A Hellgate is a connection -- doorway, [[TeleportersAndTransporters portal]], [[AnotherDimension interdimensional weak spot]], [[OurWormholesAreDifferent Wormhole]], NegativeSpaceWedgie, whatever -- between the normal world and someplace ''bad''. Whether it explicitly links to [[FireAndBrimstoneHell Hell]] or just to AnotherDimension, the primary plot function of the Hellgate to allow [[TheLegionsOfHell legions of]] [[DemonicInvaders scary, evil]] [[CosmicHorror weirdness]] to [[AlienInvasion invade]] our world.

A Hellgate can be a permanent fixture of the setting, in which case it will function as a MagneticPlotDevice, putting the "adventure" in AdventureTown and providing [[MonsterOfTheWeek a new monster for the protagonists to fight every week]].

Other times, the Hellgate itself is the driving force of the plot (or maybe just a {{MacGuffin}}): 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.

Compare with PortalNetwork.
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!!Examples

[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder: Anime ]]

*The tunnel to Makai/the demon world in YuYuHakusho.
*Crops up at one point early on in {{Bleach}}. Ichigo purges a Hollow but because his 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 [[CompleteMonster Kurotsuchi]] [[MadScientist Mayuri]]) a {{Hellgate}} opens up and pulls him in.
** It's implied that the souls that go to Soul Society are good at first, but it's definitely not Heaven and indeed more like a second life. So just because Aizen is bad now doesn't mean he always was.

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[[folder: Comicbooks ]]

*In the DCUniverse, Themyscira has a door to the underworld. It's one of the Amazons' chores to guard it. Their rate of success has had its ups and downs.

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Fan Fiction ]]

*''[[http://bbs.stardestroyer.net/viewtopic.php?t=118771 Armageddon]]'' does this literally, with portals crossing dimensions are 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.

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Film ]]

*In ''{{Hellboy}}'', Rasputin teams up with [[StupidJetpackHitler 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.
*The penthouse apartment of the LoveInterest in ''{{Ghostbusters}}''.
*LucioFulci did three films that deal with the concept of "The Seven Gates of Hell": City of the Living Dead/The Gates of Hell, The Beyond/Seven Doors of Death, and House By the Cemetery. 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.

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Literature ]]

*The Dark One's prison in Wheel of Time seems to be located around Shayol Ghul. More accurately, it is all over the world (hence the ''cuellindar'' seals being found everywhere), but it is ''weakest'' around Shayol Ghul, creating the Blight.
*The gate of the old gods in ''Gil's All Fright Diner''.
* In Eve Forward's ''VillainsByNecessity'', the goal of the main characters is to open one of these [[spoiler: in order to ''save'' the world.]]
* In ''{{Discworld}}'', the overuse of sourcery attracts the Things from the Dungeon Dimensions, and eventually tears open a portal to said Dimensions.

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Live Action TV ]]

*The Hellmouth in ''BuffyTheVampireSlayer.''
*The Cardiff Rift in ''{{Torchwood}}''.
*The anomalies in ''{{Primeval}}''.
*The Thirdspace gate from BabylonFive.
* The Devil's Gate in the second season of ''{{Supernatural}}''.

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Table Top Games ]]

* In ''{{Warhammer 40000}}'', the Eye of Terror is the largest (though there are others, such as the Maelstrom) [[HyperspaceIsAScaryPlace Warp]]-realspace overlay. It's a light-years wide NegativeSpaceWedgie through which TheLegionsOfHell periodically attempt to destroy the galaxy.
** And it may be the largest in fiction. Based on the apparant size in the "Galactic Maps" shown in earlier versions of 40k, the Eye of Terror is a few THOUSAND light years wide.
* The entire game of Rifts is built around countless eponymous gates upening 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.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Video Games ]]

*The Hellgates in ''DevilMayCry''.
*The Dark Portal in the ''WarCraft'' series was forcibly bored between Azeroth and Draenor, but since then it proved nigh-impossible to close, and also paved the way for the Burning Legion (and others) to eventually enter Azeroth.
*Apparently, whatever horrors were committed in the temple of the Zakarum under Kurast in ''{{Diablo}} II'' 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 were littered with portals to Hell. These 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, cosmogically speaking, a very important location.
* In the original ''{{Diablo}}'', reality is warped the deeper you go, until you actually enter Hell.
*The video game ''Hellgate: London'' is about, well, [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin hellgates in London]].
*The gates to Oblivion in, er, ''The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion''.
** Subverted in the ''Shivering Isles'' expansion, where a gate opens to said location but nothing comes out of it. The gate's purpose instead is to attract an adventurer capable of assisting the Daedric Prince Sheogorath defend his realm.
*The teleporters from ''{{Doom}}''.
*The chaos gate, the final destination of most players in the {{Roguelike}} ''Ancient Domains of Mystery''.
*The chaos gate in ''MegamanBattleNetwork 5''. It's a BonusDungeon, but ''you'' have the option of opening it. This act floods the Internet with evil and powers up the viruses.
*In a sense, Exor the giant sword in ''[[SuperMarioBros Super Mario RPG]]''.
* The Hall of Transference, which leads into Promyvion in ''FinalFantasyXI''.
* Tartarus in ''{{Persona 3}}'' is a borderline example; it's not an actual ''portal'' (more of a [[EvilTowerOfOminousness giant tower]]), but fulfils all the other traits of the trope by being a spawning and nesting ground for the [[DemonicInvaders Shadows]].
* The ''FatalFrame'' series is based around ritual sacrifices designed to keep a number of these closed.
* ''[[NinjaGaiden Ninja Gaiden II]]'' on the Xbox 360 has a Hellgate at the peak of Mt. Fuji.
* ''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.
** 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".
** 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.
* LaPucelle features portals into the Dark World as the randomly generated [[BonusDungeon Bonus Dungeons]].
** Arguably the Dimensional Gates in Disgaea. Although most of the gates go to other areas of the Netherworld some [[spoiler: do open on Earth.]]
* Big Whoop from the ''MonkeyIsland'' series.
* An [[InvertedTrope Inversion]], sort of, in ''{{Metroid}} Prime 2: Echoes''. 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.
* ''{{Mass Effect}}'': The characters are actually pretty GenreSavvy 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. [[spoiler: They are correct.]]
** In fact this starts the Frist Contact War, humans were just opening mass relays wendever they found one which brought the tuirian attention
* The portals in ''{{HalfLife}}'' behave exactly like this, allowing the Combine to come through and enslave Earth.



[[/folder]]

[[folder: Webcomics ]]

* A portal to hell briefly opened up in ''ScaryGoRound'''s [[AdventureTown 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.
* In ''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.
** 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]].]]

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Western Animation ]]

*The ghost zone portal in ''DannyPhantom''.
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