Carrying on from a small snippet of Warhammer 40k lore in the last Adeptus Custodes Codex, Games Workshop has released a new Warhammer 40k animation featuring a female Custodian protagonist. Custodian Tyrith Shiva Kyrus appears in ‘Harvest’, episode two of ‘The Tithes’ series available now on Warhammer TV.
We consider it a little bit tragic that the gender of a fictional character is newsworthy in the Warhammer 40k fandom, but here we are. Some parts of the fandom responded extremely negatively when the Adeptus Custodes Codex was released in April this year containing a short story with a female Custodes protagonist, and – as editor Alex has argued – parts of the fandom are profoundly ill disposed to what they perceive as “imposed” diversity.
A Warhammer Community post advertising the new episode acknowledges the controversy around the news that “Custodians can be any gender”, stating mildly that “this fact came as a real surprise to many, since it wasn’t something previously explored”, adding “there are simply loads of things the Warhammer Studios have never expressly stated, whether that’s ruling them in or out”.
We think this is actually closer to a retcon, since – while the Custodes have never had an explicit no-girls-allowed clause in their lore the way Space Marines do – all mentions of them and their recruitment processes prior to the 10th edition Codex discussed them as if they were all male.
But it’s also a tiny retcon compared to some of the changes 40k has had – see this amusing article for eight very big examples – as it has exactly zero impact on the character of the Custodes. Each Custodes is a genetically engineered masterwork with their human personality annihilated and replaced with utter devotion to the Emperor of Mankind: whether their base stock is male or female is irrelevant.
Harvest demonstrates this pretty handily. The setup is classic 40k: multiple different Warhammer 40k factions have converged on a world, including the Tyranids, Space Marines, and a Black Ship of the Astra Telepathica. The Marines are honor bound to defend the world of Ystrad, the Custodian and a Sister of Silence are inbound to harvest a tithe of 40k psykers, and the Tyranids are just coming to feed.
Tyrith Shiva Kyrus is exactly as unrelenting, hyper-focused, contemptuous, and lethal as a Custodian should be. And in full armor she looks exactly like a male Custodian, because when you’re wearing two tonnes of holy auramite, nobody can tell a damn thing about the width of your pelvis.
As it’s a question that comes up so often, we actually have a guide explaining the business factors that resulted in female Space Marines not being written into the lore. We also have a guide evaluating the content on Warhammer Plus, which gets you access to Harvest and all the other Warhammer TV animations.
Source: Wargamer
