dark type pokemon

i'm gonna preface this post by saying that in japanese, the dark type is called the evil type. that should tell you about some of the stuff we're in for today.

the dark type didn't come into being until gen 2, so we'll be starting there. the first pokemon i'm touching on is murkrow. from the gen 2 pokedexes:

gold: feared and loathed by many, it is believed to bring misfortune to all those who see it at night.

silver: It is said that when chased, it lures its attacker onto dark mountain trails where the foe will get lost. 

right off the bat, murkrow doesn't come across as a  very nice pokemon. the page does mention, however, that the misfortune is more likely to fall on pokemon it's battling than humans. it has been known to steal shiny things, from people and even other pokemon. another gen 2 dark type is the psuedo-legendary tyranitar. from the crystal entry: 

In just one of its mighty hands, it has the power to make the ground shake and mountains crumble.

this is not surprising. the pokemon has a wide moveset, which includes some elemental moves (thundershock, surf), as well as some dragon type moves. they are always eager to battle. luckily, they are very rare in  the wild. other gen 2 dark types include umbreon, sneasel, houndour, and houndoom.

with gen 3 we get the infamous absol. well, it's infamous in-universe anyway. from the gen 3 entries:

ruby: Every time Absol appears before people, it is followed by a disaster such as an earthquake or a tidal wave. As a result, it came to be known as the disaster Pokémon.

sapphire: Absol has the ability to foretell the coming of natural disasters. It lives in a harsh, rugged mountain environment. This Pokémon very rarely ventures down from the mountains.

emerald: It sharply senses even subtle changes in the sky and the land to predict natural disasters. It is a long-lived Pokémon that has a life-span of 100 years. 

absol's infamy is actually misattributed. as it said in the sapphire entry, the pokemon has the ability to sense when natural disasters are coming. it tries to warn people of them but it usually arrives just as it's happening, making people think that it's presence is what caused it. some absol even live in places constantly plagued by disaster, like giant chasm.

sableye is an interesting pokemon, to say the least. they live in caves and caverns, eating the rocks and gemstones it finds there. it's eyes look like gemstones, and there is a crystal growning on it's chest. it's eyes glow in the dark, and some people think that they can steal people's spirits when they do this.

gen 4 has the legendary pokemon darkrai. it's species is listed as 'pitch-black' and it's special ability is 'bad dreams'. this should tell you more than enough about this one, but i'll go ahead and give you it's pokedex entry from pearl:

Folklore has it that on moonless nights, this Pokémon will make people see horrific nightmares.

darkrai earns it's reputation. what makes it worse is that darkrai doesn't mean to do this, and only does it as a defense mechanism. in battle, it uses a move called dark void, which can pull the opponent into the void and put it to sleep. you can guess what its dreams must be like. this move works on humans too.

gen 5 has a variety of dark types, including sleek and mysterious liepard, the brutal krookodile, and the psuedo-legendary hydreigon. krookodile can crush a car with it's jaws, and hydreigon is easily triggered, using it's three heads to destroy the landscape. liepard is said to appear and disappear randomly. it's unevolved form, purrloin, steals things from it's trainer and uses it's cuteness to earn forgiveness.

a complete list of  dark types can be found here.