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[[quoteright:234:[[Webcomic/TheSpecialists https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Specialists_DarkAdjusted_6873.JPG]]]]

->''"At first, when any of them is liberated and compelled suddenly to stand up and turn his neck round and walk and look towards the light, he will suffer sharp pains; the glare will distress him, and he will be unable to see the realities of which in his former state he had seen the shadows."''
-->-- '''Creator/{{Plato}}''', ''Literature/TheRepublic'', describing the PlatonicCave

Any human, or human-like monster, that's used to living in dark conditions will find it physically painful to adjust to the bright light of day -- a process that may take weeks. This is usually not a warning of his character, even if LightIsGood.

May produce BlindedByTheLight in quite normal lighting when other characters are just fine, but it can also allow good sight that is merely painful. A mundane equivalent to WeakenedByTheLight. Sunglasses may help during the transition. Often indicated by a character's holding up his hands to shield his eyes.

The trope namer is the Ancient Greek philosopher [[PlatonicCave Plato's allegory of the cave]], which is about people chained underground in a deep cave, so deep that no sunlight reaches them. At the mid-part of the cave, a shadow-play is created by moving shaped cutouts in front of the firelight on the wall of the cave. The chained prisoners' only visual input is the dim shadow play on the wall. If the prisoners, used to the dark cave, were to be suddenly freed, if they left the dark cave, the light of the sun (an allegory for reality) would blind them.

TruthInTelevision as anyone whose eyes have been dilated after staying a time in a dark place can testify.

Compare FirstTimeInTheSun. Overlap is frequent, and this trope is frequently strongest then, but for this trope, it does not have to be the first time, and the sun doesn't have to inspire hope.

Note that any situation where the eyes can not adjust (back) to daylight is WeakenedByTheLight.
----
!!Examples

[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
* ''Manga/MissKobayashisDragonMaid'': In ''Elma's Office Lady Diary'', Elma ends up being subjected to this when she goes outside after having spent several days nonstop at the office to get a project out on time. [[BrickJoke At least she finally found out why Kobayashi told her to get a pair of sunglasses]].
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Arts]]
* ''Art/MediciChapels'': "Dawn" is staring blearily at the soft rays of the nascent sun because she's just been awakened by them from her sleep.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:ComicBooks]]
* ''ComicBook/AllStarWestern'' (2011) #4 has a boy who's been missing and is now extremely sensitive to light; this with other clues shows that he's been kept underground for a long time.
* One comic has ''ComicBook/{{Daredevil}}'' dryly wonder to himself [[SarcasmMode whatever shall he do]] when he's being pursued by mercenaries wearing night-vision goggles in his darkened apartment... as he's reaching for the light switch.
* In the very first issue of ''ComicBook/ElfQuest'', the Wolfriders spend some time traveling through the troll caverns before emerging into daylight once more. In the ''desert''. Doesn't help that they're nocturnal either.
* In ''ComicBook/Robin1993'', a group of mercenaries use flash grenades to get the upper hand on a gang hiding in a dark abandoned building they were hired to kill in order to hide a company's dirty laundry. The flash also incapacitates Robin for a moment and he realizes they're using special lenses to allow them to be unaffected. He later starts using this same trick himself.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Fan Works]]
[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder: Examples by source material: ]]

* Several ''Manga/AttackOnTitan'' fanfics show Levi and his two friends Isabel and Farlan, all of whom were raised in the underground, struggling to adapt when they're brought to the surface.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Examples by title: ]]

* ''Fanfic/AbraxasHrodvitnon'': Vivienne suffers a variation when she's first reborn into an artificially-lit room after months gestating inside San's old head, in Chapter 2. Thor experiences a straighter variation when he emerges onto the surface after centuries spent underground, in Chapter 7.
* ''Fanfic/BlueSkyWaffles'': The first thing Wheatley does after stepping outside for the first time in his life is scream because of the sun shining in his eyes. He calms down a little after realizing the world is ''not'' on fire.
-->'''Wheatley:''' ''AAAHHH!'' Aaahh ahgodwhat'sthat it ''burns!''
* In ''Fanfic/TheFifthAct'', when Cloud wakes up [[spoiler:after being freed from Jenova's possession and Hojo's experiments]], the light of day gives him a splitting headache.
* In Blog/{{Limyaael|sFantasyRants}}'s "Know Your Enemies", Melkor hates the trees because his eyes are sensitive after so long in Mandos.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Films -- Animated]]
* In the end of ''WesternAnimation/TheHunchbackOfNotreDameDisney'', Esmeralda turns away from the cheering crowd to offer her hand to Quasimodo, who was staying in the shadows of the cathedral. The moment he is exposed to the light, his pupils shrink in protest as he flinches.
* PlayedForLaughs in ''WesternAnimation/TheLEGOBatmanMovie'' when Batman tries to say "good night" to Alfred, who points out it's morning and demonstrates by opening the windows. Batman recoils and hisses at the light.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
* ''Film/Aquaman2018'': Mera and Arthur Curry only survive TheSwarm of FishPeople in the Trench by carrying flares with them when they dive overboard.
* Butch from ''Film/TheBigHouse'' is squinting in obvious distress after being released from solitary confinement in "the dungeon".
* Elwood suffers this when he finally takes his sunglasses off in ''Film/BluesBrothers2000''.
* The vampires in ''Film/TheBreed2001'' wear sunglasses during the day, and in their world, it was the eye sensitivity that gave way to the idea of vampires being allergic to sunlight.
* ''Franchise/TheChroniclesOfRiddick'': Richard B. Riddick suffers from this as a [[BlessedWithSuck side effect]] of his eyes having been modified to let him see in the dark. He normally wears [[CoolShades welding goggles]] to compensate.
* As Bane explains in ''Film/TheDarkKnightRises'':
-->'''Bane:''' Oh, you think darkness is your ally. You merely adopted the dark. I was born in it, molded by it. I didn't see the light until I was already a man. By then, it was nothing to me but blinding!
* This occurs in ''Film/{{Daybreakers}}'' when the vampire Elvis is exposed to the sun.
* In ''Film/ImNotScared'', the young Filippo, who has been kept captive underground for an undetermined length of time, experiences this trope when he is visited by another boy from a nearby village and opens his eyes to get a good look at him.
* ''Film/IndianaJonesAndTheTempleOfDoom'': The kidnapped children have this reaction after escaping from the tunnels where they've been held prisoner.
* In ''Film/ItsAMadMadMadMadWorld'', Dingy and Benjy need a pilot and find Tyler Fitzgerald sleeping off a drunk. The room has the blinds drawn, and when he gets up, he thinks he's blind and staggers to the window. When a steward opens the blinds, the blinding daylight sends him flying backward, [[HangoverSensitivity screaming in pain]].
* ''Film/TheMatrix'': Neo has spent his whole life up to this point inside the Matrix, which meant that he was sealed inside a tube. Morpheus' crew releases him into the real world.
-->'''Neo:''' Why do my eyes hurt?\\
'''Morpheus:''' You've never used them before.
* In the backstory of ''Film/PansLabyrinth'', when the princess left her fairy kingdom to visit the mortal world, the sun blinded her and caused her to forget how to return home.
* In ''Film/TheShawshankRedemption'', Andy is obviously suffering from this when Warden Norton opens the door to talk to him after Andy's spent a month in the hole.
* In ''Film/SherlockHolmes2009'', Holmes has been vegetating in a dark room with the curtains drawn for weeks; Watson comes in and tears the curtains aside to let in the sunlight, eliciting a yell of pain from Holmes.
* In ''Film/SnowWhiteAndTheHuntsman'', when Snow White is escaping from her prison, she has to shield her eyes for a few minutes.
* ''Film/StarTrekNemesis'': When Shinzon invites the ''Enterprise'' crew over to his impossibly beweaponed spaceship, they arrive in a dark room. He apologizes, explaining that having grown up working in a mine, his eyes are pretty sensitive to light. He gradually raises them, revealing that he looks like a younger Picard.
* ''Film/StrangeCargo'': Verne is left wincing and squinting when brought out into the light after thirty days in solitary confinement.
* ''Film/WhenTheBoughBreaks1994'': When Macleah starts unboarding the windows of the kidnapper's cellar, [[spoiler:Jenny, who has been imprisoned there since she was an infant,]] covers her eyes.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Literature]]
* [[AllTrollsAreDifferent Trolls]] in the ''Literature/ArtemisFowl'' series are naturally subterranean creatures with senses adapted to low-light conditions, and shining a bright light directly into their eyes activates enough of the pain receptors in their brains to knock them unconscious. In the first book, Holly defeats a troll by shining a helmet-mounted flashlight into its face at point-blank range, and in ''The Opal Deception'' she weaponizes a portable television screen against a pack of trolls that are trying to eat her and Artemis.
* Lori uses this to her advantage in ''Literature/AuntDimity: Snowbound''. When a chipper Catchpole brings her breakfast in bed (thinking she's ill), Lori plays up the reaction when he opens the curtains in order to make her illness seem real.
* Relg (and most of the Ulgos) have trouble with this during ''Literature/TheBelgariad'', with a side order of agoraphobia as well. Some of the Ulgos are at least used to nights on the surface, as their work involves "hunting wild game and harvesting wild plants" (their leader suspects they've long since taken up farming and herding in the safest mountain valleys).
* In ''Literature/CatsEye1961'', Troy is blinking after the blindfold is ripped off.
* In the first ''Literature/CircleOfMagic'' book, Sandry has been locked in an underground room for weeks, and someone swings a lantern right in her face. It blinds her for quite a while.
* In ''Literature/AClashOfKings'', Catelyn goes to question Jaime Lannister, who's being kept chained up in a dark cell in the bowels of Riverrun. He hangs onto his dignity as well as he can under the circumstances but has to ask her for a few minutes to get used to the light before he can look at her.
* In ''Literature/CountToTheEschaton'', Menelaus once experiences this upon coming out of a cryogenic chamber.
* This trope is alluded to in the title ''A Dark-Adapted Eye'' by Creator/RuthRendell (under the pen name of Barbara Vine). The story involves a bitter custody battle between two sisters that ends in murder and is told from the point of view of a surviving niece who, after several years, is finally able to piece together the events that led to her family's tragedy.
* ''Literature/DarkshipThieves'': Thena, after the radiation burns, first thinks her vision has suffered when she removed the goggles. In reality, she's just not seen the light for long. It takes her many blinks to actually see.
* In Creator/GeorgeMacDonald's fairy tale ''The Day-Boy and the Night-Girl'', [[MeaningfulName Nycteris]], who has lived her whole life in a cave, is temporarily blinded when she goes outside and sees the Sun for the first time.
* ''Literature/TheEmperorsGift'': Twenty-Six complains bitterly of the light when ordered to open his eyes; he is told it's the weakest level of illumination, but he has not used his eyes in ninety-nine days.
* ''Literature/TheFifthElephant'': During an enemy ambush, Vimes lights up a cigar while surrounded by bandits before they're dispatched by him and Assassin/clerk Inigo Skimmer. When Inigo later chides him for this grandstanding, Vimes points out that it boiled down to him turning on a bright light in the darkness.
* In Creator/WilliamAlexander's ''Literature/GoblinSecrets'', Graba has Vess cast a light spell when Rownie is hiding in shadows. It blinds him.
* In the ''Literature/InCryptid'' novel ''Discount Armageddon'', Verity warns Dominic to close his eyes before she turns on the light, but he's not quick enough.
* ''Literature/TheLockedTomb'': Gideon and Harrowhark grew up on the Ninth House, built into a chasm on a lifeless planet far from the sun, so they're completely dazzled by the sunlight on Canaan House's planet for the first few days. Harrowhark wears a [[MysteriousVeil veil]], while Gideon, inexplicably, pulls out some CoolShades.
* Gollum in ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'' can barely even stand the Moon, let alone the Sun. It's implied that at least some orcs also suffer from this; the ones from the Misty Mountain caves and mines of Moria, for instance, are unable to run in the sunlight.
* At the end of ''Literature/MartinDressler'', when it's become clear that the Grand Cosmo (Martin's hotel) is a failure that will bankrupt Martin, he leaves the hotel to go for a walk.
-->He walked through the lobby to the heavy glass entrance doors, and when he pushed one open, he stopped: the light was so bright that he had to shut his eyes... Suns danced in the red of his closed eyes. He hadn't left the Grand Cosmo for a long time.
* In ''Literature/Metro2033'', the young Artyom and his friends went to a neighboring uninhabited station and opened a hatch to sneak a brief peek at the sky. It is mentioned that they were lucky that it was night at the time as their eyes were used to only dim, red emergency lights and firelight so daylight would have blinded them. Stalkers, whose job it is to brave the surface in search of supplies, wear tinted goggles.
* In the ''Literature/{{Newsflesh}}'' universe, people who have a reservoir condition known to most as "retinal Kellis-Amberlee", such as Georgia or Emily, cannot tolerate normal lighting, since their irises will not contract in response. Too much light can damage their eyes severely enough to impair vision. Emily mentions reduced vision sensitivity (she was an early case, and suffered damage before doctors figured out her condition), while Georgia comments on having small blind spots caused by retinal damage. Both spend most of their lives behind sunglasses or in low-light rooms.
* In the ''Literature/OctoberDaye'' novel ''An Artificial Night'', the Luidaeg tells Toby to close her eyes and immediately turns on the lights. Toby has to get over the after-images.
* ''Literature/TheQueensThief'': In the first book, ''The Thief'', we are introduced to the titular thief's... ahem... [[ObfuscatingStupidity dramatic nature]] when, at his first glimpse of sunlight after several months in prison, he falls on the ground howling and swearing at the top of his lungs.
* ''Literature/TheRepublic'' describes how someone forcibly made to stand would find the direct light painful, and then forcibly brought outside would find the lights painful, having to adjust first to nighttime, then to day.
* In the ''Literature/RiversOfLondon'' novels, members of the underground community Peter discovers in the third novel have to wear dark wraparound sunglasses even in dimly lit ''indoor'' environments, never mind broad daylight.
* In the ''Literature/WarlockSeries'' novel ''Storm Over Warlock'', after the Throg attack traps them in a cave, turning on his light to the lowest level makes Shann's eyes water.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
* ''Series/TheDarkCrystalAgeOfResistance'': Because she was raised in the underground caves of Grot all her life, when Deet ventures above ground for the first time she initially wears a blindfold made from partially-translucent material during the day to [[DefiedTrope avoid hurting her eyes]]. She soon adjusts and no longer needs the blindfold.
* ''Series/TheDefenders2017'': Jessica Jones is introduced passed out in a bar. She gets rudely awakened by the bartender, who tells her to get going. Jessica is clearly hung over, based on the fact that she winces as the bartender reveals it's already after 9:00 AM.
* The ''Series/ForeverKnight'' episode "Bad Blood" has a version with a person who was fed on by a vampire, but survived and ended up becoming almost like the classic {{Dhampyr}}; human, but with enhanced senses.
* In the ''Series/GameShakers'' episode "The Mason Experience", Babe enjoys Virtual Mason Kendall so much she doesn't even take the VR goggles off for almost half the day, and when Kenzie removes them so another girl can have a try, she is blinded by the light. Of course, she puts the goggles back on right after she recovers.
* Defied in one episode of ''Series/HaveGunWillTravel''. Paladin is captured by the BigBad who intends to sadistically execute him by making Paladin be the bull in a traditional Spanish Bull Fight. To this end, they lock Paladin in a dark dungeon so that when he gets shoved into the sunlight, the temporary blindness will give the BigBad an unfair advantage and let him kill Paladin easily. The [[BigBad Big Bad's]] wife however, defies her husband and puts a candle in the cell with Paladin so that his eyes stay adjusted to light. When the [[BigBad Big Bad's]] men come for him in the morning, Paladin blows out the candle. The men throw him into the yard, and becuase Paladin can unknowingly still see, he manages to overpower the BigBad and kill him.
* ''Series/TheLordOfTheRingsTheRingsOfPower'': The Moriondor cannot watch at all at the sun without burning their retinas. Adar is the only Orc who has no problem staying in the sun and watching the sunset.
* ''Series/MalcolmInTheMiddle'' [[TheTeaser opens one episode]] with the boys peacefully sleeping and then Lois barging in and ripping open the curtains. We get a close-up on Malcolm's pupils as they shrink in response, and as the boys writhe in agony, Lois just rips their bedding off to wash while yelling they have five minutes to get breakfast before she starts putting the food away. Malcolm [[AsideGlance turns to the camera]]:
-->'''Malcolm:''' I know this kid; his mom wakes him up with a kiss on the forehead.
* ''Series/MythBusters'':
** The [=MythBusters=] tested this to see if smugglers can drive on a dark road at night without using any light and relying only on their eyes acclimated to the darkness. They discovered it was barely possible, but if any light passed by them, such as a car with its headlights on, they would immediately run off the road or crash if they couldn't stop in time.
** On a similar note, during the Pirate Special, they tested the myth that pirates kept one eye patched on purpose to keep it adjusted to darkness, not because it hid an unsightly wound. Adam and Jamie perform much better navigating an obstacle course meant to simulate the darker conditions below decks using an eye pre-adjusted to darkness when compared to an eye that was coming in from daylight. The myth was declared plausible because even though it worked, they could not find any documentation that any real pirate tried this.
* In an episode of ''Series/{{Psych}}'', Shawn invokes this for dramatic/silly effect while coming out of a bank he had been in for a few hours.
* ''Series/StarTrekDiscovery'' reveals that humans from the MirrorUniverse are naturally photosensitive and don't easily adjust to bright lights. This fact leads to TheReveal that [[spoiler:[[TheCaptain Captain Gabriel Lorca]] is actually from the MirrorUniverse]].
* The Visitors in ''Series/{{V 1983}}'' have to wear sunglasses because they're unaccustomed to bright lights. It later turns out that this is because they're actually humanoid reptilians.
* In ''Series/WKRPInCincinnati'', Venus likes to do his radio show in a darkened studio, lit by candles. Too often, someone comes in and turns on the lights, giving him this.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Music]]
* Music/TheStatlerBrothers' famous "Flowers on the Wall" (you know, the country song from ''Film/PulpFiction''), about a guy who spends all his time at home, has this for a final verse:
-->''It's good to see you, I must go, I know I look a fright\\
Anyway, my eyes are not accustomed to this light\\
And my shoes are not accustomed to this hard concrete\\
So I must go back to my room and make my day complete.''
* "Lost Boys" by The 69 Eyes starts with lines "Morning light // Hurts your eyes." The boys in question are [[Film/TheLostBoys vampires]].
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Radio]]
* ''Radio/CabinPressure'': On a long-haul flight from Hong Kong to Limerick, Martin and Douglas are bothered by the fact they're flying facing toward the sunset. Eventually, the sun manages to go down, and in celebration they decide to keep the cockpit lights off ("like a fighter jet!") for a few minutes, until Carolyn enters and wonders why they're sitting in the dark, and promptly turns the lights on, much to Martin and Douglas's distress.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
* ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'': Sunlight Sensitivity is a racial trait shared by many evil humanoids in early editions -- depending on the edition, it ranges from being outright blinded for a short time or taking a penalty to attacks. As the game went on, this trait was formalized into mostly subterranean races like dark elves, kobolds, Kuo-Toa, and grey dwarves. Orcs also have it, despite not being portrayed as living underground or being nocturnal. [[HybridPower Half-orcs and half-elves of dark elf heritage lack this trait, however]].
* ''TabletopGame/{{Exalted}}'':
** The Darkbroods, universally-loathed gods who were driven underground, cannot stand the light of Creation's sun due to having been judged Creatures of Darkness and spending all their lives BeneathTheEarth.
** The Dune People, a cannibalistic, xenophobic human subspecies, are exclusively nocturnal due to being albinos and thus being very prone to suburbs and light-blindness.
** If the Infernal Exalted want to learn the more powerful Ebon Dragon charms, they can't avoid this trope because one of the Dragon's foundational charms gives them this weakness. They are only hurt by Creation's Sun though; any other suns are fine.
* ''TabletopGame/{{Pathfinder}}'': Several species have this problem, most prominent amongst them the orcs (though it's possible for them to overcome it).
* ''TabletopGame/PrincessTheHopeful'': The Light Is Dark Umbrum features an exaggerated version of this effect. Darkened with this Umbrum can see clearly in dim light or pitch blackness, but are blind in well-illuminated areas.
* ''TabletopGame/{{Varanae}}'': In the generic RPG supplement ''Monstrum 1'', Albino Apes [[WeakenedByTheLight can't see in daylight and are driven off by intense light]] because of the centuries they have spent living underground.
* ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer}}'': Night Goblins are adapted for life in dark underground places, and as such find direct sunlight to be unpleasant and often painful. When they must travel on the surface, they used deep hoods and cloaks to shield themselves from the light.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Toys]]
* Onu-Matoran from ''Toys/{{BIONICLE}}'' are used to living underground so the light stings their eyes a little bit.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Video Games]]
* Darkdwellers in ''VideoGame/DarkSoulsII'', a sort of cave-dwelling flightless bat creature, will flee from light sources such as a torch. Unfortunately, if you corner them, they get over it, and they can be a tough fight with their long reach and bleed-inflicting claws.
* At the beginning of ''VideoGame/DiscoElysium'', if you choose to turn on the light in your room, the narration states how painful this is ("you can practically feel the photons burning a hole in your brain") and advises you to turn off the lights ''immediately''. If you choose not to, you take a point of health damage, and if you allocated your stats in such a way that you started as a OneHitPointWonder, you immediately die of a heart attack.
* The dwarves of ''VideoGame/DwarfFortress'' will get unhappy thoughts about being "irritated by the sun" if they've been underground too long. If they've been underground even longer, they'll get unhappy thoughts about being "nauseated by the sun" and puke all over the entrance to your fortress. This may become a problem when you spend years training a military squad in your underground barracks, and when your legendary overpowered steel-clad warriors finally get to the surface to battle a goblin siege, they are blinded by the brightness and collapse to the ground, vomiting violently and unable to fight. It's important to either [[CityInABottle move all your activity underground]] or make your dwarves spend at least part of their time above the surface, to prevent complete cave adaptation. Like everything in ''Dwarf Fortress'', this can quickly become a problem as well... unless you just build enough of a roof to allow battles to take place shaded from the sun.
* ''Franchise/{{Fallout}}'': In ''VideoGame/Fallout3'', your character, who has lived in an underground Vault their entire life, seems to be affected by this for a few seconds upon entering the wasteland. Afterward, they recover, adjust and see in daylight with no ill effects. The same effect happens in ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas'' and ''VideoGame/Fallout4'' when the Courier leaves Doc Mitchel's house after being nursed to health and Sole Survivor exits Vault 111, respectively. ''VideoGame/Fallout2'' opens with an instructional film explicitly (and humorously) highlighting the need for protective eyewear, and the Vault door opens rather sensibly at nighttime.
* ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaBreathOfTheWild'' does this at the beginning. Once Link, who had been asleep in [[HealingVat the Shrine of Resurrection]] for a hundred years, is able to open the door separating the Shrine from the Great Plateau, a brief cutscene plays where he steps into the light spilling from outside and squints while raising his hand in front of his face.
* This is probably why ''VideoGame/MegaMan4'''s Pharaoh Man is affected by the Flash Stopper. As he's supposed to emulate long-dead Pharaohs and explore dark pyramids, it could be similarly deduced that he's designed for dark environments and freezes when exposed to bright flashes.
* The D'ni people in the ''VideoGame/{{Myst}}'' games have very light-sensitive eyes, due to living underground for a long time. It's why Atrus is shown wearing sun-filtering goggles [[spoiler:at the end of ''VideoGame/{{Riven}}'']].
* ''VideoGame/NeverwinterNights2'' (based on ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' 3.5e) gives [[OurElvesAreDifferent Drow]] and [[OurDwarvesAreAllTheSame Gray Dwarves]] Light Sensitivity, a penalty to rolls when in broad daylight. Both are Underdark-dwelling races. Averted in the case of Deep Gnomes, which do not suffer the same penalty despite being native to the Underdark. Oddly enough, [[OurOrcsAreDifferent Gray Orcs]] receive a similar (but lesser) penalty despite living on the surface.
* In some side materials for ''Franchise/TouhouProject'', [[CastingAShadow Rumia]], who spends most of her time in a bubble of impenetrable darkness, complains that daylight hurts her eyes. She's okay with moonlight, though.
* ''VideoGame/TraumaCenterAtlus'': CR-S01 experiences this trope after being released from his cell for the first time in years.
* A minor graphical effect in ''VideoGame/{{Warframe}}'' washes Orb Vallis' outdoors in a blinding white light for a short while after leaving the caves.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Visual Novels]]
* By the end of ''VisualNovel/SpiritHunterNG'', Akira and company have spent so long hunting spirits during the night that the daytime sun hurts their eyes.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Webcomics]]
* ''Webcomic/ABeginnersGuideToTheEndOfTheUniverse'': Since the giant wolf spider that the Everyman encounters in the caverns is used to living in a lightless environment, it's intimated by the light of the firefly lance and left stunned and helpless in the bright light of the outside world.
* In ''Webcomic/BobAndGeorge'', [[http://www.bobandgeorge.com/archives/020307 Shadow Man plays with this by asking whether his eyes are adjusted, and turning on the lights.]]
* In ''Webcomic/ElGoonishShive'', when Pandora makes a surprise appearance in Sarah's bedroom in the middle of the night, accompanied by a flash of light, Sarah [[UnfazedEveryman does not react to the sudden appearance of a powerful immortal]], but [[http://www.egscomics.com/egsnp.php?id=288 instead complains about the light hurting her eyes.]]
* In ''Webcomic/MonsieurCharlatan'', [[http://monsieur-charlatan.com/archive/page-6/ Isidore feigns this when Magda opens the curtains.]]
* In ''Webcomic/OurLittleAdventure'', [[http://danielscreations.com/ola/comics/ep0222.html Angelika gets this emerging from the cave, and overdramatizes it.]]
* In ''Webcomic/TheSpecialists'', [[http://thespecialistscomic.com/comic/page-142/ Hartmann has to shield his eyes as the cell door is opened.]]
* In ''Webcomic/UserFriendly'', this is an expected consequence of coming in to work at the crack of dawn and normally leaving after sunset.
* In ''Webcomic/YokokasQuest'', Mao's party spend a few months in [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin the aptly named]] Darkness Clan, and after being teleported out of it, Mao and Cadmium [[https://yokokasquest.com/comic/chapter-11-page-20/ are dazed by the sun]], despite not being a particularly bright day. This is also Cadmium's FirstTimeInTheSun, having been raised in the Darkness Clan.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Western Animation]]
* ''WesternAnimation/FiftyFiftyHeroes'': Sam's father spends so much time indoors that sunlight hurts his eyes when he steps outside.
* Happens to Marceline from ''WesternAnimation/AdventureTime''. Well, she ''is'' a vampire...
* PlayedForLaughs in ''WesternAnimation/{{Archer}}''. Any time someone puts on NightVisionGoggles, it's a guarantee they're going to be blasted in the face with bright lights.
-->'''Archer:''' ''My retinas! Seared... like tuna steaks!''
* PlayedForDrama in the ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'' episode "[[Recap/BatmanTheAnimatedSeriesE6TheUnderdwellers The Underdwellers]]". The Sewer King punishes his child slaves by locking them in a room with painfully (to them) bright lights. Batman finds him so contemptible that he admits to being sorely tempted to break [[ThouShaltNotKill his one inflexible rule]].
* ''WesternAnimation/DennisTheMenace'': "Journey to the Center of Uncle Charlie's Farm" features Fred, a young boy who lives in a subterranean civilization near the well of Uncle Charlie's farm and only visits the surface world at night. [[LearntEnglishFromWatchingTelevision He is able to speak English due to watching late night television]], allowing him to communicate with Dennis and Joey. Near the end of the episode, the three are brought to the surface world after dislodging some boulders holding the water back. Fred puts on some sunglasses to protect his eyes, as he's not used to sunlight due to spending most of his time underground. When Joey tells him to come back and visit him and Dennis so they can go to the zoo or the amusement park together, Fred tells them he'd rather do those things at night, and asks him and Dennis how they can stand the sun.
* PlayedForLaughs in the ''WesternAnimation/DextersLaboratory'' episode "[[Recap/DextersLaboratoryS2EP3 D & DD]]"; Mom enters the room where Dexter and his friends are playing ''[[AlliterationAndAdventurers Mazes and Monsters]]'', says "Gracious! It's as dark as a dungeon in here!", and opens the blinds. Dex recoils, shielding his eyes and hissing like a vampire.
* ''WesternAnimation/DuckTales2017'': In "[[Recap/DuckTales2017S3E6AstroBoyd Astro B.O.Y.D.!]]", when Dr. Akita emerges from his underground lair after 20 years, he immediately recoils in pain from the sunlight. Later, when he's fighting Gyro, he suffers a BlindWithoutEm moment when his sunglasses get knocked off.
-->'''Dr. Akita:''' Now... the moment of reckoning shall be mi-- [[FailedAttemptAtDrama AAAAAHHHHH!]] Has the sun gotten brighter in the last twenty years?!
* ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'': In "[[Recap/FamilyGuyS15E14TheDatingGame The Dating Game]]", after Quagmire discovers Tinder, he gets obsessed with it to the point of neglecting all else, turning into a [[Literature/TheLordOfTheRings Gollum]]-like figure. When Peter tries to open the shades, Quagmire screams and yells, "The yellow face! It burns my Tinder!"
* ''WesternAnimation/TheJetsons'': In "Test Pilot", Mr. Spacely takes some cash from his safe to offer George as a bonus if George agrees to become the titular pilot. The bills were inside the safe for so long that the man pictured at the top bill puts on sunglasses.
* One episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheNewAdventuresOfZorro1997'' has the villain Miguel Vianueva, who escapes to California after thirty years in a Spanish dungeon. After noting he's mildly blinded by a lantern during his first attack at night, Zorro comes to the next confrontation with a ''flare'' tucked in his pockets.
* In the ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'' episode "[[Recap/SpongeBobSquarePantsS6E20NoHatForPatToyStoreOfDoom Toy Store of Doom]]", [=SpongeBob=] and Patrick are locked in the dark toy store overnight. When the store opens the next morning, [=SpongeBob=] and Patrick run outside into the daylight and their eyes burn while they scream in pain.
* In the ''WesternAnimation/{{Unikitty}}'' episode "Action Forest", thanks to Eagleator stealing Hawkodile's shades, which he's been wearing since he received them, Hawkodile is useless to fight him, thanks to being entirely blinded by the sunlight. Not that his temporary solution helps him any better: putting a bandanna over his eyes.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Real Life]]
* Often averted in real life; although animals such as owls and cats have eyes that are optimized for night-time vision, they are not harmed by sunlight and can see perfectly well during the day (evidenced by the remarkable difference in size between their dilated and constricted pupils).
* ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photophobia Photophobia]]'' is a medical condition that causes people to feel pain or discomfort when in bright or even moderate light (if it's severe enough). It's medically as close to this trope as you'll get.
* [[https://books.google.com/books?id=ae5NL9JuIOgC&pg=PA71 Affected the few survivors of the 1943 Warsaw Ghetto Uprising]], who had taken refuge in the city's sewer system to eventually hide from the Nazis and escape.
* In 2010, when the 33 trapped Chilean miners were rescued, they [[http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2010/10/13/sports-sunglasses-aim-ease-miners-transition/ had to put on sunglasses]] before reaching the surface and wear them for a while afterwards since their eyes had gotten so used to the darkness there was a risk of permanent injury if they were exposed to too much light at first.
* In 2008, upon being released from their basement dungeon, [[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fritzl_case Elisabeth Fritzl]] and her "basement" children (three others had been taken upstairs by their father/grandfather), it was necessary to make the same provisions for them.
* This is a real life problem for any members of a navy or coast guard whose rating requires them to spend most of their time below decks, especially anyone who works in an engineering rating.
* Anyone who's ever been woken up by someone switching on the light can attest to this.
** Also applies to turning on your computer right after you wake up.
** Also also applies if you happen to open your blinds on a particularly bright day immediately after waking up.
** An inversion is also common: anyone who has spent a day in the snow on a sunny day (especially in early spring when sun is higher) will attest to having initial trouble seeing when they are inside as their eyes have become so adjusted to the strong light outside.
[[/folder]]
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