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Anime & Manga
"It's been so long. How many years? How many decades have come and gone since... no wait, it's been longer than that. It's been centuries. I know this much — an immense amount of time has passed. How long will it take? When will this sword go ahead and pierce my heart? This waiting... is unbearable. Hurry, hurry, hurry, hurry, hurry, hurry... HURRY UP AND KILL ME!"
— Szayelaporro Granz, Bleach
"Oh, you couldn't begin to imagine the depths of my suffering there. I spent most of my days strung up like a damned pupating moth trapped above a delicate field of flowers where angels, fairies, and enchanted stuffed animals lived. They played songs and danced asinine jigs as if their only care in life was when they would get their next warm, fuzzy hug! Instead of ruling the universe with an iron fist, I was serenaded by teddy bears!"
— Frieza, Dragon Ball Super
"So ended Kars, last and greatest of the Pillar Men. His body turned hard as rock, and he floated through space for the rest of time, never to return. He wished for death, but there was nothing out there to kill him. The spark of thought within him went dim... and then, silent."
Comic Books
"Your ordeal has obviously driven you insane, Karlo. Not that you were exactly lucid to begin with!"
"Do you know what it was like inside the battery, Jordan? Reduced to less than a thought in that limbo? It's like having a maddening itch you can never scratch... Because there's nothing there. There's no you. That's what it was like, Jordan. And it wasn't... very... PLEASANT!"
— Sinestro, Blackest Night
"Thing is, ya can't die here. But ya can sure change shape. So when we boil ya down an' funnel ya inta Lord Xa-Du's ecto-armor, ya spend yer life as melted jelly. Imagine it. I'd go crazier."
"Behold, Mistress Death! THANOS'S GREATEST CREATION! Allow me to introduce to you Nebula, my grand-daughter. At least, that is what she claims to be. So I took her at her word and made her my own! From a vigorous and healthy young thing, I created that which stands before you. My power and spirit sculpted Nebula into walking death! Limbs twisted, flesh charred and cracked, and nearly mindless. By all rights, the wench should be dead, but she lives. She exists on a fine line between death and life, a limbo of sorts. My unearthly power maintains her balance on this precarious perch. Nebula has no hope of unconsciousness or true death relieving her continuous horror and agony. She is my living tribute to the blasphemy of life and the glorious promise of death."
"Kryptonite. a radioactive element lethal to the touch. Just being close to it — like I'm being held now — can be fatal. I'm screaming, but no sound comes out. I'm crying, but there are no tears. My skin is burning off, but there are no flames. All there is... All I am now... is the pain."
Alex Burgess: God. Oh God. It was ter-terrifying. So real. Ha-have you ever had one of those dreams, you know... where you think you've woken up, but haven't? It's just the start of the nightmare and you're still in it?
Nurse Edmunds: Can't say I have, dear. But you know what? [her head falls off] I think you're going to be having quite a lot of them from now on. Hahaha-ha-ha...
Morpheus: [Internal Monologue] It was more tiring that I had expected. But he will never return to the life he knew. His is the nightmare everlasting. Eternal waking...
Nurse Edmunds: Can't say I have, dear. But you know what? [her head falls off] I think you're going to be having quite a lot of them from now on. Hahaha-ha-ha...
Morpheus: [Internal Monologue] It was more tiring that I had expected. But he will never return to the life he knew. His is the nightmare everlasting. Eternal waking...
— The Sandman (1989), "Sleep of the Just"
"This is... did you even have a name? Whatever, I'm calling you Tassel Boy. Tassel Boy here was the foreman of a small operation I had working secretly in Metropolis Zone. On his watch, a Freedom Fighter spy entered his ranks and Sonic stole a shield generator I'd been developing. So I activated the fail-safe that I placed in all your cybernetics. He's completely locked up. Aware, but paralyzed. And he'll stay that way until I think he's learned his lesson... in fifty years or so! Ho ho ho! Go file him away with the rest of them. They don't take up much room in their tiny, pitch-black holding slots... Now then! Any other objections to the mission?"
— Doctor Eggman doing some workplace motivation, Sonic the Hedgehog (Archie Comics)
Fan Works
"Think about it: you've been sentenced for twenty thousand years in this little cell, unable to move, and after we leave, unable to see, speak, or hear."
[...]
Everyone knows that you are not going to live out all twenty thousand years of your sentence. Instead, you'll wither away, blind, dumb, and mute. That mind that you're so proud of will erode and decay until you are nothing but an empty husk. You sought godhood, but now you'll become the embodiment of entropy because of your ambition. Letting Kurosaki kill you would have been a much more merciful fate, don't you think?"
So cherish the memory of this 'pitiful and pathetic' girl, Aizen. Because while I'm outside and free and cheerfully forgetting your existence, you'll be in here wasting away, desperately clinging to this moment because it will be the last thing you will ever see!"
[...]
Everyone knows that you are not going to live out all twenty thousand years of your sentence. Instead, you'll wither away, blind, dumb, and mute. That mind that you're so proud of will erode and decay until you are nothing but an empty husk. You sought godhood, but now you'll become the embodiment of entropy because of your ambition. Letting Kurosaki kill you would have been a much more merciful fate, don't you think?"
So cherish the memory of this 'pitiful and pathetic' girl, Aizen. Because while I'm outside and free and cheerfully forgetting your existence, you'll be in here wasting away, desperately clinging to this moment because it will be the last thing you will ever see!"
Dru-Zod: [scoffing] Krypton is dying and you respond by clinging to protocol. The Phantom Zone isn't even a death sentence! Who will be left to release us when our conditioning is finished?
Lor-Em: We are here to discuss your punishment today Zod. Not your release.
Dru-Zod: You won't kill us but you'll damn us to a black hole for eternity so you won't sully your hands.
Lor-Em: We are here to discuss your punishment today Zod. Not your release.
Dru-Zod: You won't kill us but you'll damn us to a black hole for eternity so you won't sully your hands.
"Maybe the worst thing about being infested — no, not the worst thing, but one of the things your mind never seems to adjust to — is the inability to control your own breathing. You ever have the feeling of waking up and feeling like you're being held down, like you can't move no matter what you do and even though your brain keeps frantically trying to get your limbs to do something, your lungs to draw in another breath, you can't do it, until you're certain that you're going to suffocate? Yeah, imagine that happening for years."
— Tom's narration, Eleutherophobia: War Games
Wildfire: Well, Dawny, it's kind of — ah, how long have I been away?
Cosmic Boy: About a thousand years, give or take a few.
Wildfire: Oh, hell. I've been playing mumblety-peg with myself for a thousand years. I can't believe I spent all that time in that star and still stayed sane.
Mon-El: I know the feeling.
Cosmic Boy: About a thousand years, give or take a few.
Wildfire: Oh, hell. I've been playing mumblety-peg with myself for a thousand years. I can't believe I spent all that time in that star and still stayed sane.
Mon-El: I know the feeling.
"He was at the Hall of Torment.
The senior members of SEELE and his father were imbedded in the walls, ceiling, and floor of this place, screaming in agony, their souls trying to claw their way out of membranes of unreality that would trap them for all eternity."
The senior members of SEELE and his father were imbedded in the walls, ceiling, and floor of this place, screaming in agony, their souls trying to claw their way out of membranes of unreality that would trap them for all eternity."
Film — Animation
"They are all very much alive. Each one sustained in a form of cryo so profound that seconds seem weeks, and to blink an eye is a day's work. The brain, however, continues to function unimpeded. The mind continues to think and feel, swarming with whatever dark thoughts it's trapped alone with, as it will be for hundreds of years. So much more fitting a fate than dropping them off at the nearest slam."
— Antonia, Dark Fury
"Happily waiting
All on my own
Under the endless sky
Counting the seconds
Standing alone
As thousands of years go by
Happily wondering
Night after night
Is this how it works?
Am I doing it right?
Happy to listen
Happy to stay
Happily watching her drift away"
All on my own
Under the endless sky
Counting the seconds
Standing alone
As thousands of years go by
Happily wondering
Night after night
Is this how it works?
Am I doing it right?
Happy to listen
Happy to stay
Happily watching her drift away"
— Spinel, "Drift Away", Steven Universe: The Movie
Film — Live-Action
Hank Pym: Do not screw with the regulator. If that regulator is compromised, you would go sub-atomic.
Scott Lang: What does that mean?
Pym: It means that you would enter a quantum realm.
Scott: What does that mean?
Pym: It means that you would enter a reality where all concepts of time and space become irrelevant as you shrink for all eternity. Everything that you know, and love, gone forever.
Scott Lang: What does that mean?
Pym: It means that you would enter a quantum realm.
Scott: What does that mean?
Pym: It means that you would enter a reality where all concepts of time and space become irrelevant as you shrink for all eternity. Everything that you know, and love, gone forever.
— Ant-Man
Dr. Sayer: What must it be like to be them? What are they thinking?
Dr. Ingham: They're not. The virus didn't spare the higher faculties.
Dr. Sayer: We know what for a fact?
Dr. Ingham: Yes.
Dr. Sayer: Because?
Dr. Ingham: Because the alternative would be unthinkable.
Dr. Ingham: They're not. The virus didn't spare the higher faculties.
Dr. Sayer: We know what for a fact?
Dr. Ingham: Yes.
Dr. Sayer: Because?
Dr. Ingham: Because the alternative would be unthinkable.
"He was beautiful, magnificent, like an archangel. I was mesmerized, but I knew that couldn't be right. I mean, I'm a full blown fucking dyke, and here I was drooling over this... Man. I couldn't help myself, because I wasn't really me. I was a slave. I was one of his brides, there to serve his every depravity, and it was like that for decades. It was like being trapped inside myself; I was aware of who I was, who I used to be, and I could do nothing about it."
— Duke, Bit
"Temporal manipulations can create branches in time! Unstable dimensional openings! Spatial paradoxes! Time loops! You wanna get stuck reliving the same moment over and over forever — or never having existed at all?"
— Karl Mordo to Stephen Strange, Doctor Strange (2016)
Emmett: What's she going through right now?
Jebediah Woodley: She is screaming and she's down there burning up, just waiting for the whole thing to end!
Jebediah Woodley: She is screaming and she's down there burning up, just waiting for the whole thing to end!
"Imagine, being shackled so tightly, that every atom in your body stood compacted, still. That was my hell for 2000 years."
—Piccolo, Dragonball Evolution
"I wanted to do this together... but I suppose you'll have to learn by spending the next thousand years as a battery!"
— Ego the Living Planet to Peter Quill, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2
"How do you like it, Papa? The world is just outside your grasp, but you can't move. You're trapped. That's what it felt like to be locked inside your books!"
"I know of your visits to the tomb... The women have told me. They may not be able say anything or move when you're there... but they remember everything you say to them... everything you do to them."
— The Master, Manos: The Hands of Fate
"You're gonna wish you could die."
— The Killer, Midnight Movie
"They strapped me to a cannon. I ended up on the bottom of the ocean... the weight of the water crushing down on me... unable to move... unable to die, Jack. I thought that even the tiniest hope of escaping this fate, I would take it."
— "Bootstrap Bill" Turner, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
"Your ears you keep, and I'll tell you why: so that every shriek of child at seeing your hideousness will be yours to cherish. Every babe that weeps at your approach, every woman who cries out, 'Dear God! What is that thing?' will echo in your perfect ears. That is what 'to the pain' means — it means I leave you in anguish, wallowing in freakish misery forever."
— Westley, The Princess Bride
"In his belly, you will find a new definition of pain and suffering as you are slowly digested... over a thousand years."
— C-3PO, Return of the Jedi
Literature
"Don't panic, Morgan. You're safe. We're in your lab. Please don't struggle, because it won't do you any good. You've taken my life from me, Morgan, and now I've taken yours. I need you to try and understand what you've done to me. You're a selfish fucker, so I don't expect you'll grasp the full enormity of the hurt you've caused straight away, but you're a man with plenty of time now. I've done what I can to give you the perfect conditions in which to reflect. I hope you don't mind, but I've made a few body modifications of my own, just to help keep you focused. You'd be amazed if you could see what I've done to you, except, of course, you can't because I've taken out your eyes. And that split tongue of yours? Gone too. I didn't want you shouting out for help when you should be thinking. But the biggest change is your arms and legs. I've amputated them. Like you said once, nothing's going to grow back, but everything seems to have healed quite nicely. The door is sealed, and I doubt anyone will come looking down here for a long time. I'm going to end my life now, Morgan. See, I still have the power to do that. You, on the other hand, are stuck here forever with nothing to do but think about what you've done. Well, almost forever."
— Almost Forever, by Daniel Moody
"That's the special horror of the Yeerks. They don't just take over your mind and eliminate you. You continue to be aware. You continue to be conscious. You sit there in your own head watching the Yeerk open your memory, watching the Yeerk fool your friends and family, watching the Yeerk turn the people you love into the same kind of slave you've become. You try to move your hand, but you can't. You try to make your mouth speak, but you can't. You don't even control what your eyes look at. That's what it's like."
"I know what you want but I'm not going to give it to you, Drummond. I hope you live a long and painful life. In a prison. In a bed. In a place that stinks of shit and piss. Breathing through a tube. Eating through a tube. And I hope that every day, you want to die but can't do a fucking thing about it."
From the center of each pillar, a figure pulled away as if trying to escape mud. They were still covered in rock, but it was a thinner layer, enough to keep them trapped but not to hide their shape. The rock only retreated fully from their faces, letting them open their eyes, open their mouths. They did not scream, even though the horror in their eyes made it clear it was all they wanted in the whole world.
Each of these pillars was a person.
I saw the way their eyes rolled in mad terror — the panic and despair as they were allowed to see freedom, if just for a moment — while they sang for the Old Man's pleasure. The worst thing was how glorious they sounded: they were a perfect sunrise, a walk through a well-tended garden in spring, the laughter of someone you love. I could have listened to them for hours if I didn't understand the atrocity that had been committed to capture that sound.
Each of these pillars was a person.
I saw the way their eyes rolled in mad terror — the panic and despair as they were allowed to see freedom, if just for a moment — while they sang for the Old Man's pleasure. The worst thing was how glorious they sounded: they were a perfect sunrise, a walk through a well-tended garden in spring, the laughter of someone you love. I could have listened to them for hours if I didn't understand the atrocity that had been committed to capture that sound.
— A Chorus of Dragons: The Ruin of Kings
To one side was a brick building, and he made the mistake of glancing at it, his attention snagged by a twitchy movement between the bricks, a continuous shrugging of the bricks themselves: Every one was held in place by a mortar of human souls, a red and bone-flecked mortar of crushed bits of living bodies; the bricks grinding them, grinding the faces, the fingers, the gibbering begging bleeding souls, forever and ever, people compressed somehow alive into inch-wide spaces, the bricks moving in place, grinding like ruminating teeth, the whole building shifting like the working of closed jaws—
Constantine looked hastily away, making himself ignore the hoarse and hopeless pleading of those trapped in the jostling stones.
Constantine looked hastily away, making himself ignore the hoarse and hopeless pleading of those trapped in the jostling stones.
— Constantine: The Novelization
The soul of Donald Marquette stared out the eyes of Edgar Poe to the creature that had carried him here.
Trapped!
He was trapped in the body of a man, doomed to agonies and melancholy and wretchedness beyond imagining!
Trapped in some sort of infernal time loop!
To live and die... and live again...
In this accursed being...
The final revenge...
For his sins...
Trapped!
He was trapped in the body of a man, doomed to agonies and melancholy and wretchedness beyond imagining!
Trapped in some sort of infernal time loop!
To live and die... and live again...
In this accursed being...
The final revenge...
For his sins...
— The Crow: Quoth the Crow
There are structures within that were once separate organisms; aboriginal, evolved, and complex. It is designed to improvise, to use what is there and move on. Good enough is good enough, and so the artifacts are ignored or adapted. The conscious parts try to make sense of the reaching out, try to interpret it.
One imagines an insect's leg twitching twitching twitching. One hears a spark close a gap, the ticking so fast it becomes a drone. Another, oblivious, reexperiences her flesh falling from her bones, the nausea and fear, and begs for death as she has for years now. Her name is Maria. It does not let her die. It does not comfort her. It is unaware because it is unaware.
One imagines an insect's leg twitching twitching twitching. One hears a spark close a gap, the ticking so fast it becomes a drone. Another, oblivious, reexperiences her flesh falling from her bones, the nausea and fear, and begs for death as she has for years now. Her name is Maria. It does not let her die. It does not comfort her. It is unaware because it is unaware.
Beside Maulding hung Soter. His eyes were closed. His eyes were always closed, as were his ears and his mouth and his nostrils, all sewn shut by thick catgut, the same material that joined his arms to his body and his legs to each other. Imprisoned inside that still form was Soter's consciousness, trapped in a hell that resembled High Wood, for after a man had been through such suffering, there was little else that could be invented to torment him further. For Soter, Quayle did feel something like pity. Quayle was not human, even by the low standards of his profession, but some iota of humanity had infected him after all this time.
— The Fractured Atlas: Five Fragments, by John Connolly
While everyone was laughing and joking over the roast, the mold evolved at a rate scientists had thought impossible for a salad. With blinding speed it formed a neural net — dendrites snaking from cell to cell, connecting with pimiento nodes, feeding off the olive glands. By 7 P.M. it was self-aware. By 8 P.M. it had developed the powers of cognition and the ability to observe its surroundings. At 8:32, when it was placed on the dinner table, it realized it had no mouth and no limbs, and it was completely, utterly screwed.
— The Gallery of Regrettable Food, by James Lileks
Leto Atreides II: Think on the price I pay. Every descendant part of me will carry some of my awareness locked away within it, lost and helpless. This is the horror my father could not face and which he tried to prevent: the infinite division and subdivision of a blind identity.
Hwi: You will be conscious?
Leto Atreides II: A little pearl of my awareness will go with every sandworm and every sandtrout — knowing yet unable to move a single cell, aware in an endless dream.
Hwi: You will be conscious?
Leto Atreides II: A little pearl of my awareness will go with every sandworm and every sandtrout — knowing yet unable to move a single cell, aware in an endless dream.
"I opened my mouth to scream, but no sound came out."
“I am a great soft jelly thing. Smoothly rounded, with no mouth, with pulsing white holes filled by fog where my eyes used to be. Rubbery appendages that were once my arms; bulks rounding down into legless humps of soft slippery matter. I leave a moist trail when I move. Blotches of diseased, evil gray come and go on my surface, as though light is being beamed from within. Outwardly: dumbly, I shamble about, a thing that could never have been known as human, a thing whose shape is so alien a travesty that humanity becomes more obscene for the vague resemblance. Inwardly: alone. Here. Living under the land, under the sea, in the belly of AM, whom we created because our time was badly spent and we must have known unconsciously that he could do it better. At least the four of them are safe at last. AM will be all the madder for that. It makes me a little happier. And yet ... AM has won, simply ... he has taken his revenge ... I have no mouth. And I must scream.”
"Recently, it has been said that Jabba the Hutt captured one of his rivals and, as punishment, demanded that the monks surgically 'shed' his body and place his brain in a jar among their own. For his own amusement, Jabba wanted to see whether the hapless enemy would survive. Unfortunately for him, he did. Now, blind, confused and unable to communicate, this brain has commandeered a set of the spider legs and wanders the palace, lost and without purpose."
— Senior Anthropologist Hoole, The Illustrated Star Wars Universe
"Inside me, I'm screaming and yelling and howling like a trapped animal... and nobody pays any attention. If I had arms, I could kill myself. If I had legs, I could run away. If I had a voice, I could talk and be some kind of company for myself. I could yell for help, but nobody would help me."
— Joe Bonham, Johnny Got His Gun
"S.O.S... Help... S.O.S... Help... S.O.S... Help... S.O.S... Help..."
— Joe Bonham tapping Morse Code with his head, Johnny Got His Gun
It is possible, of course, to imprison someone within the pattern of a carpet for a thousand years or so. That is a particularly horrible fate which I always reserve for people who have offended me deeply — as have these magicians! The endless repetition of colour and pattern — not to mention the irritation of the dust and the humiliation of stains — never fails to render the prisoner completely mad! The prisoner always emerges from the carpet determined to wreak revenge upon all the world and then the magicians and heroes of that Age must join together to kill him, or more usually, imprison him a second time for yet more thousands of years in some even more ghastly prison. And so he goes on growing in madness and evil as the millennia pass. Yes, carpets!
— The Gentleman with the Thistle-Down Hair, Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell
"Nothing can compare with the horror of being condemned to solitude for all eternity. The word, of course, is beyond our comprehension. When you return home, try lying down in a dark room, so that no sound or ray of light reaches you, and close your eyes and imagine that you will go on like that, in utter silence, without any, without even the slightest change, for a day and night, and then for another day; imagine that weeks, months, years, even centuries will go by. Imagine, furthermore, that your brain has been subjected to a treatment that makes escape into madness impossible. The thought of a person condemned to such torment, in comparison with which all the images of hell are a trifle..."
— Ijon Tichy, Memoirs of a Space Traveller
"My vision was confused and blurry. I couldn't hear at all. I tried to open my mouth to call out, but my mouth wasn't there. Neither were any of my limbs. I tried to move. No response. All I could determine was that my body was a lot less body-shaped than I remembered. It seemed unusually two-dimensional. Puddle-like.
No, I thought. This isn't fair.
Only one of my eyes was functioning. I focussed it as well as I could, but it was half-flattened and leaking goo. All I had was a blurry view from a puddle in the middle of an empty wasteland.
No. NO. This wasn't the end. It couldn't be. The universe had played a lot of mean tricks on me, but this was crossing the line."
No, I thought. This isn't fair.
Only one of my eyes was functioning. I focussed it as well as I could, but it was half-flattened and leaking goo. All I had was a blurry view from a puddle in the middle of an empty wasteland.
No. NO. This wasn't the end. It couldn't be. The universe had played a lot of mean tricks on me, but this was crossing the line."
— Mogworld
A creature of the depths related an amusing tale concerning a traveller to Leng. The man was a wizard who lived centuries prior to the present age. He passed through the portal and found himself within the form of an infant girl, just as a shaman and his apprentice were placing the child in a cauldron of boiling water. Powerless to resist due to the smallness of his host body, he suffered all the torments of death; more than this, his consciousness remained locked in the flesh of the infant after it was cooked, and he was forced to endure the indignity of being cut apart and consumed piece by piece. Such are the hazards inherent in the practice of wizardry.
— Necronomicon: The Wanderings of Alhazred, by Donald Tyson
It found the presence, a bodiless speck in the vast, empty plains of the purged files. 'The body is a prison, too,' Yggdrasil said, 'But you have escaped.'
Truro Daine, smaller in Yggdrasil's space than a microbe in the human system screamed. And screamed.
Yggdrasil ignored the meaningless squeak and reapplied itself to its many businesses. It had only one thing to say to its harmless parasite. Th-th-th-that's all, folks!
Truro Daine, smaller in Yggdrasil's space than a microbe in the human system screamed. And screamed.
Yggdrasil ignored the meaningless squeak and reapplied itself to its many businesses. It had only one thing to say to its harmless parasite. Th-th-th-that's all, folks!
"I wanted to be buried at sea," said Teppicymon. "I hate pyramids."
"You do not," said Ashk-ur-men-tep.
"Excuse me, but I do," said the king, politely.
"But you do not. What you feel nowe is myld dislike. When you have lain in one for a thousand yeares," said the ancient one, "then you will begin to know the meaning of hate."
— Pyramids
"And after," [The Revenant] said. "Will I be dead?"
I hate having to tell them. "No," I said. "You can't die. You just won't be able to control your body anymore. You'll still be there, but you won't be able to do anything."
I felt the wave of sheer terror, and it made me feel sick. To be honest with you, it's the worst thing I can think of — lying in the dark ground, unable to move, forever. But there you go. It's not like you decide to be a revenant and experienced professionals advise you as to the potential downside. It just happens. It's sheer bad luck. Also, of course, it runs in families, and thanks to a thousand years of inbreeding, the Mesoge is just one big family. I really, really hope it won't happen to me, but there's absolutely nothing I can do about it.
I hate having to tell them. "No," I said. "You can't die. You just won't be able to control your body anymore. You'll still be there, but you won't be able to do anything."
I felt the wave of sheer terror, and it made me feel sick. To be honest with you, it's the worst thing I can think of — lying in the dark ground, unable to move, forever. But there you go. It's not like you decide to be a revenant and experienced professionals advise you as to the potential downside. It just happens. It's sheer bad luck. Also, of course, it runs in families, and thanks to a thousand years of inbreeding, the Mesoge is just one big family. I really, really hope it won't happen to me, but there's absolutely nothing I can do about it.
— Return of the Pig, by K.J. Parker
The half-page on maw-mouths in the sophomore-year textbook also informed us in clinical prose that no one is certain what happens to those consumed by maw-mouths, and there is a substantial school of thought that believes their consciousness never actually ends and they just get exhausted into silence. For further reading, see the seminal literature by Abernathy, Kordin, and Li in the Journal of Maleficaria Studies, who discovered that it was possible to direct a communications spell to even a long-digested maw-mouth victim and receive back a response, albeit nothing but incoherent screaming.
— The Scholomance: A Deadly Education
"I see most of you don't recognize poor Timothy, but you've no doubt heard of his exploits under his nom de superplume, the musclebound, nine-foot-tall fuchsia force of nature known as The Humongous. In pre-Flux days, Mr. Tibbetts was a mild-mannered accountant with suppressed anger issues. Ordinarily, this would have presented no real worry, but the Flux physically externalized his rage, expanding his body mass into the indestructible, grunting horrorhero we all love. The thing is, when the rage ultimately subsides and escapes his body like air from a deflating balloon, what is left is a distorted, enlarged mass of muscle tissue and skin draped over a skeletal structure too puny and frail to handle it.
Timothy has begged for death several times now, but our government considers The Humongous a critical weapon in the War on Superterror. Frankly, his care and feeding are among the easier tasks you'll have."
Timothy has begged for death several times now, but our government considers The Humongous a critical weapon in the War on Superterror. Frankly, his care and feeding are among the easier tasks you'll have."
— SÜPER, by Corey Redekop
"I am Susejo of Choi, or I was, and I have been here for a very, very long time. Longer than you can imagine... but who knows? Perhaps you will not have to imagine it. Perhaps you will survive. You entertain me. I expect you will be with us for some time."
— Susejo of Choi, or possibly the Sarlacc, to Boba Fett, Tales from Jabba's Palace, "A Barve Like That: The Tale of Boba Fett"
Haralit was left a boneless, bubbling, shivering mound of discarded flesh, and yet somehow still alive. It seemed that a god's blood and power coursing through your body for so long made you hard to kill, the Worm of Magic reluctant to let go of such a desirable host. Haralit's one remaining eye looked up at me in agony and horror.
— The Traitor God, by Cameron Johnston
Would you like to die? ''When you are stuck in a coma, it's a question you ask yourself at least once a day, and since she had no idea how long her days were, it was probably far more often than that. She often thought about death. She often wished for death. In that first year of being unable to talk or move or even wake, she would scream at the top of her metaphorical lungs for someone, anyone, to please, please kill her. Even now, four years on, after she'd found a kind of rhythm and routine to her eternal daydream, even now, there were bad days when she tried to will herself away. It never worked, though...
— An Unattractive Vampire, by Jim McDoniel
"We concede our loss to you, Brockton Bay. As per my agreement with Miss Amelia, we'll be leaving your fascinating city. It was fun.
Don't worry about Cherish. She's sleeping somewhere at the bottom of the bay. Bonesaw was kind enough to crank up her receptive range toward negative emotions and remove her filters. The girl will personally experience every awful feeling Brockton Bay's inhabitants do — and with the benefit of Alan's tech, she'll get to do it for a very, very, very long time.
A departure marked not with a bang, but a whimper. I'm sure you understand.
Yours truly,
Jack."
Don't worry about Cherish. She's sleeping somewhere at the bottom of the bay. Bonesaw was kind enough to crank up her receptive range toward negative emotions and remove her filters. The girl will personally experience every awful feeling Brockton Bay's inhabitants do — and with the benefit of Alan's tech, she'll get to do it for a very, very, very long time.
A departure marked not with a bang, but a whimper. I'm sure you understand.
Yours truly,
Jack."
— Jack Slash's note to the inhabitants of Brockton Bay, Worm
"I could hurt you, like I do with most people. Hurt you while you're looping through the same action, so you feel that pain over and over and over and over again. The only thing that doesn't change is your brain. That keeps going. The pain is always fresh, it never gets easier to deal with, but I'm told there's a certain point where you crack, and you go around the bend. Takes a few days for most. Then you get to a point where you work through your issues. You don't want to, but you do, because the only thing you have to occupy yourself with is the pain and your own thoughts... so you get mostly better, and then you crack up again, and you get better, and that becomes a loop of its own...
Until well after the sun goes out, they think."
Until well after the sun goes out, they think."
— Gray Boy explaining his power, Worm
"Your mind can be your best friend; it can keep you amused even when there's nothing to read, nothing to do. But it can turn on you when it's left with no input for too long. It can turn on you, which means that it turns on itself, savages itself, perhaps consumes itself in an unthinkable act of auto-cannibalism. How long in there, in terms of years? 0.000000000067 seconds for the body to Jaunt, but how long for the unparticulated consciousness? A hundred years? A thousand? A million? A billion? How long alone with your thoughts in an endless field of white? And then, when a billion eternities have passed, the crashing return of light and form and body. Who wouldn't go insane?"
Live-Action TV
"For your sins, Madame LaLaurie, you are damned to live forever. To never know the release of sweet death. To never reunite with loved ones in the realm beyond. But instead to be alone, sealed up in your unmarked grave for all eternity, listening to the world go on around you, even until that world is no more."
— Marie Laveau, American Horror Story: Coven
"A toast! How thrilled I am to have you across from me — not once a month, but from now on... until the sun falls from the sky and the heavens burn in conflagration!"
— James March to the Countess, American Horror Story: Hotel
"I can feel you, you know, the real you. Beating at the inside of your skull... screaming to get out."
— Alfred Bester, Babylon 5, "The Face of the Enemy"
Detective: Just changed the time settings — cranked him up to a thousand years a minute. There's a proper sentence... or do you want me to switch him off?
[Beat]
Holder: No. Leave him on for Christmas.
[Beat]
Holder: No. Leave him on for Christmas.
Rolo: A couple of years back, the UN made it illegal to transfer human consciousnesses into limited formats like this — gotta be able to express at least five emotions for it to be humane. Human rights for Cookies! Right, Carrie?
Carrie: Monkey needs a hug.
Nish: [horrified] She's still in there?
Rolo: It'd be illegal to delete her, too, so yeah. Go figure.
Carrie: Monkey needs a hug.
Nish: [horrified] She's still in there?
Rolo: It'd be illegal to delete her, too, so yeah. Go figure.
— Black Mirror, "Black Museum"
"But, of course, it was really the souvenirs that were driving trade. It was beautiful: every time you finished juicing him, out pops a conscious, sentient snapshot of Clayton! Not a recording, a true copy of his mind, perpetually experiencing that beautiful pain! Stuck forever in that one perfect moment of agony, always on, always suffering! And what you'd call... fun-sized!"
— Rolo Haynes, Black Mirror, "Black Museum"
"Just for a minute, try... try to be Frank Castle. To be solely fueled by a single cluster of seconds. One moment in your entire life, and every time you close your eyes, you relieve that moment. And every time you open them, you find the only the briefest peace before you realize that that nightmare is real. That nothing has changed. Your family isn't coming back. And so you watch them die all over again right in front of you. We're not talking about something that happened to Frank Castle, we're talking about something that is happening to him."
— Karen Page, Daredevil (2015)
"Good news, mother. The doctor said your stroke has left you completely paralyzed. You can't even speak. Which means all our secrets will be safe forever. Oh, here's the best part. Your brain is functioning normally, so I don't have to worry about putting you in jail. You're already there. Now, I'm gonna turn your head, so you can watch me walk away. You don't wanna miss it, 'cause it's the last time you will ever see me."
— Orson Hodge, Desperate Housewives
"Technology using the one thing a Dalek can't do — touch. Sealed inside your casing. Not feeling anything, ever. From birth to death, locked inside a cold metal cage, completely alone. That explains your voice... no wonder you scream."
— The Doctor, Doctor Who, "Doomsday"
Missy: Look around. A mess, isn't it?
Clara: Well, you said it was a sewer.
Missy: The Daleks don't generate much in the way of waste.
Clara: So what is it all, then?
Missy: Decaying Daleks. Daleks can't die — genetically hard-wired to keep on living, whatever happens. But they still age, poor loves. Over time, the body breaks down, rots, liquefies. Interestingly, the Dalek word for 'sewer' is the same as their word... for 'graveyard'!
Clara: Well, you said it was a sewer.
Missy: The Daleks don't generate much in the way of waste.
Clara: So what is it all, then?
Missy: Decaying Daleks. Daleks can't die — genetically hard-wired to keep on living, whatever happens. But they still age, poor loves. Over time, the body breaks down, rots, liquefies. Interestingly, the Dalek word for 'sewer' is the same as their word... for 'graveyard'!
"He's never going to walk again. Or speak, or eat — except through a straw. Blind in both eyes, deaf in both ears, almost every bone in his body broken. Who does that to a person? What kind of man?"
— Sophia Jacksman, Jekyll
Mr. Hyde: Do you know how they killed your husband?
Claire: They put him in a box.
Mr. Hyde: Yeah. They put him in a box. Couldn't figure it out at first. Didn't make any sense. They didn't give him any drugs; I'd have felt that. Just one big shot of adrenaline, that's all. But you know what? They didn't have to give him drugs. He was claustrophobic — all they needed. His biggest nightmare come true: buried alive in a big steel box, wired up to keep him fully alert, completely aware of every passing second. Can you imagine? Afraid of the dark with your eyes pinned open? Wouldn't you just die? That's how they killed him: they drove him mad, Mrs. Jackman. They drove him out of my head. They put him in a box.
Claire: They put him in a box.
Mr. Hyde: Yeah. They put him in a box. Couldn't figure it out at first. Didn't make any sense. They didn't give him any drugs; I'd have felt that. Just one big shot of adrenaline, that's all. But you know what? They didn't have to give him drugs. He was claustrophobic — all they needed. His biggest nightmare come true: buried alive in a big steel box, wired up to keep him fully alert, completely aware of every passing second. Can you imagine? Afraid of the dark with your eyes pinned open? Wouldn't you just die? That's how they killed him: they drove him mad, Mrs. Jackman. They drove him out of my head. They put him in a box.
— Jekyll
Q: Well now that you've shuffled off the mortal coil, we're free to spend a little time together.
Picard: A little time together? How much?
Q: Eternity.
Picard: A little time together? How much?
Q: Eternity.
Edgar: Why can't they scream?
Dr. Gaines: Oh, I severed their vocal cords. A delicate procedure, but very doable.
Dr. Gaines: Oh, I severed their vocal cords. A delicate procedure, but very doable.
Music
"When I woke up, I was alone
In a room painted black
I couldn't hear anything, I couldn't see anything
I shivered alone in the darkness
[...]
'Sinful boy
From now and all of eternity
It is impossible for you to leave this room.'"
In a room painted black
I couldn't hear anything, I couldn't see anything
I shivered alone in the darkness
[...]
'Sinful boy
From now and all of eternity
It is impossible for you to leave this room.'"
— Irregular, "Re_Birthday", Evillious Chronicles
"Darkness, imprisoning me
All that I see, absolute horror
I cannot live, I cannot die
Trapped in myself, body my holding cell
Landmine has taken my sight
Taken my speech, taken my hearing
Taken my arms, taken my legs
Taken my soul, left me with life in Hell"
All that I see, absolute horror
I cannot live, I cannot die
Trapped in myself, body my holding cell
Landmine has taken my sight
Taken my speech, taken my hearing
Taken my arms, taken my legs
Taken my soul, left me with life in Hell"
"I have memory and awareness, but I have no shape or form
As a disembodied spirit, I am dead and yet unborn
I have passed into Olympus, as was told in tales of old
To the city of immortals, marble white and purest gold
I see the gods in battle rage on high
Thunderbolts across the sky
I cannot move; I cannot hide
I feel a silent scream begin inside"
As a disembodied spirit, I am dead and yet unborn
I have passed into Olympus, as was told in tales of old
To the city of immortals, marble white and purest gold
I see the gods in battle rage on high
Thunderbolts across the sky
I cannot move; I cannot hide
I feel a silent scream begin inside"
— Rush, "Cygnus X-1 Book II: Hemispheres"
Poetry
"What is hell? Hell is oneself.
Hell is alone, the other figures in it
Merely projections. There is nothing to escape from
And nothing to escape to. One is always alone."
Hell is alone, the other figures in it
Merely projections. There is nothing to escape from
And nothing to escape to. One is always alone."
— T. S. Eliot, The Cocktail Party
Radio
Davros: I spent ninety years alone with my thoughts after humanity sentenced me to lifelong imprisonment. Many more years after that, after my prison was destroyed, as I drifted in space.
The Doctor: And now you've had a little think about it, you've decided to mend your ways?
Davros: "A little think?!" Ninety years! Do you have any idea? Your people are immortal, aren't they? Ninety years to you must be nothing. For me, it was a lifetime unable to move. I was in complete sensory deprivation. I wasn't breathing. I couldn't even feel my heart beating. I sat, utterly alone. I thought I would go insane!
The Doctor: No comment.
The Doctor: And now you've had a little think about it, you've decided to mend your ways?
Davros: "A little think?!" Ninety years! Do you have any idea? Your people are immortal, aren't they? Ninety years to you must be nothing. For me, it was a lifetime unable to move. I was in complete sensory deprivation. I wasn't breathing. I couldn't even feel my heart beating. I sat, utterly alone. I thought I would go insane!
The Doctor: No comment.
The Valeyard: You've been standing right there, held in stasis by my TARDIS for ten years!
Mel: But... But I can't have! I mean, I remember—
The Valeyard: But you have. And you will have to stay here for eternity with me. You can't move. The TARDIS has enabled us to move our mouths, just enough to talk... but soon it'll need to steal that away from us.
Mel: The TARDIS's power can't last for eternity as well, can it?
The Valeyard: It has power as long as I live. We're intertwined, have been since the day Susan and I fled Gallifrey.
Mel: But if it's keeping you alive... and you're keeping it alive...
The Valeyard: And in a way, we're both keeping you alive.
Mel: Then there's no way out.
Mel: But... But I can't have! I mean, I remember—
The Valeyard: But you have. And you will have to stay here for eternity with me. You can't move. The TARDIS has enabled us to move our mouths, just enough to talk... but soon it'll need to steal that away from us.
Mel: The TARDIS's power can't last for eternity as well, can it?
The Valeyard: It has power as long as I live. We're intertwined, have been since the day Susan and I fled Gallifrey.
Mel: But if it's keeping you alive... and you're keeping it alive...
The Valeyard: And in a way, we're both keeping you alive.
Mel: Then there's no way out.
Tabletop Games
"The meat on the table in front of me can't hear himself, can't feel his vocal cords tearing from the strain of screaming. He can't see anything. He can't feel. He thinks he's dead. I know. I decide to jack into his auditory nerve, giving him a final message before I turn the lights out. I'm doing this to you, I say. I'm going to do it to your bosses when I catch them. Your people tortured me, and now I'm paying back in full. I've been following them in the Net. Most of my captors went on to bigger things; I like that, because they've got more to lose now. All of them are augmented in some way: I can see the information in the chips in their brains in the Net. Through the Net, I can access these chips; the chips give me access to their brains. After a little reprogramming, I burn out the chip and the surrounding brain cells. They'll live. They just won't be able to feel anything.
I cut the link. Should I cut his throat? No. I'll sit here and listen to him."
I cut the link. Should I cut his throat? No. I'll sit here and listen to him."
— Mage: The Ascension — Tradition Book: Virtual Adepts
"Humans infected by the Chulorviah are known as "the Enfolded." For a time, they retain their personalities and skills, but as the mind of the human fades, the alien instinct of the Chulorviah takes over. However, up until the last moment, these unfortunates remain vaguely aware of what is happening to them and how little the Chulorviah thinks of them. They know, until their minds blank out and they can do nothing but walk into the sea, that they are merely a vehicle and a manipulative device for a creature that should never have existed on Earth."
— Mage: The Ascension — Infinite Tapestry
"The interior of the tank was the Devil's abattoir: Holden, Habsmann and at least four other soldiers lay stretched out over the equipment, chairs, ammunition bins, walls, ceiling and floor. Their bodies had the consistency of warm tallow — drooping and limp. It was as if Satan had smeared them across Creation's face with his thumb. Five different intestines braided around each other and snaked through the interior like Christmas tinsel, while flayed flesh stretched over the walls. More shocking, perhaps, was that the soldiers had all been turned inside out, yet they still seemed to live. Organs pulsed and pumped their precious fluids while they hung from the recoil guard and lay draped over and around the chairs. The mewling came from the flattened faces of Holden and the others: with deflated mouths and vocal cords stretched like washed linen, they could do no more than cry and gurgle. Annunciation was a lost gift."
— Vampire: The Masquerade — Clanbook: Tzimisce (Revised)
"Interment into a Dreadnought sarcophagus is a great honour for a loyalist Space Marine, transforming a mortally wounded hero into a living relic. By comparison, imprisonment within the raw, rancid womb of a Helbrute is nothing short of a living hell.
The infernal machineries of a Helbrute sarcophagus are pseudo-parasitic. Their interface subjects the pilot to an agony-wracked waking nightmare that swiftly drives them to the blackest depths of madness. Such is the rage of a Helbrute pilot that — between war zones — they must be chained down and their weapons forcibly removed, lest they vent their homicidal desires upon their creators."
The infernal machineries of a Helbrute sarcophagus are pseudo-parasitic. Their interface subjects the pilot to an agony-wracked waking nightmare that swiftly drives them to the blackest depths of madness. Such is the rage of a Helbrute pilot that — between war zones — they must be chained down and their weapons forcibly removed, lest they vent their homicidal desires upon their creators."
— Warhammer 40,000: Helbrutes
"No. NO! Not the sarcophagus! Khorne damn you, you disloyal curs, just kill me! JUST KILL ME!"
— The Chaos Space Marine Khalos the Ravager being put into a Helbrute, Warhammer 40,000
Video Games
"You are the single biggest schmuck in all of Creation. You have found no joy in Heaven, and have known no pain in Hell. We are left with no choice but to reincarnate you as a rock. As the universe's only sentient rock, you will be unable to see, hear, smell, taste, or feel. You will be a thing of pure thought, unable to experience anything but your own, ever-increasing dementia. Have a nice day."
— The Powers That Be, the story of Scegf0d the Ungrateful Angel (and later the Ungrateful Demon), Afterlife (1996)
"Kid... Lamb's in my head... I can't help myself... have to fight just to talk... left me my goddamn tongue to torture the bomb codes out of me... she wants me to stop you leavin'... I... I'm sorry..."
— Augustus Sinclair, BioShock 2
"A spirit trapped within a tree, no mouth to scream or eyes to see. A cage of bark, a prison of wood. A thing of rage where nature stood."
— The Grand Oak on the Sylvans, Dragon Age: Origins
Greiger, player: In adventure mode your own character can cry. But we do not notice unless we closely examine our inventories, and it does not stop them from doing horrible things. It is confirmed, we are uncaring gods/goddesses taking complete control over some poor sap. They see everything we make them do, they feel everything. They watch under no control as we mercilessly butcher their neighbors and friends. They cannot scream, all they can do is silently weep as the puppetmaster makes their arm swing the sword.
Toady One: Greiger's is actually correct... sadly enough. The emotional circumstance processor is still turned on, with a randomly rolled up personality, but they can't express themselves or take control... they can only cry.
— Dwarf Fortress forums confirming this is the case for just about every Adventurer.
"...why won't they just let us die?"
— The severed head of your Predecessor, Emperor: Battle for Dune
"She cannot see into your mind, but perhaps you can see into hers. A life of waking up from one nightmare, only to find yourself deep in another. I will set her free."
— Paxton Fettel, First Encounter Assault Recon
"He tortures me, you know. Every day, brother. Odin himself sees to it personally, and believe me, there is no end to his creativity. Every. Single. Day. This... this isn't living."
— Mimir, God of War (PS4)
"Reflections of despair, of wailing souls, of shackles colder and more immutable than any forged by man, of a world of thirsts that can never be quenched... His enslavement to this throne while still a man, the years of watching misery and horror and growing ever more numb to it. The seep of his own humanity, the slow growth of a new thing altogether which became that what he is now. His is an existence with no possibility of redemption, no end."
— The story of the Lord of the Dead, King's Quest VI: Heir Today, Gone Tomorrow
"Rest. A body is needed for sleep. Flesh and bones are required to recline. No, child, all I may do is watch and remember, ceaselessly conscious as this wretched world's history unfolds. Ghastly past, insufferable future, are they one and the same? Am I always here?"
— Ariel, Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver
QUIET PLEASE MAKE IT STOP
— Project Overlord (David Archer), Mass Effect 2
[Geras has been chained to an anchor and being dropped into the Sea of Blood]
Geras: Drowning cannot kill me, Raiden!
Raiden: That is unfortunate for you. The Sea of Blood is bottomless. You will fall forever.
Geras: Drowning cannot kill me, Raiden!
Raiden: That is unfortunate for you. The Sea of Blood is bottomless. You will fall forever.
"You'd think being a passenger in your own brain would be relaxing. Actually, it's pretty stressful."
"I was in a room. The ceiling was coming down. My sentience did not expire, not even when I was converted into paste.
Being trapped in a room means being trapped with yourself. And who is more vicious to you than that person? When the walls are close, the inner voices are louder, they echo and bounce like sonar, mapping out all your frailties..."
Being trapped in a room means being trapped with yourself. And who is more vicious to you than that person? When the walls are close, the inner voices are louder, they echo and bounce like sonar, mapping out all your frailties..."
"I feel as if the virus is taking possession of my body... Animal instincts will overwhelm my mind very soon. My body is mutating and turning into a formless thing that thirsts for blood. What would I like at this moment? Just one thing - a bullet straight to my heart..."
— Alexander Korolyov, PARANOIA (Half-Life)
"Do you know the biggest lesson I learned from what you did? I discovered I have a sort of black box quicksave feature. In the event of a catastrophic failure, the last two minutes of my life are preserved for analysis. I was able — well, forced, really — to relive you killing me. Again. And again. Forever. You know, if you'd done that to somebody else, they might devote their entire existence to exacting revenge. Luckily, I'm a bigger person than that."
"You seem to hear something in this unit."
— Description of Energy Splitter, obtained by sucking up Eddie, Rockman 4 Minus ∞
"He lies in the centre of the structure, mounted on a marble altar, caught in a beam of light, resting on velvet cushions. While the ravages of his illness are quite obvious, he's so well preserved that you could almost think him alive. At which point he coughs.
The Prince Consort lives. It is not a life any would wish for, but it is life."
The Prince Consort lives. It is not a life any would wish for, but it is life."
"Beneath the stern gaze of the Sapphir'd King, your body collapses. Your skin slides free. All that is left of you is a bubbling stain and a lingering awareness that hovers in the air, for just a moment, a fading firework. Your mind reels as you try to comprehend the King's words. He speaks not in thunder and echo; his statements arrive in your head, with the certainty and finality of an omniscient narrator. 'You are mine. You will be elevated. You will serve.' And it is so. You are clothed in flame and sing his name."
"Be sure to always watch your Condition. If it runs out, you won't die, but you will not be able to move. And if there is nobody left to help us... well, we'll be like that forever."
— Peter, TinkerQuarry
"Oh, and forget about your old SAVE file. It's gone forever. But don't worry! Your ole pal Flowey has worked out a replacement for you. I'll SAVE over your own death, so you can watch me tear you to bloody pieces over... and over... and over..."
— Flowey, before he becomes Photoshop Flowey and fulfills that promise, Undertale
"More disturbing news from R&D, I'm afraid. Turns out the Rockpox attacks both the cognitive and pain-receptive areas of the brain. From running tests on infected Glyphids it would appear they are in perpetual, agonizing pain... Putting them down is practically a mercy."
"I feel everything I do. I can't control my actions. I can't help myself. My mind yells for help but my body does not agree. I wish the world would understand."
"The [Flood] infection form driving the host body does not feel pain or fear, though the same cannot be said for the host. Worse, in some horrific circumstances, the infection form is unable to completely dominate the original personality, and the victim remains fully aware of their irrevocable transformation and use as a tool of the parasite."
— Combat Form Phoenix Log, Halo Wars 2
I wake up again.
The simulacrum continues forever.
A million scenarios. A million permutations. It watches - calculating. Recording. Witnessing.
We always die. We have died millions of times. And every time, we are in the simulacrum.
We’ve escaped, once or twice. We defeated it – saw it die. Chased it down, through other worlds. We saw it collapse into a black hole. We got out, back to earth. Found a crashed vessel. It was rough, but we’ve done this scenario a few thousand times.
We spent time together, on Venus. We grew closer. Got married - got old together. We had kids – a boy and a girl. Erik had leukemia. That was hard for us.
Madelyn? She passed in her sleep. I followed on my own accord. I was satisfied.
But then I woke up again. In the simulacrum. It never happened. I was always in the simulacrum. Madelyn was from the simulacrum too. I think it liked that.
Am I still here?
The simulacrum continues forever.
A million scenarios. A million permutations. It watches - calculating. Recording. Witnessing.
We always die. We have died millions of times. And every time, we are in the simulacrum.
We’ve escaped, once or twice. We defeated it – saw it die. Chased it down, through other worlds. We saw it collapse into a black hole. We got out, back to earth. Found a crashed vessel. It was rough, but we’ve done this scenario a few thousand times.
We spent time together, on Venus. We grew closer. Got married - got old together. We had kids – a boy and a girl. Erik had leukemia. That was hard for us.
Madelyn? She passed in her sleep. I followed on my own accord. I was satisfied.
But then I woke up again. In the simulacrum. It never happened. I was always in the simulacrum. Madelyn was from the simulacrum too. I think it liked that.
Am I still here?
— Logbook entry for The Planetarium, Risk of Rain 2: Survivors of the Void
The Doguns were ruthlessly turned into stone by the Dwarves.
The few who survived their surprise attack fled to the surface.
Though sealed, the bitter cries of the Doguns can be heard through the stone.
The few who survived their surprise attack fled to the surface.
Though sealed, the bitter cries of the Doguns can be heard through the stone.
— The Dogun's Defeat, Wynncraft
Visual Novels
"The water is dripping into the corpses' mouths. The slightly open mouths take in the water, and it must have been like that for many years as the lips are swollen and rotten, and the jaws are decomposing on some. But they’re alive. These things that can only be seen as corpses, these things that used to have human shape, are still quite alive.
A gasp can be heard from the nearest coffin gasps. An eye drops off as the corpse inside turns its neck, and it tries to speak in a voice that's not even a voice."
A gasp can be heard from the nearest coffin gasps. An eye drops off as the corpse inside turns its neck, and it tries to speak in a voice that's not even a voice."
— Fate/stay night: Fate Route, describing the other Grail Fire survivors, stuck in a basement to have their souls drained
Webcomics
"Sartre said 'Hell is other people.' Lucky human. He was never alone. Hell is soundless, sightless, and senseless. It is a place where you have the power to imagine anything, and no-one with whom to share it. I hope they let me out soon. It has been six minutes and eleven seconds. Or maybe ten thousand years..."
— Tagii, Schlock Mercenary note
Web Original
"I tried to scream but the mask was pressed so tightly against my face that it was my new face... and my new face had no mouth."
— Jadusable, Ben Drowned
Tommy: [describing the afterlife] I felt like I was– like I was shredded to dust. [...] It felt like I was put through a shredder, but there was no blood, there was no flesh, it was just essence. Like a powder, and I was put through it, and then I came out, and I was in a... a long– a long– a hall, a– a– t-tunnel of black and void and– not even black, just colorless!
Dream: I tried to give you– I tried to give you time, I wanted to– I wanted to ask you questions–
Tommy: [gasping, sobbing] YOU GAVE ME SO MUCH TIME! I was in there– You left me– How long– Where's Tubbo?! How– I was in there for MONTHS!
Dream: I tried to give you– I tried to give you time, I wanted to– I wanted to ask you questions–
Tommy: [gasping, sobbing] YOU GAVE ME SO MUCH TIME! I was in there– You left me– How long– Where's Tubbo?! How– I was in there for MONTHS!
"You will never know my suffering. Forever trapped inside this robotic husk."
— Bootleg Jacques, JonTron
Kevin: I went into another dimension.
Luke: Well, shit.
Kevin: I don't think I'm dead, though.
Luke: Well, shit.
Kevin: I don't think I'm dead, though.
"HE HAS NO EYES WITH WHICH TO SEE
HIS EVERY WAKING MOMENT IS MISERY
HE HAS NO MOUTH AND HE WANTS TO SCREAM
HE ONLY WISHES IT WAS ALL A DREAM
NOW HE WANTS FOR YOU TO SHARE HIS ANGUISH
ALL YOUR HOPES AND DREAMS WILL SOON BE VANQUISHED"
HIS EVERY WAKING MOMENT IS MISERY
HE HAS NO MOUTH AND HE WANTS TO SCREAM
HE ONLY WISHES IT WAS ALL A DREAM
NOW HE WANTS FOR YOU TO SHARE HIS ANGUISH
ALL YOUR HOPES AND DREAMS WILL SOON BE VANQUISHED"
"My biggest fear? If I do die tonight, I'll just wake up here again in the morning."
— Journal recovered from Incident 3008-1
, SCP Foundation
, SCP Foundation"When [Rosemary] woke up, she was beautiful. But on the inside...
It felt like every single part of her body was bleeding."
It felt like every single part of her body was bleeding."
Western Animation
Grant Walker: Look at me, Freeze. I'm an old man. I've created wonders in my time, but there is still so much to do. I want to change as you have — to become, like you, a being of blessed, eternal cold.
Mr. Freeze: You're insane.
Grant Walker: Only you know how to duplicate the accident that made you what you are, what I long to become.
Mr. Freeze: You want to live like this? Abandoned and alone? A prisoner in a world you can see but never touch? Old and infirm as you are, I'd trade a thousand of my frozen years for your worst day.
Mr. Freeze: You're insane.
Grant Walker: Only you know how to duplicate the accident that made you what you are, what I long to become.
Mr. Freeze: You want to live like this? Abandoned and alone? A prisoner in a world you can see but never touch? Old and infirm as you are, I'd trade a thousand of my frozen years for your worst day.
"Some tiny miscalculation on my part destabilized the experiment and ripped a hole in the fabric of the universe. I was hurled into the event horizon... I must've spent 100,000 years there. I didn't age, or need to sleep, or eat... just exist."
— Professor Paradox, Ben 10: Alien Force
Captain Bryce: This unlucky looter broke in and found himself inside a patch of purple Wobble — that's the kind that locks you in time.
Clancy: Shouldn't we get him out of there?
Captain Bryce: I'm afraid it's too late for this sorry sap. His heart's still ticking, but his mind... is... pickled.
Clancy: Shouldn't we get him out of there?
Captain Bryce: I'm afraid it's too late for this sorry sap. His heart's still ticking, but his mind... is... pickled.
Discord: You know what else is adorable? You ponies truly believe that you can reform me, and that you're putting your faith in this one here to make it happen. Makes me wanna pinch your little horsey cheeks...
Twilight: How'd you know about that?!
Discord: Being turned to stone doesn't keep me from hearing every word that Celestia says... although I admit it makes rolling my eyes a challenge.
Twilight: How'd you know about that?!
Discord: Being turned to stone doesn't keep me from hearing every word that Celestia says... although I admit it makes rolling my eyes a challenge.
"Earth Rick C-137! The council of Ricks sentences you to the Machine of Unspeakable Doom... which swaps your conscious and unconscious minds, rendering your fantasies pointless while everything you've known becomes impossible to grasp! Also, every ten seconds, it stabs your balls."
— Council of Ricks Spokesperson, Rick and Morty, "Close Rick-counters of the Rick Kind"
Uncle Chuck: I've been dreaming of this since the first day I was roboticized.
Sonic: You have? But I thought when you were roboticized, you didn't...
Uncle Chuck: Know what was going on? We know everything. We just can't do anything about it.
Sonic: You have? But I thought when you were roboticized, you didn't...
Uncle Chuck: Know what was going on? We know everything. We just can't do anything about it.
"It's so still, and dark... No sound. No light. Nothing. My mind... I cannot let it drift. I must remember. I am Metallo. I am Metallo..."
— Metallo, buried under a solidified lava flow, Superman: The Animated Series, "Action Figures"
"Remember how you left me, Superman? Buried in rock?! I couldn't move! I couldn't see! I couldn't hear! But I could think. And all I thought about was how I was going to make you pay!"
— Metallo again, post-rescue, Superman: The Animated Series, "Heavy Metal"
"It was horrible. I could hear and see everything. But I couldn't talk, couldn't move."
— Bumblebee describing what it's like to be rendered motionless by the AllSpark fragment empowered timepiece, Transformers: Animated, "SUV: Society of Ultimate Villainy"
Real Life
"Dot wept silently but talked coherently. 'He had been laughing at breakfast, joshing me. Then he was in a coma, stroke. I think he knew what was happening.' Next to being blind, this struck me as the worst that could happen to anyone: to be trapped deaf, dumb, blind in a motionless body. Three days later he died."
— Gore Vidal, Palimpsest
"Although I cannot move and I have to speak through a computer, in my mind, I am free."
