Dark Fantasy: Difference between revisions

[[Darker and Edgier]] [[Science Fiction]] isn't recognised as a subgenre as '''Dark Fantasy''' is; however, [[Dystopia|dystopic fiction]] often has markings of SF and thus gets an honourable mention here.

 

* [[Magic Is Evil]], at best relatively neutral. Often [[The Corruption]]. There is a good chance it's directly obtained through a [[Deal with the Devil]], powered by [[Blood Magic]] or involves [[Human Sacrifice]]. Individual wizards tend to [[With Great Power Comes Great Insanity|go mad with power]] (or just the [[Mad Scientist|possibility of it]]) and are [[Vain Sorceress|full of themselves]]. This is likely why [[Burn the Witch]] is a popular pastime of the lower classes.

* Magical weapons tend to be [[Evil Weapon|evil]], or at least require a very heavy price for their use.

* If [[Sufficiently Advanced Magic]] [[Dungeon Punk|enters play]], the following may happen: [[Cybernetics Eat Your Soul|augmentations eat away at one's humanity]] (often [[Body Horror|involuntarily]] for the sake of war and profit), [[Sinister Surveillance|communication magic]] creates new and fascinating ways to control people, and [[Golem|sentient constructs]] [[AI Is a Crapshoot|have only contempt]] for their creators.

 

* [[The Horde]] vastly outnumbers civilization. The [[Fantasy Axis of Evil]] is there, and is either [[Eviler Than Thou|even worse]] [[Exclusively Evil|than you'd expect]], or the "good" guys aren't really better than them. Expect a lot of [[Rape, Pillage and Burn]] when they go raiding. Good chance someone (on either side) will say "[[The Women Are Safe with Us]]."

* Of the [[Five Races]], the elves are all stuffed-up jerks who have either sneaked off, devolved into fancy-eared humans or gotten [[Enslaved Elves|enslaved]] (the only kind who may thrive are the Dark Elves), the [[Hobbits]] were the first to be subjugated or are just plain evil in the first place, the dwarves don't care about anyone else and thus shamelessly nickel-and-dime the other guys, and the [[Humans Are Bastards]] and actively persecute the rest. [[Abusive Precursors]], if any.

* In terms of politics, often there's an [[Forever War|endless]] [[Hopeless War|conflict]] between the civilizations. Wars of extinction are not uncommon and entire Worlds<ref>world, in this context, means both planets and planes of the multiverse</ref> are often put to the sword to ensure victory. Otherwise it is a fight to be the new figurehead of the old empire that had fallen eons ago.

 

* The gods [[Jerkass Gods|are all jerks]] who pass the time [[Pass the Popcorn|eating prayer chips and drinking soul-booze while placing bets]], and [[The Legions of Hell]] are mere days away from digging into the Mortal Realm, or are there already. A [[God of Evil]] is probably [[Villains Act, Heroes React|the only active one]], unless the point of the story is that he doesn't need to, because people will jump at any opportunity to do harm anyway. [[Demonic Possession]] is quite common. If there are no "gods" per se, the [[Celestial Bureaucracy]]/[[Council of Angels]] have more red tape than a ribbon factory. May even have [[Devil but No God]], or an outright [[God Is Evil|evil supreme god]] running the show. Alternatively, the [[Angels, Devils, and Squid|eldritch abominations might be destroying both sides]].

* Any [[The Church|organized religion]] which is not a [[Corrupt Church]] or [[Religion of Evil]] is a [[Path of Inspiration]]. What else there is tend to be [[cult]]s, paganic [[Scary Amoral Religion]]s, or even more radical offshoots of the big ones. Often led by a [[Sinister Minister]]. Expect [[Church Police|The Inquisition]] to burst in at any given opportunity, and we don't mean [[No One Respects the Spanish Inquisition|the funny kind that wonders why nobody expects them.]]

* [[Zombie Apocalypse|The dead find staying buried a little boring, and resist any and all attempts to keep them buried]], short of [[Kill It with Fire|cremation]] or dismemberment. There might even be [[Corpse Land|a region so full of undead nothing in its right mind goes there]].

 

* The very best you can count on is an [[Anti-Hero|Anti Heroic]] [[Knight in Sour Armor]]. There is a high chance of (likely more than a bit of [[Well-Intentioned Extremist]], or just straight-out [[Evil Versus Evil|bad guy]]) [[Designated Hero]], who will [[The Bad Guy Wins|probably]] [[Shoot the Shaggy Dog|lose]] [[Downer Ending|or end up as]] [[He Who Fights Monsters]] or [[And Then John Was a Zombie|a zombie]] anyway, no matter how hard he may [[Resist the Beast]].

** If they're [[Giving the Sword to A Noob]] to [[Defied Trope|Defy]] this, expect said Noob to fail.

 

Sibling trope to [[Dungeon Punk]], which can be just as grim and gritty, but Dungeon Punk has [[Magitek]]. May be the result of a disruption in, or Evil's turn, on the [[Balance of Good and Evil]].

 

== [[Anime]] and Manga ==

* ''[[Claymore]]'': monsters run amok devouring the innocent civilians while [[They Look Like Us Now|disguising themselves as their neighbors]] and the [[Demon Slayer|only warriors who can fight them]] (all [[Broken Bird|psychologically damaged young women]]) tend to live very short lives thanks to [[The Corruption]] which will [[One-Winged Angel|turn them into something]] [[Eldritch Abomination|much worse]] and {{spoiler|it's all just a [[Monster Protection Racket]] (something that the warriors are just as ignorant of as the terrorized peasants). And for what? To create ideal weapon for an [[Forever War|Endless War]] between another continent bent on seeing them dead.}}