I’ve noticed a recurring theme in the things I create and consume. My recent blog posts lean toward the moody, the introspective, the raw:

• A Hero We Couldn’t Be: Spider-Man and the Saviour We Need
• Breaking Bad: The Pride of Provision
• How FOMO is Ruining Modern Gaming
• I Can’t Even Live the Christian Life for One Hour
• Why Geek Culture Feels Hollow

The stories I enjoy aren’t bright and bubbly either: Breaking Bad, The Witcher, Destiny 2, Death Note, the Batman Trilogy, Red Dead Redemption 2. These aren’t cheerful stories. They’re heavy. Sometimes bleak. But they grip me.

And I’ve been asking myself why.

I Don’t See Darkness as Beautiful

Let me be clear: I don’t find darkness itself beautiful. Evil isn’t inspiring. Despair isn’t romantic. But I see beauty in the darkness the same way you see stars in the night sky. The contrast exposes the light. The ache points to the need. The absence of goodness reveals just how much we need a Saviour.

We live in a fallen world. The Bible doesn’t downplay that. Ecclesiastes groans under the weight of meaninglessness. David cries out in his suffering. Jeremiah weeps for a rebellious people. And the Gospels don’t flinch at the blood, betrayal, and brutality of the cross. Scripture is soaked in the reality of brokenness—and it never calls it beautiful. But it does show us that God redeems it.

That’s what I see in these stories. Not hopelessness, but a hunger for redemption.

Broken Worlds Feel Honest

Stories like Breaking Bad or Red Dead Redemption 2 are soaked in moral decay and tragic decisions. But they don’t lie. They don’t offer shallow optimism. They force you to face what happens when men play god, when pride drives choices, when vengeance becomes a way of life.

And in those ashes, I see echoes of Romans 1. I see the curse at work. I see the ruin of sin. That might seem depressing to some, but to me, it’s true. And truth—even hard truth—is always worth engaging.

I’m Drawn to the Ache

I don’t write dark posts for the sake of edge. I write them because I feel the ache in the world. The brokenness of geek culture. The exhaustion of performance-based Christianity. The temptation to be our own saviour. The pain of missing out, even in leisure.

These aren’t just complaints. They’re laments.

And biblical lament is beautiful because it doesn’t end with despair. It ends with hope. It cries out for justice. It waits on the Lord. It groans—but it groans in expectation.

The Light Shines in the Darkness

I’m not obsessed with the dark. I’m looking for the Light that breaks through it. Stories that admit the world is broken prepare the soil for the gospel. If there were no night, we’d never long for the dawn.

So yes, I’m drawn to the broken. To the weary. To the fallen. But not because I want to stay there. Because I believe there’s beauty in watching for the Redeemer to step into the wreckage and speak, “Let there be light.”

That’s the story I want to tell. And the story I want to live.