History Main / AHellOfATime

* Al Bundy's hell in the ''Series/MarriedWithChildren'' episode "Damn Bundys" shows the devil (play by Robert Englund) punish him by giving him only Weenie Tots (his favorite food) to eat because it'll make him go to the bathroom for long periods of time (the reason ''why'' is his favorite food) and not allowing him to see his family ever again, so from his perspective, is heaven. However, once Satan figures this out, he quickly turns it on Al when the rest of the Bundy's, along with Marcy and Jefferson, also end up in Hell (the family died in a car crash after taking Al's body to the dump, and Marcy and Jefferson slipped and died while dancing on Al's grave). Satan subjects Al to a FateWorseThanDeath - eternity with his family pretty much exactly like their old life, with a few added infernal punishments (Peggy cant buy stuff from the Home Shopping channel because her hands have turned into hooves and she cant lift the phone, Kelly keeps scaring off all her boyfriends because her face turns into a monster, and Buds hands have become lobster claws and keep popping his sex dolls).

* DoubleSubverted in "Death Death (Devil, Devil, Devil, Devil, Evil, Evil, Evil, Evil Song)" by Music/{{Voltaire}}. After dying and going to hell, Voltaire finds that Satan and his wife are his biggest fans...and then Satan jabs him in the junk with a pitchfork. But then he says he was just kidding, welcomes Voltaire to hell, and tells him to "enjoy the buffet". ZigZagged with "Hell in a Handbasket", the eternal damnation and torture is still mentioned, but it's an upbeat song about how Voltaire would rather be in hell than in [[PlaceWorseThanDeath New Jersey]], and if simply not being a devout Christian is enough to get one sent to hell, surely everyone else who's fun to be around will also be there... And then at the end Voltaire reveals the real reason hell isn't a problem is because it doesn't exist in the first place except for those who choose to believe in it.

** Hell is completely inconsistent. 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(except for the occasional demon mauling). What is somewhat consistent (or at least given the occasional ContinuityNod), though, is that it contains everyone who isn't a Mormon. From what they've shown, Heaven seems like a pretty boring and annoying place filled with stereotypical Mormons. The reason could be that Satan in this show is a flippant and fickle ManChild, so Hell is probably oscillating between this and a "regular" Hell, depending on his whim. This is pretty much confirmed in an episode where Satan broke up with his boyfriend. He addresses the damned with his FireAndBrimstoneHell spiel but breaks off in the middle, saying that he is not in the mood.

* Played with in ''WebAnimation/HazbinHotel''. One on hand, Hell's denizens are seemingly allowed to do whatever they like, and [[PrincessClassic Princess]] [[AntiAntiChrist Charlie]] wants to redeem everyone. On the other hand, "whatever they like" usually means all kinds of mayhem, and the overpopulation is so bad that Heaven sends death squads once a year. In fact, it actually seems like the characters who are most miserable in hell are the ones who are good such as Charlie, who was born in Hell instead of being sent there.

* [[ComicStrip/TheFarSide You know,]] [[http://www.bardos.net/images/WhistlinginHell.jpg we're just not reaching that guy.]]

* Played with in ''WebAnimation/HazbinHotel''. One on hand, Hell's denizens are seemingly allowed to do whatever they like, and [[PrincessClassic Princess]] [[AntiAntiChrist Charlie]] wants to redeem everyone. On the other hand, "whatever they like" usually means all kinds of mayhem, and the overpopulation is so bad that Heaven sends death squads once a year.

Also often combined with RockMeAsmodeus and TheDeadCanDance. Joining the fun may be the motivation for the HellSeeker. HellOfAHeaven is the inverse, when Heaven isn't all it's cracked up to be. Usually a form of MundaneAfterlife. See also {{Unishment}} and TooKinkyToTorture.

[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
* In the ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' adventure ''[[TabletopGame/BaldursGateDescentIntoAvernus Descent into Avernus]]'', it's noted that the Nine Hells is less out to punish evil souls as much as it's out to exploit them. Sure, there are some souls suffering in various creative punishments, but most of them have done something to piss of an archdevil. Most souls are sent to whatever layer suits them the most, and put to work doing whatever they were good at in life to contribute to the [[ForeverWar Blood War]]. For instance, souls that were wrathful and prideful in life are sent to Avernus to serve on the front lines. Of course, all devils start out as Lemures, which is not particularly nice, but if you're lucky and good at your job, you might slowly ascend in the ranks from canon fodder, to foot soldiers, to commanders, and finally archdevils.
[[/folder]]

* In the ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' adventure ''Descent into Avernus'', it's noted that the Nine Hells is less out to punish evil souls as much as it's out to exploit them. Sure, there are some souls suffering in various creative punishments, but most of them have done something to piss of an archdevil. Most souls are sent to whatever layer suits them the most, and put to work doing whatever they were good at in life to contribute to the [[ForeverWar Blood War]]. For instance, souls that were wrathful and prideful in life are sent to Avernus to serve on the front lines. Of course, all devils start out as Lemures, which is not particularly nice, but if you're lucky and good at your job, you might slowly ascend in the ranks from canon fodder, to foot soldiers, to commanders, and finally archdevils.

** In another episode, a church carnival has a mirror that shows what you'd look like in Hell. When Lisa looks into it, she sees herself in ragged clothes being eaten at by flames. When [[CorruptCorporateExecutive Mr. Burns]] looks into it, he sees himself dressed as a king and eating Smithers' head like a candied apple. "[[CatchPhrase Excellent!]]"

** Of course, the story slowly shows the downsides of living in the demon world, when he befriends a demon that at first looks kind and calm, but [[spoiler: it's just a façade, he wants to bring demon society back to what it was and plans to blow up the entire school and kill all the demon students and teachers]], and not all the demon brutality is gone, anger and stress can still bring back their natural instincts, and the school still has torture classes.

** The plot slowly explains why the demon world looks so nice and peaceful, demons used to be barbaric creatures that preyed on humans as food and had a lot of internal fights between them, but they slowly became a more organized society and mundane entertainment like music, sports and videogames are making demons calmer.

** Of course, the show slowly shows the downsides of living in the demon world, when he befriends a demon that at first looks kind and calm, but [[spoiler: it's just a façade, he wants to bring demon society back to what it was and plans to blow up the entire school and kill all the demon students and teachers]], and not all the demon brutality is gone, anger and stress can still bring back their natural instincts, and the school still has torture classes.

** Of course, the show slowly shows the downsides of living in the demon world, when he befriends a demon that at first looks kind and calm, but [[spoiler: it's just a façade, he wants to bring demon society back to what it was and plans to blow up the entire school and kill all the demon students and teachers]], and not all the demon brutality is gone, anger and stress can still bring back their natural instincts.

* ''Manga/WelcomeToDemonSchoolIrumaKun'' has a variation, the main character Suzuki Iruma had a terrible life on Earth, with abusive parents always exploiting him, and one day, his parents sold him to a demon and he is taken alive to the underworld where demons live, the underworld is not hell in a sense where humans who die are sent there, it's just a world populated by demons and demonic animals and he is the only human, the demon who bought and adopted him turns out to be a nice guy who treats him well, gives him everything he wants and he gets to live in a mansion, he is allowed to eat all the food he wants, demon food looks scary and gross but he likes it, while in the human world he constantly starved, and when he has to go to school, he must keep the secret that he is human or else the other demons might eat him, at first he is scared, but he quickly likes his colleagues who become his real friends, some demon girls also become his love interests, while on Earth he had no real friends, his parents didn't even allow him to go to school, at one point he realizes how his life in hell is much better than his past life and doesn't want to go back to the human world.

** Of course, the show slowly shows the downsides of living in the demon world, when he befriends a demon that at first looks kind and calm, but [[spoiler: wants to bring demon society back to what it was and plans to blow up the entire school and kill all the demon students and teachers]], and not all the demon brutality is gone, anger and stress can still bring back their natural instincts.

* Manga/WelcomeToDemonSchoolIrumaKun has a variation, the main character Suzuki Iruma had a terrible life on Earth, with abusive parents always exploiting him, and one day, his parents sold him to a demon and he is taken alive to the underworld where demons live, the underworld is not hell in a sense where humans who die are sent there, it's just a world populated by demons and demonic animals and he is the only human, the demon who bought and adopted him turns out to be a nice guy who treats him well, gives him everything he wants and he gets to live in a mansion, he is allowed to eat all the food he wants, demon food looks scary and gross but he likes it, while in the human world he constantly starved, and when he has to go to school, he must keep the secret that he is human or else the other demons might eat him, at first he is scared, but he quickly likes his colleagues who become his real friends, some demon girls also become his love interests, while on Earth he had no real friends, his parents didn't even allow him to go to school, at one point he realizes how his life in hell is much better than his past life and doesn't want to go back to the human world.

* In [[https://www.fimfiction.net/story/388353/best-hell-ever Best Hell Ever]], Twilight Sparkle gets sent to Hell as part of a prank by Discord, and is condemned to what was intended to be an IronicHell for someone guilty of sloth: having to sort an infinite library filled with every book that was, will be, or was never written. [[CuteBookworm Twilight]]

* The ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' book ''Discworld/{{Eric}}'' features the Disc's version of Hell and the description of how it used to be before the book's [[BigBad villain]] 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]].

* The second half of the VideoGame/RPGMaker game ''VideoGame/SuperColumbineMassacreRPG'' has the UsefulNotes/{{Columbine}} killers getting sent to Hell after they commit suicide at the end of their rampage. It's a FireAndBrimstoneHell straight out of ''VideoGame/{{Doom}}'', complete with demon soldiers, imps, barons of hell and a Cyberdemon... in other words, exactly the sort of thing that two spree killers who played tons of ''Doom'' would enjoy. It ends with the two defeating {{Satan}} himself and [[DefeatMeansFriendship becoming his minions]].

Often combined with the IronicHell (if a particularly {{Jerkass}} character dies, then Hell for them may well involve being showered [[EvilCannotStandCuteness with love and pretty pink ponies]]), or Lord {{Satan}} [[PityTheKidnapper just not wanting the badass hero]] to screw things up for them. Sometimes, it can be that Hell is only a nice place to the evil -- the merely "not quite good" still suffer for all eternity. Of course, if SatanIsGood, all bets are off -- Hell may even be a ''nicer'' place than Heaven.

Often combined with the IronicHell (if a particularly {{Jerkass}} character dies, then Hell for them may well involve being showered [[EvilCannotSStandCuteness with love and pretty pink ponies]]), or Lord {{Satan}} [[PityTheKidnapper just not wanting the badass hero]] to screw things up for them. Sometimes, it can be that Hell is only a nice place to the evil -- the merely "not quite good" still suffer for all eternity. Of course, if SatanIsGood, all bets are off -- Hell may even be a ''nicer'' place than Heaven.

Often combined with the IronicHell (if a particularly {{Jerkass}} character dies, then Hell for them may well involve being showered with love and [[TastesLikeDiabetes pretty pink ponies]]), or Lord {{Satan}} [[PityTheKidnapper just not wanting the badass hero]] to screw things up for them. Sometimes, it can be that Hell is only a nice place to the evil -- the merely "not quite good" still suffer for all eternity. Of course, if SatanIsGood, all bets are off -- Hell may even be a ''nicer'' place than Heaven.

* ''WesternAnimation/RockosModernLife'': In "Heff In a Handbasket", it's revealed Heffer's cranky grandma has gone to Heck, but she isn't tortured or anything. (In fact, she bosses around the demon who is ''supposed'' to be her overlord!)

* DoubleSubverted in "Death Death (Devil, Devil, Devil, Devil, Evil, Evil, Evil, Evil Song)" by Music/{{Voltaire}}. After dying and going to hell, Voltaire finds that Satan and his wife are his biggest fans...and then Satan jabs him in the junk with a pitchfork. But then he says he was just kidding, welcomes Voltaire to hell, and tells him to "enjoy the buffet".

* In ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'', your experience in hell varies greatly. If you've done something to piss of the archdevils (like breaking a deal), all bets are off. However, if you just got yourself sent there for being LawfulEvil or for selling your soul, you'll end up as a lemure, at the bottom of the infernal hierarchy. Which, granted, is pretty bad, but if you're lucky enough to become an imp, you can fight in the blood war, serve archdevils loyally or tempt mortals to make deals in order to slowly rise through the ranks. Who knows, you might end up as an archdevil yourself.