To-do-list
- Clean subpages and move applicable examples to Origins Episode.
- Subpages that need to be cleaned/reviewed:
OP
So, Start Of Darkness is supposed to be a prequel or Origins Episode for a villain, showing how they became the villain they are in the main work. However, it is often used as a generic "any sad villain backstory" (possibly operating under the misapprehension that Dark and Troubled Past only applies to heroes) or as synonymous with Face–Heel Turn (Hell, the very name and existence of Ambiguous Start of Darkness flat-out implies that Face–Heel Turn is what Start Of Darkness means).This can easily be fixed by renaming it "Start of Darkness" Prequel.
Wicks Checked: 82/74
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Correct Use (11/74)
- Characters.Animorphs Yeerk Empire: (Visser Three) The Hork-Bajir Chronicles probably counts, since aside from Dak and Alrea's story, about a third of the novel is spent exploring his own back story.
- Anime.Wish Upon The Pleiades: Episode 10 note mainly focuses on Minato and his Start of Darkness.
- Fanfic.Bloodlines Zootopia: Serving as a side-story and prequel to both Born to Be Wilde and When Instinct Fallsnote , Bloodlines stars sadistic villainous Lucy Sang and how she became sadistic villainous Lucy Sang.
- Characters.The Fairly Odd Parents Major: (Denzel Q. Crocker) "The Secret Origin of Denzel Crocker" reveals that Cosmo and Wanda were once his fairies, and that their loss, combined with his subsequent obsession with proving their existence, completely destroyed his life and set him on the path to become who he is today.
- Characters.FLCL Progressive And Alternative: (Haruko Haruhara) Possibly. If you believe Alternative to be the prequel series. The end of Alternative shows her seeing a taste of Atomsk's power, essentially corrupting her for Classic and Progressive.
- Anime.Gargantia On The Verdurous Planet: Far Beyond The Voyage has a couple of references to the anime's second Bonus Episode detailing Kugel's Startof Darkness.
- Characters.Metal Gear Big Boss: His character arcs over Snake Eater and Peace Walker prequel games show you just what motivated him to create Outer Heaven and become the Big Bad of the first two Metal Gear games: seeing how disposable soldiers are to the world first hand over and over again eventually drove him to create a place where soldiers would be honored rather than thrown to the side.
- Characters.Star Wars Anakin Skywalker: The Prequel Trilogy was created to show Anakin Skywalker's progression from a noble young Jedi to the ultimate face of evil in the Canon.
- ComicBook.Fury Peacemaker: For Fury. He starts out as a soldier trying to do his job correctly, but ends up as a war junkie planning wars just to have something to do.
- VideoGame.Kid Icarus Uprising: The subject of Studio 4°C's short is Medusa's Face–Heel Turn and her banishment to the Underworld.
- WebVideo.Fate Cero: Episode 5. We get the deaths of the Tohsaka parents, Teams Caster and Lancer, as well as Kirei’s Startof Darkness.
Non-Prequel Sad Villain Backstory (29/74)
- Arthur.Tropes S To Z: The Teaser of "The Last Tough Customer" shows Molly's: when she was little, a couple of older kids teased her about her poofy hair. She took out her hairbands, letting her hair fall across her eyes, and became a bully.
- Anime.Hell Girl: One of the fourth season's episodes has a very different ending compared to most Hell Girl episodes: the boy who pulls the string decides that since he's going to hell anyway, he's going to take his terrible Dysfunctional Family and his sister's violator with him, fully equipped to kill them all.
- Characters.A Certain Magical Index Schools: (Haruki Aritomi) He was once an idealistic young researcher, until he learned how much discrimination non-espers face in Academy City. The final straw was when he overheard his idol, Gensei Kihara, whom he thought understood him, badmouthing him for his anti-esper ideals.
- Characters.A Hat In Time: (The Florist)
- Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Because she held the prince's hand for a brief moment as he was paying for the flowers he bought from her, an eavesdropping Queen Vanessa mistook their interaction as having an affair behind her back, breaking her heart and causing her Start of Darkness.
- Characters.Angel Beats: (Ayato Naoi) Anyone going through what he went through would wind up with an overly inflated ego if they're insecure enough about themselves. And damn, was that poor blighter insecure about himself several times over.
- Characters.Ape Escape: (Dr. Tomoki)
- Because You Were Nice to Me: His Heel–Face Turn is prompted after Kei and Yumi refuse to laugh at him after learning of his Start of Darkness, and Kei sticks up for him in front of Specter.
Kei: It's not a good laugh if someone's feelings are hurt! - Characters.Aquaman: (Atlan) Originally, Atlan was a wise and just king who believed that there could be peace between all species. His advisers and brother Orin, however, were warmongers who betrayed Atlan and killed his family. Outraged, Atlan killed Orin and his wife and started a civil war. Using his scepter, Atlan sunk Atlantis.
- Characters.Arcanum Of Steamworks And Magick Obscura: (Kerghan The Terrible) Relatively standard Mad Scientist fare — from For Science!, through Just Think of the Potential!, leading to Drunk on the Dark Side. You can witness it through a journal you can find during one side-quest.
- VideoGame.Boogey Man: A book you can find while exploring the house details the Boogeyman's origins. It is the offspring of a witch, who was pregnant while being hunted by people for kidnapping children. Knowing that they would not spare her unborn baby, the witch used her magic to make her baby come out early, while also giving it supernatural powers so it could survive on its own. This child became the Boogeyman, and it tore itself out of her stomach and escaped before the people hunting the witch arrived. It does not need human food or drink, but has to consume the souls of children.
- Characters.Dark Heaven:
- Gale being the constant victim of parental abuse is why he's such a dick to everyone else in turn. While his bond with Simon is hostile at best, some part of him still cares enough for his brother to save him from physical harm.
- Talen's extremist views began after his girlfriend committed suicide following her rape by Pete's gang.
- Her being kidnapped as a child and seeing Conor for the first time years later is what triggers her path to villainy.
- Fanfic.The Equestrian Wind Mage: Vaati, as a child, was bullied relentlessly for being different as well as an orphan, and thus never made a single friend. Then he was finally brought under Ezlo's wing, but when Ezlo didn't immediately start teaching him magic and mostly had him do chores, Vaati snapped and stole the Wishing Cap for himself.
- Characters.Boxxy Quest The Shifted Spires: (Boxxyfan) All of Gathering Storm's Chapter 7 is this for him. We see it (and inadvertently cause it to happen), by way of a time travel mission gone wrong.
- Characters.Brightburn: (Brandon Breyer) Unsurprisingly, the movie's very premise is Brandon's descent into villainy. ('The film in question isn't a prequel, so this fits better under Protagonist Journey to Villain.)
- AxCrazy.Live Action TV: Xena: Warrior Princess: Callisto. A pre-Heel–Face Turn Xena destroying her village was her Start of Darkness and she blames Xena for everything she's done, but nobody in the series is more gleefully murderous than her, including pre-Heel–Face Turn Xena, and it's clear that she's the way she is because she likes it. Then she gets her hands on Playing with Fire powers a few seasons in, and it gets a whole, whole lot worse.
- Characters.Dexter Dexter Morgan: Friend to All Children: He likes children, which means that he is particularly wrathful against criminals that harm children. When he's not being particularly wrathful he only stabs people in the heart. He's a compulsive serial killer with a strict "only-hunt-monsters" policy and a soft spot for children due to his own Start of Darkness. This makes for a reaction to children in danger that goes far beyond Papa Wolf territory into something frighteningly awesome.
- Characters.Doctor Doom: What You Are in the Dark: A vicious example shows up in "What If Dr. Doom became a Super Hero?" Denied his Start of Darkness when he actually listens to roommate Reed's advice concerning his astral projection machine, Doom becomes a much more benevolent man. (Rest of paragraph full of information irrelevant to this wick check.)
- Characters.Ducktales 2017 Bradford Buzzard: Bradford apparently wanted to conquer the world even as a S.H.U.S.H. accountant in the '60s, but after getting his idea shot down by Ludwig Von Drake, he turned to Black Heron and founded F.O.W.L. Even before that, his traumatic experiences with his grandmother gave him a deep hatred for adventuring.
- Monster.Film S: 2007 film: The corrupt Judge Turpin, who runs a Kangaroo Court in Victorian London, begins Sweeney's Start of Darkness when, lusting after the then-younger barber's wife, Turpin has him imprisoned on a penal colony for decades of hard labor so he can seduce his wife.
- Characters.Earthbound Beginnings: (Giygas) Scary Dogmatic Aliens: His kind were initially curious of humans, but would neither forgive nor forget George fleeing back to Earth with knowledge of alien technology. They ordered Giygas to personally hunt down and destroy humanity. This created such turmoil in the alien's psyche that it culminated in a terrible end-result neither party truly wanted.
- Characters.The Garden Of Sinners: (Souren Araya) A flashback/dream shows him standing in the aftermath of a bloody conflict 200 years ago, looking at the corpse of a little boy who got caught up in it. He resolves that since he cannot save anybody, he will at least collect and record the deaths of people.
- Characters.Mystic Messenger: (Rika/The Savior) Ambiguous Innocence: Several characters comment on her childlike innocence. As Jumin's father says, it's this kind of innocence that can very easily be warped. And it does indeed get corrupted, making her particularly prone to the twisted logic and extremist beliefs that help trigger her Start of Darkness. (Technically she does have a DLC episode that does fit the trope, but I don't think the wick is referring to that.)
- Manga.Shaman King: A Mind Is a Terrible Thing to Read: This was part of Hao/Zeke's Start of Darkness in the 2001 anime. After saving some people from a rogue spirit, he read her minds, and saw that they considered him a freak that they only tolerated for his abilities, with one believing he would turn on them sooner or later, and another even plotting to find a way to steal his power. As you can imagine, this soured his attitude towards regular humans.
- Characters.Pokemon Aether Foundation: (Lusamine) The disappearance of her husband Mohn is hinted to have made her into a much colder person.
- Characters.Pokemon Villain Team Skull: (Guzma) The formation of Team Skull was the result of his being rejected from being a Trial Captain after running away from home to escape his abusive father.
- PlayingWith.The Man Behind The Curtain: Baron von Ruthless' Start of Darkness is explored, and we find that it is becoming an old man in a wheelchair that made him evil in the first place. As this is a hypothetical, the example seems to be using SOD this way.
- Series.Can You Hear My Heart: Hyun Sook. When she finds out her husband killed her father and hurt her son, it started a 16-year plan for revenge. Never underestimate the power of a Mama Bear!
- Characters.Super Paper Mario (Count Bleck) Used to Be a Sweet Kid: He came across as a completely decent man before his Start of Darkness.
- Wrestling.Matt Hardy: Edge and Lita's affair was the final nail in the coffin for the original Matt Hardy. After that, there was no going back for him, and it eventually paved the way for "BROKEN" Matt.
- Pantheon.Internal Power Sources: (Hashirama Senju) Coming from a time when children were used as child soldiers during a horrible war, Hashirama sympathizes with victims of war and children who were drafted into it. In particular, he shows great sympathy for Nagato after hearing how he once desired peace until the actions of cruel people led him down the path of villainy. He also sympathizes with Obito Uchiha despite fighting him in the Fourth Shinobi World War after hearing how he lost his childhood friend Rin. Even though Hashirama still sees Madara as a friend, even he can't overlook or let go of the latter's role in Obito's Start of Darkness.
Face-Heel Turn (24/74)
- Anime.Afro Samurai: Motive Decay: How exactly Sio plans to avenge herself on Afro changes throughout the movie, alluding to her not fully being as evil as she thought she was when she started her revenge plot.
- Anime.Little Witch Academia 2017: History Repeats: It's revealed that Croix's Start of Darkness was not out of jealousy towards Chariot but Woodward's callous dismissal of her for so many years. When Chariot learns about this, she reacts in horror, remembering not long ago that she did the exact same thing to Akko. This what drives Chariot to protect Akko and Croix even more.
- Characters.AI The Somnium Files: (New Cyclops Killer) Not that he was a good person to begin with, but killing Manaka started him down a much, much darker path.
- Characters.Arthurian Legend: (Mordred) Awful Truth: In some stories, this becomes his Start of Darkness; the truth about his conception and future were enough to prompt a hard Face–Heel Turn.
- VideoGame.Lost Planet: We see NEVEC's first true atrocity is slaughtering as many of the First Colony survivors as they can once they make planetfall on E.D.N. III, because if it ever became public that one of their generals marooned thousands of people on the planet, it would be the end of the company.
- WesternAnimation.Wreck It Ralph: A story told by Felix in flashback reveals that Turbo was the main character of a racing game that got overshadowed by RoadBlasters. He got so insanely jealous that he crossed over and literally crashed it, resulting in both consoles being unplugged.
- Wrestling.The Shield: Orton's ousting from Evolution was his Start of Darkness, and it was only after he was driven to complete insanity five years later that he was finally able to get his revenge on Triple H for what happened, by wreaking havoc on his life and terrorizing his family.
- ComicBook.Watchmen: Captain Metropolis founded the Minutemen because he thought their street level heroics would make a grander difference by setting a good example and tried again, with Ozymandias' support, when the earlier team split up. As the Comedian pointed out, such heroics are worthless when the entire planet is facing nuclear annihilation and in the end, when the Cold War becomes violent and the world is destroyed, nothing will matter. Ozymandias comes to believe this, which kicks off his Start of Darkness.
- Characters.Coco: (Ernesto De La Cruz) Poisoning Héctor is was solidified in his mind his "Seize your Moment" philosophy that he directly attributes to his success. On some level he does feel bad about his friend's death, but refuses to apologize for it as it was the moment that truly allowed him to achieving his dream.
- Characters.Kingdom Hearts Riku: I Just Want to Be Special: Spent his entire life — literally ever since he was a toddler — dreaming of adventure and power, utterly convinced his destiny absolutely must lie beyond his little island town. When his best friend, Sora, turns out to be the hero instead, it gives Riku his Start of Darkness.
- Recap.Archies Weird Mysteries Little Chocklit Shoppe Of Horrors: Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: Or perhaps Logic Cannot Comprehend Emotion. The Stanley 9000 doesn't understand why Pop values personal attention to customers and people's safety over efficiency. This leads to its Start of Darkness, causing it to believe that humans are inefficient and must be destroyed.
- Characters.Kung Fu Panda 1: (Tai Lung) He Used to be a Sweet Cub, but his own talent and Shifu's high expectations of him caused him to believe that he was worthy of being the Dragon Warrior. But Master Oogway realized that he wasn't capable of actually understanding the secret of the Dragon Scroll, and refused him. Tai Lung refused to accept this, and tore apart the temple in his search for the scroll before Oogway paralyzed him and he was imprisoned in Chorh-Gom.
- Characters.Kung Fu Panda 2: (Lord Shen) He discovered a practical use for fireworks and subsequently became obsessed with it.
- Podcast.The Chronicles Of Oz: Shown Their Work: Queen Ann of Oogaboo is mentioned a few times during the series, generally while being ignored, dismissed or overlooked by the rulers of the Emerald City, to the point where Ozma mentions that on her journey she'll not stop by Oogaboo to see Queen Ann. Anyone who's read Tik-Tok of Oz will probably see this as potential Foreshadowing for a Start of Darkness; Queen Ann's plans of war may very well stem from this constant dismissal by the Emerald City.
- Manga.Akagi: Lonely at the Top: A variation of this is Washizu Iwao's Start of Darkness. After becoming the 'shadow king' of the Showa Era in Japan, he realizes that he has nothing left to accomplish before his eventual death. This causes him to slowly go insane, and develop a deep-seated envy of youths.
- Characters.Middle Earth Film Saurons Evil Forces: (Saruman) We get glimpses of it during the Hobbit trilogy. When the White Council is confronted with Sauron at Dol Guldur, Elrond and Galadriel seems horrified, but Saruman looks at the lidless eye with a fascination in his eyes, awed by the power of Sauron, a look that he maintains when he announces to the Council, "leave Sauron to me." The implication is that this ordeal has convinced him that, against the power of Sauron, there can be no victory, as he tells Gandalf in Fellowship.
- Characters.RWBY Adam Taurus: Adam has two points in his life that ultimately defined who he would become. According to Amity Arena, he was once an idealistic young boy, dreaming of a better life for himself, until he was held down and branded. Gone was the idealistic young boy, and born was the member of the White Fang. At first, he believed in the cause, and cared about the Faunus as a whole. Things ultimately changed the day his group was attacked by racist humans. After accidentally killing one so as to save Ghira's life, he initially felt shame for what he did until Sienna stood up for him and began praising him. Soon, he became lionized by the White Fang, looked upon as a hero, and his hatred of humanity continued to fester. He would go on to become more vicious, more egotistical, and loved every minute of it. Adam became someone who only cared about himself, and would gladly toss aside the cause he once fought for if it got in the way of what he wants.
With a scar on his face and anger in heart, a wayward boy looked for a home. When he found it... oh, how glorious it was. Accepted and loved, here was his happily ever after. But Adam was cursed with a gift few others had. Adam had... talent. And when Wilt tasted humanity's blood... Adam realized he was... STRONG. Now king without kingdom, he wonders where it went wrong. Coming up with excuses, reflecting the blame, Coming to a conclusion, we all find insane.
- Film.Split: The entire film is Kevin/The Horde's origin as a supervillain, in contrast to Unbreakable being David Dunn's hero origin story.
- Characters.Star VS The Forces Of Evil Moon Butterfly: Eclipsa's interference with dealing with Meteora has inspired Moon to concoct an Evil Plan to overthrow her from behind the scenes in Season 4.
- Anime.Strain Strategic Armored Infantry: Chekhov's Gun: Episode 1 mentions a number of things you'll only notice on a rewatch, like Ralph talking about the rescue mission he's been sent on (which we see in flashbacks in episodes 10 and 11, detailing his Start of Darkness) and the instructors at Glabella asking what the orbital forces are doing during the attack (where Lottie's brother was stationed, and he and his entire squad were killed just before). In episode 2, Sara walks by the cloaked Ram-Dass before she finds Emily.
- WesternAnimation.The Last Days Of Coney Island: Shorty starts off as a fairly nice kid living at Coney Island from what glimpses we see of his childhood. And then we see him fly off the handle and kill his mom for sleeping with a clown. Then he takes over Coney Island as an adult and charges the freaks just to live there, even killing a clown in front of the others for refusing to pay up.
"My mother doesn't love me anymore..."
- YMMV.Macbeth: Lady Macbeth crosses by manipulating Macbeth into murdering Duncan in his sleep, thus causing Macbeth's Start of Darkness and, indirectly, all the murders to come. Macbeth had a Face–Heel Turn.
- FranchiseOriginalSin.Friday The13th: The fourth film, The Final Chapter, produced a minor one of these. The ending hinted that Tommy Jarvis, the adolescent boy who defeats Jason at the end, had undergone a Start of Darkness and would follow the same path as Jason into becoming a murderer.
- Literature.Fate Of The Jedi: Luke and Ben's quest is to figure out just when Jacen had his.
Unclear (6/74)
- Ace Attorney: The end of "Song to the Turnabout" ends with Manfred von Karma scrapping his original plans to just dump Edgeworth at an orphanage and instead takes him in as a prosecutor.
- Characters.Arrested Development The Bluths: (Buster Bluth) Season 5 reveals he accidentally murdered his grandmother in cold blood over a simple misunderstanding, and Lucille's reaction was to hypnotize him into believing Lucille murdered her and Buster is just taking the blame to protect her, allowing him to contextualize himself as a hero rather than a killer. Her intentions may have been good, but the end result was a sharp increase to their already unhealthily-close relationship, and a very unstable man.
- Characters.Borderlands Handsome Jack: Even before the Pre-Sequel, a side mission in Borderlands 3 known as Childhood's End shows the exact events that caused Jack to enslave Angel, beginning his descent into evil. A child Angel was kidnapped in front of both Jack and her mother by a bandit named Grogmouth, who intended to sell her off to the highest bidder due to being a Siren. A scared and angry Angel unconsciously activated some turrets Grogmouth was using using her Phaseshift ability which fired wildly at everything around them, killing the bandit and her own mother by accident. It was this event that drove Jack to put the child Angel in her solitary confinement and begin his slow Sanity Slippage as he decided to use her to make gains at complete power in Hyperion.
- Characters.Kingdom Hearts Master Xehanort: What drove this man down his path of villainy? His Heartless went back in time and showed his younger self all of the evil acts he would do, even bringing him to the future to help them out. Even though he would forget what he saw and do, the actions he would take are now engraved in his heart. Xehanort would have been just another youth looking for an escape from his home much like Riku if not for the intervention of his Heartless Ansem who had traveled back in time to facilitate his escape… which also means that it was Xehanort himself who was responsible for his own Start Of Darkness.
- Characters.Sonic The Hedgehog Infinite:
- Episode Shadow reveals that he was once an ordinary jackal and a mercenary hired by Eggman to protect his lab in Mystic Jungle, where he encountered Shadow. After a humiliating defeat at the dark hedgehog's hands, he vowed to become stronger, leading him to become Infinite.
- The fourth and final tie-in comic shows it started a little sooner when despite failing to steal anything from Eggman, Eggman offers Infinite and the Jackal Squad the chance to become stronger and take over the world. Infinite is more than happy to oblige.
- MagnificentBastard.Video Games: (Splatterhouse 2010 remake) The Terror Mask is the cheerfully obnoxious Mask that's gradually revealed to have masterminded the events of the game. A former protector of a civilization that was wiped out by the Overlord, resulting in the Mask getting enslaved, he decides to form a plot to summon it so he could kill it permanently. To this end, he instigates Dr. West's Start of Darkness, having him experiment on numerous people to supply him with sacrifices, and has him and Rick meet up, resulting in West kidnapping his girlfriend Jenny and Rick being mortally wounded, with the Mask convincing Rick to wear him.
Other Misuse (5/74)
- UsefulNotes.The Thirteen American Colonies: In 1619, two very important events happened. First, Dutch ships brought black "indentured servants" and sold them to the colonists, the beginning of slavery in American history. This is a real-life example for an NRLEP trope, and is misused to boot.
- WesternAnimation.Metalocalypse: Start of Alcoholism, anyway. "Rehabklok" reveals that Pickles became the drunk he is now as a way to cope with being blamed for the burning down of his family's garage. (Seth did it.)
- BaseBreakingCharacter.Injustice: Like with Superman, Wonder Woman is this for many for fans of the character. Some argue that her portrayal as an unapologetic Lady Macbeth figure is fine as it's set in an Alternate Universe and liberties should be allowed. The other camp arguing that it being set in an AU only goes so far as unlike Superman or her other Regime allies, she is portrayed as far more villainous but has far less of a motivation for her actions and this version borders on In Name Only territory. There's also those who see the whole Injustice franchise as yet another DC Universe where Wonder Woman gets reduced to a romantic prop /arm candy status for Superman or Batman. That she also gets told off by Harley Quinn for her actions despite Quin's direct and complicit involvement in the events that started the whole mess in the Injustice universe is also a Berserk Button for some.
- JustForFun.TV Tropes Additional Evil Overlord Vows Cellblock R: Should I, decades later, happen upon my long-lost Love Interest from before my Start of Darkness, I will exchange some friendly, goofy texts (or whatever the equivalent is in this setting) and then leave her alone.
- Analysis.Puella Magi Madoka Magica: Second line: Episode 10. A Start of Darkness, if you would like to assume this, due to how Homura wanted to go back in time, and because of how Madoka will always follow her fate of death. It's also a recursive line, showcasing how Homura is trapped within the April, the month before Walpurgis Night. (She doesn't turn evil, though, so this doesn't count. That only happens in the PSP game and the sequel movie that doesn't exist at all.)
ZCE (8/74)
- Anime.Ga Rei Zero: This anime is all about Yomi's.
- Anime.Revolutionary Girl Utena: How does one completely corrupt the strongest and purest Prince in the world? Hint: Just ask Dios... turned Akio.
- Webcomic.Bytes Of Life: Bowsers proposed turning point
.
- WebVideo.Vaguely Recalling Jo Jo: Phantom Blood, for DIO.
- VisualNovel.Mystic Messenger: The first part of the Secret Ending shows this for one of the characters.
- LetsPlay.Steelhold: Steelhold is the start of darkness for Shank and Queen Brasswords.
- Literature.Darth Plagueis:
- Dooku and Gunray all the way. To a lesser extent, Palpatine, who was sociopathic from the very beginning. (Would be correct use with more detail.)
- One for Sate Pestage as well. Plagueis had given Palpatine Pestage in the belief that he'd be useful to the Sith Lord, and while he wouldn't be called 'innocent' he probably wouldn't have become so twisted if he hadn't been under the influence of the Sith Lords. Since he was, fast forward a few decades later and he becomes Grand Vizier of the Galactic Empire.
- Megamind.Tropes A To L: All of the Other Reindeer: Part of the reason for Megamind's Start of Darkness.
Edited by GastonRabbit on Oct 7th 2022 at 7:59:33 AM
#2: Oct 8th 2021 at 1:11:03 AM
Opening.
"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman
Professional Wick Checker
#3: Oct 8th 2021 at 3:21:56 AM
I agree on renaming this but it already redirects to Start Of Darkness Prequel. Maybe we can rename it to Villain Origin Story (bc it includes flashbacks too)? and removing misuse. There's nothing really wrong with the trope for us to do anything drastic.
Piterpicher
Veteran Editor IV
from Poland, for real
(Series 2)
Relationship Status: Armed with the Power of Love
Veteran Editor IV
#4: Oct 8th 2021 at 6:06:23 AM
Villain Origin Story sounds good.
Currently mostly inactive. An incremental game I tested: https://galaxy.click/play/176 (Gods of Incremental)
How sweet it is
#5: Oct 8th 2021 at 6:53:50 AM
![[tup]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Thumbs_up_emoticon_3268.png "[thumb up]"){kind=small}
for Villain Origin Story.
Synchronicity
(4 Score & 7 Years Ago)
#6: Oct 8th 2021 at 7:00:44 AM
Undecided about this yet but tossing it out as an alternative possibility, because I'm not sure I agree it's being used the same way as Face–Heel Turn (not everyone who undergoes a Start of Darkness starts out a hero): Redefine Start of Darkness to fit the misuse, ie. the moment that triggers their slide into villainy, while Face–Heel Turn describes the overall process/change from hero to villain. Then, keep correct use under Origins Episode (is it necessary to have Origins Episode but for the villain)?
Edited by Synchronicity on Oct 8th 2021 at 9:07:18 AM
Professional Wick Checker
#7: Oct 8th 2021 at 7:54:56 AM
You just asked the question that's on my mind. ![[lol]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/lol2v12_4863.png "[lol]"){kind=small}
I don't think it's that necessary to have a separate trope for villains' origins, but it doesn't really hurt either. I'm fine with your suggestion tho.
eroock
Since: Sep, 2012
#8: Oct 8th 2021 at 9:51:48 AM
How would the redefined Start of Darkness relate to Jumping Off the Slippery Slope and Slowly Slipping Into Evil?
#9: Oct 8th 2021 at 10:09:19 AM
I agree with redefining (although I am somewhat biased in that I’m very fond of the name).
WarJay77
Big Catch, Sparkle Edition
from The Void
(Troper Knight)
Relationship Status: Armed with the Power of Love
Big Catch, Sparkle Edition
#10: Oct 8th 2021 at 10:18:21 AM
Or, Start of Darkness could be retooled into a super-trope for things like Slowly Slipping Into Evil, Heel–Face Turn, Protagonist Journey to Villain, etc.. If we still need a villain-specific origin trope, we can just make a new one using the current Start of Darkness definition.
Edited by WarJay77 on Oct 8th 2021 at 1:18:41 PM
Current Project: Incorruptible Pure Pureness
#11: Oct 8th 2021 at 10:23:30 AM
^ That’s also not a bad idea
Professor Gigachad
#12: Oct 8th 2021 at 11:12:26 AM
I honestly had no idea Start of Darkness was specific for villain origin stories I would be fine with expanding it to fit the misuse since trying to clean up the misuse would be insanely hard.
CM Sandboxes, MB Sandboxes
MasterN
Berserk Button: misusing Berserk Button
from Florida- I mean Unova
Since: Aug, 2016
Relationship Status: Shipping fictional characters
Berserk Button: misusing Berserk Button
#13: Oct 8th 2021 at 11:24:05 AM
![[up]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/smiles/arrow_up.png "[up]"){kind=icon}
Yeah, that’s exactly why I proposed the name change- a lot of these Tropers don’t seem to know the actual definition. I myself thought the same for a while.
WarJay77
Big Catch, Sparkle Edition
from The Void
(Troper Knight)
Relationship Status: Armed with the Power of Love
Big Catch, Sparkle Edition
#14: Oct 8th 2021 at 11:24:31 AM
I'll cop to not knowing it either.
Current Project: Incorruptible Pure Pureness
RJ Savoy
#15: Oct 8th 2021 at 1:38:55 PM
Another problem is its relationship to Protagonist Journey to Villain. SoD says that the difference is that of flashback/prequel or main plot. Leaving aside whether that is a tropeworthy distinction, it's inaccurate, and PJtV more accurately says they may overlap; because PJtV starts with a well-meaning or at least innocent character, while SoD has no such requirement: the trope namer, from The Order of the Stick, has two villains, of which one is evil from the first page, and the other while sympathetic is against the heroes by accident of birth. That this sort of confusion is found in the description tells me the trope is not well defined.
I don't see that it amounts to more than villain-only Origins Episode, and I don't see that as tropeworthy. So I would suggest moving the wicks and examples to Face–Heel Turn, Protagonist Journey to Villain or other tropes, and maybe making this an index as Warjay said.
Edited by Reymma on Oct 8th 2021 at 9:39:37 AM
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Infitroper
Since: Oct, 2016
#16: Oct 8th 2021 at 2:15:26 PM
The way I see it, Start of Darkness refers specifically to when a character is already evil, but we, the audience, don't find out what led them to become evil until later, whereas in the other mentioned tropes, we witness the character's fall to evil in real time. It also wouldn't be a Start of Darkness if we learn how they became evil when they're introduced; that would simply be part of the establishment of their character.
#17: Oct 8th 2021 at 2:18:03 PM
Also, OOTS Start of Darkness…was, actually, a prequel book explaining Team Evil’s origins. Which is exactly the trope as currently defined.
MasterN
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#18: Oct 8th 2021 at 3:23:34 PM
But that is basically Origins Episode but for villains. An Origins Episode is meant to show the origin of an already established character. The question is, is there any meaningful difference between doing that for a hero and doing that for a villain- meaningful enough to justify them being two separate tropes?
Edited by MasterN on Oct 8th 2021 at 3:23:54 AM
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Synchronicity
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#19: Oct 8th 2021 at 4:24:38 PM
I don't mind the index/supertrope idea.
Libraryseraph
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#20: Oct 8th 2021 at 6:12:17 PM
to Index/supertrope
Professional Wick Checker
#21: Oct 8th 2021 at 6:55:34 PM
If Origins Episode covers "the moment that triggers the character's villainy" when it isn't a gradual thing, then I'm cool with the supertrope idea.
GastonRabbit
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#22: Oct 8th 2021 at 11:45:10 PM
I like the name Villain Origin Story (or maybe Viilainous Origin Story).
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MasterN
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#23: Oct 10th 2021 at 4:18:43 PM
Okay to supertrope, I guess.
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#24: Oct 11th 2021 at 3:12:36 PM
Toss Then Let Me Be Evil onto the list of related tropes.
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eroock
Since: Sep, 2012
#25: Oct 11th 2021 at 4:37:25 PM
[double post]
Edited by eroock on Oct 11th 2021 at 4:40:24 AM
Trope Repair Shop:
page action: Start of Darkness
15th Dec '21 9:12:08 AM
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Total posts: 129
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OP
So, Start Of Darkness is supposed to be a prequel or Origins Episode for a villain, showing how they became the villain they are in the main work. However, it is often used as a generic "any sad villain backstory" (possibly operating under the misapprehension that Dark and Troubled Past only applies to heroes) or as synonymous with Face–Heel Turn (Hell, the very name and existence of Ambiguous Start of Darkness flat-out implies that Face–Heel Turn is what Start Of Darkness means).This can easily be fixed by renaming it "Start of Darkness" Prequel.
Wicks Checked: 82/74
Edited by GastonRabbit on Oct 7th 2022 at 7:59:33 AM
One of these days, all of you will accept me as your supreme overlord.