grimdark

English

WOTD – 30 September 2024

Etymology

From grim (adjective) +‎ dark (adjective), inspired by the tagline of the tabletop strategy game Warhammer 40,000 (its rulebook first published in September 1987): “In the grim darkness of the far future, there is only war.”

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈɡɹɪmdɑːk/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈɡɹɪmˌdɑɹk/

• Audio (General American):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: grim‧dark

Adjective

grimdark (comparative more grimdark, superlative most grimdark)

1. (fandom slang) Of a film, television programme, video game, written work, etc.: having a gloomy, dystopian atmosphere.

   Antonyms: hopepunk, noblebright

   • 2008 May 16, Galen, “[OT] Necro-loli”, in rec.arts.anime.misc‎^[1] (Usenet):

     If your character is a more-or-less ordinary little girl fighting for her life as a usual thing, that's a fairly GRIMDARK setting; it implies that there isn't any Good authority with both the power and the will to protect them.

   • 2012 January 6, Playa, “[40k] [Tau] Roundup”, in rec.games.miniatures.warhammer‎^[2] (Usenet):

     Most original. Brilliantly so! What's not to like? "Jarringly non-grimdark," carpers will sneer. Oh, yeah? What's not Grimdark about – / * Droids? / * Vagina heads? / * Gundam suits (desu)?

   • 2012 April 24, David Johnston, “Everybody Enables Superman?”, in rec.arts.sf.written‎^[3] (Usenet):

     The thought once occur[r]ed to me, that for a while they had the silver age Legion as the actual past of a grimdark iron age Legion. Which meant that in theory the grimdark adult legion could have traveled back to silver age Smallville, or the silver age Legion could have travelled back to the iron age DC "present" of the 90s.

   • 2014, Adam Roberts, “What are Science Fiction and Fantasy? (And What does that Mean about How You Write Them?)”, in Get Started in: Writing Science Fiction and Fantasy (Teach Yourself), London: John Murray Learning, →ISBN, page 39:

     [T]here is a more violent ‘barbarian’ tradition of fantasy – sometimes called ‘sword and sorcery’, to distinguish it from Tolkienian ‘heroic fantasy’ – […] This in turn leads through to modern ‘Grimdark’ writing, where nobody is honourable and Might is Right. George R. R. Martin’s ongoing fantasy sequence A Song of Fire and Ice^{[sic – meaning A Song of Ice and Fire]} is surely the most successful and popular Grimdark fantasy.

Translations

of a film, television programme, video game, written work, etc.: having a gloomy, dystopian atmosphere

• Finnish: synkkä (fi)
• Galician: please add this translation if you can

Noun

grimdark (uncountable)

1. (literature) The literary genre of speculative fiction that is amoral, dystopian, or violent.

Translations

literary genre of speculative fiction that is amoral, dystopian, or violent

• Finnish: synkkä fantasia
• Galician: please add this translation if you can

Further reading

• grimdark on Wikipedia.Wikipedia