: @ggiaquin has covered the plot scale aspects of this issue wonderfully. So I will address the character level aspects of writing in dark ink. Your setting may be grimdark, but your pov character

@Bryan361

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@ggiaquin has covered the plot scale aspects of this issue wonderfully.
So I will address the character level aspects of writing in dark ink.

Your setting may be grimdark, but your pov character doesn't have to be. Innocent eyes viewing a dark world can deliver emotion by the bucket load to your readers. What is actually happening (war, murder, rape, etc) is trivial compared to how you communicate what is happening.

In your WarHammer 40k example, your pov character doesn't have to become a gritty and edgy tough guy just because the world around him sucks. He can keep his values intact, wear his heart on his sleeve and honestly share in the victims' pain. He will have to conceal his compassion quite often because even your "Good Guys" would see such sympathy as weakness; but in the honest relationship between the pov character and his readers, he can consistently express how he really feels.

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