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{{trope}}
{{quote|''Men have preferred [[Dark Is Evil|darkness]] to [[Light Is Good]] because their deeds were evil.''|'''[[The Bible
Any scene location where the villains do their plotting is invariably dark. This includes, but is not limited to, starship command centers, unethical laboratories and throne rooms. A more personal effect is when the villain seems to absorb the light around him, presenting dramatic shadows that you could have sworn weren't there moments before the heroes arrived.
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Some evil monsters require [[Always Night]]; sunlight can harm them, but it does produce this effect.
Interestingly enough, it has been produced in a lab: [http://www.livescience.com/culture/darkness-begets-dishonesty-100301.html people are more likely to be dishonest/commit moral transgressions in a dark environment.] Perhaps it is revealing [[What You Are in
Often the setting for the [[Omniscient Council of Vagueness]]. Glowy orange or purple colors are optional. Compare [[Empathic Environment]], [[Sliding Scale of Shiny Versus Gritty]] and [[Face Framed in Shadow]]. See also [[Dark Is Evil]] and [[Darkness Equals Death]] for why this trope is employed, and [[Chiaroscuro]] (and the page image) for another reason why. Compare '''AND''' contrast [[Daylight Horror]] and [[Light Is Not Good]].
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== Anime & Manga ==
* All evil plotting in ''[[Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle]]'' takes place in almost complete darkness.
* Alucard's room in ''[[
** Possibly justified because Alucard is a vampire, and vampires are typically nocturnal.
* ''[[Higurashi no Naku Koro
* Father from ''[[Fullmetal Alchemist]]'' plays it straight with his dark subterranean throne room.
** The Brotherhood anime, however, made the room much more bright.
* The Seven Stars from ''[[Shikabane Hime]]''.
* The senators in ''[[Eureka 7]]''. (Points for a dramatic green light in the center of the room.)
* Akatsuki in ''[[
* ''[[Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha]]'' has Precia and most of the areas in her [[Ominous Floating Castle|Garden of Time]].
* In ''[[
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== Fanfiction ==
* In ''[[Tiberium Wars (Fanfic)|Tiberium Wars]]'', this is [[Invoked Trope|invoked]] by Kane, because making his minions stumble around in the dark [[It Amused Me|is funny]].
* [[Lampshaded]] in ''[[
{{quote| '''L''' (to Light): Did you forget where the light switch was or are you endeavouring to save on our carbon footprint?}}
== Film ==
* Nero from the 2009 ''[[Star Trek (
** The bridges of Klingon ships in earlier movies were also poorly lit, with a red tinge to the lighting. The ''Bounty'' shows us that Klingon starships don't have the wiring to be brighter inside.
* Any number of [[Star Wars|Sith]].
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== Literature ==
* In ''[[Discworld
* [[Harry Potter|Lord Voldemort]], aka the Dark Lord, is very fond of this trope. His favorite scenes for evil showdowns include an old graveyard (at midnight) and a vast chamber filled with snake statues built far underground. Also Slytherin house, which has a far greater ratio of mean students to nice ones, has a commons room that is noticeably dark and poorly lit compared to the commons rooms of the other houses.
** Lampshaded by Dumbledore, who believes Voldemort is using the darkness and the death motifs to scare his enemies. From what we heard of Slytherin, he wasn't a very pleasant person, and the students who are enrolled in his house are usually very much like him, so it's somewhat justified.
* Specifically averted in the third Honorverse book, The Short Victorious War, in which the future Committee of Public Safety, who have not yet carried out their coup, [[Does This Remind You of Anything?|meet in a tennis court]] in an abandoned high-rise--but, while the windows are thoroughly blacked out, the inside is well lit. (Debatably Evil, at least at that point, but the same people become undebatably Evil later on.)
* In [[Robert E. Howard]]'s ''[[
{{quote| ''Whether it was day or night the king could not tell. The palace of King Tarascus seemed a shadowy, nighted place, that shunned natural illumination. The spirit of darkness and shadow hovered over it, and that spirit, Conan felt, was embodied in the stranger Xaltotun.''}}
* In [[Robert E. Howard]]'s [[Kull]]/[[Bran Mak Morn]] story "Kings of the Night", where the [[Religion of Evil]] performs its [[Human Sacrifice]]:
{{quote| ''The Druids of his own isle of Erin had strange dark rites of worship, but nothing like this. Dark trees shut in this grim scene, lit by a single torch. Through the branches moaned an eerie night-wind. Cormac was alone among men of a strange race and he had just seen the heart of a man ripped from his still pulsing body''}}
* Averted, sort of, in [[The Man Who Was Thursday]], when the Supreme Council of Anarchy meets over breakfast in broad daylight in a very public location. Of course, as with just about any other event in the novel, there's more going on than meets the eye. {{spoiler|For starters, none of the Council members are actually evil.}}
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== Live Action TV ==
* [[
* [[Stargate Verse]]: averted with the Goa'uld, the Ori and the Asurans, as all of them had pretty well lit ships. Played straight with Replicators and the Wraith. Seemingly inverted in ''[[
* ''[[ICarly
* This happens in ''[[Asfour]]'', when Itzik is taken to meet Saragousti. Justified, as {{spoiler|Saragousti has suffered very severe brain damage several years prior, barely moves if at all, and does not speak. Kobi uses him as a dummy boss [[Worldwide Punomenon|quite literally]]; in that scene, he keeps Saragousti seated on a revolving chair with his back to the unwitting Itzik, who is very nervous about the scene.}}
== Video Games ==
* In ''[[Halo (
** Though in the books that's explained as the lights being in the blue/violet range because that's the color that Elites' eyes were adapted to.
* Count Bleck's Castle in ''[[
** In the original ''[[Paper Mario (
** In ''[[
* Taken to an extreme in ''[[Metal Gear]]: Ghost Babel''; a spinoff for the [[Game Boy Color]]. The villain Marionette Owl [[What Kind of Lame Power Is Heart, Anyway?|can see well in dark areas]].
* ''[[Alan Wake]]'''s [[Dark Is Evil|Dark Presence]] is not only this, but Not Well Lit Is Evil.
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* In the ''[[Command and Conquer]]'' Tiberian series, [[Religion of Evil|Brotherhood of Nod]] bases tend to have very minimal, very stark [[Good Colors, Evil Colors|red lighting]], such that 80% of any given shot is black and the rest red (see the page pic for [[Dark Messiah]] for a typical example). The fanfic ''[[Tiberium Wars (Fanfic)|Tiberium Wars]]'' suggests this is ''entirely'' because [[Big Bad|Kane]] loves hearing his subordinates bang their shins on consoles.
* In [[The Dark Meadow]], monsters won't attack you in any room that has light coming in. (Although a little bit getting in through a crack is OK for them, apparently.)
* The BlackCastle in ''[[
* In [[Wario Land]] Shake It, the throne room the Shake King stays in through about 90% of the game is literally completely dark. As in, the bit Wario enters from is pretty much just a black screen and the rest of it seems like only half the lights are on, to the point you can see the villain's eyes glowing in the dark.
== Webcomics ==
* Subverted in ''[[Dan and
* Kyran from [[Emergency Exit]] [http://eecomics.net/?strip_id=104 likes] [http://eecomics.net/?strip_id=1117 this,] despite complaints about its impracticality.
* ''[[
* ''[[
* Lampshaded via a [[Running Gag]] in [[Pebble Version]] is the (presumably) [[Big Bad]]'s search for adequate lighting in his office. When he did get a lamp, it was blindingly bright.
* In ''[[
== Web Original ==
* In Legend of Neil, not only is Ganon's lair poorly lit, but also commonly under the effects of fog machines (fog = power], making it damn near impossible to find anything.
* In ''[[
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