History Main / TheSacredDarkness

** ''Anime/DigimonTamers'': Given that it turns his eyes from the more aggressive red into an honest green and gives him wings, one might argue that Beelzemon, who is in the broader canon one of the Seven Great Demon Lords - goes through a "dark purification" as well when he obtains [[WingPull Blast Mode]]. Similarly, his ''Anime/DigimonXrosWars'' incarnation (which is very similar to Blast Mode) is an outright holy warrior, being reborn into that form using a mask of the goddess he once served, and is one of the noblest and most loyal characters in the series; whenever he [[CombiningMecha DigiXrosses]] with Shoutmon, the end of the sequence plays a brief high note of a CherubicChoir.
* ''LightNovel/KaraNoKyoukai'': Ryougi Shiki uses the Mystic Eyes of Death Perception, a very rare and unique power that allows her to see the inherent death of all things. Essentially, this makes her the human personification of the GrimReaper. Nonetheless, she is good enough to serve as a hero for this story and to get an almost holy-sounding ThemeMusicPowerUp. It helps that [[spoiler: she's essentially the goddess of the void]].

* ''Manga/MahouSenseiNegima'' presents pure Light as "the ability to [[DontThinkFeel go with your gut]], to [[{{Determinator}} hold to your convictions and draw great strength from them]]" and pure Darkness as "the ability to [[AwesomenessByAnalysis look beyond first impressions and search for deeper meaning]], to [[RousseauWasRight take in anything and accept it]]", which are treated as equally virtuous philosophies but difficult to [[YinYangBomb combine]]. Beings of corrupted Darkness are those who came too close to [[ShadowArchetype the things they dislike about themselves]], and rejected them instead of making peace with them. Despite using ElementalPowers typically associated with Cosmic Light ([[ShockAndAwe electricity]], [[BlowYouAway wind]] and... [[LightEmUp light]]), and greatly admiring Light-aligned heroes, Negi's personality means he is strongly aligned with Cosmic Darkness, and [[CharacterDevelopment his journey to embrace both paths at once]] ends up [[InvokedTrope invoking]] MessiahCreep.

* Even more prominent in ''FanFic/RainbowDoubleDashsLunaverse'' than in canon ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic''. As the name suggests, in this reality it was [[TheParagonAlwaysRebels Celestia]] [[HeWhoFightsMonsters who fell into madness]] and Luna who saved the ponies and has ruled for the past millennium. Furthermore, while in canon Nightmare Moon was all but forgotten, in the Lunaverse everybody still fears Corona, even a thousand years later. And while in canon the Elements of Harmony purged the Nightmare and restored Luna to her right mind, in the Lunaverse Corona was still consumed by her madness even after the Elements defeated her first attempt to regain the throne.

* ''FanFic/AgesOfShadow'': It's noted near the end of the Third Age portion of the story that true darkness magic is as neutral (or even benevolent) as the other elemental magics. It's this that [[TheHero Trace]] taps into during his AllYourColorsCombined attack in the FinalBattle with [[FallenHero Jade]] (while sensing that ''her'' shadow magic is corrupted by her evil and madness), and also what his LoveInterest Mildred's natural magical affinity turns out to be as well.

* Keku Semau and its residing trickster god Kek in egyptian mythology.

-->-- '''Catarina, Master of the Dead''', ''[[VideoGame/PathOfExile Path of Exile]]''

** It has a major part in the appropriately titled ''Shadowbringers'' expansion of ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIV'', when your warriors are trying to bring darkness to a world that is dying due the flood of Light that has destroyed much of the First and is corrupting the rest.

This trope is the logical conclusion of DarkIsNotEvil but it does not strictly exclude DarkIsEvil. Please note that this trope is not ''just'' DarkIsNotEvil. The usual variant of said trope is that a good person is donning dark motifs and/or using dark powers despite their villainous and problematic connotations for the sake of good. That is not really this trope. This trope is about some kind of darkness that exists in a form where you can reasonably justify its existence for the good of the world or when darkness is treated in some way as equally holy or good as Light would be treated. Generally, if your hero can make a WorldOfCardboardSpeech or RousingSpeech involving the virtues of their particular brand of darkness, it qualifies.

* Necromancers in ''VideoGame/DiabloII'' and ''[[VideoGame/DiabloIII III]]'' are servants of CosmicBalance more than darkness and are in fact nature worshippers, beleiving in a Cycle of death, decay, and rebirth as embodied by the dragon Rathma. They utilize their power over the good aspects of death and rot to combat the demons, who utilize the bad aspects of it. A necromancer and his army of skeletons, each a vessel for the soul of a deceased hero, are regarded as well as a paladin or demon hunter in the games'towns.

* {{God}} is associated with... well, ''[[TheOmnipotent everything]]'', but He gets compared to shade and rest just as much as light and holy fire - case in point, He keeps his people in "the shadow of His wing" for protection. By contrast, [[{{Satan}} Satan AKA Lucifer]] is [[LightIsNotGood the "Light Bringer" and the "Bright Morning Star"]].

* [[TheEmpath Sadness]] in [[WesternAnimation/InsideOut Inside Out]]; When 11-year-old Riley finds her world turned upside down by her family's move from Minnesota to San Francisco, [[TheHedonist Joy]] finds her position as the leader of Riley's five primary emotions challenged as Sadness finds herself compelled to touch the Core Memories, which would turn them permanently from yellow (joyful) to blue (sad). None of the emotions know Sadness' purpose, not even Sadness herself, and she is [[ExtremeDoormat appropriately lacking in self-confidence]] but [[NiceGuy very considerate]]. Joy has tried from Riley's birth to keep Sadness away from the control panel in the [[WellIntentionedExtremist misguided belief]] that Riley should always be happy, which results in their accidental expulsion from Headquarters (with the Core Memories) to Long-Term Memory. In their efforts to return to Headquarters, Joy comes to a [[HeelRealization heel realization]] when it turns out that [[spoiler:Sadness feels drawn to these memories, which want to be turned sad. Sadness is the only one of the emotions who implicitly understands that Riley is homesick and miserable about the move and therefore just doing her job to help Riley call for help. Joy does not understand this until she rewinds a core memory and finds that it was initially a sad memory that became joyful when Riley's parents and hockey team came to comfort her after she missed the winning shot in an important game; she realizes at last that Sadness is her [[Main/YinAndYang equal]] and is [[HeartIsAnAwesomePower essential to empathy]]. [[WhatHaveIDone Finally seeing that she went too far in excluding Sadness]], which has left Riley [[StepfordSmiler emotionally lopsided and unable to cope with her new surroundings]], Joy lets Sadness take the console and entrusts the Core Memories to her, knowing that it's what's best for Riley]].

* [[TheEmpath Sadness]] in [[WesternAnimation/InsideOut Inside Out]]; When 11-year-old Riley finds her world turned upside down by her family's move from Minnesota to San Francisco, [[TheHedonist Joy]] finds her position as the leader of Riley's five primary emotions challenged as Sadness finds herself compelled to touch the Core Memories, which would turn them permanently from yellow (joyful) to blue (sad). None of the emotions know Sadness' purpose, not even Sadness herself, and she is [[ExtremeDoormat appropriately lacking in self-confidence]] but [[NiceGuy very considerate]]. Joy has tried from Riley's birth to keep Sadness away from the control panel in the [[WellIntentionedExtremist misguided belief]] that Riley should always be happy, which results in their accidental expulsion from Headquarters (with the Core Memories) to Long-Term Memory. In their efforts to return to Headquarters, Joy comes to a [[HeelRealization heel realization]] when it turns out that [[spoiler:Sadness feels drawn to these memories, which want to be turned sad. Sadness is the only one of the emotions who implicitly understands that Riley is homesick and miserable about the move and therefore just doing her job to help Riley call for help. Joy does not understand this until she rewinds a core memory and finds that it was initially a sad memory that became joyful when Riley's parents and hockey team came to comfort her after she missed the winning shot in an important game; she realizes at last that Sadness is her [[Main/YinAndYang equal]] and is [[HeartIsAnAwesomePower essential to empathy]]. [[WhatHaveIDone Finally seeing that she went too far in excluding Sadness]], which has left Riley emotionally lopsided and unable to cope with her new surroundings, Joy lets Sadness take the console and entrusts the Core Memories to her, knowing that it's what's best for Riley]].

* [[TheEmpath Sadness]] in [[WesternAnimation/InsideOut Inside Out]]; When 11-year-old Riley finds her world turned upside down by her family's move from Minnesota to San Francisco, [[TheHedonist Joy]] finds her position as the leader of Riley's five primary emotions challenged as Sadness finds herself compelled to touch the Core Memories, which would turn them permanently from yellow (joyful) to blue (sad). None of the emotions know Sadness' purpose, not even Sadness herself, and she is [[ExtremeDoormat appropriately lacking in self-confidence]] but [[NiceGuy very considerate]]. Joy has tried from Riley's birth to keep Sadness away from the control panel, which results in their accidental expulsion from Headquarters (with the Core Memories) to Long-Term Memory. In their efforts to return to Headquarters, Joy comes to a [[HeelRealization heel realization]] when it turns out that [[spoiler:Sadness feels drawn to these memories, which want to be turned sad. Sadness is the only one of the emotions who implicitly understands that Riley is homesick and miserable about the move and therefore just doing her job to help Riley call for help. Joy does not understand this until she rewinds a core memory and finds that it was initially a sad memory that became joyful when Riley's parents and hockey team came to comfort her after she missed the winning shot in an important game; she realizes at last that Sadness is her [[Main/YinAndYang equal]] and is [[HeartIsAnAwesomePower essential to empathy]]. [[WellIntentionedExtremist Finally seeing that she went too far in excluding Sadness]], which has left Riley emotionally lopsided and unable to cope with her new surroundings, Joy lets Sadness take the console and entrusts the Core Memories to her, knowing that it's what's best for Riley]].

* [[TheEmpath Sadness]] in [[WesternAnimation/InsideOut Inside Out]]; When 11-year-old Riley finds her world turned upside down by her family's move from Minnesota to San Francisco, [[TheHedonist Joy]] finds her position as the leader of Riley's five primary emotions challenged as Sadness finds herself compelled to touch the Core Memories, which would turn them permanently from joyful to sad. Joy has tried from Riley's birth to keep Sadness away from the control panel, which results in their accidental expulsion from Headquarters (with the Core Memories) to Long-Term Memory. In their efforts to return to Headquarters, Joy comes to a [[HeelRealization heel realization]] when it turns out that [[spoiler:Sadness feels drawn to these memories, which want to be turned sad. Sadness is the only one of the emotions who implicitly understands that Riley is homesick and miserable about the move and therefore just doing her job to help Riley call for help. Joy does not understand this until she rewinds a core memory and finds that it was initially a sad memory that became joyful when Riley's parents and hockey team came to comfort her after she missed the winning shot in an important game; she realizes at last that Sadness is her [[Main/YinAndYang equal]] and is [[HeartIsAnAwesomePower essential to empathy]]. [[WellIntentionedExtremist Finally seeing that she went too far in excluding Sadness]], which has left Riley emotionally lopsided and unable to cope with her new surroundings, Joy lets Sadness take the console and entrusts the Core Memories to her, knowing that it's what's best for Riley]].

* [[TheEmpath Sadness]] in [[WesternAnimation/InsideOut Inside Out]]; When 11-year-old Riley finds her world turned upside down by her family's move from Minnesota to San Francisco, [[TheHedonist Joy]] finds her position as the leader of Riley's five primary emotions challenged as Sadness finds herself compelled to touch the Core Memories, which would turn them permanently from joyful to sad. Joy has tried from Riley's birth to keep Sadness away from the control panel, which results in their accidental expulsion from Headquarters (with the Core Memories) to Long-Term Memory. In their efforts to return to Headquarters, Joy comes to a [[HeelRealization heel realization]] when it turns out that [[spoiler:Sadness feels drawn to these memories, which want to be turned sad. Sadness is the only one of the emotions who implicitly understands that Riley is homesick and miserable about the move and therefore just doing her job to help Riley call for help. Joy does not understand this until she rewinds a core memory and finds that it was initially a sad memory that became joyful when Riley's parents and hockey team came to comfort her after she missed the winning shot in an important game; she realizes at last that Sadness is her [[Main/YinAndYang equal]] and is [[HeartIsAnAwesomePower essential to empathy]]. Finally seeing that she went too far in excluding Sadness, which has left Riley emotionally lopsided and unable to come to terms with her new home, Joy lets Sadness take the console and entrusts the Core Memories to her, knowing that it's what's best for Riley]].

* [[TheEmpath Sadness]] in [[WesternAnimation/InsideOut Inside Out]]; When 11-year-old Riley finds her world turned upside down by her family's move from Minnesota to San Francisco, [[TheHedonist Joy]] finds her position as the leader of Riley's five primary emotions challenged as Sadness finds herself compelled to touch the Core Memories, which would turn them permanently from joyful to sad. Joy has tried from Riley's birth to keep Sadness away from the control panel, which results in their accidental expulsion from Headquarters (with the Core Memories) to Long-Term Memory. In their efforts to return to Headquarters, Joy comes to a [[HeelRealization heel realization]] when it turns out that [[spoiler:Sadness feels drawn to these memories, which want to be turned sad. Sadness is the only one of the emotions who implicitly understands that Riley is homesick and miserable about the move and therefore just doing her job to help Riley call for help. Joy does not understand this until she rewinds a core memory and finds that it was initially a sad memory that became joyful when Riley's parents and hockey team came to comfort her after she missed the winning shot in an important game; she realizes at last that Sadness is her [[YinAndYang equal]] and is [[HeartIsAnAwesomePower essential to empathy]]. Finally seeing that she went too far in excluding Sadness, which has left Riley emotionally lopsided and unable to come to terms with her new home, Joy lets Sadness take the console and entrusts the Core Memories to her, knowing that it's what's best for Riley]].

* [[TheEmpath Sadness]] in [[WesternAnimation/InsideOut Inside Out]]; When 11-year-old Riley finds her world turned upside down by her family's move from Minnesota to San Francisco, [[TheHedonist Joy]] finds her position as the leader of Riley's five primary emotions challenged as Sadness finds herself compelled to touch the Core Memories, which would turn them permanently from joyful to sad; Joy, who has tried from Riley's birth to keep Sadness away from the control panel, comes to a [[HeelRealization heel realization]] when it turns out that [[spoiler:Sadness feels drawn to these memories, which want to be turned sad. Sadness is the only one of the emotions who implicitly understands that Riley is homesick and miserable about the move and therefore just doing her job to help Riley call for help. Joy does not understand this until she rewinds a core memory and finds that it was initially a sad memory that became joyful when Riley's parents and hockey team came to comfort her after she missed the winning shot in an important game; finally understanding that Sadness is her equal and is [[HeartIsAnAwesomePower essential to empathy]], Joy lets Sadness take the console, knowing that it's what's best for Riley]].

* [[TheEmpath Sadness]] in [[WesternAnimation/InsideOut Inside Out]]; When 11-year-old Riley finds her world turned upside down by her family's move from Minnesota to San Francisco, [[TheHedonist Joy]] finds her position as the leader of Riley's five primary emotions challenged as Sadness finds herself compelled to touch the Core Memories, which would turn them permanently from joyful to sad; Joy, who has tried from Riley's birth to keep Sadness away from the control panel, comes to a [[HeelRealization heel realization]] when it turns out that [[spoiler:Sadness feels drawn to these memories, which want to be turned sad. Sadness is the only one of the emotions who implicitly understands that Riley is homesick and miserable about the move and therefore just doing her job to help Riley call for help. Joy does not understand this until she rewinds a core memory and finds that it was initially a sad memory that became joyful when Riley's parents and hockey team came to comfort her after she missed the winning shot in an important game; finally understanding that Sadness is her equal and is [[HeartIsAnAwesmePower essential to empathy]], Joy lets Sadness take the console, knowing that it's what's best for Riley]].

* [[TheEmpath Sadness]] in [[WesternAnimation/InsideOut Inside Out]]; When 11-year-old Riley finds her world turned upside down by her family's move from Minnesota to San Francisco, [[TheHedonist Joy]] finds her position as the leader of Riley's five primary emotions challenged as Sadness finds herself compelled to touch the Core Memories, which would turn them permanently from joyful to sad; Joy, who has tried from Riley's birth to keep Sadness away from the control panel, comes to a [[HeelRealization heel realization]] when it turns out that [[spoiler:Sadness feels drawn to these memories, which want to be turned sad. Sadness is the only one of the emotions who implicitly understands that Riley is homesick and miserable about the move and therefore just doing her job to help Riley call for help. Joy does not understand this until she rewinds a core memory and finds that it was initially a sad memory that became joyful when Riley's parents and hockey team came to comfort her after she missed the winning shot in an important game; finally understanding, Joy finally lets Sadness take the console, knowing that it's what's best for Riley]].

* ''WesternAnimation/TheDragonPrince'' [[ZigZaggedTropes zig-zags]] between this and DarkIsEvil; "Dark Magic" is actually more about VampiricDraining and CastFromHitpoints than anything explicitly related to shadows and night, and is explicitly shown to [[TheCorruption corrupt the wielder]], no matter how well-intentioned they might be. By contrast, Moon and Star magic are both natural Arcanums, with the former being about [[MasterOfIllusion illusions]], while the latter about [[{{Seers}} divination and destiny]]. Rayla, one of the main characters, is a Moonshadow Elf (although not a mage).

* In the ''TabletopGame/{{Mystara}}'' setting of ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'', the Immortal (Immortals being the ''D&D'' functional equivalent of ''AD&D'''s gods) Nyx was the Entropic Immortal of darkness, night, and the undead. She is also pretty much the only Immortal of Entropy who is ''not'' evil, although her goals [[OrangeAndBlueMorality would be horrifying]] to most people. Still, Nyx serves as the key reminder that Entropy is as necessary for the existence of the cosmos as are the other four Spheres of Power, and is not inherently evil.

** ''Anime/DigimonFrontier'': Kouichi embodies this and also nicely illustrates the change between "corrupted" and "pure" darkness; he starts out BrainwashedAndCrazy using a twisted set of Darkness spirits -- the creepy, borderline-{{Eldritch Abomination}}s Duskmon and Velgemon -- and upon undergoing a HeelFaceTurn, the spirits are purified into the {{Black Knight}}s Löwemon and [=KaiserLeomon=], the embodiments of the sanctity of the element of darkness. For an added bonus, Koji, [[TheLancer the one who wields the DigiSpirits of Light]], [[spoiler: is his twin brother whom he was seperated from.]]

"Pure" darkness powers can often easily be distinguished from their "corrupted" counterparts. A OneHitKill spell by a villain using corrupt darkness will probably involve a lot of pain, mutilation, or brutality; a pure darkness spell of that kind, on the other hand, might result in something resembling a peaceful sleep or simply [[TouchOfDeath just dropping dead]]. Pure darkness powers tend to avert the more obviously negative aspects of darker powers such as MindRape or [[ColdBloodedTorture Torture]] and instead tend to be more spectacular and flashy, or involve beautiful stuff, like conjuring up the star-filled night sky, or awesome stuff like summoning a black raven or other creature associated with the night. For instance, if a hero's signature move is a combo attack where he cloaks his blade in light magic, a "pure" darkness counterpart to that move would simply involve cloaking the blade in [[CastingAShadow shadow]] instead.

"Pure" darkness powers can often easily be distinguished from their "corrupted" counterparts. A OneHitKill spell by a villain using corrupt darkness will probably involve a lot of pain, mutilation, or brutality; a pure darkness spell of that kind, on the other hand, might result in something resembling a peaceful sleep or simply just dropping dead. Pure darkness powers tend to avert the more obviously negative aspects of darker powers such as MindRape or [[ColdBloodedTorture Torture]] and instead tend to be more spectacular and flashy, or involve beautiful stuff, like conjuring up the star-filled night sky, or awesome stuff like summoning a black raven or other creature associated with the night. For instance, if a hero's signature move is a combo attack where he cloaks his blade in light magic, a "pure" darkness counterpart to that move would simply involve cloaking the blade in [[CastingAShadow shadow]] instead.

* {{TabletopGame/Pathfinder}} has the ChaoticGood goddess Desna, who is associated with Stars and the night sky, as well as Black Butterfly, an [[ArchangelsAndCelestialParagons Empyreal Lord]] associated with darkness, distance, and space. The land of [[{{Wutai}} Tian Xia]] also has the LawfulGood god Tsukiyo, the most prominent Good deity to provide the Darkness domain to his clerics.