History Main / LightFireJuxtaposition

* ''Literature/OldKingdom'': [[WildMagic Free Magic]] is hostile to life and often manifests as harsh white fire, whereas the ordered BackgroundMagicField of the Charter appears as InstantRunes made of light.

Subt-Trope of ElementalRivalry and EmotionsVsStoicism. Compare LightningFireJuxtaposition. Can lead to LightIsGood and EvilIsBurningHot, but [[LightIsNotGood inversions]] are also common, particularly if fire is treated as more rebellious and free in comparison to an oppressive light.

Subtrope of ElementalRivalry. Compare LightningFireJuxtaposition. Can lead to LightIsGood and EvilIsBurningHot, but [[LightIsNotGood inversions]] are also common, particularly if fire is treated as more rebellious and free in comparison to an oppressive light.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{TheHunchbackOfNotreDameDisney}}'': both Quasimodo (the titular Hunchback) and Judge Frollo, each in their own ways, begin to develop an attraction towards Romani dancer Esmeralda:

** Quasimodo's solo, "Heaven's Light", occurs on a moonlit/starlit patio. He compares Esmeralda to an angel who brought "Heaven's light" to the dark bell towers of Notre Dame, where he has lived all his life, and use words like "glow" and "bright".

* ''[[WesternAnimation/{{TheHunchbackOfNotreDameDisney}} The Hunchback of Notre Dame (Disney)]] '': both Quasimodo (the titular Hunchback) and Judge Frollo, each in their own ways, begin to develop an attraction towards Romani dancer Esmeralda:
** Quasimodo's solo, "Heaven's Light", occurs on a moonlit/starlit patio. He compares Esmeralda to an angel who brought "Heaven's light" to the dark bell towers of Notre Dame, where he has lived all his life.

* LightFireJuxtaposition: Red is one of the two enemy colors to White. Red symbolizes chaos, emotions, art and the elements of fire and lightning, while White symbolizes order, morality, the needs of the many over the needs of the few and the elements of light and the sun. Curiously both get [[DishingOutDirt earth]] as an element as well.

* In ''TabletopGame/MagicTheGathering'' Red is one of the two enemy colors to White. Red symbolises chaos, emotions, passion, art, and the elements of fire and lightning, while White symbolises order, justice, tyranny, civilization, and the elements of light and the sun. Curiously both get [[DishingOutDirt earth]] as an element as well.

Fire produces light, but in fiction the two concepts couldn't possibly be farther apart. Fire is seen as essentially chaotic, either through its destructive nature or through its association with the warmth and dynamism of life and emotions. Light by contrast is orderly, for better or for worse. Fire is emotion, light is reason. When demons or mutants or [[DragonsAreDemonic dragons]] need something to breathe, what do they get? Fire. When angels, paladins and [[DragonsAreDivine dragons]] need to cast holy spells, what do they use? Light. Art is fire, art's censorship is the blank whiteness associated with light. Even the positives are at odds: light is the happiness of childhood, fire is the passion of romantic love.

Sometimes, fire is used as a replacement for darkness, since both share demonic imagery. However, fire can just as easily be independent of darkness as it is from light; in this case, fire usually gets the chaos side of things while darkness gets the void, death and undeath.

** ''Anime/DigimonFrontier'': The Digimon Spirits of fire and light are wielded by [[TheLeader Takuya]] and [[TheLancer Koji]] respectively. Takuya is HotBlooded, impulsive and approachable while Koji is aloof, reserved and prefers solitude.

* ''Franchise/TolkiensLegendarium'': Light is strictly divine, and it's associated with elves, Maiar, and forces of good. Fire, however, can be used by both good and evil forces and is more heavily associated with the latter: Morgoth, Sauron, dragons and Balrogs all utilize fire.

* Music/{{Jhariah}}'s ''The Great Tale of How I Ruined It All'' uses the sun and fire as symbolism throughout. Fire is used to describe or represent the protagonist's determination or lack thereof ("I burnt out the white-hot flame inside me") and a force of destruction ("set fire to your marches, douse them in gasoline!"). The sun, and how it continually rises and falls, is used by the protagonist to describe his desire to bring about peace and have everything to back to normal ("and then we can all go back to sleep when the burning sun begins to fall").

* In Graeco-Roman Mythology, Helios/Sol (the Sun god), Éos/Aurora (the dawn goddess) and Hêmera/Dies (the day) are more associated with the celestial realm. On the other hand, Hestia/Vesta, while not a fire goddess per se, is the deity of the fire hearth and related to the domestic space -- ergo, a more human reality.

* In ''TabletopGame/MagicTheGathering'' Red is one of the two enemy colors to White. Red symbolises chaos, emotions, passion, art and the elements of fire and lightning, while White symbolises order, justice, tyranny, civilization and the elements of light and the sun. Curiously both get [[DishingOutDirt earth]] as an element as well.

* ''VideoGame/XenobladeChronicles2'': Inverted with Pyra and Mythra. Both are unequivocally heroic characters, but the fire wielding Pyra is the calm and sweet NiceGirl while the light wielding Mythra is a hot headed {{Tsundere}}.

* In ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'' and ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'' there is a clear distinction between the fire and energy the firebenders manipulate and the light of Raava and other spirits, the former being chaotic while the latter is pure order. Curiously, the sun is more associated with the former than the latter.

Fire produces light, but in fiction the two concepts couldn't possibly be furthest apart. Fire is seen as essentially chaotic, either through its destructive nature or through its association with the warmth and dynamism of life and emotions. Light by contrast is orderly, for better or for worse. Fire is emotion, light is reason. When demons or mutants or [[DragonsAreDemonic dragons]] need something to breathe, what do they get? Fire. When angels, paladins and [[DragonsAreDivine dragons]] need to cast holy spells, what do they use? Light. Art is fire, art's censorship is the blank whiteness associated with light. Even the positives are at odds: light is the happiness of childhood, fire is the passion of romantic love.

* In ''Series/StargateSG1'' the Ori faith is symbolized by fire while its opposers the Ancients are associated with white light. The latter introduced the concept of fire being evil to humanity as means to combat the former.

* Music/{{Jhariah}}'s ''The Great Tale of How I Ruined It All'' uses the sun and fire as symbolism throughout. Fire is used to describe or represent the protagonist's determination or lack thereof ("I burnt out the white hot flame inside me") and a force of destruction ("set fire to your marches, douse them in gasoline!"). The sun, and how it continually rises and falls, is used by the protagonist to describe his desire to bring about peace and have everything to back to normal ("and then we can all go back to sleep when the burning sun begins to fall").

** ''Magic's'' creators Wizards of the Coast made almost-identical follow up games of ''TabletopGame/DuelMasters'' and ''TabletopGame/{{Kaijudo}}'' which also separated light from fire into separate colors, but neither made the animus between the two as much as between ''Magic's'' white and red.

* ''WesternAnimation/WinxClub'': Bloom and Stella are the Fairies of the Dragon's Flame and the Shining Sun, respectively. While Stella is a hammy DramaQueen, Bloom is more grounded. Stella can come across as an insensitive jerk sometimes while Bloom is very empathetic. Stella's backstory is that of an initially socially awkward, now popular princess with a broken family. Meanwhile, Bloom's backstory is that of an ordinary, unpopular girl with a loving family that later learns she's a princess. Furthermore, Stella is the crown princess of her planet while Bloom is not.

* ''Anime/DigimonFrontier'': The Digimon Spirits of fire and light are wielded by [[TheLeader Takuya]] and [[TheLancer Koji]] respectively. Takuya is HotBlooded, impulsive and approachable while Koji is aloof, reserved and prefers solitude.

* ''Franchise/{{Digimon}}'': Downplayed in the ''Digimon Adventures'' continuity. Those related to the Crest of Courage are leaders who tend to have fire-powered Digimon partners (Tai, Davis/Daisuke), while the Crest of Light and Digimon with light-related powers are separate. Most notably, Courage-wielder Tai and Light-wielder Kari/Hikari are siblings, and their crest designs look remarkably similar.

[[AC: Anime]]

[[AC: Films - Live-Action]]

[[AC: Literature]]

[[AC: Live-Action Television]]

[[AC: Mythology & Religion]]

* In Graeco-Roman Mythology, Helios/Sol (the Sun god), Éos/Aurora (the dawn goddess) and Hêmera/Dies (the day) are more associated with the celestial realm. On the other hand, Hestia/Vesta, while not a fire goddess per se, is the deity of the fire hearth and related to the domestic space - ergo, a more human reality.

[[AC: Tabletop Games]]

[[AC: Video Games]]

[[AC: Web Original]]

[[AC: Western Animation]]

* In ''TabletopGame/MagicTheGathering'' red is one of the two enemy colors to white (the other being black, obviously). Red symbolises chaos, emotions, passion, art and the elements of fire and lightning, while white symbolises order, justice, tyranny, civilization and the elements of light and the sun. Curiously both get [[DishingOutDirt earth]] as an element as well.