Basic Trope: A person can be rescued from Hell and brought to Heaven.
- Straight: Bob goes to Hell. Alice and Charlie pray for him, so after a while he is released and brought to Heaven.
- Exaggerated:
- Bob was in the deepest circle of Hell but the prayers of Alice and Charlie raise him to the highest sky of Heaven.
- Everyone gets saved that way.
- Downplayed:
- Bob was far down below in Hell, but thanks to the prayers of Alice and Charlie he is raised to an outer circle where life is easier.
- Right after Bob dies, he has a hard time during Judgment Of The Dead and is in danger of getting damned. The prayers of Alice and Charlie make it easier for him, and he goes to Heaven.
- Justified:
- Bob has a Hidden Heart of Gold.
- Bob was genuinely misguided and Obliviously Evil in life. In the afterlife, he gets a Heel Realisation.
- Bob was actually planning to get better but had a Heel–Face Door-Slam.
- Subverted:
- Bob feels he is leaving the tortures and ascending somewhere, but it turns out it's just another kind of torture in the form of false hope.
- Alice and Charlie pray for Bob every day, but his sins were so grave he stays in Hell.
- Double Subverted:
- Then it's revealed Bob has lost hope completely and doesn't believe he is being rescued. As his Guardian Angel comes down to help him and they leave Hell for good, he realises he is indeed saved.
- Then at the Second Coming of Christ, they see Bob among the blessed, and he thanks them for their prayers. He is among those pardoned at the last moment, despite his sins.
- Averted: Judgment Of The Dead is final.
- Enforced:
- The author wants the readers to know that prayer for the departed works.
- The author wants to write something really bright and hopeful.
- Defied: Alice and Charlie hate Bob so much they decide not to pray for him.
- Discussed: "I think I’ll dedicate this charity to the memory of Bob. He was insufferable, sure, but a good friend to me. If he's having trouble in the afterlife, charitable deeds done in his name can help him."
- Conversed: "Oh, why did you have to show that awesome guy Bob suffering so much?.. He was way better for Alice than than bland Incorruptible Pure Pureness Charlie, too! And now Charlie's standing with a candle in church, as if he can get more sappy than he is... oh wait... isn't it Bob, rising to the heavens in the sea of golden light?!"
