Black Knight



""...ride forth on a jet black steed, murder your enemies in one fell blow, and bring nightmares to every corner of the land. If this sounds good to you, consider the career of black knight.""

- Neil Zawacki, How to Be a Villain

Exactly What It Says on the Tin on the Tin.

An enigmatic foe, clad head to toe in armor black as night. Usually ridiculously powerful, he (and it usually is a he or assumed to be) is feared by all who know of him. Wielding a sword, speaking in a low monotone or sinister growl, and looking totally Badass while doing it, he is almost always a major antagonist. The Hero probably has a score to settle with him. The mystery surrounding his true identity is often a main plot point. Commonly fills the role of The Dragon in fantasy stories, since when done right, Black Knights are absurdly cool. A Black Knight is usually found in settings in which a Knight in Shining Armor is also present. Frequently, they revel in combat. Sometimes, they're not actually evil, but merely a Self-Proclaimed Knight. Sometimes, they're even a girl. Sometimes there's nothing but the suit of armor.

The trope name comes from the black knights of feudal Europe, men who would paint their armor and shields black for a number of reasons. One reason to do this was because they had no liege (making them analogous to Ronin Samurai) or to disguise who it was they served; a knight could move freely and serve his lord's wishes without bringing him blame by painting over his coat of arms, since that was the only way to recognize someone covered head to toe in armor; black was used because it prevented rusting, which made it easier (though still difficult) to travel without a squire. This is Older Than Print, going back at least to Arthurian legend. Note that, in its original usage, a Black Knight was not necessarily villainous, though he was dishonorable, which in The Dung Ages was barely a step up.

Note that, although being a black knight, this character is still a knight. This places them rather high among the list of potential candidates for Dark Is Not Evil, or at least a sympathetic form of villainy. While that can take a variety of forms, they rarely are the Knight in Shining Armor. More likely, they can be anything from a Knight in Sour Armor to a Noble Demon. This character very rarely is a Complete Monster, but also only rarely The Hero. If they are villainous and end up fighting another bad guy, the chances that they are A Lighter Shade of Black in that situation are extremely high. They might also be the holy, chosen guardians of The Sacred Darkness or a Magic Knight who uses that power alongside their sword.

A Monster Knight has a high chance of being a black knight.

If the Black Knight is in service to a female villain, then it may be a case of dark lady and black knight.

Not to be confused with that Sonic the Hedgehog game, although it's also part of this trope.

Anime and Manga

 * Dark Knight/ from Murder Princess
 * In Aura Battler Dunbine, Burn Burning became a black knight in the second half of the show after he failed his lord too many times. The OP turned it into a Paper-Thin Disguise for the audience though.
 * In Fate/Zero, Berserker, AKA, epitomizes this trope; he is over 6 feet tall, clad with heavy black armor from head to toe, and has two noble phantasms that firstly , and secondly,  If that is not enough for you, he also has a final, third noble phantasm which is
 * The Black Knights of Code Geass.
 * Also deconstructed and subverted at the same time by
 * And the Gawain  is a Black Knight(mare).
 * The Black Knights are color coded to contrast with The Empire, which frequently uses Light Colors in their mecha and uniforms.
 * Mai-Otome has a Black Knight among the Aswad, and he goes by the name of Rad.
 * The Black Knight (and/or Crimsom Knight) from the first episode of The Tower of Druaga is a parody of this kind of character.
 * Ashram in Record of Lodoss War is a rare case of a Bishonen Black Knight.
 * Racer X in Speed Racer.
 * In The Five Star Stories, there's only one Black Knight at any one time & he's a sort of Legacy Character. The Black Knight is the person Artificial Human Est sees as the ideal pilot for the Humongous Mecha she's bonded to, Vatshu. When the current Black Knight dies, Est goes Walking the Earth looking for a new one. Most are free agents,n though they usually seem to have an affinity for The Kingdom of Colus.
 * The Skull Knight of Berserk, though he doesn't actually wear black. Despite his appearance, he's actually one of the nicest guys in the series. Guts himself is called "The Black Swordsman" and gains black armor later on in the series.
 * DarkKnightmon from Digimon Xros Wars combines this trope with Magnificent Bastard and awesome theme music.
 * Sorta invoked and then subverted in Rose of Versailles. There is a character that refers to himself as the "Black Knight", but said character mixes Just Like Robin Hood with . We also find out, and later
 * In Maoyuu Maou Yuusha, Demon King gives Hero a suit of black armor worn by her predecessors and sends him to kick the butts of her more trouble-making subjects. He calls himself "Dark Knight." Awesome-looking armor, and he's a One-Man Army Magic Knight, but he's also literally The Hero, a Knight in Shining Armor, etc., so rather subverting much of this trope.

Comic Books

 * More than one character in Marvel Comics is named "The Black Knight." Some are heroes, some villains.
 * Batman's armor may be a lot less bulky than most, but he still fits (hence "The Dark Knight"). His Tangent Comics incarnation is a literal "dark knight", a cursed suit of armor that stands stalwart against evil.
 * Disney comics have two Black Knights. One is the Phantom Blot, Mickey Mouse's murderous, sometimes megalomaniac supervillain foe covered completely in an inky black cloak.
 * Don Rosa drew a pair of stories featuring a Black Knight actually called that. He was a master thief named Arpin Lusene (better known by his criminal alias, Le Chevalier Noir), modeled after the Gentleman Thief trope. He gets even worse when he actually gets a black suit of armour covered with a substance that destroys anything it touches. (He's very careful when putting it on.)
 * Captain Rochnan, commander of the Warrior Monks, in Le Scorpion.

Fan Works

 * in the Death Note Fanfic Low Light after becoming Kira's bodyguard and taking several levels in Badass.

Film

 * Monty Python and the Holy Grail famously features a Black Knight, who ends up with all of his limbs chopped off, yet still lusting for bloodshed.
 * Star Wars: Darth Vader is basically a black knight In Space. Boba Fett also counts, with the early Star Wars Expanded Universe giving multiple contradictory identities and backstories (since retconned into rumors he let spread to further hide his identity). Many early Expanded Universe works also implied he was a girl, some so heavily those appearances were retconned into being a female impersonator:.
 * Sauron from the intro of The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring film's opening wears a huge suit of armor, roars monstrously, and swings a gigantic mace, sending scores of soldiers flying with each blow. Some would say this is contrary to the books, and that's fine, but TV tropes is not the place. (He is modeled after his former master Morgoth from Silmarillion, and the books (or at least the appendix) did mention him taking part in this particular battle personally, so at least it's fairly justified.)
 * A Kid in King Arthur's Court reveals its master jouster Black Knight to be
 * Braveheart has William Wallace duel a character like this at one point, complete with a dramatic identity reveal.
 * There are two films with Black Knight in the title, one from 1954 (The Black Knight) starring Alan Ladd, and another from 2001 (Black Knight), starring Martin Lawrence.
 * Two of these end up coming into A Knight's Tale. One's the classic trope villain, and the other is the original King Incognito use.
 * Interestingly averted in Disney's The Sword in the Stone. The knight wearing all black was shown to be scary, but when it was spread and challenged that Wart (Arthur) had pulled the sword out and put it back; he was the most reasonable and vocal about giving him a chance to show everyone he could do it again.
 * Rinzler in Tron: Legacy is Clu's champion in the games and races. Clad in black, with a smooth black helmet obscuring his face, Rinzler is the only character Dual-Wielding discs. He is extremely fast, agile, and durable.
 * The huge black-armoured warrior in the film adaptation of Solomon Kane is silent, mysterious and nigh on unstoppable.

Literature

 * "Le Noir Faineant" (The Black Sluggard) of Ivanhoe. In this case it's not The Dragon but rather a Large Ham.
 * "Desdichado" (The Unfortunate One) of the same story possibly qualifies.
 * The notorious bounty hunter Aloysius Knight in the Matthew Reilly novel Scarecrow goes by the call sign "Black Knight", and dresses appropriately. In accordance with the trope, his origin, identity and allegiances are unclear.
 * The Improfanfic Dark Heart High has Craig Maimsworth, Black Knight!...in training. He's not very good at it. He does wear heavy black armor though.
 * Lord Soth from the Dragonlance novels is a very good example of this trope being a fallen hero, undead (a Death Knight), the leader of a small army of undead and the second in command to Takhisis and Kitiara before being exiled to Ravenloft.
 * Later stories introduce the Knights of Takhisis, an entire military order of Black Knights (living, for the most part).
 * In A Song of Ice and Fire we get to hear of several Black Knights, called Mystery Knights, who remain masked until they are defeated; it is apparently all but law that whomever defeats a mystery knight is a tournament is the one who removes the helm. Indeed, it seems there was hardly a famous tourney in which there wasn't at least one participating. One of the most famous, never unmasked, was the Knight of the Laughing Tree, who competed at the great tourney at Harrenhal, made it a point to defeat knights who had bullied a young crannogman squire, became champion at the end of the second day, and then vanished before the third day began, leaving behind only the shield, emblazoned with a laughing heart tree.
 * In what is probably an aversion, while the Night's Watch always wears black, and there are indeed anointed knights serving among them, we have not yet seen one dressed in full plate, complete with face-concealing helm, who for some time is unable to be identified by a viewpoint character; given the relatively small size of the organization and that the Night's Watch isn't looked upon highly anymore, it seems we are unlikely to by series end.
 * In Eve Forward's Villains by Necessity, a Black Knight joins the protagonists, who nickname him Blackmail.
 * Played in its non-villainous incarnation by Sir Guy Losobal, the Black Knight of Christopher Stasheff's A Wizard in Rhyme series, who serves as an ally to the protagonist in most of the books.
 * The titular character of Alexandre Herculano's Eurico.
 * In The Black Company novels by Glen Cook,  temporarily becomes a black knight by donning his Widowmaker armor to damage enemy morale.
 * Sparhawk's enemies in The Elenium/Tamuli essentially see him as this, due partially to the black Pandion Knight armor, partially to the Pandion order's reputation for casual cruelty, and partially to
 * Martel fits the archetype better, being a dishonoured former knight-turned mercenary.
 * Averted in Through the Looking Glass, and What Alice Found There, which uses white and red chess set symbolism and characters.
 * The Warrior in Jet and Gold from the Hawkmoon trilogy has the appearance of one of these, but is actually fully on the good guys' side (if in an annoyingly enigmatic way).
 * Gaynor the Damned is a straighter version of the trope who appears in many Michael Moorcock series (although his armour is not black but constantly changing in colour, due to the influence of Chaos).
 * Berserker in Fate/Zero, who is only known as "The Black Knight" since he is wearing the typical black armor. He is also clouded by a fog that obscures his identity and status. His identity is revealed later on to be, who wanted to descend into madness after the mess that he made in his lifetime as a knight.
 * In Howard Pyle's late-19th/early-20th Century versions of the Arthurian mythos, this is the default appearance of numerous opponents of the Knights of the Round Table during their adventures.
 * In The Once and Future King, King Arthur states that it has always been his dream to dress up as a Black Knight and stand by a bridge, and challenge any knight who comes by to a joust. Later on, in The Ill-Made Knight, he is shown doing just that when Lancelot comes to King Arthur's Court.
 * A black knight appears fairly early in The Silver Chair as a mysterious woman's companion.
 * Played with in The Last Wish, the first of The Witcher novels. The mystery knight Urcheon of Erlenwald came to Cintra to claim as the promised reward the King had "found without expecting" after saving by him from certain death. He's a good guy disguising himself out of need after being cursed. He gets better, ditches the armor and  later in the series.
 * , known as the Black Knight, aka the "knight with the winged helmet". It's played straight until it's discovered he actually, going on to become a.
 * The Wild Hunt, who also get a Skull for a Head to ramp up the creepiness factor.

Live Action TV

 * One turns up in Merlin. It turns out to be none other than Arthur's uncle, summoned as a wraith by Nimueh.
 * A few have shown up in Super Sentai and Power Rangers:
 * Bull Black the Black Knight in Seijuu Sentai Gingaman/the Magna Defender in Power Rangers Lost Galaxy, an Aloof Ally who lost a family member and is out for vengeance against the villains, clashing with the Rangers in the process. Both eventually pass on their powers to the Red Ranger's brother (Hyuuga and Mike, respectively), who becomes a proper Sixth Ranger.
 * Wolzard in Mahou Sentai Magiranger/Koragg the Knight Wolf in Power Rangers Mystic Force, The Dragon with a Hellish Horse but also has an honorable streak a mile wide, often rationalizing that the Rangers are Not Worth Killing. Really Incidentally, his armor isn't black but purple.
 * Gosei Knight in Tensou Sentai Goseiger, another Aloof Ally and a Knight Templar - like the Rangers, he wants to protect the Earth; unlike the Rangers he doesn't particularly care for its people. His armor is actually silver, but his attitude qualifies him for this trope.
 * Older example: Zhang Liao from Gosei Sentai Dairanger. Literally clad in black armor too, and
 * And from Kyoryu Sentai Zyuranger the year before,  the Yamato Tribe's black knight. He's a flashback-only character, but he is important.   This was what lead to Burai and the other Zyurangers starting as enemies.

Mythology

 * Older Than Print Ur Example: The Black Knight of Arthurian legend.
 * There's actually at least two. Arthur killed one, Sir Gareth got another.
 * The Green Knight from Sir Gawain and the Green Knight also appears to fit the trope, but with every instance of "black" changed to "green". Except that the Green Knight subverts it by turning out to be an pretty good guy that just wanted to test Gawain's honour.
 * Lancelot had many aspects of a Black Knight, at least in that he didn't want to be recognized; he often would borrow other people's armor and weapons so that nobody could tell it was him while wandering around and performing heroic deeds/picking fights with random people. Black armor was one of his earliest disguises.

Tabletop Games

 * Magic: The Gathering
 * The Black Knight card from, a standby of black decks for years.
 * The Hand of Cruelty, a Black Samurai.
 * Warhammer 40,000 has no shortage of soldiers in black Power Armor, from the genocidally zealous Black Templars to the heroic but shadowy warriors of the Raven Guard, but the ones who fit this trope best are the Chaos Space Marines of the Black Legion. Many are former Sons of Horus who had their colors and name deliberately changed to distance them from their defeat at the end of the Horus Heresy, while the rest are Chaos Marines from other legions who repainted their armor to show allegiance to their new master, Abbadon the Despoiler.
 * Among the loyalists, those Space Marines who are sent to join the Deathwatch paint their armor black as a gesture of brotherhood with their new chapter - save for their original chapter's markings on their right pauldron, both as a point of pride and so not to anger their armor's machine spirit. The exception are the so-called Black Shields who have chosen to completely sever themselves from their previous chapter, either because they are the last surviving member, or for darker reasons...
 * Dungeons & Dragons features the playable Blackguard prestige class, which is a kind of always-evil fighter with some divine magic spells. A possible background for a Blackguard is to be a fallen Paladin.
 * In some French sources, "Blackguard" is translated "Chevalier noir", which is the French for "Black Knight".
 * The Paladin of Tyranny variant of the base Paladin would also fit here. The Paladin of Slaughter, not so much.

Video Games

 * The Black Knight from Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance, is the very embodiment of this trope; there's a very good reason why he's the page image. He looks badass, sounds badass, wields a huge sword, is always accompanied by ominous Crowning Music of Awesome, is the second-in-command to the two different BigBads of both the game and its sequel, survives having an entire castle collapse on him, and is the catalyst for the hero's quest of vengeance. His identity is rather undramatically and unceremoniously revealed in the sequel, Radiant Dawn, where the conversation revealing this almost literally goes "Btw  is the Black Knight." "'Kay."
 * The Black Knight's compatriot, General Bertram is also a classic Black Knight. Dressed all in black armour and riding astride a black horse, he speaks only in hisses, has a Mysterious Past that is only hinted at, is armed with the life-draining Runesword, and keeps his face concealed behind his visor. In the sequel he's revealed to be.
 * Before that Black Knight, the first Fire Emblem Akaneia had Camus, leader of the Black Knights squadron of the Grust army and widely regarded as the most powerful warrior alive (and certainly backs up that reputation in-game). There's also Sirius in the next book, though They didn't retain this name when Shadow Dragon was released in English, and are instead called the Sable Order.
 * In Fire Emblem: Seisen no Keifu, the second generation of characters has Aless, the son of the first generation's legendary knight Eltosian. He sports black-ish armor, wields the demon sword Mistoltin, holds a grudge against Celice, and starts out as a mercenary serving the enemy (and eventually defects). Their lineage can be traced back to Hezul, one of the Twelve Crusaders and also a heroic Black Knight.
 * The Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time has a fight against a Black Knight figure (except with gold armor) in the Spirit Temple near the end of the game, as a personal servant to the Big Bad of the dungeon, Twinrova. He is revealed upon defeat to be....
 * The Darknuts from The Legend of Zelda Twilight Princess probably count as well. They aren't important in the plot, but one does appear as a mini-boss in one dungeon, their difficulty makes them very imposing when you have to fight multiple ones later on in the game. A confrontation with three four at once even serves as the game's Bonus Boss.
 * Darknuts in general games for that matter, although not all of them wore black armor. Similar figures can also be found in The Legend of Zelda the Wind Waker (the Mighty Darknuts sent to attack Link when Zelda got captured), and a single black Knight enemy (maybe with that as a name) in The Legend of Zelda the Minish Cap.
 * Sarevok, the Big Bad of the first Baldur's Gate fits this trope very well. He wields a huge sword, and is clad in spiked black armor with a horned full helm revealing only his glowing eyes. His mysterious connection with the protagonist is that  In the expansion for the second game
 * The dark knight classes in Final Fantasy III and Final Fantasy X-2
 * Golbez of Final Fantasy IV could not fit this trope any better. His theme song is titled "Golbez, Clad in Dark". He doesn't actually ever use a Sword, but prefer his magic instead.
 * Although Cecil, later a paladin, also fits this early in the game.
 * ExDeath, the antagonist from Final Fantasy V, although like Golbez above he's presented in-story as a magic user (though he does have a sword and does use it in in-game battles). He also deviates a bit from this trope since his armor is actually light blue with gold trim.
 * The Dark Lord from Final Fantasy Adventure. Interestingly, he shares his sprites with Final Fantasy III's dark knights.
 * Black Shadow of the F-Zero series. Quite silly for a racing game, but brilliant for an Affectionate Parody of western super heroes and or lucha libre.
 * One of the most memorable scenes in 1983's Dragon's Lair was the duel against The Black Knight, making it the oldest video game example. The Black Knight also appeared in the animated series.
 * The Black Knight in Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles. His identity is never revealed, strictly speaking, but the player can piece together the fact that he's, unbeknownst to either of them. He's also The Berserker and an amnesiac.
 * Yuber from the Suikoden series dresses in full black armour, is hinted to have a major role in the overall story and remains frustratingly enigmatic. He removes his armour for the third game (ironically so players wouldn't recognize him) but remains an enigma.
 * A rare good example: Pesmerga, Yuber's opposite number, who fights on the heroes side but is no less of a Black Knight.
 * In World of Warcraft almost any Death Knight qualifies as a Black Knight, as does the fallen paladin in Stratholme, and almost all blood elf blood knights. The meme is best exemplified by Highlord Darion Mograine however. And.. you know.. the.. um.. Black Knight.
 * And Arthas in the original Warcraft 3 and the expansion, lest we forget.
 * The Darkshine Knight from Seiken Densetsu 3 fits the trope perfectly, being The Dragon of one of the game's three potential Big Bads, the Dragon Emperor. He even has a moment for bonus points!
 * Servant Berserker in Fate/Zero, referred to as the Black Knight because no one can figure out his true identity, and in fact specifically has a Noble Phantasm which can distort his appearance. The only hint was that he recognized and held a grudge against Saber, and his ability to use any object as a weapon..
 * Saber Alter counts as well, at least aesthetically.
 * Fallout 2 has secret agent Frank Horrigan, doing the dirty work for the Enclave. This mutated freak comes with a suit of custom power armor too big for a Super Mutant and fully automatic plasma rifle.
 * Fallout: New Vegas has Legate Lanius,, whose armor isn't black but serves the same function. Part of his backstory is that he wears his helmet because most of his face was torn off in a fight with his own clan—when they decided that surrender was preferable to dying to a man.
 * Revan of Knights of the Old Republic fits this trope almost perfectly, the only exception being that the player never actually faces him, which is explained in the big reveal when his identity is revealed to be
 * The Black Knight in, uhh, Sonic and The Black Knight is King Arthur gone evil.
 * Ironically enough, while it seems like he wears black, The Black Knight actually wears gold armor.
 * Sir Lancelot also counts since he is a knight in black armor
 * And because he's Shadow the Hedgehog 's King Arthur expy.
 * Meta Knight, particularly in his debut Kirby's Adventure, fits this quite well, though the black (or dark blue) comes from his skin.
 * Gares from the first Ogre Battle.
 * Death's Hand from Jade Empire.
 * Death Knight Cador from Brigandine
 * The Black Knight from Final Fantasy II, who is rather obviously
 * The black, recurring stealth bomber in 19XX: The Battle Against Destiny.
 * Prince Neidhart the Black from Romancing SaGa plays with this trope. He's The Stoic Prince of Rosalia, a White-Haired Pretty Boy who goes into battle wearing a full suit of ornate armor... and he's one of the good guys, despite his cold demeanor.
 * The Black Knight is the Big Bad of the Dark Castle series.
 * Oswald the Shadow Knight from Odin Sphere goes without a helmet (being a White-Haired Pretty Boy) but otherwise has the "terrifying, pitiless butcher" part down pat- he's probably the most feared warrior in the world. At least at first- after a Heroic BSOD and discovering The Power of Love he lightens up a bit, but still wears the spiky black armour and wields the sword infused with the power of the underworld. As he's a playable character, he could be the poster boy for Dark Is Not Evil.
 * The Black Knight In Dungeon Keeper is one of the few instances where they actually work for you.
 * In Mitsumete Knight, Wolfgario the Ravager, leader of the enemy army Valpha-Valaharian, totally embodies this trope. Wearing full armor, and his identity being a mystery that's crucial for the plot? Check. Speaking with an imposing tone and looking and sounding badass and cool? Check. Wielding a sword? Check, and it's a BFS. Ridiculously powerful? Check, he's the strongest enemy in the whole game. Major antagonist ? Check. The only single difference is that he wears red armor instead of black.
 * In Conquests of Camelot, King Arthur has to joist the Black Knight to save Sir Gawain. Well, he doesn't HAVE to.
 * The Dark Knights in Video Game/Mabinogi.
 * The Dark Knights in Disgaea: Hour of Darkness are Animated Armor suits with fire coming out of their heads, but the Executioners are the only ones that actually dress in black. Killing one allows you to make your own.
 * Legend of Dragoon features the Black Monster, a mysterious shadowy figure in black armor who burned down the protagonist's hometown; naturally, said protagonist has sworn revenge. It's later revealed that the Black Monster is in fact
 * In Dragon Age Awakening, any character that wears the Armor of the Sentinel will look the part of a Black Knight. The flavor text implies that the armor itself may have somehow been tainted when its original wearer slew the Archdemon Dumat.
 * The Gatekeeper in Prince of Persia Classic, who replaces the Politician of the original.
 * Jack in Radiata Stories can find and equip a black suit of armor which gives him this appearance, complete with Spikes of Villainy, Badass Cape, and a face-covering helmet.
 * Nobunaga Oda in Samurai Warriors.
 * Soul Calibur Big Bad Nightmare is an animated suit of dark blue armour.
 * ...who is actually called the Azure Knight. Funnily enough, he's an evil version of the game's resident paladin Siegfried.
 * Maximo features a few Black Knights (Animated Armor variety) as enemies in the final few levels. They come complete with a resonant intonation of "No man shall pass." To add to the Shout-Out, they even fall to pieces when they're defeated.
 * A black knight appears early on in Castlevania: Lords of Shadow. This knight is a soul-eating golem built out of the corpse of a former mute murderer, built to protect his creator's daughter. As such, despite his menacing appearance he's hardly evil,
 * It is possible to both fight and dress as a Black Knight in Kingdom of Loathing. Wearing the outfit gives you a total boost of +21 to your Muscle.
 * If pinball games count, the 1980 game Black Knight, and it's 1989 "sequel" Black Knight 2000.
 * Black Knight Lord Zain from Half Minute Hero serves as the number-two to Big Bad Evil Sorcerer Noire, and a powerful opponent to the Hero...powerful enough to blast him and the Time Goddess all the way across the continent after his first defeat.
 * When you think about it, you pretty much are one in Conduit 2, seeing as the Destroyer Armor is all black and red armor covering you from head to toe. The concept art also depicts it with an energy sword that doesn't show up in the actual game. Also, the Mooks can Shout-Out "You're not my father! You're not my father!!"
 * Leon of Yggdra Union, although he's not really mysterious. He is also recruitable in its prequel, Blaze Union.
 * In the original campaign Neverwinter Nights, progressivly becomes one after  and is a boss in the later parts of the game.
 * Black Knights in Dark Souls usually serve as a sort of optional minibosses, being fast and very tough, especially at low levels, and being slightly off the main path.
 * There is also Black Iron Tarkus, a heroic and silent example, who can be summoned to help you fight the Iron Golem at the end of Sen's Fortress. He's a super-Badass who could probably solo the fight by himself.
 * Dirk Gassenarl in Valkyria Chronicles II. He's ridiculously powerful, rarely speaks in battle, and serves as The Dragon to Baldren Gassenarl.
 * In Mount & Blade you can actually be a black knight, with some editing of the equipment list. A full set of black armour is on said list, but not marked as "sellable", meaning you won't find it unless you change the relevant flag. The black armour is the strongest and heaviest in the game, and you can wear it while riding the best horse in the game, an armoured charger, which is black.
 * Tales of Phantasia has Mars, a minor villain at the beginning of the game who fits the trope's physical description well, also intent on unsealing Dhaos. Travelling to the future however reveals that black seems to be Euclid knighthood's standard armour colour.
 * In the second half of Beyond the Beyond, the party is stalked by a mysterious knight clad in black armor. He eventually catches up to them and challenges them to a duel. Once the battle is over, the knight's identity is revealed as

Web Comics

 * Melleck Xaos from the webcomic The Wotch.
 * The adult-themed fantasy comic Sam The Black Knight has a college student from Earth perform a Body Swap with an armored dark overlord in a Medieval European Fantasy world.
 * In Quest of Camelittle, the main villain is a Black Knight who calls himself "Big Bad." He's also served by four other Black Knights, named as the Sloth Knight, the Blast Knight, the Spike Knight, and the Assault Knight.

Web Original

 * In The Gamers Alliance, Wulgar and his successor Ulrik both wear black armor and act as foes of various heroes.

Western Animation

 * Family Guy parodied this up the yin-yang in its "Mr. Saturday Knight" episode. Particularly memorable is the scene where The Black Knight shaves his beard while still wearing his helmet.
 * He cuts himself shaving like this.
 * In the cartoon series Arthur And The Square Knights Of The Round Table, the Black Knight was lackey to the witch Morgana le Fay, and always managed to ruin her evil schemes through his incompetent bungling.
 * The Fright Knight from Danny Phantom.
 * The Classic Disney Short "Knight for a Day", which stars Goofy, Goofy, and more Goofy, has the good Goofy jousting with a Black Knight.
 * In "Knighty Knight Bugs", Bugs Bunny fights a Black Knight who turns out to be Yosemite Sam in armor.
 * Generator Rex has a character called Black Knight whom did not wear armor

Real Life

 * Edward of Woodstock, Prince of Wales, son of Edward III of England is known as The Black Prince and is known for his martial skills. It's thought that he earned this name by wearing black armor, but it's not clear, and the name only appears well after his death.
 * The Knights Hospitallers typically wore black or very dark armour on their campaigns. Given their rampant badassery, they were true Black Knights.
 * The US Army academy's college football team is nicknamed the Black Knights. They have a long-standing Interservice Rivalry with Navy's Midshipmen, but in keeping with the tendency for a black knight to be a villain and for the villain to lose, they rarely come out of their clashes on top.