this post was submitted on 24 Jul 2023
18 points (100.0% liked)

Fantasy books, stories, &c

2818 readers
1 users here now

Anything related to the fantasy genre

Related communities

FAQ

founded 4 years ago
MODERATORS
 

What defines dark fantasy?

Is it just elves that wear black or is there more to it? Maybe a mood or setting? Maybe it's an antihero thing? Im curious as to what it means and what some of the defining/seminal works of dark fantasy might be.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago

The best definition I've heard of Grimdark, which has a certain overlap with dark fantasy, is that morally good decisions lead to bad outcomes. Not every good decision leads to a bad outcome and not every bad outcome is due to a good decision. But as a rule of thumb, doing the right thing is a bad thing.