Hell Hound: Difference between revisions

[[File:Cerberus 1024x768 copy 9588.jpg|frame|Abandon all tennis balls, ye who enter here.]]

 

 

 

As their name implies, they are generally thought to originate in the underworld, but this has become a relaxed requirement for modern incarnations.

 

{{examples}}

== Anime and Manga ==

* ''[[Berserk]]'' has an example of this trope in the form of the Beast of Darkness. It's a vicious, sadistic pointy-snouted wolf-like creature with lighting-bolt shaped eyes that seeks to corrupt Guts. The disturbing part is that [[Super-Powered Evil Side|the Beast exists]] [[Enemy Within|entirely in Guts's head]]. The Beast is the embodiment of Guts' own rage and hatred at the Godhand, the Apostles and especially Griffith after the Eclipse. Among other things, it wants Guts to kill Casca so that he can get back to seeking revenge.

* In the first ([[Anachronic Order|in TV order]]) episode of ''[[Rental Magica]]'' the team had to deal with a rather impressive entity [[Kindhearted Cat Lover|Nekoyashiki]] described to his chief as a "dog" because it's a "four-legged mammal with teeth that barks", despite [[Red Eyes, Take Warning|glowing red eyes]], ability to catch up with a truck on an empty road and so on.

* One filler episode of [[Chrono Crusade]] featured a demonic canine that was slaughtering New York's organized crime families.

 

== Film ==

* The Chatter Beast from ''[[Hellraiser Bloodline]]'', though background material indicates it [[Was Once a Man]].

* Belladonna from [[All Dogs Go to Heaven|''An All Dogs Go To Heaven]] [[Yet Another Christmas Carol|Christmas Carol'']] and [[Recycled: the Series|''All Dogs Go To Heaven: The Series'']].

 

== Literature ==

** Who quickly mellows out. Having the [[Anti-Anti-Christ|surprisingly nice Antichrist]], [[Meaningful Name|Adam]], for an owner probably contributes.

*** Dog's existence is shaped by Adam's desires. Originally more like what you would expect from a hellhound, he is transformed into a flopeared, terrier-style mutt, due to Adam's expectations of what his ideal dog would be like. He quickly adjusts, due in no small part to the fact that female dogs don't exist in Hell if you catch my drift.

** Amusingly, up until that point, Pratchett always insisted he was talking about Rottweilers.

** Referenced in the webcomic ''[[True Magic]]'', in which the Light Bringer's first commandment is, "Trust not any dog which hath orange eyebrowes."

He worked for the better part of a minute, and when he was finished they were all in pieces and none of them alive. }}

 

* In the series ''[[Reaper]],'' there is a small dog from Hell named Spike, who can transform into a big, nasty hellhound.

* ''[[Supernatural (TV series)|Supernatural]]'' also has invisible hell hounds that work for demons. They can only be seen by the people they've come to kill.

* A "webisode" of ''[[Rescue Me]]'' features the firemen hunting a mysterious, possibly dangerous animal (one of them thinks it's a chupacabra) that has gotten into their station {{spoiler|it turns out to be an Irish Wolfhound. In their defense, they're pretty friggin' huge dogs}}

* ''[[Lost Tapes]]'' features one as one of its monsters.

 

== [[Myth and Legend]] ==

* The British Isles have many legends of ghostly hounds, referred to as [[wikipedia:Black dog (ghost)|black dogs.]] Most of them are portentous, some were actively malevolent and a few are actually benevolent.

** Probably the best known malevolent example is the Black Shuck, which according to folklore burst into a church in Blythburgh on 4 August 1577, killing a man and boy and causing the church tower to collapse through the roof. As the dog left, he left scorch marks on the north door which can be seen at the church to this day.

* ''Black Shuck'' by The Darkness descibes a hellhound, the Black Shuck of the title, which has the distiction of being one of the best known of the British Black Dogs/Hellhounds.

* The [[Metallica]] song "All Nightmare Long" was written about the [[Cthulhu Mythos|Hounds of Tindalos]], though most only remember the zombies from the video.

 

== [[Tabletop Games]] ==

* Early ''[[Dungeons & Dragons]]'' had several types of hellhounds, including one that could breathe out fire and one as part of [[The Wild Hunt]]. By 2nd Edition and onwards, actual hellhounds were established as huge, fire-breathing dogs ''literally'' from [[Hell]] that are used by devils to hunt mortals or summoned by evil spellcasters. Other similar monsters include the shadow mastiff and the yeth hound. Their [[Good Counterpart]] is the blink dog.

* ''[[Munchkin]] Bites'' has a monster called the Heck Hound.

* ''Shadowrun'' had several Awakened (magical) canine monsters.

** The Gabriel Hound could freeze you in place and was a terror in combat.

* In ''[[Vampire: The Masquerade]]'' a human can become absolute thrall (called a "Ghoul") to a vampire by tasting its blood. The same practice can be applied to animals and a ghouled dog is known as a hellhound.

 

 

== Theater ==

* In ''[[Sinfest]]'', Cerberus is the Devil's pet, and spends his time menacing the cast (especially Slick) and eating mailmen.

** [https://web.archive.org/web/20080824070450/http://www.sinfest.net/archive_page.php?comicID=2904 Li'l Evil summons one]. [https://web.archive.org/web/20131005134112/http://www.sinfest.net/archive_page.php?comicID=2905 It can, at least, breath fire.]

 

== [[Web Original]] ==

* [[Marmaduke]] is this to [[The Comics Curmudgeon]].

* Not only are there hellhounds in the [[Whateley Universe]], but in the novel "There's an Angel in Father John's Basement", the techno-mage Korrupt has figured out how to summon a really nasty mecha variant of his own devise.

 

== [[Western Animation]] ==

* Doomageddon from [[League of Super Evil|the League of Super Evil]] is a hellhound known for teleportation to and from an alternate dimension.

* Parodied in ''[[Phineas and Ferb]]'' with the Black Knight of Worcestershire and the Hounds of Heck who chased after him through all the moors and lands because his suit of armor was recycled dog food cans.

* Crunch the Rockdog from the original ''[[My Little Pony]]'' series. Guardian type, created to protect the Heartstone of a living mountain and armed with a jewel that could [[Taken for Granite|petrify]] enemies. Unfortunately, said mountain had forgotten the need for Crunch to have a heart and as a result Crunch eventually ran wild, turning everything he could reach to stone. The Little Ponies were able to subdue Crunch long enough for him to be endowed with a sliver of the Heartstone, making him both kinder ''and'' loyal enough to do his job right.

** The ''[[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic|My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic]]'' episode "It's About Time" has Cerberus making an appearance in Ponyville, complete with references about how he's supposed to be guarding the gates of Tartarus to make sure that the evil creatures imprisoned there doesn't escape. {{spoiler|[[Fluffy Tamer|Fluttershy]] pacifies him by giving him a belly rub}}.

* One cybersite featured in ''[[Cyberchase]]'' was [[Classical Mythology]]-themed, and one of its residents is another Cerberus with the head of a poodle.

 

== [[Real Life]] ==

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Our Ghosts Are Different]]

[[Category:Demonic Characters]]

[[Category:Older Than Dirt]]

[[Category:Canine Tropes]]