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"Then God said, 'Let there be light'; and there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good."

It's one of the deepest ideas in our collective (un)consciousness. The Sun brings heat, makes plants grow, helps us wake, explore, work, create. Gods of the Sun and Moon are associated with law, arts, the mind, justice, protection, inspiration, all the things that make up the best part of being human. (And even the other nice thing about being human gets this treatment — Venus is, after all, the Morning Star.note ) The light bulb coming on over one's head is the genesis of a great idea. By light we can see the world; by extension, light lets us confront evil and destroy it, both within and without ourselves.

It's the more or less obvious conclusion.

Almost every RPG does this, some more than others. (It's always the holy magic that heals, never the dark.) For characters with light-based powers with this connotation, see Light 'em Up. Holy Hand Grenade is not out of the question.

The corollary, of course, are Dark Is Evil and its sub-tropes. Light Is Not Good originated as a subversion of this trope. Note, however, that Good Is Not Nice can also come into play if said hero has an affinity for light, and both Light is Good and Light Is Not Good may come into play, as a Hypocrite tries to pose as a good guy by taking on the trappings suitable for the good guys. If a story wants to use Light is Good and Dark Is Not Evil at the same time, it's generally justified as both forces being necessary for a truly stable and peaceful world, with the perceived 'evil' of darkness being a misunderstanding between the sides. See Light/Darkness Juxtaposition.

Why having the sun appear is good. Also the reason White Magic is called that. Related to Heaven Above, since the sky and the light-bearing suns often go hand-in-hand when depicting the good God. This trope's relationship with the sun can often lend it to be used similarly to Rays from Heaven, Cue the Sun, and Watching the Sunset. See also Holy Halo, and Shining City. See also White Is Pure.

For more chromatic inspiration, see Color-Coded for Your Convenience. For light used as one of the Elemental Powers, see Light 'em Up.

Light Is Not Good is a subversion of this trope.

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Examples:

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    Anime & Manga 
  • Berserk: Puck is a diminutive pixie that emits a bright light, and can blind opponents with a flash of light. He stands out as one of the nicest people in the series, and is much more polite then the Anti-Hero Guts.
  • Black Clover:
    • Some time after joining Golden Dawn, Yuno begins wearing the squad's uniform, which is mostly white with gold accents. His Spirit Dive form also covers him in light green mana that forms a half-crown and bracelet of crosses along with a fairy-like wing. He's a courageous Magic Knight who's protective of those he cares for.
    • Noelle Silva wears a white blazer with frilled edges that resemble feathers, similar to the rest of the Silva family, and has silver hair. Despite this, she's the main heroine and grows out of the royalty mindset to become a much kinder, selfless individual.
    • Julius Novachrono has golden hair and wears an ornate white and red cape with golden jewelry. He's also the leader of the Magic Knights whose goal is equality between the kingdom's social classes.
    • The first Wizard King, Lumiere Silvamillion Clover. His name is French for light, he used Light Magic, and hoped to end discrimination against commoners and peasants and famed for saving the Clover Kingdom from a rampaging demon.
  • In BTX The Hero Teppei rides a white B't Which eventually turns golden.
  • Parodied in Chainsaw Man with the fight between the titular Anti-Hero Denji and the Doll Devil. With the latter powered up thanks to consuming a piece of flesh from the Darkness Devil, one of the most dangerous devils based on the fear of the dark, the Doll Devil became seemingly unstoppable when nighttime came. To counter her new dark-themed powers, Denji decided to fight her with the power of light… by lighting himself on fire after dousing himself with gasoline, using his new found “shining power” to jump a startled Doll Devil who couldn’t believe how psychotically stupid and determined her opponent was. To her horror, Denji’s plan worked; the Doll Devil’s regenerative powers slowed to a crawl from Denji’s attacks, forcing her throw all her human doll minions at him just to slow him down. In the end, he managed to rip apart her main body, then dunked her with Kobeni’s destroyed car, resulting in the Doll Devil blowing up in a fiery explosion.
  • Death Note:
    • Subverted for Light Yagami. He appears to be a pretty good guy at first (or at worst a Well-Intentioned Extremist) whose ideas of morality and justice are just slightly askew. However, it quickly becomes a case of Light Is Not Good as he descends into corruption and madness... as a result of believing himself to be this.
    • Near, the detective that works to stop Light and end his killing spree is an albino who wears white. although he is an Unscrupulous Hero, he is less questionable than Light himself.
  • Digimon:
    • Angemon and Angewomon of Digimon Adventure are both angelic Digimon with golden hair who both debuted to promptly easily defeat a powerful dark Digimon with their powers of light. Angewomon takes this almost to ridiculous extremes - her partner is Hikari Yagami, whose first name translates to "light", and who uses the Crest of Light to make her evolve to Angewomon to begin with. Oh, and near the end of Adventure she started glowing.
    • Digimon Tamers has Gallantmon and Sakuyamon. The former is a Knight in Shining Armor with lightning and fire attacks whose Super Mode grant him glowing wings. The latter is a shaman Digimon who wears gold armor. Both are heroic Digimon and partners to two of the main cast.
  • Though transforming tends to make them look more threatening in Dragon Ball Z, all the Super Saiyans, apart from the movie villain Broly, embody this with a golden hair and aura, even Vegeta by the end of the series.
  • Eyeshield 21: The Ojo White Knights, wear white outfits, and all the members are shown to be a Nice Guy or a Jerk with a Heart of Gold at worst. Even their main rivals, the DevilBats get along with them quite well.
  • The two main heroes in Fullmetal Alchemist are blonde, with gold eyes to boot.
    • That said, aside from the homunculi, the overwhelming majority of the villains invoke Light Is Not Good, and the only characters with anything resembling light powers are both villains.
      • Except for the Colonel, who has light-themed powers and is most definitely on the heroic side.
  • Inuyasha: Kagome Higurashi, one of the heroes and a Nice Girl, has flash-light based abilities, and specializes in holy spiritual powers. Kikyo also counts, being an incredibly powerful priestess, albeit as an Anti-Hero.
  • JoJo's Bizarre Adventure:
  • Kimba the White Lion: the titular character is a kind, friendly lion cub who would rather solve disputes without violence. But if the need arises bad guys learn the hard way not to underestimate him.
  • In Legend of Heavenly Sphere Shurato, The Hero wears a white armor (which also has a Golden Super Mode). Other characters associated with light (like Lady Vishnu) are good too.
  • Most protagonists in Lyrical Nanoha feature white prominently on their Barrier Jackets, usually the outermost layer. Hayate and Reinforce Zwei take it one step further by having white as their magic colors.
  • Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn has Syam Vist, a kind old man in white robes and Banagher Links, who pilots a White Gundam known as The Unicorn that is named after a Beast of Light and Possibility.
  • Naruto:
    • A colored chapter cover revealed that Naruto becomes yellow with shades of orange when he enters Chakra Mode, as seen here. He also has his Kurama Avatar that he can use which is also yellow with shades of orange.
    • Minato Namikaze as the Jinchuriki of the Nine-Tails also uses chakra mode and Kurama Avatar which is also the same color as mentioned above.
    • Hinata Hyuga is another and unlike the rest of her clan, she defies what they stand for and is willing to put her life on the line to protect her friends especially Naruto, the one she loves.
    • Kurama the Nine-Tailed Fox (or at least his yang half) became this after his Heel–Face Turn and befriending Naruto.
  • The sun is used as a recurring symbol for freedom in One Piece, with the most prominent examples being the Straw Hats' second ship being called the Thousand Sunny (complete with a lion figurehead that resembles a stylized sun), the Sun Pirates using a sun shaped brand to cover over the Slave Brand of members who had been enslaved by the World Nobles, and the Awakened form of Luffy's Devil Fruit channeling the powers of Nika, god of the sun and Slave Liberation.
  • Pretty Cure: Most, if not all Cures have white accents in their outfits to represent their association with good. White is a less common colour for Cures to have as their main colour, but nonetheless, all white Cures are portrayed as good, caring people.
    • Futari wa Pretty Cure: Cure White, as her name suggests, wears a white dress, shoes, and bow. She is the levelheaded companion to Fiery Redhead Cure Black, and is portrayed as kindhearted and a good student.
    • Futari wa Pretty Cure Splash★Star: Being an expy to Cure White, Cure Egret also has a kind heart, but is shyer and less prone to arguing with her partner, Cure Bloom. She wears a white dress and shoes, which are more of a cream-white than Cure White's snow white.
    • Suite Pretty Cure ♪: While she's not without her bursts of anger, Cure Rhythm is a Sweet Baker with a heart of gold, and she wearrs a white tutu-dress, boots, and bow.
    • Tropical-Rouge! Pretty Cure: Cure Summer has a white beach outfit with sandals, and she is an exciteable friend who wants everyone to feel motivated to obtain their goals.
    • Hirogaru Sky! Pretty Cure: Cure Prism wears a white dress, boots, and bows, and she is a caring soul who serves as a mother figure to baby Elle-chan.
    • Wonderful Pretty Cure!: While officially classed as a blue Cure, Cure Nyammy's outfit is a predominantly white dress, boots, and gloves. Nevertheless, she is a loyal friend to Cure Lillian.
  • Purity goes with light in Sailor Moon, and it becomes a common theme (most easily seen in the first anime's SuperS season).
  • While this trope was sometimes averted by the original Saint Seiya and Saint Seiya: The Lost Canvas, in Saint Seiya Omega the Light Cosmo have been portrayed as a good force, opposed to Darkness Cosmo.
  • In Shinzo, this trope is played straight most of the time.
  • Asuna, the female protagonist from Sword Art Online, wears white clothing, a stark contrast from male protagonist and love interest Kirito.

     Arts 
  • In Alexandre Cabanel's The Fallen Angel, the clouds below the still loyal angels are soft yellow and their wings are white.
  • Sistine Chapel: The painting of David's victory over Goliath on the Chapel's Ceiling is highlighted by the bright white tent behind David's raised sword, contrasting against the darkness covering the rest of the soldiers.
  • Statue of Liberty: She holds a torch to show that freedom is what truly enlightens the world. Without it, there's only hopelessness and oppression.

    Asian Animation 

    Comic Books 
  • Twins Aurora and Northstar of Alpha Flight and X-Men have flight and super-speed powers, with the ability to create bursts of light in contact. Aurora is a more straight example of this, while her brother, while mostly heroic, has a history of face heel turns, one point even working under Hydra.
  • Apollo of the The Authority wears a white and gold costume, has white hair, and has sun-based powers, and is a warm and cheerful personality.
  • Aztek is a hero inspired by the Aztec gods who wears a white and gold costume, and whose power comes from his gold helmet.
  • Starlight of The Boys has light-based powers and wears a white and gold costume. She is also one of the few genuinely nice characters in the comics and one of the few superheroes who is a good person and actually believes in the superhero cause, rather than just pretending to for fame and fortune.
  • Captain Atom is a Chrome Champion whose costumes have been either silver or gold.
  • Tandy Bowen, known as Dagger of Cloak and Dagger (Marvel Comics) wears white, has the ability to creat daggers out of light and is the gentle girl to the brooding Cloak.
  • Doctor Fate: He gains power from a golden helmet, his powers manifest as golden light and an ankh symbol, and is a hero. Played with as some versions of such as in Young Justice (2010) and Injustice 2 are are decidedly ''less'' good.
  • The second Doctor Light Dr. Kimiyo Hoshi, has the same powers as the first, and a nearly identical costume, but is a genuine hero, albeit an arrogant one but with a good heart underneath it all. In the 2008 DC Christmas Special, she even states that she kept the name and costume of the original Dr. Light to prove to people that light could be good again.
  • As their Badass Creed says, Green Lantern's light is their power that the worshipers of Evil's might should beware. The GLs co-exist with several groups wielding light that are not so benevolent.
  • Hawk and Dove: The duo are superheroes who are the avatars of war and peace, and wear white costumes with red and blue accents. The second Dove, Holly Granger, takes this further by having white hair, and during the Blackest Night comic event, she gains the ability to conjure up bright light that destroys the Black Lanterns.
  • Captain Marvel (Marvel Comics): Monica Rambeau has been given a multitude of different superhero aliases over the years, from Photon, Pulsar, Spectrum and Captain Marvel for a time. In all those incarnations, she is shown as being able to manipulate light and wearing a white costume.
  • Moon Knight is a Zig-zagged example. He is a vigilante who wears a pure white costume, and considered The Cowl and a counterpart to The Shadow and Batman. But his overly violent approach to crime-fighting, coupled with his downright insane tendencies prevent him from being a straight example. Then again, considering the moon isn't completely associated with light...
  • In the New Gods there is Lightray, a Fun Personified contrast to the moody Orion, who has light powers and can even travel at the speed of light.
  • Planetary: Elijah Snow, the protagonist with ice powers dresses in white and has white hair. His white clothes foreshadow his status as the amnesiac Big Good.
  • The Ray is a Legacy Character superhero whose powers are based on light.
  • Karolina Dean of Runaways is a member of the alien Majesdanian race, who are light powered, and in their natural state look like living rainbows. Her parents, however, are exiled criminals who are the most sadistic members of Pride.
  • The Sandman (1989) Daniel Hall, the second Dream, is clad in white, and has Mystical White Hair, and is the Redeeming Replacement to Morpheus, being much more forgiving and approachable.
  • Silver Surfer; is a pure silver alien superhero, who has been a member of the Defenders and Avengers, and an ally of the Fantastic Four. Even his time as Galactus's herald was more Forcedinto Evil then genuinely choosing to join.
  • In the Star Wars Legends: Infinities series, there is an issue that gives a What If? scenario was Darth Vader survives his battle on the second Death Star after his Heel–Face Turn. The new Vader would swap his all-black costume for an all-white version.
  • Superman is powered in part by the light of Earth's yellow sun. This also extends to Supergirl and her alternate universe counterpart Power Girl. Krypto the Superdog counts as well, as he is a white Labrador Retriever.
  • Teen Titans
  • White Tiger: The various men and women who have held the title of White Tiger, are Puerto Rican Superheroes who wear a white costume.
  • Wonder Woman:
    • Some of Diana's costumes have reflected this like the golden bird-like armor, the white and gold outfit she wore when she became Goddess of Peace in The New 52: Futures End and the all-white outfit she wore in the much maligned Denny O'Neil run. She also wields the Lasso of Truth which is colored gold and is sometimes referred to as the "Golden Perfect".
    • Donna's costumes often have a star motif and for a time she possessed the ability to fire photokinetic energy blasts.
    • Cassie Sandsmark, the second Wonder Girl, has blonde hair and wields a lasso that channels lightning.
  • X-Men has several:
    • Sunspot of New Mutants is a mutant superhero who draws his powers of super-strength and endurance from the sun. In doing so, his skin turns black, and his eyes and mouth glow yellow. He is also noted as having a very friendly personality.
    • Angel aka Warren Kenneth Worthington III, one of the five original members, has large white wings, combined with his largely white costume and Pretty Boy looks more than earned him his nickname. His Brainwashed and Crazy alter ego, Archangel on the other hand...
    • Dr. James Bradley, AKA Dr. Nemesis, wears an all-white suit and fedora, and he uses a white surgical mask to complete his "costume." He has Immortality powers and is a Nazi Hunter.
    • Dazzler is a singer who has the power to convert sound into light energy.
    • Zig-zagged with Emma Frost. She usually wears white and uses the moniker of White Queen. She started out as a villain but became a hero. However, she still retains much of her ruthlessness from her time as a villain.
  • In Zombies Christmas Carol pure, loving light, as represented by Fan and Fred, is universally good and can heal the zombies.

    Fairy Tales 
  • In The Star Money, stars turn into coins and rain down on the poverty-stricken protagonist as a reward for her charitable deeds.

    Fan Works 
  • Cassandra in Angel of the Bat starts to live by this. After her (unofficial) conversion, she wants to begin wearing a bright white uniform — not because dark is inherently evil, but she believes others will find hope in her new outfit.
  • An underlying factor in the Contractually Obligated Chaos series is that there is a prophecy regarding Life and Death; the Avatar of Life embodies this trope.
  • GalaxyClan: Applies to StarClan as expected for a Warrior Cats fanwork, but also applies to Brightstar- a brightly colored cat themed after literal light, who helps Stoneleaf redeem himself and confront their neglectful mother and is a loyal mate, father, and leader afterwards.
  • In Incarnation of Legends, Amaterasu lives and breathes this trope. She's a sun goddess, warm, motherly, peace-seeking, and fun-loving. She's the most unambiguously good god in the Far East, and she instantly offers Bell a chance to get a falna on the spot, no questions asked.
  • In Kaiju Revolution, Mothra is a brightly colored benevolent kaiju who produces light from her wings. In fact, her species replaced Ghidorah as Earth's light-based protectors after he went bad.
  • Deconstructed in The Queen's Consort, as while light is something embraced and dwelt upon by most of fairykind, it is not a simple case of "light = good, dark = bad". In-fact, one of the biggest dilemmas in the story is that a random solar flare gives Elsa magic-based amnesia, making things harder for when the ritual to keep the darkness away needs casting.
  • In RainbowDoubleDash's Lunaverse, a world defined by its fear of the Sun, Princess Cadence stands out as the one example of this trope. Despite her Incorruptible Pure Pureness, she still chooses to evoke the Sun in her dress and heraldry.

    Films — Animation 

    Films — Live-Action 
  • Alice in Wonderland (2010): White is associated with the good guys, namely the forces of the White Queen. Alice also does the final battle in silver armour.
  • Alien: The Action Girl, Ripley wears a white undershirt and panties on the shuttle and during her final confrontation with the Alien, Ripley dons a white spacesuit. Thus proving that she is The Hero and to contrast with the Alien.
  • Bruce Almighty: God is portrayed as Morgan Freeman wearing an all-white suit, and is shown as an example of God Is Good who tries to teach the protagonist Bruce an important lesson, albeit while messing with him a bit.
  • The Craft: The Hero, Sarah Baily wears a white sweater in the climax which almost becomes a White Shirt of Death and at the end, she wears an all-white ensemble of clothes, in contrast to Nancy Downs who starts wearing black when she starts getting Drunk on the Dark Side, and becomes the main villain.
  • Crimson Peak the Protagonist Edith often wears white and is associated with the sunshine and has blond hair and is a Nice Girl.
  • The Dark Crystal the urSkeks, were a race of wise and noble beings that constantly emitted light. But when they tampered with the Crystal, they split into the two races of the Film: the good Mystics and the evil Skekis. After they are reformed, they save Kira and Ascend to a Higher Plane of Existence.
    • The Mystics also count, as they were born out of the light of urSkeks, and are Always Lawful Good.
    • The secondary protagonist Kira, is an albino whose name means 'Light'.
  • Equilibrium: In the climactic fight of the film, the Hero, John Preston dons a completely white clerical ceremonial outfit. This stands out as all the other characters all have worn black, so the fight is him fighting all the black-clothed goons and the main villain.
  • Ra in Gods of Egypt, to the point of being so bright his presence burns mortals. Also willing to endure anything to make sure his creation survives — including forgiving the murder of his own children.
  • Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019): The Kaiju Mothra is noted for her powerful bioluminescence, and her cave painting in The Stinger of Kong: Skull Island is white. She is also a Gentle Giant and shows no ill will to humans, even leaning in to let Madison Russell touch her, and is the first kaiju in the setting to attempt to communicate with humans. She (and the humans aligned with her) represent the most benevolent end of this setting’s Morality Kitchen Sink, her Light 'em Up abilities get used for a Rays from Heaven maneuver at one point, she is explictly the setting’s Hope Bringer, and she is stated in this continuity’s One Myth to Explain Them All setup to be the inspiration for angels, a direct contrast to Ghidorah’s Satanic Archetype and Rodan’s Our Demons Are Different.
  • In the The Great Race: The Hero, The Great Leslie, wears white. And all his gear is white. His car, his rope, his grappling hook, his pipe, his clothes. He even gets hit with a white pie in a pie fight. The villain, Professor Fate, wears black and his car is black.
  • In Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, the protagonists have white smoke when they Apparate, and the antagonists have black smoke.
  • The Karate Kid (1984): In the tournament, Daniel is in white gi while Johnny (the Cobra Kai fighter) is in black gi. Deconstructed in that Johnny was trained by an Evil Mentor rather than being an outright bad guy.
  • In The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, Arwen appears to Frodo in a flowing white gown with light radiating out from her. This is just a vision to Frodo but it symbolizes that she is good and is there to help him. Though she does warn him that she could end up evil and remain like she is.
  • Marvel Cinematic Universe:
    • Thor: Heimdall, the guardian of the Bifröst, wears all gold armor, has Supernatural Gold Eyes, has solar motifs, and is unambiguously heroic.
    • Guardians of the Galaxy (2014): Groot is capable of releasing spores and flowers glowing in a bright golden light, which he uses to illuminate the darkness. He is also the nicest of the Anti-Hero Team of the Guardians of the Galaxy.
    • Thor: Ragnarok: When Valkyrie performs a Good Costume Switch, donning her original all-white outfit to perform a Heel–Face Turn to the heroes' side.
    • Captain Marvel (2019): Carol Danvers' powers are centered on photon manipulation, usually into her iconic photon blasts. In her binary mode, she is completely enveloped in golden light and is a Physical God.
    • Avengers: Endgame Most of the surviving Avengers wear matching white sets of armor, so they can safely traverse the Quantum Realm to undo the effects of Thanos's snap and save everyone.
  • The 1939 film version of The Wizard of Oz and Oz the Great and Powerful play this trope straight with their respective versions of Glinda, the Good Witch of the South.
  • Played straight in one of the very last scenes of Pan's Labyrinth, which shows the throne room from King & Queen of the Underworld as a golden place full of bright light, where Ofelia is received after she dies in the real world.
  • Poltergeist. The medium Tangina says:
    Tangina: When people die, there's a wonderful light as bright as the sun. But it doesn't hurt to look into it. All the answers to all the questions that you ever want to know are inside that light. And when you walk to it, you become a part of it forever.
  • RoboCop (1987) is a silver-plated cyborg cop that fights crime. The silver armor enhances his appearance to a literal Knight In Shining Armour.
  • A bit of a no-brainer but the stars in Stardust. They shine when their hearts are full of joy and happiness although Yvaine actually uses this as a weapon against the witches.
  • The Light Side of the Force in Star Wars. The Expanded Universe is a bit more relaxed with this, though. Oddly enough, nobody ever calls it the "Light Side" in the original and prequel trilogies... it's only ever "The Force" and "The Dark Side of the Force." The idea of calling it the "Light Side of the Force" most likely came from fans making the "Dark Is Evil = Light is Good" connection on their own! The sequel trilogy finally uses the term.
    • The Hero of the original trilogy, Luke Skywalker, wears a white tunic in A New Hope and white Jedi robes in The Force Awakens to symbolize him becoming the Big Good. His twin sister Princess Leia, wears white and is the icon of the rebellion.
    • The Prequel Trilogy has Padme Amidala, who often wears light or white clothes to symbolize her being on the side of good, and being The Heart to the trio of her, Anakin and Obi Wan, and her status as the Morality Chain to Anakin.
    • Obi-Wan Kenobi and Yoda, the Mentor and Big Good both wear white robes as well.
    • The Hero of the Sequel Trilogy, Rey, also exemplifies this, often wearing light clothes, and her name refers to "a ray of light," and she is described as being the Light to meet Kylo Ren's rising Darkness.
  • The fanatic priest and abusive mother in Stations of the Cross wear black and gray, while light enters young Maria's world (far too late to save her) only three times:
    • The doctor who treats Maria and confronts her mother is dressed in a strikingly white lab coat, in an office as clean, light, and comforting as him.
    • The first thing Bernadette, a genuinely good Christian, can think of when asked to describe Heaven is "a great light," before going on to describe the songs the saints will sing and the great joy they will feel.
    • Maria's mother insists her daughter is given a white dress in the penultimate scene, because she believes her daughter has proven herself to be completely pure, ignoring how self-destructive Maria's devotion has become.
  • Terminator: Dark Fate: The heroic cyborg, Grace has a golden subdermal armor who was sent to the past to protect Dani, in contrast to the Rev-9, the Terminator sent to kill Dani, who has a black endoskeleton and liquid metal skin.
  • X-Men: Apocalypse: The pale grey background of the "Defend" poster (which promotes the heroes) signifies this.

    Literature 
  • In mythology and fantasy stories, light (particularly sunlight) severely impairs or even harms monsters.
  • In Poul Anderson's "Brave To Be A King", a beggar urges, "Alms for the love of Light!" Later, two time travelers makes themselves glow to convince a king that they are heavenly messengers.
  • The Light Casters from The Caster Chronicles. They have light-based magic, and are good-natured and heroic.
  • T. S. Eliot's Choruses from "The Rock"
    О Light Invisible, we praise Thee!
    Too bright for mortal vision.
  • Downplayed in Jeramey Kraatz's The Cloak Society. Still, light powers belong to good characters.
  • The Light in The Dark is Rising series of novels is good, but not nice. However, while Dark Is Evil is mostly played straight, Light occasionally is actually evil as well too, with later installments blatantly stating that balance is better.
  • Daughter Of The Son: Orsina is a paladin, with her organization being called the Order of the Sun. Further, her sword can be lit up to guide her way after she prays to trigger it. She's the titular Daughter of the Sun as well naturally. The symbol of the Order is a golden sun, which Orsina wears on her tabard. She can also cast a shield made from golden light around herself.
  • As Dante explains in The Divine Comedy, "On high, joy is made manifest by brightness, as, here on earth, by smile." What he means is that the saints living in Paradise are encased in light that gets progressively brighter the closer they are to God. By the time Dante has ascended the first three spheres of Heaven, the light of the blessed is too bright for Dante to recognize people he knew back on Earth.
  • In The Dresden Files, sunlight is anathema to most creatures of the Nevernever, and can disrupt more negative and evil enchantments and spells. Also, the Swords of the Cross emit light that cancels out the powers of the Denarians.
    • Plus the Summer Faeries tend to be fairly benevolent whereas the Winter ones are actively sadistic, although both sides are manipulative and capable of great crimes, when you put the two Courts next to one another it is played fairly straight
    • The Archangel Uriel, who means a the Light of God appears several times in the series, both to offer help to Harry, Giving Harry the power to use Soulfire to counter-act Hellfire.
  • King Arthur's diatribe against the night from The Faerie Queene includes a brief praise for the day. He describes how it exposes evil for all to see and gives rise to honesty that humanity needs in order to thrive.
    "For day discouers all dishonest wayes, / And sheweth each thing, as it is indeed: / The prayses of high God he faire displayes, / And his large bountie rightly doth areed."
  • In Gone, the main protagonist, Sam Temple, gains the ability to create "Sammy Suns", orbs of green light, and later, the ability to fire lasers.
  • Harry Potter: Given J. K. Rowling's dedication to Meaningful Names, it is hardly a coincidence that Albus Dumbledore's first name means 'white'.
    • The Patronus Charm, a powerful defensive spell, manifests itself as a luminescent silver animal, which is used to drive off the Dementors. Word of God states that any Dark Wizards or Witches attempting to create a Patronus would instead be devoured by maggots erupting from their wand.
  • James Herbert:
  • The default in The Lord of the Rings and J. R. R. Tolkien's other words, though there's more subtlety to it than that: the Elves are associated with the cold light of the stars and later the moon, while Men are associated with the hotter, harsher light of the Sun. Tom Bombadil also notes that he remembers when 'the dark under the stars was fearless, before the Dark Lord came from Outside', so Dark is not intrinsically evil.
  • In Robert A. Heinlein's Magic, Inc., the heroes storm Hell because light always overcomes darkness (since darkness is merely the absence of light), and they are the forces of Light, so it does not behoove them to sit around reacting to the demonic forces.
  • In Jennifer Crusie's Maybe This Time, Andie urges ghosts to Go into the Light, assuring them that it's probably good, because light is.
  • In Teresa Frohock's Miserere: An Autumn Tale, only good guys can cast the light spell. It is not very powerful, but very useful for establishing yourself.
  • Mistborn: The Original Trilogy:
    • Elend, when he becomes The Good King and later Emperor, he dons an all-white outfit, in contrast to Vin's black clothes.
    • The Big Good, Preservation, associated with white; as he manifests as the white mist, and opposes Ruin, the Big Bad God of Evil who is associated with black.
  • Light magic in My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom! is only confirmed to be able to dispel curses, detect dark magic and heal injuries. The only major character to have this affinity is also an All-Loving Hero in all timelines.
  • Night Watch (Series): Light Others live and breathe this trope... though, it can be said that the series examines this trope, bends it, reshapes it, subverts it, averts it, and when all else is lost, the author throws in the towel and says that all bets are off.
  • An Outcast in Another World has a more literal example. His trip through the void has traumatized Rob, and complete darkness freaks him out. Mentally speaking, natural life is his friend and ally. Dungeon entrances are also pitch-black to signify how dangerous they are.
  • The poem "Oxalis", by Nancy Cato, lovingly describes the flowers gleaming "like a streak of sunlight".
  • In John Milton's Paradise Lost, continually used, for the angels, include those that later fell.
    how chang'd
    From him, who in the happy Realms of Light
    Cloth'd with transcendent brightness didst outshine
    Myriads though bright
  • In L. Jagi Lamplighter's Prospero Lost, Father Christmas tells Miranda, Mab and Mephisto that they can stay a while because all who serve the Light are welcome.
  • In the land of Caederan, Light is one of the two "supra-elements" that surround and infuse the four elemental magics. Each element has a light aspect, which is the proper and natural use of that element. In addition, it is possible for someone to turn you into an orah, those who "live aligned with light alone," and can access the light side of each of the four elemental magics. It's mentioned specifically that fire called by an orah burns hotter and cleaner, and is much easier to prevent from running amok, as compared to fire called by an aesh.
  • This is a major element of the setting in Shadow of the Conqueror alongside Dark Is Evil. The de facto religion of Hamahra, Lightseeking, seems to be based on this.
  • Slayers TRY introduces Filia Ul Copt. She is the Good Shepherd of Cepheid, wears white, and has holy magical abilities.
  • In Smoke and Shadows, the heroes call upon "The Light of Yeramathia" to destroy the Shadowlord.
  • In Robin McKinley's Sunshine, Sunshine herself. Yolonda wisely refuses to believe evil of anyone who draws power from sunlight even though she hobnobs with a vampire.
  • Tairen Soul:
    • A term of romantic endearment between Fey is: "The Great Sun rises in your eyes, beloved."
    • The heroine is compared favorably to Erimea, an in-universe star that illuminates the dark skies of winter.
    • When Ellysetta saves the tairen cubs, their souls are depicted as living light, in stark contrast to the Well's anonymous shadows.
  • Subverted in a weird way in Eve Forward's Villains by Necessity with the Good/Light side. With the "heroes" of the world constantly eradicating every single evil they come across, thus endangering the world's balance, it quickly becomes clear that they don't exactly live up the "Good" part in their name.
  • In Warrior Cats, characters use rhetoric about the heroes being light fighting the darkness, their ancestors become stars, and the cats go to the Moonstone which allows them to contact their benevolent ancestors and glows with moonlight. Most cats with light-related names are clearly good (Firestar, Whitestorm, Whitewing, Sunstar, Moonflower, Brightheart, Briarlight, Brightspirit, Shiningheart, etc.) — everyone besides Sol.
  • The Waterfire Saga:
    • The friendly optimist Neela just so happens to have light-based powers, meaning that her body constantly glows. Naturally, she glows brightest when happy.
    • In the first book's finale, the protagonists cast a spell that merges their souls (and various magical powers). This results in the heroes glowing with Neela's shared magic.
  • In the Wheel of Time series, the Creator and the Light.
  • Diane Duane's Young Wizards series works with this considerably, especially in the first book, although they play with it increasingly through the series and at the end of the third book have a decisive Redemption arc where it is shown that Dark Does Not Have To Be Bad. The fact that the Powers don't live within linear time means there are still loads and loads of incarnations of the Lone One running around being evil for books and books more, but they've finally given him the chance to start going home.

    Live-Action TV 
  • Airwolf: Michael "Archangel" Coldsmith-Briggs, Hawke's contact with the FIRM, who not only wears white suits, but is flown around in a white helicopter and driven in a white limo. Lampshaded several times by String and Dom. All the members of the Firm wear white and the one that wears a normal business suit turns out to be a Mole.
  • American Gothic (1995): The Protagonist Caleb's deceased sister, Merlyn appears to him as a ghost wearing white, and acts as a Spirit Advisor who tries to lead him to the right direction, away from the Sheriff Buck, who had killed her and dresses in black.
  • Arabela: The titular princess is sweet, blonde, and wears gold and white. Her sister Xenia, is dark-haired, wears dark clothes and is a Royal Brat.
  • Arrow: The fourth season deals with Oliver having to learn to master light magic so as to defeat Daimian Darhk's Black magic.
  • Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Bright white-haired Willow from the last episode of Season 7, when her powers fully develop.
  • Charmed (1998) and the 2018 reboot had the Whitelighters, guardian angels responsible for protecting and guiding good witches. Whitelighter Leo Wyatt would serve to be a major ally to the Halliwell sisters in the series, and eventually marry Piper, the middle sister.
  • The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance: The Skeksis skekGra, is the Defector from Decadence from the rest of the evil Skeksis, who wishes to be reunited with his Mystic counterpart, and he wears a white robe to signify his status as the Token Good Teammate.
  • Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons: Big Good, Colonel White is the Commander-in-Chief of Spectrum and a Reasonable Authority Figure.
  • The Boys (2019): The Hero Starbright, has light-based powers, wears a white and gold costume, and is one of the most unambiguously good heroes of the series.
  • Doctor Who: River Song wears white in her first appearance, although it later emerges that she's more of an Anti-Hero.
    • The Classic series has The White Guardian and the Black Guardian. The White Guardian is the epitome of good and dresses in white clothing, the Black Guardian is the epitome of evil and dresses in black clothing. They cannot influence events directly and need proxies to carry out their will.
    • The Thal race are blond, blue-eyed, and wear light clothes, and after fighting a vast war, become the Always Lawful Good race, shown in a mainly positive light, refusing violence to the point the Doctor has to talk them into it to avoid dying.
  • The Fade: The protagonist Paul is one of the Angelics: people who can see the Fades, evil flesh-eating ghosts, and Paul has the ability to shoot light bolts out of his hands that are the only known working weapon to defeat Reborns...and that can also forcibly reopen Ascension points.
  • Fantasy Island: Mr. Rourke, the mysterious master of Fantasy Island acts as a tractor mentor who tries to teach the visitors An Aesop Once per Episode.
  • Game of Thrones: Viserion is the dragon with white and gold skin, and is the dragon most tolerant to people aside from Daenerys. Hold the "good" after he Came Back Wrong.
    • Jon Snow's pet wolf Ghost, is a pure white wolf who shows undying loyalty to Jon even after his death and again in his resurrection. Jon would later take the name "The White Wolf" from the North.
  • Ghost Whisperer has the Shines, who are ghosts of children who combat the Shadows, the malicious ghost entities is Season 5.
  • Good Omens (2019): Aziraphale, one of the two protagonists, is an angel with white-blond hair, white wings, and is shown throughout the millennia as wearing a cream suit. He also contrasts against the rest of the forces of Heaven, who are supposedly on the side of good, but care more about winning the war against Hell regardless of the mass casualties and destruction, which Aziraphale and Crowley are trying to stop.
  • Heroes: Many of the characters wear colors to show their traits. The heroic Peter Perelli wears white as a male nurse and as causal wear, in contrast to the villainous Skylar who favors black
  • Iron Fist (2017): After Colleen gains the powers of the Iron Fist, it manifests itself as glowing white when activated.
  • Once Upon a Time: Light Magic in the series is born out of love and is used for good.
    • One of the main characters, Mary Margret/Snow White, is frequently associated with white, as she wears it often as well as blue.
    • The Hero, Emma Swann, gets the ability to manipulate Light Magic as she was born from a union of true love.
  • Legend of the Seeker:
    • Kahlan, the Mother Confessor, wears a white dress to show her position.
    • The Sisters of the Light, who act as allies to the heroes at several points.
  • Legends of Tomorrow: Sara Lance, aka White Canary who wears an all-white costume as opposed to the black outfit she wore as the first Black Canary. Her sister Laurel suggested it to her, saying:
    You have been in the shadows for too long.
  • Lost: Jacob, the white-clad leader of the Outsiders, appears to be morally questionable, but is ultimately revealed to be the Big Good, working in opposition to his brother, the Man in black. Though he does use morally questionable acts, he does to prove that Humans Are Good, in contrast to his brother, who thinks the opposite.
  • Lucifer is mostly an example of how Dark Is Not Evil, but his wings are the stereotypical white angel wings, a sign he's not as bad as he appears. a main point in the series it that Lucifer regaining his wings is a sign he has let go of his self-loathing(which is responsible for his Devil face, a flayed human head. Both times that he regains his wings, it is shown as a sign he has let go of his self-hatred with his love of Chloe.
  • In Mutant X, Season 3 introduces Lexa Pierce, who has light-based powers and takes over as the team leader.
  • Power Rangers and Super Sentai have featured White, Silver or Gold Rangers as members of the team, often as Sixth Rangers.
  • Riverdale Archie Andrews and Betty Cooper wear light-coloured clothing, and are generally the kindest and most empathetic main characters, in contrast to Jughead and Veronica's Dark Is Not Evil clothes.
  • In Smallville, using some meteor powers emit a Sickly Green Glow. However, when an unambiguously good Chloe Sullivan gets Empathic Healing, her hand glows gold and white.
    • The members of the House of El, Superman's biological Kryptonian family are all shown o have worn white.
  • Stargate SG-1: The ships of Asgard are shiny white, fitting advanced beings that help out the heroes.
  • Star Trek: Discovery The Pahvans are Energy Beings that are made up of blue and white energy and who are Actual Pacifists to the Starfleet and Klingon Empire together to forge a peace treaty.
  • Supernatural loves to subvert this trope but it plays it straight a few times.
    • In the "Pilot", Mary and Jess are both introduced wearing white and both meet their horrifying end while wearing white nightclothes. Yet, it's Subverted by the Monster of the Week, who is a vengeful "Woman in White" spirit.
    • In Season 4, Castiel finds the body of an angel wearing an Ethereal White Dress, and it turns out she was murdered for refusing to join Lucifer's side.
    • In Season 7, Castiel wears white mental patient scrubs after his breakdown, indicating he has returned to the side of good after losing his sanity.
  • The Tick (2016): The Hero, Arthur, wears a white costume that resembles a moth, that allows him to fly. Compared to the original comics, be is much more courageous and assertive.
  • Touched by an Angel Is about how the angels Monica, goes and helps various different people overcome their problems. Whenever an Angel usually Monica reveal their true nature, they glow orange light. Angles in the series are also known to be wearing mostly white.
  • Twin Peaks: Season 3: The Return, Señorita Dido, is the voice of morality among the supernatural beings of the show, albeit a silent one. She dresses in a shining dress akin to a silent movie starlet.
  • The Ultramen are beings of light and defenders of the universe from monsters and other evils threatening it.

    Music 
  • Implied by The Apples song Energy. ("And the world is synchronicity/and the world is made of energy/and there's a light inside of you/and there's a light inside of me...")
  • Beyoncé's song Halo draws heavily from divine motifs and describes how she feels his 'halo hit like a ray of sun.'
  • Charli XCX: the song 'Boom Clap' where the singer sings about her lover as being 'the light' and 'the sun/the glowing halo'.
  • Jessie J's song, 'Laserlight' where she describes how "your like a laserlight burning down on me/you make me feel good, you make me feel safe."
    • Her song ''Domino' includes the line, 'Whirl my world into the sunlight/Make this dream the best I've ever known'
  • Omnipresent in songs about being yourself or standing up for oneself, in which light is your "inner self" or strength or individuality or whatever.
  • Marianne Faithfull: Her song 'The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face' is about this, comparing the face in the song as the sun, the stars and the moon.
  • P!nk: The song, 'The Bridge of Light' is based on this, as well as having the lyric 'You'll find your heart shines like the sun.'
  • David Guetta: The song 'Lovers in the Sun' compares the lovers in the song to 'a burning light'.
  • Ray Charles 's song "Georgia On My Mind" describes the song as 'A song of you/Comes as sweet and clear/As moonlight through the pines...'
  • The Rolling Stones: 'Shine A Light', includes the lyrics 'May the good Lord shine a light on you/Warm like the evening sun'.
  • Disturbed: Their song The Light is this, as well as Dark Is Not Evil by stating 'Only in Darkness can you see the Light.'
  • Sting: In the music video for 'Brand New Day' Sting appears as a glowing entity in a white suit, who comes to the downtrodden and hopeless, and blesses them, giving them white clothes, better hygiene, and overall a cleaner appearance.
  • Holding Out for a Hero music video by Bonnie Tyler, features the angelic backup singers dressed in white and gold and the heroic cowboy who has a white horse, and dons white armour to fight the evil outlaws who have black horses and wear black.
  • Jaga Jazzist music video for 'Day', depicts the band as wearing all white, are cosmic agents who work to keep the balance of the universe.
  • Taylor Swift's You Belong with Me features the two love interests, both played by Swift, the dark-haired Alpha Bitch who wears red at the final scene at the prom and the blonde-haired and kind band geek who wears white.

    Myths & Religion 
  • In the Lusitanian Mythology, the god Endovelicus was associated with light and healing, being obviously benevolent. However, the same mythology also has Neto, a sun god associated with war, and when Christianity settled in Endovelicus became identified with Lucifer.
  • Norse Mythology has multiple examples:
    • Freyr, the god of Summer, closely associated with the sun, and was an agricultural deity, and largely considered a benevolent force.
    • Baldr, the god of light is another example, as many describe him as being the most benevolent and beloved of gods. The "Prose Edda" describes him as being "most gracious" and "fairly spoken".
    • Heimdall also counts, as he represents the benefits of fire.
    • Sunna, Goddess of the sun counts, as her shield Svalin protects the world from being burned in a flaming inferno.
  • Manichaean scripture spread the idea of light being good and darkness being evil, which is likely why it sometimes shows up in mainstream Christian rhetoric despite the Bible not favoring either (as in the cases of Milcom, Satan and Lucifer being bad and the shade of the lord good). However, there are many a passage in canon Christian scripture that can be taken this way if not put against the work as a whole.
    • I John 1:7 — But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.
    • Job 33:28 — He redeemed my soul from going down to the pit, and I will live to enjoy the light.'
    • Psalm 18:28 — You, O LORD, keep my lamp burning; my God turns my darkness into light.
    • Isaiah 50:10 — Let him who walks in the dark, who has no light, trust in the name of the LORD and rely on his God.
    • John 1:4-5 — In him was life, and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it.
    • Romans 13:12 — The night is nearly over; the day is almost here. So let us put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light.
  • Islam: The Qur'an has the An-Nur (Meaning The Light) chapter that compares God to a majestic light:
    24:35: "Allah is the Light of the heavens and the earth. The parable of His Light is a niche wherein is a lamp—the lamp is in a glass, the glass as it were a glittering star—lit from a blessed olive tree, neither eastern nor western, whose oil almost lights up, though fire should not touch it. Light upon light. Allah guides to His Light whomever He wishes. Allah draws parables for mankind, and Allah has knowledge of all things.
  • Amaterasu of the Japanese pantheon is this trope taken to the umpteenth degree, being both the resident Goddess of the Sun and Goddess Of Good. While almost all other gods of the Shinto pantheon have at least one temporary lapse into Jerkass God territory each, the worst slip-up Amaterasu ever had was when she hid away in a cave, denying the world her light for a time, and that was after her brother Susano'o, resident God of Storms, butchered one of Amaterasu's horses and fatally threw its carcass at one of her handmaidens.
  • Celtic Mythology has Lugh the Long-Handed, is the god of the sun and light in general, fertility, and famous for having liberated Ireland from the monster Balor. There is also Brigid goddess of healing, pottery and smithwork and was associated with light and the sun. A beloved Goddess, the Christians chose to make her a saint instead of demonizing her like the rest of the Irish pagan gods.
  • In Zoroastrianism, Ahuras / Yazatas are venerated beings of Zoroastriansim, and closely associated with light. In fact, Zoroastrianism is the first religion to embrace the Light Is Good / Dark Is Evil Duality, making this a Ur-Example.
  • Aztec Mythology has two examples:
    • Quetzalcoatl is god of light, the Morning Star, and his human form is described as being very light-skinned, and he was a benevolent god, and the only god who did not demand human sacrifices.
    • Nanahuatzin who changed his name to Tonatiuh, the sun god, who stepped up and sacrificed himself, became the sun god when Tecciztecatl refused to do so. Played with a bit, as he as called for human sacrifices to keep the sun from moving across the sky.
  • Egyptian Mythology has Ra, the Sun God, and Top God of the Pantheon, and responsible for protecting reality from Apophis, the embodiment of chaos and destruction.
  • Hindu Mythology has several examples:
    • Surya the Sun God who was responsible for bringing light to the world, and teaching the hero Hanuman.
    • The sister Goddesses Usha, Goddess of the Dawn who drives the demons of the night away, and Rati, the goddess of the Night, embodied by the stars who keeps the demons away during the night.
    • Shiva is an odd example as he is a Destroyer Deity, but also the god of change and rebirth.
  • Inca Mythology has Inti the Sun god, who is largely seen as a benevolent and generous deity, as he is responsible for light to grow crops.The Inca considered him the patron god of their empire.
  • The Kalevala: Ilmatar, a virgin spirit of the air who helped create the world, and wears white and when appearing is sometimes surrounded by light/shining aura. She is very benevolent and her purposes, despite the passivity, are good.

    Sports 
  • Canadian figure skater Beres Clements performed to the Angels & Demons soundtrack for his long program during the 2020-2021 competitive season, and the white part of his costume represents the angels in the title.

    Tabletop Games 
  • Sun gods in Dungeons & Dragons are generally always of a good alignment. Pelor from Greyhawk is Neutral Good, Lathander from the Forgotten Realms is Neutral Good. Amaunator, the defunct Netheril sun god, averted this trope by being Lawful Neutral, but upon being reinstated in the fourth edition (by fusing with Lathander) became Lawful Good. He became Lawful Neutral again in 5th edition.
    • Prior to the 4th edition, where they could be good or evil, angels and metallic dragons, who will actively attempt to aid weaker races. The 4th edition still played this straight with the good dragon god Bahamut.
  • Exalted gives us The Unconquered Sun, the divine embodiment of virtue and righteousness, created by the Primordial of dickery solely because he wanted to find out what would give him purpose. And boy, did he succeed there, as the Unconquered Sun saw that the Primordials were yoking Creation about and helped lead the struggle to overthrow them. His chosen, the Solar Exalted, are supposed to be like this... save for that little Great Curse thing.
  • The white color in Magic: The Gathering uses a sun for its symbol. It has by far the lion's share of cards concerning healing, protection, spells that disarm creatures or only destroy/remove creatures when they attack you, and creatures traditionally associated with good such as angels, knights in shining armor and honest soldiers. Depending on the block, white cards can just as easily make for Light Is Not Good, however.
    • In terms of characters wielding White Magic, the most famous are heroic, but there's a sufficiently large amount of paranoid Knight Templars as well. So light is neutral in this setting.
  • In Nobilis, the Magisters of the Light are the manifestations of humanity's desire to survive and are protective of human life. Zig-zagged, however, as that can mean becoming Well Intentioned Extremists protecting humanity at any cost, and the ethics vary between individual members, but generally, they prefer moral methods for their goals.
  • Princess: The Hopeful: Includes this as the Magical Girl heroes powers come from Light, which is formed from there feelings of love, compassion, and friendship. Notably, each act of good brings more light into the world. They also fight against the Darkness, an all-consuming force that seeks to destroy everything on Earth.
  • Sentinels of the Multiverse
  • Both subverted and played straight with the Living Saints of Warhammer 40,000. They are shining examples of all that's good about humanity, avatars of the Immortal God-Emperor of Mankind, shining with light that causes most heretics to repent and desire to serve the Imperium, that fills the hearts of the faithful with unshakable courage and joy in serving the Emperor. Within the Imperium, almost universally accepted as unambiguously morally good, serving humanity selflessly in and out of combat and eventually sacrificing their lives for the good of the Imperium. Outside the Imperium, they're probably viewed no better than any other Imperial tool.
  • The Stellaknight archetypes' appearance and implied role in the Yu-Gi-Oh! OCG saga started in The Duelist Advent implies that they are benevolent or even heroic.

    Theatre 
  • Cats: Victoria, the pure white kitten is a sweet and kind kitten who is one of the first to accept Grizabella and the very first to physically touch her.
  • Cirque du Soleil has made great use of their performers wearing white to represent purity and innocence:
  • In John Milton's Comus, the older brother invokes this to assure his younger brother:
    Virtue could see to do what Virtue would
    By her own radiant light, though sun and moon
    Were in the flat sea sunk.
  • Jesus Christ Superstar: Jesus Christ in the play is wearing white clothes in most productions.
  • William Shakespeare's Macbeth invokes it:
    Angels are bright still, though the brightest fell;
    Though all things foul would wear the brows of grace,
    Yet grace must still look so.

    Toys 
  • In BIONICLE, every sentient character has a dark side and light side, representing good and evil. These could be tapped into, to obtain either light or shadow powers, and naturally, shadow is easier to master and makes one corrupt. To those who have light or shadow powers from the get-go, obtaining the opposite "element" can prove difficult, since the two powers tend to cancel each other out. This is a mostly late development, however. While bad guys were since early associated with darkness, the light in Bionicle was originally more ambiguous and meant to be "special" rather than "good".
  • The Transformers' god, Primus, is often referred to as the "Lord of Light", and the Matrix of Leadership is meant to "light our darkest hour."

    Video Games 
  • Ace Attorney:
  • In Alan Wake, light is so good that flashbang grenades are lethal against evil.
    • The sheer brightness from the lighthouse in the second DLC "The Writer" is very much One-Hit Kill against the Taken. So as long the boulders are cleared out.
  • Assassin's Creed: The titular Assassin Brotherhood is an organization driven to protecting humanity's free will from the manipulations of the Templar Order, and are closely associated with the colors white and red and the main outfit for many of the heroes such as Altaïr, Connor, Ezio, Desmond, Bayek and Aya). The Assassin robe is usually a white, hooded outfit with a red sash. Their creed even specifically mentions "we work in the dark, to serve the light."
  • Bayonetta has angels who avert this trope big time, but the Lumen Sages they work with play it straight, when the sages aren't being brainwashed.
  • BlazBlue: Hakumen, the de facto leader of the Six Heroes who defeated the Black Beast, and wears white armour, and calls himself the White Void. He appears as the Hero Antagonist of the game, and is an Anti-Hero with Good Is Not Nice tendencies, though he mellows out later on.
  • Boktai has the solar child Django and his solar empowered gun.
  • Aurora, the titular Child of Light has light-elemental powers that she uses to fight the Queen of Darkness. She wears light yellow clothing and a completely white outfit at the end of the game.
  • Darksiders
    • The angels are this, as they are Hero Antagonists in the beginning, but eventually help against a common threat. Archangel Uriel, for instance, does a Face–Heel Turn after discovering Abbadon's treachery, Azrael assists War in the second game, Nathaniel helps the fight against the Corruption, and Jamaerah is a decent fellow once freed of the Corruption.
    • Strife, the Rider of the White Horse, wears a white mask, and is the Horseman most dedicated to saving humanity.
  • Destiny has the Traveler, a Big Good bright white object is what's been keeping the human race alive for hundreds of years. The beneficial powers it grants are even called "Light." It acts as the main opponent of the Big Bad, The Darkness,which is responsible for driving humanity into near-extinction.
    • The Speaker of the Tower, who acts as an interpreter of the Traveler and is the secondary Big Good, wears a white masks and robes.
  • Devil May Cry:
  • Devil May Cry 2: Lucia is the most blatant example in the franchise. She wears a white cape, her name is Latin for "light" and her Devil Trigger more resembles an angel than a demon.
    • Devil May Cry 3: Lady wears a white top and her true name is a reference to the Virgin Mary.
    • Devil May Cry 5: Nero's true Devil Trigger has a more human/angel look compared to Dante's, lacking the reptilean features and having feathered wings.
    • Dm C Devil May Cry: The reboot version of Dante falls under this, as he is half-angel in this game.
  • Dragon Quest in general has light as a force of good and holiness, with the Big Bad usually representative of Dark Is Evil. It also works in gameplay: Usually only the Hero of the game is capable of casting the Zap line of spells to symbolize their goodness.
  • The first Fable has this in spades, with light clothing giving you good points and dark clothing giving you evil points, and good characters morphing to have lighter features. The sequels ease up on it, but it's still present.
  • The Final Fantasy series uses this along with the brother trope:
  • The Fire Emblem series uses this often in combination with Dark Is Evil, especially in the older games. Light magic is often supereffective against dark magic, with users of light magic dealing heavy damage to dark magic users, while taking less damage from them in return. In games with monsters infesting the world map, light magic is supereffective against them as well. It's especially true in Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War when the 11th-Hour Superpower, the light tome called the Book of Naga, is the only weapon capable of easily taking down the Big Bad, a demon-possessed dark mage from a Cult of evil dark mages whose tome ordinarily cuts all damage he receives in half.
  • Gift: Gift's Yellow Crystal power allows to kill Little Darks around him and survive in very dark places.
  • God of War After God Of War I, Kratos is powered by the Light of Hope. His sole redeeming trait, for a given value of "redeeming", is his stubborn refusal to give up hope (of revenge, of closure, etc.) and die. Ultimately, the realization of the kind of power that gives him leads him to try to atone by killing himself and releasing hope to the world to help make up for the destruction he's caused.
  • Guilty Gear: The Missing Link: Ky Kiske is this in contrast to Sol's Dark Is Not Evil. He's wearing white and blue and uses lightning, and though he has Knight Templar tendencies early on, he quickly proves to be a Nice Guy through and through.
    • While Sol Badguy is mainly a case of Dark Is Not Evil he possesses the Outrage Senga (which makes up part of his Junkyard Dog MK III sword in Xrd), which is capable of channeling and amplifying light-based magic.
  • In The Haunted Mansion video game, evil ghosts cannot inhabit a lit room. Every puzzle in the game is figuring out how to light up the current room.
  • Palutena of Kid Icarus is the good goddess of light. Her sister, in contrast, is the evil goddess of darkness. The Hero of the game is also rather light aligned with his own antagonistic Shadow Archetype to deal with, though he is aided by a shady Anti-Hero.
  • "I know now, without a doubt, Kingdom Hearts is Light!"
  • Lux and Leona from League of Legends fit this to a T, the former having light-based skills while the latter has sun-symbolism.
  • The Legend of Heroes - Trails:
    • Trails in the Sky: Ries has Mirage-aligned slots and her S-Crafts summon angelic creatures.
    • Trails from Zero: Elie has silver hair, dresses in bright colors, and later on recieves Space as a secondary element, and is an all around Nice Girl and heroic individual.
    • Trails of Cold Steel: Alisa's main Quartz element is Space, several of her Crafts are light-themed, and she has an angelic motif in her Master Quartz and S-Crafts (Radiant Ark gives her wings while the name of her S-Craft in III is taken from an angel).
  • This is a reoccurring theme in The Legend of Zelda games:
    • A reoccurring weapon that Link receives is the Arrow of Light. These are used against the main antagonists who have an affinity for darkness.
    • One of Link's allies in The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time is Rauru, the Sage of Light. Also, like the aforementioned statement for the Zelda series, one of Link's weapons is the Arrow of Light, which is used in the final battle against Ganondorf.
    • In The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, the Light Spirits of the four springs, who aid you and who keep the land peaceful.
    • This trope is sprinkled liberally throughout the games as a whole. Many of the climatic scenes involving Link use dramatic lighting to grand effect — just watch any of the Master Sword sequences. Probably most prominently displayed thematically in The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, where Ganondorf's dark power has corrupted the Sacred Realm (a Golden Land where the Triforce once resided) and turned it into the dangerous and evil Dark World. Subverted somewhat in Twilight Princess.
  • LunarLux:
    • While all Lunex Warriors can use Lux Combos, Bella has a particularly strong affinity with Lux due to being a descendant of the Ancients. This allows her to use Lux to read the emotions of Murks and wield the Relic Sword.
    • Although Chronos is an example of Dark Is Not Evil due to being a Murk, it turns out she can still use her Lux abilities that she had in her human life as Thea Grey. She uses this to temporarily transform into a blue glowing form resembling her human self.
  • Dr. Light, the good scientist in Mega Man (Classic).
  • Amaterasu, the goddess of the sun and mother of all life, in Ōkami.
  • Ori and the Blind Forest has the titular Ori, a glowing white creature who is the protector of the forest of Nibel, and is shown to be a kindhearted and forgiving being. Its name even means "Light" in Hebrew.
  • Overwatch has several examples:
  • Pokémon: Ralts and its evolutions Kirlia and especially Gardevoir and Gallade are angel-like Psychic/Fairy-type Pokemon (pure Psychic-type prior to Generation VI and Psychic/Fighting-type for Gallade) who are predominantly colored white with green hair and are extremely loyal and protective towards their trainers.
  • Pokémon Black and White: Pokémon Black has the player character pitting the white-colored Reshiram against N's black-colored Zekrom. White inverts this, with the player pitting Zekrom against N's Reshiram.
  • Pokémon Black 2 and White 2: Pokémon White 2 has N using Reshiram to help the character battle against Ghetsis's Kyurem.
  • Prayer of the Faithless: The first Holy attack seen is Piercing Light, which is the initial way to Status-Buff Dispel monsters who power themselves up with the corrupting, violence-inducing magical force known as Miasma.
  • In Shall We Date?: Angel or Devil, two love interests are angels who wish to claim the protagonist.
  • Shantae and the Pirate's Curse introduces to the series the concept of Light Magic, which is the power inherent to Benevolent Genies, and since the titular heroine is a half-genie, she naturally possessed it too. In addition to being the magic inherent to genies, Light Magic is the only thing that could harm the Dark Magic-fueled Pirate Master, though Light Magic could also be corrupted into Dark Magic if it was used for evil. However, the opposite is also true, and Dark Magic could be converted back into Light Magic if it's in the possession of a good person.
  • In Silent Hill 2 one of the more subtle examples of symbolism is how light is intrinsically connected to James’s wife Mary The Lost Lenore who is easily the most unambiguously good character in the game. Not only is Mary bathed in light from widow in the video James films of her during their stay at the Lakeview Hotel but the game’s flashlight is found on a mannequin that has Mary’s clothes with its beam shining straight into James’s face. This perfectly encapsulates the game’s themes as Mary is James’s pure light in the nightmarish world but her radiance illuminates James’s darker subconscious.
  • In Smite, if there's a Light-based deity (mostly sun), they're going to be good and benevolent deity, such as Khepri and Amaterasu. Ra zig-zags on this, though. He used to be a good deity of light, but then got horribly poisoned by Isis (she has her reasons) that he snaps and starts using his light more destructively while being a jerk about it, but he's still keeping the world light from being consumed by Apophis' darkness.
    • Athena also counts, as she wears gold and white, and is mostly good, working to protect humanity from the gods that wish to enslave them; though she does have her Jerkass God moments, such as what she did to Arachne and Medusa.
  • Sonic the Hedgehog: Quite common among the good guys.
  • In StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm after Kerrigan kills General Warfield, a beam of light shines on her face as she calls the Swarm off, allowing his men to escape.
  • In Tales of Graces, the Hero, Asbel Lhant, has a case of Chronic Hero Syndrome and frequently wears white in the game, so much so that it is lampshaded by Sophia at one point. Though we never hear the answer, Asbel had to think about it for a while.
  • Total War: Warhammer: Alarielle the Radiant, Everqueen of Ulthuan, is a High Elf who wears a beautiful gown of pure white, wields White Magic, is lithe and golden, and is possibly one of the kindest souls in the World.She likely embodies this trope better than any other character in the franchise.
  • The power of the Holy Light from the Warcraft universe can only be used by good-hearted people (among other lesser requisites), has the power to heal and damages undead and demons. Sure there are people who aren't precisely good, however, they are able to use it since it still works if you're good only in your own mind.
    • Of the members of the Alliance, the Exodar faction of the Draenei race make light their philosophy, and many of them use use light-based spells when attacking, and are considered least corrupted of the Alliance and the most dedicated to stopping the Legion. The Vindicaar faction of the Draenei also falls into this, having a gold and white coloration but are much more aggressive than the Exodar.
    • Of the Draenor Gods, one of the most benevolent is Rukhmar the Sun Goddess, who combines this by having dark armour and head, but is a goddess of the sun.
    • The night elf diety, Elune, the Moon Goddess, associated with the larger of Azeroth's two moons, the White Lady. She is a largely benevolent goddess, and implied to be one of the goddesses on the Holy Light.
    • In the Player classes available, one of the choices is the Paladin, who draw power from the Holy Light, or in the case of the Sunwalkers Tauren Paladins, the sun.
  • Light represents life and benevolence in Wick (2020). If Wick's flame goes out he dies, lighting candelabras sets them as checkpoints and the goal is to bring the light back into the cathedral and drive back the darkness. Mara and the demonic flies actively seek to prevent the light from being restored.
  • XenoGears: The last form of Fei's Weltall takes the appearance of a pure white mecha.
  • Yakuza: The Hero, Kazuma Kiryu, who wears white clothes, and is shown as a Nice Guy, so long as you don't do anything to make him angry. Like target his adopted daughter.
    • The daughter in question, Haruka Sawamura, shares her adoptive father's white clothing and is a sweet and gentle girl.

    Web Animation 
  • RWBY: There is a legend about silver eyes that says anyone born with silver eyes is destined to be a great warrior whose eyes shine like mirrors, reflecting the light of the world onto darkness. As a result, Silver-Eyed Warriors are believed to be able to kill the Grimm with merely a glance. Ruby Rose, who learns about this legend in Volume 3, is the silver-eyed leader of the fight against Salem, who has a great deal of interest in capturing her because of those eyes. Silver-Eyed Warriors possess the power of Light, being able to activate a blinding flash of pure light all around them that destroys any Grimm caughting with its effect. Grimm can be turned to stone, blinded or vapourised by this power. The power comes from the God of Light, who also had silver eyes, and Jinn implies that they may have been passed on to humanity through two silver-eyed children that were fathered during one of Ozma's past lives; Ozma's Resurrective Immortality was bestowed upon him by the God of Light when he was tasked with the job of redeeming humanity for a past wrong that was instigated by Salem, who targets Silver-Eyed Warriors for either death or corruption.

    Webcomics 
  • Bird Boy: The great hero overcomes the villain to free the light again.
  • Homestuck: The White carapaces are all the good-guys. Rose plays with this, as she is the only light player to not fall into Light Is Not Good, but she's also the one most involved in darkness and destruction, though she never raises a hand to her friends and always fights with them. She becomes a more traditional example after her ascension to God Tier (featuring bright orange robes), and later when she's shown to use the Quills of Echidna.
  • In the Magical Boy Creation Myth, Aurore, Goddess of Light bestowed light upon the world and banished Devoid from his role as dark lord over the planet before bestowing light onto the creatures that lived there. After her being was sacrificed in her efforts to banish Devoid from our dimension, her descendants take up the role of Magical Girl to keep Devoid and his minions from escaping.
  • In Milhamah: Fighting Words, Shem Etzem undergoes a transformation where gets garments of holy light that give him additional powers to ward off evil.
  • Phantomarine: The lighthouses keep the seaghosts at bay and from the living.
  • In The Red Star, Marcus's instincts cry out the something is wrong with the Psychopomp who appears to him. What we see is that he is dark and the being who appears to appears to dispute for his soul is bright.

    Web Original 
  • Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog Both inverted and played straight in that Dr. Horrible (the villain/protagonist) wears white while Captain Hammer (the hero/antagonist)wears black. Dr. Horrible's white outfit also represents his innocence and kindness, which is sharply contrasted when he switches to a blood-red lab coat to represent the blood on his hands, and as a standard villain color to demonstrate that he's taking his villainy more seriously.
  • In Worm, Scion is this; he's a gold-skinned man dressed in white spandex who does nothing but save people. As of Interlude 26, this is averted in the worst possible way.

    Western Animation 
  • Avatar: The Last Airbender includes the Order of the White Lotus, a secret society dedicated to transcending the borders of the four nations in the search of order and truth. They were responsible for finding and training the Avatar and act as key allies in defeating the Fire Nation, helping in the liberation of Ba Sing Se.
  • BIONICLE:
    • The Toa of Light from the first Direct to Video movie, Mask of Light.
    • Mata Nui when he now wears the Mask of Life.
  • Code Lyoko Franz Hopper, the Big Good who provides the heroes everything have to fight against XANA And he occasionally helps more directly if the situation calls for it. His towers and monsters under his control are marked by a white aura, and his digital avatar is a ball of light.
  • Disenchantment: In the setting God is portrayed as a being with a glowing ball of light for a head, and is a very chill guy, taking insults to stride. Just don't insult his friend Jerry.
  • Elena of Avalor: Crown Princess Elena wields the Staff of Light, which holds a vast array of light-based powers and spells.
  • Infinity Train: One-One, a small, spherical white robot who acts as the guide to Tulip, He is also the true conductor of the Infinity Train.
  • Jem in almost all her incarnations is associated with light through her robot Synergy, with She's Got The Power being the most explicit about this. However, in a twist the heroes' association with light is in its potential for deception and illusions rather than truth.
  • Justice League: Gods and Monsters: This version of Wonder Woman, Beka wears a primarily white costume, and out of the trinity, is closest to her traditionally heroic counterpart, counting as the Token Good Teammate.
  • Played with in Raava in The Legend of Korra. On the one hand, she is the spirit of light and peace, certainly better than Vaatu, and eventually fused with Wan to create the Avatar. On the other hand, she is also an example of Good Is Not Nice, given she has disdain against humans, to the point that she had to be convinced to work with a clearly repentant Wan. Her essence can also be used by malevolent people for their own purposes, like Unalaq, which is the first person seen to use light energy. Though the fact that he later only uses dark energy in his waterbending and Jinora uses light without a medium would fool you otherwise.
  • Max Steel 2013 The hero; Max McGarth aka Max Steel, dons a white suit of armour, in contrast to the black and green outfit of the original, though he does gain a similar suit later.
  • My Life as a Teenage Robot has Jenny, The Heroine of the story who is white and light blue.
  • Niko and the Sword of Light: The Heroic Champions of Carondolet all hold power over the element of light, and the Hero Niko who wields the sword of light to combat the Darkness that threatens the land.
  • Ninjago: The Big Good and Mentor Sensi Wu, dresses in white and his powers of Creation manifest as light.
  • The Owl House: Luz's name literally means "light" in Spanish and Portuguese and she's a friendly, loyal and nurturing person. Though her family name, "Noceda", essentially means "of the night", adding a Dark Is Not Evil element as well. Additionally, her clothing style primarily features bright colors.
  • Primal (2019): After the death of his wife and two sons, the caveman Spear climbs a tall cliff with the intention to jump off it. He stands pondering for several moments but cannot bring himself to step over the edge. That is when he has a vision where he sees his family in the rising sun, and it inspires him to keep living.
  • ReBoot: After the process Hexadecimal goes though to protect her from the user systems reboot turns her from a virus to a sprite, her color scheme goes from Red and Black and Evil All Over to white and gold.
  • Samurai Jack gives us Jack, the hero, who is always shown wearing a pure white robe with a grey trim, which shows his dedication to stoping Aku. The fact that he loses it in the revival after fifty-plus years of trying and failing to destroy Aku. Him regaining his robes and sword, show his resolving his inner turmoil.
  • She Ra And The Princessesof Power gives several examples:
  • Star vs. the Forces of Evil has Star Butterfly, the Princess of Mewni, who uses a wand that generates light and creates spells based on sunshine and rainbows. Star is mainly a very friendly individual how has blond hair, and gains a golden angelic superform in the Battle of Mewni.
  • Star Wars: The Clone Wars: The Daughter, a being that embodies the Light Side of the Force, being compassionate and selfless, and wears a white dress with gold decorations.
  • Steven Universe plays with this trope. The Gems, beings made of Hard Light, are strongly associated with light, which enhances their visual of heroism and awesomeness. Rose Quartz is decked out in white and has a saintly appearance. However, over time we learn their faults and mistakes, showcasing that in spite of their initial image of perfection, the Crystal Gems are anything but, and have their own hang-ups that need to be solved through talking, not using a veneer of righteousness. And, you know, there's also an Evil Empire of other Gems, also made of light.
  • The Amulet from Trollhunters conjures armor and a sword made of pure daylight.
    "For the glory of Merlin, Daylight is mine to command!"
  • We Bare Bears: One of the trio of titular bears, Ice Bear, is a polar bear. He has white fur, and while he isn't as social as his brothers, he is a friendly bear overall, and protective of the people he cares about.
  • Stella from Winx Club gets her powers from the Sun (well, and the Moon, but mostly the Sun), and most of her attacks consist in casting beams of light. Despite her occasional selfishness, she cares a lot about her friends.

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Arthur's Synostone Form

The Lion Synostone

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