(04-17-2015, 02:55 PM)Gegenji Wrote:(04-17-2015, 02:44 PM)allgivenover Wrote: Their power in IV was assuredly evil and corrupting.
... The power is dangerous and its mishandling can result in bad things happen to the user, yes. That does not make its users evil. Evil use is done by people who are themselves evil.
What I'm saying is Darkness is guns.
Spoilers for FFIV:
Although it doesn't state so directly I've always thought they meant that the power of the Dark Sword in IV is corrupting, as it feeds from and magnifies the user's own hatred (Tellah makes a comment to this effect). The King of Baron commanded Cecil to take up the art when he was a boy, and it was stated that most who try to become Dark Knights can't handle the intense training and lose their minds.
Early in the story Cecil tells Rosa "I've worn this dark armor so long there's no light left in me, not even my heart". (obviously this varies from translation to translation, and a lot of these little details were removed from the western SNES version entirely)
Atop Mt. Ordeals it's stated that he can't become a Paladin until he confronts and endures his own hatred (the dark knight), the focus certainly seemed to be that he was unclean because of what he did and the powers he held.