth prior to ''Doom II''.
233	** ''VideoGame/Doom2016'' has humanity attempt to use an ExtradimensionalPowerSource known as "Argent Energy" to solve humanity's energy crisis. Where does Argent Energy come from? Why, Hell, of course! That means routinely opening hellgates to collect the energy and hoping the demons won't try to come through, or some megalomaniac tries to rip open a very big gate to let the LegionsOfHell invade our dimension.
234	* The Fade of ''Franchise/DragonAge'' isn't the local afterlife, but it's populated by spirits that reflect virtues and sins. The second category are driven to possess mortals, particularly mages, and can come through more easily where the barrier between worlds is weaker or "torn". The plot of [[VideoGame/DragonAgeInquisition the third game]] is kicked off by a rift bigger than anything we've seen before, allowing a demonic invasion into a world already on the brink of collapse.
235	* Chapter III of ''VideoGame/FaithTheUnholyTrinity'' centers around gates to Hell. [[spoiler:One can open a gate to Hell through a ritual called the Second Death. This is done by [[FacialHorror cutting someone's face off]] and then [[PoweredByAForsakenChild forcing an infant into the hole]] as a sacrifice to Hell. We see an example of this in the very first chapter: that red hole Amy has instead of a face.]]
236	* The ''VideoGame/FatalFrame'' series [[spoiler: is based around ritual sacrifices designed to keep a number of these closed.]]
237	* The Hall of Transference, which leads into Promyvion in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXI''.
238	* The Door of Komalie from the original ''VideoGame/GuildWars''. The Lich Lord opens it to let the demonic Titans enter Tyria from their imprisonment in [[IDontLikeTheSoundOfThatPlace the Foundry of Failed Creations.]]
239	* The portals in ''VideoGame/HalfLife1'' behave exactly like this, allowing the Combine to come through and enslave Earth.
240	** The portals didn't allow the Combine to arrive, at least initially -- the resulting portal storm, however, grabbed their attention. They then piggybacked in on the storm and used for their invasion. Not the intended result, but then the entire Resonance Cascade scenario never was to begin with.
241	* ''VideoGame/HellgateLondon'' is about, well, [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin hellgates in London]].
242	* "Hell's Maw" is the name of both [=E1M8=] and Episode 2 of ''VideoGame/{{Heretic}}''. Closing it is the focus of the non-{{Shareware}} episodes.
243	* In both ''VideoGame/IcewindDale'' and ''VideoGame/BaldursGateSiegeOfDragonspear'', the BigBad seeks to open a portal to Avernus, the first layer of Baator (aka the Nine Hells).
244	* [[spoiler: Marx]] in ''VideoGame/KirbySuperStar'' ''splits in half and reveals one inside his face'' as his most powerful attack. Should Kirby get caught by the attack, he's briefly sucked into what can best be described as a ''dimension made of pain'' before being spat back out. You know, ''for kids!''
245	* ''VideoGame/LaPucelle'' features portals into the Dark World as the randomly generated {{Bonus Dungeon}}s.
246	* ''Franchise/MassEffect'': The characters are actually pretty careful about the [[OurWormholesAreDifferent mass relays]] and refuse to open them until both entrances are discovered normally, for fear that something horrible and unknown might be waiting on the other side. The galaxy has learned this from bitter experience, as some thousand years before the game starts, when they blindly opened a mass relay, they got invaded by [[BugWar Rachni]]. In fact, the First Contact War started because humans were just opening mass relays whenever they found one, and this caught the turians' attention. [[spoiler: There is indeed [[EldritchAbomination something out there]] -- [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast the Reapers]]. The cornerstone of [[SapientShip the Reapers]]' plan was the fact that the Citadel itself, basically the centre of galactic civilisation, contains a mass relay. Every few millennia, species reach the Citadel, then Reapers invade and [[FaceFullOfAlienWingWong somehow breed]] using said species. [[ViciousCycle Rinse and repeat]].]]
247	* The chaos gate in ''VideoGame/MegaManBattleNetwork5TeamColonelAndTeamProtoMan''. It's a BonusDungeon, but ''you'' have the option of opening it. This act floods the Internet with evil and powers up the viruses.
248	* An [[InvertedTrope Inversion]], sort of, in ''VideoGame/MetroidPrime2Echoes''. The [[LegionsOfHell Ing]] themselves don't use the portals to [[DarkWorld Dark Aether]], as they can't survive on Aether in their normal forms; they appear as mist that [[DemonicPossession possesses]] creatures instead. Some of the portals appeared spontaneously, and some were created by the Luminoth so that they (and eventually Samus) could return the favor. However an optional combination weapon known as a "Dark Burst" basically creates a portal to somewhere even worse than Dark Aether. A mobile portal that attempts to draw in everything that comes close to it!
249	* In ''VideoGame/{{Minecraft}}'', you can actually build obsidian portals connected to the Nether, which, despite being a terrifying experience full of huge fireball-shooting [[EldritchAbomination ghasts]] and savage zombie-pigmen that will scare the living daylights out of the most jaded gamer, is [[HyperspaceIsAScaryPlace actually an efficient means of transport]]. Every step in the Nether translates to eight in the normal world, so one can travel very quickly from island to island, allowing the creation of a large, interconnected empire. The Nether also contains unique resources like glowstone, a mineral used to craft the brightest lights available, and netherrack, which burns indefinitely without being used up (although not in furnaces; that would be a GameBreaker).
250	* ''VideoGame/MinecraftLegends'': All the piglins are implied to have come out of portals to the Nether, which is a hellish dimension. One of these portals appears near the center of each piglin base.
251	* Big Whoop from the ''VideoGame/MonkeyIsland'' series is revealed to be this the third game, one with a power supply that will eventually run out.
252	* The cosmic battleground of [[ShiningCity Laurentia]] in ''VideoGame/NexusClash'' is dotted with these in appropriate places, ranging from the absolutely fitting (A site of a tragic plane crash, a festering sewer) to the merely creepy (a display of grinning breakfast cereal mascots) to the downright horrifying (the door of a ''fast-food men's bathroom'').
253	* ''[[VideoGame/NinjaGaiden Ninja Gaiden II]]'' on the Xbox 360 has a Hellgate at the peak of Mt. Fuji.
254	** Ashtar's whole plan in ''VideoGame/NinjaGaiden II: The Dark Sword of Chaos'' for the NES is to open one of these and bring about an age of "Eternal Darkness."
255	* ''VideoGame/NosferatuTheWrathOfMalachi'': These are set up all around the Castle to summon Desmodiij from the Spirit World.
256	* The gates to Oblivion in, er, ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIVOblivion Oblivion]]''. Specifically, gates to Mehrunes Dagon's (the Daedric Prince of Destruction) plane of Oblivion, the Deadlands. In order to close each gate, one must march through the gate into Oblivion, battle your way through (or just run right past) Dagon's demons, find the Sigil Stone powering the gate, and grab the sucker.
257	** Subverted in the ''Shivering Isles'' expansion, where a gate opens to said location but nothing comes out of it, save for one complete loony (like all the rest in there) that gets killed by a guard anyway. The gate's purpose instead is to attract an adventurer capable of helping the Daedric Prince Sheogorath defend his realm. [[spoiler: Or rather, to attract an adventurer capable of ''replacing'' him so that his original self Jyggalag can escape the Shivering Isles.]]
258	** This is pointed out as being really odd, as someone with experience about Daedric summoning notes that opening portals to Oblivion that lasts ''this'' long shouldn't be possible. The reason for that is solved in-game [[spoiler: in a more permanent way, less relying on there being an Emperor]], though we only got some implying about why it only became an issue ''this'' time, and not all the other times in the past that [[spoiler: no Emperor was there to light the Dragonfires]]. Sheogorath manages to explain away his ridiculously stable gate by saying it's not really an Oblivion gate to Tamriel, more a Tamriellic gate to Oblivion. The distinction is subtle, but significant.
259	* ''VideoGame/OctopathTraveler'': The Gate of Finis where Galdera was sealed away by the twelve gods. Where the other side is located is ambiguous, and described in story only as beyond the borders of the world. Several hints though such as Galdera's power over life and death, the shades of deceased bosses, the ghosts of Kit's parents showing up, and the title of the local Tome of Eldritch Lore indicate it's the afterlife of Orsterra.
260	* Tartarus in ''VideoGame/{{Persona 3}}'' is a borderline example; it's not an actual ''portal'' (more of a [[EvilTowerOfOminousness giant tower]]), but fulfills all the other traits of the trope by being a spawning and nesting ground for the [[DemonicInvaders Shadows]].
261	* ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'': Gengar is one in its Gigantamax form. When it Gigantamaxes, according to Pokémon Sword's Pokédex entry, it's rumored that Gigantamax Gengar's gaping maw leads directly to the afterlife.
262	%%* The World Gate in ''VideoGame/QuestForGloryIII''.%%Zero-context example.
263	* In ''VideoGame/RealmGrinder'', The Hell Portal is the most expensive building available to Evil, opening where a cave entrance would normally be. The Demon faction uses an enhanced version, affected by their Hellfire. They eventually declare an invasion and transform it into an Infernal Realm, opening the possibility of shorter but stronger Hellfire Blasts.
264	* ''VideoGame/RuneScape'':
265	** The Pest Control minigame has a team of players cooperate to destroy interdimensional portals that are vomiting out deadly alien invaders.
266	** The Zamorakian Undercity has the player briefly enter [[PlanetHeck Infernus]] through a portal within the cathedral at the end of the city. It's the only way to reach Zamorak, who has entrenched himself in the Wilderness Crater behind [[DeflectorShields an impenetrable shield]]; there's a second portal in Infernus leading straight into the crater, and [[TheLegionsOfHell the demons under Zamorak's command]] are using it to [[HellOnEarth invade Gielinor]].
267	* ''VideoGame/SaintsRowGatOutOfHell'': You get to Hell by summoning a fiery red portal in the air, and then jumping into it.
268	* In ''VideoGame/ShadowsOfTheDamned'', Garcia Hotspur and Johnson need to get into the [[{{Hell}} City of the Damned]] to rescue his girlfriend who was kidnapped by [[{{Satan}} Fleming]]. The entrance to the City is located just beyond the horizon (Garcia having procured this information on the internet), manifesting as a large set of doors with various locks and chains hanging off them and a pair of horse-head statues standing guard on both sides.
269	* ''VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiStrangeJourney'' has an entire NegativeSpaceWedgie, the [[DarkWorld Schwartzwelt]], open up in Antarctica. Inside, it's a maze of intertwining dimensions and horrors beyond time, releasing demons outside the field and into the mortal world. And the place is ''[[OhCrap growing]]''...
270	%%** Later boss Orcus is ''literally'' a Hell Gate.
271	* ''VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiII'' has the idiotic MadScientist Harada trying to create one of these to gain a limitless source of demonic servants. He screws the process by not using the correct items [[EvilIsNotAToy and is swiftly killed for his trouble]]. Later, TheHero repeats the procedure with the proper corrections and successfully establishes a link between Earth and the higher dimensions.
272	%%* In a sense, Exor the giant sword in ''VideoGame/SuperMarioRPG''.
273	* The plot of ''Star Trek Deep Space Nine: The Fallen'' revolves around Sisko, Kira and Worf trying to stop an ArtifactOfDoom capable of opening a human sized stable wormhole to the Bajor Fire Caves and releasing the Pah Wraiths from falling into the wrong hands.
274	* The portals left behind by Monoculus in ''VideoGame/TeamFortress2'' take the player to a ghostly Loot Island, the underworld section of the Halloween event map Eyeaduct.
275	* ''Franchise/TouhouProject'' has so many of these, it seems like people almost trip over them on the way to the store. Residents of one dimension of the {{Multiverse}} or another seemed to invade Gensokyo on an almost annual basis. It doesn't help that Yukari Yakumo can create portals to any dimension she wants at her whim.
276	* The Dark Portal in the ''VideoGame/{{Warcraft}}'' series was forcibly bored between Azeroth and Draenor, but since then it proved nigh-impossible to close (physical structure of the portal can destroyed as it's just a stone structure, destroying the rift connecting the worlds is another story), and also paved the way for the Burning Legion (and others) to eventually enter Azeroth.
277	** Other, more literal examples exist, one of the most significant being the one created by the Highborne during the War of Ancients using the Well of Eternity. While it never got strong enough to summon [[GodOfEvil Sargeras]] (because it destroyed before that was made possible), it did summon a whole lot of other demons.
278	[[/folder]]
279
280	[[folder:Webcomics]]
281	* In ''Webcomic/DeviantUniverse'', Anarchy uses one to try and bring Omega back to Earth.
282	* In ''Webcomic/{{Drowtales}}'', nether summoning revolves around opening gates to other dimensions made of the energy known as {{Mana}}. These gates are incorporeal, only functioning as portals for mana and not physical objects. {{Pure Magic Being}}s known as [[OurDemonsAreDifferent nether demons]] live in many of the dimensions on the other side. Most demons are extremely dangerous to fae, being driven to feed on their LifeEnergy, even consuming them completely via DemonicPossession.
283	* A portal to hell briefly opened up in ''Webcomic/ScaryGoRound'''s [[AdventureTowns Tackleford]], and was only shut down by some [[http://www.scarygoround.com/index.php?date=20070705 quick legal beagling]] on the part of Shelley. At a cost.
284	* In ''Webcomic/SluggyFreelance'', an alternative Riff's Dimensional Flux Agitator left a pinhole between the Dimension of Pain and the "Dimension of Lame", eventually allowing the demons from the former to invade the latter. There was also a similar pinhole between the main world and the Dimension of Sham-Pain, but the Dimension of Sham-Pain was such a silly alternative version of the Dimension of Pain that never amounted to anything much, particularly when those demons couldn't enter the pinhole.
285	** In Torg's comic ''Gunman Stan [=McKurt=] vs. The Gates of the City of the Damned'', the apparent antagonist wants to open the titular gates, "the very gates of Hell itself," and Stan [=McKurt=] means to stop her. In the end she dies without a chance to explain herself, but those who can read (which does not include [=McKurt=]) find out that she only wanted to open the gates because [[spoiler: [[TomatoSurprise they all are in the City of the Damned]] at the moment, [[InvertedTrope so it would mean getting out]].]]
286	* In ''Webcomic/SundaeComics'', a couple touring a house for sale discovers that it has [[https://sundaecomics.com/2021/09/26/cash-offers-only/ one rather unusual feature]].
287	[[/folder]]
288
289	[[folder:Web Original]]
290	* ''Literature/TheSalvationWar'' does this literally, with portals crossing dimensions as the only way for anyone to move between Heaven, Earth, or Hell. This means that the only way for either side in the massive three way war to attack any of the others is through the portal, but a portal big enough to move an army through is impossible to close. This really fucks the daemons over when [[spoiler:the humans capture the Hellgate in Iraq]]. Smaller portals are commonly used for rescues or surgical strikes.
291	* At [[SuperheroSchool Whateley Academy]] in the Literature/WhateleyUniverse, there's a hellgate in the school sewers. Some genius thought it would be a great place to dump all the school sewage into. Stuff ''leaks'' in around the edges of the seal. Bad stuff. Also, the Whateley Academy sits right next to [[LovecraftCountry Arkham, Massachusetts]], right by the Arkham Research Coalition, where they dump the people and ''things'' that are too hard to kill, but too dangerous to leave alive. ARC rests ''right above the pillars of N'Kai''. This is a little like putting a dangerous nuclear reactor safely next to the ''sun''.
292	%%* The Website/SCPFoundation has a few of these.
293	[[/folder]]
294
295	[[folder:Western Animation]]
296	* The fourth season finale of ''WesternAnimation/TheAdventuresOfPussInBoots'' has an AncientEvil summoned by opening a portal to the Netherworld. Although the Bloodwolf is defeated, season five reveals that said portal remains open and infernal beasts continue to come out of it.
297	* In ''WesternAnimation/TheCupheadShow'' Inkwell Hell has a [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ayl3K8E2_q8 huge stop motion animated gate that plays DiesIrae when opened.]]
298	* The ghost zone portal in ''WesternAnimation/DannyPhantom''.
299	* Happens quite a few times on ''WesternAnimation/TheGrimAdventuresOfBillyAndMandy''. The most notable is in the HalloweenSpecial when Jack o Lantern uses Grim's scythe to open a rip to allow spirits to come forth and take pumpkins for bodies.
300	* Referenced in the ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' episode "It's About Time", when [[HellHound Cerberus]] ends up in Ponyville after wandering away from his post guarding the entrance to Tartarus. Amusingly, Twilight Sparkle's trip to return Cerberus to Tartarus only takes a single day -- and is so uneventful that it happens entirely off-screen. However, this [[CerebusRetcon becomes a plot point later]] when it's revealed that [[SatanicArchetype Lord Tirek]] escaped from [[SealedEvilInACan his prison in Tartarus]] during this time.
301	* ''WesternAnimation/TheSmurfs1981'': The Season 2 special "The Smurfs Christmas Special" has an evil lord attempt to use one to allow him to take two children he kidnapped (along with Gargamel and Azrael) on "The Final Journey," presumably another dimension, where he planned to do who knows what to his captives (and force Gargamel to watch) before killing them all. He first builds a wall of fire before beginning to summon more of his powers to open the Hellgate ... but is eventually stopped.
302	* ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'' has BP (later called DP in the episode) [[DugTooDeep drilling too deep]] and creating a HellGate that unleashes various extradimensional nasties including Cthulhu.
303	* In the fourth season of ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans2003'', it turns out [[spoiler:Raven herself is one. The prophecy states that "The gem was born of evil's fire, the gem shall be his portal" and she is the gem.]]
304	[[/folder]]
305
306	[[folder:Real Life]]
307	* The "Seven Gates to Hell" is an [[OlderThanTheyThink old legend]] in RealLife occultism. Among the places nominated for the list is Patrick's Pit in Ireland; Mount Hekla in Iceland; an otherwise-unnamed valley in Italy; a town or place called Chorazin, listed under Literature above; the Vale of Hinnom just outside of Jerusalem, [[TakeThat the entire city of Newark, New Jersey]] and an old Evangelical Church cemetery in [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stull,_Kansas Stull, Kansas]].
308	* [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darvaza Darvaza]] has a 250 foot wide sink hole above a natural gas deposit that was set on fire so the methane wouldn't cause harm, and has appropriately gained the name "The Door to Hell".
309	* [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avernus Avernus]], a crater lake near Cumae, Italy, was believed to be the gateway to the Underworld by the Romans, mainly because the toxic fumes that arose from the lake would cause birds to fall dead around it.
310	* The infamous [[http://www.snopes.com/religion/wellhell.asp "Well to Hell"]] hoax had some people believing that a hell gate had been inadvertently created by a (real) drilling project in Siberia.
311	* [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centralia,_Pennsylvania Centralia, Pennsylvania]] is directly above an inextinguishable coal fire that has been burning for over 50 years with enough coal to keep burning for centuries into the future. As the ruins of the city crumble, the ground gives way to the smoke and fires below. As David [=DeKok=] wrote for the University of Pennsylvania:
312	--> "This was a world where no human could live, hotter than the planet Mercury, its atmosphere as poisonous as Saturn's. At the heart of the fire, temperatures easily exceeded 1,000 degrees Fahrenheit. Lethal clouds of carbon monoxide and other gases swirled through the rock chambers."
313	* As mentioned above, New York actually has a Hell Gate. It isn't Newark, however, and it's not harmful or scary at all. It's a just a branch of the East River between Astoria in Queens and Randall's and Wards Islands, and takes its name from the Dutch phrase ''Hellegat'', a common toponym for "bright strait" or "clear opening", later anglicized into "Hell Gate", which stuck due to its hazards of large rocks and unpredictable currents. It has an eponymous bridge going over it, which also isn't scary, just frustrating due to heavy traffic, which isn't even possible due to the fact that is only a railway bridge. So the name means nothing because isn't even mildly scary at all. Still, a bridge going over a literal portal to hell would be quite interesting.
314	* The large monastery of [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/El_Escorial El Escorial]], close to UsefulNotes/{{Madrid}}, UsefulNotes/{{Spain}}, was built over an iron mine that legend says it is a [[https://www.madsnailtravel.com/blog/a-door-to-hell gate to Hell]]. Ironically enough, there's a bus line numbered [[https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/File:Bus_Line_666_Madrid.jpg 666]] that has one of its terminals close to it.
315	[[/folder]]
316

Context Main / HellGate