This simple concept has created many tropes in fiction, although this index is just for tropes that actually relate to lack of light, not metaphorical meanings of "dark" and "shadow" (unless a trope involves both the literal and metaphorical meanings).
Compare Evil Tropes, Horror Tropes, Tropes in Black. Contrast Lighting Tropes.
Tropes
- Bait-and-Switch Silhouette: A silhouette causes something to look like something other than what it is.
- Barrage of Bats: Darkness-aligned users are able to call upon swarms of bats as a type of darkness attack.
- Big Shadow, Little Creature: A large shadow turns out to be cast by something much smaller.
- Blackground: For areas where a pitch-black background is used for artistic reasons.
- Blackout Basement: A stock video game level that is constantly being plunged into darkness.
- Brightness Shadows: Shadows used to indicate brightness.
- Casting a Shadow: Darkness as part of the Elemental Powers.
- Casts No Shadow: Where the shadow should be, it isn't.
- Censor Shadow: Using shadows in place of a Censor Box.
- Chiaroscuro: Light and shadows as a visual artistic tool.
- Creepy Cave: Caves derive much of their creep factor from their impenetrable darkness.
- Creepy Shadowed Undereyes: The area around a character's eyes is darkened to make them look scary.
- Day Hurts Dark-Adjusted Eyes
- Dark Is Evil: Dark colors represent evil.
- Dark Is Not Evil: Dark colors don't represent evil.
- Darkness Equals Death
- The Darkness Gazes Back
- Dark World
- Emerging from the Shadows
- Evil Is Not Well-Lit
- Face Framed in Shadow
- Fade Around the Eyes
- Full Moon Silhouette
- God of Darkness
- Hollywood Darkness: Darkness that isn't actually fully dark.
- Impossible Shadow Puppets
- Innate Night Vision
- Kill the Lights
- Light/Darkness Juxtaposition
- Lightning Reveal: Something hidden in darkness is revealed by the light from a lightning strike.
- Lights Off, Somebody Dies
- Lightswitch Surprise: Something surprising hidden in darkness is revealed when the lights are turned on.
- Liquid Darkness: Darkness compared to, or portrayed as, liquid.
- Living Shadow
- Looming Silhouette of Rage
- Matchlight Danger Revelation: Something hidden in darkness is revealed by a lit match's light.
- Nice Day, Deadly Night: Things get more dangerous at night.
- The Night That Never Ends
- Night-Vision Goggles: Goggles that allow the user to see in the darkness.
- Nothing Is Scarier: It's not the darkness that scares you. It's not knowing what's IN the darkness.
- The Sacred Darkness: When Dark Is Not Evil, it can be holy as well.
- Scary Flashlight Face: Holding a flashlight under one's face to look scary.
- Scary Shadow Fakeout
- Sexy Silhouette
- Shadow Discretion Shot: Only the shadows of the scene's events are seen.
- Shadowed Face, Glowing Eyes
- The Shadow Knows
- Shadow of Impending Doom
- Shadow Pin
- Shadow Walker
- Sinister Silhouettes
- Sound of Darkness: Something made of darkness/shadows makes a sound.
- Step into the Blinding Fight
- Tangible Darkness: Shadows and darkness treated as a physical substance with mass and volume.
- Yin-Yang Bomb: A combination of dark and light.