"It is pitch black. You are likely to be eaten by a grue."
— Zork
Buffy: One way out means one way in. I want to see them coming. [lights go out]
Xander: I guess they're shy.
Xander: I guess they're shy.
— Buffy the Vampire Slayer, "Choices"
"Almost every species in the universe has an irrational fear of the dark. But they're wrong. Because it's not irrational."
— The Doctor, Doctor Who, "Silence in the Library"
"The torch, give me the torch! Whatever it is, it's in here."
— The Doctor, Doctor Who "Kill the Moon."
Caption: Imagine, if you will, that you are Bob Smithson, and you are exploring a mysterious coal mine! You walk on and on, searching for your lost love! You walk so long, in fact, that your flashlight batteries begin to fail! The light flickers omninously... and dies!
Bob: What?!
Caption: It is pitch black.
Bob: Aw come on! This isn't fair!
Caption: You are likely to be eaten by a grue.
Bob: You took away my flashlight just to make a Zork joke?!
Unseen Monster: Ook?
Bob: What?!
Caption: It is pitch black.
Bob: Aw come on! This isn't fair!
Caption: You are likely to be eaten by a grue.
Bob: You took away my flashlight just to make a Zork joke?!
Unseen Monster: Ook?
Deadly foes await in the darkness.
Always stalking.
Always waiting for the perfect moment to strike.
Always stalking.
Always waiting for the perfect moment to strike.
— Tenuously Connected Flavor Text of the Eyes in the Dark magic, Dawn of the Dragons
"We're running out of flashlights. You don't want to be here when that happens."
— Arthur Wilde, The Head (2020)
"People were afraid to walk in front of their windows after the sun went down. Newspapers stopped making early morning deliveries, with newspaper boys waiting until daylight to make their rounds, and Western Union stopped making night deliveries. Over 150 police cars now cruised the dark streets, alleys, parks and parking areas of Texarkana from darkness until dawn in the most intense manhunt ever mounted in the southwest."
— Narrator, The Town That Dreaded Sundown
"And now, the darkness holds dominion... black as death."
— The Ancestor, Darkest Dungeon