Dark

A major plot point in Golden Sun: Dark Dawn is the role of darkness. However, the game does not clearly define exactly what darkness is. Until an official definition is given, this article will simply list known features of darkness and dark-aligned characters/monsters.

Dark-aligned abilities are not common knowledge to Weyard's present-day inhabitants, but was discovered in the game world's ancient past. Having mastered the four known elements, the world's ancient inhabitants sought further control over alchemy, a quest Kraden would describe as a search for nothing short of omnipotence. To this end, they built the Eclipse Tower, a device which absorbed light. An unexpected side-effect is that a huge area of darkness was created across Weyard, known as the Grave Eclipse. Eclipse Tower was later sealed and deactivated, until the events of Dark Dawn.

During the Grave Eclipse, many powerful "dark" monsters appear. These dark monsters are stronger than normal monsters, but have an aversion to strong light sources. This weakness protected cities like Harapa from the Grave Eclipse, and Obaba was able to keep Champa free from the dark monsters by maintaining a massive bonfire. Also worth mentioning is the Chaos Hound encountered at the end of Dark Dawn, an otherwise-normal being forcibly infused with darkness.

Near the end of Dark Dawn, Blados confirms that there are Dark Psynergy users. Like darkness in general, Dark Psynergy is poorly defined. Currently, the only confirmed Dark Psynergy users are members of the Umbra Clan and, by extension, Tuaparang. Some techniques, such as Blados and Chalis's "Shadow Shield", have names that suggest they may be dark-aligned.

Phenomena similar to darkness
The Tanglewood, Dark Dawn's tutorial-esque dungeon, is a normal forest by day but transforms at night, with large roots growing out of the ground to trap anyone unfortunate enough to wander in. These roots were eliminated by burning certain flowers with the Fireball Psynergy, similar to how strong fires can keep Grave Eclipse monsters at bay.

Psynergy Vortexes act in much the same manner as the Eclipse Tower, although they absorb Psynergy from the environment rather than Light. Also worth mentioning are the Psy Grenades wielded by Tuaparang's soldiers, which, like Psynergy Vortexes, drain Psynergy.

The Umbra Gear is a set of equipment that may be Dark-aligned, as they absorb light (and possibly Psynergy, as evidenced by each item giving the wearer a elemental Resistance boost), making passage through the intense light of Apollo Sanctum possible.