Why the Dark in the dark knight (and not the Light)? A colorful exposition.

“Οι ήρωες προχωρούν στα σκοτεινά.” Γ.Σ.

People asked the dark knight a straight question: why is he called the dark knight, and not perhaps the knight of the Light or something equally optimistic? They argued that all men of valor in the past were associated, in a way, with the Light. Take for example Prometheus the Titan, who despite all resistance from his peers, brought the holy Fire to mankind. His action of course did not remain unpunished, commented succinctly the dark knight. Take another narrative, Christ the Prophet went farther and claimed he was the eternal Light. He too paid though for his claim, direly, the dark knight observed.

This unavailing conversation was stifling the area, people contended that maybe the dark knight chose this epithet because he moves in the shadows, always in an obscure background. Like most predators, they wait until the night falls and stealthily follow their prey who rests oblivious to its imminent calamity.  Nevertheless, the adamant dark knight refused to be considered a predator for he has no hunting drive in him. He sees himself more as a man of abstraction as a french philosopher would profess.

Noticing the frustration his reply elicited, he elaborated “I suspect what you might assume at this point, that I embraced the darkness since my actions are not perceived noble by some common standards. But I beseech you, liberate yourselves from the definiteness of virtue and vice. The quest of absolute morality has been each time reduced to a quorum, a tacit agreement of the present majority. The consequent relativity appears terrifying, chaotic, I well know. However, I assure you my friends, certainty has been proven far more horrifying”. Thus has the skeptic dark knight has spoken, perpetually challenging the crowds.

Confused and dissatisfied people were about to leave. They have been disappointed by the turn of events and to their credit the dark knight had not provided a solid explanation. He has been equivocating with witty tricks. What kind of glorious hero he was if he couldn’t even justify his own name? The dark knight then offered an honest answer “Hear me out dear friends, there is indeed a reason. I adopted the darkness due to my primal fear. The absence of Light has been indeed my utmost phobia, so formidable that I chose make it my emblem, to extricate myself from its enormity. At least that was what I originally thought”. The dark knight paused dramatically and gauged his audience’s reaction.

After taking a mindful breath, he proceeded “Yet I discovered that there was a more fundamental reason. What we usually call Light is simply the visible part of a spectrum. There is an abundance of Light outside of it. Our perception is limited from what we see and sometimes what we see is influenced by our sight. I am now the dark knight because I don’t trust the elusive nature of Light. I am now the dark knight because the truth lies in the unfathomable darkness of our universe, beyond any of our senses can reach. I am now the dark knight because I no longer vilify the Dark, I begin to understand it”.

Α.Δ.