Today, I'm going to discuss what exactly "dark fantasy" is and how its different from horror and fantasy.

Why isn't it horror?

Horror in its simplest defination is that they're suppose to be frightening or scary. But although dark fantasy has horror like elements in it, its different. They usually contain things such as

• The presence of some kind of evil

• Creatures, monsters, or things that belong to hell

• Characters with questionable morals and goals

But dark fantasy, although similar to horror, doesn't actually have to have any horror things in it to be dark, as the darkness in the story can be created through the atmosphere, setting, and many other ways.

Why isn't it fantasy?
While dark fantasy certainly deals with things that are not from our world, it doesn't deal with just fantastical elements. It has elements of something darker in it, something that's a bit more intense and terrifying hiding in it. But its not meant to scare people.

But it does take fantasy elements and just gives those elements a different, horrible new twist to them. It allows the author to create huge and fantastical worlds without having to focus solely on horror or the scary stuff.

Our conclusion...
What makes a book dark fantasy is when it deals with anything fantastical or paranormal but in such a way that it focuses on the dark and scary side of nature, psychology, and anything strange. It doesn't try to get away from gore and horror, but at the same time, isn't scary. Instead of good people, its characters are people with darker intentions. It may not always have a happy ending. They may have to do things that most people would never do. And it dives into the twisted side of speculative fiction.

Resources
What is Dark Fantasy?
Dark Fantasy as a Genre?
What is Dark Fantasy?
Wikipedia- Dark Fantasy
Goodreads- Dark vs High Fantasy