History Main / RescuedFromTheUnderworld

* ''ComicBook/FantasticFour'': During Creator/MarkWaid's run, the Fantastic Four rescued their fallen teammate Ben Grimm in this manner (albeit retrieving him from Heaven rather than Hell).

This is a DeathTrope so expect heavy spoilers.

* ''VideoGame/FatalFrame 2'': Mio shoots her way ([[FirstPersonSnapshooter with a camera!]]) through a village worth of hordes of vengeful ghosts to save her [[VideoGameCaringPotential little sister Mayu]]. Bonus point for (in Best Ending route) [[ToHellAndBack going down into Abyss]] to retrieve her back. She didn't come out unscathed from the whole ordeal, but at least she's now closer to Mayu than ever.

* ''VideoGame/{{Touhou}} 07: Perfect Cherry Blossom'' has the three main characters going to Hakugyokurou, a realm of ''virtuous'' dead (think Elysium), to take back the Spring essence of Gensokyo which is stolen by the hungry ghost [[BigBad Yuyuko]].
** In ''Touhou 12: Undefined Fantastic Object'', it's the followers of Byakuren who seek to liberate her from imprisonment in Pandemonium. [[spoiler: She was imprisoned by her ''[[HumansAreBastards fellow humans]]'' [[FantasticRacism for befriending the youkai]].]] The [[YouBastard player characters]] mistakenly believe they're trying to resurrect a terrible monstrosity.

* ''Franchise/KingdomHearts'' sets up about six of these in ''[[VideoGame/KingdomHeartsBirthBySleep Birth by Sleep]]''. Interesting because all six are important characters whose growth, contribution to the plot, and tragic downfall took up about the space of a full game each, and each of them went in a completely different way. So it's a bit of a task for TheHero to bring them all back. ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsCoded'' and ''VideoGame/KingdomHearts3DDreamDropDistance'' continue the set up for these rescues, giving the heroes the information and abilities they need to stage them in an upcoming game.

* In order to get the best endings of ''VideoGame/KingsQuestVI'', Prince Alexander has to travel to the Land of the Dead and bargain with its Lord for the souls of the King and Queen of the Green Isles, who had been murdered by [[TreacherousAdvisor Abdul Alhazred]] in a bid for power. Given the series' roots in fairy tales and myths, this is almost certainly a reference to the myth of Orpheus.

[-[[caption-width-right:350:Orpheus in the underworld, rescuing his wife. For a value of "rescue" that includes walking off with a lute.]]-]

* This is the basic premise of ''Comicbook/AngelaQueenOfHel'' albeit the title suggests that Angela's quest to save her dead beloved Sera probably wont go without [[YouKillItYouBoughtIt complications]].
* In ''ComicBook/ChicagoTypewriter'', a demon steals the soul of Emilio Enzo's girlfriend, Katherine. Enzo must venture to the underworld to rescue her.
* In ''ComicBook/DayOfJudgement'', various heroes are forced to travel to Purgatory to recruit a new soul to bond with the Spectre after Jim Corrigan ascends into Heaven, resulting in Hal Jordan bonding with the Spectre and starting a chain of events that will restore him to full life.
* During Creator/MarkWaid's run, the ''Comicbook/FantasticFour'' rescued their fallen teammate Ben Grimm in this manner (albeit retrieving him from Heaven rather than Hell).
* ComicBook/PatsyWalker had this happen to her twice, giving extra meaning to her superhero name Hellcat. And both stays in hell caused by her ex-husband Daimon "Son of Satan" Hellstrom: first, following her [[DrivenToSuicide death]], by accident (The Avengers unknowingly rescued her soul from Hell thinking she was the recently deceased Comicbook/{{Mockingbird}}), and then in ''Marvel Divas'', after a DealWithTheDevil where she agreed to spend time with Daimon to cure the cancer of her friend Firestar, only for Firestar and two others to go rescue Patsy.
* ''ComicBook/TheSandman1989'' features at least two cases: The title character going into Hell to release an old love that he'd [[DisproportionateRetribution condemned]] [[WomanScorned after she rejected him]], and his son Orpheus's trope-naming trip to retrieve Eurydice. The other underworld rescue in Myth/GreekMythology (Heracles rescuing Theseus) is stated by Death to be complete BS: Heracles simply got blackout drunk for two weeks.
* A story arc of ''ComicBook/SecretSix'' had them doing this to rescue Scandal's lover Knockout.
* In Phil Foglio's 1993 adaptation of ''ComicBook/StanleyAndHisMonster'', Stanley Dover's monster friend Spot turns out to be a demon who was kicked out of Hell for being too nice. When Spot goes back to Hell to protect the Dovers, Stanley must go and rescue him.
* The second ''[[Comicbook/SwampThing Swamp Thing Annual]]'' has the title character, with the assistance of ComicBook/ThePhantomStranger and ComicBook/{{Etrigan}}, journey out-of-body to Hell in order to rescue Abby, whose soul her uncle Anton Arcane had maliciously cast down there.
* In ComicBook/ThePhantomStranger tie-in to ''ComicBook/TrinityWar'', the Phantom Stranger and a few other heroes go to heaven's basement to rescue the soul of a dead hero. [[spoiler:They fail and the Stranger is sent to oblivion while the heroes are sent back to Earth]].

* One ''Webcomic/WhatsNewWithPhilAndDixie'' strip was about the tendency for adventuring parties to rescue members from Hell, despite all the problems with doing so. It also notes that this only applies if you die ''on an adventure''; if you subsequently die of old age, you might find yourself back there for good.
-->'''Zak''': Maybe I should have read some of the cleric's pamphlets.\\
'''Demon''': Maybe you shouldn't have given everyone an ExplodingCigar on the way out.

* Played with in ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'' when Fry and Leela go to Robot Hell (which is underneath [[{{Joisey}} New Jersey]]) to rescue Bender after he's abducted by the Robot Devil.

* ''VideoGame/AdventureTimeFinnAndBones}}'' The Player plays as Finn to fight through and rescue Jake from the land of the underworld after Jake drinks the water of forgetfulness by a skeleton.

* ''VideoGame/{{Bayonetta 2}}'' kicks off with Bayonetta heading off to Inferno to rescue her friend Jeanne after her soul is DraggedOffToHell by a demon gone rogue.

* ''Film/HoneyBaby'' has a dream sequence where Tom, as Orpheus, goes to rescue Maria from Karl, who are Eurydice and Hades, respectively. Seeing Karl's reflection in the mirror makes him turn back and lose Maria.

* Done by the protagonist in the campy 1992 movie ''Film/HighwayToHell'', after his girlfriend is kidnapped by the devil. (That's right, ''kidnapped''; while still alive. The DealWithTheDevil part is saved for when they try to escape.)

*** Another version (and arguably, the most accurate one) has Persephone ''voluntarily'' running off with Hades, to both get away from her overcontrolling and overprotective mother ''and'' grasp power for herself, as Zeus had his eye on her (and had apparently raped her already) and Hades is quite the catch, technically speaking. When it looks like war between the gods if she doesn't come back, she eats a few pomegranate seeds ''deliberately'' to ensure she at least gets a vacation from her mom and pervert father once a year, meaning for her "purgatory" is actually the half of the year she's ''not'' in the Underworld.

->“You need to understand it wasn’t her fault, alright? You need to understand none of this was her fault, but suicide means something to a Catholic. So I walked down and carried her back. She tried to fight me and run back to it. Can you believe that? She tried to run back to the eating and purging and eating and...”
->...
->“I’m going to walk back when I get my head together a little and try and find the rest of her, but until then...”
->[[spoiler: Like he said, ''she’s got to eat.'']]
* Easily possible in ''TabletopGame/ForgottenRealms'', due to the ease with which the Outer Planes can be accessed.
** Occurs with the soul of [[spoiler:Aribeth]] in the Forgotten Realms-set game ''VideoGame/NeverwinterNights: Hordes of the Underdark''.
* You can bring back dead people from TheUnderworld in ''TabletopGame/GeistTheSinEaters'', but not without paying some (very terrible) price to the Kerberoi.
** While not going to the realm of the dead ''per se'', some [[TabletopGame/ChangelingTheLost Changelings]] make it their mission to raid Arcadia to free the humans kidnapped by [[TheFairFolk True Fae]], themselves being victims of True Fae in the past. It's only more admirable when you consider [[RealityIsOutToLunch just what kind of place Arcadia is]], and what [[MindScrew effect it has upon the fragile psyche of the Changelings]].
** Some [[TabletopGame/WerewolfTheForsaken werewolves]] also make it their mission to eject humans who are trapped in the Spirit World, although it's more having to do with keeping orders in their territories than altruism for the poor humans.

* ''Machinima/RedVsBlue'' has something like this for Church following Tex [[spoiler: into the capture unit]] at the end of Season 8 and into Season 9, followed by the rest of the squad trying to save him as well throughout the present timeline of Nine. [[spoiler: Church is eventually saved... after he [[WhamLine comes to peace with Tex's death and erases his memory of her.]]]]