Hell
Hell is a location mentioned by David Xanatos. Apparently, entering without robust footwear is unadvised.
History
When Owen Burnett protested that the cost of transporting Castle Wyvern from Scotland to New York would be ‘astronomical’, David Xanatos nonchalantly replied, "pay a man enough, and he’ll walk barefoot into Hell." ("Awakening: Part Two")
Tidbit
- Xanatos's aforementioned line mentioning Hell is omitted from the VHS compilation of "Awakening", Gargoyles The Movie: The Heroes Awaken
Real World Background
The English word ‘Hell’ is derived from the Old English ‘Hel’, cognate with both the Norse underworld and goddess of the same name. In contemporary religious discourse, the word ‘hell’ is often applied to any afterlife where the souls of the wicked are believed to undergo agonizing punishment for their earthly sins. In religious traditions that believe in a hell, opinions are often divided as to whether the punishments undergone there are eternal or merely temporary.
In western traditions, the notion of an afterlife of Eternal Conscious Torment can be partially traced back to the Hellenic concept of Tartarus. According to Hellenic mythology, Tartarus originally served as a prison for the Titans after their overthrow by the Olympians. In later mythology, it also became the final destination for deceased mortals who had been especially wicked or had particularly offended the gods in. There, the condemned would be subjected to agonizing and often ironic punishments. One particularly infamous inmate of Tartarus was the Corinthian King Sisyphus, who had temporarily bound Thanatos, the god of death. Upon his eventual death, Sisyphus was condemned to roll a boulder uphill for all eternity.
Ancient Israelite religion seem to have incorporated little, if any, belief in post-mortem reward or punishment. The Hebrew Scriptures make various oblique references to 'Sheol', a term variously translated in English as ‘Hades’, ‘Hell’, or simply ‘grave’. Most scholars believe that Sheol was originally a misty netherworld where the shades of the righteous and wicked alike persisted in a vague half-existence with no connotation of divine judgement being passed upon them.
In later Judaic thought, the Valley of Hinnom (or Gehenna) outside Jerusalem became heavily associated with prophecies of God's final judgement. Eventually the term ‘Gehenna’ was figuratively applied to a realm of punishment for the wicked dead. According to most Rabbinic sources, the punishments of Gehenna were limited to only twelve months (excluding every Sabbath, when the condemned are granted temporary reprieve). Once the twelve month period had elapsed, the condemned would either be released into the paradisiacal World-To-Come, utterly annihilated, or left to linger in a state of perpetual remorse.
Gehenna would enter Christian theology through the teachings of Jesus of Nazareth, as recorded in the Synoptic Gospels. Throughout the Synoptic Gospels, Jesus would repeatedly exhort his followers to avoid being cast into Gehenna. Most translations of the New Testament opt to translate Gehenna as 'Hell' or some equivalent. Many early Church Fathers such as St Clement of Alexandria, Origen of Alexandria, and St Gregory of Nyssa argued that Hell was purgative in purpose, and that the condemned would ultimately be reconciled to God once fully purified of their sins. Others argued that the damned would eventually be annihilated at the Last Judgement. It was not until after the fourth century CE that the notion of Hell as a realm of Eternal Conscious Torment became the consensus, largely due to the writings of St Augustine of Hippo. Though both Annihilationism and Universal Salvation would continue to be advocated by prominent Christian thinkers down to the present day.
In Islam, Jahannam is a realm of blazing fire given over for the torment of the damned. Like the Christian Hell, most Muslim scholars understand Jahannam as a realm of Eternal Conscious Torment. Though also like Christianity, several historic Islamic scholars, such as Al-Tahawi and Ibn Taymiyya, have interpreted Jahannam as temporary, often arguing that only God Himself is truly eternal, or citing the Qur’an’s consistent emphasis on His mercy and compassion.
In Hinduism, Buddhism, and other Dharmic traditions, Naraka is a realm (or several realms) where wicked souls are punished before being permitted to reincarnate in the earthly realm. Though not eternal, punishment is Naraka is often understood to last countless eons.
Production Background
The sleep spell used on the surviving members of the Wyvern Clan in 994 translated to "May you sleep until the castle rises above the clouds." From the Grimorum Arcanorum, the condition of the spell being fulfilled in the time period was another way of saying "until hell freezes over".[1]
See Also
- Hell at Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia
