Hell Gate is the gate to hell in Antiterra: a single, very wide gate inside a rock formation at the bottom of a wooded valley, sealed from both sides and kept by an angry devil guard.
| Type | Place |
| Spanish entry | Hell Gate |
Description
The gate is “a single one”, “very wide”: eighty miles between its pillars, if the two pillars truly edge the same leaf (“if it is true that one is a pillar and the other is another”).
One descends through the forest until one “reaches the bottom”, enters the stone, and pushes “a great gate”. Behind it lies an antechamber, where the guard waits. Among the surrounding rocks one is “a little wetter than the rest because there is a spring”; there is no river. Pavora, by the spring: “I don’t see the Acheron around here.”
The double closure
“This place is closed.” “No one could pass.” No price or being can open it. Outside, the seals that Christ broke to close the gate again; inside, a later rebuilding by the devils “working inside”.
The guard
There are porters and a guard, since reinforced. The devils left “on this side” occupy the site without owning it, and “they are angry”. Occhio and Malocchio wait at the gates.
Open questions
- The rock formation’s shape, the gate’s material and color, and the antechamber’s contents and size are not recorded.
- The number and look of the porters, beyond the two named, are unknown.
- Where the valley lies, and why the gate is there, is unknown.
- Why the devils rebuilt the gate from inside, and why those outside are angry, is unknown.