Abstract
Games Workshop’s Warhammer 40K (WH40K) is widely regarded as the progenitor of the Grimdark genre: a simple tagline in a magazine advertisement that read ‘In the grim darkness of the far future, there is only war’ spawned a universe of hopeless, superstitious and terrifying visions of mankind’s future. It was a black mirror that forecasted a foreboding view of a Thatcherist society filled with xenophobia, suspicion and fascism in the thin veil of nationalism. As this fictive horror seems to become more manifest with each passing year, we are starting to see life imitating art and seeking escape from something becoming all too real.
There is a distinct humanism that informs Grimdark, which is possibly why it makes for such a potent and fertile genre. As such, this presentation will investigate Warhammer’s contemporary foray into animation and video games as it contributes further brutal visions into a previously underutilised pair of mediums. The cinematic trailer for Focus Entertainment’s 2023 video game Boltgun will be compared to Warhammer TV’s 2023 production Pariah Nexus to demonstrate both effective as well as self-defeating use of nostalgia, gore and humanity as contributions to the greater dialogue around the meaning and value of the Grimdark genre.
The two chosen case studies offer polemic views on the Imperium of Mankind’s finest – the Space Marine, as seen through the eyes of embodiment and opposed from the perspective of a Battle Sister faced by impossible odds. Specific genre traits will be demonstrated, such as dehumanisation, the abhorrent other and nostalgia as a narrative device in horror (and horror subsets). Finally, a discussion will be held on the validity of Grimdark and whether it has merit as a narrative framework for the medium of animation.
Author bio
Ray Whitcher is an Adjunct Lecturer of Game Graphics at Uppsala University’s Game Design Department. He specialises in 2D Animation and Comic Studies. Ray has played WH40K (poorly) for 17 years and runs a Novitiate, as well as a Veteran Guardsman Kill Team.
