Darkfic

Trope · Genre
Synonyms:
Related:	rapefic, slavefic, deathfic, Hurt/Comfort, torture
See Also:	Tissue Warning, whump, Get 'em
Tropes · Slash Tropes · Tropes by Fandom
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Darkfic is fan fiction that deals with intentionally disturbing material, such as physical and emotional violence. The main characters may be the victims of the violence, the perpetrators, or both. The mood and atmosphere are characterized by a shift away from optimism, toward despair or hopelessness, or even a sort of gleeful exploration of the disturbing.

When it involves a pairing, darkfic may be enemyslash or involve partner betrayal.

Darkfic may be characterized as canon-corrective in the sense that the popular media usually dealt with by fan fiction do not usually explore images of intense violence and broody introspection, or if they do, all is forgotten by the time the next episode or issue comes around. There is no 42-Minute Reset in darkfic.

Occasionally there are canonical alternate universes that lend themselves particularly well to darkfic, such as the Star Trek Mirror Universe or the DC Comics parallel world Earth-3; stories set in these universes often become very popular with darkfic writers and fanartists, as they can explore extremely dark situations and characterizations without becoming OOC.

Communities

• hp_darkfest, The Harry Potter Dark!fic Fest

• HP Darkfic Recs, The best of Harry Potter Dark!Fic and Art.

• gw_dark, Gundam Wing Darkfic

• darkfanfic, Dark fanfic: We're here to celebrate the darker side of fandom

• The Angst Archive, otherwise known as the issues of consent archive.

• The Fraser Torture Archive, a due South archive

• The Darker Side of Sunnydale, a Buffyverse archive

Zines

• Dark Fantasies, a multimedia zine with the subtitle, "Not for the Faint of Heart."

• Black Cover, a controversial Beauty & The Beast zine derided as "sick and weird" by many at the time

• Dark Fire, a Star Trek: TOS K/S zine with stories that revel in the dark fire within us all

Notable Examples

• The Bitter End by Zen, which raised a strong reaction in Ranma 1/2 fandom

• Komodo, a widely recommended Angel story described as dark fanfic at it's best

• Mercy by Koimistress, a Smallville fic notable for its extremely dark portrayal of Lex Luthor