Gehenna

*(chapter 3.5)*

**Gehenna** is an alternative floor to the Mausoleum and was added in *The Binding of Isaac: Repentance*.

Gehenna has a demonic theme, with horned skulls, bones, and blood on the black cracked floor, while bloodied chains hang from the walls. Unique features of this stage include Teleporters, Grudges, and the Ball and Chain.

The door to the Mausoleum / Gehenna will appear after defeating the boss in The Mines II / Ashpit II or the Depths I / Necropolis I / Dank Depths I. The door will **not** spawn after defeating Mom. It costs two full hearts to enter, and ignores almost every form of damage reduction, including  and invincibility. Unlike other methods of health donation, red hearts will not be prioritized over more valuable hearts.

* The Lost,  Tainted Lost,  Tainted Jacob (In his soul form),  Tainted Soul (unless he is holding  Tainted Forgotten), and any character under the effect of  can enter the door for free.
* , , , and  can be used to open the door without taking damage.
* can be used to open the door with one bomb.
* 's effect can open the door with less damage taken than needed, or with no damage with .
* The extra characters spawned by , , and  can expend their health to open the door.
* can be used to open the door with red hearts first.

The boss of Gehenna II is always a more powerful version of Mom. After Mom is defeated, a trapdoor that leads to the Womb II, and a sealed fleshy door both appear. Stabbing the door with the knife familiar created by  and  will cause it to open, leading to a more difficult version of Mom's Heart. Defeating Mom's Heart will cause the boss room to darken, and the trapdoor to Womb II will now lead to the Corpse.

* A  can be used in place of the Knife.
* 's effect can open the flesh door, allowing Isaac to keep the knife.
* If Isaac exits the Boss Rush room after 25 minutes have passed, there is a chance that the flesh door will change positions to the wall where the boss rush door was, causing Isaac to "come out" of the flesh door and leaving it open, allowing entry without the knife.
* After this special version of Mom's Heart is defeated, any Item or Pickup that was left behind anywhere on the floor will disappear (including Shop items, Angel Room/Devil Room items, etc.): the floor will be empty.
	+ Therefore, make sure not to leave behind something that you might want to use after this floor. The strategy consisting in teleporting outside of Mom and Mom's Heart to retrieve something that was left behind after fighting them is **not** viable here.
	+ If a Shop Restock Machine is used within the now-empty shop, it will restock the shop as normal.
	+ If the effect of  is invoked after the special version of Mom's Heart is defeated, the Curse of Darkness-like effect will remain on the newly generated floor. Additionally, no items will naturally generate in rooms where they would have. After the player defeats Mom again, there will be no flesh door, and the trapdoor to Corpse will appear.

## Trivia

* In Hebrew belief, Gehenna (or Gehinnom) was thought to be a small valley in Jerusalem. The name literally translated to "Valley of Hinnom" and in the Valley, Kings of Jerusalem would sacrifice their children through fire.
	+ Gehenna was also thought to be "the destination of the wicked" in Jewish literature. It differs from the neutral-leaning Sheol as Gehenna was considered a type of waiting room; the longest one can be there is 11 or 12 months with few exceptions.
	+ It was also thought to be the location of Jerusalem's garbage dump, where the city's waste and the corpses of criminals were disposed by incineration. These fires burned for most of the day, inspiring later descriptions of Hell as a place of eternal torment by fire for the wicked.
* This floor could also potentially be a nod to *The Seven Planes of Hehenna*, a similarly named area in another of Edmund McMillen's games, *Gish.* This is reinforced by the numerous similarities the two share, such as the appearance of gimp-clad enemies and the visual theme of a demonic temple.
	+ The boss Sisters Vis was also originally the boss of this area in *Gish*, though that is not the case for Gehenna.
* As the Mausoleum only has 2 unique bosses, it is possible to unlock it in one run by completing a Boss Challenge room, as both bosses will spawn.

## Music

* The music in Gehenna is titled *Morning Star.*
	+ "Morning Star", "Shining One" or "Light-Bringer" comes from ancient greek and is used to refer to Lucifer.
	+ The planet Venus is considered the Morning Star and is associated with the Devil falling from heaven. This is due to it falling beneath the horizon in the morning, much like how the former angel fell to Earth. Venus and the Devil share the name Lucifer because of this.
	+ A morning star is also a type of weapon that consists of a spiked ball at the end of a club. An extremely brutal weapon that also resembles the rotating spike balls and the similarly named enemies unique to this floor.
* In the background of the track, the Latin phrase "bonus est Deus" can be heard, which can be translated to "God is good."