Fantasy is a wide genre that encompasses many different sub genres that each have their own conventions, expectations, tropes and cliches, standards, and more. One of the most popular sub genres has to be epic fantasy and another slightly more modern sub genre, Grimdark fantasy. Both sub genres provide rich and deep worlds, interesting characters, intricate plots and more, but each also holds its own sets of styles and forms. That’s why for today’s post, I’ll be doing in-depth on the differences between epic fantasy and Grimdark fantasy and why this difference matters.
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What is Grimdark Fantasy?
Grimdark fantasy is a subgenre of fantasy that is relatively modern compared to some other subgenres of fantasy and came about as a sort of response to the idea of fantasy needing to be happier and magical and bright. The worlds of grimdark stories are often riddled with horror and darkness, plagued by evils where characters do not typically fall under the archetype of being classic heroes. Rather, grimdark fantasy stories like to go beyond this.
The term “grimdark” comes from the Warhammer franchise and its tagline “in the grim darkness of the far future, there is only war.” As you can probably tell, that’s pretty much what defines the idea of “grimdark.”
One of the biggest things in grimdark fantasy is the fact that characters are often morally ambiguous and do not have classic heroic traits. They are typically driven by more primal instincts like survival, or they are driven by the desire to gain power or revenge. They are more than often tipped towards being anti-heroes and even sometimes villains, as in the case of Jorg of Ancrath in Mark Lawrence’s The Broken Empire trilogy.
Grimdark also focuses heavily on the ideas of realism and gritty situations where human survival and human nature get their darker sides highlighted. Grimdark stories aren’t afraid to do things that are considered dark, bleak and sad. Grimdark itself has a tendency to take a more bleak approach on the world, with things like honor and virtue and justice being sidelined in the world. In my story for instance, The Fallen Age Saga, the idea of justice being dead on a societal scale leads many characters to believe that revenge and the act of getting vengeance is the only real justice left in a crumbling, decaying world.
Furthermore, grimdark fantasy also tends to include graphic depictions of violence and gore. They tend not to shy away from this because these depictions only seek to further establish the tone and the darkness of the world around the characters. This is true for my series, which delves heavily into war, and therefore includes plenty of moments of violence and action.
What is Epic Fantasy?
Epic fantasy is a bit different from grimdark and delves more into a scale of grandiosity, with sprawling narratives that can easily span generations and worlds. The stories in epic fantasy tend to revolve around the idea of good and evil fighting. There tends to be clear moral stakes and heroes and those heroes often have noble and righteous goals as they fight against evil. The best example I can think of epic fantasy would have to be Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings, which is a quintessential piece of epic fantasy literature.
Epic fantasy often follows the hero’s quest and has a protagonist who is in the middle of this quest, joining forces with other characters on the same quest to defeat some sort of great evil that is plaguing the lands. The characters often have a strong sense of the ideas of duty, honor, destiny, and fate.
Epic fantasy also details very immersive and expansive worlds with lots of detail. Grimdark fantasy can do the same, but you can almost get away with lacking here in grimdark compared to epic fantasy, where it’s expected that you have intensely detailed worlds with countries and languages and cultures.
Epic fantasy can have complex characters that bend the boundaries of morality, but for the most part, it’s pretty clear who the good guys are and who the bad guys are. It’s not the same as in grimdark, where you have bad guys and even worse bad guys sometimes. In my series, The Fallen Age Saga, there are literally almost 0 good guys in the entire story. Some bad guys are just worse than other bad guys basically. That’s not usually the case in epic fantasy.
Epic fantasy also tends to approach its story with an optimistic lens, showing that good will overcome evil and that even if the path is difficult, perseverance can lead to triumph. Grimdark can have all the characters die at the end and never even come close to achieving their goal, but it’s fine because that feels more realistic to the readers than the epic fantasy style.
The Thematic Differences
Under grimdark fantasy, themes often center around the ideas of power but not just power, the corruption that power brings to a person. Oftentimes, characters in grimdark who seek power or are given power abuse it, becoming more destructive and violent over the course of a story, with there being almost no chance of redemption happening anytime soon.
Epic fantasy on the other hand tends to show that power is not necessarily a corrupt influence and that people in power can do good things too. This is also very true, but grimdark has dark in its name, and it wouldn’t be dark if good guys are good guys.
Grimdark tends to show that morals take a backseat when it comes to survival and achieving ones goals. Characters are willing to kill off entire villages to survive or achieve their end-goal. The idea is that the means justifies the ends and this is a pretty interesting way you can dive into ethics in your story.
Epic fantasy on the other hand shows that morals tend to overtake the ideas of survival. Characters are not willing to break their morals and ethical principles just to achieve something and are more willing to save others before themselves. The idea of selflessness is a big thing in epic fantasy.
Grimdark stories are also more apt to show how the traditional concept of heroism is futile and makes no difference. Heroes may start out good but will be broken by time and the realities of the grim world around them. They may not be victorious or they may transition to become a morally dark person.
Epic fantasy shows more of the idea of a hero remaining a hero and gaining close, strong friends along the way. People who are evil have a chance at redemption sometimes and people gain morals as they traverse through their journey. This is not really like grimdark stories.
Character Archetypes
Another big difference between grimdark fantasy and epic fantasy is the way that characters are designed and treated, as well as what character archetypes are included in the two sub genres.
In grimdark, characters tend to be antiheroes or villains and lack the traditional qualities that make a hero. They are often selfish and are motivated by self-interest, revenge, rage, or survival. They tend not to perform altruistically and they are more than willing to hurt others to achieve their goals. There is a difference between an antihero and a villain and if you want to learn more about that, then check out this post.
Grimdark villains are also usually quite complex and don’t have simple motivations such as simply being big bad guys. They may have a motivation that people could understand or they have qualities that make them feel human sometimes rather than just being villains that must be defeated.
Epic fantasy often likes to use the chosen one trope and makes the main character a person who comes from great moral quality and has lots of traits primed for a hero to have. The heroes tend to be very noble and great people who are compelled to do what’s right and save the world.
Epic fantasy also includes villains that fall under the pure evil archetype because the villain is not supposed to be redeemable in epic fantasy and you are not supposed to root for the villain. Instead, the villains tend to be significantly more flawed than you might see in grimdark. Sometimes in grimdark, the villain might just be a person that opposes the main character who is not a great person anyways.
Epic fantasy also often includes wise and experienced mentors that help the heroes on their journeys. Grimdark might include an archetype that’s like this and then have the mentor turn out to be a completely evil person, so it’s all up to perspective.
World Building
World building is basically a necessity in all fantasy stories, but the way you approach world building is going to be a bit different in grimdark fantasy vs epic fantasy.
In grimdark fantasy, worlds are often dystopian with corrupt societies that include lots of violence and oppression and suppression of the lower classes. The world building also focuses on the grittier aspects of things and life is much harsher. Countries might be built around the concepts of oppression. There may be constant states of war in different countries.
Magic in grimdark is also present but it depends on what the goals of the author are. Maybe the magic is not in the hands of the main character or maybe it is, but it just depends on what the story is about. In my series, The Fallen Age Saga, there are different forms of magic and almost all of them are used for war and destruction with the Ones Above, the militaristic alien race in my story, basically using magic only to destroy things.
Under epic fantasy, the worlds are often vast with lots of diverse cultures, rich histories and the magic systems are very in-depth and matter VERY greatly to the main parts of the story. Unlike grimdark, it’s hard to get away with a limited aspect of magic in the story.
Additionally, epic fantasy can easily include places where it’s very dark and oppressive, but the main areas are likely to be much nicer, more grand and lighter than the places present in grimdark stories. Also, epic fantasy will likely not make these awful places be the main setting, while grimdark will easily make the darkest country its main setting.
The Plot
Grimdark and epic fantasy stories tend to differ on the way the plot is delivered in the story because grimdark fantasy often likes to subvert what makes a traditional fantasy’s plot. While epic fantasy revolves around quest-based narratives, grimdark doesn’t necessarily have a quest or instead will have something more motivated by the main character’s goals and desires. Under grimdark as well, you never actually know if the main characters will survive by the end unlike epic fantasy since grimdark fantasy likes to just put all its main characters in a spiral of insecurity and potential death at literally every turn.
Epic fantasy stories also like to have clear progression in their plot lines while grimdark fantasy may not be as clear and could be very unpredictable. I think that the nice thing about grimdark fantasy is that you aren’t bound by the traditional styles of regular epic fantasy which is something that readers are fine with and that’s honestly great.
Examples of Each
Grimdark Fantasy Examples:
- The Fallen Age Saga by Zainah Yousef: My series is not 100% a traditional fantasy in any sense, as it takes elements from different fantasy subgenres and even sci-fi to create this grimdark series, but the whole entire series’ tone is dark. It’s called the “fallen age” because it’s about the fall of humanity and how it descends into darkness with death literally at every turn in the story. It’s basically the precursor to the apocalypse detailed across an entire series.
- The First Law Trilogy by Joe Abercrombie: Joe Abercrombie’s writing has to be some of my favorite out there and his works are very well-known in the grimdark circle. The First Law subverts traditional fantasy styles, introducing a very grim and decayed world at the core of everything with characters that are most certainly not heroic people.
- The Broken Empire by Mark Lawrence: I will NEVER stop raving about this trilogy and I will never not love the world that Mark Lawrence has created and the awfully evil protagonist that Jorg Ancrath is. I absolutely LOVED everything about The Broken Empire and I wish I could recapture the magic of reading it for the first time all over again. It’s so dark and so grim and so perfect. The main character basically holds no qualms about doing terrible things and he definitely does a lot of terrible things.
Epic Fantasy Examples:
- The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien: It’s not an epic fantasy list without mentioning The Lord of the Rings. This epic tale of good vs evil follows one of the most expansive and beautifully built worlds in fantasy with so many of the fantasy tropes we know today present in this series. It’s so beautiful and powerful and I definitely recommend every fantasy fan gives it a read.
- The Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan: This expansive series is known for its intricate worldbuilding, large cast of characters, and epic scope. The Wheel of Time has so many great elements to it and it’s a perfect example of epic fantasy done right, with the battle of good and evil and a clear focus on the ideas of destiny and prophecy. The hero’s journey is also essential to this story. The story revolves around the battle between the forces of Light and Dark, with a clear focus on destiny, prophecy, and the hero’s journey.
- The Stormlight Archive by Brandon Sanderson: I’m a huge Sanderson fan and his stories are absolutely fantastic, and The Stormlight Archive literally got me out of a 4-year reading slump, so I have to thank him for that. The world he built was so cool that I couldn’t get over it and I ate The Way of Kings up in just a few days, which was crazy for someone that hadn’t read in years basically. It’s a great story that I recommend for everyone.
Which Genre Should You Write?
If you’re trying to decide which genre you want to write for your next book, then here are some things to consider about which one is the best option for you:
You should choose to write grimdark fantasy if you enjoy stories that delve into the darker parts of human society and you like stories where characters are not entirely good or evil. If you like stories where things are more morally ambiguous and the lines between what’s right and what’s wrong are blurred, then grimdark is definitely for you.
Epic fantasy is great for people who love grand narratives and enjoy the classic heroic stories of good and evil. If you enjoy themes of things like hope and heroism prevailing over human greed and selfishness, then epic fantasy is probably more your style.
Conclusion
At the end of the day, both epic and grimdark fantasy are relatively different in some aspects, but they are both fantasy stories at the end of the day and fantasy loves to delve into the speculative world where things are not the way they are in our current world. However, both of them offer a very different means of portraying society and the way life is and both of them have vastly different interpretations of the state of the world. Grimdark fantasy tends to be much darker and epic fantasy tends to be more grandiose. However, both are great subgenres if you’re looking for something different to write.
Before you head on out, be sure to check out my series, The Fallen Age Saga, and don’t forget to sign up for my newsletter so that you can get updates on all my latest blog posts, book releases, WIPs, cover reveals, and so much more.