History Main / NuclearCandle

As you might've guessed, the humble candle isn't quite so convenient in reality. While they ''can'' burn quite bright, their unfocused light only reveals things around them in a loose sphere that degrades with distance; good for the surrounding area, not so much for travel. Lanterns being carried on the ends of poles in the olden days wasn't merely for ease of transport, but also so the carrier had a way to hover the lantern in front of them and see where they were going. The pursuit of a better, more reliable means of lighting the way forward is what led to the invention of the common flashlight. But of course, managing realistic lights in settings like action movies and video games would be cumbersome and detract from the more important bits (unless the theme is, say, SurvivalHorror), so cases where the light is unreasonably bright and/or self-sustaining are typically AcceptableBreaksFromReality.

* ''Film/ThePaintedHills'': When Taylor and Tommy enter the darkened cabin where Jonathan is laid up with a fever, Taylor strikes a match that illuminates the entire room. This does not pass unremarked on the ''Series/MST3K'' version.
* In ''Film/ScaryMovie2'', when Cindy shows Buddy the secret study, he lights one candle, which then illuminates nearly the whole room. As this is a parody film, this is likely intentional.

* ''VideoGame/{{Heretic}}'' and ''VideoGame/{{Hexen}}'' have the Torch as a consumable item. It lights up the entire map with a fire-like flickering effect[[labelnote:+]]similar to the Light Amplification Visor from ''VideoGame/{{Doom}}'', working on the same principle of turning the entire map fullbright[[/note]]. [[TenSecondFlashlight It burns out after about 60 seconds]].

* ''VideoGame/{{Heretic}}'' and ''VideoGame/{{Hexen}}'' have the Torch as a consumable item. It lights up the entire map with a fire-like flickering effect[[lbelnote:+]]similar to the Light Amplification Visor from ''VideoGame/{{Doom}}'', working on the same principle of turning the entire map fullbright[[/note]]. [[TenSecondFlashlight It burns out after about 60 seconds]].

* ''VideoGame/SerpentRiders'': All three games in the trilogy (''VideoGame/{{Heretic}}'', ''VideoGame/{{Hexen}}'' and ''Hexen II'') have torches as consumable items. In the first two games, they light up the entire map with a fire-like flickering effect, while in ''Hexen II'', it lights up a large circle around the player. In both cases, it burns out after a while.

%% Image selected per Image Pickin' thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1423173791071474100
%% Please do not replace or remove without starting a new thread.

[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]

* Invoked in ''Film/DayForNight'', where a technician makes a prop to illuminate the face of the lead actress of the FilmWithinAFilm ''Meet Pamela''.
* In ''Film/TheGunfightAtDodgeCity'', Lily lights a single candle that not only lights up her entire bedroom, but illuminates her face from the opposite side to where it is located.

* An episode of the Jennifer Ehle/Colin Firth ''Series/PrideAndPrejudice'' (set in 1810-ish) has the Bennetts sit down for dinner. The room is brightly lit as if by sunlight, but behind Mr Bennett you can see it's pitch black outside. There's no way candles or oil lamps could produce such perfect light.

* Invoked in ''Film/DayForNight'', where a technician makes a prop to illuminate the face of the lead actress of the {{FilmWithinAFilm}} ''Meet Pamela''.

** The original ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaI'''s Candle items light up dark rooms by tossing a single fireball that burns for only a few seconds.
** When Link lights up a sconce in ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaALinkToThePast'', the whole room lights up. The only difference between how many sconces are lit is how dim or bright the ambient light is.
** The lamp in ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaCDIGames Link: The Faces of Evil and Zelda: The Wand of Gamelon]]'' works similar to the candle in ''Zelda II''. One use of the lantern lights up the entire dark area for a limited time, and requires lantern oil.
* ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'''s Flash ability used to do this, lighting up dark caves entirely (what made some caves pitch-black and others not was never explained). In the newer games, though, it's just an expanded circle of light around the player.
* All three games in the ''Serpent Riders'' trilogy (''VideoGame/{{Heretic}}'', ''VideoGame/{{Hexen}}'' and ''Hexen II'') have torches as consumable items. In the first two games, they light up the entire map with a fire-like flickering effect, while in ''Hexen II'', it lights up a large circle around the player. In both cases, it burns out after a while.
* ''VideoGame/{{Doom}}'' has the [[GogglesDoSomethingUnusual Light Amplification Visor]]. Its gimmick is simple: turn the brightness of all map sectors to max (known as "fullbright") for two minutes. According to the press release beta, the LAV was meant to work like a set of NightVisionGoggles by applying a green colormap to the screen, but because the visual engine was limited and the sprites were difficult to discern, this idea was abandoned, although the [=GZDoom=] source port brings this back (with some improvements like highlighted monster and item sprites ''a la VideoGame/DukeNukem'') as a native option.
* In the NES version of ''VideoGame/BionicCommando'', the Flares illuminate the entire screen in the otherwise pitch dark Area 4. In ''Rearmed'', they instead have a {{Chiaroscuro}} effect.
* Anglerfish lures usually are little more than a faint dot in an ocean of darkness. Yet in ''[[VideoGame/FeedingFrenzy Feeding Frenzy: Shipwreck Showdown]]'''s BlackoutBasement levels, Edie's esca can illuminate a sizeable area around it, and even the ''entire screen''.

->''"A single match is always enough to magically light up a room bigger than the Colosseum."''
-->-- '''Hollywood Rule Book''', ''[[http://www.avforums.com/forums/movies-cinema/32262-hollywood-rule-book.html Vanity Fair (April 2002)]]''

All the light sources are either broken, out of energy, out of fuel (includes wax) or simply not there. The scene is illuminated by a single light. This can be a flashlight or electric lantern, but is usually a lighter, a candle or a matchstick. And yet, despite the tiny size and almost insignificant lumen output of the thing, everything looks as if the light was powered by a nuclear reaction. Rooms, even quite large ones, will be lit up to almost daylight level.

* Invoked in ''Film/DayForNight'', where a technician makes a prop to illuminate the face of the lead actress of the {{FilmWithinAFilm Film Within a Film}} ''Meet Pamela''.

If light source isn't {{infinite|Flashlight}} and the matchstick is depleted, or the battery/fuel runs out, the light extinguishes and everything is suddenly pitch black. [[DarknessEqualsDeath Cue the monsters, traps]] or sentimental/sexual plot twist.

* ''VideoGame/{{Doom}}'' has the [[GogglesDoSomethingUnusual Light Amplification Visor]]. Its gimmick is simple: turn the brightness of all map sectors to max (known as "fullbright") for two minutes. According to the press release beta, the LAV was meant to work like a set of NightVisionGoggles by applying a green colormap to te screen, but because the visual engine was limited and the sprites were dofficult to discern, this idea was abandoned, although the [=GZDoom=] source port brings this back (with some improvements like highlighted monster and item sprites ''a la VideoGame/DukeNukem'') as a native option.

* Much like the example above, ''VideoGame/{{Doom}}'' has a nuclear candle in the form of the [[NightVisionGoggles Light Amplification]] [[GogglesDoSomethingUnusual Visor]]. Its gimmick is simple: just turn the brightness of all map areas to max. In fact, the only functional difference between it and the torches above is that the LAV doesn't flicker at all until right before it runs out. Certain source ports also give the option to give the LAV a ''VideoGame/DukeNukem''-like night vision filter that highlights enemies and items in green.

* ''Anime/PantyAndStockingWithGarterbelt'' provides the page image: in the episode "Once Upon a Time in Garterbelt", Stocking strikes a match and instantly illuminates the entire trap-filled catacomb that lies before them. As they dodge trap after trap, eventually the match burns out and the room goes instantly dark again.

** ''VideoGame/ZeldaIITheAdventureOfLink''. If you don't have a candle, you cannot see any enemies in dark rooms, even if they are inches in front of you. Once you get the candle, they're visible even if Link and the enemy are on opposite sides of the screen. Note that orange Daira and orange Lizalfos enemies are an exception to the "invisible in dark rooms" rule.

** ''VideoGame/ZeldaIITheAdventureOfLink''. If you don't have a candle, you cannot see any enemies in dark rooms, even if they are inches in front of you. Once you get the candle, they're visible even if Link and the enemy are on opposite sides of the screen.
** The original ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZelda'''s Candle items light up dark rooms by tossing a single fireball that burns for only a few seconds.