repost cuz i have no life
Absol isn't Dark Type because of reputation or being misunderstood, or "just cuz humans think it's evil". He's Dark because the Type is associated with misfortune and doom. Like a negative energy or black magic. That's common in Asian countries, the idea that wicked thoughts or unluckiness stems from a literal, actual negative force like a dark energy.
When you trip and break your leg, or you perform some terrible crime, the cultural oriental belief is that that happened because of a build-up of too much negative/dark energy. Bad chi. The dark side of the Force in Star Wars. The idea is most Dark Types behave evilly, and doing so builds up negative energy, which in turn fuels their powers. Absol is different, it just senses "bad energy" passively and doesn't create more of it.
Sometimes Pokemon Types merely CONTROL a thing (Lapras has ice elemental powers) and other times they ARE the thing (Cryogonal is literally made of ice). 95% of Dark Type literally ARE the thing---they literally are villainous. Absol is just confusing cuz it's one of the only exceptions. It controls a thing, it has a sort of elemental affinity to sense ill-fated and doom-ridden events. Sensing incoming disaster like Vaporeon senses incoming rain. So Absol DOES have a legitimate reason to be Dark Type it's just pretty much alone in the indirect way it goes about this.
Also Absol has a yin-yang for a face, it's a symbol of duality. The juxtaposition between its edgy side and its selfless heroism is deliberate. It's supposed to be a statement on the intertwined nature of good and evil. It being Dark yet having a pure and noble nature is the whole point, it's SUPPOSED to seem paradoxical
