Hell

Hell is, according to many religious beliefs, a place or a state of painful suffering. The English word 'hell' comes from the Teutonic 'Hel', which originally meant "to cover" and later referred to the goddess of the Norse underworld, Helgardh. Compare Anglo-Saxon helan and Latin celare = "to hide".

Hell in entertainment and other popular culture

The BBC Radio 4 comedy series Old Harry's Game is set in Hell. It was written by Andy Hamilton who also stars as Satan.

Related Topics:
BBC Radio 4 - Old Harry's Game - Andy Hamilton - Satan

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

In the television show Futurama, the characters go to Robot Hell on occasion, where the Robot Devil and other evil robots reside. Bender was once put in there to be tormented, just like in Hell, but he escapes. Fry and Bender return to make Fry better at the holophonor, and doing so means he needs the Robot Devil's hands. The Robot Devil's little deal actually backfires on him instead of Fry, so he wants his robot hands back. The part with the Robot Devil's hands took place on the last episode of Futurama.

Related Topics:
Futurama - Robot Hell - Bender - Fry

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

In many episodes of the television show South Park, there appears a Satan character who runs the Hell. On many occasions he is accompanied by the Saddam Hussein, who ironically seems to be even more malicious than the Satan itself.

Related Topics:
South Park - Saddam Hussein

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

In a deleted scene from the 1999 theatrical theological comedy Dogma, the ex-Muse Azrael (played by actor Jason Lee) explains that there have been past and current "versions" of Hell. When Hell was first formed it was meant to hold Lucifer and the rebel angels and was merely a place devoid of the presence of God. To those who had previously been in the presence of God, this was punishment enough.

Related Topics:
Dogma - Muse - Jason Lee

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Azrael goes on to say that when humanity was created, Hell was infected with a disease of sorts. Believing that God could never forgive their sins, many humans came to Hell and subconsciously demanded to be actively punished, although that was not their due. Slowly but surely (and reminiscent of the doctrine of responsibility assumption), Hell became a "suffering pit" to contain all these gluttons for punishment. According to Azrael, Hell is far more horrifying for the fallen angels residing there than for the Damned themselves, as the angels not only have to endure the absence of God, but also the unending howls of the Damned as they undergo torture essentially at their own hands. This concept of Hell had appeared previously in Neil Gaiman's successful Sandman series of graphic novels.

Related Topics:
Responsibility assumption - Neil Gaiman - Sandman

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The 2004 Insane Clown Posse album "" is a concept album about Hell.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The first Fear Effect game deals extensively with the Chinese concept of hell, replete with its aforementioned political ramifications. Several of the later levels actually take place in the Chinese hell.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The famous PC game series Doom also involves the concept of Hell, but with a science-fiction twist, as a future teleportation experiment accidentally opens a gate to Hell. Hell is treated in the Christian conception, replete with Satanic symbols and corporeal demons, as a parallel universe of crimson skies, black mountains and oceans of fire.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The first game in the Quake computer game series involves an invasion by forces from Hell.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

In the comic book series Hellboy by award-winning artist Mike Mignola, Hell is shown in the two page story "Pancakes" (1999 Dark Horse Presents Annual) to be a dark, alternate dimension filled with flames and demons and where the infernal capital city of Pandemonium resides. In issue one "Seed of Destruction" the Nazis with aid of the mad monk Rasputin successfully breach the transdimensional boundary of Hell via magic and call forth the infant Hellboy so that he may bring about the end of the world. They are stopped, however, by the Allied Forces who also rescue Hellboy and raise him.

Related Topics:
Comic book - Hellboy - Mike Mignola - Dark Horse - Pandemonium - Nazis - Rasputin - Allied Forces

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The 2005 Warner Bros. film Constantine depicts as graphic a version of the traditional Christian version of Hell as can be found in cinema: it shows a parallel plane with many of the same buildings and structures as the normal world, but twisted, ruined and perpetually engulfed in hellfire. This movie is based on the DC/Vertigo comic series Hellblazer.

Related Topics:
Constantine - Hellblazer

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

In the first of the Diablo series of games, hell is portrayed as a pit deep under the ground largely characterized as a place of suffering, as the bodies of hundreds of apparently tortured people reside there. The game manual refers to this place as actually part of the mortal realm whose barriers with the metaphysical Hell have weakened, causing it to take on hellish attributes combined with more worldly ones. None of the apparently tortured bodies show any signs of life or torment, and as such may simply be the Decor that Diablo, the lord of Terror, has chosen for his home in the mortal world. This fits with the view of the actual Hell as portrayed in Diablo II, which features Hell as a bleak landscape populated by grotesque monsters and souls in active torment.

Related Topics:
Diablo - Diablo II

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~