Archived Discussion

This is discussion archived from a time before the current discussion method was installed.

Working Title: Ascend To A Higher Plane Of Non-Existence: From YKTTW

Puck: Some of the examples listed seem to be more of the "not to be" variety, which is a very different concept.

In fact, I would argue that the whole trope probably originated from believers in an eternal afterlife hearing the "not to be" theory of death, being unable to conceive of "nothing," and so assuming that there are people who think that the eternal afterlife consists of an eternity of blandness...

To clarify, I think there are two tropes here: "Eternal Featureless Afterlife" and "There Is No Afterlife" (a.k.a. "not to be").

Puck: The current Ros&Guil page quote is an excellent description of "Not To Be" - which is not this trope.

Lull The Conqueror: Does the afterlife in His Dark Materials count? It's not quite Nothing, but it's close. Or is there a trope already for that sort of afterlife?

Schrodingers Duck: I removed the following from the page:

Er, doesn't Ryuk just say all humans go to the same place? He doesn't say anything about WHAT that place is like.

It's all explained in the last volume/episode. I'd have explained the main article, but I don't much like Natter, especially spoilered Natter.

Blork: Why was the page quote moved into the examples (and not even to the example mentioning the episode in question)? Moved it back. Also, deleted this example, because Sibrant believed in literally nothing after death - the secrets they had discovered convinced him that all religions were false:

In Assassins Creed, the Templar Sibrant believes that there is nothing waiting for him after death, and this fact terrifies him so deeply that when he learns that the Assassins are coming for him, he begins executing random priests out of sheer blind paranioa because they wear vaguely similar robes to those of the Assassins.

alliterator: Removed this Paul Robinson quote because it pushed the article all the way down the page:

So maybe you need to rethink what you believe is going to happen to you at the end of your life here on earth.

The clock is running, sooner or later your time will run out. And it was Robert A Heinlein, again, who said about his own death, exactly what will happen next: Either you will know what happens after you die, or you will know nothing.

What am I saying here? If you will know nothing, that is, if you ‘die dead' - that when you die, the result is oblivion, that is, annihilation and subsequent nonexistence - then you don't need to concern yourself about what happens when you die. I used to think the thought was terrifying until I realized - or actually it was my sister who pointed it out to me - that it's exactly what it is, if the end result of your life is oblivion, that you'll never know that you don't exist. That's one of those kind of self-evident ideas that, until you think about it, is probably something you don't realize.

- From the preface to Paul Robinson's Instrument Of God

Makeshift Robot: Well, the Elysian Fields thing is bugging me. The Greeks thought that their heroes were acting like saints: distinguishing themselves by their excellence and giving their lives for others. Their debaucheries, etc. don't confirm to Christian morality, but the Greeks were just fine with that.

Blork: I'm not familiar with the story, but the Something Wicked This Way Comes example seems to be talking about the "Not to be", no afterlife version rather than this trope.

In my opinion, some examples listed (like HDM, Limbo, Hades and Hel) do not match this trope. Sure, it's a bleak existence, but the dead still exist, with consciousness and all.

Archived Discussion Main / TheNothingAfterDeath