Actually, I'm Dead and I, Monster: How dark can they be? · 11:55am Aug 8th, 2017
Recently, a comment appeared in both of Nightwalker's and mine stories, Actually, I'm Dead and I, Monster.
Before I read this, what is the Dark tag for ?
And how bad does it get ?
At first, I didn't pay them too much attention. However, after reconsidering it, I decided to answer it with the following, which I want to share with you, my faithful reader, in order to give you a clearer view of this strange look into the abyss that is our story.
If I had to describe it myself, the dark tag comes from the graveness of the matter at hand. The main character begins her journey through the story through dying, that's the first door this story makes you go through. From there, the darkness surrounding the characters sources from the ver-present threat of an external force that can, and has before bring misery and pain in ways they can't fully understand.
That last part is what ties with the horror. The primal fear here is to the unknown, always hidden under a veil of darkness that, with the passing times, becomes a frightful sight on itself. The fear is not only on what may happen, but also on not knowing about it. The characters, specially the protagonist can't really tell when are they in danger and when they aren't.
However, I'm probably making it look harsher than it is. The tone is still recognizable lighthearted, as the canon series. If I had to compare, this is closer to Edgar Allan Poe's horror, closer to the mysteries of the occult, and maybe Howard Philip Lovecraft's fear of things beyond common understanding. So rest assured that nothing will go down the more used, and frankly abused, ideas of dark just being violence and horror being degraded as impressionist imagery.
While I'm not the premier MtG fan, I think this card can lend itself to the discussion.
http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=373528
A primal fear of death is indeed something that is rooted in what passes for horror nowadays.
But I've also heard of another categorization in the same vein, terror. That is more in line with things that make the back of your neck crawl. The unknown or something that subverts what is known.
Sometimes its the sheer shock of an unexpected act (butchering your friends in a basement), coupled with fear of death. Sometimes its body horror and loss of mind or will (sans death).
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Well, again, me being a fan of Poe means I see terror more as a raven forever haunting me rather than being strapped to a puzzle torture machine.
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Primal fear. That's pretty much how Nightwalker and I worked around Evil!Trixie's personality. Although she's more ham and cheese when she comes back by the finale of Dead, there's a good deal of embodying fears to , the unknown (being partially ambiguous if she's still Trixie or someone else entirely), impotence (Lightning Dust being tortured), even to death itself in the (taking Trixie away, even if it's a sacrifice, it's still a loss).