Refusing Paradise: Difference between revisions

 

'''<big>This is often a [[Death Trope]] and occasionally an [[Ending Trope]], so expect spoilers.</big>'''

 

{{examples}}

* After Goku's first death in ''[[Dragonball Z]]'', he chooses to head to be trained under King Kai and eventually return to Earth to fight the Saiyans, despite being [http://www.mangafox.com/manga/dragon_ball/v18/c001/7.html all but guaranteed to go to Heaven.]

* [[Played for Laughs]] in ''[[Magical Pokaan]]''. [[Like a Badass Out of Hell|After making a lot of trouble]], Yuuma is put into a stereotypical [[Fluffy Cloud Heaven]]. However, she begins to feel lonely, and begs to be returned to her friends on Earth. [[The Powers That Be]] complies.

 

== [[Comics]] ==

* Happened in the comic ''[[Grimjack]]''—the title character died, but chose to leave Heaven and move into a cloned body to save a friend.

* There was a brief period in the comics where ''[[The Punisher]]'' was killed and then resurrected as an agent of heaven killing demons. Frank ultimately opted to return to life as a human because he preferred killing human criminals to slaying demons.

 

== [[Film]] ==

* Another forced-and-thereby-possibly-subverted example: At the end of ''[[Constantine]]'', the dying main character is about to enter heaven, when the devil deliberately heals him to make sure he has another chance at messing up his salvation on earth.

 

* ''[[Stargate SG-1]]'' has some examples with [[Ascend to a Higher Plane of Existence|ascension]]. Daniel Jackson ascends and descends a couple of times for various reasons. It's not really heaven, but is an afterlife.

* ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]''

** At the end of Season Eight's "Twilight" story arc, both Buffy and Angel choose to remain on Earth rather than live in the paradise dimension. After she realizes that her friends and family are fighting a unwinnable battle against demons, Buffy refuses to stay in the the Twilight realm and she returns to Earth and saves them. Angel follows.

 

== [[Literature]] ==

* In the [[Gemma Doyle]] books, Gemma is gravely injured. She has to chose between dying and passing into the afterlife, honored as a hero, or being restored to life, granted one wish, and forgotten by time. She choses life, and wishes that her mentor/enemy be allowed into Heaven.

* In ''[[The Silmarillion]]'', Luthien is given the choice between staying in the Undying Lands but being seperated from Beren forever, or returning to Middle Earth with him as a mortal, and eventually dying a mortal death.

 

== [[Music]] ==

* Also in "Sixteen Tons" first recorded by [[Merle Travis]]

{{quote|Saint Peter don't you call me 'cause I can't go, I owe my soul to the company store.}}

 

== [[Religion]] and [[Mythology]] ==

* Often a story element in a [[Near-Death Experience]] tale.

** On many [[YouTube]] videos featuring [[Near-Death Experience]] tales, the protagonist is permitted a glimpse of both [[Heaven]] and [[Hell]], and is told it's [[God]]'s [[Call to Adventure|will that they return to warn others]] [[Earn Your Happy Ending|before they are permitted to enter]] [[Heaven]] on a more permanent basis.

 

== [[Tabletop Games]] ==

* Seen in the Saints of [[In Nomine]], humans who have died and gone to Heaven but volunteer to return to Earth to continue the fight against Hell. Likewise, every human soul has the opportunity to climb Jacob's Ladder to reach the Higher Heavens and their ultimate reward but many linger on the lowest level ... in some cases, to help plan and organize the War.

 

== [[Video Games]] ==

* In various ''[[Shin Megami Tensei]]'' games, your [[Player Character]] can reject the paradise that the forces of "Law" attempt to create in favor of making his own.

 

== [[Web Comics]] ==

* In ''[[Narbonic]]'' a party consisting of civilians, one [[Blood Knight]], and one [[Mad Scientist]] is attacked by cherubim - [[Our Angels Are Different|mindless hungry feathery insect-things]] - and in apology Heaven sends them an ambassador to escort one of them directly to eternal bliss. Everyone has better things to do, apparently.

{{quote|Eternity. Another concept mortals can't seem to wrap their minds around.}}

 

== [[Western Animation]] ==