If you are reading a dark fantasy story, you can notice the dark setting of the story, its frightening themes, gloomy and moody tones and pronounced elements of horror incorporated with a fantasy story.
Dark fantasy is a sub-genre of fantasy containing fantasy & horror at the same time and following a dark story-tone.
Writing a dark fantasy story will make you feel like writing a horror story and a fantasy story at the same time.
Related: 101 Fantasy Story Ideas
Dark Fantasy Books Examples-
Reading the plot or the book description of the dark fantasy books can also help brainstorm a great dark fantasy story idea.
Explore these popular dark fantasy book titles with links to their book description for story ideas:
- Coraline by Neil Geiman
- The Blade Itself by Joe Abercrombie
- The Dark Tower by Stephen King
- The Black Company by Glen Cook
- Creatures of Want and Ruin by Molly Tanzer
- Daughter of the Blood by Anne Bishop
- Shadow and Bones by Leigh Bardugo
Related: Fantasy Genre: Elements, Themes & Subgenres
Below is the list of some great dark fantasy story ideas and writing prompts to help you begin writing your dark fantasy story right now.
Related: Fantasy Words List
40 Dark Fantasy Story Ideas & Writing Prompts-
#1
–For the men of the kingdom, it was getting harder each day to stay alive after the death of the king as the monsters of the evil queen were killing every single man of the kingdom.
#2
–The younger brother of the king is now fighting from the evil side in greed for power and position as promised by their enemies.
#3
–A secret society of few soldiers led by the only alive priest is planning a rebellion against the dark authority.
#4
–To destroy the crown of the evil queen is the only way for the main character to stop the darkness from taking over the whole kingdom.
#5
–After the death of the king, the young prince has to lift his father’s sword and defend his throne and kingdom from the monster army.
#6
–Crossing the river begins the dark enchanted land where you can trust your enemies but not your friends as in the enchanted land good minds turn bad and bad minds into evil.
#7
–A character was the only soldier immune to the dreadful spirits whom they couldn’t smell.
#8
–Every night the river of the kingdom turns red with the blood of the monsters trying to enter the kingdom and getting killed by brave soldiers until one-day things changed.
#9
–When everybody in the kingdom started dying from the dark poison in the air, a group of seven soldiers who were outside had the responsibility to save their people.
#10
–A character was the only survivor among his family members after the monsters left, and now a decade later he is their nightmare, a monster hunter.
#11
–The dark lord let the kings rule their kingdoms in exchange for half of the men of the kingdom who were turned into monsters and served the dark lord but one king rejected his offer.
#12
–The whole kingdom was turned into a graveyard with only a bunch of folks defending their soil from night monsters.
#13
–The line between good and evil gets very thin when you enter the kingdom of the dead, and what only matters here was to stay alive.
#14
–A character with his cat, horse and a silver blade roams from kingdom to kingdom to hunt down monsters in that area in exchange for gold coins.
#15
–The creature follows every stranger coming into the forest and manipulates the men with greed, gold and exploiting their victims weaknesses but they won’t kill anyone until they wish for something.
#16
–A mother searching for his son’s father enters the dark forest to bring him back.
#17
–The ancient curse is about to come true turning every man in the kingdom into mad monsters but if someone finds the still-beating heart of a dead wizard could save everyone.
#18
–The witch queen’s kingdom was the place of hell but with an abundance of gold everywhere attracting many visitors who entered the kingdom of their will but left without their bodies, as a spirit.
#19
–The king put the destiny of his entire kingdom at stake when he took help from the dark entities to defeat his greatest enemy king.
#20
–Anyone who dared not to send their children to the witch queen’s army soon turned into a spirit, until a character finds out the way to defeat the witch through her only weakness.
#21
–A powerful wizard hunter witch can easily sniff any magic happening around her which made it impossible for any wizards to hide or even defeat her but one wizard was hopeful.
#22
–A character is the last hope for his kingdom’s people to save them from the ancient prophecy.
#23
–A kingdom where people lived for ages until the dark lord turned it into a dark kingdom inhospitable for any living creature.
#24
–The king was unable to find any solution to the inevitable death of his only son and so he took help from the evil witch in exchange for his crown.
#25
–Any spell or magic doesn’t work in the dark forest and the only way for a wizard to survive was to know how to use a sword.
#26
–Every night, the crazy witch kills a wizard and vanishes without a trace, and no one knows what she wants, where she comes from and whose her next victim is until a wizard solves the mystery.
#27
–No one has ever dared to return to the dark kingdom inhabited by ugly monsters and her witch queen, but in search of his daughter, the character has to go to the dark land.
#28
–Betrayal, killing, and new alliances were the daily life part of the people to survive in the dark world.
#29
–The evil queen could forgive her oldest enemies but not his own men who betrayed her and so a character needed to escape the kingdom before the dawn.
#30
–The new king should not have uncovered the ancient secret buried in the castle and now the entire kingdom had to suffer for his heinous mistake.
#31
–A character had to find her friend before dusk, if not they both will be trapped in the death valley forever.
#32
–A group of bold adventurers never thought that their quest to cross the monster valley would be their greatest mistake.
#33
–When the crown prince got poisoned by the witch, then only a girl knew how to save him.
#34
–A character never told her parents or anyone that she has a friend from the dark world who visits her every night and now wants to take her with him.
#35
–A character accidentally opened the cursed box which contained an ancient spirit and now the destiny of the entire world is at stake.
#36
–A character was on a quest to find the ultimate sword to defeat the evil god and cease darkness.
#37
–The creatures of the dark world were unable to invade the spell-protected kingdom until an evil wizard helped them.
#38
–In the land of the dark everyone turns blind except the monsters, but a character’s blade can see everything.
#39
–Empty houses and dreadful streets were the fate of the kingdom until the great warrior returned.
#40
–Everyone knew that the monsters were coming but no one left their land and their king.
