{{short description|Subgenre of speculative fiction}} [[File:Warhammer World Space Marine (5526213129).jpg|thumb|The term "grimdark" was inspired by ''Warhammer 40,000''.]] {{Fantasy}}
'''Grimdark''' is a subgenre of speculative fiction with a tone, style, or setting that is particularly dystopian, amoral, and violent. The term is inspired by the tagline of the tabletop strategy game ''Warhammer 40,000'': "In the grim darkness of the far future there is only war."<ref name="Roberts 2014">{{cite book|last=Roberts|first=Adam|title=Get Started in: Writing Science Fiction and Fantasy|date=2014|publisher=Hachette UK|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=T2rEAwAAQBAJ&pg=PT42|isbn=9781444795660|page=42}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal| issn = 2623-9558| issue = 2| last = Moser| first = Marcel| title = Hope as the Main Driving Force of Humanity in the Grimdark Universe of Warhammer 40,000| journal = Kick| date = 2019|url=https://www.ffos.unios.hr/download/kick-02.pdf#page=7}}</ref>
==Definitions== Several attempts to define the neologism<ref>{{Cite web |last=Ayres |first=Jackson |date=2016-02-20 |title=When Were Superheroes Grim and Gritty? |url=https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/when-were-superheroes-grim-and-gritty/ |access-date=2022-09-05 |website=Los Angeles Review of Books |language=en}}</ref> ''grimdark'' have been made: *Adam Roberts described it as fiction "where nobody is honourable and Might is Right", and as "the standard way of referring to fantasies that turn their backs on the more uplifting, Pre-Raphaelite visions of idealized medievaliana, and instead stress how nasty, brutish, short and, er, dark life back then 'really' was". But he noted that grimdark has little to do with re-imagining an actual historic reality and more with conveying the sense that our own world is a "cynical, disillusioned, ultraviolent place".<ref name="Roberts 2014"/> *Genevieve Valentine called grimdark a "shorthand for a subgenre of fantasy fiction that claims to trade on the psychology of those sword-toting heroes, and the dark realism behind all those kingdom politics".<ref name="NPR 25 January 2015">{{cite news|last=Valentine|first=Genevieve|title=For A Taste Of Grimdark, Visit The 'Land Fit For Heroes'|url=https://www.npr.org/2015/01/25/378611261/for-a-taste-of-grimdark-visit-the-land-fit-for-heroes|access-date=31 January 2015|work=NPR Books|date=25 January 2015}}</ref> *In the view of Jared Shurin, grimdark fantasy has three key components: a grim and dark tone, a sense of realism (for example, monarchs are useless and heroes are flawed), and the agency of the protagonists: whereas in high fantasy everything is predestined and the tension revolves around ''how'' the heroes defeat the Dark Lord, grimdark is "fantasy protestantism": characters have to choose between good and evil, and are "just as lost as we are".<ref name="Pornokitsch 28 January 2015">{{cite news|last=Shurin|first=Jared|title=NEW RELEASES: THE GOBLIN EMPEROR BY KATHERINE ADDISON|url=http://www.pornokitsch.com/2015/01/new-releases-the-goblin-emperor-by-katherine-addison.html|access-date=31 January 2015|work=Pornokitsch|date=28 January 2015}}</ref> *Liz Bourke considered grimdark's defining characteristic to be "a retreat into the valorisation of darkness for darkness's sake, into a kind of nihilism that portrays right action ... as either impossible or futile". This, according to her, has the effect of absolving the protagonists as well as the reader from moral responsibility.<ref>{{cite news|last=Bourke|first=Liz|title=The Dark Defiles by Richard Morgan|url=http://strangehorizons.com/non-fiction/reviews/the-dark-defiles-by-richard-morgan/|access-date=7 March 2019|work=Strange Horizons|date=17 April 2015}}</ref> *Helen Young equates grimdark to ''gritty fantasy'', as exemplified by George R. R. Martin's ''A Song of Ice and Fire'' series.<ref>{{cite book | title=Fantasy and Science Fiction Medievalisms | last=Young | first=Helen Victoria | year=2015 | publisher=Cambria Press | isbn=9781604978964 | page=5 }}</ref>
Whether grimdark is a genre in its own right or an unhelpful label has also been discussed. Valentine noted that while some writers have embraced the term, others see it as "a dismissive term for fantasy that's dismantling tropes, a stamp unfairly applied".<ref name="NPR 25 January 2015"/>
==Use in fantasy fiction== According to Adam Roberts, grimdark is an "anti-Tolkien" approach to fantasy writing. George R. R. Martin's popular grimdark fantasy series ''A Song of Ice and Fire'' is characterized, in Roberts' view, by its reaction to Tolkien's idealism, even though it owes much to Tolkien.<ref name="Roberts 2014"/> According to Jon Garrad, grimdark is associated with the gothic movement of the 1990s and its negativity and emphasis on loss.<ref>{{Cite journal| last = Garrad| first = Jon| title = Endless Nineties: the perennial aesthetic of'grimdark'games| journal = Gothic Styles, Gothic Substance| date = 2017|url=https://hcommons.org/deposits/download/hc:16752/CONTENT/endless_nineties_the_perennial_aesthetic.pdf/}}</ref>
Writing in ''The Guardian'' in 2016, Damien Walter summarized what he considered grimdark's "domination" of the fantasy genre as "bigger swords, more fighting, bloodier blood, more fighting, axes, more fighting", and a "commercial imperative to win adolescent, male readers". He saw this trend as being in opposition to "a truly epic and more emotionally nuanced kind of fantasy" that delivered storytelling.<ref>{{cite news|last=Walter|first=Damien|title=Science fiction and fantasy look ahead to a diverse 2016|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2016/jan/01/science-fiction-fantasy-look-ahead-diverse-2016|access-date=1 January 2016|work=The Guardian|date=1 January 2016}}</ref>
Grimdark fantasy has been written since the 1980s by authors including Michael Moorcock, Glen Cook,<ref>{{cite news|last=Cordova|first=Savannah|title=Grimdark Books|url=https://reedsy.com/discovery/blog/grimdark-books|access-date=7 March 2019|work=Reedsy|date=1 March 2019}}</ref> George R. R. Martin, Joe Abercrombie,<ref name="NPR 25 January 2015"/><ref name="GelprinLawrence2014">{{cite book |last1=Gelprin |first1=Mike |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=15GsCAAAQBAJ&pg=PT15 |title=Grimdark Magazine Issue #1 |last2=Lawrence |first2=Mark |author-link2=Mark Lawrence (author) |last3=Leen |first3=Gerri |last4=Tchaikovsky |first4=Adrian |last5=Wisseman |first5=Nick |date=1 October 2014 |publisher=Grimdark Magazine |isbn=978-0-9941659-1-6 |pages=15–16}}</ref> Richard K. Morgan,<ref name="NPR 25 January 2015"/> Paul Kearney,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://bookwraiths.com/2014/06/27/interview-igor-ljubuncic-author-of-the-lost-words/|title=INTERVIEW: IGOR LJUBUNCIC, AUTHOR OF THE LOST WORDS|date=27 June 2014}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.grimdarkmagazine.com/review-riding-unicorn-paul-kearney/|title=Review: Riding the Unicorn by Paul Kearney|first=Cheresse|last=Burke|date=11 November 2014}}</ref> Mark Lawrence<ref name="Pornokitsch 28 January 2015"/><ref name="GelprinLawrence2014"/>, Michael R. Fletcher,<ref>{{cite web | last=Grigsby | first=Sean | title=Review: Beyond Redemption by Michael R. Fletcher | website=Grimdark Magazine | date=June 12, 2015 | url=https://www.grimdarkmagazine.com/review-beyond-redemption-michael-r-fletcher/ | access-date=April 14, 2026}}</ref> and Anna Smith Spark.<ref>{{cite web |last=Mauro |first=John |title=Anna Smith Spark: Where to Start Reading |url=https://www.grimdarkmagazine.com/anna-smith-spark-where-to-start-reading/ |website=Grimdark Magazine |access-date=9 July 2024 |date=7 March 2024}}</ref> In a broader sense, the "pervasively gritty, bleak, pessimistic, or nihilistic view of the world"<ref name="Vox 27 December 2018">{{cite news |last=Romano |first=Aja |title=In the era of Trump and apocalyptic change, Hopepunk is weaponizing optimism |url=https://www.vox.com/2018/12/27/18137571/what-is-hopepunk-noblebright-grimdark |access-date=29 December 2018 |work=Vox |date=27 December 2018}}</ref> characteristic of grimdark fiction is found in much popular fiction from the 2000s, including ''Batman'' comics, the television series ''Breaking Bad'', and the media franchise ''The Walking Dead''.<ref name="Vox 27 December 2018"/>
==Contrasting genres and trends== In 2017, the writer Alexandra Rowland proposed that the "opposite of grimdark" is "hopepunk", a trend that emphasizes what grimdark rejects: the importance of hope and the sense that ideals are worth fighting for despite adversity.<ref name="Vox 27 December 2018"/><ref>{{cite magazine | last=Kehe| first=Jason| title=Is Becky Chambers the Ultimate Hope for Science Fiction? | magazine=Wired | date=16 September 2021 | url=https://www.wired.com/story/is-becky-chambers-ultimate-hope-science-fiction/ | access-date=12 October 2021}}</ref> The novelist Derek B. Miller defined hopepunk as "stories that free the soul from darkness. That necessitates situating the characters and action in a dark world and then directing the drama and activity towards the light. Whether they reach it or not is part of the story."<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.scifinow.co.uk/books/radio-life-interview-with-author-derek-b-miller/|title=Radio Life: Interview With Author Derek B. Miller|date=21 January 2021|website=SciFiNow}}</ref>
Another style proposed to provide a contrast to grimdark is "noblebright", which takes as its premise that not only are there good fights worth fighting, but that they are also winnable and result in a happy ending.<ref name="Vox 27 December 2018"/>
In 2022, the speculative fiction writer Charlie Jane Anders proposed the term "sweetweird", in contrast to grimdark, to describe a trend in storytelling of 2010s and 2020s exemplified by popular shows like ''Steven Universe'' or ''Star Trek: Lower Decks,'' the movie ''Everything, Everywhere, All at Once'', and books like ''Light from Uncommon Stars'' or ''The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue''. She describes sweetweird as: "stories that feature lovable characters and a focus on supportive chosen family, set against worlds that are, shall we say, somewhat tarnished and bizarre." and "Wherever surrealism and kindness join in a beautifully unholy union, there you will find sweetweird."<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Sweetweird Manifesto |url=https://buttondown.com/charliejane/archive/the-sweetweird-manifesto/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250116183720/https://buttondown.com/charliejane/archive/the-sweetweird-manifesto/ |archive-date=2025-01-16 |access-date=2025-06-25 |website=buttondown.com |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last=Valens |first=Ana |title=Is it Time For a 'Sweetweird' Revolution? |url=https://www.themarysue.com/is-it-time-for-a-sweetweird-revolution/ |website=The Mary Sue |date=6 June 2022 |access-date=25 June 2025}}</ref>
==See also== *Dark fantasy
==References== {{Reflist}} {{Wiktionary}}
{{Fantasy fiction}} {{Horror fiction}} {{Science fiction}} {{Warhammer 40,000}} {{Use dmy dates|date=February 2024}}
Category:Fantasy genres Category:Science fiction genres Category:Speculative fiction Category:Warhammer 40,000 Category:Dark fantasy