However, I'm not sure if I really consider it a genre. Considering how fantasy is sort of a sub-genre of fiction, and dark-fantasy is a sub-genre of dark fantasy, I won't call dark fantasy a "sub-sub-genre;" instead, I'll consider it a submarine genre because that makes it sound fun. And dark fantasy is fun, trust me I know, it's my submarine genre. I won't say I was writing in it before it was cool because then I sound like a hipster and frankly I'm not a hipster.
For those of you who do not know what dark fantasy is, it's basically where the bad guy wins, where the hero dies. Or, at the very least if the bad guy should lose, the hero sacrifices a lot, maybe even transforming into the villain itself. This is similar, sort of, to the best friend conundrum where the hero's best friend could possibly become the bad guy. That's more of a tragedy, though, rather than dark fantasy.
Personally, dark fantasy is my favorite genre. I've always enjoyed the thought of the villain getting to win. Why is this, you ask? Well, not only does it make for a better, more interesting story, but it shows us also that the hero is not perfect, and no hero is. Sure, some become perfect, but, none are without flaws. Exploiting those flaws and letting the dark side win is just great. Arguably, the biggest example of this is the Star Wars prequel trilogy, where *spoiler alert* all but a few Jedi are wiped out and the Empire forms, leaving the galaxy in disarray *spoilers are over...but if you don't know Star Wars lore then spoilers are not your big problem here*
There are some more recent examples of dark fantasy, to. Assassin's Creed, in a way, is dark fantasy. Outside of the memories you play in through the Animus, who is the big company that, at the end of every game, is still on top? Abstergo. *spoiler alert* The events that occur between Assassin's Creed III and Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag are actually a perfect example. Desmond died (well, so far, I hope he somehow gets resurrected) and Abstergo took his body/ memories for the player in Assassin's Creed IV (please be Aiden Pearce, PLEASE) to go through. Get it? Abstergo won, the Assassins were basically left with squat. *spoilers are over*
In this way, Assassin's Creed games get more interesting. Will we ever get to defeat Abstergo...or that other huge enemy that appeared in both AC 3 and AC4: Black Flag? It makes you want to play more. Similarly, Attack on Titan uses the "hopeless/ still hope" approach to tell its story. There are an unknown number of Titans roaming the world and a fixed amount of humans, with only so many in the military willing to fight. Will Eren ever reach his basement? It seems like he won't, with everything bad that can happen always happening.
Loss is good, though. Of course, seeing the hero win is fun, but, I got tired of it a while ago. Sure, sometimes the hero would struggle, but, he never lost. That's why Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (by JK Rowling, duh) got me happy (you know what I'm talking about) until the chapter after. That's why a story like The Kill Order (by James Dashner), with its pretty gruesome ending, was so cool. I never knew what was going to happen, I never knew who was going to make it. A surprise death is better than a surprising victory. Sure, it's always cool to see Aragorn rally the troops to the Black Gate of Mordor and kick some butt, but, it's equally as cool to see Frodo's struggle with the Ring and always wondering when, not if, the Ring would take control of him.
There is a fine line, too, between tragedy and dark fantasy. In the end, something bad happens, and there is usually a bleak feeling at the end. Tell me you didn't have a feeling of emptiness at the end of Hamlet where there is like only one guy standing in the room at the end of the big scene. But in dark fantasy it's different. Not everyone dies, just the important guy.
Cool dark fantasy is where the hero doesn't die, though. I know I've been hyping up killing the main character, but, as cool as that is, letting him live after something happening is even more interesting. Such as if who the character was at the beginning of a story, a hero seeking to bring justice to his world, suddenly suffers a great loss and turns into just a supernatural being seeking justice to those by any means necessary. It's tragic, and it's very dark, too. Who is the villain, now? The hero had a code: no killing. Seeing where he goes following his first kill is very intriguing to me.
The Night Angel trilogy by Brent Weeks, too, is dark fantasy, even though the "good guys" see victory most of the time. Though in a story such as this, there really aren't "good guys," there are just the bad guys, the Godking Ursuul. The wetboys, the Sa'Kage, Logan Gyre, they aren't necessarily the heroes that the story would usually beg. No, they are dirty, lying cheaters (Logan's story is interesting yet disgusting how this happens) who do anything to either make a buck or keep stability, it does not matter who they kill or who has to die. The first book of the trilogy, The Way of Shadows showcases this superbly through the constant clashes between Durzo Blint and Azoth, especially in the castle at the end, where, I feel, the best example of dark fantasy and chaos ensues I have ever read because of who does and does not die.
These characters have a name: anti-heroes. They aren't the heroes that the story needs because a story always needs the handsome, built, knight in shining armor that can summon an army of angels at the sound of his voice. What about a story with a boy who wants vengeance on those who killed his family, what about a story about a girl who has to sacrifice so many lives of people she has learned for the sake of science and to keep her boyfriend safe? Or a vampire who does care for his teammates but kills because he gets a thrill off of it?
In these kinds of situations, it's almost not about how good the hero is, but how bad the villain is. Think about it: for the hero to be like this, the villains have to be exponentially worse than they are. That's what makes dark fantasy so compelling, or really any story, really. I've always said that villains drive a story, and they do. Cool, you have an awesome protagonist, a beautiful love interest and a funny best friend. Seen it hundreds of times. What is the protagonist up against, and what will they have to do to overcome this? Kill their best friend? Will they become the enemy they fought against (*cough The Magus cough*).
I believe that anti-heroes are more often than not cooler, or at least more interesting, than heroes. The CW's Arrow sort of had an anti-hero in its Season 1. Oliver Queen killed people. Um...super-heroes aren't supposed to do that, right? "No," said Batman. "They can't." Thanks, Batman. Batman is not an anti-hero (an argument could be made otherwise, though), but, in the videogame Injustice, Superman is. How awesome was it to see Superman talking and working alongside some of DC's greatest villains? Just the opening scene alone in the game had me thinking "did that really just happen?"
Dark fantasy as a whole opens so many more doors for writers or creators or actors to go through. It takes skill, yes, to create an interesting hero, but, to create an anti-hero that in the end has a strong possibility to die, that takes more than just skill. What's good is that this is a growing genre, so, expect more heroes to lose in the coming years. Villains finally have their day, I suppose. Until Batman comes along, because, nobody can break the Batman!
oh...
See you next time!
Link to image: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/8/8a/Bane_breaks_Batman.png
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