There are other worlds than these--and thankfully for us, horror fiction and the wider world
of literature seems to have quite the knack for creating some of the most unfathomably
terrifying realms of pure nightmare fuel, for us to sweat over and hope that we never,
ever, accidentally wake up in these strange new lands.
There’s nothing quite like turning the pages of horror fiction, as our poor, unassuming
narrators tread their way through ancient and terrifying lands, tip-toeing around slumbering
abominations and wondering why in the hell they ever thought that this was a good idea
in the first place.
After all, as Bilbo Baggins himself told us--it’s a dangerous business, going out of your door.
Hello horror fans--what’s going on, and once again welcome back to the scariest channel
on YouTube--Top 5 Scary Videos.
As per usual, I’ll be your horror host Jack Finch--as today, we curiously take a look
at the Top 5 Most Terrifying Places In Literature.
Roll the clip.
For the curious amongst you, that clip was from 1997’s Event Horizon--an awesome movie,
filled to the brim with more existential hell-dimensions of eternal torture and pain than what you
may have first expected.
After all, hell is only a word--the reality, is much, much worse.
It leads us to an important point though, because many of the nightmare realms that
have sealed their fate in literature are a portrayal of the stereotypical view of the
Abrahamic Hell.
Fire and brimstone--you know the drill.
And whilst some of them *are* much more terrifying than others, and yes--have found their way
on to this list: we have to give an honorable mention to all of the mythological realms
that came before.
Hades, Hel with a single L, the Egyptian Underworld.
You get the picture.
Kicking off at Number 5 -- The Labyrinth
Because when we’re talking about Hell and the Underworld--Clive Barker’s interpretation
of demons to some, angels to others--is a completely different kettle of fish, where
all manners of body horrors and dimensional demonic entities find themselves an equally
terrifying house and home, which is aptly named Hell, or the more structurally appropriate,
The Labyrinth.
First penned in Barker’s Novella 1986, The Hellbound Heart--and later expanded upon in
The Scarlet Gospels, as well as the film and graphic novel series that followed--in Barker’s
world, his demonic cenobites reside eternally in an unholy and evil realm of limitless pain,
or pleasure--if you’re into that kind of thing.
In its natural state, Hell takes on the form of the Dark, Winding Labyrinth most commonly
visualised in the graphic series--but it also has the power to take on any shape or state,
depending upon the amassed pleasures and pains of the souls that are contained within it.
Now, because of that--it has widely been speculated--and somewhat confirmed by Barker, that this is
definitely not the Abrahamic Version of Hell--but instead, an extra dimension.
In essence, The Labyrinth is some form of permeable realm--that can be perceived as
Heaven, or Hell--by whomever is trapped there.
It’s led some to believe that The Labyrinth itself represents the true nature of the human
mind, and all of the infinite possibilities that reside within the cracks of reality.
And you know, that’s also not really accounting for the fact that it’s ruled over by the
eternal evil--Leviathan, a creature of ancient Chaos that perpetually levitates at the geographical
centre of The Labyrinth--watching over his Hellish Kingdom, raising towering, sky-blotting
monoliths to glorify his dominion over the Cenobites and mankind.
I mean, for the most part--despite being one of the most hellish depictions of Hell itself,
you can’t deny that Barker created an incredibly interesting landscape for horror fiction.
Coming in at Number 4 - Dante’s Inferno
Because if we’re talking about Hell--then finally, we can mention the resounding work
of classic literature, the 14th-century epic poem that made up the first part of Dante’s
Divine Comedy, one of the most important works in the whole of canonical literature, and
the allegorical progenitor of pretty much every Hellish realm ever written after that.
Also, this particular point goes out to the steadfast dedication of our Top 5 Scary Viewer,
Spencer Beard--although we can’t do an entire Top 5 List of Dante’s Punishments, we can
definitely condense them into one.
So yeah, there we have it.
Now, as many of you will already know--Dante’s depiction of Hell is the archetype that laid
the foundation for the vast majority of horror fiction, although it may not be as apparent
as you may think.
In the poem, that begins on the evening of Maundy Thursday, the narrator--Dante himself,
finds himself lost in a dark, dark wood--and after being nearly ravaged to death by three
beasts, a leopard, a lion and a wolf--he’s rescued by the ghost of the Roman poet, Virgil--who
leads him through the gates of the Underworld--to begin a journey of the very fabric of the
Abrahmic Religion.
And of course--what better place to begin than with Hell.
In Dante’s Inferno, Hell is depicted as nine concentric circles of eternal pain and
torment, located deep within the bowels of the earth.
These consist of Limbo, Lust, Gluttony, Greed, Wrath, Heresy, Violence, Fraud and Treachery--each
of them dedicated to facilitating astutely specific and horrifying torments to bind any
hateful soul for eternal punishment.
Perhaps the worst of these is the Malebolge, the 8th Circle of Hell that consists of the
Ten Bolgias, a series of deep ditches where fraudsters, grifters and thieves alike are
dismembered and disemboweled, over and over, for eternity by a host of demons.
Yeah, it’s a pretty nasty place.
Next up at Number 3 - Arrakis
Because talking about nasty and equally inhospitable places--Frank Herbert’s fascinating and
terrifying desert planet of Arrakis, that makes up the homeworld of his fantastic sci-fi
epic novel, Dune--is perhaps it’s own version of hell for those not willing to adapt to
the relentless trials and torments that lurk deep within it.
For those of you that haven’t read Frank Herbert’s Dune saga--please, please do.
Although, they are pretty lengthy books, so I’ll forgive you if you choose to watch
David Lynch’s 1984 film instead, because they’re both great.
The fact of the matter is though, when it comes to Arrakis, there’s a lot to get through,
so I’ll try and condense things as much as possible.
As laid out in the Dune Saga, the planet of Arrakis is a Desert Wasteland, battered eternally
by scorching heat and a dry, arid climate where pretty much nothing can live or grow,
save for a few hardy species of mice--oh, and yeah, of course--a population of giant
freakin sand worms that live deep within the planet’s surface--erupting out of the desert
wastelands to destroy anything and everything whenever they feel like it.
You might be thinking, well, why would anyone ever want to go to Arrakis then?
And well, that’s because the planet itself is the most valuable planet in the cosmos--and
at the beginning of the saga, it is the only place in the Dune-iverse that produces Spice,
an incredibly powerful resource that powers space-flight.
And whoever controls the Spice, controls the destiny of mankind--and thus begins the eternal
struggle and chaotic political espionage that is Frank Herbert’s Dune saga.
Because although we’ve somewhat touched on the geographical horrors that lie within
Arrakis, we haven’t even gotten close to how damn violent and dangerous living on this
planet would be if you somehow found yourself as a character in the novel.
Especially if your last name is Atreides, and your first name just so happens to be
Paul.
Yeah, sometimes it doesn’t matter what material terrors are lurking within a fictional world,
because if you fill it with enough villains, assassins and bloodthirsty berserkers--it
kind of writes itself.
Swinging in at Number 2 - Commorragh
And truth be told, we couldn’t really do this list without somewhere mentioning the
Grim Darkness of the Warhammer 40K Universe--and although there are more nightmarish worlds
and dimensions of pure chaos that make up that fictional realm--perhaps the most terrifying
of them all, is the Dark City of Commorragh--the vile, obscene and impossibility evil home
of the Dark Eldar.
In the Warhammer Universe, the city itself is said to be impossible for any outsiders
to find--and it is widely believed to be hidden deep within the inter-dimensional labyrinth
of the Webway, a corrupted version--spreading out across the cosmic chaos like a virus.
Because of that, Commorragh is a city of impossible creation--linked together by shimmering dimensional
shortcuts, portals that are scattered throughout the galaxy--sometimes lightyears apart, but
bound together by the Chaos of the Dark Eldar’s corruption.
I mean, Commorragh is such an evil place--that even the shadows that slink through the city
have a habit of consuming it’s inhabitants.
Not like it matters, either--as Commorragh’s population is estimated to be more than most
star systems, and is considered to be bigger than even Mankind's largest Hive Cities combined.
And it’s also important to note, that that population--is comprised of some of the most
evil, treacherous and violent individuals in the entire Warhammer Universe.
Trillions of them.
All condensed into one, sprawling, viral city.
Truth be told, Commorragh puts to shame pretty much every other den of evil in fiction.
Mordor can move over, forget about Azkaban or any of its ilk.
In fact, when Ben Kenobi told Luke Skywalker that he wouldn’t find a more wretched hive
of scum and villainy than Mos Eisley--he obviously had never visited Commorragh.
And finally, coming in at our Number 1 spot -- The Dreamlands
Because, of course--we cannot talk of terrifying places in literature, without paying homage
to Lovecraft’s most complete, and horrifying dimensions--The Dreamlands.
The fact of the matter is, we could probably make an entire list out of Lovecraft’s bizzare
and terror inducing alien planets--but it’s in the extradimensional impossibility of the
landscape that he described in his Dream Cycle, where the horror that we all share lies.
Because what could be more terrifying than a realm that we could all potentially access,
in theory anyway.
First noted in his 1918 short story, Polaris--and as described in perhaps his most complete
novella, The Dream Quest of Unknown Kadath, Lovecraft went on to fully flesh out the Dreamlands
in a series of short stories written between 1918 and 1932--portraying entire cities of
moon-beasts and man-eating spiders, vast plateaus of Satyr Men that worship toad priests--and
castles of ancient design perched upon mountains of black rock.
The thing is, like with many of Lovecraft’s cosmic horror--it comes with the magnitude
of not knowing where this land begins and where it ends.
The Dreamlands could be infinite, and as Randolph Carter discovered in the Dream Quest of Unknown
Kadath, the terrifying extent to this place is limited only by the human imagination.
Oh, and also--not only that, but of course--nowhere is safe from the Outer God’s--not even human
consciousness, because the Crawling Chaos himself, Nyarlathotep holds dominion over
the Dreamlands, slowly pulling the strings and puppeteering his way across the realm,
corrupting dreamers and lost souls alike, as well as the unfortunate races that populate
it’s bizarre and impossible landscape.
Essentially, the Dreamlands is Lewis Carrol’s Wonderland--except instead of slipping through
a looking glass, or falling down a rabbit’s warren--you could accidentally find yourself
in this place during a bad dream, and then become addicted to the mysteries and infinite
curiosity of its design--and before your know it, you’re a dream junkie--searching for
Kadath like Randolph Carter.
Yeah.
If you couldn’t tell, this place is messed up.
Well, there we have it horror fans--our list for the Top 5 Most Terrifying Places In Literature.
What did you guys think?
Do you agree?
Disagree?
Or do you have any more to add of your own?
Let us know your thoughts down in the comment section below.
Before we depart from today’s video though, let’s first take a quick look at some of
your more resounding remarks from over the past few days.
Soulmaiden deSade says--
Okay Jack, if you were going to be eaten by a zombie, who would be the one you’d want
to be eaten by?
-- Absolutely great question.
I’m assuming this is any zombified person from history, right?
Oh wow.
This is a tough one.
Okay.
Come on, it’d be pretty great to be eaten by Zombie Shakespeare, right?
Although, Zombie Boudicca is a pretty close contender.
That’d be insane.
Yeah.
Either or.
Well, on that note--unfortunately that’s all we’ve got time for in today’s video--cheers
for sticking around all the way until the end.
If you were a fan of this video, or just Top 5 Scary Videos in general, then please be
a dear and hit that thumbs up button, as well as that subscribe bell, and I’ll be seeing
you in the next one.