Home

Dark Fantasy Angels

image by Veronica V. Jones

Peter Mohrbacher

A young man with white hair and a large sword is bathed in golden light.
A tall figure with a surrealistic head gestures grandly.
A skeletal figure wrapped in green stares with cold, pale eyes.

A critical faculty for any great fantasy artist is the ability to transform the familiar into the beautifully strange. Lanky angels and gangly mages people the twilight world of Peter Mohrbacher, but these are not friendly feathered messengers and cuddly codgers in robes and pointy hats. These denizens are well and truly strange.

Mr. Mohrbacher’s heavenly hosts are terrible, incomplete creatures that whisper horrifying truths to the unlucky souls that give them witness. His waiflike warriors seem also burdened with the weight of untold knowledge, but at least they keep their secrets. Somewhere between these two are the users of arcane magics, who inflict their monstrous mysteries upon the living and the dead alike.

The visions of Peter’s world do not comfort us, but only confirm our deepest, most familiar fears. Yet it seems that some truths, however unsettling, are too beautiful to deny.

Written by in January of 2008. Last edited September 2014.

Related Features

Exceptional Characters and Unfortunate Events

Emily Browning,
Liam Aiken,
Kara and Shelby Hoffman as the Baudelaire children. Jim Carey as Count Olaf

Winona Nelson

A winged woman with long dark hair soars through the sky. A pale regal woman in dark robes, an elaborate headdress, and bloody hands floats A young man reaches into his reflection in the water, and the reflection reaches back. An enraged vampire -- surrounded by fire -- bares their fangs and raises their blade A slender woman hides her face behind a passive mask, with a wall full of other masks behind her. A slender woman in a flowery dress walks with a large hyena.

David Palumbo

Olivier Ponsonnet

A purple-skinned alien woman wears an elaborate headdress. A languid woman with short black hair has a red stain on her lips. A mysterious man with a large facial tattoo stares intently.

Torstein Nordstrand

A bearded man with round glasses examines glowing runes on a brick wall. A slender elf woman with long brown hair. A faceless, red-skinned figure clutches a large yellow book to its chest.

  • Anne - February 1st, 2008 at 2:18 pm

    Mohrbacher’s work (unknown to me until now) is quite extraordinary. And a wonderfully expressive post as well. Thank you!

  • Jeff - February 14th, 2008 at 11:33 am

    Just doin’ my job, ma’m. 🙂

  • mfayaz - February 24th, 2008 at 7:30 am

    nice bloggie my friend

  • Pat Mohrbacher - May 18th, 2008 at 9:13 pm

    I wonder if we are related? Nice work by the way.

  • Peter Mohrbacher - January 3rd, 2009 at 1:01 pm

    Wow! This is very flattering, thank you very much 🙂

  • Nestu - February 2nd, 2012 at 3:10 pm

    Is the token for sorin’s vampire male or female?

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *