Casting a Shadow: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

 

A form of [[Elemental Powers]] dealing with shadow and darkness, it can take several forms. Darkness as an element is frequently portrayed as acting nigh-identically to its polar opposite, [[Light'Em Up]], with characters "projecting" darkness (technically inactive photons, which appear as black) as you would light (despite this [[Artistic License Physics|not making any sense]]). Shadow element, on the other hand, is usually focused on creating copies of something else—typically corrupted or imperfect ones. The two frequently overlap, as well; "dark" versions of other powers created by combining '''Casting a Shadow''' with other [[Elemental Powers]] or other power sets are not uncommon. Both darkness and shadow powers frequently act as the inverse of [[Hard Light]], as well—shadow-beings or creations of [[Pure Energy|pure darkness]] will be able to affect the world as if they are solid objects.

 

{{examples}}

* ''[[Pokémon (anime)|Pokémon]]'': in the Sinnoh League, we have Tobias, whose signature Pokemon is {{spoiler|the legendary Darkrai}}. Possibly lampshaded as an [[Actor Allusion]] in the dub.

* ''[[Code Breaker]]'': The Prince's power is this, featuring literal edges.

*** Negi's Magia Erebea may count as well, since, basically, it is still black magic, he just prefers lightning powers over darkness. Even Rakan notes that Negi's Affinity lies in the dark side.

*** There's ''also'' Kotaro Inugami, who has at his disposal the ability to summon vast swarms of autonomous spirit wolves made of darkness/shadow.

* In ''[[Digimon Frontier]],'' darkness is just one more element and not inherently evil. The original Legendary Warriors—the warrior of Darkness included—were all good guys, and the new one, like every bad guy in the first half of the series, was corrupted by Cherubimon {{spoiler|and eventually got better, joining the team}}. More of his attacks than not have "Dark" or "Shadow" or some other darkness-related word in the name and involve black energy.

* Pumpkin Doryu, from ''[[Rave Master]]''

* Momose from ''[[Bloody Cross]]'' has the ability to control shadows. She can summon beasts made of shadows, shoot shadow spikes, and use it for stealth (hiding in people's shadows) and for some form of teleportation (disappearing into a swirl of shadows on the ground).

* In ''[[Saint Beast]]'', [[The Lancer|Luca]] has shadow as his [[Elemental Powers]], standing in contrast to [[The Hero]]'s power of [[Holy Hand Grenade|light]].

 

* In Marvel Comics, Darkforce users can [[Un Entendre|do number two]], although they aren't all evil.

* Jackie in ''[[The Darkness]]'' manipulates the dark, but broadly speaking, he's a good guy. For a mob hitman. Well, he's better than the wielder of the [[Light Is Not Good|light powers]], anyway.

* Malice Vundabar, the youngest member of the [[New Gods|Female Furies]], could summon a shadow monster called Chessure.

* Shadow Lass/Umbra from [[The Legion of Super Heroes]]. Definitely a good guy, though her incarnations in the Postboot continuity was an ill-tempered [[Anti-Hero]].

 

* A non-evil example would be Arithon from ''[[Wars of Light and Shadow]]''. He's called the Master of Shadow for a reason, having power of the darkness and anything related to it, while his half-brother is the Lord of Light.

* [[Emotionless Girl|Ethereal]] of ''Three of Heart, One of Blood'' is able to manipulate shadows to the point where she can create sentient beings with them, albeit fueled by her own personality in a sense. She also averts the [[Stripperific]] clothing rule by wearing large, conservative dresses.

* In ''[[The Wheel of Time]]'', the [[Sealed Evil in a Can|Dark One]] manifests an [[God in Human Form|avatar]] with the power to create black fire, a "sphere of black light", and generalized darkness in rooms. This may be [[Justified Trope|analogous]] to its other unique ability, to block access to the One Power: it can destroy physical light as it can magical [[Light Is Good|Light]].

** Myrddraal are terrifying, though that just may be because of their [[Eyeless Face]]s, extraordinary combat abilities, and love of rape. They possess the ability to teleport through shadows.

* In ''[[The Silmarillion]]'', the [[Exactly What It Says on the Tin|Unlight]] of [[Eldritch Abomination|Ungoliant]] falls somewhere between Casting a Shadow and the [[Power of the Void]].

** Frighteningly, while her heir Shelob is [[Weakened by the Light]], Ungoliant actively ''[[Big Eater|consumes it]]'' and spits out blackness.

* All Necromancers in ''[[Skulduggery Pleasant]]''.

 

* The Shadow Queen, a Type 2 villainess in the ''[[Champions]]'' adventure ''The Great Supervillain Contest''. She had Darkness powers, including the ability to solidify, project, and merge with shadows.

** ''Player's Option'' ("AD&D 2.5") introduced the school of Shadow, on par with elemental and Force magic, and Shadow Mages specialising in that.

** The 3.5 book ''Tome of Magic'' introduced the Shadowcasters, which were just like they sound, an entire class based on the use of shadow magic.

** [[Forgotten Realms]] AD&D2 sourcebook ''Wizards and Rogues of the Realms'' introduced "Shadow Walkers" as a Thief kit. 3.5e ''Shining South'' has "Crinti shadow marauder", which is a cavalry variant of Shadowdancer.

** The Dark Eldar have "darklight" weapons that use some kind of energy that resembles tangible darkness mined from other dimensions.

* ''[[Warhammer Fantasy Battle]]'' had a minor chaos god named Obscuras (see more [http://www.goblin-online.net/download/obscuras.txt here]) whose powers were mainly based on shadow, and who could grant to his followers the ability of seeing without requiring light. Some people can still obtain powers based on shadow without worshipping him, however.

* The [[Dark Is Not Evil|Darklings]] from ''[[Changeling: The Lost]]'' have a buy-in with the Contracts of Darkness. They don't involve shadow manipulation, however, as much as they play on some of the stereotypical qualities of darkness (creepy, unnerving, etc.).

* The [[Meaningful Name|Lasombra]] clan of vampires in ''[[Vampire: The Masquerade]]'' had the ability to control and create shadows as their signature power. When handled correctly, this made them more disturbing than their initially more monstrous allies from clan [[Body Horror|Tzimisce]]. Usually, it just ends up being an excuse for [[Naughty Tentacles]].

* In ''[[Magic: The Gathering|Magic the Gathering]]'', this lies within Black's purview. It has the "[http://magiccards.info/ps/en/53.html negative emotion]", "[http://magiccards.info/som/en/65.html physical darkness]", "[http://magiccards.info/vi/en/2.html night]", and "[http://magiccards.info/wl/en/10.html evil]" variants all represented.

 

* The [[Bionicle|Makuta]] were all about this, though characters belonging to other species sometimes had shadow-based powers as well. Also, if one tapped into their inner dark side or had their inner light drained, they automatically gained shadow powers.

 

* Rumia of ''[[Touhou]]'' was made to play with this notion. Her power, the power of darkness, is meant to sound like the dark and powerful abilities of other characters on this page, but she is actually one of the weakest of all [[Youkai]] in Gensokyo. Her darkness only blinds anyone within her field - which includes herself - and she is known for crashing headlong into trees. It is fortunate she is so weak, since she is a man-eater. The ribbon in her hair is supposed to be an amulet keeping her powers in check, however, so [[Wild Mass Guessing]] holds that she would be the unstoppable "[[Bonus Boss|EX-Rumia]]" if that amulet was removed.

* Count Bleck in ''[[Super Paper Mario]]'', who has the Chaos Heart.

* Ganondorf in ''[[The Legend of Zelda]]''.

** Midna, a type-2 [[Deadpan Snarker]] from ''[[The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess|The Legend of Zelda Twilight Princess]]''.

* Good ol' Dracula and Death in ''[[Castlevania]]''. Dracula uses #4, Death uses #1.

** Not to mention various other monsters in the series, who, between themselves, make liberal use of all four varieties.

* ''[[City of Heroes]]'' has 'Darkness' as a stock [[Elemental Powers|elemental damage type]] and a very common powerset. Its flavour text mainly involves 'drawing power from the Netherworld' and draining souls and such, but [[Dark Is Not Evil|it's equally available and used by heroes as well as villains]]. In game mechanics, Dark sets actually tend to be along the lines of [[Combo-Platter Powers]], but are very powerful when used right.

* Dark Jak in [[Jak and Daxter|Jak II]] is capable of funneling Dark Eco through his body as a result of two years worth of experiments that pumped it directly into him. The Dark Eco takes the form of lightning, and all of his powers are somewhat electricity based with a purple hue.

* The Darkness element mage skill set in ''[[Dragon Age]]''.

* In ''[[Arcana Heart]]'', both [[Elegant Gothic Lolita|Lieselotte]] [[Enfante Terrible|Achenbach's]] and [[Cute Witch|Yoriko]] [[Robe and Wizard Hat|Yasuzumi's]] default arcana's, [[Living Shadow|Gier]] and [[The Grim Reaper|Dieu Mort,]] deal with Darkness element powers.

* [[Shadow Hearts]] has almost every character possessing an Element. [[Anti-Hero|Yuri Hyuuga]] has the Dark Element in his [[Shape Shifter|default form]]. While he's uncouth and rude, he means well.

 

* Shadowmancy in ''[[Cat Legend]]'' seems to be a mixture of 2 and 3, with some additional, potentially creepy elements such as entering others' dreams. The most prominent user, Mercutious Nymndemise, is an unusual case, since, despite initially being set up as an antagonist, he's actually a pretty decent guy.

* Rose Lalonde of ''[[Homestuck]]'' may not be [[Dark Is Not Evil|evil]], but she's definitely [[The Unfettered]] and uses pretty damn powerful [[The Dark Arts|dark magic]], as well as having a black outfit and a black ''[[Battle Aura]]'' to boot.

* Tsillah of ''[[Wapsi Square]]'' has some interesting shadow manipulation powers. While the full extent of her abilities is yet to be shown, she can [http://wapsisquare.com/comic/2012-02029-your-clothes/ construct clothing out of shadows.]

 

* There seem to be a number of these in the [[Whateley Universe]] right now. Nacht is a [[Deadpan Snarker]] with a [[Super Villain]] mother, but she seems (so far) to be neutral. Sabbath is definitely in it for the crime. Blacklight may be a villain in training. They don't all have the same weaknesses, and [[Canon]] has it that some of them with Type 2 powers got the powers from a magical source, so rules of physics need not apply.

* Several characters have these abilities in the ''[[Global Guardians PBEM Universe]]''. Nearly all of them fall under Category Two. Nocturne, Eclipse (who can also [[Light'Em Up|manipulate light]]), Shadowcloak, Night Vision, Raven, Tatterdemalion, Moonshadow (who, like Eclipse, can also [[Light'Em Up|control light]]), Zmierzch (Polish for "Twilight"), Bloody Mary, Muerte Oscura, Shadowspawn, and Obsidian.

* ''[[The Questport Chronicles]]'': [[Big Bad|The Master of Darkness]], who is [[Exactly What It Says on the Tin]].

 

== [[Western Animation]] ==

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Elemental Powers]]

[[Category:Darkness and Shadows Tropes]]

[[Category:Stock Super Powers]]