History Main / StartOfDarkness

* [[ByronicHero Fëanor]] of ''Literature/TheSilmarillion'' has his over the course of several years due to a combination of manipulation, jealousy and anger issues, but the single defining moment is when he lets his anger and jealousy for his brother FIngolfin get the better of him and puts his sword to Fingolfin's chest and threatens to kill him.

* In ''RavenmarkScourgeOfEstellion'', [[spoiler:Livia Cassianus]] finds out that the late Emperor Sergius Corvius has always intended for [[spoiler:her]] to inherit the Obsidian Perch (i.e. the throne of the Empire of Estellion). Before that, [[spoiler:Livia]] falls in love with young [[spoiler:Calius Septim]]. In the final cutscene, [[spoiler:Calius]] gives [[spoiler:his]] life to save [[spoiler:Livia]] from the BigBad pulling a TakingYouWithMe. [[spoiler:Livia her]]self is scarred by the flamesoul explosion. At [[spoiler:Calius]]'s grave, [[spoiler:Livia]] vows to remake the Empire into something new, claiming that traitors must be rooted out, and the blood of the fallen must be repaid. The description of the sequel ''Ravenmark: Mercenaries'' claims that six years have passed since then, and that the land is still reeling from the rule of the "Scarlet [[spoiler:Empress]]".

* ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'' has one of these. 'The Storm', aside from telling how Aang ended up frozen in an iceberg, gives us how Zuko got his scar and banishment; [[spoiler: He spoke out against a general who believed WeHaveReserves, but because it wasn't his place to speak out, he had shown disrespect, and the Fire Lord declared a duel to resolve the matter. Zuko accepted, thinking he'd fight the general, but because it happened in the Fire Lord's war room, it was the ''Fire Lord'' he'd disrespected. Zuko couldn't fight his father, and begged forgiveness. Instead, he got a fireball to the face and an exile that would not be lifted until he found the Avatar, considered a SnipeHunt at the time.]]

* The ''MassEffect'' novel ''[[Literature/MassEffectRevelation Revelation]]'' serves as a Start of Darkness for Saren, showing how he came to be the villain in the videogame....though in the novel itself, he's already an ''extreme'' KnightTemplar.

*** Temple Fugate’s case is a bit of a DeconstructiveParody of this trope, Temple had NoSocialSkills and was a BadBoss long before the fateful day he took Hill’s advice. Even when confronted with the fact that Hill meant him no harm, Temple ''reconstructs'' this trope when he refuses to admit he's taken his obsession too far, being TheSociopath FanaticalSchedule, ''being punctual is the only thing he cares for.''

->''"A child is born to innocence. A child is drawn towards good. Why then do so many among us go so horribly wrong? What makes some walk [[DarkIsEvil the path of darkness]], while others choose [[LightIsGood the light]]? Is it will? Is it destiny? Can we ever hope to understand the force that shapes the soul?"''

* The JackieChanAdventures fic ''Fanfic/QueenOfAllOni'', is all about Jade's [[SuperpoweredEvilSide Queen persona]] re-emerging, and her desire for power driving her further into the realm of dark magic.

* ''FridayThe13thPamelasTale'' by Wildstorm.

** The story as a whole can be considered one for Taylor.

*** Temple Fugate’s case is a bit of a DeconstructiveParody of this trope, Temple had NoSocialSkills and was a BadBoss long before the fateful day he took Hill’s advice. Even when confronted with the fact that Hill meant him no harm, Temple refuses to admit he's taken his obsession too far.

* [[EvilOverlord Lord Voldemort]] from ''HarryPotter''. When we meet his child self in ''Half-Blood Prince'', he's already a Damien Thorne-like CreepyChild with signs of a [[AGodAmI god complex]] but after being enrolled at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, he gets to [[MoralEventHorizon really have some fun]]. But then as a teenager, who hasn't wanted to unleash their giant snake on the school?
** Certain moments in his interaction with Dumbledore seem intended to show both how screwed-up he already was and how completely Dumbledore failed to do anything that was likely to help. After all, in 1937 ''anybody'' would have considered the best way to convince a kid that stealing is wrong and he shouldn't keep doing it is to show he can't get away with it anymore. Instead what this meant was that Tom understood he was going to have to fight for the power to be safe ''all over again'' in the wizarding world, and that magical people weren't going to like or understand him any better than normal people did. Psychopaths are still human, even if their sense of empathy is wrecked.
*** Yes, just think--if Tom had been taught to have more faith in the system, he could have become Minister for Magic legitimately!

* Shown in a flashback in ''WesternAnimation/TheIncredibles'' on how Mr. Incredible giving Buddy, his #1 fan, the cold shoulder eventually turned him into Syndrome.

* The {{Batman}} Graphic Novel ''TheKillingJoke'' is a Start of Darkness story for TheJoker. Just [[MultipleChoicePast one of several]], in fact.

* Subverted in episode 10 of ''Anime/PuellaMagiMadokaMagica''. It seems to be one of these for Homura, but instead, it ends up showing that she's far less villainous than she seems [[spoiler:(all of her AntiHero antics are an attempt to prevent Madoka from dying and/or suffering a FateWorseThanDeath)]].

* Subverted in episode 10 of ''Anime/PuellaMagiMadokaMagica''. It seems to be one of these for Homura, but instead, it ends up showing that she's far less villainous than she seems [[spoiler:(all of her AntiHero antics are an attempt to prevent Madoka from dying and/or suffering a FateWorseThanDeath)]]. Played straight for Kyouko in episode 7.

''IronMan3'' shows Killian's start of darkness after Tony doesn't meet him on the roof to talk about A.I.M. He looks over the edge and considers suicide, until he realises that no one even knows he's there.

* VC Andrews wrote a prequel to ''FlowersInTheAttic'' called ''Garden of Shadows'' that helps explain the motivations and backstory of the EvilMatriarch Olivia Foxworth.

* While ''SamuraiJack'''s first episode explains the basic premise behind Aku, the episode "The Birth of Evil" tells his exact origins as a castaway shred of an ultimate evil which the Gods fought among the stars.

* "The Last Tough Customer" on ''WesternAnimation/{{Arthur}}'' shows Molly's: when she was in maybe kindergarten or first grade, a couple of older kids teased her about her poufy hair. She took out her hairbands, letting her hair fall across her eyes, and became a bully.

* ''Anime/TheUnlimitedHyoubuKyousuke'', episodes 7-8, for (of course) the VillainProtagonist, Kyousuke. Sort of a weird case because the flashback is almost entirely upbeat-ish; most of the tragic stuff is {{Time Skip}}ped over. Only the final push where [[spoiler:the captain]] shoots Kyousuke because he was supposedly going to destroy the world, [[NiceJobBreakingItHero but the assassination attempt fails to kill him and turns him evil]], is actually shown.
* In episode 15 of ''Anime/GuiltyCrown'' ''[[TheHeart Shu]]'' of all people has one of these. [[spoiler: Hare]] is killed right in front of him(literally in his arms) because of something stupid and selfish done by [[spoiler: Souta and his friends]] in order to prevent [[spoiler: the creation of the Void Ranking System.]] After [[spoiler: her]] death Shu gets DullEyesOfUnhappiness and [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything mounts Inori and forcibly removes her Void]] and procedes to chillingly emotionlessly systemetically rip to pieces the mechs attacking them. He then proceeds to go hysterical and begin pounding [[spoiler: Souta's]] face in before being dragged off by Yahiro. [[DespairEventHorizon His next words,]] [[OOCIsSeriousBusiness coming from]] [[TheMessiah Shu of all people]], [[OhCrap hit the characters(and the audience) pretty hard]]:

** Pretty much all Red Lanterns have tragic backstories—at the very least they were betrayed by their fellow gangmembers—because the red power comes from rage, hate, and resentment.

* The ''FanFic/PonyPOVSeries'' has the Origins arc, which shows the backstory of Celestia, Luna, and Discord, and therefore serves as the latter's StartOfDarkness. [[spoiler: Discord was [[TroublingUnchildlikeBehavior never quite right to begin with]], as it's shown that the draconnequi were like the Shiva of TheMultiverse, performing {{Cosmic Retcon}}s in order to prevent worlds from ending, with Discord enjoying it far more than his siblings, who were only doing their jobs. That being said, in the grand scheme of things he was just a bully and a brat -- until an act of defiance on Celestia's part triggered a series of events that not only led to Discord embracing his sadism, but began a war between the Alicorns and Draconnequi, during which he was further [[EvilMentor mentored in evil]] by the [[FallenAngel Fallen Alicorn]] [[{{Satan}} Morning Star]]. When the war ended, Discord was reborn in Equestria as a mortal (along with Celestia and Luna) with no memory of his past existence, leading to him becoming an odd, but ultimately kind-hearted being... until his true personality resurfaced and consumed his good one.]] From that point on, he was the BigBad CompleteMonster from canon and the rest of the series. Oh, and bonus points, it's shown at the end of the arc that when the Princesses defeated and sealed him away, his last act was to plant the seeds of doubt that led to Luna becoming Nightmare Moon. So he's responsible for ''her'' StartOfDarkness too!

* About one third of ''CrisisCore'' is spent on telling us how Sephiroth became the MagnificentBastard and OneWingedAngel he is in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII''. Including remaking Cloud's flashback scenes from the original game to the actual ''moment'' he snapped, also a StartOfDarkness in their own right. This took advantage of advances in animation and allowed for Cloud's serious amnesia problem. (Also note the EpilepticTrees spawned when he had ''dialogue'' right for a scene he ''was not actually present for.'' Some fans believe his delusion of Zack-ness was largely caused by some kind of Hojo-induced memory transfer.)

* ''KingdomHeartsDreamDropDistance'' gives us the StartOfDarkness for series BigBad Xehanort. What drove this man down his path of villainy? [[spoiler: His [[TheHeartless Heartless]] went back in time and showed his younger self all of the evil acts he would do, even bringing him to the future to help them out. Even though he would forget what he saw and do, the actions he would take are now engraved in his heart. Basically, Xehanort isn't just happy messing around with the heroes- even his youth is fair game!]]

* The ''MoralOrel'' episode "Passing" for Clay Puppington. We see him as a child, when he discovers that [[spoiler:his mother miscarried ten times before he was born]] he becomes upset and [[spoiler:briefly fakes his own death]] which causes [[spoiler:his mother to have a heart attack and die]]. This puts him at a distance with his father, who Clay [[AttentionWhore intentionally tries to provoke into hitting him so he'll be "worth it."]]