The Role of Secrecy in Dark Academia.
Seductive secrets…
I don’t know about you, but I love secrets. Isn’t that why so many of us were obsessed with Pretty Little Liars and Gossip Girl back in the day? Secrets are like chocolate, you know you shouldn’t overindulge but they’re just so damn tasty!
Dark Academia novels are, at their heart, about what happens in the shadows. We love to sink into the aesthetic—the flickering candlelight and the gothic architecture—but we stay for the secrecy. The thrill isn't just how the rules are broken, either; watching characters navigate a complex, multi-layered system of control and ambition is what keeps me turning the pages!
Every great academic novel, from the classics to modern YA Fantasy, uses hidden rules to build tension. The true danger lies not in the syllabus, but in the forbidden lessons learned after midnight. As a reader and writer of dark academia, I love the layers of secrecy, and I figured why not share a breakdown of what I think goes into creating a fantastically juicy mystery.
Rules of the Institution
The first layer of secrecy is the visible structure of the school itself. These are the explicit, usually antiquated, rules that govern student life.
The Trope: Strict curfews, mandatory attendance at dull lectures, and off-limits sections of the library or campus.
Why It Works: These rules create the essential pressure-cooker atmosphere. They establish the system of authority that the protagonists must actively work against. Without the boundaries, the rebellion loses its flavour.
Example: In Leigh Bardugo’s Ninth House, the official rules of Yale still apply, but they barely scratch the surface of the occult activities happening behind the scenes. The institutional façade makes the reality of the magical world feel even more illicit.
Secrets of the Social Circle
This is where things get truly tense. Because the official rules are too suffocating or irrelevant, the main clique creates its own complex, often lethal, social contract. This is the rules within rules concept.
The Trope: The main group has its own code of silence, hierarchies, and of course… the unforgivable betrayals. The breaking of the group's rules is often far more consequential than breaking the school's rules. Argh, the tension!
Why It Works: This adds different, moral levels to the breaking of them. Breaking curfew might get you expelled; breaking the group's pact might get you killed (…or worse). The pressure shifts from external punishment to internal consequence.
Example: This is central to Donna Tartt’s A Secret History. The actual murder is less about breaking the law, and more about how the intellectual elite group protects its secret and spirals into a moral abyss because of their shared, hidden crime.
The Forbidden Knowledge
The deepest layer of secrecy in Dark Academia is the knowledge itself. The pursuit of arcane, dangerous, or forgotten studies is the fire that fuels the genre.
The Trope: Accessing forbidden magic, or learning a discipline that requires a moral sacrifice. The students are not just studying magic; they are actively changing the rules of it.
Why It Works: It appeals to the reader's own intellectual curiosity. We want to know what the characters are risking everything to learn. This knowledge is power, and power requires a secret.
Example: The candidates in Olivie Blake's The Atlas Six are constantly testing their limits, not against a school master, but against the very laws of physics and morality. Their success hinges entirely on what secrets they can uncover and what they keep hidden from each other.
When All Layers Collide…? *chef’s kiss*
The best Dark Academia narratives use the interplay between these three layers to trap the protagonist.
In my novel, The Moon Is a Door (part of the Deighton Academy series), the layers are constantly colliding. The rules of Deighton Academy are just a smokescreen for the rules that the antagonist, Selena, enforces. Astrid is tricked into breaking the official rules, not realising the dangerous chain reaction of events, twisted friendships, and promises bound in blood are just the beginning of her descent into darkness.
This complexity—where breaking a simple rule leads to uncovering a life-threatening secret—is why readers are so utterly devoted to the intricate, hidden worlds of Dark Academia.
What is your favourite secret society or forbidden rule in fiction? Let me know in the comments!
