Grimdark
Grimdark is an adjective derived from the tagline for Warhammer 40k, which states that "In the grim darkness of the far future, there is only war." It is generally used to describe a setting which it would really, REALLY suck to actually live in, exemplified by Warhammer 40k itself. It can also be used to describe artwork that has a grimdark feel, even if the setting itself would not normally be considered grim and dark.
Common grimdark themes include:
- Massive, overbearing empires; i.e. "Big Brother is watching you."
- Constant, never ever-ending warfare
- Everyone is racist towards non-humans/elves/fungus/lizards/robots
- Cybernetics and cyborgs; the less human, the better
- Mutants, especially the persecution thereof
- *BLAM*
- Short life expectancies due to war, harsh environments, or space-bugs trying to eat your face
- Horrifyingly large death tolls are perfectly normal
- Spanish Inquisition clones
- There are no "good guys"; everyone's a jerk, especially you
- High potential for offensive/dark comedy
- Never sunny
- No ice cream