Line #58 Main/DoorOfDoom


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12	[[quoteright:324:[[Film/JurassicPark1993 https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/5408efb0f42d0103eaaa0b8b45253159.png]]]]
13	[[caption-width-right:324:[[LampshadeHanging "What are you keeping in there, King Kong?"]]]]
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18
19	->''"Abandon all hope, ye who enter [[{{Hell}} here]]."''
20	-->-- Dante's ''[[Literature/TheDivineComedy Inferno]]''
21
22	There's a door ahead. Based on its appearance or its context -- usually standing there with no actual wall around it -- you just know something amazing and dangerous lies on the other side. This isn't just a physical trope of a door being there, but a narrative device. Because the door is so obviously doomful, the characters recognize that going through is a big decision.
23
24	Compare CoolGate, TheLonelyDoor, PortalDoor. Not to be confused with DoomDoors. Often a PointOfNoReturn in video games.
25
26	----
27	!!Examples:
28	[[foldercontrol]]
29
30	[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
31	* ''Manga/FullmetalAlchemist'': The GateOfTruth.
32	[[/folder]]
33
34	[[folder:Arts]]
35	* ''Art/ThatWhichIShouldHaveDoneIDidNotDo'': The {{painting\|s}} is also called ''The Door'' and represents a wasted life--''not'' going through it was the wrong choice, therefore making it an {{inver\|tedTrope}}sion.
36	[[/folder]]
37
38	[[folder:Comic Books]]
39	* ''ComicBook/FantasticFour'': Showing up in Hickman's Run is Eldrac the Door, an invoked and exaggerated version of this, his SuperEmpowering twisted him into gigantic furniture. Whoever walks through his mouth goes to where they '''need'' to do.
40	* ''ComicStrip/KnightsOfTheDinnerTable'' has the gang descend to a portal clearly marked "Portal of Death". Despite BA's pointing out every clue he can, Brian insists they go through on the premise that it might grant wishes or lead to fabulous wealth, and the evidence is planted to deter the "wuss-of-heart". One by one the Knights enter, followed by BA calling them into another room with a d20, and bringing them back with a paper bag over their head to restrict clues which could be conveyed to the other players by facial expressions. Eventually Sara gives up and goes back to town, convinced that her party are dead. [[spoiler:The D20 was, in fact, to determine how many hundreds of little bits the daemonic forces on the other side tore their mortal forms into. Dave rolled a nat-20.]]
41	* ''ComicBook/WonderWoman1987'': Doom's Doorway is a large imposing door which is quite obviously an [[PortalDoor opening to someplace unpleasant and otherworldly]] which is protected by an armed and armored Amazon guard, which faces ''the door'' to defend against anything trying to escape, not anyone mad enough to want to go the other way.
42	[[/folder]]
43
44	[[folder:Fan Works]]
45	* In ''Fanfic/MementoVivere'', a VideoGame/FinalFantasyX fanfiction, Rikku's attempts to enter the Chambers of the Fayth turn them into this trope.
46	* In ''Fanfic/RobbReturns'', the Hightowers have a giant dark gate hidden beneath the Hightower that they have been guarding ever since the age of the First Men, that afflicts anyone who gets near with [[SupernaturalFearInducer immense fear]], and has started pounding ever since magic returned. It is theorized that there is some EldritchAbomination behind it that must be locked away - and later interactions theorize it to be the Drowned God.
47	[[/folder]]
48
49	[[folder:Films -- Live Action]]
50	* ''Film/JurassicPark1993'': John Hammond deliberately invokes this by having the guided tour of the island begin by entering a large, impressive door, but it's more for show than anything.
51	-->'''Ian Malcolm:''' What do they keep back there, Film/KingKong?
52	* ''Film/KingKong1933'': The huge door in the wall surrounding the interior of the island.
53	* The door to the maze in ''Film/{{Labyrinth}}''.
54	* In ''Film/Spiral2007'', a frequent recurring motif is a glowing door in the background of Mason's apartment that has something to do with his [[spoiler:imaginary]] murders.
55	* We get about [[LeaveTheCameraRunning five minutes worth]] of this in ''Film/Stalker1979'', in which the main characters stare at an ominous door, contemplating whether or not they should go in.
56	* The entrance to Toontown in ''Film/WhoFramedRogerRabbit''.
57	[[/folder]]
58
59	[[folder:Literature]]
60	* In ''Literature/TheChroniclesOfNarnia'', Narnia has a number of these, including one near the end of ''Literature/PrinceCaspian''. Played with in ''Literature/TheLastBattle'' - the 'door of doom' is just the door of a stable....
61	* The three Doors in ''Literature/TheDrawingOfTheThree'', the second book of Creator/StephenKing's Franchise/TheDarkTower epic. As in the trope description, the doors themselves appear quite normal; it's the fact that they're standing in the middle of a beach with no walls attached or any visible means of support, and that they appear to vanish when one walks around to view them from the back, that marks them out as magical.
62	* In Creator/TherinKnite's ''Literature/{{Echoes\|2014}}'', Adem is walking down a hallway full of closed doors he needs to open in order to find the antagonist [[spoiler:Brennian]]. He belatedly realizes that since he's in a dream, ''anything'' could be hiding behind the doors.
63	* When the miners of ''Literature/GalaxyOfFear: Spore'' DugTooDeep into an asteroid, they found a monstrously thick door with a terrified-looking statue outside of it. There had been more nuanced warnings there too, but those had been scraped away.
64	* The archway in the Ministry of Magic in the ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheOrderOfThePhoenix''. [[spoiler:The result of going through is implied to be CessationOfExistence.]]
65	* In ''Literature/HouseOfLeaves'', the door that appears in Navidson's [[color:blue: house]] after the family comes back from vacation, which wasn't there before.
66	* The door in Dante's ''[[Literature/TheDivineComedy Inferno]]'', with its famous [[StockShoutOuts (and much referenced and parodied)]] inscription "Abandon all hope, ye who enter here."
67	** Parodied in ''Literature/{{Eric}}'', where the inscription has been crossed out in favor of "You Don't Have To Be Damned To Work Here, But It Helps!!!"
68	* The Doors of Durin (west gate of Moria) in ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings''.
69	** As is the Dimholdt on the Paths of the Dead, especially in the film version.
70	--->"The way is shut. It was made by those who are Dead, and the Dead keep it. The way is shut."
71	* Subverted in ''Literature/ThePrincessBride'' (the book), where the actual danger lies ''on the door itself''.
72	* Creator/CarlSandburg ''Rootabaga Stories'' has a chapter "Four Stories about the [[AlliterativeTitle Deep Doom of Dark Doorways]]" but being a children book, no Doom whatsoever can be found. Probably just the DoomyDoomsOfDoom syndrome at work.
73	* The entrance to the TempleOfDoom in ''[[Creator/MatthewReilly Temple]]'' was the Incan version: a giant rock blocking a passageway, with very detailed pictures of people dying all around it.
74	* ''Literature/WaywardChildren'': The doors of doom here are smaller, more numerous and variable then common examples but passing through them is equally momentous. The children who go through have them to become heroes, gods and monsters on the other side. Those who come back through these doors are the focus of the series and they have ''all'' been changed by their experiences.
75	[[/folder]]
76
77	[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
78	* ''Series/TheITCrowd'' treated a rather unimpressive door this way. It led into a chamber where a Goth nobody could stand monitored the data communications arrays with not a single clue what they even did, so Jen was told never to open it. When the character is driven back into his chamber by allowing too much natural sunlight into the IT office, the problem is solved - so long as no-one opens the other forbidden door, with an appearance which fits this trope more effectively.
79	[[/folder]]
80
81	[[folder:Theme Parks]]
82	* The appropriately-named Gates of Doom in ''Ride/IndianaJonesAdventure'' at the Ride/DisneyThemeParks appears to be a portal to a nightmarish alternate dimension.
83	[[/folder]]
84
85	[[folder:Video Games]]
86	* ''VisualNovel/Danganronpa2GoodbyeDespair'': Hajime's [[LaserGuidedAmnesia muddled memories of coming to Hope's Peak Academy]] include a memory of a mysterious door floating in a green void. [[spoiler: It actually represents him entering the Neo World Program, a LotusEaterMachine designed to cure him of being brainwashed and erase his negative memories of being a member of Ultimate Despair.]]
87	* ''Videogame/{{Diablo}}'' has this in spades. Lets you go to hell with horrors at the other end.
88	* ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIVOblivion'' has [[HellGate Oblivion Gates]] to the eponymous realm. They are big burning arches that scorch the area around them, turn the sky above them red and ominous, and cause plants from Oblivion also grow around them too. Essentially, what is on the other side leaks over. Which is a [[FireAndBrimstoneHell barren wasteland of blackened islands]] in a [[LethalLavaLand sea of lava]].
89	* ''VideoGame/FableI'': The Bronze Gate is a massive locked door at the far edge of the GrimUpNorth, said to herald the end of the world when it opens. In fact, TheHero has to unlock it himself to reach the FinalBattle [[spoiler:against Jack of Blades' [[BodySurf new dragon body]] amid a volcanic wasteland.]]
90	* The door to Ultimecia's throne room at the end of ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIII'' is a red double-door with skull figurines above it and an all around creepy feel to it. Plus there's a Save Point in front of it. Touching this door gives you the chance to back off or open it, the latter of which starts the four-stage FinalBoss fight of the game.
91	* ''VideoGame/GodOfWar'' has three main flavours of door: large, very very large, and "yeah, definitely a boss here" large. (Or, from a god's point of view, miniature, small, and medium).
92	* The map just before the FinalBoss of ''VideoGame/HalfLife'' has an unsettling alien teleporter in an area that's ''completely black''. The portal glows red instead of the usual green teleporters, and it somehow [[CallBack replays voices from the beginning of the game]]. ''WebVideo/FreemansMind'' paints it as resembling the [[NightmareRetardant cover to a metal album]].
93	* Both played straight and subverted in the ''Franchise/KingdomHearts'' series.
94	* ''Videogame/MassEffect2'' has the Omega-4 Relay, which is coloured red as opposed to the usual blue of the Mass Relays, almost like a warning, which is suitable, because ships that enter it never return.
95	* In ''VideoGame/{{Minecraft}}'' both the Nether and End Portals. They don't look great like many other things on the list, but considering how the rest of the game looks, they're pretty hellish. Some people have even made their portal rooms the definition of this trope. Just look [[http://thezserver.webs.com/photos/Server-Slideshow-Photos/MinecraftNetherPortal.png here.]]
96	* The door leading to the Fugue plane in ''VideoGame/NeverwinterNights2: Mask of the Betrayer''.
97	* ''VideoGame/PaperChase'': In the Inform version, the college entrance is described as a great dark gateway, inscribed above with the words, "Abandon hope all ye who enter here."
98	* The door that leads to the first boss in ''VideoGame/SilentHill3''.
99	* ''Franchise/SuperMarioBros'':
100	** In ''VideoGame/SuperMarioWorld'', Haunted Houses, Castles, and Boss Rooms all have some sort of doomy door. The Boss Rooms are colored red (except the one in Chocolate Fortress, which is colored brown). The red boss door returns in the Fortress and Castle levels of ''VideoGame/SuperMarioWorld2YoshisIsland'' (the one in the final level is even bigger, namely twice the size for the FinalBoss).
101	** The ''VideoGame/NewSuperMarioBros'' series usually have these to signal boss fights. [[FinalBoss Bowser's]] fights are usually preceded by an ''even more'' menacing door.
102	** ''VideoGame/MarioParty4'': The minigame Doors of Doom. Pick one of two doors and hope Bowser doesn't come out of it; you play until you choose incorrectly and Bowser appears to end the game by chasing the player offscreen.
103	** ''VideoGame/PaperMarioTheThousandYearDoor'' has the eponymous door. The earth all around it cracks when it opens!
104	* The final door leading to Tabuu in ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBrosBrawl'', being a gigantic glowing door leading to the final boss that requires you to defeat every opponent you've ever faced to pass through it.
105	* The Dimensional Gateways in the ''VideoGame/{{WarCraft}}'' setting are these. The prime example is the Dark Portal that leads to Outland, a world that had so many of these gates opened that they tore the world apart and sent what was left into the Twisting Nether.
106	* The door that leads to the Dead God's Pad in ''VideoGame/TheWorldEndsWithYou''. Shiki [[LampshadeHanging lampshades this trope]] by saying "This door just screams 'endgame.'"
107	* ''Videogame/{{Ultrakill}}'':
108	** The player goes through a door very much like the one in Dante's Inferno as the entrance to {{Hell}}, complete with the ominous text written on it.
109	** There are big stone walls that indicate which levels were [[ChallengeRun completed perfectly]]. Getting a perfect score in every level of an act lets the player go through the door and face a {{Superboss}}.
110	[[/folder]]
111
112	[[folder:Web Animation]]
113	* The third ''WebAnimation/CharlieTheUnicorn'' flash has one of these. Er...sort of. It turns out that the door is not as fantastic and mysterious as advertised.
114	[[/folder]]
115
116	[[folder:Web Original]]
117	* The sequel to the Literature/NESGodzillaCreepypasta has a large gate that appears between stages, with seven empty slots that are gradually filled each time Carl defeats a boss. Presumably, it will open when all seven have been beaten.
118	[[/folder]]
119
120	[[folder:Western Animation]]
121	* ''WesternAnimation/DangerMouse'' has DM knocking on "the Door of Doom" only to have it then fall off its hinges and flatten him and Penfold. Leading to this exchange:
122	-->'''Penfold''': (''giggling'')
123	-->'''Danger Mouse''': Penfold, the Door of Doom just fell on us. Why are you giggling?
124	-->'''Penfold''': (''giggling'') I was just thinking, chief...
125	-->'''Danger Mouse:''' Yes?
126	-->'''Penfold:''' [[{{Pun}} You've just become a dormouse!]]
127	-->'''Danger Mouse''': [[LamePunReaction Penfold, this is no time to develop a sense of humor!]]
128	* ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'' has a ShowWithinAShow that parodies the opening shot of The Twilight Zone's intro, The Scary Door.
129	* In ''WesternAnimation/TheRealGhostbusters'' episode "Knock, Knock", a literal Door of Doom is featured.
130	-->"''Do not open until doomsday!''"
131	[[/folder]]

Context Main / DoorOfDoom