History Main / CelestialBureaucracy

* ''Literature/GoodOmens'', by Creator/TerryPratchett and NeilGaiman, is ''built'' on this trope from start to finish.

* In the 1946 AbbottAndCostello ghost comedy, ''The Time of Their Lives'', after the curse that prevents [[TheAmericanRevolution Patriot]] Horatio Prim (Lou Costello) from ascending to Heaven is lifted, he is still excluded -- because Heaven is "Closed for [[GeorgeWashington Washington's]] Birthday."

*** The Lawfu Good afterlife (and possibly other afterlifes) is up a mountain, but the line to get in is in a different astral "place" depending on who you worshiped. It's like they've turned Heaven into the DMV...

*** The Lawful Good afterlife (and possibly other afterlifes) is up a mountain, but the line to get in is in a different astral "place" depending on who you worshiped. It's like they've turned Heaven into the DMV...

* Heaven in AndreiBelyanin's ''My Wife Is A Witch'' duology is run by a bureaucracy. The protagonist's [[GoodAngelBadAngel personal angel]] Ancipher has to file daily reports on his charge's activities. In the second book, it is revealed that Hell has decided to adopt a similar system, and his demon Pharmason is not at all happy with all the deadlines and reports in triplicate.

* Deliberately {{Invoked}} by the Ferengi in ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine''; since the Ferengi [[PlanetOfHats Hat]] is being cunning, and placing wealth above [[OnlyInItForTheMoney all else]] (including family), this is how the Ferengi view whatever they have in place of heaven; and they ''strive'' to get to their Heaven (or, as they call it, The Divine Treasury)

* Heaven in Andrei Belyanin's ''My Wife Is A Witch'' duology is run by a bureaucracy. The protagonist's [[GoodAngelBadAngel personal angel]] Ancipher has to file daily reports on his charge's activities. In the second book, it is revealed that Hell has decided to adopt a similar system, and his demon Pharmason is not at all happy with all the deadlines and reports in triplicate.

* ''DragonballZ'': King Yemma is in charge. [[DragonBallAbridged And his desk is made of mahogany]].

[[folder:Comicbooks]]

* ''IrregularWebcomic'' features a hierarchy of Deaths, who are periodically demoted, promoted, or fired by the Head Death. One memorable storyline involved all of the Deaths going on strike.
* ''{{Rhapsodies}}'' has the Department of Minor Nuisances, which is in charge of things like missing combs and traffic lights. Though when they are behind on various accounts they may resort to drastic measures.

-->'''Garfield:''' You mean... you don't keep track?
-->'''God:''' Normally we do, but our computers are on the blink right now.

* In the "Shroud of Wally" episode of {{WesternAnimation/Dilbert}}, Dilbert is briefly killed and discovers that the afterlife is identical to his cubicle at work. Naturally, his engineer coworkers have one major concern:
-->'''Alice:''' You're telling me that the afterlife is a stinking ''CUBICLE''?
-->'''Dilbert:''' I'm just telling you what I saw.
-->'''Loud Howard:''' How fast was the Internet connection?
-->'''Dilbert:''' I don't even know if it had an Internet connection.
-->'''Wally:''' Well, this raises many troubling questions about the Afterlife. First, how do you get your software upgraded?
-->*beat*
-->'''Wally:''' I guess it was just the one question.

** Bear in mind, however that much of the popular imagery surrounding the Christian cosmology is not actually from ''Literature/TheBible'', but rather WordOfDante. The [[WordOfGod canonically-accepted Scriptures]] make no mention of Saint Peter at the Pearly Gates - in fact, the gates of pearls and the streets of gold describe not heaven, but the New Jerusalem (see Revelation 21). On ''that'' note, the whole "live in heaven with Jesus forever" is ''also'' a common misconception, since that same chapter states that God will be relocating His headquarters to that city. Also no mention of angels playing harps (or being all winged humanoids for that matter), no mention of Hell having any "circles" or [[IronicHell poetically ironic punishments]] (or much of anything besides fire and suffering, Satan and his demons being inmates right alongside the damned - it was originally intended for the rebellious angels). For that matter the popular imagery of Satan (and demons), the usual "red skin, horns, pointy tail, pitchfork, bat-wings" is found no-where in the Word. Heck, the Antichrist isn't even a character.\\
\\
The "Beast" is, however, and is generally regarded to be the same thing. In Revelation 15, good people (not angels) who have "overcome the beast" play harps and sing a song about Moses. There's no mention of the idea of dying and going to heaven and ''becoming'' an angel, however. The angels in Rev. 15, whatever else they may be, are "clothed in linen" and wear girdles, so they must at least be semi-human. It's possible that many Christians think of the New Jerusalem as kind of a suburb of Heaven - it isn't, it's in the new Earth, which is where we all end up in the end. ''If'' you're in the book.

* EoinColfer's ''TheWishList'' features Saint Peter griping about how computer programmers never get past the Pearly Gates, so he has to do all of his records manually. The staff of Hell dread being reassigned to somewhere even worse than they already are.

** This is primarily the reason why the Chinese believed the Emperor had the "Mandate of Heaven." Just as an Emperor would appoint a Governor, then probably the Jade Emperor mandated that the Mortal Emperor be governor of this world. Additionally, this too is why Chinese don't really put much stock in Royal Houses. Governorship of a Province in Imperial China was not hereditary, and therefore the Mortal Emperor's governorship of this world isn't too. Hence Heaven can withdraw the "Mandate." How do they know a mandate is withdrawn? By the simple matter of the Emperor being incompetent/corrupt, whereby it ''is the peasants' right to remove him'', and replace him with either another noble house, a commoner, or even a foreign conquering barbarian as with the case of Kublai Khan and the Manchus.

* The ''KushielsLegacy'' novels give Chi'in people this version of the afterlife, since they are a stand-in for Chinese. But the ''very good'' people [[DungeonBypass get to skip the bureaucracy]].

* ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'', to some extent. The shinigami, the bureaucrats, can be pretty damn stuck in their ways, and Rukongai is separated into numbered districts, with higher numbers being increasingly worse.
** It's not an exaggeration to say that a good 75% of all the nonsense that goes down in ''Bleach'' is because of Soul Society being run as it is.

!!'''As a DeathTrope, several if not all Spoilers will be unmarked ahead. Beware.'''

!!Examples

[[folder:Film]]

* Hades' realm in the [[DisneyAnimatedCanon Disney version]] of ''Disney/{{Hercules}}'' approaches this: though the place where the afterlife go is a chaotic swirling pool of ghosts and goo, when the dead enter Hades, a little sign clicks in: "1000001 served."

* ''Webcomic/TheAdventuresOfDrMcNinja'' plays with this; purgatory is an infinite diner with only one waiter.

* This trope appears to be popular in Turkey despite having no cultural or religious roots (unlike China). It is more an issue of convenience: The depiction of afterlife in an Islamic context is not exactly easy (though a few TV series did it) and does not lend itself to the more whimsical storylines.
** A movie example of this would be ''Green Light'' which features the gates of afterlife arranged in a manner similar to an airport passport check and segregated according to nationality. While waiting for his turn, the protagonist (who died in a car accident) wonders why the American side of the queue is so crowded. [[TooSoon The date is September 11, 2001.]]

* ''A Life Less Ordinary'' saw heaven as this, complete with archangels as harassed middle-managers.

** In China it's a common custom to burn offerings known as [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hell_Bank_Notes Hell Bank Notes]]. They're meant for the deceased to [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin spend in the afterlife.]]\\
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Archie [=McPhee=], of all companies, will sell you Hell Money -- as well as spiffy [[http://www.mcphee.com/items/M6290.html men's]] and [[http://www.mcphee.com/items/M6289.html women's]] clothing and accessories, [[http://www.mcphee.com/items/M6284.html jewelry,]] and [[http://www.mcphee.com/items/M6286.html food.]]

** Even the EZ-Death line is backed up in ''The Last Olympian''. Those with special circumstances, which is everyone else, is put on the very slow Attendant On Duty lines.

* ''{{Saiyuki}}'', being based on a classical Chinese novel, has an extensive version. Particularly of interest is ''Saiyuki Gaiden'', set mostly in the heavenly realms and where most characters are Celestial Bureaucrats of one form or another.

** He's not the only member of the Celestial Bureaucracy helping you out. Far from it. Turns out MadScientist Kang the Mad is the minor inventor's deity Lord Lao who was slumming it on earth with a case of amnesia.
*** [[TheBigGuy Black Whirlwind]] apparently has an entire ''department'' dedicated to recording all his karmic disruptions.
*** And so do you, after the aforementioned minor god's disruption.

* In ''Website/CollegeHumor'''s "God's Boss Craig", God is not in charge of heaven. He has a boss [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4HUBOD7Qt74 named Craig]].

** Which you have to actually deal with and not die if you want the GoldenEnding.