Dark Is Not Evil/Video Games: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

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

* ''[[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.]]

* 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.

* Dante of ''[[Devil May Cry]]'', although he's mostly an exception as nearly all demons in the series are evil. Sparda, Dante's father, was an extremely powerful devil and nicknamed "The Legendary Dark Knight"; he was also a very nice guy who saved humanity from extinction. Trish and Lucia from the same series are also demons who fight for the good of mankind.

** 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-Powered Evil Side]] (aside from the intial awakening of his brand of [[Super Mode]], and even then, he just seemed like a fairly calm [[Blood Knight]]. Sort of like Dante.

** 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.

** 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]].

* The Dark Warriors of ''[[Final Fantasy III]]''. They helped save the world in the past of the game world when the Light got too powerful and threatened to destroy the earth in the Flood of Light.

** Most Black Mages in ''[[Final Fantasy]]'' aren't evil at all.

*** 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:

*** [[Final Fantasy X|Jecht]] as well, who represents a good mindset amongst the Chaos faction of Dissidia.

** Squall in ''[[Final Fantasy VIII]]'' wears black and is up-front about being a mercenary who'll fight for whoever pays his contract, contrasted with his [[Rival Turned Evil]] Seifer, who is [[Blond Guys Are Evil|blond]], wears white, and styles himself as a [[Knight in Shining Armor]].

** 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.

*** 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 with Awesome|not entirely unfortunate]] victims of a lesser version of [[Evil Sorcerer|Arugal's]] curse. Unlike their truly cursed cousins in Silverpine, they retain control of their minds in wolf form and can switch between both at will. While they look less ugly then true worgen ([[Another Dimension|extradimensional]] invaders that have one form and one form only), having no tusks and well-groomed fur, their ''human'' forms are very definitely "dark", being at least one foot taller on average then actual humans and looking, shall we say, [[Beast Man|feral]]. They're members of the Alliance, as opposed to the [[Ugly Cute|endearing]] goblins of the Horde.

*** 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.

**** 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.

'''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.

** 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.

** 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.

* 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.

** 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.}}

** 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.

* The video games ''[[Star Ocean the Second Story]]'' and ''[[Final Fantasy IX]]'' have child magic users Leon and Vivi, respectively, available as player characters. Both of them, especially Leon, use shadowy and dark magic in some of their attacks, even to the point of summoning up [[The Grim Reaper]] to instantly destroy the villains, but neither Leon or Vivi are themselves evil. [[The Woobie|Far from it, at least in Vivi's case.]]

** 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.

* 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 ''[[Tales of Symphonia]]'', and again in ''[[Tales of Phantasia]]'' is one of the nicer Summon Spirits. (In ''Phantasia'' especially, as he does not require a fight to obtain.)

*** 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 ''[[Tales of Eternia]]'''s magic system, Shadow ''makes'' whatever mage is equipped with him the designated Dark mage. Also, the Dark Aurora used by [[Knight Templar|Shizel]] {{spoiler|and Meredy}}. See also [[Yin-Yang Bomb]].

*** 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 ''[[Tales of Destiny]]'', Ricardo Soldat of ''[[Tales of Innocence]]'', and Kunzite of ''[[Tales of Hearts]]'' all use primarily Dark techs, spells, and abilities. However, the original Leon doesn't really count as he remained a sadistic [[Jerkass]], it wasn't until the remake where his personality gets retooled into a [[Jerk with a Heart of Gold]]. On the other hand, {{spoiler|his alter ego}} Judas counts very much.

** 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.

** 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.

** 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.}}

* ''[[Planescape: Torment]]'' really likes this one. Your party alone can include Fall-From-Grace, a [[Chaste Hero|chaste]] [[Horny Devils|succubus]] uninterested in consuming mortal men's souls, and Morte, the sarcastic foul-mouthed disembodied talking skull {{spoiler|who went to Hell when he died}}... who is also the only Good recruitable NPC and the only true friend you start the game with.

** However, Dark Eco is still pretty nasty stuff that [[The Corruption|turns benevolent gods into monsters]], makes nice heroes [[Super-Powered Evil Side|go bat-shit insane]], or else just kills things in a horrifically painful way. Not to mention that most of the major baddies ''thrive'' off the stuff, some more literally than others.

* The true ending of ''[[Eversion]]:'' {{spoiler|The princess was a monster all along! But wait... [[Tomato in the Mirror|your character was also a monster all along!]]}}

* 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-Powered Evil Side]] who first brutally destroys Arcueid and then later tries to rape her. However, as Akiha points out, they weren't actually that bad (nor that were they very ''good'' either) because the only ones they ever had that impulse towards were non humans, who generally are ''not'' good people to have around ie: the Dead Apostles, demons and the inverted members of the Tohno family. They still seem to enjoy themselves a little too much when 'working' though.

** Actually, the rape was due to {{spoiler|Arcueid's mystic eyes}}. It had absolutely nothing to do with the Nanaya side.

* 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]]}}.

** 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.]]}}

** ''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 SaGa]] is actually quite an important deity, as he is in charge of the cycle of reincarnation; he even helps out the heroes if you fight in areas where Death is worshipped or use his vortex enough; in which he will instantly kill most enemies, even some Bosses (Sadly undead and certain bosses are exempt).

##Which you do you prefer: the darkness of outer space or the darkness of the deep ocean?

** Correct answers are all B.

* 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.}}

* 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.}}

** 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 on the Tin]]. However in the real world he ends up becoming stuck in the corpse of a Grey Warden named Kristoff and joins your party as a [[Lawful Good]] Zombie.

** 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.}}

** 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.]]

* Ysuran, an elven Necromancer in [[Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance]] II, plays with this. He learned to harness the [[The Dark Side|Shadow Weave]] while working for a group of terrorists, but was struck with amnesia following a magical duel with his mentor. When he learns the details of his past, he becomes [[The Atoner]] and uses his dark magic for good.

* ''[[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.

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.

* 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.

* 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.