Dragged Off to Hell: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

 

Like [[Ascend to a Higher Plane of Existence]], it is not irreversible. See [[Like a Badass Out of Hell]].

 

{{examples}}

* This is the fate of pretty much any Apostle that dies in ''[[Berserk]]''. We see two examples in the course of the manga: {{spoiler|the Count after he refuses to sacrifice his daughter to save his life and be reborn, and Wyald after Zodd rips him in half for trying to kill Griffith before the Eclipse}}.

** It's also the inevitable fate of everyone who {{spoiler|get's branded for sacrifice (no exeptions), get's killed by an apostle or was unwittingly working for one (lot's of people) or is filled with hatred at the moment of their death (life in Midland is cruel, so even more candidates available).}} Hell is a really crowded place in this universe...at least ,if you get lucky, you have a chanse to "merely" become a restless spirit that haunts the area in wich it died.

* The Gehenna Gate in [[Blue Exorcist]] contains a bunch of figures and resembles a ball pit. Should anyone go into the gate, the figures latch on and drag them down; a fate the protagonist narrowly avoids.

 

* Depending on your interpretation, this may be the final fate of the eponymous ''[[Cerebus the Aardvark]]''.

* Anton Arcane's most despicable act in ''[[Swamp Thing]]'' is {{spoiler|condemning his own niece, Abby, to this horrible fate}}.

* A more mundane variant in ''[[BPRD]]'' in that there's no dimensional transfer, but after Katha-Hem is destroyed {{spoiler|Pope}} is dragged off by the frogs, servants of the [[Eldritch Abomination|Ogdru-Hem]]. When he's next seen he no longer has any desire but to serve them, and may no longer be human.

 

* This is the ultimate goal of the [[Gypsy Curse]] placed upon the protagonist of ''[[Drag Me to Hell]]''. {{spoiler|She fails to break the curse in time and ultimately suffers this fate}}.

* ''[[Ghost (film)|Ghost]]'': When Sam Wheat's murderer is himself killed, a group of small shadowy creatures appear and drag his spirit to the underworld.

* ''[[Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny]]'' does this twice with {{spoiler|Satan}}: First in a flashback explaining the origins of the Pick of Destiny, and secondly at {{spoiler|the climax of the movie when JB seals Satan back in Hell after breaking his horn}}. In both cases, though, there aren't really any hands - it's an invisible force which does the (very forceful) dragging - though there are pentagram-style portals to the underworld involved.

* Lady van Tassel's eventual fate with the Hessian whom she cursed to make her servant of revenge at the end of ''[[Sleepy Hollow (Film)|Sleepy Hollow]]''.

 

== [[Literature]] ==

* In ''[[Neverwhere]]'' this befalls {{spoiler|Islington, Croup and Vandemar}} thanks to a clever switcheroo that prevents a door to heaven from being opened properly, making it a door to hell instead.

 

* At various points during the second series of ''[[Being Human (UK)]]'', the forces of purgatory repeatedly try to drag Annie (not a villain) into the afterlife. {{spoiler|They succeed in the finale.}}

* In the 1970s British [[Time Travel]] show ''Timeslip'' the villain is dragged screaming through a time portal at the end. Whatever's on the other side will probably be pretty hellish for him.

* [[Big Bad|Queen Bansheera]]'s ultimate fate in ''[[Power Rangers Lightspeed Rescue]]'' was this, dragged into the Shadow World (which is Hell for monsters slain by the Rangers) by her former subjects who, it is presumed, would mock and torture her for the rest of eternity. [[Complete Monster| Not that she didn't deserve this]], by the way.

 

* Allegedly [[Gorillaz]] guitarist Noodle was dragged to Hell when the devil couldn't get hold of Murdoc. It's unclear whether this is actually true, but she definitely went missing for a long time {{spoiler|[[Like a Badass Out of Hell|and now is back but injured and packing impressive firepower]]}}.

 

 

* A common plot device in any RPG with fantastic bend. Some ''[[Dungeons & Dragons]]'' modules have this befalling the [[Big Bad]] of the story, half the time due to a botched attempt to summon something from the Nine Hells / The Abyss / what-have-you.

** In 4E, several Warlock powers (such as the epic-level Hurl Through Hell) have this effect. It's (usually) not final for the unfortunate target. But even a drop-by to a local Cthulhu might be unhealthy to the mind. In game terms, Hurl Through Hell does 10 to 70 points of damage to the victim - usually enough to kill him, but if it doesn't, he is returned to the mortal world, likely scared, but alive. The Warlock casting the spell can use a minor action to delay the victim's return for one combat round, but no more than three times, and using a minor action isn't always easy; it depends on a lot of factors.

* The [[New World of Darkness]] book ''Inferno'' introduces Hell and its metaphysics to the setting. It's perfectly possible to open a gate to Hell... but when it pops open, everyone in the immediate vicinity has to fight not to get dragged in (and if they fail, there's no coming back). It also happens in a metaphysical sense, as everyone who looks on the mouth of Hell has to make a Morality check - not because they did anything wrong, but because [[Go Mad from the Revelation|they stared into the incarnation of all sin]], and that can screw with even saints.

 

* In pretty much every version of the Don Juan story (including Molina's original, Moliere's ''Dom Juan'', and Mozart's ''[[Don Giovanni]]''), Juan accepts an invitation from a statue of someone he murdered, the father of one of his conquests, and when the statue returns for him, a portal opens up into Hell and Juan enters.

* Drawing from the folklore about [[Faust]], Marlowe's ''[[Doctor Faustus]]'' has this as Faustus' fate (unlike the later Faust poem/play by Goethe in which Faust is redeemed).

* In the stage musical version of [[Mary Poppins|Disney's Mary Poppins,]] the evil Miss Andrews who replaces Mary and rules tyrannically over the children eventually gets [[Nightmare Fuel|locked into a giant birdcage by her predecessor and sent to hell.]] Mary got her job back.

 

* A few fatalities in ''[[Mortal Kombat]]'' feature this:

** Shinnok in ''[[Mortal Kombat 4]]'' has a fatality where a giant skeleton hand emerges from a portal, grabs the victim, squeezes until their head pops off, and then goes back into the portal with the body, leaving the head.

* ''[[World of Warcraft]]''; this seems to be what the Legion and their Iron Horde allies are doing o Draenai civilians in the ''Warlords'' version of Shattrath City, using dark magic to push the screaming victims into portals. It's possible to save them by killing the mobs (and your reputation score improves by doing so), but much like any prisoners in the game, more appear as enemies respawn, so rescuing them all is impossible.

 

* Seth in ''[[Narbonic]]''.

 

* Parodied on ''[[Futurama]]'' when the Robot Devil drags Richard Nixon's head to Robot Hell...because they've got a poker game to get to.

* In ''[[All Dogs Go to Heaven]] 2'', the bulldog antagonist made a pact with the demonic [[Big Bad]] Red (who is, of course, [[Cats Are Mean|a cat]]). At the end, he gets dragged to hell with the revelation that he sold his soul - thinking that all he was selling was the soles of his shoes.

** At the end of ''[[The Hunchback of Notre Dame (Disney film)|The Hunchback of Notre Dame]]'', [[Complete Monster|Frollo]] gets weighed down into a sea of molten lead at the bottom of the Notre Dame cathedral by a sinister-looking gargoyle.

** Of course, at least with Frollo it was only allegorical. This Trope also fits Dr. Facilier's fate in ''[[The Princess and the Frog]]'', and in this case, it's 100% real, with the villain dragged off by his "friends on the other side" after {{spoiler|Tiana destroys the voodoo charm that served as his [[Soul Jar]]}}. He's actually not dragged to ''hell'' though, at least not in any Christian definition of Hell; it's a voodoo spirit world or something. But eh, [[Tropes Are Flexible|close enough]], and the scene is still just as terrifying.

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Death Tropes]]

[[Category:Diabolical Plots]]