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Infernal Paradise: Difference between revisions
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* Depending on where they fall in [[Science Marches On|science marching on]], [[Speculative Fiction]] stories might feature the hellish surface of Venus this way for their Venusians.
* At least one [[Speculative Fiction]] story ("Desertion") does this for the surface of ''Jupiter.'' In this story, people turn themselves into native lifeforms to explore inhospitable worlds and it works great until people stop coming back from exploring Jupiter. The hero heads out to see for himself where everyone has been going and it turns out that being a Jovian rocks so hard that their explorers don't want to come back.
* In the [[Satire|satirical]] short story "Heavens Below - Sixteen Utopias" by [[John Sladek]], one of the Utopias is a family picnic in a garbage dump, with the family eating the garbage as if it was a heavenly feast.
* In one of his short stories, [[Mark Twain]] deliberately invokes this: the protagonist finds himself in the heaven of an alien race, which is full of beer, women, and song. He is horrified -- he ''wanted'' to go to [[Fluffy Cloud Heaven]]. He and the aliens each see the other's idea of heaven as this trope.
* In [[The Wheel of Time]], most of the Darkfriends, Black Ajah and even the Forsaken are following the Dark One because of the "promised rewards" they think they'll get once the Dark One takes over (you know, power, getting to rule the world, etc.). Ishamael seems to be the only one who serves the Dark One knowing that once the Dark One gets out of his prison and takes over the world, he will destroy the world and everyone in it.
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** ''[[Mage: The Ascension]]''. The Nephandi have a thing of willingly wanting to bring destruction to the world, and in the case of Malfeans, want to help [[Eldritch Abomination|the Wyrm]] turn it into an eternal, rotting hell, similarly to their [[Werewolf: The Apocalypse|Black Spiral Dancer]] counterparts
** Signature character of ''[[Vampire: The Masquerade]]'', [[Complete Monster|Sascha Vykos]] has a similar goal to this, wanting to create a 'vampiric utopia' out of the [[Body Horror|flesh and bones of thousands of people]]. Hilariously, he got the idea from his [[A God Am I|batshit insane]] teacher, Michael. Fortunately for, well, everyone, Sascha really is no closer to achieving this goal.
* ''[[Exalted]]'' has the whole hierarchy of death (the [[Eldritch Abomination|Neverborn]], their Deathlord servants, and the Abyssal Exalted) directed to follow the idea that the complete [[Cessation of Existence]] that would come about by feeding all of Creation into Oblivion would bring about eternal peace and bliss. This is mainly because the Neverborn themselves [[And I Must Scream|have been dealing with flesh-eating bacteria of the soul for millennia on end]], and can't pass on as long as Creation exists to fetter them to it. And even then, many of their Deathlord servants are in it for their own ends, with only three really preaching the blessed peace of Oblivion.
** This is also a strong theme of [[Social Darwinist|Cecelyne, the Endless Desert]], one of the [[Demon Lords and Archdevils|Yozis]], and thus passes on to her Infernal charges via her Charm set. As she wants those who follow her to be [[Dark Messiah|priests of a gospel of the strong over the weak]], many of her Charms rely around the creation of holy lands (by inflicting desolation on an area) and the production of manna from heaven (in the form of delicious locusts that will turn anyone who eats enough of them into a creature of darkness).
* Some of the Outer Planes in [[Dungeons and Dragons]] (where souls go after death) can be like this, since there is at least one for every [[Character Alignment]] (and they are accessible by mortals through Plane Shift and similar spells). The Heroic Domain of Ysgard probably isn't everyone's cup of tea, being basically a giant battlefield where everyone fights endlessly, only to come back to life every day. The Norse would have loved it. Olidammara's realm is an eternal party filled with wine, women, and song, but probably wouldn't appeal to a straitlaced paladin very much. Elysium is so pleasant that it's impossible ''not'' to feel good while you are there...but you will eventually lose your memories, and many would rather avoid that.
** Even some of the ''bad'' afterlives are acceptable to their inhabitants. Kobolds are the [[Butt Monkey|Butt Monkeys]] of the universe, and their afterlife (assuming they worship the evil Kurtulmak) would seem to reflect this; they are packed in like sardines in a giant hot cave, with little room to move, which would be an [[And I Must Scream]] eternal fate for most. The kobolds like it fine, however; they are safe and never hungry, which is better treatment than most of them got while alive.
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== [[Video Games]] ==
* Crazy cultist Claudia in ''[[Silent Hill 3]]'' is convinced that the deformed monsters, bleeding walls, rusting landscape and all the other lovely things the [[Dark World]] has to offer are a beautiful example of God's love and the wonderful paradise she's building. Vincent responds with the above quote.
** To be fair, though, [[Word of God]] has it that everyone's vision of Otherworld is different, and the player only ever sees it through the main character's eyes. It's extremely likely that Claudia, at least up until that point, really ''was'' seeing paradise. Which, [[Fridge Brilliance|if you think about it]], [[Unwitting Pawn|is actually kind of sad]].
* The Mana cult in ''[[Siren (video game)|Siren]]'' has an [[Our Zombies Are Different|unique take on the whole ever-lasting life thing.]] Not everybody involved knows just ''how'' sinister their religion actually is, but the various religious objects you can collect in the game still paint a rather creepy image of the paradise these people yearn for.
* The demons from [[Disgaea]] would have you believe that their worlds are like this. Given that the cinemas describe seas of sulfur, hordes of terrible monsters and Home-Ec classrooms that you may never return from, they might have a point.
* A more subtle example: as part of a deal with [[Eldritch Abomination|The One King]], [[The Dragon|Valfred]] and his followers in ''[[Suikoden Tierkreis]]'' aren't erased from existence when the One King is summoned, instead living in the "one true world" of perfect order. The heroes actually get to see this world, and {{spoiler|it's a [[Groundhog Day Loop]] of each person's perfect day.}} But that's not this trope. What's this trope is when {{spoiler|they realize that their memories don't match, and they can't all have lived the same day. Then they see this "paradise" from the outside, as those in it blindly wander through the ruins of the normal world, [[Lotus Eater Machine|hallucinating the presence of their friends and family]]. And Valfred ''knew'' it was all an illusion--he simply could not let go of the family he lost, and he was willing to sacrifice everything and everyone for their imaginary resurrection.}}
* ''[[Geist]]''. The main antagonist describes his plans involve blotting out the Sun, boiling the sea, and setting fire to the landscapes, turning it into a "paradise".
* The Mythic Dawn's afterlife in ''[[The Elder Scrolls Four|The Elder Scrolls: Oblivion]]'' is called "Paradise" but is actually quite hellish for the formerly human residents. A few of them do seem to like it there; most don't.
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[[Category:Infernal Tropes]]
[[Category:Infernal Paradise]]
[[Category:Infernal Settings]]
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