Villains from the dark fantasy genre, a genre combination of fantasy with strong horror and/or gothic elements.

The setting of these stories are often brutal, and involve morally dubious heroes (or no heroes at all). Good does not triumph over evil very often, and the general population lives in misery and conflict. Unlike many other forms of fantasy, these settings do not indulge in whimsy or "fairy tale" aspects, and instead focus on brutality, much like ancient myth and folklore. This also covers supernatural-horror media franchises.

Famous examples of this are the A Song of Ice and Fire series of books and live-action media, the God of War games, the Souls games, the Castlevania games, the Conan the Barbarian and series such as Attack on Titan or Berserk.

NOTE: Not to be confused with Fantasy Villains, which is for villains from fantasy settings that are not grimdark in nature nor have explicit themes throughout.