The Total Perspective Vortex was created by Trintragula. His wife kept telling him to have some sense of proportion and he built it to show her.
The Vortex involves presenting the victim with a comparison between the entirety infinity of creation (as extrapolated from a piece of fairy cake) and the victim. The victim's mind is annihilated by the shock. It just goes to show that the one thing that people can't afford to have, if they are going to exist in the universe, is a sense of proportion.
Its custodian's name is Gargravarr and his body has a habit of going off to parties without him, just leaving his mind to attend to the Vortex. He hums so that the victims can follow him.
The Vortex is located on the
Frogstar, one of the most unpopular places in the universe.
Only one man has ever survived exposure to the Vortex. Though there were special circumstances
Zaphod Beeblebrox prefers to think this just goes to show how really great a guy he is. His survival was chronicled in Fit the Eighth of
Douglas Adam's '
The Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy.