History Main / StartOfDarkness

The Trope Namer is OrderOfTheStick prequel "Start of Darkness" (see "Webcomics,") whose title is itself referring to the 1899 Joseph Conrad novel ''[[Literature/HeartOfDarkness Heart Of Darkness]]'', which tells the story of the protagonist's journey down the Congo river to rescue the mysterious Mr. Kurtz, an experience that changed his entire outlook on life for the worse.

!!Examples:

* The Master gets a some of this in the ''Series/DoctorWho'' episode ''The Sound of Drums''. It's revealed he was driven insane during a procedure on Gallifrey of staring into the Untempered Schism, a gap in the fabric of reality which exposes the time vortex. This then expanded upon in ''The End of Time'', where it turns out Rassilon, Lord President of Gallifrey during the last days of the Time War, retroactively drove the Master insane on his own command to establish him as a link between Gallifrey inside the time-locked Time War and the tangible universe outside it.

** [[SpotlightStealingSquad Then he gets another one in season 7]], this time dealing with [[EvenBadMenLoveTheirMamas his relationship with his mother]].
** Anya got one in season 7, although it's revealed [[NoSocialSkills her base personality]] hasn't changed as much as you think

* Rumplestiltskin in ''Series/OnceUponATime'': [[spoiler:In order to prevent his son to be drafted into the ogre war, he gained magic powers by killing the Dark One.]]
** "The Stable Boy" does this for Regina. [[spoiler: Her ambitious and cold-blooded mother wanted her to marry up, but she was in love with a stable boy. When Snow White, then an innocent child, tried to help Regina by letting the ambitious mama know her stepmother-to-be was with the stable boy...]] Well, let's just say ''someone's'' True Love [[{{Start of Darkness}} ended up dead]] , and Snow White [[{{Nice Job Breaking it Hero}} ended up on the wrong end of a vendetta.]]

The Trope Namer is the OrderOfTheStick prequel "Start of Darkness" (see "Webcomics,") which is itself referring to the 1899 Joseph Conrad novel ''[[Literature/HeartOfDarkness Heart Of Darkness]]'', which tells the story of the protagonist's journey down the Congo river to rescue the mysterious Mr. Kurtz, an experience that changed his entire outlook on life for the worse.

The Trope Name is a reference to the 1899 Joseph Conrad novel ''[[Literature/HeartOfDarkness Heart Of Darkness]]'', which tells the story of protagonist Charles Marlow as he tells his ship's crew the story of his journey down the Congo river to rescue the mysterious Mr. Kurtz, an experience that changed his entire outlook on life for the worse.

* The TropeNamer -- admittedly more recent than most of the other examples here, but it's still a pretty cool title -- is ''Start of Darkness'', prequel to ''Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick'' detailing EvilOverlord Xykon and his [[TheDragon Dragon]] Redcloak's past. Xykon, unlike most, is astonishingly evil from the get-go. We get to see him become ''more'' evil... and competent. [[AntiVillain Redcloak is a whole other story]].

-->''... he's completely and wholly unapologetically evil, but more to the point, he's kind of a [[EvilIsPetty dick]].''
** The very first page of the comic might have been teasing at it: Xykon is shown as someone who might come off as sympathetic for the first three or so panels, but revealed to be already evil before the page is over -- at the age of ''four''. And yet, Burlew does give him one simple human, if not quite redeeming, quality that makes his final descent, if not sympathetic, at least understandable. After being turned into an undead, he loses his ability to enjoy simple pleasures such as the taste of coffee.
** Burlew makes a point of not giving away Belkar's backstory in ''On the Origins of [=PCs=]'' for similar reasons, wanting the character to remain completely, unapologetically and unmistakably evil. Although, also to keep him funny. Evil isn't funny when it has a tragic backstory, just pitiable. Belkar ''does'' end up revealing a sob story in his childhood in the main comic... [[SubvertedTrope Entirely made up, it turns out, spun in order to gain roleplaying XP.]]

** And finally, Big Boss' FaceHeelTurn will be completely cemented with VideoGame/MetalGearSolidGroundZeroes, and the MoralEventHorizon will be crossed on VideoGame/MetalGearSolidVThePhantomPain

** And finally, Big Boss' FaceHeelTurn will be completely cemented with MetalGearSolidGroundZeroes, and the MoralEventHorizon will be crossed on MetalGearSolidVThePhantomPain

** And finally, Big Boss' FaceHellTurn will be completely cemented with MetalGearSolidGroundZeroes, and the MoralEvenHorizon will be crossed on MetalGearSolidVThePhantomPain

** Where ''Snake Eater'' and ''Portable Ops'' planted the seeds, the ending of ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolidPeaceWalker'' fully sprouts Big Boss' FaceHeelTurn.

** "The Stable Boy" does this for Regina. [[spoiler: Her ambitious and cold-blooded mother wanted her to marry up, but she was in love with a stable boy. When Snow White, then an innocent child, tried to help Regina by letting the ambitious mama know her stepmother-to-be was with the stable boy...]] Well, let's just say ''someone's'' True Love ended up dead, and Snow White ended up on the wrong end of a vendetta.

* Skeletor got one in the 2002 ''MastersOfTheUniverse'' reboot. Turns out he was a powerful wizard trained by Hordak who wasen't ''completely'' bad (or at least not crazy). Then his face got flash fried off. After seeing that he has a skull for a face now, he completely lost it. The scene where his sanity finally snaps can scare someone as he starts laughing into the sky like the god damned Joker.

The Trope Name is a reference to the 1899 Joseph Conrad novel ''[[Literature/HeartOfDarkness| Heart Of Darkness]]'', which tells the story of protagonist Charles Marlow as he tells his ship's crew the story of his journey down the Congo river to rescue the mysterious Mr. Kurtz, an experience that changed his entire outlook on life for the worse.

The Trope Name is a reference to the 1899 Joseph Conrad novel ''HeartOfDarkness'', which tells the story of protagonist Charles Marlow as he tells his ship's crew the story of his journey down the Congo river to rescue the mysterious Mr. Kurtz, an experience that changed his entire outlook on life for the worse.

Subtrope of FaceHeelTurn, which is when a good guy turns bad.

** The tie-in comic book for the series described (but did not show) one for Arnold Wesker, a.k.a. The Ventriloquist. He was actually born into a mob family and was encouraged by his mother not to allow himself to drift into a life of crime like the rest of the family had done. Arnold promised her he'd do this...but then his mother was killed one night by a bullet meant for his father, and [[EvenBadMenLoveTheirMamas Arnold felt that he had to avenge her]]. Even after becoming a gangster, he still kept a framed photo of his mother on his person at all times - until Scarface, in a fit of jealousy (because the Ventriloquist had been keeping company with other puppets in an attempt to distance himself from Scarface), [[KickTheDog tore up the photo]], causing Arnold Wesker's mind to snap for good.

** Gaara's horrific childhood was touched on, showing how [[DespairEventHorizon the betrayal of Yashimaru]] transformed him [[BreakTheCutie from an attention-starved waif to serial killer]].

* ''GaReiZero'' is [[WordOfGod explicitly stated]] to be the StartOfDarkness of Yomi. Judging from [[WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds what happen]] [[GaRei in the manga]], this might also qualify as Kagura's StartOfDarkness.

* The flashback arc in both incarnations of ''{{Trigun}}'' seems at first to be the background for the highly [[MysteriousPast mysterious]] lead, but it's even more about the StartOfDarkness for the BigBad, his EvilTwin. In the anime version, the kid was always somewhat [[CreepyChild touched in the head]], and one [[FantasticRacism abusive crewman]], combined with the awareness that the human race destroyed the Earth and are [[HumansAreBastards now looking for a new planet]], push his pragmatism into KillAllHumans territory. In the manga...he has ''[[StrappedToAnOperatingTable much]]'' [[TheyWouldCutYouUp better]] [[TheReveal reason]].

* 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 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!

* We also see this trope in another Madoka fanfic, ''FanFic/StarsAbove'' a crossover with LuckyStar. [[spoiler:Homura first explains the StartOfDarkness of her timeline's Kagami in Chapter 3, but we see in happen via a WholeEpisodeFlashback in Chapter 9.]]

** The books and comic books have reenacted Drusilla's StartOfDarkness at least twice. Since it involved Angelus murdering her family and torturing/raping her until she lost her mind, this is usually done to elaborate on Angelus' guilt.

* Season 1 of ''{{Carnivale}}'' delves heavily into Brother Justin's StartOfDarkness,as he develops from a compassionate and deeply moral laypriest into (at the very least) an unrepentant demon. It doesn't help that [[spoiler: this was his bloodline]] and [[spoiler: his sister murdered a bunch of orphans to engineer a personal tragedy for him]].

* 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 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.)

** His StartOfDarkness could be pinned at conception, at the moment he broke, or just described as 'his whole damn life.' The man was born one of Hojo's experiments. Their suffering has been unquestioned more or less since Hojo was introduced. Though he still had just enough innocence left during that fateful practice duel that events afterward could almost be labeled 'BreakTheCutie'.

* ''VideoGame/DragonFable''[='=]s Fire War is a StartOfDarkness for Drakonnan. [[spoiler:Once Yulgar's apprentice, Konnan called upon the hero to stop the rampage of the red dragon Akriloth upon his home village. But despite the hero's best efforts and the powers of the hero's recently acquired dragon, [[HopelessBossFight they were no match for Akriloth and the power of the Fire Orb]]. Akriloth, instead of finishing the hero, sadistically [[ForcedToWatch made them watch]] as he burned the village to the ground, killing Konnan's family. Konnan [[FailureToSaveMurder blamed the hero for failing to save them]] and when the evil pyromancer Xan got his hooks into him, this would turn into a desire for revenge that would soon threaten the entire land of Lore]].

* As seen in a flashback, the death of Sophia in ''VideoGame/{{Xenogears}}'' was the StartOfDarkness for Krelian ''and'' Grahf.
* ''VideoGame/ResidentEvilTheDarksideChronicles'' acted as the StartOfDarkness for [[VideoGame/ResidentEvil4 Jack Krauser]].
* ''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. Xehanort isn't just happy messing around with the heroes- even his youth is fair game!]]

* The MagicTheGathering novel ''MagicTheGathering/TheThran'' is this for Yawgmoth, showing him rise from an exiled doctor into becoming first dictator of Halcyon, and then the BigBad GodOfEvil he's mostly known as.