Grimdark and Plot Armor

  I’ve had spats with grimdark storytelling in the past, and often have come away with distaste for the format. I’ve noticed that it is far, far more likely to discount the agency of participants than your average tale. This in many ways flies in the face of our discussion on the hero’s journey, as a world so dismal that it can and does destroy anyone at any time makes the progression of character unnecessary. Myths reveal reality—and I don’t see reality in unpreventable death.

The exceptions to this rule are the video game adaptations of the Warhammer, which are brutal, unforgiving, and absolutely give the sense that (like its narrative counterparts) deaths can and do happen unexpectedly and swiftly.

The difference is the sovereignty of the player. The ability to undergo a journey is a weapon against the grimdark format. Where waiting for death (a very book-warhammer sort of behavior) yields no boons and no safety, expending all energy to become stronger is itself a lifeline. I see this not as plot armor and more as an expression of faith on the character’s part in the structure of story. If art mimics life, why discount its power to proselytize means of survival?