History NightmareFuel / TheDivineComedy

* The ones who ''really'' have it bad are the ones trapped in Hell's Vestibule -- The Opportunists. As they never took sides between good and evil in life, so is their fate in death. They're not actually a part of Hell, and they have no chance at redemption. They just have one small place to be tormented for eternity alone by themselves. Said torment often involves being relentlessly attacked by biting and stinging insects.

* The Second Circle, meant for people overcome with lust, dooms its inhabitants to be buffeted about by the terrible winds of a violent storm, never knowing rest. While this isn't a particularly harsh punishment by the poem's standards, the idea of being eternally blown around by such powerful winds is still a pretty terrifying thought.

[[caption-width-right:350:Abandon all hope, ye who enter here.[[note]]Image courtesy of [[https://www.deviantart.com/sandoval-art Sandoval-Art]].[[/note]]]]

** The second ring is for people who were violent against themselves. It contains the Wood of the Suicides, a dark, scary forest full of gnarled trees and dangerous thorns. Where are the people? Well, they ''[[BalefulPolymorph are]]'' [[AndIMustScream the twisted, broken trees]]. Oh, and they still bleed and feel pain, which is a problem since the trees are constantly being attacked by [[HarpingOnAboutHarpies harpies]]. It's also made clear that, when the Last Judgment comes and the damned are given back their bodies (to amplify their suffering for the rest of time), those in the Wood of the Suicides ''don't'' get their bodies back. Instead, their bodies will be hanging from one of their branches.

** The most disturbing part about the Ninth Circle? You don't come here when you die. The moment you commit an act vile enough that it lands you here, your soul is ''immediately'' dragged out of your body and [[DemonicPossession is replaced with a demon]]. Dante learns this when he meets Friar Alberigo, a man he knows back on Earth who's still alive, yet is already half-frozen.

* The entrance to the Ninth Circle is guarded by [[OurGiantsAreBigger 30-35 foot tall giants,]] mostly from ''Myth/GreekMythology''. Even after all he's seen in Hell, Dante is rather freaked out by this, and even says that he's glad giants don't exist on Earth anymore, and the only big creatures are relatively harmless ones like whales and elephants.

** The second ring is for people who were violent against themselves. It contains the Wood of the Suicides, a dark, scary forest full of gnarled trees and dangerous thorns. Where are the people? Well, they ''[[BalefulPolymorph are]]'' [[AndIMustScream the twisted, broken trees]]. Oh, and they still bleed and feel pain, which is a problem since the trees are constantly being attacked by [[HarpingOnAboutHarpies harpies]].

* Limbo, First Circle of Hell, is rather benign compared to the others, as it's home to those pagans who weren't quite bad enough to get into hell proper, but it is still Hell.. And children who weren't baptized end up here. [[WhatTheHellHero Thanks, Jesus.]]

* The ones who ''really'' have it bad are the ones trapped in Hell's Vestibule -- The Opportunists. As they never took sides between good and evil in life, so is their fate in death. They're not actually a part of Hell, and they have no chance at redemption. They just have one small place to be tormented for eternity alone by themselves.

** In the seventh ditch, thieves are punished by having snakes forever bite them. Some of the snakes make them ''explode'' but they always regenerate.

** In the sixth ditch, are forced to walk around with heavy robes made of lead.

** In the eighth ditch, decievers who gave false advise are punished by having their tongues forever burned.

** In the third ditch, simoniacs are punished by having being half buried with their legs sticking up in the air and their feet burned.

* The Third Circle, reserved for those who are punished for over-indulged in food, drink and addictions in the world above, placing such things above all things including their fellow man, forced to slosh around forever in the vile muck that made up most of the circle.

** The first ring is meant for people violent against their proverbial neighbors. It contains the Phlegethon, a river of boiling blood filled with murderers, warmongers, plunderers and tyrants. [[FromBadToWorse It gets worse]]: if somebody rises too high from the river, they get shot by the [[OurCentaursAreDifferent centaurs]] patrolling the banks.

* The nightmare fuel doesn't stop when Dante and Vergil leave Hell. When visiting the second terrace of Purgatory, meant for the [[GreenEyedMonster envious]], they see that the souls in it ''[[EyeScream have their eyes sewn shut]]''.

* The Second Circle, meant for people overcome with lust, dooms its inhabitants to be buffeted about by the terrible winds of a violent storm, never knowing rest. While this is a benign punishment by the poem's standards, it's still deeply unsettling.

[[caption-width-right:350:Abanon all hope all ye that enter.]]

* The final part of the Inferno, where the three worst traitors, Judas, Brutus, and Cassius, are being eternally chewed in Satan's three mouths in the very center of hell.

** The first ring is meant for people violent against their proverbial neighbors. It contains the Phlegethon, a river of boiling blood filled with murderers, warmongers, plunderers and tyrants. [[FromBadToWorse It gets worse]]: if somebody rises too high from the river, they get shot by the centaurs patrolling the banks.

** The second ring is for people who were violent against themselves. It contains the Wood of the Suicides, a dark, scary forest full of gnarled trees and dangerous thorns. Where are the people? Well, they ''[[BalefulPolymorph are]]'' [[AndIMustScream the twisted, broken trees]]. Oh, and they still bleed and feel pain, which is a problem since the trees are constantly being attacked by harpies.

** The Eighth Circle of Hell, Malebolge, which punishes the fraudulent and malicious. It's probably the closest the poem gets to depicting FireAndBrimstoneHell, and it puts many other similar portrayals to shame.

* The first ring is meant for people violent against their proverbial neighbors. It contains the Phlegethon, a river of boiling blood filled with murderers, warmongers, plunderers and tyrants. [[FromBadToWorse It gets worse]]: if somebody rises too high from the river, they get shot by the centaurs patrolling the banks.

*** The third ring is meant to punish those violent against God, art, and nature. It's a huge, sandy desert where fire constantly rains down from the sky.

** The nightmare fuel doesn't stop when Dante and Vergil leave Hell. When visiting the second terrace of Purgatory, meant for the [[GreenEyedMonster envious]], they see that the souls in it ''[[EyeScream have their eyes sewn shut]]''.