History Main / StartOfDarkness

** Fits this trope because at the bottom of the scale the player becomes a CompleteMonster, so irrationally self-centered and evil that they cannot be played and become an NPC. What kind of monster depends on the game: for mortals, you become a SerialKiller, werewolves become a movie-style wolf-man that hunts humans for fun, changelings become completely unable to tell imagination from reality, vampires become ravening blood-crazed beasts, and mages turn everything in their area of effect into a CthulhuMythos story.

* ''Manga/ElfenLied''. Sure, [[KidsAreCruel brats]]. Go ahead and beat to death the puppy of the shy, emotionally-repressed pink-haired girl with horns and force her to watch -- [[SarcasmMode she can't hurt you]].

* The Shadow Queen's journey FromNobodyToNightmare is told in two non-consecutive chapters of ''[[Fanfic/YuGiOhTheThousandYearDoor Yu Gi Oh! The Thousand Year Door: Redux''. The protagonists hear the first part in [[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/8130614/36/Yu-Gi-Oh-The-Thousand-Year-Door-Redux Chapter 36]] from a descendent of a survivor of her atrocities, and the Queen herself decides to tell them the rest later, in [[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/8130614/42/Yu-Gi-Oh-The-Thousand-Year-Door-Redux Chapter 42]]. It's a long, sad, tragic story that started with a poor beggar being neglected, losing her two brothers, and ending up making a DealWithTheDevil after falling into a DespairEventHorizon.

** [[SerialKiller Mannequin]] went through one years ago when his family was killed by the Simurgh.

** Heck, ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaSkywardSword'' serves to show a Start of Darkness for the entire series, [[spoiler:seeing as every figure of evil that appears, Ganon or otherwise, is a result of Demise's curse incarnate.]]
* ''Kagetsu Tohya'' fleshes out [[{{Tsukihime}} Roa's]] start of darkness with the Crimsoon Moon and Drinking, Dreaming Moon scenarios. Roa actually wanted to achieve immortality because he fell in love with Arcuied and wanted to be with her for eternity, but mistook that feeling for hate and thought he wanted to torment her for eternity.

** Fits this trope because at the bottom of the scale the player becomes a CompleteMonster, so irrationally self-centered and evil that they cannot be played and become an NPC. What kind of monster depends on the splat: for mortals, you become a serial killer, werewolves become a movie-style wolf-man that hunts humans for fun, changelings become completely unable to tell imagination from reality, and mages turn everything in their area of effect into a CthulhuMythos story.

* In the ''Anime/PuellaMagiMadokaMagica'' doujin, [[http://danbooru.donmai.us/pool/show/2862 "I'm working at a mahou shoujo recruitment company, but I think I may be at my limit"]] by Momiji Mao (NSFW warning for ads, since the doujin in question is on Danbooru), Kyubey is a worker at a magical girl recruitment company and down on his luck, such that his boss is threatening to terminate him if he keeps dragging down the company. The only people who believe in him are his wife Kyuko, who is three months along with Kyubey's baby, and his work buddy Kyuzo, the only one in the workplace who knows he is trying his best. Bolstered by this, Kyubey works extra hard, even pulling all-nighters, and manages to get ''ten'' new magical girls into the fold. But then it's revealed that [[spoiler:not only did Kyuzo screw Kyubey over by taking all the credit for his accomplishments, but when Kyubey calls Kyuzo up and demands an explanation for this shit, that's when he (and we) learn that this isn't even the half of how Kyuzo's betrayed him -- Kyuzo is in bed with Kyuko when he gets the call, and it turns out that he's been banging her on the side for at least three months, because that kid that's three months along? It's not Kyubey's. With everything good in his life taken away from him in one fell swoop, Kyubey snaps and goes postal on everyone before burning his workplace down. He makes a resolution that the next time he meets someone, he should give them the same lesson that he believes Kyuzo and everyone else were trying to teach him]].

** Rather sadly, this was an [[EnforcedTrope enforced]] case- Hannibal's creator, Thomas Harris, ''wanted'' to leave him an enigma with no real reason behind his crimes, but he was flat-out told by his publishers that if he didn't write it, they'd find someone else to do so.

* The ''{{Warcraft}}'' novel ''RiseOfTheHorde'', which details the fall from grace of the eredar, along with the beginnings of the evil Horde in the first two games, [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin as you might've guessed by the title]], as well as the aptly-named ''Literature/{{Arthas}}: Rise of the Lich King''.

** [[spoiler: Obito Uchiha]], after some subtle mental influencing by [[spoiler: Madara]], witnessed first-hand the death of [[TheLostLenore his childhood crush]] at the hands of the friend who vowed to protect her and became convinced the world he lived in was hell. [[spoiler:He then decided to accept Madara's plan to create a better world]].

* Season 1 of ''{{Carnivale}}'' delves heavily into Brother Justin's Start Of Darkness,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]].

** [[spoiler: Madara Uchiha]] lived through a time of warfare, like everyone else in his generation. Then, thanks to his best friend's work, which he attempted to co-opt and sabotage, things started getting better and he mostly got over the wars, like everyone else in his generation. Then this one time, he didn't get to be the top boss of the country, after he eavesdropped on a private conversation between his best friend and his best friend's brother, where he found out that not everyone liked him, because he was such a bully to other people, his own family, and the people they were supposed to be courting as allies. So instead of being happy for his friend who did get the job, he [[spoiler: used an ancient stone detailing the world's history to justify his becoming the BigBad and trying to brainwash or kill everyone in the world, despite that in no way saying he should take any action]]. Ladies and gentlemen, your final villain.

* ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'' has done this with many antagonists so far:
** Deuteragonist Sasuke witnessed his brother Itachi murder their parents, after murdering their entire clan. He then was subject to days of MindRape compressed into seconds, and a challenge to kill his brother when he's ready. None of this makes him "evil", so much as focused on killing his brother, a world-class criminal, on his own. After months of being shown up by his rival, Sasuke gets reminded by Itachi again that he's insignificant. He then follows Orochimaru, the series' first BigBad, to gain the power to beat Itachi. After he finds out [[spoiler: the truth about Itachi's backstory, that it was the clan itself that was evil and Itachi was just following orders, he begins to show signs of mental imbalance, playing into the hands of the new BigBad manipulating him, Tobi]], and he decides his best option is revenge on their entire home town.

** [[spoiler: Obito]], after some subtle mental influencing by [[spoiler: Madara]], witnessed first-hand the death of [[TheLostLenore his childhood crush]] at the hands of the friend who vowed to protect her and became convinced the world he lived in was hell. [[spoiler:He then decided to accept Madara's plan to create a better world]].
** [[spoiler: Madara]] lived through a time of warfare, like everyone else in his generation. Then, thanks to his best friend's work, which he attempted to co-opt and sabotage, things started getting better and he mostly got over the wars, like everyone else in his generation. Then this one time, he didn't get to be the top boss of the country, after he eavesdropped on a private conversation between his best friend and his best friend's brother, where he found out that not everyone liked him, because he was such a bully to other people, his own family, and the people they were supposed to be courting as allies. So instead of being happy for his friend who did get the job, he [[spoiler: used an ancient stone detailing the world's history to justify his becoming the BigBad and trying to brainwash or kill everyone in the world, despite that in no way saying he should take any action]]. Ladies and gentlemen, your final villain.

* ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'' has done this with many antagonists so far.

** [[spoiler: Madara]] lived through a time of warfare, like everyone else in his generation. Then, thanks to his best friend's work, which he attempted to co-opt and sabotage, things started getting better and he mostly got over the wars, like everyone else in his generation. Then this one time, he didn't get to be the top boss of the country, after he eavesdropped on a private conversation between his best friend and his best friend's brother, where he found out that not everyone liked him, because he was such a bully to other people, his own family, and the people they were supposed to be courting as allies. So instead of being happy for his friend who did get the job, he [[spoiler: used an ancient stone to justify his becoming the BigBad and trying to brainwash or kill everyone in the world]]. Ladies and gentlemen, your final villain.

** [[spoiler: Madara]] lived through a time of warfare, like everyone else in his generation. Then, thanks to his best friend's work, to which he and said friend's brother contributed largely to, things started getting better, and he mostly got over it, like everyone else in his generation. Then this one time, he didn't get to be the top boss of the country, after he eavesdropped on a private conversation between his best friend and his best friend's brother, where he found out that not everyone liked him, because he was such a bully to other people, his own family, and the people they were supposed to be courting as allies. So instead of being happy for his friend who did get the job, he [[spoiler: used an ancient stone to justify his becoming the BigBad and trying to brainwash or kill everyone in the world]]. Ladies and gentlemen, your final villain.

** [[spoiler: Madara]] lived through a time of warfare, like everyone else in his generation. Then things started getting better, and he mostly got over it, like everyone else in his generation. Then this one time, he didn't get to be the top boss of the country, after he eavesdropped on a private conversation between his best friend and his best friend's brother, where he found out that not everyone liked him, because he was such a bully to other people, his own family, and the people they were supposed to be courting as allies. So instead of being happy for his friend who did get the job, he [[spoiler: used an ancient stone to justify his becoming the BigBad and trying to brainwash or kill everyone in the world]]. Ladies and gentlemen, your final villain.

** [[spoiler: Nagato]] verged on CosmicPlaything with how ludicrously over-the-top his suffering was as a child, living in a state of constant war. For years, he was subtly manipulated and watched by [[spoiler: Obito as Tobi, and Madara as Black Zetsu]]. Then, his parents were killed in front of him. Eventually, [[spoiler:the death of his dear friend Yahiko and subsequent crippling drove him to share his Pain with the rest of the world]].

** [[spoiler: Obito]] after some subtle mental influencing by [[spoiler: Madara]], witnessed first-hand the death of [[TheLostLenore his childhood crush]] at the hands of the friend who vowed to protect her and became convinced the world he lived in was hell. [[spoiler:He then decided to accept Madara's plan to create a better world]].

** [[spoiler: Madara]] lived through a time of warfare, like everyone else in his generation. Then things started getting better, and he mostly got over it, like everyone else in his generation. Then this one time, he didn't get to be Hokage, after he eavesdropped on a private conversation between his best friend and his best friend's brother, where he found out that not everyone liked him, because he was such a bully to other people, his own family, and the people they were supposed to be courting as allies. So instead of being happy for his friend who did get the job, he [[spoiler: used an ancient stone to justify his becoming the BigBad and trying to brainwash or kill everyone in the world]]. Ladies and gentlemen, your final villain.

** [[spoiler: Madara]] lived through a time of warfare, like everyone else in his generation. Then things started getting better, and he mostly got over it. Then this one time, he didn't get to boss everyone around after he eavesdropped on a private conversation where he found out that not everyone liked him, because he was such a bully. So he [[spoiler: used an ancient stone to blame destiny for him becoming the BigBad and trying to brainwash or kill everyone in the world]]. Ladies and gentlemen, your final villain.

** Gaara's horrific childhood was touched on, showing how [[DespairEventHorizon the betrayal of Yashamaru]] transformed him [[BreakTheCutie from an attention-starved waif to serial killer]].
** When [[spoiler: Sasuke "defeated" Orochimaru]] the manga briefly touched on his past, while the anime expounded on it. His [[TragicDream deepest dream]] was to live long enough to meet his parents when they were reincarnated. Years of war and loss turned him cold and bitter until only the dream of living forever remained.
** [[spoiler: Nagato]] verged on CosmicPlaything with how ludicrously over-the-top his suffering was as a child. Eventually, [[spoiler:the death of his dear friend Yahiko and subsequent crippling drove him to share his Pain]].

** [[spoiler: Kabuto]] was tricked into accidentally killing his foster mother, who in turn had failed to recognize him due to subtle brainwashing by [[spoiler: Root]]. After this happens he hits the DespairEventHorizon and [[spoiler: Orochimaru]] was the only person around that was there for him at that point.
** [[spoiler: Obito]] after some subtle mental influencing, witnessed first-hand the death of [[TheLostLenore his childhood crush]] at the hands of the friend who vowed to protect her and became convinced the world he lived in was hell. [[spoiler:He then decided to accept Madara's plan to create a better world]].

** [[spoiler: Obito]] witnessed first-hand the death of [[TheLostLenore his childhood crush]] at the hands of the friend who vowed to protect her and became convinced the world he lived in was hell. [[spoiler:He then decided to accept Madara's plan to create a better world and never looked back]].

* Skeletor got one in the 2002 ''WesternAnimation/HeManAndTheMastersOfTheUniverse'' 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.

* [[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.