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.
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.
It’s a combination of mood and setting. The mood should be serious and the world should be harsh. Grimdark fantasy is kind of a subcategory where the world is completely hopeless as opposed to just being a bit harsh.
The most famous dark fantasy (or depending on who you ask grimdark) series that I can think of is The Witcher. You probably know a bit about about it but there really are no proper good guys. Just Geralt who at least cares enough to try sometimes
Another pretty well known (but kinda controversial) one is Goblin Slayer. This one has some… interesting ideas about goblins. It does do a decent job of making them a credible threat though and you can understand why the goblin slayer wants to make them extinct. An interesting thing about this one is that the characters don’t have actual names. This makes them feel disposable to some extent and adds to the general feel of it
The First Law series by Joe Abercrombie is also a great grimdark series. Cannot recommend it enough if you haven’t read them. Also, obligatory shout out to the audio books which are some of the best audio books in existence.
I agree with this. A combination of mood and settings, and to add @Surface_Detail@lemmy.ml 's answer to it, not all good decisions lead to good outcomes. Bad things happen to good people who are trying to do good things.
A combination of this all.