Seems not to be an example: the unlikely event has to be compared to something like hell freezing over beforehand, and that comparative event has to come true.
- The Muppet Show: Pigs in Space; a Negative Space Wedgie starts turning the Swinetrek and crew into food, First Mate Piggy declares it to be preposterous — only to become a chocolate cake.
Seems not to be an example: the unlikely event has to be compared to something like hell freezing over.
- The Muppet Show: Pigs in Space; a Negative Space Wedgie starts turning the Swinetrek and crew into food, First Mate Piggy declares it to be preposterous — only to become a chocolate cake.
Mischievous fox
A rather chilly day in Hell
◊. Is it worth mentioning in the article?
Removed - take it to the talk page
- This troper firmly believes that all those who use the phrase "when hell freezes over" should be forced to read Dante Alighieri. The innermost, deepest and overall worst circle of Hell, containing the souls of those who committed the very worst of sins, is pretty much one solid block of ice.
- It gets worse: In Indian mythology there are entire frozen hells; sarcasm inspires suspicions that it's purely to ensure that those who might ''enjoy'' the burning version have somewhere suitable to be sent.
- Even worse; the hell of Norse Mythology, Helheim, is entirely frozen. Much as you might expect, their idea of hell was a Scandinavian winter, and heaven was a warm feasting hall where you and your mates got drunk for all eternity.
- Not exactly. The afterlife in Germano-Norse mythology is much more complex. Hel's domain (Hel was a goddess, it's debated if she gave her name to her domain, vice-versa, or at all) was for the most part a drab, dreary place where those who died from natural causes (age, disease, accidents, etc) went after their death. Not terrible, but not exactly cheery, and certainly not frozen. If you were REALLY bad, however, you went to the special vaults even deeper in her realm where you were chained to the rocks and had vipers drip venom on your face for eternity, leaving you in agony (that punishment wasn't devised just for Loki). The warm feasting hall where you and your mates got drunk for all eternity? Reserved for half of those who died in battle and were claimed by Odin. The other half went to the goddess Freya (ok, her hall may not have been much different than Valhalla. Plus you're hanging out with pretty much the hottest babe in all of Germano-Norse mythology for the rest of time). And if you drowned you spent eternity in the company of the sea goddess Rán.
- Uh... Word of Dante? The phrase is still relevant since, after all, The Divine Comedy is just one interpretation of Christian cosmology.
Let's get this straight right now, because examples of both are becoming horribly mixed in the examples section to the point where one can't really tell which the trope was about in the first place. Is this trope about preposterously unexpected things happening (e.g. the example about the Sonic / Mario crossovers at the top of the Video Games section) or about the pigs flying / hell freezing over / etc. metaphors literally coming true (e.g. the Sam and Max example just below)?
That's me. Hide / Show Replies
The deletion of the Sonic / Mario example I named in my question, and a few others, pretty much answers my question. Thanks anyway.
That's me.
Can we make this a No Real Life Examples Please?
The whole point about this trope is: X says, "Impossible thing Y will happen before Z", and then Y promptly happens (implying Z isn't so impossible either). The whole point is that Y is IMPOSSIBLE. It can happen in fiction for humour, or in a highly surreal setting. It shouldn't happen in real life, and most of the given real-life examples are: X says "Y will never happen", and then Y happens - it's not the same pattern.
Edited by needsanewhobby