Light Is Not Good/Video Games: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

* {{spoiler|Gravelyn}} from [[Adventure Quest Worlds]] is The Champion of Light and is on the side of evil

* Vigoor from [[Ninja Gaiden]] his first form looks like a stone angel

* The Archangel, one of the Accursed in ''[[Riviera the Promised Land]]'', is 'an angel burdened with the sins of others', who tries to get revenge on the gods of Asgard.

* Taken literally in ''[[The Path]]'', where a light at the edge of the forest means that you are approaching some infinitely creepy tableau {{spoiler|if not your character's metaphoric psychosexual death}}.

* Emperor Solarius from [[Overlord II]] has a sun motif and he is dedicated to the extermination of magical beings

* The final bosses of the ''[[House of the Dead]] 2'' and ''3'' are magnificent shiny quicksilvery creatures bearing a striking contrast with the usual shambling rotten and untidy lot of the zombie army. They are still dicks though.

* Solaris, the final boss of ''[[Sonic the Hedgehog]]'' for the [[Xbox 360]] and [[Play Station 3]], is a solar deity who is literally made of light energy. He fights by shooting white laser beams at the player. Ironically, according to Solaris' character backstory, he's actually a combination of two lesser beings of different elements; Iblis, a giant lava/fire creature, and Mephiles, a bizarre shadow being.

* The Bastard of Kosigan series (fan-made ''[[Neverwinter Nights]]'' expansion) has the classic angels and demons of Christian mythology as the 'order' and 'freedom' factions of a race of precursor humans, but the 'order' faction (who are definitely rather nasty, going directly to deadly force whenever anyone says 'no' to them) eventually won their war for the hearts and minds of ordinary humans and killed all the 'chaos' faction (except for two 'demons', one of whom is revealed to have been St. John and the other is your character's deceased mother, who stole Archangel Gabriel's (the leader of the 'order' faction) sword)

* [[Fatal Fury|Kain R. Heinlein.]]

** Only two of the Summon Spirit boss fights result in a [[Game Over]] when you lose, one being the humanity-hating Volt, and the other is the Luna and Aska battle, and Luna and Aska are the Summon Spirits of Light. They're the last Summon Spirits to form a pact with, and since {{spoiler|Kratos}} is on the previous floor, there's no opportunity to leave and level up. So a Game Over is the only logical end to a lost battle.

* Regardless of their leader's alleged [[Omniscient Morality License]], Celestia in ''[[Disgaea]]'' qualifies as this. Though not evil, they are people capable of being very wrong while also being very sure they're right, and aren't above [[Fantastic Racism]] towards demons ''and'' humans. We do know that Lamington and Flonne aren't as apeshit about order as [[Knight Templar|Vulcanus]], but the rest...

** Actually in this sense it would seem that Lamington was usurped by the ambitious Vulcanus (despite him having no chance), and the rest of the angels merely followed orders. Lamington never actually does anything offensive besides dealing with Vulcanus and Flonne, however Flonne is dealt with by their laws {{spoiler|and in the good ending returns as a fallen angel rather than being turned into a flower}}. Flonne seems to be ruled more by ''[[The Power of Love]]'' and the ''[[Rule of Cool]]'' than anything else. She has no prejudices (and in fact states as much early in the game) and no real desires beyond living a happy life and bringing love to those around her.

* The GBA remake of ''[[Final Fantasy II (Video Game)|Final Fantasy II]]'' has {{spoiler|the Light Emperor. Specifically he is the [[Sarcasm Mode|"good"]] side of the Emperor's soul split from the "evil" side in Pandemonium. He tries to take over heaven.}}

** Try nothing. {{spoiler|He succeeds completely, becoming master of heaven and hell before you even get there. He's still a tosser though}}

*** Also you learn in the Chains of Promathia expansion {{spoiler|that the Beastmen are actually the creations of the Dawn/Light Goddess Altana, while the playable character races are the creations of the Dusk/Dark God Promathia.}} {{spoiler|Basically it's the playable forces of Darkness wailing on the creatures of Light who are just trying to live in peace and harmony with each other.}}

* The recurring "Blast the shit out of everything with divine light" spells ''Holy'' and ''Ultima''.

* The common ''[[Final Fantasy]]'' spell "Holy" is a beam or explosion of divine light that burns the target from the astral plane, and is usually earned late in the game. Plenty of adversaries (mostly evil ones, who might even belong to a [[Corrupt Church]]) use it on you with impunity.

** Not just humanity, but all mako reactors, Big Bads and anything related to Jenova proving that [[Bugen Hagen]] was making junk up.

* Fortinbras, the [[Big Bad]] from ''[[Onimusha|Onimusha: Dawn of Dreams]]'' comes to mind. All of his attacks are light-based, and he even walks onto the battlefield wearing all white.

** That, and he specifically refers to himself as the 'God of Light'. Conversely, the main character is sometimes known as the 'Oni of the Ash'.

* Baelheit's special moves in ''[[Baten Kaitos]] Origins'' are not only Light-based, they're callbacks to the special attacks of the protagonist from the first game in the series (of which Origins is a prequel). This makes sense, considering {{spoiler|Baelheit is the ''real'' [[Chosen One|Spiriter]]. And a [[Well-Intentioned Extremist]] [[Disc One Final Boss]] to boot.}}

* Mundus in ''[[Devil May Cry]]'' finally makes his appearance in the end in a serene, white-marble cathedral bathed in soft light, and takes the form of a gigantic [[God Is Evil|marble statue of a winged, bearded man who looks like God]]. He comes equipped with a [[Red Right Hand]], however, and quickly [[One-Winged Angel|reveals his true demonic colours.]]

** Deliberately invoked throughout ''[[Devil May Cry]] 4''. The villains {{spoiler|are a [[Corrupt Church]].}} Their signature soldiers are the beautiful Angelo living armors, crafted with a glorious mixture of angelic and demonic features and deliberately created as "angels." By contrast, main character Nero's sinister [[Evil Hand]] turns out to be a powerful force for good. Interestingly, the villain's raison d'etre, {{spoiler|using demonic energy to kill all the demons in the world}}, isn't necessarily a bad one, but in the third act of the game, it's pretty obviously shown that {{spoiler|Extremism has taken root, so they've become da bad dudes.}}

** And there's arguably the Burning Legion itself, insofar that they are frequently associated with destroying flames and were led by a corrupted titan.

** The Elven priest's attack quote sums it up best: "By the power of The Light, burn!"

* The Angelus displays this well in The Darkness II, albeit mostly through [[Flavour Text]] found in certain holy (and not so holy) relics. Bound the souls of a hundred children to her purpose, possessed a woman to slaughter a village, roasted the unkillable Cain alive when he came to her to help with his atonement, and managed to completely burn the soul of the one Brotherhood member to save the world from destruction, into absolute nothingness. And just for a kicker, {{spoiler|proves itself even more underhanded than The Darkness itself, tricking Jackie into sending himself to hell to help Jenny, only to leave him in hell so she won't have to actually fight The Darkness herself}}

* ''[[Fire Emblem]]: Radiant Dawn'' uses this as well as [[Order Versus Chaos]]. The villains of the game are the Begnion Senate, which is obviously modeled after [[Acceptable Religious Targets|the medieval Catholic Church.]] All of the senators are the Bishop class and use light magic. One of them uses ''corrupted'' light magic. {{spoiler|Ashera, Goddess of Order, is the final boss, as she wishes to punish the world with the light of judgment, and our heroes team up with the (very nice) Goddess of Chaos to stop her.}} The [[Order Versus Chaos]] page explains this all very nicely.

** In ''Path of Radiance'', you have to take down a corrupt bishop who stole a heron. He uses one of the most powerful light spells in the game. Said character also happens to have an army of other light magicians with him.

** If you get betrayed ANYWHERE in the series, 2:1 odds are that it was by a bishop, cleric, paladin, light magician... you get the point.

** Best part about that? You get to stop the [[Big Bad]], which ''necessarily'' means turning the world into a [[Crapsack World]] again. ''And'' the only way to "cure" the hypnotized happy people is by ''punching them in the face''. Max gleefully spends the credits doing so.

*** Well, actually, defeating the [[Big Bad]] changes the mind-control beam. Instead of everyone acting oh-so-very happy and cheerful and kind, everyone on the planet is acting like [[Heroic Sociopath|Max]]. So, punching everyone in the face...is definitely necessary.

* ''[[Castlevania]]'' has the Amalaric (or Goth Sniper), a minor enemy that looks like a white torso with wings and a bow and is described as a fallen angel. While in ''Symphony of the Night'' and ''Dawn of Sorrow'' he's quite a pushover, in ''Portrait of Ruin'' he gets a boost on his attack power, becomes resistant to Holy damage, and gains a new attack that shoots arrows in ALL directions.

** ''Order of Ecclesia'' introduces the White Fomor, a [[Nightmare Fuel|twelve-foot-tall hovering goat-headed man-thing]] who shot balls of light at you, and he "mocks God with his blasphemous chanting."

** Speaking of ''Order of Ecclesia'', {{spoiler|Ecclesia's true purpose is to fulfill mankind's "greatest wish": The return of Dracula.}}

** Subverted by Diviara, though a Brilhado, is a Necromancer, who wears black robes, though his weapon, Duality switches between Light and Darkness elements. He is a general of N.O.V.A. {{spoiler|but after his brother's death joins you.}}

* Played straight by Mouri Motonari in ''[[Sengoku Basara]]'' (AKA Kahz in ''Devil Kings'') who claims to be 'The Child of the Sun', and is a Light-elemental character (which just means he can break enemy blocks). Except that he's [[The Neidermeyer]] and a sadistic [[Jerkass]] who could care less about his soldiers' welfare as long as they just do as he commands, treating them like disposable pawns. Exemplified with the fact that in-game, he can actually attack his own allies, a trait shared only with [[Psycho for Hire|psychopath]] Akechi Mitsuhide. This is [[Lampshade Hanging|lampshaded]] by Oichi, the series' poster girl of [[Dark Is Not Evil]], in the spinoff ''[[Sengoku Basara]] X'' who goes on to say that his "light is a lie" if they ever face each other.

** Subverted with another Light-elemental character: Toyotomi Hideyoshi. He's cruel, ruthless, willing to [[Moral Event Horizon|kill his own wife to achieve more power]], but he is a [[Well-Intentioned Extremist]] (noble goal behind cruel action). And unlike Motonari, Hideyoshi actually shows his charisma to his soldiers and cares about them (especially Hanbei), not treating them like disposable pawns (he can't attack his own allies, unless he equips himself with a special item, and that's limited to just grabbing moves.)

** Imagawa Yoshimoto, though not evil is a [[Dirty Coward]] whose only connection to Light is merely his love for [[Everythings Funkier With Disco|disco]] and as such summons light shows for attacks.

** In general, [[Sengoku Basara]] seems prone to give the "Light" element to unsympathetic characters, like Otomo Sorin and Kennyo Honganji. There are still good examples though (like [[The Messiah|Ieyasu]] and [[Justice Will Prevail|Nagamasa]].)

* In ''[[Grandia II]]'' the {{spoiler|Pope of the popular religion}} turns out to be helping to revive Valmar (the game's [[Satan]] analogue) because {{spoiler|contrary to the world's standard mythology, Granas (the "God"/CrystalDragonJesus of said popular religion) ''lost'' the ancient "Battle Between Good and Evil". Said Pope also seems to actually be ''much more evil than Valmar'', and sought to revive the "devil" to steal its power and make himself into a replacement for the long-dead Granas}}. Mareg's religion doesn't believe in complete evil or good (much to the disdain to one character) and is proved correct when the "real" history of the gods is shown to the heroes.

** In ''[[Strange Journey]]'', Metatron's ''Judgment Light'' insta-kills with 80% efficiency, for those not weak to Light.

*** Also plot-wise, {{spoiler|Zelenin}}'s transformation into an angel practically turns {{spoiler|her}} into a walking demon-slaugthering human-brainwashing machine.Who ''enjoys'' the whole thing.It is creepy even if you're going for the Law ending...

** No ''Crystal Shards'' yet? The final boss, {{spoiler|Zero Two}} has an angelic design, {{spoiler|complete with "feathery" wings and halo.}}

* ''[[Phantasy Star IV]]'' has this as a major theme toward the end of the game. {{spoiler|The Great Light, the creator god of Algo, is not shown to be good, just not straight-up evil. The main character, Chaz, has a moral objection to the expectation that he and his companions should do the Great Light's bidding, being that the Great Light itself abandoned the solar system ages ago, and that doing so would make them no different from Zio, the cult leader/evil wizard who killed his mentor figure. More directly, though, the elemental Light creatures are few in number, live in idyllic, magical crystal castles, are immortal figures made of glowing fire. De-Vars, Sa-Lews, and Re-Faze embody Strength, Courage, and Anger respectively, and while they're all pleased that that the heroes triumph over them, they do make a point of trying to crush them in order to make sure they're worthy of the task of saving the universe. Re-Faze in particular is willing to isolate, trick, traumatize, and insult Chaz in order to test his mettle.}} In the end, only good can truly triumph over evil, and good can only exist in the human heart.

** Also, all the Light elemental attacks are pretty badass. In PSIV, if it looks like a laser, you can expect it to do some pretty hefty damage. In a couple of boss fights, the wussy second-level Githu technique (it's basically a yellow laser that goes bzweeoon) does more damage than most melee attacks.

** The sequel, ''Bomberman 64: The Second Attack'' provides three examples to this trope. First there's the boss, Zoniha, whose title is "The Purifying Light" and attacks with, you guessed it, light based attacks. Though her case is arguable since {{spoiler|she was brainwashed by the [[Big Bad]] to do evil deeds}}. The second case is the penultimate boss who is literally {{spoiler|a goddess of light who decides to pass judgment on Bomberman for refusing to cooperate with her}}. The final example is the final boss, {{spoiler|the angel of light and darkness, who seems to focus more on light attacks than dark ones.}}

* Destroyman in ''[[No More Heroes]]'' appears to be a [[Superhero]] and claims to fight with honour...but it's not hard to see that he's one of the most dirty fighting, [[Ax Crazy]] assassins that Travis has to fight.

* The Angels in ''[[Bayonetta]]'', which are best described as "grotesque monstrosities with marble-colored skin, stereotypical Greekish clothing, wings, and halos."

** More extreme is the [[Big Bad]], Father Balder. The last of the Lumen Sages, he orchestrated the genocide of both them and the Umbra Witches, {{spoiler|killed Luca's father}}, is the one commanding the angels, and does not seem to care for his {{spoiler|daughter}} beyond being a tool for the awakening of [[God Is Evil|Jubileus]], who he intends to use to destroy the current universe so that a prettier one can be created.

** Count Veger is a [[Well-Intentioned Extremist]] and [[Knight Templar]] who seeks to become "the glorious light that burns away the shadows". This includes [[Dark Is Not Evil|Jak himself]], who has already saved the world two times.

** Jak's own Light form comes complete with a set of angelic wings. While its powers are mostly based on defense rather than offense, it still enables Jak to wreak havoc, for example by using [[Time Stands Still|Flash Freeze]] and then [[More Dakka|shooting everything in sight]].

** Ghirahim in ''[[Skyward Sword]]'' has a predominantly "white" look, but he's clearly a villain. {{spoiler|The whiteness gradually "molts" off, though, revealing the dark demon underneath}}.

* The Light school of magic in ''Dawn Of Magic'' deals ''radiation damage''.

* ''[[Dominions]] 3'' has it's fair share of evil Light nations. Take for example Marignon, a nation led by an inquisition that went too far in their search of heresy that they made a pact with demons and started practicing blood magic to increase the effectiveness of the inquisition. But then, there are [[Grey and Grey Morality|no "good" nations in Dominions]].

** Want to permanently brainwash enemy civilians into zealot loyal to your cause? (Disclaimer: The process is far from perfect, only some will be properly converted, others will be driven irrevocably insane or will simply die.) There's an astral spell for that. Want to curse somebody for the rest of their lives? There's an astral spell for that, too. Want to cause a province-wide epidemic of bad luck? Astral magic. Want to paint a unremovable bullseye on somebody that will make them a target for any passing [[Eldritch Abomination]]? Yep, astral magic. Want to ''send'' an [[Eldritch Abomination]] to wreck havoc on a distant province? You're going to need astral magic. Want to forge an [[Artifact of Doom]]? A lot of them require skill in astral magic. Want to ''taint the source of magic itself'', so that only [[Blood Magic]] is safe to use? Hope you've got at least six levels in the astral path.

* {{spoiler|Taki's}}, {{spoiler|Siegfried's}}, and {{spoiler|Cassandra's}} endings in ''[[Soul Series|Soul Calibur IV]]'' touch upon the fact that the titular spirit sword can easily be just as dangerous and manipulative as its darker counterpart and precursor, Soul Edge.

* Jin Kisaragi of ''[[Blaz Blue]]'' is [[Bishonen|very handsome]], has blonde hair, wears brightly colored clothing, and is celebrated as the Hero of Ikaruga, a war which took place some years before the game. He's also an enormous [[Jerkass]] who possesses very few redeeming qualities, is easily angered, and who's [[Yandere]] for his brother, Ragna. {{spoiler|However, by the end of ''Continuum Shift'', it has appeared that he's pulled a [[Heel Face Turn]], and may be ''slightly'' closer to [[Light Is Good]].}}

** Also, any Touhou with [[Frickin' Laser Beams|laser]] [[Beam Spam|attacks]] sort of [[Scrappy Mechanic|invokes]] [[Hitbox Dissonance|this]].

* The [[Big Bad]] of ''Noctropolis'' is revealed to have Light powers in contrast to the hero's [[Dark Is Not Evil|Darkness powers]] and explains {{spoiler|his diabolical plan of [[Manipulative Bastard|manipulating]] an [[Down the Rabbit Hole|everyday guy from another world]] into becoming his successor as the titular city's main superhero just so he would be exposed to [[Applied Phlebotinum]] so the [[Big Bad]] can use him as a catalyst for turning more [[Applied Phlebotinum]] into a [[Cosmic Keystone]] (or [[Power-Up]]) of Light. After this [[Evil Gloating]] the hero recovers from being an [[Unwitting Pawn]] by calling on [[Dark Is Not Evil|forces of Darkness]] to save the day}}.

* ''[[Eve Online]]'' has the Amarr Empire as one of the main factions in the game. They are a pure and devoutly religious people who protect the galaxy from evil with their beautiful golden spaceships. However, these beautiful spaceships are enormous monstrosities like the 'Apocalypse' and 'Armageddon' battleships with laser cannons that are arguably the most powerful weapons in the game that can turn most opponents into dust in minutes. And how do they protect the galaxy from evil? By conquering as much of it as they can, enslaving other races that oppose them and claiming divine right to do whatever they feel like to anyone they feel like as servants of a higher power. The only thing that stopped them cold was a far more advanced and powerful race which they tried to claim as their property. Since then, they have put their plans for purging the galaxy of evil on hold.

* [[City of Heroes|Nova Praetoria]] by far the brightest, shiniest zone in all of ''[[City of Heroes]]''. There's a bright Gold on White Motif, all of the civilians are happy, statues of superheroes dot the landscape, and one of the first missions involves ''picking flowers''. Did I mention that this is the Evil [[Mirror Universe]] version of Paragon City?

** With the new side switching system, now even the brightest, most light oriented Empathy/Energy Blast Defender can be a [[Complete Monster]]!

** Some of the lesser foes, like the desert sirens, Perseus and undead sentries also use light attacks, throwing golden light at Kratos.

* The little angelic boy named Emilio Michaelov in ''[[Psychic Force]]''. At the first glance, he's a timid boy who just had tremendous power of light, but good hearted. Then he gets [[Brainwashed]] and then turns into an [[Ax Crazy]] psycho working for the bad guys. His good self still struggle to prevail over his evil self, {{spoiler|but ultimately fails}}.

* ''[[Rosenkreuzstilette]]'' gives us {{spoiler|Iris Sepperin}}, the kind of little girl who's both a [[Complete Monster]] and a [[Magnificent Bastard]] and whose motivation is {{spoiler|[[A God Am I|to become a goddess]]}}. She reincarnated from {{spoiler|Rosenkreuz}} but pitted RKS against the Empire [[For the Evulz|just FOR THE FUN OF IT]].

* In Guild Wars: Prophecies, the White Mantle (dressed, appropriately, in swishy white and gold getups) initially seem like great guys. They welcome a band of refugees from a formerly-enemy country, give them a nice patch of land, spend lots of time fighting the undead menace that has recently risen, recognize (and promote) talent, even among foreigners, and search the peasantry for those with magical talents so that those peasants can be educated and their talents developed. Turns out, though, that {{spoiler|all those talented peasants are being sacrificed to golden, floating, not-really-gods, the undead were attracted by an artifact the White Mantle shouldn't have been messing with in the first place, and other Evil Things were afoot, ultimately caused by the dark god Abaddon, who has been trying to break his prison and destroy the world since the other five gods caged him up about a thousand years ago.}} Their counterparts the Shining Blade, with an equally bright name but more practical clothing, are pretty straightforward, though.

** Subverted with Reshiram from ''[[Pokémon Black and White]]'' (especially in ''White''), however.

*** Team Plasma is rather strongly based on Christianity, with their Templar-like uniforms, talk about "saving" Pokemon, and use of the Chi Rho, an ancient symbol used to represent Jesus, as a symbol. They're also a deranged hypocritical terrorist cult {{spoiler|being manipulated by a fraudulent leader in his attempt to gain power.}}

** The Khalai Protoss *do* get better though, most likely because nearly all of the Judicators and Conclave leaders were killed during the Zerg invasion of Aiur. Aldaris was the last of the "old order", {{spoiler|and he gets killed by Kerrigan after starting another war among the Protoss}}. All of the [[Lawful Stupid]] fundamentalists were killed off, and only the ones more willing to change their ways and work with the Dark Templar survived.

* ''[[Magical Vacation|Magical Starsign]]'' assigns a starsign to everyone, including antagonists. Most of the Space Police is of Light. And a sizeable chunk of them cooperates with the pirate otters.

* In [[Runescape]], [[Our Angels Are Different|Commander]] [http://runescape.wikia.com/wiki/Zilyana Zilyana] is one of the bosses in [http://runescape.wikia.com/wiki/Gwd God Wars Dungeon].

* ''[[Assassin's Creed]]'': Abstergo Industries, the current incarnation of the Templar, favour sterile white surroundings, with [[Big Bad]] Dr. Vidic as a [[Man in White]].

* The final Bowser level of ''[[Super Mario Galaxy]]'' actually takes place in orbit around a giant hollow Sun [[Big Bad|Bowser]] created and is fought inside of.

* In [[Terraria]], you have the hallow biome, which is a polar opposite to [[The Corruption]], with multicolored trees and a permanent rainbow, but infects other biomes exactly the same way, and its inhabitants (which include pixies and unicorns) are just as nasty as their corrupt counterparts.

* Tabuu, the [[Big Bad]] of [[Super Smash Bros|''Super Smash Bros. Brawl'']], actually resembles an angel.

* [[Tenchu]] 2 had the Burning Dawn ninjas who want to leave their life of darkness behind and embrace the light. Special mention goes to the psychopath Suzaku. He is the Phoenix and symbolizes light, flame and rebirth. {{spoiler|He gets reborn as [[Dark Is Evil|Onikage]]}}

* [[Viewtiful Joe|Viewtiful Joe 2]] has {{spoiler|Jet, Joe's father}}. At first, he's the [[Dark Is Evil|Black Emperor]], but after absorbing the power of the [[Applied Phlebotinum|7 Rainbow Oscars]], he becomes {{spoiler|Dark Hero Jet Black}}, who wears an all-white outfit. [[Genius Bonus|Fitting, because white is made up of a full spectrum of colors.]]

* [[Wii Ware]] title The Magic Obelisk has the main character as a tree spirit who must remain in the shade, or else he will turn into a tree, resulting in [[Game Over]].