History Main / AHellOfATime

* Fred the Crab and Sam the Clam, who are friends, both die. Fred, who was virtuous, gets sent to Heaven; Sam gets sent to Hell. Fred gets issued a harp, which he's very good at playing with all his little legs. But eventually he gets lonely and wants to see Sam again, so he asks God if he can go visit Hell. God says yes, but he has to be back by midnight. Fred goes to Hell and finds out that Sam has a swinging nightclub. Fred plays the harp with them and they have such a good time that he almost loses track of time, and when he looks at the clock it's a quarter to midnight. He rushes back to Heaven and gets there right at midnight. "Wow, you just barely made it," says God. But then Fred says, "I have to go back! I left my harp in Sam Clam's disco!"

* In the [[FurryFandom Furry]] original story ''Bartleby Tales'' (Definitely {{NSFW}}), Hell was originally created as a prison for the worst scum of existence, but when [[GodIsEvil God turned evil]] and started tossing anyone and anything that wasn't your stereotypical HolierThanThou asshat (including the non TalkingAnimal critters for not being able to worship Him and ''His own Son Jesus Christ for preaching the exact opposite of what He intended''), the devil decided to use a loophole in his contract to "punish the wicked" by separating Hell into Dante-esque circles of descending moral decay; while the bottom levels are still kept as a prison for the evilest of entities, the top two circles (where most people go when they die) are as close to what Heaven ''should'' be like ((though not quite; the second level, where the series is set in, is essentially a FetishFuel-personified [[TheThemeParkVersion Theme Park Version]] of normal life). Also, you ''can'' get yourself moved up a level for good behavior, so not everyone stays in one circle forever. More works by this author can be found [[http://www.furaffinity.net/view/1511412/ here.]][[hottip:* :Registration required to view Adult-rated content.]]

Also often combined with RockMeAsmodeus and TheDeadCanDance. Joining the fun may be the motivation for the HellSeeker.

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* ''RurouniKenshin'': No madman in his right mind is going to mistake [[spoiler:where Shishio ended up]] for a holiday resort but he doesn't seem to mind terribly. In fact, if his words are anything to go by, he plans to have the trope name by overthrowing ''the Devil''...

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* There is a ''Daily Breeze'' review of the SexPistols' 1997 "Filthy Lucre" tour stop in Los Angeles, written in the voice of Sid Vicious. Vicious mentions how he's glad to be in Hell, where they get all the good music.

* A man gets to hell and finds it to be a huge night-club where everybody has great time for all eternity. While exploring around he stumbles upon an inconspicuous door behind which he sees the more "conventional" hellscape: fire, brimstone and horrible tortures. He asks a passing-by demon what it's there for. The demon says: "Oh, it's for the religious folk - they prefer it that way for some reason."

[[AC:{{Comics}}]]
* Résurrection, the Hell of Franco-Belgian comic RequiemChevalierVampire, is a bizarre inversion of the Earth where the oceans and continents exchange place, time flows backwards and people are resurrected as various fantasy monsters like vampires, werewolves, ghouls etc. Most importantly however, the world is completely unjust; the more evil you were in life the better you are rewarded in hell, so the people who commited the worst evils are resurrected as vampires and form the top clique in the world's demonic society, while petty criminals are resurrected as zombies that languish at the bottom as either slaves to the vampires or scavengers out in the vast plains where people first enter hell.

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* In ''ParadiseLost'', the capital of Hell (Pandemonium) is portrayed as a somewhat glorious place - far more beautiful than anywhere on earth, but rather small for countless of millions of gigantic fallen angels. Thankfully they can change their size at will.

* The Hell in the novels of Edward Lee is one of the "only a nice place to the evil" sorts. The Mephistopolis, as they call it, is a big {{Dystopia}}n city with a government and economic classes. A Satanist, Nazi, mass murderer, fallen angel, tyrant, serial rapist, etc. has a much better chance of getting into Hell's privileged upper class than a suicide or a drug dealer.

* In the third act of Shaw's ''Man and Superman'', referred to as ''Don Juan in Hell'' when performed separately, Do?na finds Don Juan and the Devil discussing philosophy, and is horrified that her guardian, the Commendatore killed by Don Juan, is present as well. He has quit heaven due to boredom and moved downstairs.

* The entire "HeroesInHell" shared universe book series. Everybody who was anybody ends up in hell. Each person is dealing with their own personal level of torment or contentment. Julius Caesar is in hell, but his attitude is 'It's just afterlife, and not a bad one".

* In the novel JitterbugPerfume, the afterlife is briefly explored by one character. Most people seem to just get shuttled off on some boats to have their souls reincarnated/"return to the source" or something. But those who pass the test (heart lighter than a feather) are sent to the eternal party boat full of philosophers, artists, interesting people, etc. One side of the boat has the word "Heaven" painted on it, the otherside says "Hell"; it's all a matter of perspective I guess (some people would see lingering around forever instead of "moving on" as a punishment I guess?)
* In the French play Aucassin and Nicolette (said to date back to the 1200s!), Aucassin basically says that he'd rather to go to Hell (with Nicolette) than to Heaven, because in Hell reside "the fine churchmen, and the fine knights, killed in the tourney or in some grand war, the brave soldiers and the gallant gentlemen".

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* Toyed with in the first series of ''{{Black Adder}}''. After being appointed Archbishop of Canterbury, Edmund is charged with ensuring a nobleman leaves his lands to the crown instead of the church. He does this by explaining that Heaven is for people who like praising God and watering pot plants, while Hell is for pillage, adultery, and so on. Judging from the man's reaction just before dying, this is probably not true.

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** Also, Daedra seem to be the resident equivalent of demons, therefore making the realms of Oblivion the equivalent of Hell. Sure, Dagon's plane isn't all that great, but, say, hanging around Sheogorath's realm of Oblivion is quite fun, making this a straight example. Somewhat.

[[AC:WebComics]]
* In HappyButDead, Colin, Gear and Tito all die, and Colin and Gear go to Hell (Tito goes to Heaven because "DumbIsGood"). However, Gear and Colin soon discover that Hell isn't so bad. It's actually just like their home on Earth, except they now have healthcare and there are free hotubs (technically lava pits) everywhere.

** The MMORPG ''KingdomOfLoathing'' has what is, given the humor, probably a ShoutOut in the form of HeyDeze (There is a typical "arcane" gate which is its own area, and a "Waffle Haus" which leads [[SelfImposedChallenge Bad Moon]] adventurers there.)

[[AC:WebOriginal]]
* In the [[FurryFandom Furry]] original story ''BartlebyTales'' (Definitely {{NSFW}}), Hell was originally created as a prison for the worst scum of existence, but when [[GodIsEvil God turned evil]] and started tossing anyone and anything that wasn't your stereotypical HolierThanThou asshat (including the non TalkingAnimal critters for not being able to worship Him and ''His own Son Jesus Christ for preaching the exact opposite of what He intended''), the devil decided to use a loophole in his contract to "punish the wicked" by separating Hell into Dante-esque circles of descending moral decay; while the bottom levels are still kept as a prison for the evilest of entities, the top two circles (where most people go when they die) are as close to what Heaven ''should'' be like ((though not quite; the second level, where the series is set in, is essentially a FetishFuel-personified [[TheThemeParkVersion Theme Park Version]] of normal life). Also, you ''can'' get yourself moved up a level for good behavior, so not everyone stays in one circle forever. More works by this author can be found [[http://www.furaffinity.net/view/1511412/ here.]][[hottip:* :Registration required to view Adult-rated content.]]

[[AC:WesternAnimation]]
* A episode of ''TheSimpsons'' has Bart experiencing a vision of Hell after being hit by a car. This version is directly inspired by the paintings of Hieronymus Bosch, but Satan seems like a fairly affable guy who takes an immediate liking to Bart, though he reminds him to "lie, cheat and steal" as he sends him back to Earth.

** ''Treehouse of Horror IV'' features Ned Flanders as {{Satan}} (explaining "Always the one you least suspect") who manages to get Homer to sell him his soul for a doughnut. Though Homer is able to wrangle out of this before an infernal court trial he still is consigned to hell for a day. Hell is played dead straight as a place of suffering and torment, but an attempt at IronicHell backfires as Homer is fed all the doughnuts in the world in an attempt to drive him mad; it fails and Homer just keeps asking for more.

** This was lampshaded in the show itself. When Saddam Hussein proves to be too much of a hassle for the Devil, what does he do? [[CoolAndUnusualPunishment Gets God to send him to Heaven]].

* ''TheBaskervilles'' takes place in 'Underworld: The Theme Park' and is run by a man who ''thinks'' he's the Devil. Both shows also are named after and star a character(s) who [[TooSpicyForYogSothoth are too upbeat to let Hell bring them down]].

-->Go to Heaven for the climate, Hell for the company.

* ''OldHarrysGame'' is set in Hell - and while the descriptions of individual punishments sound unpleasant (The Devil's BumblingSidekick is ordered to literally eat himself for instance) they don't seem to actually bother the protagonists much, or last long. The unhappiest person actually appears to be Satan himself, a miserable, self loathing prison warden who can never escape his job and only painfully remember his days as an angel.

* In HappyButDead, Colin, Gear and Tito all die, and Colin and Gear go to Hell (Tito goes to Heaven because "DumbIsGood"). However, Gear and Colin soon discover that Hell isn't so bad. It's actually just like their home on Earth, except they now have healthcare and there are free hottubs (technically lava pits) everywhere.

** ''TheBaskervilles'' has almost ''the exact same set-up'', except it takes place in 'Underworld: The Theme Park' and is run by a man who ''thinks'' he's the Devil. Both shows also are named after and star a character(s) who [[TooSpicyForYogSothoth are too upbeat to let Hell bring them down]].

[[SouthPark http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/southparkhell.jpg]]

-->Listen, how many musicians do you think your side have got, eh? First grade I mean... Two, Elgar and Liszt. That's all. We've got the rest. Beethoven, Brahms, all the Bachs, Mozart, the lot. Can you imagine eternity with Elgar?
-->-- '''Crowley''' (a demon) to Aziraphale (an angel), ''GoodOmens''

* ''OldHarrysGame'' is set in Hell - and while the descriptions of individual punishments sound unpleasant (The {{Baldrick}} to The Devil is ordered to literally eat himself for instance) they don't seem to actually bother the protagonists much, or last long. The unhappiest person actually appears to be Satan himself, a miserable, self loathing prison warden who can never escape his job and only painfully remember his days as an angel.

* The ''{{Discworld}}'' book ''Eric'' features the Disc's version of Hell and the description of how it used to be before the book's BigBad took charge doesn't sound that bad - people did get [[ColdBloodedTorture tortured]], but since they didn't have physical bodies this wasn't a problem and the demons were quite friendly. But the new management has switched to ''psychological'' torture by [[CoolAndUnusualPunishment boring the souls of the damned out of their minds]].

* In Ted Chiang's short story "Hell is the Absence of God" Hell is exactly like Earth except God is absent. His absence is immediately noticable because God and His Angels frequently make random appearances on Earth that are accompanied by destructive weather patterns. The only people this bothers are the really religious, who often find themselves in Hell because God Is Evil. Or, at the very least, God is insanely Chaotic Neutral and kills, heals, saves, and damns people for totally random and arbitrary reasons throughout the course of the story.

* Used in ''GoodOmens'', where an angel and a demon discuss who gets the better entertainment (Hell wins, as all Heaven has is Elgar and The Sound Of Music for all eternity).
** ''Overall'', however, Hell is said to be extremely unpleasant. The ''real'' point of the argument is that the Earth, possessing the best of both worlds, should be saved.
* In ''ParadiseLost'', the capital of Hell (Pandemonium) is portrayed as a somewhat glorious place - far more beautiful than anywhere on earth, but rather small.
** Not exactly small, but small for countless of millions of gigantic fallen angels. Thankfully they can change their size at will.

Not exactly fun, but more "annoying" than "eternal damnation."

This is a great way to retort proselytizers and religious zealots preaching damnation. [[CrowningMomentOfFunny Their reactions are priceless]].

* IronMaiden would like to remind you that "Hell ain't a bad place; Hell is From Here To Eternity".
** But they also told us of "the evil face that twists my mind and brings me to despair". Maybe it's only not a bad place for girls like Charlotte.

* In Jacques Offenbach's operetta ''Orphee aux Enfers'' (Orpheus in the Underworld), the gods hold a massive party in Hell.
** Err..buddy, we don't talk of the same kind of hell here. In ancient GreekMythology, ''hell'' is practically a portmanteau synonym of afterlife.

* One ''SaturdayMorningBreakfastCereal'' strip featured a man being presented with a banana split by a giant demon. When the man comments that it doesn't have enough whipped topping, the demon shouts, "That's because you're in Hell!" The comment notes that because demons are mostly fallen angels, they're not very good at torturing people.
** And then, as SMBC does, it goes [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=301 one step further.]]

* Hell is completely inconsistent in ''SouthPark''. Sometimes it'll be a place of suffering and torment, and sometimes we'll drop in on Satan throwing a luau of the damned and people having a decent time. What is somewhat consistent (or at least given the occasional ContinuityNod), though, is that it contains everyone who isn't a Mormon.
** But from what they've shown, Heaven seems like a pretty boring and annoying place filled with stereotypical Mormons. I'd rather go to Hell in that universe.

** Which is exactly why they ended up [[CoolAndUnusualPunishment sending Saddam Hussein there]].

Also often combined with RockMeAsmodeus and TheDeadCanDance.

!!Examples

* In ''{{Overlord}}: Raising Hell'', the Heaven's Peak Abyss is this for the women, as part of its being an IronicHell for Sir William and the men. As well, although the Mellow Hills Abyss is ''intended'' to be torture for the human peasants since it's only an IronicHell for Melvin and his Halfings, some of them see being chained to a wall forever in a FireAndBrimstoneHell as an improvement over toiling as your slaves for the rest of their lives -- as one puts it, "In the warm, a bit of a stretch, giant exploding halfling to watch. What more could a man want?"

* Résurrection, the Hell of Franco-Belgian comic RequiemChevalierVampire, is a bizzare inversion of the Earth where the oceans and continents exchange place, time flows backwards and people are resurrected as various fantasy monsters like vampires, werewolves, ghouls etc. Most importantly however, the world is completely unjust; the more evil you were in life the better you are rewarded in hell, so the people who commited the worst evils are resurrected as vampires and form the top clique in the world's demonic society, while petty criminals are resurrected as zombies that languish at the bottom as either slaves to the vampires or scavengers out in the vast plains where people first enter hell.

* The [[http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/Venom Venom]] song "To Hell and Back" depicts a rollicking party full of breeding mutants, dancing zombies, Satanic queens and so forth. By metalhead standards, it sounds pretty cool. (A similar song by the same band begs "Leave Me in Hell"; granted, that narrator's daddy "rules hell's domain," so it's a good bet he's got a privilaged perspective on the place.)

** But they also told us of "the evil face that twists my mind and brings me to despair". Maybe its only not a bad place for girls like Charlotte.

* The Afro-American folktale character Stagger Lee aka Stag O' Lee, [[IHaveManyNames you get the idea]] is a living MemeticBadass BeyondtheImpossible GodModeSue that makes Chuck Norris seem ho-hum even on his ''best'' day as he simply decides as a child not to be a slave in Pre-Civil War America and [[WalkingtheEarth walks the earth,]] carrying only a deck of cards (to win money,) a guitar (to seduce WHITE women) and a gun (to kill men, especially White men) as he [[BeyondtheImpossible literally gets away with murder, marries his victim's wife, can't be killed by hanging and shoots at the Grim Reaper to live into the 20th Century,]] forcing God to step in and smite him with a bolt of lightning. Stag's response: go up to FluffyCloudHeaven, break up God's card game, declares the place sucks (only White people and Uncle Toms) and deliberately goes to Hell where he [[RuleofCool turns it into a nightclub while the Devil is too scared/sad to do anything about it.]]

* In ''ParadiseLost'', the capital of Hell (Pand?nium) is portrayed as a somewhat glorious place - far more beautiful than anywhere on earth, but rather small.

-->''Listen, how many musicians do you think your side have got, eh? First grade I mean... Two, Elgar and Liszt. That's all. We've got the rest. Beethoven, Brahms, all the Bachs, Mozart, the lot. Can you imagine eternity with Elgar?''
-->-- Crowley (a demon) to Aziraphale (an angel), ''GoodOmens''

-->''Go to Heaven for the climate, Hell for the company.''
-->--MarkTwain.

* [[{{U2}} U2's]]"The Fly" features a narrator who calls his lover from hell. The twist is he kind of likes it there.

* [[U2 U2's] "The Fly" features a narrator who calls his lover from hell. The twist is he kind of likes it there.

* On ''{{Jimmy Two-Shoes}}'', Miseryville is heavily implied to be Hell. It was even more blatant in the original pitch. Despite this, even though it's run by a man determined to make everyone miserable, it looks pretty tolerable. Probably because said man is [[HarmlessVillain incredibly imcompatent]].

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* In the infamous ''TwilightZone episode'' "A Nice Place To Visit", this trope is actually use as a punishment.