History Main / TheSacredDarkness

* Necromancers in ''VideoGame/DiabloII'' and ''[[VideoGame/DiabloIII III]]'' are servants of cosmic balance 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.

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** ''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/DigimonFusion'' 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.

** Literature/TheQuran was first revealed to UsefulNotes/TheProphetMuhammad at a particular night, since dubbed "the Night of Power", and it is said that praying during this night will net you a thousand more rewards that you would at any other time of the year.

** The Hijra, which marked the beginning of the Islamic calendar, is otherwise known as "the Night Journey". Muhammad and his companions were able to safely escape Mecca under the cover of night.

** In Literature/TheQuran, nighttime and darkness are almost always portrayed positively.

* 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 [[BlueAndOrangeMorality 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.

* TabletopGame/{{Pathfinder}} has the ChaoticGood goddess Desna, who is associated with Stars and the night sky, as well as Black Butterfly, an [[CelestialParagonsAndArchangels 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.
* In ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'', necromancy is usually regarded as a magic of pure evil, and the undead hated as blasphemous, but there are some exceptions.
** In the setting of ''TabletopGame/{{Jakandor}}'', to TheMagocracy of the Charonti, necromancy is viewed as a sacred art given to them by their god; ancestor-worshippers, it is believed that their dead give them their bodies to serve as untiring laborers and defenders as an act of kindliness to their living descendants, freeing them of the need to worry about arduous mundane labor and instead concentrate on studying and other intellectual arts, as their god intended. They thusly treat their zombie and skeleton servants with great respect, honoring them for their kindness and seeking to protect them when possible.
** Though most gods concerned with the undead are evil monsters, the 3rd edition goddess Evening Glory is a kindly patroness of love and beauty, who preaches that love should conquer all things, even death, and that undeath is merely an expedient way to preserve love through all eternity. Her followers, then, are passionate believers in love ever-lasting, and embrace undeath so they can be together forever. It is sadly undermined somewhat by GameplayAndStorySegregation; due to necromantic spells carrying the "Evil" trait, all worshippers of Evening Glory must be one of the Morally Neutral alignments to use her magic.
** The first layer of the LawfulGood outer plane Mount Celestia, namely Lunia, the Silver Sea, has eternal nighttime under a star-filled sky.

* Because of Gaster's report in ''VideoGame/{{Undertale}}'', many fans thought DarkIsEvil was somewhere in the backstory. The most likely explanation, the Darkness in ''VideoGame/{{Deltarune}}'' is [[DarkIsNotEvil not evil]]. The Darkners, [[BigBad with one exception]] are as affable and kind as the monsters. While the Dark ''has'' become a threat to the world, its because of a second fountain that shouldn't exist, not because the Darkness is a destructive force.

* Music/{{Voltaire}}: "The Night" speaks of the night in a reverent way.

* Explored in the ''Literature/{{Dragonlance}}'' novels, pertaining to the different mage orders of White, Red, and Black. At least one character wonders why the "good" mages allow the Black Robes to exist in their order, and it's explained that darkness has its own purpose and that there must always be a balance; tipping the scales either way leads to catastrophe, and in fact, the Cataclysm that devastated Krynn was caused by the Kingpriest trying to tip the scales towards the side of "light"; the same applies to priests, since the evil gods need worship just as much as the good gods. Also explored by Crysania in "Time of the Twins" in the same series, when she muses that fear of the darkness is childish and stupid, and that lighting candle after candle to keep the darkness at bay only results in a house burning down because people can't understand that the darkness has a purpose.

*** Varda, the one among the Valar who Morgoth hates and fears the most, is the mistress of starlight and night, not sunlight and day. Likewise, the Elves are always associated with nighttime and soft light to the point that they are even said to experience sunlight as too bright and harsh. They are even mentioned as being somehow more beautiful under moon- andstarlight and the association goes so far that Samwise is surprised at how Lothlórien is the most "Elvish" place he has ever seen, despite the brilliant, golden light that lives in the forest.

* The Dark Templar of ''VideoGame/StarCraft'' fame are a nomadic people who revere the darkness and Void PsychicPowers, which are derived from the vast expanses between planets. Their favored powers include invisibility, the FlashStep, and huge "warp blades" that can slice through armor, which they use to perform ninja-style infiltrations and assassinations. Despite this, they are far and away more friendly than their light-using High Templar counterparts. They see the shadows as safety from the "prying light" of the Khala, a psionic connection between High Templar that allows instant communication at the price of privacy. They are likewise dedicated to the concept of protection, as shown in their blessing ''adun toridas'': "Adun hide you" or "shelter you".

** In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIII'', it is stated that ThePrecursors nearly destroyed the world when they tried to harness Light as an energy source and caused a "Flood of Light". They were saved by Dark Warriors fighting against light, who aid the present Warriors of Light in the FinalDungeon.

** It also helps that neither force is depicted as ''good'' either. Characters and texts in-game suggest that both forces have influenced humanity for good and bad, but for most of history have not actually attempted to take a permanent stand. [[spoiler: At least, not until the events of the game, when the Angels finally attempt to revive their Creator.]]

* ''Franchise/LyricalNanoha'': [[PersonOfMassDestruction Hayate Yagami]] holds the title "Mistress of the Night Sky" and is the heiress to the [[ArtifactOfDoom Book of Darkness]]' power, as well as the only mage in canon who can use elemental Darkness to power her spells. However, she is also ''the'' BigGood and nobody minds her darkness much, neither magical, nor [[DarkAndTroubledPast inner]]. In ''Anime/MagicalGirlLyricalNanohaAs'', there is even the "pure-corrupted" dichotomy: the old Book of Darkness (or rather, parts of it) is "corrupted", while Hayate herself and Reinforce,[[spoiler:the Book after being reprogrammed and cleansed by Hayate,]] are "pure" Darkness. It is strongly implied that the Book itself was "pure" Darkness upon its first creation but it got worse along the way. More specifically, it was originally called "the Tome of the Night Sky", and was simply a repository of magical knowledge. Being such a thing, various douchenozzles over time took to obtaining that knowledge for the usual reasons evil people would seek it. Their manipulations, across time, resulted in the Book becoming corrupt.

** The most prominent example of Sacred Darkness in ''Negima'' is Magia Erebea[[note]]Literally [[{{BlackMagic}} "Magic of Darkness"]], but in the sense of [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erebus the Darkness at the start of the universe]] from which all other things were born.[[/note]], a spellcasting discipline which extends "take in anything and accept it" to allow for EnergyAbsorption, [[YinYangBomb fusing normally incompatible types of magic with each other]], and even fusing with your own spells to become an ElementalShapeshifter. After learning Magia Erebea, Negi's darker impulses occasionally flare up and cause him to transform into [[SuperpoweredEvilSide a monstrous demon that attacks everything around him]]. However, once he comes to terms with his inner darkness, Negi [[SheatheYourSword allows the transformation to complete its course]], causing him to permanently become [[AscendedDemon a demon with a white aura and a fully human mind and appearance]].

Usually, this kind of darkness takes the form of a "pure" darkness as opposed to the "corrupted" darkness that is typically used by villains. The philosophical interpretation behind this is acknowledged that light and darkness can and must exist only simultaneously. Darkness can still be associated with aspects such as death, but expect this to be treated in a [[DontFearTheReaper positive way, such as death being an important part of the cycle of rebirth, being natural and therefore necessary for the world.]] Also, a dark god may simply be doing an unpopular, but still very important job, rather than being a villain. This kind of darkness may not be nice, or comfortable, or maybe it is even outright terrifying, but it nonetheless radiates a dignity that cannot be denied and, like it or not, you know that the world would be worse off without it.

"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 [[ForcedSleep 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.

* [[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, artly because [[UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom Riley's Mom encourages her to stay happy for them during this stressful time]]. Joy takes this literally and it 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, unable to cope with her new surroundings]], and almost makes Riley run away, Joy lets Sadness take the console and entrusts the Core Memories to her, knowing that it's what's best for Riley. Returning to her relieved parents after her aborted plan to run away, Riley finally breaks down and tells them how much she misses her old life in Minnesota; her parents [[GroupHug comfort her]], telling her that they also miss Minnesota]].

* "What a Wonderful World" (sung by Music/LouisArmstrong)

* The Christmas hymn [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=782bl6Ta6uQHoly Darkness]].
*

* In Myth/{{Greek myth|ology}}s, Thanatos was a child of the night goddess, Nyx, and was the personification of death. Rather than being evil, however, many myths associate the god with a gentle, non-violent death, such as passing while asleep. The only bad thing you could say about Thanatos was that he's kind of a dick to mortals and Gods, namely for the dislike of death on the former, and unable to reap gods in the latter. He does appear to get along with his brother Hypnos though (one famous painting has the two napping together as children.)
** Similarly, the only deities directly associated with darkness, like Nyx and Erebus, are not considered evil. [[TrueNeutral They're just kind of there.]]

* {{TabletopGame/Pathfinder}} has the ChaoticGood goddess Desna, who is associated with Stars and the night sky, as well as Black Butterfly, an [[CelestialParagonsAndArchangels 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.

* ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'': In general, Tolkien seems to have had an affinity for this concept, and several characters bring it up or embody it in some manner.
** Tom Bombadil (the oldest being in Middle-earth) mentions that he "knew the dark under the stars when it was fearless -- before the Dark Lord came from Outside". The association of the starry sky with Elves and the Elder Days ensure this trope is always in play in Tolkien's works, even though Morgoth and Sauron are textbook examples of DarkIsEvil: this is an example of the "uncorrupted darkness" idea.
** When the sun and moon were created, one of the demigods, Este, whose domain is sleep and rest, asked that the sun not always illuminate the Earth, and that there be a period of darkness every day so that creatures could sleep. Este's gift of darkness is meant to be a daily refuge during which we can heal our wounds, cure our illnesses and ease our difficult emotions.
** Varda, the one among the Valar who Morgoth hates and fears the most, is the mistress of starlight and night, not sunlight and day. Likewise, the Elves are always associated with nighttime and soft light to the point that they are even said to experience sunlight as too bright and harsh. They are even mentioned as being somehow more beautiful under moon- andstarlight and the association goes so far that Samwise is surprised at how Lothlórien is the most "Elvish" place he has ever seen, despite the brilliant, golden light that lives in the forest.

** The "Tall Tales of the Wee Folk" supplement introduces the notion that the fey of Mystara's current cosmic epoch, when Entropy is the minority Sphere and Matter, Energy, Time and Thought predominate, are actually the much-reduced Entropic-but-Good Immortals from a prior epoch when ''Life'' was the minority. Not only that, but the current goodly Immortals will become the fey of the ''next'' phase of cosmic history, when the four presently-dominant Spheres are reduced to a single Life Sphere, and so on ad infinitum.

* ''Franchise/FireEmblem:'' Several of the holy InfinityPlusOneSword[=s=] used by the PrecursorHeroes and eventually obtained by the player are dark magic tomes, but are treated with exactly the same level of reverence and usefulness as the other holy weapons; said weapons are [[VideoGame/FireEmblemElibe Apocalypse]] and [[VideoGame/FireEmblemTheSacredStones Gleipnir]]. The exception here is [[VideoGame/FireEmblemJugdral the Jugdral canon]], which plays DarkIsEvil very straight - of the holy weapons of the Twelve Crusaders, none of them are dark magic, and the equivalent dark tome, Loptous, was born of a destructive evil god of the same name and is used by the final boss, a descendent of and possessed by said evil god; however, the "holy" blood of Loptous is charted in exactly the same way as the holy blood of the Crusaders. Nontheless, the holy sword Mysteltainn might be an example, as side materials sometimes call it a demonic sword and its destined wielders are always [[BlackKnight Black Knights]] on the side of good (like Eldigan and his son Ares).

* ''{{VideoGame/MARDEK}}'' has this as a major plot element. Every element is required for the world to function properly, and even though [[DarkIsEvil dark is often evil]], it's still ''necessary'', most notably to spur on technological and magical progress. [[spoiler:Rohoph is unwilling to accept this, which begins causing problems at the end of Chapter Two.]]
* In ''VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublicII'', despite being [[spoiler:a HumanoidAbomination capable of [[PowerParasite drawing power]] from Force-Sensitive individuals and creating Force-Bonds to sway them to their point of view, the Jedi Exile is still nonetheless a Light-Sided Jedi]].

* ''Franchise/LyricalNanoha'': [[PersonOfMassDestruction Hayate Yagami]] holds the title "Mistress of the Night Sky" and is the heiress to the [[ArtifactOfDoom Book of Darkness]]' power, as well as the only mage in canon who can use elemental Darkness to power her spells. However, she is also ''the'' BigGood and nobody minds her darkness much, neither magical, nor [[DarkAndTroubledPast inner]]. In ''Anime/MagicalGirlLyricalNanohaAs'', there is even the "pure-corrupted" dichotomy: the old Book of Darkness (or rather, parts of it) is "corrupted", while Hayate herself and Reinforce ([[spoiler:the Book after being reprogrammed and cleansed by Hayate]]) are "pure" Darkness. It is strongly implied that the Book itself was "pure" Darkness upon its first creation but it got worse along the way. More specifically, it was originally called "the Tome of the Night Sky", and was simply a repository of magical knowledge. Being such a thing, various douchenozzles over time took to obtaining that knowledge for the usual reasons evil people would seek it. Their manipulations, across time, resulted in the Book becoming corrupt.

* In ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'', Tom Bombadil (the oldest being in Middle-earth) mentions that he "knew the dark under the stars when it was fearless--before the Dark Lord came from Outside". The association of the starry sky with Elves and the Elder Days ensure this trope is always in play in Tolkien's works, even though Morgoth and Sauron are textbook examples of DarkIsEvil: this is an example of the "uncorrupted darkness" idea.
** Also part of Tolkien's universe: when the sun and moon were created, one of the demigods, Este, whose domain is sleep and rest, asked that the sun not always illuminate the Earth, and that there be a period of darkness every day so that creatures could sleep. Este's gift of darkness is meant to be a daily refuge during which we can heal our wounds, cure our illnesses and ease our difficult emotions.
** Tolkien in general seemed to have an affinity for "Sacred Darkness": Varda, the one among the Valar who Morgoth hates and fears the most, is the mistress of starlight and night, not sunlight and day. Likewise the Elves are always associated with nighttime and soft light to the point that they are even said to experience sunlight as too bright and harsh. They are even mentioned as being somehow more beautiful under moon/starlight and the association goes so far that Samwise is surprised at how Lothlórien is the most "Elvish" place he has ever seen, despite the brilliant, golden light that lives in the forest.
* In ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'', the Faith of the Seven believes the new gods to be the seven faces of a single benevolent deity, one of which represents death and the unknown. Meanwhile, a competing religion regards R'hllor as the one true god of life, light and flames, but also of the shadows they cast, which are contrasted with the shapeless darkness of his enemy the Great Other. [[spoiler: Judging from the shadows, this might in fact be EvilVersusOblivion.]]
** The Old Gods appear to feature this theme, too. When Bran Stark discovers the truth behind them, his mentor teaches him not to be afraid of darkness, lives in a dark cave and controls ravens, traditionally ominous birds.

* 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.