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{{trope}}
{{Video Game Examples Need Sorting}}
{{quote|
Said at the end of the initiation ceremony of [[Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood
Examples of [[{{TOPLEVELPAGE}}]] in [[{{SUBPAGENAME}}]] include:
* {{spoiler|Artix}} from ''[[Adventure Quest Worlds (Video Game)|Adventure Quest Worlds]]'' is The Champion of Darkness and he is on the side of good▼
* ''[[Deus Ex (Video Game)|Deus Ex]]''. JC Denton is always dressed in a black overcoat with shades. Of course, you ''can'' play JC as an amoral killer, but [[Video Game Cruelty Potential|that's your choice.]]▼
▲* {{spoiler|Artix}} from ''[[
** Similarly [[Deus Ex Human Revolution (Video Game)|Adam Jensen]], while pretending to be an assassin it is noted he "certainly looks the part" ▼
▲* ''[[
▲** Similarly [[Deus Ex: Human Revolution
* The Necromancer from ''[[Diablo]] II'', who sees raising undead as a necessary evil for the greater good. He may be on to something, as the years he's spent in the crypt studying the dark arts make him much more likely to resist being corrupted by diablo's evil like the heroes of the first game. {{spoiler|You even find his apprentice in a random event in [[Diablo III]], carrying on his master's legacy of using necromancy for the greater good, and he comes across as being rather noble.}}
* Similairly, the Witch Doctor from ''[[Diablo III]]'' uses zombies and voodoo as part of a mutual pact with the spirits, it's not treated as a twisted abomination or desire for power, but sheer reverence for the spirits of the departed. The witch doctor himself is also a very kind and mellow (if somewhat backwards) person.
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* Millenia from ''[[Grandia II]]'' is a textbook example of this. Despite being a piece of the setting's local [[Satan]] figure, she's actually a rather pleasant person when she's in a good mood. {{spoiler|Eventually she becomes one of the main characters' love interests.}}
** Overall, this trope is pretty much half the point of the game itself...the other half being {{spoiler|[[Light Is Not Good]]}}
* Dante of ''[[
** Nero from ''4'' is another example: His arm [[Evil Hand|looks like living lava]], and he's implied to be possesed by the ghost of [[Aloof Big Brother]] Vergil. Despite this, he's a [[Knight in Shining Armor]] who, despite what you may think from the word "possessed", does ''not'' have a [[Super
* Dark type ''[[Pokémon]]''. Dark types also aren't emo, despite what the good people of [[Deviant ART]] tell you. Though they aren't perfect, they're no worse than any other type of Pokémon. A good example is Absol, who can sense disasters and tries to warn people of them, but gets [[
** Despite this, the original Japanese name for Dark type is "aku" or "evil" type. This could be because of the nasty effects dark-type attacks often have, however - most of them involve [[The Combat Pragmatist|"fighting dirty"]], like pretending to cry (Fake Tears), ganging up on one opponent (Beat Up), biting (Bite, Crunch), thievery (Thief), and throwing foreign objects (Fling).
*** Additionally, in ''[[Pokémon Colosseum]]'', the original Japanese name for Shadow Pokémon is Dark Pokémon. They, for the most part, were used by an evil organization, inverting this trope. This trope was also ironically played straight, as not every Dark Pokémon was an "evil" type.
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*** However, in ''Mystery Dungeon 2'' game Darkrai is indeed evil and {{spoiler|is responsible for the main story conflict.}} He's also the most [[Nightmare Fuel]] to ever [[Getting Crap Past the Censors|evade an E-rated censor.]]
** Ghost and Poison types are also similarly treated in the same way that Dark types are, Ghost types having paranormal powers and Poison types being associated with pollutants, venomous animals or sickness.
** [[Pokémon Black and White|Pokémon White]] gives us {{spoiler|Zekrom, who, despite the black scales and [[Red Eyes, Take Warning|red eyes,]] sides with the player to stop N and [[Light Is Not Good|Reshiram]]. Their roles are switched in Black, though.}}
** Same goes for the trainers who specialize in Ghost- or Dark-types- while villains will often use these types, anyone who makes a point of using them is just as likely to be nice or on your side. Though [[Ron the Death Eater]] will occasionally come into play....
* The Longest Journey and its sequel has The Dark People, these aren't evil despite the fact that they are cloaked, dressed in black or seem to lack legs. They are librarians and collectors of stories and knowledge and actually helps the main characters on several occasions.
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** Igor from the ''[[Shin Megami Tensei]]'' spin-off ''[[Persona]]'' game series is a very sinister-looking character, with a hunched back, bulging eyes, an enormously long nose, and pointed ears. He's actually a steadfast ally to the main characters throughout the series, giving advice and his services of Persona fusion. And he's the only character to appear in all ''Persona''-related media to date, including the anime.
*** Though whether he's ''good'' isn't entirely clear, since he may or may not take orders from [[Complete Monster|Nyarlathotep]] as well as [[All Powerful Bystander|Philemon]].
** ''[[Shin Megami Tensei]]'' in general has a very literal example of Dark Is Not Evil. The series uses a two-axis alignment system, with the axes being Law/Neutral/Chaos and Light/Neutral/Dark. However, despite what you might expect due to its similarities to ''[[Dungeons
* The Dark Warriors of ''[[
** Most Black Mages in ''[[Final Fantasy]]'' aren't evil at all.
** Cecil, too. Yeah, he throws away his own Dark Blade and becomes a Paladin, but the prophecy mentions wielding both dark and light... and indeed, at the end, it takes both Cecil and {{spoiler|[[Heel Face Turn|Golbez]]}} to finish off the [[Big Bad]].
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*** For that matter, {{spoiler|Golbez}} himself, espescially in ''[[Dissidia Final Fantasy]]'' when he's teamed up with characters who are both Dark-themed ''and'' evil.
*** And Cecil again. In ''Dissidia'', he uses the powers of both the Dark Knight and Paladin, switching freely between them as he fights. Dissidia's position on this is made clear with the description of the "Twin Form", a material needed to forge Cecil's ultimate weapons:
{{quote|
**** In ''[[Final Fantasy IV:
*** [[Final Fantasy X
** Squall in ''[[
** Vincent Valentine from ''[[
** In ''[[
** In ''[[
** [[Final Fantasy IX
* [[Intrepid Merchant| The Merchant]] in ''[[Resident Evil 4]]'' is a mysterious masked figure who looks like a ninja and [[Talk Like a Pirate|talks like a pirate]], but given the stuff he sells, he's clearly Leon's most valuable ally in the game.
* 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.
** Pure-hearted Mickey himself uses the keyblade from the Realm of Darkness, if only because it's the first one he found and he doesn't want to take Sora's.
* The Forsaken of ''[[World of Warcraft]]''. There have been plenty of arguments between those who say they're evil and those who say they're doing what they have to in order to survive. Blizzard themselves [[Flip
** The Wrathgate storyline more or less proved both sides of the debate right. {{spoiler|Putress and his followers certainly weren't 'doing what they need to to survive,' when they betrayed their allies and killed the delegation at Wrathgate. However, the subsequent Battle for Undercity storyline makes it plain that Putress and Varimanthras were only a splinter group and that most of the Forsaken, including Sylvanas, remained loyal.}}
** Also Warlocks, who are described in the character creation menu as "the bane of all life", and whose magic focuses on (1) summoning demons, (2) sucking life energy out of people, and (3) setting people on fire. Nonetheless, they're able to do all the same heroic deeds as any other playable class. (Having said that, all important warlocks in the ''story'' are evil.)
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** The new Death Knights are pious fighters of the light who died, and where brought back as mindless servants of the Scourge. Towards the end of the questline the Lich King loses control over the player, and the player joins either the Alliance or Horde depending on race.
*** One of the biggest examples is the NPC Death Knight Thassarian, first to rejoin the Alliance. {{spoiler|Even while still loyal to the Scourge, he shows a bit of weakness by showing concern for a captured ally, frowned upon by his colder comrades. After returning to the Alliance, he's primarily concerned about saving his sister.}}
** The next [[Expansion Pack]] will feature Gilnean [[Wolf Man|Worgen]], [[Cursed
** Gilneas also fit this in ''Warcraft II'', in which their color was black. Though tremendously selfish [[
*** 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.
* [[Cool Old Lady| Wrinkly Kong]] from the ''[[Donkey Kong]]'' games, the protagonists sweet old grandmother. Sometime before ''[[Donkey Kong 64]]'', she passed away, but stays around as a ghost. She's still a sweet old lady, even if there is an eerie, creepy man whenever she appears.
* 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.
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**** Plus, she's the dark counterpart for the light-elemented Zelda, and the two are actually friends.
**** Of course, Midna's lack of interest in helping the humans wasn't exactly evil more than the Twili's policy of leaving the Light World alone.
** ''And'' when you defeat the seemingly bestial King Bulblin, who has never indicated anything other than sheer [[
{{quote|
'''Midna''': Link! He... he spoke! }}
** Also the Sheikah race who are known as Shadow Folk. Though we've only seen two members of the race (Impa and Impaz) and aside from their red eyes they aren't all that different from Hylians.
** The Gerudo in ''Ocarina of Time'' at first come across as a dangerous race who kidnap and lock up men, attack Link, and hail Ganondorf as their king. They are perfectly willing to accept Link into their tribe when they see his strength and skill though, and Nabooru is introduced as doing her best to prevent Ganondorf's evil plans.
** Koume and Kotake from ''Majora's Mask''. Both are shriveled hags who appeared in the previous game as villains. In this game, they're pretty nice (if a little grumpy) and will provide Link with some useful items and help him move forward in the game.
* Soma Cruz, the resident [[White
** Lampshaded by Alucard (you already know it's him!). When Soma freaks because he's told his powers are dark, Alucard tells him it is just that, and not evil.
** Other examples from the series include [[Dhampyr|Dracula's son Alucard]], [[Our Werewolves Are Different|the peaceful beastman Cornell]], the traitorous devil forgemaster Hector, and a [[Golem]] who was temporarily given a soul.
* Demons in ''[[Disgaea]]'' and ''[[Makai Kingdom]]''. Though most would [[Noble Demon|likely insist that they are, in fact, totally evil]], the only affect demonhood would appear to really have on one's conscience (as {{spoiler|Flonne}} and others turned into demons would probably tell you) is a natural predisposition to be a smartass. And slightly dimwitted: {{spoiler|Adell, who never actually figures out he's really a full-blooded demon himself}} doesn't even manage that much 'evil', other than a love of battle.
** King Krichevskoy particularly exemplifies this. Far from being a [[Card
** Of course, there are a few demons who are genuinely evil even though the majority of their kind lean more towards chaos. {{spoiler|Demon Overlord Seedle was a "hero" who tried to ''rape'' the woman who would become protagonist Zetta's [[Love Interest]] and became Overlord of the Netherworld just to get revenge for her fighting back. Fake Zenon was a general asshole who ruled Veldime with an iron fist, perpetuated a curse to drain away the residents' memories and conscience in exchange for his own power, and captured the amnesiac reincarnation of the real Overlord Zenon as a trophy before ''burning the people raising her into the ashes of history''.}}
** Driving the point of this home is a sequence in the first game. The angel Vulcanus sneaked down to the netherworld out of rage that Flonne had be sent to deal with the situation there instead of himself. He steals a pendant that Flonne (or any trainee angel) needs in order to survive down there. As he's escaping the Netherworld, the pendant starts to blaze into heat in his hand, causing him to drop it, for the [[Noble Demon]] <s>Veyers</s> Mid-Boss ({{spoiler|who turns out to be a reincarnation of Laharl's dad, mentioned above}}), to find and pick up. Before the last battle of the chapter, the main characters find Mid-Boss in possession of the pendant, and Flonne warns him that it will burn the hands of anyone with an evil soul. Not only does its failing to do so in Mid-Boss' hands display this trope, [[Light Is Not Good|But what does it say about Vulcanus back up there?]]
*** To be fair, Vulcanus couldn't be any more [[Obviously Evil]] if he tried. Just look at him...
** And then there's Valvatorez, a vampire Tyrant with a very [[Villainous Fashion Sense]] ([[High Collar of Doom]], [[Red and Black
* Yuri from ''[[Shadow Hearts]]'' is a "Dark"-elemental character, and the main character- a heroic main character, even. He can transform into various demons, but he uses that power to fight against the really nasty bastards, and himself suffers absolutely no evil attitudes other than being a bit of a dumbass and a slight pervert. There's also Shania, in the third game, who is not only the main heroine and a [[Proud Warrior Race Guy]]... er, ''girl'', but very much a Darkness element character.
** Lucia from ''Covenant'' is also a Dark-elemental character...who's also a [[The Ditz|ditzy]] and nice fortune-teller, barring the whole attempted murder by giant, pink pussy on the cat (she has a good reason for that).
** 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 ''[[
** In fact, Zeratul, the Dark Templar hero of the series has been described by Gamespot's [https://web.archive.org/web/20070929095030/http://uk.gamespot.com/features/tenspot_heroes/hero10.html Top 10 Heroes in Gaming] as a [[Star Wars|Darth Vader]] who fights for the rebellion.
* 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
* The Daedric Princes of ''[[The Elder Scrolls]]''. Despite many of them being outright evil, and the general association of Daedric meaning Demonic, quite a few of the Daedric Lords are benign or outright Good. Meridia, Azura and even the [[Ax Crazy]] Sheogorath, Daedric Lord of Madness, turns out not be really evil.
** On the other hand, {{spoiler|Azura only shows compassion to her followers in ''Oblivion'' and doesn't particularly care that the mortal world is invaded by Mehrunes Dagon}}. And in ''Morrowind'', the only reason she helps the PC is {{spoiler|to pull off a [[Xanatos Roulette]] to get back at a few [[A God Am I|ex-followers-turned-living-gods]] for a slight that occured a few thousand years ago. The fact that this actually helps ward off a big war and a [[Knight Templar]] theocracy is just coincidental.}}
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** Meridia is another example; she wants to fight undead and necromancy. And even Malacath, who has you protect the honor of Orcs and Ogres when they are abused by other races (such as a Dunmer Hero taking credits for the exploits of his Orc servant in ''Morrowind'', or humans using Ogres as slaves in ''Oblivion''). While their methods are ruthless and violent, their goals are not always evil.
** A more straight example may be Divayth Fyr from ''Morrowind'' - not only does he run the only hospital for sufferers of a certain truly horrific disease and show genuine compassion for them, he is also the only person in the game to wear [[Spikes of Doom|full demonic armour]].
*** Though is you talk to him, Divayth makes it clear that his interest in Corprus is [[For Science!|academic]]. If he so happens to help people while doing his research, so much the better, but he's only doing this because of his fascination for the intricacies of Corprus as a complex magic disease and the corprusarium is a side benefit of that research.
** Nocturnal would either be this trope played absolutely straight or subverted, if she wasn't so damn MYSTERIOUS! About the only action that has been stated that might be good or evil would be the curse of the grey cowl of Nocturnal, and that seems more like a [[Take That]] than anything else. Most of the time she calls on the PC to take care of some matter that's causing her grief.
** For an example of this trope from ordinary Daedra, Sheogorath's enforcers in ''Shivering Isles.'' The Dark Seducers are much friendlier than their [[Light Is Not Good|counterparts,]] [[Jerkass|the Golden Saints.]]
** Sheogorath is the Prince of Madness, but it's not always [[Ax Crazy]] madness. In ''[[Morrowind]]'' he calls madness a "bitter mercy" that is sometimes a blessing for people who would otherwise fall into despair. And in ''[[Skyrim]]'', {{spoiler|the new Sheogorath}} acts as a ''therapist'' to the spirit of a dead and [[Ax Crazy]] former emperor. Being a deity of madness also means knowing how to ''treat'' madness.
** {{spoiler|The Underking}} from ''Daggerfall''. {{spoiler|It turns out that he ''doesn't'' want to destroy the Empire and take over Tamriel, he just wants to ''die'', and needs the Mantella to do this. Of course, he still hates the Empire for reasons deliberately left vague, so he's not exactly ''good'' either.}}
* Vivian in ''[[Paper Mario:
** A few games have depicted Luigi with rather dark powers.
* [[Sonic the Hedgehog|Sonic]] in ''[[Sonic Unleashed]]'' unwillingly gets turned into [[Our Werewolves Are Different|a werehog]] after absorbing some of the [[Big Bad]]'s dark energy. He may look ferocious but he's still (mostly) the same hero we all know and love.
** Shadow the Hedgehog qualifies for this after his drawn out [[Heel Face Turn]].
* The video games ''[[
** In ''Star Ocean: The Second Story'', Leon's ultimate weapon is the ''Necronomicon''. Evil flavor text about opening portals to hell and summoning demons also included.
* Rider in ''[[Fate/stay
* Oichi in ''[[Sengoku Basara]]'' is known for her dark powers and even has 'dark hands' as her special moves. But she's pretty much an innocent, melancholic woman that doesn't seem to be pure evil, driven with her love with Nagamasa. [[Break the Cutie|Push her too far]], however, and she'll really show that she can be destructive with her dark power (or to be exact {{spoiler|she gets taken over by her dark side and wreaks havoc}}). Another example would be the jovial ninja Sarutobi Sasuke, who is only "Dark" due to his job.
* The Summon Spirit, Shadow, who is the summon spirit of darkness, in ''[[
** He's contrasted in ''Symphonia'' by Luna and Aska, who [[Light Is Not Good|will kill you if you lose the pact-making fight]], and they're the Summon Spirits of Light. (Note that in ''Phantasia'', neither Luna nor Aska had a fight either.)
*** They don't necessarily ''kill'' you. But you'll get a [[Game Over]] for losing the fight, which is justified by the fact that the group can't simply return like on the other fights. {{spoiler|Kratos}} would block the way, making things like leveling up somewhat impossible.
** Because of ''[[
** Tenebrae, from the [[Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World
*** Emil, the protagonist in the sequel, is also Darkness-affiliated. Although with his [[Berserk Mode|Ratatosk Mode]], this may not be a perfectly straight example.
** The series also has several Dark-elemental playable characters - Leon Magnus of ''[[
*** Judas (as well as Harold) both feature Light and Dark elemental spells in their moveset. Judas's stronger hi-ougis have him using Light elemental attacks, and his best move involves him materializing a sword of light out of thin air. As a result, he could be considered an example of a [[Yin
* The dark worlds in ''[[
* Neither [[Our Vampires Are Different|Demitri]] nor [[Horny Devils|Morrigan]] from ''[[
** Neither of them, however, are ''good''. Morrigan is a self-indulgent and childish princess, and Demitri is a power-hungry vampire who wants to conquer Makai/the Dark World. However, several of the characters the closest to purely good in the series also fall under this, including Rikuo/Aulbath, the fish-man; John Talbain/Gallon, the werewolf; Anakaris, the living mummy; Lei-Lei/Hsien-Ko, the [[Chinese Vampire]]; and Victor, the [[
*** At the end of Morrigan or Lilith's routes in ''Vampire Savior'', however, it does show Morrigan starting to actually grow up and accept responsibilities.
* ''[[City of Heroes]]'' liberally uses and [[Playing
** Also, the various Dark power sets, which have a variety of quasi-vampiric powers, are freely usable by heroes and villains. Pain Domination may or may not involve this trope, as it is a set of villain-only ''healing'' powers with a [[Color Coded for Your Convenience|black-and-red color scheme]].
** Since the recent advent of power customization, you can have a hero with cloven hooves, horns, a demon's tail and wings, a skull head (and a costume consisting of skulls, chains and barbed wire) who fires off black energy blasts or carries black swords.
** There's also the Nictus: Scientifically modified energy beings that feed off their unmodified bretheren, work with The Council and 5th Column, and want to make earth their new homeworld. Reformed Nicti/human unions are a Hero exclusive archetype, called Warshades. If you want a Villainous Warshade, you have to side switch it. No Praetorian Nictus for you.
** Masterminds are slated to receive "Demon Summoning" in Issue 17. Currently, Masterminds are an exclusively Villainous Archetype, but when Going Rogue is released one can easily play a demon summoning hero.
** Hell, Going Rogue ''is'' this trope, (mixed heavily with [[Light Is Not Good]]). Even Arachnos Mooks can be heroes now.
* ''[[Heroes of Might and Magic]] V'' plays with this. The Dark Elves are not generally evil, although some of their clans are. The Necromancers are initially presented as evil, but in the ''Tribes of the East'' stand-alone expansion they are allied with the good factions against the Demons. The Orcs from the same expansion are also not evil and part of the alliance. Of the 8 factions, the only one that's [[
** That said, the game still considers the Dark Elves, Necromancers, Orcs, and Demons to be "evil" factions when calculating morale.
*** Yeah, but morale is more about the perceptions of the troops than it is about actual alignment. Angels really hate Devils, even if the Devils are actually pretty good guys and misunderstood. They still hate each other, thus a morale hit.
** The Dark Elves of the ''old'' verse were slightly-dusky mercantile-focused city-dwellers whose last war with their Light cousins was a long time age. In the one game in which they show up in, you work for their Merchants' Guild to save the world (admittedly, it was destroyed not long after anyway, but that was for unrelated reasons they couldn't have done much about).
* According to the backstory, in the next-gen ''[[Prince of Persia]]'' [[Big Bad]] Ahriman, God of Darkness, was an example of this trope... until his [[Face Heel Turn]] a thousand years or so before the game started. Becoming the [[Sealed Evil in
* ''[[Second Sight]]'' introduces members of the psychic Zener Children that were horribly mutated by the treatments used to activate their powers: despite their repulsive appearance and cannibalistic habits, when John Vattic arrives in the lower levels of the Zener Project base, they are quite generous in assisting John through the passages, eventually banding together with the unmutated Zener Children in the final battle.
* The ''[[Seiken Densetsu]]'' series has Shade, the spirit of Darkness. Despite having spells with names like "evil gate" and pitting the party of one game against a monster in order to prove their worth, he's still a purely good entity, as dedicated to saving the world as the heroes are.
** It should be noted that at least in [[Secret of Mana]], he's the only one not possessed and only attacks to prove your worth.
* In the ''[[Fire Emblem]]'' series, offensive magic can be divided into ''anima'' (thunder, fire, wind, sometimes ice), ''light'' (<s> lightning</s> [[Exactly What It Says
*** The ''Sword of Seals'' (''FE 6'') game also uses this trope, as you can recruit ''three'' dark magic users: two shamans (Ray and Sophia, the first one being cynical but not evil and the other being a [[Shrinking Violet]]) and a Druid (Niime, a [[Hermit Guru]] {{spoiler|and Canas's mother}}
** In ''FE 9'' and ''10'', the character Soren, who is both dressed in black and born with the "dark" affinity, is possibly THE most loyal character to the protagonist's cause... and one of the most amoral and cynical of the Greil Mercenaries.
** Pelleas, who uses Dark Magic {{spoiler|and is implied to have become a [[Deal
** This is actually [[Lampshade Hanging|Lampshaded]] in ''FE 8''. Look up Lute and Knoll's support converations.
** In ''10'', your army ends up working for the goddess of chaos ''against'' the goddess of order. The goddess of chaos is considerably kinder than the goddess of order.
** A mention to ''FE 5'''s Salem, a Loputo Mage (a servant of a Dark God (who really is evil)) is pulling a [[Heel Face Turn]] when you encounter him. If you successfully capture him you'll find he's not evil, unlike every other Loputo Mage ever.
** '''FE 8'' has Knoll, a Shaman who is also one of the kindest and more unfortunate people in the game. If you promote Ewan into a Shaman, he also becomes an example of this. In contrast, {{spoiler|Lyon is an [[Anti
* Meta Knight, Gooey, and Shadow Kirby from ''[[Kirby]]''.
** Gooey from ''Kirby's Dream Land 3''. He is shown as Kirby's friend ''from the beginning'', and the only way to reveal he ''should'' be with the bad guys is doing 2-player on the [[Final Boss]]. Gooey attacks Zero without hesitating ''the slightest'', as if he never was on their side.
** For clarification: When you bring Gooey into the final boss against Zero you need to be flying. Gooey can fly on his own. Now the relevance is the fact that Gooey looks exactly like a dark matter, his body changes its overall shape and he gets the orange nubs on the back, the only difference between him and regular dark matter is he has a face instead of a single eye.
** Shadow Kirby is actually just the {{spoiler|Kirby of the Mirror world, meaning he was supposed to be the hero, but he just helps you out by having you attack him and dropping power-ups if you do so.}}
* ''[[
* In ''[[Jak 3
** However, Dark Eco is still pretty nasty stuff that [[The Corruption|turns benevolent gods into monsters]], makes nice heroes [[Super
* The true ending of ''[[Eversion]]:'' {{spoiler|The princess was a monster all along! But wait... [[Tomato in
* The Nanaya clan in ''[[Tsukihime]]''. A family of assassins. Seclusive, described as vicious killers and also seem to have a penchant for rape. The only glimpse we get of one is Nanaya Shiki, the hero's [[Super
** Actually, the rape was due to {{spoiler|Arcueid's mystic eyes}}. It had absolutely nothing to do with the Nanaya side.
* The Asmodians of ''[[Aion]]''. They look faintly demonic, and are rather harsh and
* In ''[[Odin Sphere]]'', the "Shadow Knight" Oswald is somewhat cold and ruthless, but DEFINITELY a good guy. The "Demon Lord" Odin is one of the most morally ambiguous characters in the game but never comes across as "evil". Even Odette the Queen of the Underworld, despite being as cruel and vindictive as you'd expect for someone in her position, doesn't seem to be a real villain. The game DOES have definite villains and Odette doesn't even come close.
* ''[[Furcadia]]'''s Dark Primes aren't all bad. Tallus, for example, was an "evil" god of prophecy and {{spoiler|only considered evil because he could see the apocalypse.}}. He also was a thief but {{spoiler|normally only stole from those who were unwary, unlike the light goddess M'rill who steals anything she wants.}} Tallus, according to in-game lore, died protecting his brothers and sisters, but in-game actually died {{spoiler|in a bar as he tried to defend himself from an unprovoked attack by the light god Viveravus. He could have won, but did not want to harm the mortals around him.}} Taglin Tigh is considered the king of the Dark Primes and the god of Nightmares, but {{spoiler|actually is friendly and helpful to anyone not a light prime. His main problem with the light primes is that they murdered Tallus in cold blood for no reason.}} He also is renowned as a "good father" to his many children {{spoiler|and often his own brothers and sisters. When seen in public with his less-sane family members, he is always taking care of them and preventing them from hurting anyone.}}.
* The ghouls of ''[[Fallout]]'' generally have either gone completely feral or are just regular people with severe skin issues. ''Fallout 3'' subverts this in the Tenpenny Towers questline, where the [[Fantastic Racism|racists]] are refusing to let Roy Philips and other ghouls move in. {{spoiler|Roy's actually ''worse'' than the residents and ends up killing all humans in the tower if the player helps him. [[Nice Job Breaking It, Hero]]}}.
** Similarly, the Family turn out to be {{spoiler|[[Friendly Neighborhood Vampire
** And in some extent, some super mutants like Fawkes, Uncle Leo and Marcus.
** The Talking Deathclaws in Fallout 2. Deathclaws in general may look frightening, but they're not evil per se, just really dangerous.
* Toby from ''[[Quest for Glory]] 4'' is this giant, furry, hulking, red-eyed, fanged, ill-tempered monstrosity. However, he's just protective of his ward {{spoiler|[[Tear Jerker|to the point where he will sacrifice himself to bring her back to life.]]}}
* Pick a [[Youkai]] from ''[[Touhou]]'', any youkai from ''Touhou''. In spite of youkai supposedly having a [[I'm a Humanitarian|diet consisting of human]], almost none of the characters are ever admitted as having actually done this. (Notable exception: [[Our Vampires Are Different|Vampire]] Remilia Scarlet, who, disturbingly enough, is otherwise very much a [[Friendly Neighborhood Vampires|friendly neighborhood vampire]].) Even if, at first glance, [[The World Is Always Doomed]], almost none of the supposed [[Big Bad
** ''Subterranean Animism'' featured youkai hated even by other youkai for their [[Bad Powers, Bad People|distasteful powers]], and exiled to the Underworld. Yamame, the friendly [[Cute Monster Girl]] spider monster could inflict diseases at will, but was popular for her friendly, cheerful personality. Yuugi, a much-feared Oni, mostly played around (though [[Blood Knight|very roughly]]) with the heroines before helping them out. Satori and Koishi both had telepathic powers that terrified youkai and humans alike, forcing them to live with nothing but animals, even if they had done no actual wrongs to anyone. Rin carries away corpses and uses them to regulate the Hell of Blazing Fires, and initiated the game when she began driving evil spirits above ground, but only to lure the more powerful beings living there underground to stop her friend Utsuho from doing anything foolish or dangerous. Even Utsuho herself, the nuclear-powered hell raven with ambitions to [[Take Over the World]], just went a little [[With Great Power Comes Great Insanity|mad with power]] and was fine after having some sense blasted into her.
* Death from [[Romancing
* Rose from ''[[Legend of Dragoon]]'', who, being the dragoon of the dark dragon, has such attacks as: sucking out an enemy's life force, doing ''something'' that leaves the enemies utterly terrified, and sucking the enemy party through a portal to hell. She can be rather harsh, but she also saves the main character's life, teaches him how to use her powers, and faithfully follows the rest of the party in their missions. It's eventually revealed that {{spoiler|as the only apparent survivor of the original seven dragoons, she has spent the last 11,000 years taking the unpleasant but necessary steps to keep the world from being utterly annihilated by the [[Light Is Not Good|supposed Messiah]].}}
* In the tragically-underexposed PAL-only PSX Konami-Atlus survival horror game ''Hell Night'' (''Dark Messiah'' in Japan), the Cult antagonists in the game give the protagonist a test (which you have to pass in order to get a key item) to determine if he understands "True Darkness". The impression one gets is that such darkness is not supposed to be in conflict with, but actually in complement to the Light:
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##Which you do you prefer: the darkness of outer space or the darkness of the deep ocean?
** Correct answers are all B.
* ''[[Super Robot Wars]] Alpha 3'' gives us Cobray Gordon, who pilots the Werkbau and eventually upgrades to the Dis Astranagant. Werkbau is dark-colored and ''vaguely'' demonic in appearance, but the Dis Astranagant looks like something the [[Grim Reaper]] would pilot, complete with a [[Sinister Scythe]], [[Attack Drone
* The [[Physical God|Vernal deity]] [[Our Liches Are Different|Urlach]] of ''[[Lusternia]]'', who used [[The Undead]] as shock-troopers to stand against [[Eldritch Abomination|The Soulless Gods]]. His views brought him into conflict with other, more idealistic Vernals, but he never failed to get results and never stopped fighting.
** He also used his magic to create the Catacombs of the Dead. Though [[Jerkass Facade|ostensibly]] designed to move his undead troops around efficiently, it was also used to transport refugees away from cities attacked by The Soulless Gods. [[Pet the Dog|Many thousands of innocents were saved in this way]].
* ''[[Soul Reaver]]'' features a [[Crapsack World]] and a number of fearsome-looking characters who could not exactly be called blameless, but their appearance is no guarantee of their moral alignment. The protagonist Raziel is former vampire, twisted by cruel execution into a ghoul who must feed on the souls of humans and monsters alike. However he rejects the brutality of his former brethren and acts with honor and is genuinely searching for the truth. The vampires are revealed to be the victims of a curse by their enemies, and were once a race of winged celestial beings. The vampire Vorador is a green scaly monstrosity but is basically decent. Even Kain, the [[Big Bad]], is partially justified in his actions in the end. Contrast this with the supposedly righteous human characters, who are xenophobic, religiously fanatical exterminators of anything not human, including {{spoiler|Raziel in his pre-vampire days as a member of the ruthless Sarafan order.}}
* ''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
** There's also [[Token
* 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.}}
* [[Neverwinter Nights]] has no alignment alterations for appearance. So yes, with an upgraded game to get the right color options you can run around as a paladin with matte-black skin and hair dressed in black and red, and still have people treat you like you look perfectly normal and are not at all creepy.
** The rebel drow in Hordes of the Underdark, though their replacing the traditional drow black and red with blue and purple uniforms doesn't hurt either.
** Ammon Jerro, the second game's resident [[Knight Templar]], is a demon-summoner with grey skin and glowing spiderweb tattoos that the game tries to convince you is the [[Big Bad]] for the first two chapters. If you have enough Influence with him by the scene at Shandra's farm, he will not be quite as evil as he was before.
* ''[[Dragon Age]]: Origins - Awakening'' has one in the form of The Spirit of Justice, who in the Fade is [[Exactly What It Says
** And in the original, blood mages. Blood magic is a terrifying power that lets you [[Cast
** Also from the original, the werewolves. {{spoiler|They're actually the descendants of humans that killed Zathrian's son and raped his daughter centuries ago. [[Pay Evil Unto Evil|Zathrian cursed the humans so that they and all of their descendants would be werewolves.]] The werewolves were just desperate to be cured, so they attacked and infected the Dalish hoping that Zathrian will lift the curse once he saw the curse affecting his own people. They're not purely good, but then neither are the Dalish. This is [[Gray and Grey Morality|Dragon Age: Origins]], remember.}}
** Near the end of ''Awakening'', during the defense of the City of Amaranthine you encounter a Disciple (sentient Darkspawn) sent by The Architect that fights alongside you if you let it. If you choose to let it go afterwards, the epilogue states that it becomes a hooded traveller that helps those it encounters (though it accidentally spreads the taint where it follows).
* Feynriel in ''[[Dragon Age II]]'': if you help him fight off the demons in the Fade, he journeys to Tevinter and learns to control his power from a magister, remaining a good mage at heart.
** Cassandra Pentaghast during the narration scenes. She's basically part of Thedas' equivalent of the Spanish Inquisition, wears all black, and is extremely grouchy... {{spoiler|and she's also trying to stop a major war from breaking out for entirely selfless reasons.}}
** In the [[Downloadable Content|DLC]] "Legacy", {{spoiler|Malcolm Hawke}} is revealed to have been a Blood Mage. However, he was still a good man, and he only used blood magic {{spoiler|because it was the only thing powerful thing to seal away Corypheus. And he only did it because the Warden-Commander Larius threatened Leandra and their unborn child (Hawke).}} The Key from "Legacy" is another example. Though it was forged with [[Blood Magic]] and has a distinctly intimidating appearance, it's a powerful weapon of good in Hawke's hands.
** Technically, Tallis of ''Mark of the Assassins''. Despite the fact that she's a follower of the Qun, one of the most hated factions of the series, she is portrayed as relatively heroic and an idealist who believes the [[Blue and Orange Morality]] [[World of Silence]] of the Qunari really is the best option.
* The beginning of ''[[Splinter Cell]]: Conviction'' has a flashback to [[Crowning Moment of Heartwarming|Sam Fisher telling his daughter who's scared of the dark that the dark can be used to protect you from bad guys.]]
** [[Leaning
* The Duty faction in the ''STALKER'' series. While their uniforms have dark tones with red marks and their attitude can come off as harsh and somewhat elitist, they're not inherently evil (or good, for that matter).
* Serenade from [[
* Necromancers - one of the player professions - from ''[[Guild Wars]]''. They have all sorts of creepy and sometimes [[Squick|disgusting]] powers, but they're one of the most popular professions. The three NPC necromancer heroes - Olias, the Master of Whispers, and Livia - provide the personnel for two of the most powerful player/NPC team combinations in the game, the so-called "Sabway" and "Discordway" skill sets. The NPC female necromancer Eve is one of the [[Fan Service|poster girls]] for the game.
** On that note Grenth, the patron god of necromancers, the undead, and death in general isn't actually that bad(despite being cowled and having a deer skull for a face). Grenth overthrew the previous god of death who ruled over the dead with an ironfist, and didn't allow the dead to be resurrected(whereas Grenth does). So every time you resurrect in Guild Wars, you can thank Grenth.
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* [[Shinobido|Goh Asuka]] is known as the Crow and wears black from top to toe, but he's the good guy.
* In ''[[Spyro the Dragon|The Legend of Spyro Trilogy]]'', Cynder is the only [[Color Coded for Your Convenience|black dragon in the game]] and has control over the element of [[Casting a Shadow|Darkness]] but is only a villain in the first game, after being freed of being [[Brainwashed and Crazy]], turns out she's actually a pretty nice girl and a loyal ally, and {{spoiler|love intrest}}, for Spyro, even becoming playible in the third game.
** Speaking about the Spyro serie, [[Skylanders:
* In ''[[Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney]]: Trials and Tribulations'', {{spoiler|Viola Cadaverini}} definitely falls under [[Obviously Evil]]. Her clothing and hair is entirely black, she has a way of [[Offscreen Teleportation|suddenly appearing from nowhere]], a [[Giggling Villain|creepy giggle]], is aware of her family's being [[The Mafia]], and repeatedly offers [[Perfect Poison|coffee]] to Phoenix and Maya. As it turns out, she's {{spoiler|an innocent victim being exploited by Furio Tigre, and thinks that his murder scheme was horrible.}} Of course, that doesn't stop her from {{spoiler|"making him [[Deadly Euphemism|drink a lot of coffee]]" when she finds out the truth.}}
** Detective Tyrell Badd isn't bad, although he is [[Badass|Baddass]].
* Garret from the ''[[Thief]]'' series may seem like an uncaring and dark fellow who'd do anything for some extra gold, but he never goes so far as to kill anyone that doesn't deserve it (that is if the game is played properly, of course) and usually ends up doing the right thing, whether intentionally to or not, even saving the world a few times.
* Ysuran, an elven Necromancer in [[
* ''[[Soranica Ele]]'''s Zenobia has a power called Lucifer that commands the forces of darkness to strangle her opponents and disguise herself. She's really not a bad person, and in fact carries a heavy burden from all that she's been through, and seeks forgiveness for it.
* ''[[Riviera:
{{quote|
Lina: You're a vampire!?
Ein: So your wings...
Serene: These are Arc wings! How could a cute girl like me be a demon...? }}
* The Grey Order from ''[[League of Legends]]'' are former Noxians who broke off from their nation due to its evil, but still study dark magic. Their representative Champion is [[Creepy Child]] Annie, who doesn't necessarily qualify as ''good'', but is certainly not evil.
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* The plot for [[Off Switch]] has the hero fighting to save his world (which is composed of shadows) from the invading light demons.
* Several armors and weapons in the ''[[Monster Hunter]]'' games are rather dark and sinister-looking, some even coming with descriptions that indicate a "cursed" legend or attributes considered "evil". However, your character is usually doing heroic things like saving villages and forts from gigantic, vicious monsters.
* The antagonist of ''[[
* Galm from the ''[[
* 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.
* ''[[Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes]]'': This is the gimmick behind a newly announced 109th hero, whose face shall be voted on by backers when [https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/rabbitandbearstudios/eiyuden-chronicle-hundred-heroes the Kickstarter campaign] reaches $3.125 million.{{when}}
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