"So yes, black mages often can
be evil. But black as a color is not inherently evil. Being influenced by black’s philosophies does not necessarily mean that one will commit an evil act. That being the case, we cannot say that black represents evil. More closely aligned with evil than the other colors? Fine. More ripe with potential for evil? Sure. Evil? No. And that's a very important distinction."
So, you have a race of people who all have
black, leathery wings. They're born with the
ability to shoot black, shadowy globs out of their hands. Also, they prefer the night, and let's not get started on their
wardrobes. Surely, they're evil
!
Well...no one actually mentioned them doing bad things; in fact, they may actually be
pretty good guys. It's not like they keep pet dogs exclusively for
kicking. Despite any
images that may have been burned into our minds, creepy appearances and killing people actually
don't have much to do with each other. It's not
My Species Doth Protest Too Much, because the species, for the most part, isn't protesting the do-gooders. Unfortunately, however, people can still judge them
based on their looks. Expect some
Van Helsing Hate Crimes.
This trope can be a
subversion or
aversion of several other tropes depending on how it's played, including
Beauty Equals Goodness,
Always Chaotic Evil, and
Colour Coded For Your Convenience. A common use for it is for the "Don't judge a book by its cover"
Aesop. It can also be used to promote
Evil Is Cool and
Evil Is Sexy, and sometimes
Even Evil Has Standards, except without the, uh... evil. Even though with the subtle (or not so) undertone of
Humans Are Bastards that this trope implies, using this does not automatically enforce
Light Is Not Good; in fact, stories where
Light is Good and Dark Is Not Evil are quite common.
The extreme form of this is
The Sacred Darkness, where Dark is not just
not Evil, but is in fact equally as (Or even more than) holy and Good as Light is typically perceived to be. In situations where
The Sacred Darkness exists, however,
Dark Is Not Evil is
not an absolute certainty, and the usual caveats about
Light Is Not Good still apply.
Light Is Not Good,
Good Powers, Bad People are sister tropes. For the inverse, see
Dark Is Evil. A natural implication of the
Yin Yang Bomb. See also
Good All Along,
Bad Powers, Good People,
Creepy Good,
Face of a Thug,
Perky Goth,
Our Monsters Are Different,
Anti Anti Christ,
Reluctant Monster,
Good Is Not Nice, and
Halloweentown. When vampires are involved, this trope generally puts them on the friendly end of the
Sliding Scale Of Vampire Friendliness, often resulting in a
Friendly Neighbourhood Vampire. Gods of the underworld and death in particular can be this, since
Everybody Hates Hades.
Examples
