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Are Dark-types supposed to be evil?

Almonds

Almonds

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It is said to be based on one of the biggest fears - fear of the dark. But... do they draw their power from 'darkness' ? Or does 'dark' have something to do with 'evil' ?
 
Don't listen to her Umbreon, you are not evil, you are a floofy, glowing pile of love and squee <3

All jokes aside, no, Dark types aren't supposed to be evil. They are supposed to embody Darkness and what it means and how it is perceived. At first, we are afraid of it because of the unknown, it messes with our minds and makes us scared and powerless, thus why they are superior to psychic types. However, if we face our fears and confront them, we will find that there is truly nothing to be afraid of, which is why fighting is superior to dark types. At least, that's how I see it and how it makes sense to me. Otherwise, the only reason they were introduced is to overpower psychic types and give fighting pokemon a chance.

Some dark types do look sinister though. I`m looking at you, Zoroark and Darkrai.
 
I don't care whatever the game says, Darkrai isn't evil, lol.
 
Just because they're called "dark" types does not mean they are the "evil" type, dark is not evil, just look at Batman for instance, he's called the "Dark Knight", but he's not evil at all.
 
well they might be because in japanese I think the Dark type is called the evil type. but as mention above, some Dark type Pokémon aren't necessarily evil
 
Well, though they are the evil type, I don't think that means they are actually evil. I think it's suppose to mean they are more in touch with evil, they understand it better then others do, but that doesn't mean they have to be evil or that they are naturally evil. Like what is often said in the anime, Pokemon aren't naturally evil, they are only evil if around evil people I think the same goes for dark types.
 
coolcatkim22 said:
Like what is often said in the anime, Pokemon aren't naturally evil, they are only evil if around evil people I think the same goes for dark types.
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Actually, I think that concept was retconned. There have been cases in the anime where Pokémon do bad things depsite not having bad trainers or even being around people. For example, the con-artist Teddiursa. There were others as well, but they don't come to mind.

But anyway, I do think it's on a case-by-case basis. Some Dark-types are bad (although I wouldn;t call them pure "evil"), some aren't. Same with any other type, some are bad and some aren't. Dark-types do sometimes have an "evil" look to them (e.g. Houndour / Houndoom look like devils), but typically I think that they are just supposed to represent the darkness in general.
 
Eh, I wouldn't say so. As someone said already, the Dark type is called the Evil type in Japanese, but that doesn't exactly mean all Dark type are evil.
 
Judging by their moves they're not actually evil, just mischievous, a good example is the move Fake Tears.
 
At a point in the anime Darkrai is shown to have an innocent side as well.
 
Nope. The dark types have that appearance of evil. But maybe inside they are nice Pokemon who just wants to be your friend. For example: Umbreon and Zoroark, well they don't have that look but they're probably nice.
 
They're not evil-evil; they're only mischevous evil. The moves associated with the type reflects dirty tactics. Scrafty, for example, is based off of a ghetto civilian living in the suburbs, who go into dirty street fights with their own kind and steal stuff from a small business store. This isn't the power of supreme darkness.
 
Xenidal said:
Actually, I think that concept was retconned. There have been cases in the anime where Pokémon do bad things depsite not having bad trainers or even being around people. For example, the con-artist Teddiursa. There were others as well, but they don't come to mind.
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Well, I don't think Pokemon constantly have to be around evil people to remain evil. It helps but it's not necessary. I think it's really just the influence of bad behavior. I mean, evil isn't like some sort of medicine that stops working if you stop taking it.
It is possible that Pokemon like Teddiursa, and the like were around bad people so they learned bad behaviors.

Also, according to PMD, Pokemon also may become evil if something bad is or is going to happen to their environment, so there's that.
 
ProngedDread837 said:
I don't care whatever the game says, Darkrai isn't evil, lol.
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Takaki said:
At a point in the anime Darkrai is shown to have an innocent side as well.
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I've always thought that most Darkrais were evil, and that the Alamos Town Darkrai is an exception. I would say that most Dark-types aren't evil, especially not Absol. But most Darkrais are.
 
@Mand"alor te Siit; I believe there is only one Darkrai.
 
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While they may not be "evil", from reading what the Pokedex has to say about a lot of them, they are normally aggressive, sinister, or associated will ill-fortune.
 
I don't think they're evil, just misunderstood. Zoroark are just very protective of their young. Darkrai is paranoid and occasionally has to eat. Hydreigon isn't evil, just insane. Umbreon simply lives in the dark. Absol is actually there to help, but causes a sort of Doctor complex because things will go wrong after you see it.
 
Hydreigon is definitely evil. And Umbreon uses its rings to strike fear into animals around it. They're all evil in a way that I can see, except for Scrafty, who is undeserving of the Dark title.
 
Darkrai means no harm, but tends to deliver it anyway with its nightmares. Hydreigon is malicious by nature. Spiritomb is 108 evil souls bound to a keystone.
Sure, those ones are evil, but most other dark-types are merely pragmatic (Sneasel has Beat Up, Scrafty fight dirty, Zoroark use illusions, etc.). And then there's poor Absol.

If anything, Ghost-types are more evil (ex. Froslass freeze people. Banette is a living doll with a grudge. Drifloon tries to kidnap children. And again, the Ghost/Dark Spiritomb)
 
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