Why Warhammmer 40K fans keep arguing about the Emperor’s terrible sons

Warhammer 40,000Its vast size is one of the main reasons why it stands out. The Imperial Guard is made up of trillions and billions of soldiers who die in horrific ways. Quadrillions are scattered across the galaxy. That’s without mentioning the various alien races, known as xenos — terrifying space bugs, ferocious orks, awe-inspiring space elves, and immortal robot skeletons.

But that’s not what fan conversation tends to center on. If you check out Warhammer 40K fan spaces and content channels, you’ll find that much of the conversation surrounds twenty terrible boys and all the bad decisions they make. What’s up with that?

God-Emperor of Mankind, also known as the God of Mankind, is the person who created the Imperium of Man. He powers the lighthouse used by all Imperium ships to navigate and prevents an unending horde of demonic creatures from destroying Terra. The God-Emperor sustained an ouchie 10,000 years ago that means he’s confined to the chair, a carrion lord who consumes a thousand souls a day. And it’s all because of his terrible sons — the Primarchs — and their nonsense.

Games Workshop

Primarchs were vague legends that had been passed down from lost ages. These characters existed far back in history, and had no realistic bearing on contemporary gameplay — and their stories weren’t explicitly told. Black Library’s book division began publishing books featuring these boys before Games Workshop. There are now dozens of books in the Horus Heresy series, detailing each Primarch’s exploits.

Black Library authors pull it off by writing their Horus Heresy Series like an especially nasty WWE feud or soap operas with walking tanks and constant gunfights. Some of the Primarchs appear ridiculous, while others blend in with a sea of space battles. Space Marines – transhuman biosoldiers created by the Primarchs based on their gene-seed – are also a part of every Primarch’s supporting cast. The Space Marines, the iconic and poster boy of the 40K setting, have their own roles and functions.

If you’re not deep on the lore of Space Marines and Primarchs, though, this nuance can easily be lost on the reader. The Imperial Fists, Iron Hands, and Iron Warriors, for instance, each have their own niche — but if you’re interested in reading about the Aeldari or Necron, they all just look like Space Marine palette swaps. If you’re interested in getting into the details, there are some good resources that can help.

Two of the God-Emperor’s sons got deleted from the record — we don’t know what happened to them, and we’ll never learn, thanks to a series of memory wipes and document burning — leaving eighteen boys behind to start the Great Crusade, the Emperor’s attempt to reunite humanity and take over the whole galaxy. This spiraling of father/son problems is caused by the fact that each boy’s legion has Space Marine sons. He worked on his project in the basement for two decades and would only show up every now and then.

The Primarchs may also be overrepresented. There is a problem with the Primarchs. People love them, and so they write more Primarchs. That builds a following for Primarchs. If you’re pursuing stories about other factions and you’re not a Space Marine fan, it can be frustrating to feel like every other vast corner of the universe is drowned out by the nonsense of these big sons.

I was a member of this group. I’m still not that into Space Marines as they’re depicted in 40K. But I have found myself being charmed, first by the memes and tidbits of knowledge I picked up about these guys — did you know Fulgrim, Primarch of the Emperor’s Children, is a giant snake demon who had his soul stuck in a painting for a while? Bobby G, the Ultramarines’ big Bobby G, once battled in space without a helmet for 12 hours because he was enraged by brotherly betrayal. — and then by delving into the actual stories depicted in print.

Games Workshop

In the modern day of 40K, only two loyalist Primarchs have returned — Lion El’Jonson and Roboute Guilliman. Guilliman’s return in 2017 was a massive deal that flipped the entire setting upside down, but as time went on, he became less of a protagonist and more of a garnish on top of the nightmare pasta that is the Imperium of Man. The traitorous Primarchs make fantastic bosses and have cool tabletop models, but they’ve already lost. The Primarchs lost over 10,000 years ago. This means characters such as Angron look more like environment effects rather than characters.

They can overwhelm the scene due to their popularity. However, they are best used as characters who make the situation worse for those around them. They’re also a reminder not to take the setting You can also read more about seriously. When characters like Corvus Corax of the Raven Guard are running around, it’s a charming relic from the older days of 40K where everything wasn’t so carefully and meticulously sanded-down to be cool. My garbage boys are perfect the way they’re, with all their heresy.