History Recap / SwampThingVolume2Issue50TheEnd

--> "In the heart of darkness, a flower blossoms, enriching the shadows with its promise of hope. In the fields of light, an adder coils, and the radiant tranquility is lent savor by its sinister presence."\\
'''-- The Phantom Stranger'''

* QuitYourWhining: Constantine, either unaware or not caring that Mento's sanity is already in a precarious state, loses patience with his growing panic and tells him not to "sit there whimpering" and to "bloody shut up."

* CondescendingCompassion: How Zatanna, in the wake of her father's death, views John's attempt to keep her calm by saying, "I know how you must be feeling":
--> ''No, you don't!'' If you knew how I was feeling, you'd run as far as you could and crawl under a stone and hide!

In the afterworld, as the Darkness continues its advance, Etrigan's demons break rank and flee, leaving Doctor Fate to attack the Demons Three, commanders of the opposing horde. The Darkness surprises him and sucks him inside, then asks him to define "evil." Fate replies that evil is a "quagmire of ignorance" and a "vile, wretched thing" to be cast away. The Darkness, questioning how he can be so much lower than the Light, says Fate has merely taught it contempt. It expels him violently as it did Etrigan.

* NoSell: Although all are tremendously powerful, the respective assaults of Etrigan, Doctor Fate, the angels (including Metatron, traditionally among the mightiest of them) and even the Spectre are able to inflict the slightest damage on the Darkness.

* BreakTheHaughty: The Spectre, having been foolhardy enough deliberately to let the summoning take place so it could have a WorthyOpponent to defeat, instead finds himself utterly bested.

* BlackAndWhiteMorality: Subverted. See under AnAesop.

Sensing the battle is over, the occultists who are still alive and sane release each other's hands and take stock. Baron Winters commends Constantine on a successful campaign, although he's unsure as to how they won. Constantine says he suspects the outcome was less a victory than a "no-score draw."

While the angels advance toward it, the increasingly emotionally fragile Mento reports the Darkness is once more about to attack their circle. It begins to attack Zatanna. However, her father Zatara casts the spell "Ssenkrad ekat em daetsni," and burns in her place, but not before warning Constantine to keep his daughter safe or he'll haunt him from beyond the grave. John attempts to calm and reassure Zatanna, whereupon she blames him for her father's death, ignoring his heartfelt apology. Still, the circle remains intact.

* EurekaMoment: The Swamp Thing tells the Darkness that nothing he's encountered in his journey, not even the Parliament of Tree's advice--has helped him understand evil. Then suddenly, considering their advice once more, he comes up with an explanation that ends up changing the Darkness's mind about destroying Heaven.

* NoSell: Although all are tremendously powerful, the respective assaults of neither the Demon nor Doctor Fate nor the angels (even Metatron, traditionally among the mightiest of them) nor even the Spectre have the slightest effect upon the Darkness.
* OOCIsSeriousBusiness: The Spectre, following its defeat by the Darkness, is reduced to weeping and begging God's forgiveness.

* PrimordialChaos: The Original Darkness preceded the creation, and possibly even God, depending on whether one interprets its claim, "Before Light, I was," as referring to God's first creation ("[[Literature/BookOfGenesis Let there be light]]") or to the Deity itself.

* YinYangClash: The hand-clasping of Light and Darkness, lampshaded with the formation of a yin/yang symbol.

Mento, unaware of what's transpired between them, still assumes the worst as the Darkness continues to advance. Then, in terror, Mento witnesses a hand coming from the Light. His terror grows as he sees the dark tower rising to meet it...and realizes that what the afterworld forces had fought or defended is merely the top of the Darkness's finger (the "shell" being its fingernail). Seeing the hands of Darkness and Light reaching toward each other, he's certain they're going to fight and destroy everything.

Sensing the battle is over, the occultists who're still alive and sane release each other's hands and take stock. Baron Winters commends Constantine on a successful campaign, although he's unsure as to how they won. Constantine says he suspects the outcome was less a victory than a "no-score draw."

* EldritchAbomination: The Original Darkness. [[TimeAbyss Older than God]], mightier than the Spectre (who's nearly as powerful as God), and so immense that part of what drives Mento over the edge is the realization that both he and the afterworld allies have only been seeing its fingertip. No wonder it addresses everyone as "little thing."

* PrimordialChaos: Once again, the Original Darkness.

This is the final chapter of the "American Gothic" arc, and the last issue which the long-running team of Stephen Bissette and John Totleben drew.

* DarkIsNotEvil: Played with. The Darkness, having blissfully lacked any sense of self before the Light came along and provided a contrast, then exiled it, has no idea that it's "supposed" to be evil and in eternal opposition to God until its combatants [[NiceJobBreakingItHero tell it so]]. And even then, thanks to the Swamp Thing's words of wisdom, when it encounters the Light again it chooses to blend with it instead of destroying it.

* EldritchAbomination: The Original Darkness. [[TimeAbyss Older than God]], more powerful than the Spectre (who's nearly as powerful as God), and so immense that part of what drives Mento over the edge is the realization that both he and the afterworld allies have only been seeing its fingertip. No wonder it addresses everyone as "little thing."

Mento, unaware of what's transpired between them, still assumes the worst as the Darkness continues to advance. Then, in terror, Mento witnesses a hand coming from the Light to meet it. His terror grows as he sees the dark tower rising to meet it...and realizes that what the afterworld forces had fought or defended is merely the top of the Darkness's finger. Seeing the hands of Darkness and Light reaching toward each other, he's certain they're going to fight and destroy everything.

!!Tropes

Mento, unaware of what's transpired between them, still assumes all is lost as the Darkness continues to advance. Then, in terror, Mento witnesses a hand coming from the Light to meet it. His terror grows as he sees the dark tower rising to meet it...and realizes that what the afterworld forces have been fighting is merely the top of the Darkness's finger. Seeing the hands of Darkness and Light reaching toward each other, he's certain they're going to fight and destroy everything.

Cain and Abel, in the realm of the unconscious, watch the three allies walk away, from the vantage point where they'd climbed at the issue's opening to observe the battle. Abel is anxious over what'll happen to the stories they guard, now that the conflict, at their heart, between "good" and "evil" is no longer the same. Casually pushing his brother off the cliff, Cain tells him not to worry: "I'm sure we'll think of something."

This is the final chapter of the "American Gothic" arc, and the last issue pencilled and inked by the long-running team of Stephen Bissette and John Totleben.