As I see it, agency. Dark fantasy, when it's at its best, is about heroes finding the ability to persevere against, or at least bravely stand up to, the horrors placed in their paths. They won't always be successful, many dark fantasies are tragedies after all, but it's their ability to put forth that stand which is the difference maker.
Horror is more about placing characters in terrible situations and then removing their agency from them. The choices they have become increasingly limited as the story progresses. Just like dark fantasy, this doesn't mean they're guaranteed to lose in the end. Sometimes they'll come out on top and survive, but even a happy ending in a horror story isn't much of one because of just how much is lost along the way. (This is why blatantly happy endings in horror movies often feel cheesy and out of place, they can break this balance.)
There's also a difference in what each wants out of its audience. Dark fantasy aims to present harrowing but ultimately heroic tales that leaves the audience feeling like they've been through a struggle that the characters might be able to overcome. Horror seeks to dig deeper inside and draw our feelings of discomfort and unease to the surface, reflecting them back at us so that we're forced to confront them. Naturally there will be some overlap, and how successful any individual story within these genres is at accomplishing these goals can vary wildly. I'd argue that horror and dark fantasy, right alongside romance, probably have the most challenging balancing act to maintain. It's very easy to stray into the realms of absurdity and cringe by taking the spicier elements of any of those genres too far.
Would you consider "The Wheel of Time" a dark fantasy? It has many of the same elements that Game of Thrones does, just not to the same extreme. It's got half of the one source that drives men insane. It's got ancient heroes reborn in Ta'averen. Parts of it are grimdark.
I know that Lovecraft is considered horror, but couldn't that also be dark fantasy?
I'd say Wheel of Time is epic fantasy with some dark touches, but doesn't quite reach the levels of full blown dark fantasy, at least based on what I read of it. There's a particular tone that's typical to dark fantasy that Wheel of Time didn't really have. I'd say it was a bit darker than Lord of the Rings overall, but doesn't go so dark as the likes of Solomon Kane or Conan, which is the level at which I'd start to consider a story dark fantasy.
I can see an argument for Lovecraft fitting the bill, but I'd argue it's not for a couple reasons. The main one is that the hopeless inability of man to affect the cosmic in any way is a key aspect to his horror, while dark fantasy really should at least offer the potential of hope. (He considered Howard's usage of his concepts in Conan to be canonical, and Conan managed to outwit and escape or sometimes even slay the Lovecraftian monsters he faced, which Lovecraft's characters never managed without going insane.) That inherent inability to overcome is a horror touchstone that dark fantasy will admittedly borrow, but they're usually utilized differently in the sense that dark fantasy will usually use it as a means to quash the hopes of a capable hero, where Lovecraft's horror seeks to get into your head with the notion that the chance of success was never there to begin with.
Great article! I had no idea the chaos symbol from 40k was stolen ... I’m going to go out of my way to make sure my Tzeentch army has none of the traditional chaos symbols!
I haven’t read much dark fantasy, but I love my dystopian fiction; the emphasis on ‘hopelessness’ irks me there too - even in great works like 1984.
Such a poignant analysis! I so enjoyed reading this.
This is a much more nuanced treatment of the material than we sometimes see. Good job!
Yes, I had the idea that dark fantasy was lack of hope. Interesting. So what's the difference between dark fantasy and horror?
As I see it, agency. Dark fantasy, when it's at its best, is about heroes finding the ability to persevere against, or at least bravely stand up to, the horrors placed in their paths. They won't always be successful, many dark fantasies are tragedies after all, but it's their ability to put forth that stand which is the difference maker.
Horror is more about placing characters in terrible situations and then removing their agency from them. The choices they have become increasingly limited as the story progresses. Just like dark fantasy, this doesn't mean they're guaranteed to lose in the end. Sometimes they'll come out on top and survive, but even a happy ending in a horror story isn't much of one because of just how much is lost along the way. (This is why blatantly happy endings in horror movies often feel cheesy and out of place, they can break this balance.)
There's also a difference in what each wants out of its audience. Dark fantasy aims to present harrowing but ultimately heroic tales that leaves the audience feeling like they've been through a struggle that the characters might be able to overcome. Horror seeks to dig deeper inside and draw our feelings of discomfort and unease to the surface, reflecting them back at us so that we're forced to confront them. Naturally there will be some overlap, and how successful any individual story within these genres is at accomplishing these goals can vary wildly. I'd argue that horror and dark fantasy, right alongside romance, probably have the most challenging balancing act to maintain. It's very easy to stray into the realms of absurdity and cringe by taking the spicier elements of any of those genres too far.
Great essay! It makes me want to pick up the Elric and The Witcher books again…I started both series a few years ago and never finished them.
Would you consider "The Wheel of Time" a dark fantasy? It has many of the same elements that Game of Thrones does, just not to the same extreme. It's got half of the one source that drives men insane. It's got ancient heroes reborn in Ta'averen. Parts of it are grimdark.
I know that Lovecraft is considered horror, but couldn't that also be dark fantasy?
I'd say Wheel of Time is epic fantasy with some dark touches, but doesn't quite reach the levels of full blown dark fantasy, at least based on what I read of it. There's a particular tone that's typical to dark fantasy that Wheel of Time didn't really have. I'd say it was a bit darker than Lord of the Rings overall, but doesn't go so dark as the likes of Solomon Kane or Conan, which is the level at which I'd start to consider a story dark fantasy.
I can see an argument for Lovecraft fitting the bill, but I'd argue it's not for a couple reasons. The main one is that the hopeless inability of man to affect the cosmic in any way is a key aspect to his horror, while dark fantasy really should at least offer the potential of hope. (He considered Howard's usage of his concepts in Conan to be canonical, and Conan managed to outwit and escape or sometimes even slay the Lovecraftian monsters he faced, which Lovecraft's characters never managed without going insane.) That inherent inability to overcome is a horror touchstone that dark fantasy will admittedly borrow, but they're usually utilized differently in the sense that dark fantasy will usually use it as a means to quash the hopes of a capable hero, where Lovecraft's horror seeks to get into your head with the notion that the chance of success was never there to begin with.
Great article! I had no idea the chaos symbol from 40k was stolen ... I’m going to go out of my way to make sure my Tzeentch army has none of the traditional chaos symbols!
I haven’t read much dark fantasy, but I love my dystopian fiction; the emphasis on ‘hopelessness’ irks me there too - even in great works like 1984.