Dark Is Not Evil/Video Games: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

{{quote|Master Assassin:"We work in the dark to serve the light. We are Assassins. Nothing is true, everything is permitted."

Said at the end of the initiation ceremony of [[Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood|The Assassins]]. }}

 

* {{spoiler|Artix}} from ''[[Adventure Quest Worlds]]'' is The Champion of Darkness and he is on the side of good

** In ''[[Final Fantasy XI]]'', Diabolos is simply cynical and even allies with the player if a certain quest is completed. Odin might also qualify for this.

** [[Final Fantasy IX|Vivi]] is a Black Mage, but far from evil. His 'brothers' aren't either, when they aren't brainwashed or tricked into being evil.

* Riku from ''[[Kingdom Hearts]]'' in the more recent two games; at the end of Kingdom Hearts 2 Riku was purified of Xehanort's darkness, but he keeps his own darkness-based abilities because they're part of who he is.

** Terra from ''[[Birth By Sleep]]'' is an even better example. He's basically Riku's predecessor and also uses darkness despite being a good guy. However, unlike Riku who [[Badass Decay|becomes kinda emo about it]] for most of ''Kingdom Hearts II'' and wangsts about how he gave into the darkness, Terra angsts about it for a few minutes but gets over it and remains a slightly stoic but kind, heroic and loveable goof even after he starts [[Eye Scream|zapping people's eyes out with dark energy.]] Unfortunately, he learns the downside of dark power in the end. Whether it's used for good or evil, use of darkness weakens a person's heart's natural defenses of light, {{spoiler|making him helpless when Master Xehanort attempts [[Grand Theft Me]].}} So it seems that while darkness can be used for good, it is much more hazardous to wield.

*** If by "fought with" you mean "walled themselves off for a decade" then yes, they did do that in the end. It's also worth noting that they didn't have free will until at some point during the beginner area, they work some magic to give you your free will back.

*** "Damn the orcs, damn the Alliance, and damn you! The last thing Gilneas needs is sponges from other nations drawing from our resources, Dalaran wizards meddling with our affairs, and someone else's enemies killing our soldiers! Gilneas is its own nation and it always will be. This is the last time I'll ever talk to you, Terenas, so I hope you were listening." - Genn Greymane, the king of Gilneas.

* The Ghosts of Razgriz in ''[[Ace Combat 5 The Unsung War]]'' fly a 4-ship formation of all-black fighter jets while kicking the [[Big Bad]]'s asses.

* The country of Darkworld is on the good guys' side in ''Wonder Boy in Monster World''; apparently it's called that because it's dark most of the time (which is also why there's so much ice), even though the world is flat.

** Also in ''Covenant'', you get a vampire in your party. The fact that he's a vampire kinda takes the back seat to the fact that he's a [[Camp Gay|gay pro wrestler]], though.

* The Protoss Dark Templar of ''[[StarCraft]]'' are pretty damn heroic. They are also some of the only Protoss seen so far to have a sense of humor. As for the mainstream Protoss, its a case of [[Light Is Not Good]], because most of the Khalai Protoss, with a few exceptions, are blind, arrogant, [[Lawful Stupid]] religious fundamentalists. The Dark Templar are actually peaceful, it's the Light-aligned Khalai Protoss who are the war-mongers. During the course of the series so far, the Khalai Protoss have declared war on the Dark Templar at least three times. The Dark Templar have declared war on the Khalai Protoss...never. They just want to be left alone.

* Nina of ''[[Breath of Fire]] 2'' fame is a pure-hearted maiden, but her feathery black wings make her an [[All of the Other Reindeer|outcast and scapegoat for disaster]] in her hometown. Also a [[Black Magician Girl]].

* The hero's power in ''[[Illusion of Gaia]]'' are dark-based, and his badass form is called a dark knight. The [[Big Bad]] [[Giant Space Flea From Nowhere|it]]self is neither Light nor Dark, the hero and his [[Love Interest]] fuse into a [[Yin-Yang Bomb]] to fight it.

* ''Noctropolis'' features a post-cataclysmic city in perpetual night under a cloud of volcanic ash. The city's main hero restores his health, powers and equipment by immersing himself in a pool of [[Applied Phlebotinum]] called Liquidark, the distilled liquid essence of darkness, created by the Brotherhood of the Night as research into the extradimensional Elementals particularly the Patronage of Darkness, none of whom seem malevolent. The protagonist takes up the hero's mantle to fight the [[Big Bad]] {{spoiler|revealed to be his predecessor switched over to [[Light Is Not Good|Light]] in a [[Face Heel Turn]] to take over the world.}}

* [[Badass|Ragna]] [[One-Man Army|the]] [[Names to Run Away From Really Fast|Bloodedge]], the main character of ''[[BlazBlue]]''. He's a [[White-Haired Pretty Boy]] with [[Mismatched Eyes]] (one of them [[Red Eyes, Take Warning|red]]), {{spoiler|is half vampire}}, carries an [[Artifact of Doom]] {{spoiler|like nearly everyone else in the game}}, wages a one man war against the ruling government, the "Novus Orbis Librarium" or NOL for short, by destroying their bases and slaughtering everyone in them, and has a drive ability called "Soul Eater" which steals life from his foes. Despite all this [[Anti-Hero|he's not really a villain]] due to the very questionable morality of the government he's fighting against. He's also [[Pet the Dog|nice]] [[Jerk with a Heart of Gold|enough]] to [[Tastes Like Friendship|share food]] with a hungry [[Catgirl|Taokaka]] (who promptly starts calling him "Good Guy"). His rage and frustration with the world at large is also [[Freudian Excuse|somewhat understandable]] since his life just ''[[Jerkass Woobie|sucks so much]]''.

* Shadow from ''[[Twisted Metal]]''. A ghostly black hearse that's had several drivers (including an undead mortician, a goth girl, and [[Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking|a nerdy kid with a pet frog]]), all with fairly sympathetic motives.

* ''[[Endless Frontier|Super Robot Taisen OG Saga: Endless Frontier]]'' has the Orchestral Army, and to an extent the entire demon world of Formido Heim, although they did cause a bloody war ten years ago. However, special mention goes to the Orchestral Army's leader Ezel Granada, an axe-wielding demon whose head is a demonic skull with glowing red eyes and ram horns, constantly displaying a fanged grimace. He's also quite possibly the most noble character in the entire game, {{spoiler|having spent the past ten years shouldering the burden of protecting the Endless Frontier from the Einst, as well as the guilt from being tricked into starting the war.}}

* Galm from the ''[[Shining Series]]'' is a complicated character but not really evil. He's one of the most powerful Vandals, a race that where sealed away but are trying to come back to reclaim their kingdom, but seems to be completely disinterested in helping out. In fact in ''[[Shining the Holy Ark]]'' he helps out the heroes attempting to stop the revival of the Vandals. Then again he did rape and/or impregnate a couple of women so he isn't exactly good either.

* All monsters in ''[[Monster Girl Quest]]'' are dark-aligned, being the creations of Alice I, the [[Anthropomorphic Personification]] of dark energy. Their morality is as variable as that of humans.