(09-13-2015, 03:58 PM)Calliope Cloverbloom Wrote: Simple answer: It's less "Dark" as in "villainous & demonic" and more "Dark" as in "that thing emo people talk about".
Oh look it's this joke again.
The "Dark" in Dark Knight actually refers to the fact that they're a knight without a banner. They pledge allegiance to no one essentially. It's an old medieval term and dark knights were indeed real things in the past (minus flashy magical emotion powers).
In terms of lore to extrapolate on S'imba's post...the very first Dark Knight was actually just a regular Knight under one house or another and saw a member of the clergy doing something despicable to another person and getting away with it (it's intentionally vague). The Knight attacked the clergyman and was eventually put to trial by combat for it. While the Knight won, he displayed a new magic that was coming from the core of his emotions. The Inquisitors saw this as a demonic thing but could not legally charge him for the crime he was tried for...instead he was stripped of his title and lands and dubbed a "dark" knight or a knight with no banner. Rather than be disgraced, the dark knight embraced his new title and continued to mete out his own form of justice. His abilities were developed and passed on over time to allow his disciples and descendants to use those powers to protect the weak from the oppressive without fear of retribution (of course there IS retribution if they get caught but you know...people tend to leave dark knights alone).
The Dark Knights don't know much about the source of their own power but they know a few things such as when they touch their soul stone a voice calls out to them and that voice is the one that shall guide them. Some even speculate the voice is someone they are meant to find in the future. The power of the Abyss can overtake a person easily so it's no simple task becoming a Dark Knight. Fall too far and you can be destroyed by your own inner darkness.
As for their abilities...the "dark" monikers are just for flavour. The abilities assume you can use your injuries to give you strength by building your anger. You can replenish your own aether by stealing the enemy's own (resulting in health or mana regeneration in game mechanics) or even use the darkness to drive an opponent mad (one of their DoTs gives a debuff which says so in the mouse-over description). They're very plainly like Sith from Star Wars which are more menacing and cunning than anything else despite mocking jokes by some about the class' practitioners listening to Linkin Park and being emo the like.
