Many of the horrors of the Warhammer 40k universe are shrouded in mystery, and the ravenous hive fleets of the Tyranids are among the most enigmatic. The Tyranids are invading the Milky Way galaxy with utter, ferocious commitment, and it begs the question: what are the Tyranids running from?
No-one in the Warhammer 40k universe has a chance at finding the truth. The T’au Empire made some disastrous attempts at diplomacy with the Tyranids, but they eventually learnt their lesson: there is no way to make peace with the hive.
Most members of the conceited Imperium of Man, and even most Space Marine Chapters don’t consider the hive fleets to be sentient. Those few who have made communion with the hive mind have found only bottomless hunger and hatred.
And it is that bottomless hunger that is the true driving force behind the hive fleets. When Chapter Master Dante of the Blood Angels looked into the eyes of the Swarmlord and perceived the soul of the hive mind (at the end of Guy Haley’s ‘Devastation of Baal’), he “pitied it. The hunger of the hive mind made the Red Thirst trivial by comparison”.
That might seem a bit of an underwhelming conclusion. The Tyranids are an apocalyptic threat, with a serious chance of annihilating all the other Warhammer 40k factions. Are they seriously here just because they’re looking for lunch?
There are many kinds of sci-fi horror. Cosmic horror is all about how small humans are in the scheme of the universe. Having the Tyranids motivated by hunger alone, rather than pursued by some other threat, absolutely amplifies that kind of terror. Here’s why.
How did the Tyranids discover the Imperium of Man?
The Tyranids discovered the existence of the Milky Way around M31, during the Horus Heresy. That discovery is described in the epilogue of the Horus Heresy book ‘Pharos’.
In Pharos, Loyalist forces of Ultramarines and Imperial Fists are defending the Pharos facility, a powerful psychic communication device actually constructed from Necron technology. To prevent it falling into the hands of the Night Lords they overload the psychic lighthouse, scattering the Night Lords Fleet.
But this massive psychic blast is also noticed by entities in the deep void which, although not named, are clearly Tyranid hive ships. The Tyranid fleet is in a state of dormancy when the pulse reaches it. Reflexive sensor organisms register the psychic signal from the Pharos and gradually bring other entities awake to examine it. Soon the hive fleet adopts a new heading, and makes towards the Milky Way.
Where do the Tyranids come from?
The Tyranids originate from beyond the Milky Way galaxy – but where do they come from? There’s no definitive answer, but we can work some things out. In current lore Tyranids do not travel using the warp, but instead use gravity manipulation to move faster than light speed through the material universe. This suggests that they originate from our material universe and not another dimension entirely.
The main body of the Tyranid fleet began to reach the Imperium in 745.M41, roughly 9,740 years after the signal from the Pharos reached them. Assuming they can travel at ten times light speed, this means they were almost 100,000 light years away from the Milky Way at the time, utterly isolated in the black void between galaxies.
The closest galaxy to the solar system is Andromeda, which is 2.5 million light years away from our galaxy. Assuming that’s where the Tyranids set off from, and that they were heading roughly towards the Milky Way at ten times light speed, they had been travelling for one hundred and fifty thousand years before they noticed the Pharos. That means they last ate tens of millennia before the dawn of recorded human history.
If nobody is chasing the Tyranids, there’s only explanation for why they left their last host galaxy: they ate everything. It’s possible that every planet in Andromeda is already a dry husk of bedrock. Maybe the hive mind threw itself into the void between stars as a last desperate act to try and forestall inevitable starvation.
Or maybe it’s done this many times before. Maybe the Tyranids have been travelling for literal millions of years, consuming everything in their path…
If you’re a sucker for Warhammer 40k lore, our Warhammer 40k faction guides are full of titbits. If you want to read more original 40k fiction, we can recommend some excellent Warhammer 40k books that you should definitely check out.
Source: Wargamer
