One of the most ironic differences between the Warhammer 40k universe and the Horus Heresy setting is that, when he was alive, the Emperor of Mankind enforced atheism across the Imperium, even censuring the Primarch Lorgar for worshipping him. But was he truly human then, and if he was, has he become a god in the millennia since?
In Warhammer 40k there is no monotheistic creator god, but there are three types of entity so powerful they defy all other categorisation. First the C’tan, or Star Gods, are entirely material beings with no connection to the warp. Then within the warp, accumulations of psychic and emotional energy can themselves become sentient and immeasurably powerful; this includes the Chaos gods, the Ork gods, and possibly the surviving Aeldari gods.
Last, it’s possible for a being to begin existence as a mortal entity, and ascend to the status of a deity within the warp; this might be where the Aeldari gods came from, arguably the Tyranid hive mind is such an entity, and if the Emperor of Mankind is a god, he’s definitely this kind.
Warning: most of this article takes lore from across the Horus Heresy books, so if you want to avoid spoilers (and read lots of stories about the Space Marine Legions beating the tar out of one another), go there instead!
The Emperor of Mankind has played god for a long time.
The Emperor of Mankind is the most powerful psychic to ever exist in the human species. He is also a Perpetual, an immortal, born around the 8th millennium BC in Anatolia, at the dawn of civilization. Early in his life he witnessed his father killed by his uncle – which may have been the event from which the bible story of Cain and Abel arose – and he in turn psychically killed his uncle. This act made him certain that humanity must be ruled if it was to prosper.
The Emperor has overtly influenced human history. Late in the Siege of Terra, Horus Lupercal recalls the Emperor relating a time in his youth when “he wept, for he had no more worlds to conquer”, after reaching the end of a military campaign: this is a quote attributed to Alexander the Great. The Emperor’s flagship during the Great Crusade is the Bucephalus, named for Alexander the Great’s favorite horse.
During the bronze age the Emperor led a war against the sorcerers of the Tower of Babel. Having defeated them, he was poised to claim their knowledge for himself; Enuncia, the un-language of creation and of Chaos. His Warmaster, the Perpetual Ollanius Pius, was horrified that the Emperor planned to keep the writings, not destroy them, and stabbed his lord. The tower was destroyed – but it’s possible the Emperor still managed to claim the profane knowledge.
Is the Emperor of Mankind a Chaos god?
The Emperor of Mankind is not a Chaos god, but he almost became one, known as The Dark King.
At the end of the Siege of Terra, as the forces of Chaos engulfed the Imperial Palace, Horus Lupercal dropped the void shields on his flagship the Vengeful Spirit to challenge his father to a last duel. The Emperor led a teleport assault alongside his greatest remaining warriors to kill his son. It seemed that he had vastly underestimated Horus’ power: the Vengeful Spirit was overrun by the full power of Chaos, and the Warmaster used the power of each of the gods to attempt to sway his foes.
He attempted to tempt the Emperor with the domain of Slaanesh. Exposed directly to the warp the Emperor was able to draw on literally unlimited power. Recognising his wayward son’s power was now far beyond his own, he drank in the energy of the warp until he had the strength to match him.
Had he continued with this path he would have ascended as a new Chaos power, the Dark King. However, fate – or perhaps his own long-laid plans – brought him into contact with an ancient ally, the Perpetual Ollanius Pius. To Pius, the Dark King was an orb of radiant darkness, utterly awful and immeasurably vast. This encounter was so impossibly unlikely that the Dark King recognised it as a strange twist of fate and deigned to listen.
Pius was able to convince the Dark King that keeping this power would grant victory to Chaos. Recognising the doom that he faced, the Emperor relinquished the power, and went to face Horus Lupercal as a man. At the same time, he jettisoned all that remained of the humane part of his consciousness so that he could fight his son unburdened by any sense of paternal affection. That part of his soul was cut adrift and cast into the warp.
Has the Emperor of Mankind become a god?
The Emperor of Mankind might have ascended to godhood, but there isn’t a definitive answer within the setting. Here’s the evidence.
When the Emperor fought Horus Lupercal his physical body and much of his Perpetual essence were irrevocably damaged. His followers received a last, cryptic message from him, and installed him on the Golden Throne. Though they believed this would restore him, they did not understand the Throne’s function – it was a device that channelled the pure energy of the warp into reality. Without the Emperor’s psychic mind to receive that energy it would consume Terra utterly.
The Emperor’s corporeal body may be entirely dead: when Malcador the Sigilite sat the throne his body was killed, but his mind and soul persisted for some time after. The Emperor’s body may also be in a constant state of death and reincarnation, something writer Dan Abnett has suggested. To the extent that the Emperor is alive at all, he is now an entity in the warp.
The novel Fury of Magnus depicts some of the capabilities of the Throne. Someone capable of utilising it is able to perceive the full extent of the warp, and through that the underlying fabric of time and space. While this would destroy most minds, it brings unlimited knowledge to those capable of mastering it.
Over the millennia since his interment on the throne, the Emperor has been incapable of speaking directly to his subjects. He can communicate in oblique ways. This includes speaking to Custodians through dreams, giving premonitions or visions even to the non-psychic, manifesting his will to the Emperors Champion of the Black Templars, and communicating messages through the Emperor’s Tarot.
All emotions resonate in the warp, and that includes Imperial faith. Roboute Guilliman speculates that the miracles manifested by the Sisters of Battle are latent psychic abilities given form by their faith. But it’s also possible that their faith makes it easier for the Emperor to manifest his power in material reality.
The Imperial creed states that the faithful who die in the Emperor’s service go to his side to serve in the eternal wars beyond. It is unclear whether this is propaganda: typically, souls dissolve when they enter the warp. But there is precedent for souls becoming part of larger warp entities.
This is what happens when someone is marked by Chaos: they retain their individuality, but their soul is now part of the larger Chaos power. The Aeldari’s new, nigh-god Ynnead is created from the souls of untold generations of dead Aeldari.
The Emperor has some kind of domain within the warp, similar to a Realm of Chaos. In the Warhammer 40k book Celestine: The Living Saint, Celestine must contend with the trials of the Chaos gods within the warp before she is able to reincarnate and return to war in the material world.
The final stage of her journey is a beautiful pastoral realm, where she meets a young girl who asks her if this time she can stay. This is not a temptation by the Chaos gods – this is someone that Celestine has asked the Emperor to protect.
Since the opening of the great rift, the Emperor is more active within the material universe. All human psykers have been empowered by it, as warp energy flows more easily into reality; but it has also made it easier for the gods of the warp to exert their influence over reality.
Perhaps the continued faith and fervor of thousands of generations of humans has transformed the Emperor’s essence, changing him from an immeasurably powerful mortal man into a true deity of the warp, a sentient amalgamation of the Imperium of Man‘s collective psyche. Or perhaps he remains as he was, an immensely potent psychic empowered by ancient technology, still anchored in the corporeal world.
If you’re keen for more 40k lore, check out our guides to the Warhammer 40k faction!
Source: Wargamer
