History Main / OnlyOneAfterlife

* TheUnderworld of many mythologies (notably Greek) is seen as the final destination of all mortals (and some immortals), in which they either receive eternal rest or torment. Some examples would include realms such as Hades (Greek) and Irkalla (Mesopotamian).

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' episode ''[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS23E16HowIWetYourMother How I Wet Your Mother]]'', as the family are falling to their deaths, Professor Frink tells them that he's managed to prove there's no doubt that Hell exists and everybody goes there. Though people have been seen going to Heaven have appeared in other episodes.

* ''WesternAnimation/AllDogsGoToHeaven'' applies this to only one species. Any dog (or member of the canine species) is immediately sent to heaven after death because according to the greeting angel known as Annabelle: "All dogs go to Heaven because, unlike people, dogs are naturally good and loyal and kind." There is a catch that makes it a variation though, as [[spoiler: being in the same afterlife doesn't mean that everyone has the same appreciation for it and the dogs that aren't good boys tend to try to return to life which makes them lose their automatic amnesty after which they are just as likely as men to end in the ''other'' place.]]

** The teachings of Universalism holds that everyone goes to Heaven eventually.

* Creator/TimBurton:
** ''Film/{{Beetlejuice}}'': All dead go to the same afterlife were apparently they remain somewhat looking like the way they died and just live in a twisted gothic version of our world (some may haunt their old homes however), which is not really heaven or hell (depending on your liking) the only ones truly punished are suicides, who are forced to be government workers.

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* ''WesternAnimation/{{Dilbert}}'': When Dilbert has a near-death experience, he finds himself in a white void that contains nothing but an office cubicle and struggles with the implication that this is all the afterlife is. After meeting The Wallyites, a cult focused on his co-worker Wally who belive we spend the afterlife with Wally, Dilbert has another near-death experience and finds that Wally is now sitting in the cubicle next to his. The ending leaves it ambigious wether or not anything Dilbert saw was real or if his brain just dreamed up his own expectations.

* This is [[spoiler:New Death's]] goal in the ''WesternAnimation/AdventureTimeDistantLands'' story "Together Again": [[spoiler:in addition to [[AllDeathsFinal cutting off reincarnation]], he destroys every Dead World but [[{{Hell}} the First]], condemning them to eternal suffering.]]

* This is [[spoiler:New Death's]] goal in the ''WesternAnimation/AdventureTimeDistantLands'' story "Together Again: [[spoiler:in addition to [[AllDeathsFinal cutting off reincarnation]], he destroys every Dead World but [[{{Hell}} the First]], condemning them to eternal suffering.]]

* This is [[spoiler:New Death's]] goal in the ''WesternAnimarion/AdventureTimeDistantLands'' story "Together Again: [[spoiler:in addition to [[AllDeathsFinal cutting off reincarnation]], he destroys every Dead World but [[{{Hell}} the First]], condemning them to eternal suffering.]]

* While both {{Heaven}} and {{Hell}} exist in the ''VideoGame/{{Diablo]]'' universe, neither are afterlife destinations. Instead, all mortals go to the "Unformed Land", which has yet to be detailed.

* ''WesternAnimation/CorpseBride'' features the Land Of the Dead, a twilight but colorful realm under the Earth where everyone goes to when they die, regardless of how they acted in life. In many ways, the realm is a huge improvement over the grey and stifling land of the living, as the dead lose their earthly pain and ailments and often feel better than they had when they were alive. The first stage of the afterlife that is, since the Underworld isn't the final resting place as those who find true closure and let go of all their earthly wants will AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence and reach true enlightenment. However, while the dead won't touch the living, they ''will'' go after anyone who's wronged them once the perpetrator has died and is thus fair game, as [[AssholeVictim Lord Barkis]] discovered.It's implied that the unrepentantly bad ones like him will just be tortured by the other undead in their conscious corpses rather than being sent to an analogue like Hell.

* ''WesternAnimation/AllDogsGoToHeaven''. Any dog (or member of the canine species) is immediately sent to heaven after death because according the greeting angel known as Annabelle: "All dogs go to Heaven because, unlike people, dogs are naturally good and loyal and kind." There is a catch that makes it a variation though, as [[spoiler: being in the same afterlife doesn't mean that it is appreciated by everyone and the dogs that aren't good boys tend to try to return to life which makes them lose their automatic amnesty after which they are just as likely as men to end in the ''other'' place.]]

* Everyone seems to go to the same afterlife in ''WesternAnimation/CorpseBride'' which is under the earth. The Underworld however isn't the final resting place as those who find true closure and let go of all their earthly wants will AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence and reach true enlightenment. It's implied that the unrepentantly bad ones like [[BigBad Barkis Bittern]] will just be tortured by the other undead in their conscious corpses rather than being sent to an analogue like Hell.

** ''WesternAnimation/CorpseBride'' features the Land Of the Dead, a twilight but colorful realm everyone goes to when they die, regardless of how they acted in life. In many ways, the realm is a huge improvement over the grey and stifling land of the living, as the dead lose their earthly pain and ailments and often feel better than they had when they were alive. However, while the dead won't touch the living, they ''will'' go after anyone who's wronged them once the perpetrator has died and is thus fair game, as [[AssholeVictim Lord Farkis]] discovered.

* ''WesternAnimation/AllDogsGoToHeaven''. Any dog (or member of the canine species) is immediately sent to heaven after death because according the greeting angel known as Annabelle: "All dogs go to Heaven because, unlike people, dogs are naturally good and loyal and kind." This fact leaves terrible implications for what happens to all cats.

* Everyone seems to go to the same afterlife in ''WesternAnimation/CorpseBride''. It's implied that [[BigBad Barkis Bittern]] will be tortured by the other undead rather than being sent to somewhere like Hell.

* ''Film/{{Poltergeist}}'' has "the light" where all of the lonely/sad/lost spirits go to because of The Beast, which traps them in Earth. The entrance is the children's room's closet and the exit is the living room ceiling.

** Even some theologians of UsefulNotes/{{Christianity}} have proposed models by which ''everybody'' ultimately is saved, and so a Hell exists -- but because God is merciful, it is empty.

* PlayedForLaughs in ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'': everyone who is not a Mormon goes to Hell disregarding of his actions in life. This is a TakeThat on those fundamentalist groups that truly think that most of humanity from Gandhi to Hitler would go to Hell for not being part of their very specific group.

* The Underworld in ''Series/LegendOfTheSeeker'' is where veryone go after dead disregarding of deeds and it looks like a green and dark FireAndBrimstoneHell.

** ''Film/{{Beetlejuice}}'': All dead go to the same afterlife were apparently they remain somewhat looking like the way they died and just live in a twisted gothic-version of our world (some may haunt thier old homes however), which is not really heaven or hell (depending on your liking) the only ones truly punished are suicidal that are forced into government workers.

->'''Davy Jones:''' Life is cruel. Why should the afterlife be any ''different?''
-->--''Film/PiratesOfTheCaribbeanDeadMansChest''

* In ''Literature/TheSilmarillion'', one's fate after death is determined by one's race, not one's actions. Elves go to the Halls of Mandos (although once there, Mandos can decide to keep them there or resurrect them), humans go somewhere outside the known universe, and dwarves go hang out with the Vala (very powerful angel) that created them. Hobbits are generally considered a sub-race of Men and presumably share their fate. If there's a particular destination for ents, orcs, trolls, ''et cetera'', it's never specified.

* In ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'', it is described how the soul of a monster, regardless of moral alignment, is sent to a realm collectively known as Purgatory after a monster dies. Once there, the soul is placed in a constant struggle of "prey or be preyed upon" by the souls of other monsters for all eternity.

** Though Hades' realm is often described as split up into special areas for the worst and best of humanity. Most people go to the bleak Asphodel fields, those who have particularly offended the gods are tormented in Tartarus, and the greatest heroes and philosophers resided in Elysium.

* PlayedForLaughs in ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'': everyone who is not a Mormon goes to Hell disregarding of his actions in life. This is a TakeThat on those fundamentalist groups that truly think that most of humanity from Ghandi to Hitler would go to Hell for not being part of their very specific group.

* In ''Manga/{{Berserk}}'', all human characters who perish in the series (Apostles especially) end up being sent to the Abyss, a realm consisting of only nightmarish forms and a swirling ocean of writhing souls known as both Heaven and Hell. Considering the CrapsackWorld that Berserk is set in, many would consider the Abyss to be Hell, especially since it is the source of the setting's primary supernatural villains, the demon gods known as the God Hand [[spoiler:and the Idea of Evil that created them]]. It's implied that the Abyss is actually the astral plane, the realm of the human subconscious mind and soul, which is why [[spoiler: The Idea of Evil]] is there in the first place, having been brought into existance by the collective subconscious of humanity.

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** ''WesternAnimation/CorpseBride'' features the Land Of the Dead, a twilight but colorful realm everyone goes to when they die, regardless of how they acted in life. In many ways, the realm is a huge improvement over the grey and stifling land of the living, as the dead lose their earthly pain and ailments and often feel better than they had when they were alive. However, while the dead wont touch the living, they ''will'' go after anyone who's wronged them once the perpetrator has died and is thus fair game, as [[AssholeVictim Lord Farkis]] discovered.

* There's a joke where an atheist dies and goes to FluffyCloudheaven. As he's being shown around, he sees Muslims, Jews, Hindus and Buddhists all coexisting peacefully, and an enormous wall. When he asks what's on the other side, he's told "Christians- [[EgocentricallyReligious they think they're the only ones around.]]" There's variations of the joke with other groups instead as well.

[[folder:LiveActionTV]]

* There's a joke where an atheist dies and goes to FluffyCloudheaven. As he's being shown around, he sees Muslims, Jews, Hindus and Buddhists all coexisting peacefully, and an enormous wall. When he asks what's on the other side, he's told "Christians- they think they're the only ones around." There's variations of the joke with other groups instead as well.

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' episode ''[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS23E16HowIWetYourMother How I Wet Your Mother]]'', as the family are falling to their deaths, Professor Frink tells them that he's managed to prove there's no that Hell exists and everybody goes there. Though people have been seen going to Heaven have appeared in other episodes.