![[0976] #FFA500 Hell](/comics/2018-04-02-0976-ffa500-hell.png "[0976] #FFA500 Hell")
I think this strip works well on its own, and was originally written like that, but it is of course also a reference to the PC game Getting Over It with Bennett Foddy.
Getting Over It is a short game that can theoretically be completed in just a few minutes, but it is ridiculously hard since it requires extremely precise mouse input. And if you fall at one obstacle the wrong way, you may fall all the way back to the starting position. There are lots of funny videos on YouTube of Let’s Players who scream and cry like little children due to their frustration when playing the game:
- PewDiePie’s journey into insanity
- Markiplier’s descent into rage-fuelled madness
- Gamers’ reactions to falling down at “Orange Hell”
“Orange Hell” is the nickname for the most notorious part of the game. The problem is not that the jump from the table with the orange is super hard; the problem is the difficulty of the following steep face (especially the last jump) and the extreme punishment for every tiny mistake.
All in all, the game is so hard that only 4.5% of all Steam users have managed to complete it, usually taking several hours. I’m one of them.
- The Devil: Hell.
- The Devil: There are many misconceptions about hell. First and foremost, hell is not simply a lake of fire in which the souls of sinners are roasted for all eternity. No, hell is a lot more subtle than that.
- The Devil: Thomas J. God’s fan club likes to claim that hell is the absence of God. But since God may be an even bigger jerk than I am, that doesn’t quite hit the heart of the matter.
- The Devil: Others say that the worst thing about hell is that you can see heaven. And I think there’s a lot of truth behind that sentiment.
- The Devil: Hell is the constant reminder of your failures in decisive situations, of your imperfection as human being. Hell cracks open your mind and stares right into it.
- The Devil: Hell is the last great trial for the souls of the fallen. A trial from which they either emerge victorious or from which they perish.
- The Devil: Hell is not a fiery hot red, or an ice-cold blue. Hell is more like… a pale mauve.
- The Devil: … Or maybe orange.
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My favourite description of Hell comes from Neil Gaiman in his Sandman comics.
“What power would Hell have if those here imprisoned were not able to dream of heaven?”
I watched Grand PooBear finish the game. At one point, he restarted because he didn’t like the silence that comes with hearing everything Bennett Foddy has to say about failure. But to his credit, he never took the snake, even accidentally.
Not an orange! :0
Good to see he finally got that PR campaign off the ground.
Wow, hell seems pretty nice compared to earth. Or maybe thats what the devil wants us to think? Still true though.
Thomas J. was bisected, tho. Now it’s John J.
Of all days you choose this for this comic.
Goodbye.
@ Clayton Barnett:
I thought it was kind of funny.
@ Clayton Barnett:
1) Not everyone subscribes to your beliefs 2 ) Not everyone is in the same timezone as you.
“Go to Heaven for the climate, Hell for the companionship.” Mark Twain
I’ll admit, I honestly thought this was a response to the headlines “Pope said hell may not exist! Church in panic!”
@ Clayton Barnett:
Goodbye to you as well.
@ Clayton Barnett:
But the Comic is always posted on Monday their time.
This case it’s Monday, 2 April 2018
So why exactly orange? Maybe beige. Like less pure of a color…
@ Trimutius:
It is a reference to a game called “Getting Over It.” And that orange on the table symbolized that the already balls to the wall difficulty was the easy part.
MidoriLuna wrote:
Given the corrosive effects of absolute power, if He isn’t just as big a jerk, He probably will be soon enough.
Lets be honest. You only made THIS particular comic to brag about beating that dang game…which I do congratulate you to.
Aside from that, I did not expect such philosophy today. Well done I say!
Back to the grill …
@ Frank:
Indeed, as a one time theology student and these days more or less a Buddhist, I find Knoerzer’s theological strips quite inoffensive and often very insightful.
The Pope, by the way, seems just to be catching up with the mid-Victorian Anglican clergyman Charles Dodgson, who caused quite a stir by arguing that Hell might exist, but might well be empty. Because, see strip, for anybody to be in Hell (including Satan) God would have to be a jerk. And in his view, God wasn’t.
Knoerzer’s theology is basically Manichaean, and reminds me of a limerick:
When the world had its earliest beginning/Man lost his advantage by sinning./It is said that this story will end in God’s glory/But at present the Devil is winning.
@ Bob:
@ oledakaajel:
@ Feartheswans:
@ voyna y mor:
Still not – so to say – considerate. In the meaning that would be good for society.
There goes a saying around these parts of a theology school in Budapest: that they teach the faith oout of you. And that to my knowledge is more or less true. Except for those who have not just some faith they choose but the new life that comes not and can not come from them. For those who have not just faith but Christ.
Whom I quite not found to be a jerk.
Keep thinking and keep posting your thoughts I say – as long as one cares, there are point to reach one at.
Funny how those who claim the stongest faith tend to lose any sense of humour or proportion. If faith can’t survive a small amount of humour it’s pretty weak. Humour is far more part of the human condition then faith. There are large parts of humanity that don’t need or have any religious beliefs but almost everyone has some sense of humour. Even the central figures in most religions had some form of humour. If you believe you were created by a supreme being then he/she/it gave you a sensr of humour. Use it and perhaps you could have a better life. Some of the greatest thinkers were also humorists.
Although you clarified that it’s a reference to some game, this strip was a little disturbing at first, since not five strips ago there was some talk of a freshed squeezed orange juice with no setup and no follow up.
@ Clayton Barnett:
Bye!
I’ve always thought of heaven/hell more as a personal preference. You just get to pick what kind of people you like to hang around. If you get frustrated by goody-two-shoes types, you’ll be a lot more comfortable around people in hell. If you like to follow the rules and stuff, heaven will be a lot more comfortable. There doesn’t have to be fire and brimstone – bad company is much worse.
The only real punishment would be going to the wrong place, imo.
@ Pennomi:
For what its worth… If there is something thereafter… I really hope that something is Valhalla full of mead and wine and Valkyras everywhere…
Raise the mug of mead…
Speaking of which… Odin deserves saving…
my mother had a cool description of hell from her old pastor when she was a child. he had anwered the question of what hell look like with a picture:
Heaven and hell look very similar ,in both people eat at a large table with all kind of good on the table. but in both they only have cuttlery so long that is impossible to feed yourself with it. In heaven people still enjoy they food because everyone looks after the other and they feed eachother while in hell people are starving because they are so egotistical und untrusty they will not help one anther, so no one gets anything.
Hell yeah! (pun totally intended) i missed the horned guy, and we even got a tiny cameo of larissa´s future pet 😉
I prefer the nigh endless desert one Mr. Pratchett described.
I do wonder what is Novil’s take on religion is all together. God bad, Devil good, many Gods all together. What is it?!
@ Recent Reader:
Although I will admit that that’s a fantastic description of what Hell can be like.
@ Gamesman:
Why do you think we read this comic? It’s not for adrenaline, that I tell you. 🙂
I am not so sure of the reality of your statement about the human condition, however.
Wait, didn’t TJG die?
@ meName:
Nothing is 100%. Even the most intense religious belief dosen’t preclude humor or intelligence. Most of those who attack any perceived criticism of their religion have issues of their own. Much like the most virulent homophobes often turn out to have repressed homosexual desires they are unable to deal with and blame others for.
Gamesman wrote:
Not necessarily. Take any belief one holds strongly onto – religious, sentimental, personal or even scientific. If one’s percieved belief most be true, it easily blocks a person from understanding any objection to it.
Look at any deaf debater, devoted voter or affronted person.
For a respective belief and faith it is simular to whether I keep saying “my friend is like this, don’t say otherwise; my friend is like this, don’t say otherwise; …” but never even to talk to said ‘friend’ –
or I keep in touch with that friend, and if someone says something I do not think is true about him, I turn to my friend and ask Him about it.
S***, I’m ALLERGIC to oranges. I can’t go to hell!
Every soul think that they finish in Heaven or Hell. But in fact, damned souls finish… in the Twilight Zone.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XVSRm80WzZk
I would think hell is where you are always close to getting the achievements but the computer crashes, am I wrong?
Anyone else following this in German as well? I thought the translation to “jerk” was gentler yet „Arsch” more accurate. 8^)
The Lighter Side of Hell.
@ Lucario:
Took the snake?
Sorry, but it’s been a while since I watched any of the Getting Over It LetsPlays. I think I have the entire series by Markiplier saved, but I don’t think I actually finished watching him play it.
I’m also too broke to buy it for myself…