History Main / SpeciesSpecificAfterlife

As this is a DeathTrope, spoilers are unmarked.

In a lot of stories, unless they operate on TheNothingAfterDeath, deceased characters will end up in an afterlife. There's a lot of options with this; it could be {{Heaven}} and {{Hell}}, a PersonalizedAfterlife, or even just a MundaneAfterlife; some will have to greet TheFerryMan, while others may take a ride on the AfterlifeExpress. However, there seems to be a common theme to these afterlives, and that's the exclusion of other species.

* ''Series/TheTwilightZone1959'': In "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS3E84TheHunt The Hunt]]", the angel at the gateway to Heaven says dogs cannot enter heaven, as they have their own place "just up the road." The old man decides [[YouAreWorthHell he'd rather wander for eternity than enter Heaven without his dog]]. [[spoiler:A good decision, because it's not actually Heaven but the devil trying to trick the man into Hell and trying to get rid of the dog because the pooch would smell the brimstone. Averted with the actual Heaven a real angel leads them to, in which all are more than welcome.]]

Contrast AllAreEqualInDeath. Sub-trope to OverlySpecificAfterlife.

* In ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'' only human souls go to heaven or hell. Monsters (vampires, wendigos, etc.) go to Purgatory when killed. Angels (if killed) go to the Empty, a void beyond even Death and God's control.

** This poses a problem for the children of rare human-elven couples: half-elves inevitably have to choose to be either full Men or full Elves, in order to determine which afterlife they are to be bound to. The cost of this is that human-elven families and couples are forever separated after death, with the exception of the lovers Beren and Lúthien -- Lúthien was an Elf, but chose to become mortal, die as a human woman and depart the world alongside Beren at her death.

* ''Wiki/SCPFoundation'': The site has numerous stories depicting possible afterlives for humans. Then there's [[http://www.scp-wiki.net/scp-1557 SCP-1557]], which is a version of Hell specifically for giraffes. [[http://www.scp-wiki.net/scp-2731 SCP-2731]] is a hole in the floor of a grocery store in Carolina that leads into a Hell for [[spoiler:ice cream.]]

** Downplayed by the Dwarves, whose souls are subject to slightly different rules when deciding which afterlife they will end up in because of a bet between the Dwarven gods Thor, Loki, and Hel. An honorable death earns them a place in the Outer Plane which matches their alignment, the same as other sentient species, but a dishonorable death causes their soul to become Hel's property.

* ''Literature/RainbowBridge'' is an AfterlifeAntechamber version. The original narrative comes from the 1980s or 1990s but the exact author is unknown. The 1990s poem was adapted from the original story by a couple who ran a ferret rescue.[[note]]It has its own The Other Wiki [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rainbow_Bridge_(pets) entry]], talking about the probable authors and noting that the idea is a lot like Bifröst.[[/note]] The poem states that when a pet (normally a dog or cat) dies, it is transported to a meadow near heaven where they are restored to youth and health. After their owner dies, however, they reunite in the meadow and cross the "rainbow bridge" together to go into the same Heaven.

* ''Literature/RainbowBridge'' is this in purgatory form. The original narrative comes from the 1980s or 1990s but the exact author is unknown. The 1990s poem was adapted from the original story by a couple who ran a ferret rescue.[[note]]It has its own The Other Wiki [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rainbow_Bridge_(pets) entry]], talking about the probable authors and noting that the idea is a lot like Bifröst.[[/note]] The poem states that when a pet (normally a dog or cat) dies, it is transported to a meadow near heaven where they're in perfect health. After their owner dies, however, their owner is transported to the meadow and the two cross "rainbow bridge" together to go into the same Heaven.

* In ''Fanfic/WarriorsRedux'', the [[APetIntoTheWild kittypet-born]] Firepaw asks the {{seer}} Spottedleaf if kittypets can go to [=StarClan=]. Spottedleaf acts as if this is a silly idea. Only Clan cats can go to [=StarClan=].