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Dark Is Not Evil/Literature: Difference between revisions
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{{trope}}
* In ''[[The Dresden Files]]'' novel ''Dead Beat'', Harry talks with Kumori, a powerful necromancer who uses her powers over life and death to preserve life wherever possible, and is confronted with a deep, unsettling realization that the powers of necromancy, classified as [[Black Magic]] by the White Council and considered pure evil, can be used for good ends (for example, keeping a man dying of a gunshot wound alive by simply refusing to allow him to die at all). At the end of the book, Harry puts this into practice, when he {{spoiler|reanimates a Sue, the T. Rex skeleton at the Field Museum, and [[The Dresden Files/Awesome|uses her as his mount to save the damn day.]]}}
** Later, in ''Changes'', when talking to his godmother after {{spoiler|Susan is killed}}, the Leanansidhe, a powerful fae of the Winter Court (which is considered the cruelest and most wicked of the faerie courts) states that she will bury her as Harry wishes her to be, at no cost to him. This prompts Harry to remark that just because Winter is cold, it isn't always ''bitter''.
** Further on, in Ghost Story, he encounters an [[Our Angels Are Different|angel of death]] watching over {{spoiler|Father Forthill}} when he is close to death. Every physical aspect of the angel is black with the exception of her irises and sword. Despite all this, she has an innocent personality and is simply there to guard {{spoiler|Forthill's}} soul in the case that he does die, from whatever horrors lurk in the spirit world.
** In honesty, he entirety of the series plays with the varying shades of morality, especially with Lasciel and Fae arcs. Harry is a case study in the [[Sliding Scale of Anti-Heroes]] himself.
* [[Black Magic]] in ''[[Labyrinths of Echo]]'' by Max Frei only differs from its White counterpart in that it deals with material substances and not etherial. High-level Black spells are used... in cookery to create exquisite cakes.
* ''[[The Shadow]]'' is possibly one of the earlier examples of this trope. There are several cases in which police arriving at the scene defend the crooks, assuming [[Color Coded for Your Convenience]].
* In ''[[The Edge Chronicles]]'', the Professors of Light and Darkness are not enemies, merely friendly rivals, and each is a harmless, basically likable character in his own way. In fact, the titles are actually designations of what they study; the Professor of Light studies the mysteries of illumination, and the Professor of Darkness studies the mysteries of light's absence.
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** A more straightforward example might be Sethra Lavode. A [[Our Vampires Are Different|vampire]], a [[Shrouded in Myth|mysterious enchantress]] dressed all in black, an [[Really Seven Hundred Years Old|ancient being]] who's been rumoured to turn the heroes/fools that come after her into animals, an [[Eerie Pale-Skinned Brunette]] [[Lady of War]], she's one of the wisest, most patient people Vlad knows. She's also the main protector of the world against [[Sufficiently Advanced Alien|godlike aliens]].
** The Necromancer is an undead demon from a mysterious plane known as World of Seven Doors and who serves Sethra Lavode. She acts like something of a geek and has a soft spot for Vlad too.
* ''[[Discworld]]'' is ''full'' of this.
** Trolls? Though they're very blunt and traditionally not fond of humans and dwarfs, they're as capable of nobility and generosity as other races and generally portrayed sympathetically. Created largely as a reaction to the implication in Tolkien that big, scary-looking humanoids were [[
** Several witches, including Granny Weatherwax and Miss Treason, who cultivate a sinister, [[Deadpan Snarker]] attitude but generally mean well.
** Most of the undead are entirely harmless. Reg Shoe, Maladict{{spoiler|a}} and Otto Chriek spring to mind in particular. It's true that Discworld vampires are ''instinctively'' predators, but many are trying very hard (and with relative success) to become useful, productive, and nonthreatening members of society by turning their fixations to other obsessions, such as coffee or photography.
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** Although they often serve [[Mad Scientist|morally unconventional]] people, the hideous ([[Cute Monster Girl|females excepted]]) Igors are generally quite pleasant and humanitarian, having become a lifesaving fixture of the medical industry wherever they go. Their Code actively prohibits them not taking steps to save a life (with exceptions if they've been mistreated), and almost every Igor introduced as a character has been likable, well-intentioned and eager to please. In Uberwald at least, Igors are considered quite the eligible bachelors, and Igorinas are always stunning. (Given their obsession with self-improvement and body-part transplants, most people have come to certain... [[Gag Penis|realisations]].)
** A recent addition to the faculty of Unseen University is Dr. John Hix, the head of "Post Mortem Communications." Which is ''not'' Necromancy at all, obviously, because Necromancy is illegal and Post Mortem Communications is not. Hix lives and breathes by this trope, making a conspicuous point of wearing black and showing everyone his very gothy skull ring, as it is apprently his job to do "evil", but only within "acceptable limits", a token dark magician. Hix isn't really evil at all, as the worst of his acts involve the occasional blunt remark that no one else would say aloud because it would be impolite.
* In the ''[[Keys to the Kingdom]]'' series by [[Garth Nix]], the Winged Servants of the Night helps Arthur along in his quest numerous times.
* The shadows in Jeff Noon's ''Vurt'' books aren't inherently more evil than anyone else.
* In L.E. Modesitt Jr.'s ''Recluce'' series black magic is order magic while white magic is chaos magic. The reason given is that black is the absence of color and thus represents complete order and white is all colors squashed together and therefore chaotic. Of course, chaos magic isn't necessarily evil either. Just destructive. (Still, the fact that "Angels of darkness" and "Demons of light" are common expressions shows that many ''perceive'' darkness as better than light in this universe.)
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* The Nights Watch from ''[[A Song of Ice and Fire]]'' is completely dressed in black, but is one of the most honorable societies in the whole universe. Well at least the part that doesn´t consist of former criminals.
** Yeah, both of them are pretty honorable. The Watch has been running on rapists, murderers, and traitors for a long time. They still do their duty.
** The common criminals, bastards, and other dredges of society protect the realm while the best knights in Westeros, [[Light Is Not Good|the Kingsguard]], wear white and may end up destroying the realm on the orders of an unfit king.
** [[Light Is Not Good|Melisandre]] also tries to invoke this trope to Davos; when questioned about the fact that her "gifts" include [[Fetus Terrible|the ability to create terrible shadow assassins]], she says that shadow is cast by light and belongs to its dominion. He doesn't buy it for one second.
** And in contrast, [[The Mentor|Bloodraven]] says that darkness is a source of strength and protection for greenseers. This may turn out to be a subversion though, what with the old gods' history of receiving human sacrifice.
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** The Marat are cannibalistic [[Rubber Forehead Alien]] barbarians and at the start of the first book are thought of as implacable foes, but eventually many of them wind up friends to the main characters and allies to their nation, show surprising sophistication of philosophy and honor, and have no concept of lying.
** The Canim are an even better fit. They are seven-foot-tall wolfmen whose [[Blood Magic|magic is fueled by the blood of sentient beings]]. Warlike by nature, they enjoy warring against each other and [[Language Equals Thought|have 11 different words for "enemy"]], one of which essentially translates to "[[Worthy Opponent]]" and substitutes for friendship with a member of another range or race (essentially "Some day we'll kill each other but not today, and [[The Only One Allowed to Defeat You|no one else but me can do so]]"). Most of them are generally honorable and trustworthy, albeit in an alien fashion, all disdain the slavery practiced in the protagonists' homeland, and some become as close to friends with the human characters as possible. Even their [[Blood Magic]]-wielding ritualists eventually are shown to have some genuinely honorable, decent individuals amongst them who still practice the "Old Way" of shepherding the common folk and injuring or bleeding themselves to protect them.
* ''[[Animorphs]]'': {{spoiler|The Howlers}}. See the entries on the series page for [[
** Similarly, Hork-Bajir are seven-foot-tall anthropomorphic dinosaurs covered in blades. Said blades are used to scrape edible bark from trees, and they didn't even have a concept of war before the Yeerks turned their whole species into [[Puppet People]] foot-soldiers.
* The main character of Janny Wurts' Wars of Light and Shadow novels has the elemental power of shadow, compared to his half-brother who has the power of light. His biting manner is actually a mask for the fact that he has to choice but to empathise with every living creature's pain.
* In the ''[[Incarnations of Immortality]]'' series, neither Death nor War nor even Evil is intrinsically evil--though their jobs are frequently unpleasant, and occasionally a particular Incarnation does turn out evil. Which one is evil at the time of the series? [[God Is Evil|Good.]]
* Played with in ''[[Night Watch]]''. The Day Watch, so called because they struggle to keep the forces of Light from remaking the world in their image, honestly believe the world's current state is better than whatever utopia Light might make. Their primary focus is the protection of free will, and they can describe it in quite noble terms, contrasting it to [[The Evils of Free Will|Light's determination]] [[Heel Face Brainwasing|to make everyone good]]. On the other hand, many members (particularly in the upper ranks) are selfish and hypocritical, concerned only with protecting their personal freedom at the expense of everyone else.
** The struggle between Light and Dark in the novels is more of a clash of philosophies, Utilitarian versus Nietzschean rather than Good versus Evil, and both sides produce more than their fair share of [[Complete Monster|Complete Monsters]], though for different reasons
** Let's put this way, Communism was one of the Light side's attempts at improving the world.
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* The Moth-kinden in Adrian Tchaikovsky's ''Shadows of the Apt'' series call themselves "Children of the Dark" are grey of skin, hair and eyes (which are pupiless) and dress in grey but are neutral and isolationist rather than evil.
* ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]'' is mainly associated with [[Dark Is Evil]], but also contains examples of this trope. Frodo says he trusts Aragorn on their first meeting despite his dark and shabby appearance because he believes an emissary of Sauron would try to make himself appear fair. The other Rangers of the North are often misliked by other Hobbits who aren't as thoughtful about it as Frodo for the same reason.
** Also, [[Time Abyss|Tom Bombadil]] mentions that he remembers when the dark under the stars was fearless, before the Dark Lord came from outside.
** The Elves awoke in the darkness before the Sun and the Moon, and always love night more than the day, which belongs to humans. In LotR [[Dark Is Evil]] is the result of the corruption spread by Morgoth, rather than an innate quality of darkness itself. Well, except perhaps the Outer Darkness, which implicitly spawned Ungoliant on its own.
* ShadowClan of ''[[Warrior Cats]]'' may seem malvolent at first, and have their fair share of evil cats, but they are not all bad. The POV of the books favour ThunderClan, seen as ShadowClan's direct opposite (aka: archenemy), which does not help ShadowClan's reputation.
** Well, ShadowClan used to be evil. Now they're just [[The Rival]].
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