Truth, Goodness, and Fantasy Literature – Fr. Philip-Neri Reese, O.P.

Feb 27, 2026

Fr. Philip-Neri Reese, O.P., Dominican philosopher and Thomist professor at the Angelicum in Rome, discusses fantasy literature. He compares Tolkien-style classic fantasy with grimdark like George R. R. Martin. He explores truth and goodness in art through Aquinas, examines how genres order the imagination, and argues grimdark valorizes nihilism rather than moral hope.

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INSIGHT

How Authors Define Grimdark Fantasy

Grimdark is characterized by authors as worlds and characters broken, valuing grit and overturning heroic tropes into nihilism.
Reese cites NK Jemisin, Adam Roberts, Michael Sullivan, and Liz Bork to define grimdark's emphasis on hopelessness and darkness-for-darkness's-sake.

insights

INSIGHT

Three Levels Of Goodness In Thomistic Thought

Goodness also has layers: existence, possessing characteristic traits, and attaining final ends or purposes.
Aquinas: a thing is better by existing, better when it has proper features, and best when it achieves its final end (e.g., a retriever retrieving).

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INSIGHT

Grimdark Can Be Artistically True

By Aquinas' practical-account of truth, any fiction is true to the extent it expresses its author's intention.
Grimdark is not inherently less true than Tolkien because truth-as-fit depends on execution, not subgenre.

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Talk Overview and Question

00:25 • 2min

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Fantasy's Expanding Subgenres

02:36 • 5min

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Defining Grimdark Fantasy

07:07 • 5min

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Core Questions on Truth and Goodness

12:27 • 2min

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Aquinas on Truth and Goodness

14:23 • 2min

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Transcendentals and Limits

16:41 • 4min

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Speculative vs Practical Truth

20:50 • 6min

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Divine, Natural, and Human Measures

26:59 • 5min

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Aquinas' Threefold Perfection

31:55 • 5min

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Is Grimdark Less True?

37:05 • 4min

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Is Grimdark Less Good?

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Fr. Philip-Neri Reese argues that while grimdark fantasy (exemplified by George R. R. Martin) can be just as true artistically as Tolkien-style classic fantasy, it is necessarily less good in the fullest Thomistic sense because it structurally valorizes nihilism and hopelessness rather than ordering the imagination toward God and real moral hope.

This lecture was given on October 16th, 2025, at University of Edinburgh.

For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events.

About the Speakers:

Fr. Philip-Neri Reese is a Dominican friar of the Province of St Joseph and a Professor of Philosophy at the Pontifical University of St.Thomas (Angelicum) in Rome. He is also the principal investigator for the Angelicum Thomistic Institute’s new Project on Philosophy and the Thomistic Tradition. He received his Licentiate in Philosophy from the Catholic University of America in 2015 and his Doctorate in Philosophy from the University of Notre Dame in 2022. From 2015-2017 he taught philosophy at Providence College in Providence, RI. His main area of research is metaphysics and anything adjacent to it, with a special emphasis on the metaphysical thought of St. Thomas Aquinas and its subsequent reception and interpretation. His publications, however, range widely, including articles on philosophical anthropology, ethics, and economics. He is also an enthusiast of classical Indian philosophy. Fr Philip-Neri is a member of the American Philosophical Association, the Society for Medieval and Renaissance Philosophy, the Aquinas and the Arabs International Working Group, the Society for Medieval and Renaissance Thomism, and is currently serving on the executive committee of the American Catholic Philosophical Association.

Keywords: Aquinas On Truth And Goodness, Classic Fantasy vs. Grimdark, Correspondence Theory Of Art, George RR Martin And Nihilism, Grimdark Fantasy, JRR Tolkien Moral Imagination, Thomistic Aesthetics, Transcendentals And Art

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