View source for Rescued From Purgatory

{{trope}}
{{quote|''"Who would fardels bear,''
''To grunt and sweat under a weary life,''
''But that the dread of something after death,''
''The undiscovered country, from whose bourn''
''No traveller returns, puzzles the will,''
''And makes us rather bear those ills we have''
''Than fly to others that we know not of?"''|[[William Shakespeare]], [[Hamlet]]}}

The protagonist misses someone terribly, for whatever reason. Maybe [[The Hero]] is dead, or [[Dead Little Sister|a loved one]]. But thankfully, the land of the dead is a place that can be visited. If the protagonist can brave the journey [[To Hell and Back]], they can free the soul and resurrect them. Success is not guaranteed.

A subtrope of [[To Hell and Back]].

{{deathtrope}}

{{examples}}
==  Anime and Manga  ==
* In the original [[Neon Genesis Evangelion]], one of the main characters—Rei Ayanami—is eaten alive towards the end of the series by one of the massive monsters called Angels, ultimately leading to [[The Hero|Shinji Ikari's]] epic-level breakdown in [[The Movie]]. In [[Rebuild of Evangelion|the remake,]] however, Shinji [[Unstoppable Rage|snaps,]] [[A God Am I|ascends to Godhood]] in his giant robot (despite the fact that it could lead to [[The End of the World as We Know It]]) and dives into the Angel's core to [[Always Save the Girl|pull Rei out and bring her back to life.]]


==  Film ==
* [[Pirates of the Caribbean]]: At World's End'': The Black Pearl in that desert with multiple Jacks.
** {{spoiler|[[Subverted Trope|Subverted]] when Jack is actually leaving on his own and stops to pick up his rescuers.}}
* [[The Matrix]] Revolutions: That whole thing with the subway.
* [[Star Trek]] III: [[Exactly What It Says on the Tin|The Search for Spock]]
* [[What Dreams May Come]]: The main character is dead, but in Heaven. He receives word that his wife has killed herself and gone to Hell, and embarks on a trip to save her.


==  Literature ==
* [[Double Subverted]] in ''"The Land Of Oblivion"''. The heroine's brother is [[Killed Off for Real|really dead]], and nothing can actually resurrect him. However, he is captured in the '''Bad''' part of afterlife (the titular land),  {{spoiler|and about to be made [[Deader Than Dead]]}}, and she manages to bust him out and bring him to a place where he can [[Died Happily Ever After|enjoy a happy afterlife]].


==  Live Action TV  ==
* ''[[Babylon 5]]:  {{spoiler|Sheridan wanders through the ruins of Z'Ha'Dum after his death. He is rescued by Lorien and returned.}}
* ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'': After her [[Heroic Sacrifice]] to save the Earth from being folded into a Hell Dimension, Buffy's friends work to bring her [[Back from the Dead]].  {{spoiler|What they don't know at first is that they dragged her out of Heaven, leading to much of the angst of the sixth season.}}


==  Mythology ==
* The [[Greek Mythology|story of Orpheus]], who went to Hades to bring back his wife, Eurydice, is the [[Trope Codifier]]. Unfortunately, he couldn't do the whole journey back without looking back at her, which was the condition of success, so she stayed trapped. Theseus also accompanied his friend Pirithoos into Hades when the latter took a fancy to Persephone; they both got stuck there until Heracles freed them on a completely unrelated mission.
* Persephone was, herself, literally abducted and dragged into Hades, and her mother went batshit insane, which is bad when you're the goddess of The Earth. Hermes went to retrieve Persephone, but discovered that she had eaten of the food of the underworld while there, which bound her to Hades. A compromised was reached that allowed Persephone to leave Hades for half the year, then spend the other half as the queen of the dead. The half which she is on earth is the autumn, winter, and spring (growing seasons in Greece), while the dry, hot Greek summers are caused when she leaves for the underworld and her mother grieves.
* [[Older Than Dirt]]: ''[[Inanna's Descent to the Netherworld|Inannas Descent to The Netherworld]]'': Inanna sends her own husband to Irkalla when she comes back from the dead to find him [[And That's Terrible|relaxing under a tree instead of grieving openly]]. Later on, [[My God, What Have I Done?|she misses him terribly]] and all the plants die and no animals or people can reproduce. She agrees to let his sister take his place in the Underworld for half the year, during which everything grows again, and stops growing when that time is up. [[Just-So Story|Which is why we have summer and winter.]]


==  Religion ==
* According to Christian theology, Jesus Christ went to Hell after being crucified and rescued the souls of those who were sent there unjustly. It is said he will do this again, this time to free all the souls trapped in Hell, when Judgment Day comes.


==  Tabletop Games ==
* Easily possible in Forgotten Realms, 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 ''[[Neverwinter Nights]]: Hordes of the Underdark''.


==  Webcomics ==
* [[Megatokyo]]: Though it was only Purgatory if you were both Largo and very drunk.


{{reflist}}
[[Category:Death Tropes]]
[[Category:Afterlife Tropes]]
[[Category:Rescued From Purgatory]]