Dark Ages

*For other uses, see Dark Ages (disambiguation).*

**Dark Ages** is the 7th world (5th to be chronologically released) in *Plants vs. Zombies 2*. It is the first world in *Plants vs. Zombies 2* to be in a nighttime setting, similar to Night from *Plants vs. Zombies*. The mushrooms make their debut here. Sun does not fall from the sky in Dark Ages as it is set during the night.

As it namesake says, Dark Ages takes during the tenth century where culture and economy slowly deteriorate mankind that follows the decline of the Roman Empire. Also, the use of black magic like necromancy became the center of usage for evil purposes.

Like in Ancient Egypt, tombstones appear in Dark Ages. However, they can now occasionally spawn by themselves and summon zombies through an ambush called "Necromancy!". Certain tombstones marked with a sun or Plant Food icon reward players with 100 sun and one Plant Food when destroyed respectively. If a grave spawns where there is a plant, that plant and all plants in front or behind it will move forward one column. All sun producing plants still do produce sun in these levels, but it is still recommended to use Sun-shrooms or Gold Blooms due to their lower costs.

## Origins

The Necromancy ambush is a reference to the magic of communicating with the dead, coming from the Greek words *nekros* meaning "dead body," and *manteia* meaning "prophecy."

Dark Alchemy refers to how alchemy was used for evil purposes.

Left to the zombies' castle, there is a sword that is stuck in a rock. It is a reference to Arthur's Challenge and Excalibur, a legendary sword with mystic powers. It would proclaim the only one who could remove the sword from the stone was the king of England.

The trailers references various famous legends and stories about this era:

* A Pea Pod shooting an apple off the head of a Monk Imp is a reference to "*William Tell*";
* Two Monk Imps trying to pull out a sword from a stone is a reference to "*The Sword in the Stone*";
* The Wizard Zombie who makes appear various zombies and a sheep, but is accidentally transformed into a Zombie Chicken is a reference to "*Merlin*".
* The Imp crashing coconuts together is a reference to "*Monty Python and The Holy Grail*".

The world description makes a pun on the word *night* with the phrase "in the dark of knight."

Penny states that a plague recently swept the area, a reference to the black plague, a life-threatening illness brought about by diseased fleas on rats during the era. The Wizard Zombie also alludes to the plague, since its legs are bandaged.

The moon in the background of the castle with a face is possibly referencing the moon from *The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask.*

## Game description

*Bring out your undead to the year 948! Harvest mushrooms in the dark of knight and get medieval on zombies from the days of yore!*

## Order of events

The player requires a World Key, which is obtainable by completing Ancient Egypt - Day 6, giving them access to the Dark Ages.

When the player defeats Night 9's wave, a medieval scroll is shown, saying "By decree of Lord Zomboss: Please leave thoust brain on thine stoop". On the tenth night, Dr. Zomboss writes a note before the huge wave attacks. The wave with the Dark Ages Gargantuar is defeated.

On the twentieth night, Zomboss claims that Plant Food is made out of zombies before attacking the player in his Zombot Dark Dragon. When the Zombot is destroyed, Penny reveals that Plant Food contains no zombies or zombie byproducts. Zomboss then retreats.

## Levels

There is a total of 19 levels and 1 boss battle to play as well as introducing five new plants (four which return from the first game) and eleven new zombies.

### Difficulty

Despite its four Jalapeno difficulty, this world is not too much of a hard world. It contains seven somewhat hard-hard nights: 7, 9, 10, 11, 15, 16, and 19. and four very hard nights: 13, 17, 18, and 20 Thus, it is slightly, or not even harder than the previous world, Far Future, at all.

* Easiest level: **Dark Ages - Night 1**
* Hardest level: **Dark Ages - Night 18**

### Main levels

+ The plant next to it is boosted, even if the player does not have it boosted.

#### Dark Alchemy

*Main article: Dark Alchemy*
Dark Alchemy is Dark Ages' exclusive Brain Buster. These levels' layouts are exactly the same as the normal levels, but potions will rise from the ground over time and boost zombies if they are stepped on. The potions will bring different effects to the zombies such as increasing their health and speed. While they are being vested by speed and strength boost, the zombies also grow big.

#### Special Delivery

*Main article: Special Delivery*
Special Delivery is a Brain Buster that is a conveyor-belt level with the plants given via said conveyor-belt. Being a conveyor-belt level, no sun and sun-producing plants will be given. Starting from Big Wave Beach, most of its levels are featuring new plants.

It is playable on Nights 4 and 13.

#### Locked and Loaded

*Main article: Locked and Loaded*
Locked and Loaded is a regular Brain Buster with the plants chosen, and the player has to use them to defeat the zombies. Starting from **Dark Ages**, its levels will always feature a premium plant.

It is playable on Nights 8 and 18.

#### Last Stand

*Main article: Last Stand (PvZ2)*
Last Stand is a Brain Buster that gives the player a huge a amount of sun and some Plant Food before starting the level. However, the player cannot choose plants that do not cost sun (except Hot Potato and Stallia), sun-producing plants and some other certain plants (However, this rarely happens). After choosing, the player will be able to plant plants with instant recharge to set up his or her defense before starting the battle.

It is playable on Nights 6 and 15.

#### Save Our Seeds

*Main article: Save Our Seeds*
In the Save Our Seeds levels, the player has to protect the endangered plants marked by a striped tile and his or her house too. If the player lets one of them be eaten by the zombies or disappear in some way, he or she will lose. Otherwise, it is a regular level, which the player can choose the plants to protect the endangered ones.

It is playable on

* Night 12, with five endangered Puff-shrooms;
* Night 19, with three endangered Magnet-shrooms.

### Arthur's Challenge

*Main article: Arthur's Challenge*
Arthur's Challenge is Dark Ages' Endless Zone. Grave Buster is exclusive to this and Pyramid of Doom. This Endless Zone is very difficult as Winter Melons and other strong plants will be useless against Gargantuars because of Jester Zombies. The former combined with Zombie Kings, Knight Zombies, and Wizard Zombies further add to this Endless Zone's difficulty.

### Zombot Dark Dragon

*Main article: Zombot Dark Dragon*
Zombot Dark Dragon is the boss of Dark Ages and is encountered at the final level. It can shoot fireballs that can hatch Imp Dragon Zombies and those fireballs can also damage plants and zombies. The fireballs also create scorched tiles that cannot be planted on. Fortunately, they only last for a few seconds.

## Gallery

Plants Vs Zombies 2 Music - Dark Ages Theme ☿ HD ☿-0Dark Ages themePlants Vs Zombies 2 Music - Dark Ages Demonstration Mini-Game ☿ HD ☿-1Brainiac Maniac - Dark Ages musicPlants Vs Zombies 2 Music - Dark Ages Ultimate Battle ☿ HD ☿-0Ultimate Battle - Dark Ages music
## Trivia

* The player's house in this world has a weather vane with a Peashooter's head.
* Dark Ages' main theme music is similar to Moongrains, Crazy Dave/Main Menu and Zen Garden, and possibly Rigor Mormist. The Brainiac Maniac (demonstration mini-game) and Ultimate Battle has a slight touch to Ancient Egypt and Pirate Seas with Medieval-styled drumbeats and effects remix along with Tambourines and Epic Soundfont.
* The instrument used to represent Dark Ages in Modern Day's themes is the kazoo.
* Dark Ages zombies' growls have Ancient Egypt and Pirate Seas mashed up growls.
* Like Weapon Stands from Kongfu World, tombstones grow from the ground at times, even on squares occupied by plants. If this happens, the plant will be tossed away or forward one square, but unlike the Weapon Stands, they cannot make the plants fly off-screen upon doing so. Sometimes, when a tombstone rises, the plant will disappear.
* Before Part 2 was released, the Imps on the logs over Night 11 seemed to be loafing, slacking, and playing around. One of them is eating a brain sandwich while the other holds a wrench.
	+ The same Imps appeared for all worlds following Dark Ages before their respective second parts were released.
* It is currently the shortest world in the game with only 20 levels.
* After Dark Ages - Night 10, the map changes to a castle design, but the lawn does not. All worlds after Dark Ages share the trait of changing the map design to something different.
* The torch near the castle started burning after the 2.7.1 update.
* In the preview screen, the player can see the Zombot Dark Dragon coming out of the castle door. This is the only time when a player can see an extended part of its body that is not usually visible during the fight.
* This is the only world to introduce a new zombie (Imp Dragon Zombie) solely in a boss level and Endless Zone.
* Before the 5.3.1 version, it was the fifth world on the world map order.
* After the Zomboss podium is remodeled, the new Zomboss podium looks very similar to the old Gargantuar podium. The only difference is there is no bridge and the Gargantuar statue and the level icon is located to where the Gargantuar statue is.
* Kazoos were invented in 1840, but it plays as one of the main instruments of the Dark Ages' music.
* The tiles shown in the Almanac are less saturated than the ones in-game.
* When the 6.1 update was released, there were three empty zombie slots in the Almanac. They are right after P Flag Peasant Zombie, Buckethead Peasant, and Wizard Zombie's slots, teasing an expansion. However, when the 6.2 update was released, they were removed.
	+ Pirate Seas, Jurassic Marsh, and Wild West's expansions were teased in the same way, but they got released.
* All plants obtained in this world are mushrooms, with the exception of Sun Bean.
* The moving fire in the background resembles the fire of Explorer Zombie, Torchlight Zombie, and Torch Kongfu Zombie's torch.
* This world's Boss Intro is reused for the Arena.
	+ The world's basic theme is also used for arena
		- Mid Wave A is used when you're 30 seconds left

## Developer diaries

Plants vs. Zombies 2 Dark Ages E3 Dev DiaryPlants vs. Zombies 2 Dark Ages Part 2 Dev Diary

**Areas**

ru:Тёмные\_Века