Line #54 Main/BeforeTheDarkTimes


1	[[quoteright:309:[[Franchise/StarTrek https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/star_trek_san_francisco.jpg]]]]
2	[[caption-width-right:309:Starfleet Headquarters.\
3	Top: [[Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration Pre-Dominion War.]]\
4	Bottom: [[Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine Post-Dominion War.]]]]
5
6	->''"For over a thousand generations, the Jedi Knights were the guardians of peace and justice in the Old Republic. Before the Dark Times. Before the Empire."''
7	-->-- '''Obi-Wan Kenobi''', ''Film/ANewHope''
8
9	Before the world fell into a dystopia, or worse, an apocalyptic ruin, it lived in a time of power and wealth. Depending on the [[SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism cynicism of the series,]] either this happier time was just that, a happier time, or on the other end, a CrapSaccharineWorld.
10
11	In some works, restoring the world to this once grand state may be the goal of the characters. Conflict may arise when there are different factions each with their own ideas on how to recreate this utopia. In cynical works, older characters who lived in this time, or characters educated about this time may also comment on how it really wasn't that grand a time, and that in reality, it was just as bad, but in its own ways. In other works, there may be no way to restore the world to its once-grand state, and the details of it only exist to highlight how far the work's society has fallen, and to add drama to the story.
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13	If there were any characters that were [[HumanPopsicle Human Popsicles]], from this old time that wake up in the [[BadFuture time of the work]], or find themselves there due to some sort of [[TimeyWimeyBall time travel]], expect to see a FishOutOfTemporalWater story from them, along with plenty of angst.
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15	What separates this trope from FromCataclysmToMyth is that this "better" time is still well remembered, and not relegated to myths and legends.
16
17	Related to EndOfAnAge. TheDarkTimes may be related to this trope, but not always. Not to be confused with JustBeforeTheEnd. When a work is ''set'' here, you may be looking at a PrequelInTheLostAge.
18
19	----
20	!!Examples:
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22	[[foldercontrol]]
23
24	[[folder:Anime and Manga]]
25	* Characters in ''Manga/{{Saikano}}'' sometimes look back on their lives before the war broke out, and how peaceful everything was then, to contrast with [[WarIsHell the living hell]] they are in now. [[spoiler:It doesn't get better]].
26	[[/folder]]
27
28	[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
29	* ''Film/SoylentGreen'': After Thorn and Sol enjoy a meal of real food, Sol mentions on how the old world was just as Crapsack as the present in terms of people, but it was at least beautiful compared to the [[GaiasLament environmental disaster that is the world of 2022.]] [[spoiler:When Sol is committing suicide at the clinic, they both watch videos of the old times, seeing how far the world really has gone.]]
30	* ''Franchise/StarWars'': {{Trope Namer\|s}} from Obi-Wan's speech in ''[[Film/ANewHope Episode IV]]'' regarding the Jedi/the Old Republic compared to the Empire. Freedoms still existed, the Jedi were respected and the rights of non-human species were still there, although corruption was beginning to tear the Republic apart...
31	-->'''Obi-Wan Kenobi:''' For over a thousand generations, the Jedi Knights were the guardians of peace and justice in the Old Republic. Before the dark times. Before the Empire.
32	* ''Franchise/TheMatrix''
33	** ''The Matrix'' movie series: Between the Matrix itself and the huge library of records on their own computer system, the Zionites have a pretty good idea (they ''think'') of what the world used to be like. But since they're relying on the machines, their mortal enemies, to preserve this information, it's uncertain how accurate any of their details are.
34	** ''Anime/TheAnimatrix'' shows this to be a very decadent world, with a bunch of lazy humans and their abuse of the machines.
35	[[/folder]]
36
37	[[folder:Literature]]
38	* The pre-nuclear apocalypse Saraksh in Creator/StrugatskyBrothers' ''Literature/PrisonersOfPower'' is remembered very fondly by some (yet not so fondly by others).
39	* "Before the World Moved On" in ''Franchise/TheDarkTower''. One interesting facet to this is that there are a variety of stages to civilization's decline, with each previous stage seeming like the Good Old Days compared to the next age. There was an age of sci-fi technology, with android robots, intelligent trains, and such, which is from the distant past. Then there was the NewOldWest / Medieval hybrid age before the fall of Gilead, where society was still organized (albeit on feudal lines), but technologies more advanced than revolvers were generally treasured relics, and there is the age after the fall of Gilead, when society had no organization beyond the town level, and the forces of darkness have free rein (as seen in ''The Wastelands'', ''Wolves of the Calla'', etc).
40	* Since ''Literature/GalaxyOfFear'' is set shortly after ''A New Hope'', of course this applies. At one point the heroes discover an abandoned Jedi-run space station that used to act as a neutral place for scientists to work, Nepis 8. It was abandoned not because of TheEmpire, this time, but because of Dark Jedi.
41	* Before the Problem, the sudden epidemic of ghost manifestations, fifty years before the start of the book, the world of ''Literature/LockwoodAndCo'' was quite similar to our own.
42	[[/folder]]
43
44	[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
45	* When ''Series/HouseOfTheDragon'' starts, King Viserys inherited a realm of Westeros that had been peaceful and prosperous for decades from his grandfather Jaehaerys I. Things go downhill once he dies -- a SuccessionCrisis and CivilWar tearing Westeros asunder and turning it into a CrapsackWorld, then it goes FromBadToWorse over a hundred years and a half, culminating with the bloody conflicts in ''Series/GameOfThrones'', not even counting the ZombieApocalypse brought by the White Walkers.
46	* The events of '' Series/TheLordOfTheRingsTheRingsOfPower'' takes place in the Second Age. For the Elves, High Men of Numenor and Dwarves this era is their Golden Age. Numenor is the greatest and most advanced civilization in the world; Lindon and Eregion are flourishing Elvish Kingdoms with the implications they are extending quicly; Khazad-dum is the most prosperous Dwarf Kingdom, expecting to become even richer now with the discovery of the mithril. But, despite all the creative freedoms the show took, they will still have same fate, with the seeds of destruction already being planted from the first season. By the time of the Third Age, Numenor will be sank under the sea, and the Elves and the Dwarves will become extinct with their great kingdoms being completely destroyed.
47	* The image for this trope is of Starfleet Headquarters from ''Franchise/StarTrek''. During the early run of ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'', the Federation, Starfleet, and Earth were viewed as ultimate achievements of humanity growing up, the embodiment of perfect people, and paradise, respectively. As the show ran on and its spinoff ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'' ran on ([[OnlyTheCreatorDoesItRight and new writers came onboard]]), the Federation met and was attacked twice by the Borg, involved in a war with their closest allies, the Klingons, had several citizens break away to form a splinter group called the Maquis who waged a Guerrilla War against the Cardassians, made first contact with an empire called the Dominion and went to war with, leading to millions, if not billions of casualties, an Admiral who tried to lead a coup against the Federation, and the Breen bombing San Francisco. By the end of it all, with Starfleet on a war footing, several moral compasses gone from black and white to gray, Picard's offhand comment seems especially poignant.
48	-->'''Picard''': "Can anyone remember when we used to be explorers?"
49	* In the early ''Series/{{Andromeda}}'' seasons, no episode was complete without Dylan reminiscing on how great the old [[TheFederation System Commonwealth]] was. In fact, various episodes and flashbacks reveal that the old Commonwealth was not that great. There's a reason why most of their ships of the line habitually carried dozens of star-destroying weapons. Also, when the Magog attacked, the Commonwealth responded with a policy of appeasement, despite being fully capable of defeating them. In exchange for a peace treaty, they gave up dozens of border worlds, mostly populated by Nietzcheans. Is it any wonder the Nietzcheans eventually rebelled?
50	* ''Series/TheDarkCrystalAgeOfResistance'' takes place a thousand years before [[Film/TheDarkCrystal the original 1982 movie]]. Obviously, it shows the kindly Gelfing before they were wiped out and how the world of Thra was once a vibrant and life-filled world. Also, while twisted, the Skekis haven't descended into the open cruelty and pure evil. The series makes the film even darker by showing how good things were before they got truly horrible.
51	[[/folder]]
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53	[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
54	* ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'': Codex books, manuals and tie-in novels--especially ones dealing with the Imperium of Man -- often refer to the (poorly named) "Dark Age of Technology", which was a time of great technological stride and prosperity that preceded the "Horus Heresy" and rise of Chaos. The reason it's called the Dark Age is because the GodEmperor wasn't around then (and because several historical records of the era are missing, hence ''dark'').
55	* Creator/WhiteWolf ''loves'' this trope:
56	** ''{{TabletopGame/Exalted}}'': The First Age, when the Exalts actually were building a world that catered to humankind's needs, until the Solar Exalted started to wreck it. Then the Usurpation happened. Then the Great Contagion happened.
57	** ''TabletopGame/MageTheAwakening'': There was Atlantis. Then the Exarchs stormed the heavens and made themselves gods, severing Magic from the world. Notably, Atlantis was great for the Mages who lived there, not so for everyone else.
58	** ''TabletopGame/WerewolfTheForsaken'': There was Pangaea and Father Wolf made sure that everything is in Balance. But Father Wolf grew old and weak, so some of his children (your player characters' ancestors) done him in and took his mantle of duty. But they are doing it very, very poorly. Pangaea was never a nice place for those who weren't werewolves.
59	** ''TabletopGame/VampireTheRequiem'': Ancient Rome was great for vampires, what with their Camarilla government. But then the barbarians, pissed off by Roman exploitations, burned the city to the ground. Bye bye republic, welcome feudalism.
60	** ''TabletopGame/ChangelingTheDreaming'': There was the time of Spring, when dreams were vivid and humankind believed in the supernaturals. Now it's the time of Autumn, when dreams are withered and humankind is caught in their dreary world. Thanks, [[TabletopGame/MageTheAscension Technocracy]].
61	[[/folder]]
62
63	[[folder:Video Games]]
64	* ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'':
65	** In ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTheWindWaker Wind Waker]]'' we learn that the gods flooded Hyrule to keep it safe from Ganondorf.
66	** In ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaALinkToThePast A Link to the Past]]'' we learn that the DarkWorld used to be the Golden Realm, a holy, more or less perfect realm where the [[AncientArtifact Triforce]] resides, before Ganon got imprisoned there and took it over.
67	** ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime Ocarina of Time]]'': In this later (but chronologically earlier) game, [[NiceJobBreakingItHero guess who ends up being responsible for sending him there]]?
68	** An example involving ''a'' DarkWorld, but not ''the'' Dark World, is present in ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaALinkBetweenWorlds A Link Between Worlds]]''. Princess Hilda says that "Lorule was just like Hyrule. So very beautiful. So very...promising." This was before all the events that let [[BigBad Yuga]] make it a haven for monsters. Hilda even tells Zelda that she has to borrow Link to save her kingdom because all of Lorule's native heroes are long gone. It turns out the kingdom's decay started well before any of this: [[spoiler:Lorule had its own upside-down Triforce that was just as much an object of greed as its Hyrulean counterpart. The key point where they diverged from Hyrule is that, in order to keep it out of the hands of evil people, they ''destroyed'' their Triforce rather than seal it away. They found out the hard way that this was the equivalent of tearing the glue out of a wooden model, and Lorule started crumbling apart as a result. The whole EvilPlan seen in ''A Link Between Worlds'' was actually formulated by ''Hilda'' as a way of taking Hyrule's Triforce to replace their own.]]
69	** Before the Great Calamity in ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaBreathOfTheWild'', the Kingdom of Hyrule was a fairly decent place to live, though monsters and the Yiga Clan were becoming increasingly active as Calamity Ganon's return came closer. While the few LongLived characters are frequently wistful about those times, the modern era is portrayed as [[CosyCatastrophe surprisingly safe as well]] due to Ganon having been trapped in Hyrule Castle. But monsters still rule the wilderness, and Ganon [[LeakingCanOfEvil is on the verge of breaking free]].
70	* ''VideoGame/{{Fallout}}'': Pre-war United States. While it was much better to live in compared to the Wasteland, as you learn about the society, you find out it was really a CrapSaccharineWorld, and an {{Eagleland}} type 2.
71	* ''VideoGame/DeusExHumanRevolution'': The world of 2027 compared to the original game and ''Invisible War.'' Political instability and economic woes are on their way, (and some are already there) but the world is in a golden age of technology and development.
72	* ''VideoGame/DeusEx'' and ''VideoGame/DeusExInvisibleWar'': Going back to the "golden times", or making a new "golden time" is a driving force for all of the factions involved. [[spoiler: [=MJ12=] wants to create a society controlled by a Helios-Bob Page merger, the Illuminati wish to have the same control over the world they once had before [=MJ12=] overthrew them, Tracer Tong wishes to shut down global communications across the globe to prevent anyone from having total control and return humanity to more local societies, and Helios wishes to merge with [=JC=] to become the benevolent dictator of the world.]] ''Invisible War'' continues this with [[spoiler: the Illuminati still trying to take total control of the world again, Helios-JC wanting to merge with all of humanity and create a "perfect" instant democracy, and the Templars want to end biomods and purify the human race. The Omar want to become the next stage of human evolution after the inevitable wars begin between the various factions of the world. ]]
73	* ''VideoGame/Metro2033'': The pre-war world. In Artyom's home station, an older [=NPC=] can be heard reminiscing on how beautiful the world once was. In the D6 base, while passing by a room filled with military equipment, Miller will go on a speech on how humanity will take back the world and return it to its former glory, and that "everything will be everything."
74	* ''VideoGame/GearsOfWar'' is set after humanity destroyed most of the world in an effort to prevent resources falling into enemy hands. Said enemy being a race of mutants accidentally created from a group of Immulsion miners, not realizing how toxic the new resource is. 20 years earlier the countries of the world had just learned to coexist together in peace while the people were generally happy.
75	* Pyramid, the BigBad of ''VideoGame/EnslavedOdysseyToTheWest'', is old enough to remember what the world is like before the apocalypse. [[spoiler:His ultimate plan is to round up the remnants of humanity and place them in a LotusEaterMachine that simulates pre-apocalypse life.]]
76	* In ''{{VideoGame/Destiny}},'' the Earth's history includes the Pre-Golden Age, which was NextSundayAD, the Golden Age, which is this trope, and the Dark Age, which was TheDarkTimes. Luckily, a lot of Golden Age defense contractors and weapons manufacturers seem to have seen this coming, and a ton of Golden Age tech is [[RagnarokProofing still sitting around]] for players to find and use.
77	* In the original ''VideoGame/PhantasyStar'' quadrilogy, ''VideoGame/PhantasyStarII'' is set during the height of Algol's civilization, where Parma and Motavia are peaceful worlds governed by [[TheComputerIsYourFriend Mother Brain]]. The following games are set after the destruction of Palm and Mother Brain, and ''VideoGame/PhantasyStarIV'' is partly about the last remaining relics of that civilization after a thousand years of collapse.
78	[[/folder]]
79
80	[[folder:Western Animation]]
81	* ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'': Katara neatly sums it up in the opening credits:
82	--> Long ago, the four Nations lived together in harmony. Then everything changed when the Fire Nation attacked...
83	[[/folder]]
84
85	[[folder:Real Life]]
86	* Renaissance historical literature, such as that of Petrarch, commonly portrays the ages of Ancient Greece and UsefulNotes/TheRomanEmpire as this. They were the ones who coined the term "DarkAgeEurope" to refer to the post-Roman world in the first place.
87	-->''What else, then, is all history if not the praise of Rome?''
88	* ThePresentDay will become this if civilization ever does collapse. Let's hope it doesn't.
89	* Some people feel this way about the pre-[[UsefulNotes/COVID19Pandemic pandemic]] times
90	[[/folder]]

Context Main / BeforeTheDarkTimes