Basic Trope: Characters or creatures which could be described as "dark" are on the side of good.
- Straight:
- A group that look like demons from Hell are protecting a human nursery.
- A Necromancer who learned how to summon the undead with the intent of sending them to do dangerous jobs, such as mining, so the living would not be at risk.
- Exaggerated:
- An entire planet of demons from Hell is in every other way a Sugar Bowl.
- An Eldritch Abomination is helping an old lady cross the street while stopping time to make sure it doesn't interfere with traffic.
- The Sacred Darkness
- The All-Loving Hero looks and dresses in a manner that would surely make them mistaken for a villain.
- Downplayed:
- A gang of intimidating looking bikers look after a neighborhood.
- A biker gang is composed of Jerks With A Heart Of Gold who follow the Good Is Not Nice policy.
- A Necromancer is on the side of good, but is an Anti-Hero, making him more of a Morally Grey good guy.
- Dark Is Neutral: Necromancer
Neville summons the dead for his own desires but he treats his undead Mooks pretty well, no matter how good or bad their performance is.
- Justified:
- The dark race was created by the Big Bad but rebelled.
- They like looking intimidating and ferocious. It scares enemies off so that they don't have to fight, and it helps them frighten those who aren't as moral as themselves into behaving.
- My Species Doth Protest Too Much
- Dressing in dark colors makes it easier to be stealthy at night.
- Inverted:
- Dark Is Evil
- Light Is Good
- Light Is Not Good
- In a setting where Light Is Not Good is in full effect for the villains, an unsettling angel-like being shares their aesthetic and abilities but is firmly on the side of good.
- Subverted:
- A race of noble but scary looking creatures are deep-cover operatives of the Big Bad.
- The evil looking creatures complain that everyone treats them like monsters, and when the crowd is shamed by their own prejudice the monsters take the opportunity to eat them.
- The trope is played straight, but at some point members of the race have a Face–Heel Turn for whatever reason, leading to Dark Is Evil.
- Double Subverted:
- A race of noble but scary looking creatures in deep cover for the Big Bad join the other side when it turns out that the Big Bad was lying.
- The mob-eaters are revealed to have become He Who Fights Monsters; the ones not part of people munchers are still good, and deal with their wayward comrades accordingly.
- Said captor mainly dresses in white clothes and has a clean, well-kept appearance.
- But they make an Evil Costume Switch into something symbolizing light and/or were actually Fake Defectors.
- Parodied: A race of demons from Hell wear "We aren't evil" t-shirts, fight crime, and have a theme song all about how they're not evil.
- Zig Zagged:
- A fearsome-looking demon turns out to be Chaotic Stupid.
- A pure hearted hero who looks like a demon from hell has a Superpowered Evil Side who looks like an Eldritch Abomination. However, on closer inspection, the 'evil' side is actually a more Well-Intentioned Extremist.
- Alice meets a character who looks like an evil monster, but turns out to be good. She then meets another character who looks like an evil monster, but despite what she learned from her past experience, the character really is evil.
- There's a correspondence between "dark" or "light", knowledge on how to control it, AND moral character.
- Black Magic is the magic of raw emotion. The Sociopath and people with poor impulse control are usually Black Magic users. So are idealists who have for a motto Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right!.
- The character bounces between dressing in dark evil-looking clothes and gentle light colors at the drop of a hat.
- Averted:
- There is no correspondence between "dark" or "light" appearance and moral character.
- There is no good or evil in the story.
- Enforced: As per the producer's orders, the writers added a dark-themed hero not only to capitalize the archetype's profitability, but also to add an aesop "never judge a book by its cover."
- Lampshaded: "I just assumed you were a..." "A demon? Was it the horns or the leathery wings?"
- Invoked: The Mole who appears to be a demonic creature plays on the All-Loving Hero's good nature to convince everyone that the only evil thing about him is his appearance.
- Exploited: The darkness part is part of a Zero-Approval Gambit.
- Defied: A race of demons from Hell strive to live up to their fiendish appearance.
- Discussed: "What, you assume we're evil just because of the red horns, forked tail and pitchfork? What's wrong with you?"
- Conversed: "Whoever designs all these races must have a twisted sense of humour".
- Implied: We never really learn what that diabolical-looking man's motivations are, but he never does anything that could be considered evil.
- Deconstructed:
- Although they're not evil, everyone assumes they are, and to some extent their moral nature is influenced by their lives under such a stigma.
- After being called evil many times, Alice gradually snaps and becomes evil.
- Reconstructed:
- Because they're not evil but everyone assumes they are, some of the most noble and good act as ambassadors to change public perception of their race.
- Alice contents herself with snarky comments to those who call her evil, despite her goodness.
Go see Dark Is Not Evil. Don't worry, he's a great trope once you get to know him.
