Why Darkness matters
Shadows are intricately beautiful. The way an outline projects from a silhouette, morphing depending on where the light source comes from. Following the figure wherever it goes, like a dark mirror of the object. The shadows from a flickering candle or roaring flame dance about regardless of the stagnation of the object being darkly mirrored. Choreographed hands make puppets and sigils, engendering laughter and bringing glorious visuals to storytelling plastered on some surface. Casting a shadow is vital because it lets us know a light is in our vicinity. Without light, there can be no shadows; if there is no light, there is only darkness. Light is essential, and yet, the shadow is a reminder of the importance of the light; the shadow is the reminder of all that exists when the light is snuffed out. We cannot know of light without shadow, just as we cannot know decency without darkness.
I believe that each of us understands the basic concept of the existence of darkness, not in the sense of a shadow, but in human behavior. It's impossible to ingest any media without an antagonist appearing in some strange corner of the retelling of an event. The cheering and deep chills we feel when a protagonist overcomes are only possible if an antagonist has been present, spoken of, or hidden somewhere. I would argue that it is not the quality of the protagonist that encourages us the most but the depth of the antagonist that brings us to cheer more loudly for the hero and sneer more scornfully at the villain. Fear-mongering is a go-to for many media presenters, regardless of medium, when there is no obvious antagonist.
When living in an environment with no clear antagonist, we tend to look for small qualities of decency in others and believe that such small quantities and minor qualities make one the protagonist. But the reality is, whenever there has been an unobstructed path to understanding evil, there is also an even more straightforward path to understanding goodness. Wars fought on behalf of the victims of injustice, arguments made for the betterment of mankind, protests standing up against tyranny, a protector intermediating between a villain and a victim. Unfortunately, our reality is not as clear-cut as any media presents it.
There are no different sides to stories, there is only the objective truth being muddled through emotions and language. Human heroes don't exist because those considered heroes contain deplorable acts in the privacy of their homes and the corners of their minds. A man who lead so many to a glorious reality, committing infidelity and tearing a family apart. A peace-monger molesting innocence. A top general abusing his children. A leader of nations causing the indirect genocide of a marginalized group. While on the one hand, the mask of the hero saves one or even many, the face of the human spews slurs, claims demon hood exists in whole groups, and ignores the plights of many for the sake of some or the some for the many.
Darkness exists in all of us. The recesses of our minds, the corners of our skulls that desire death or pain to others, the willingness to ignore the torture and suffering of others based on our convenience. Nuda, the apparent protagonist of Around the World, Heaven to Hell, kills more than a handful of human traffickers, murderers, and such, but he also ends the life of one who had never done anything close to that. Rithsanis, the apparent protagonist's Teacher, leading him to feel loved and cared for, killed two of his peers before he was 18. Does Nuda, possessing abilities that could save lives, mean that if he does not attempt to save every life, then he is, in reality, a villain? Would this also mean that for us living in comfortable countries and having resources to spare, if we don't use said resources to attempt to save anyone we can, does that make us all villains?
Does pain justify evil deeds? If an individual or a group falls victim to some horrendous circumstance, does that give the individual or the group the right to pursue evil under the guise of justice? When is evil justifiable and no longer considered evil? I don't believe in a scale of good and evil; nothing saves individual actions. If I save someone's life but then turn around and murder someone else, the action of murder is to be considered evil no matter what. If a military is liberating a country from tyranny but slaughtering prisoners, the liberators are then regarded as evil. What then qualifies evil? We must know because without knowing what darkness is, we can never know where light comes from.
