What's the REAL Reason the Emperor Sits on a Golden Throne? | Warhammer 40k Lore

[@Tindahbox.]

Fun fact: the Golden Throne was ultimately build for Magnus to sit upon, and control with his second-highest Psyker status. A rather "dull" fate for a Primarch, but a blissful one in Red's case, as it would fullfill his deepest desire to research "The Great Sea" (Warp) much safer and more precisely. Big E himself tempted Traitor Magnus with this carrot. (If we can trust his words.)

[@spencer1980]

I also want revenge. I want a lot of revenge.

[@spencer1980]

Because it's dark and depressing. Grimdark is a vibe. The greatest man alive is a shell of himself, barely more than a corpse. The eldari are an empire in survival mode after an extinction event. The nectons are awakening. The tyranids are advancing. The 40k genre is literally just "everything is awful." From a writing perspective, eh the guys been on the throne for 30 years now (as far as publishing cycles are concerned). It's probably time to shake up the canon and revive him....but only if him being revived is because it becomes even worse. It should either be a pyrrhic victory, or a measure of absolute desperation, or something fucking horrible. If the emperor is resurrected, it should be seen as a harbinger of even worse things to come. Grimdark is just horror, but like soldiers and armor and bolters and shit. (Lions and tigers and bears oh my!) I have spent more than 30 years of my life living through a very real grimdark, which includes serving in the military during war time. If you just want military sci Fi with weapons and armor? Star craft is right down the hall, second door on your left. I think this idea of "everything is terrible, but at least the emperor still sits on the throne and isn't quite a corpse yet," is intrinsic to 40k. It's been around for 30+ years, it's probably time to shake things up a bit, but it should remain horrifying. Grimdark is a genre, and the emperor should not awake unless it's for an absolutely terrible and tragic reason. Don't pivot to optimism. The emperor is awake should mean things are worse. Grimdark is a fucking thing, and I've lived through it.

[@spencer1980]

That's what 40k is, it's almost the antithesis of dune. Where dune is "oh there's this golden path, but charisma is low key kind cancerous, if someone is strong enough, they'll be able to walk down the golden path." 40k is "yeah this one guy sees the golden path, but he's barely more than a corpse and the galaxy is on fire. Everything is terrible and there's a gate barring the golden path, and no matter what we do, we won't be able to walk down it." Then there's star trek, which is just "golden path? Are you fucking insane??? Just build ships and trains and food!" Then there's star wars, which is "WE FUCKING TRIED THAT STAR TREK SHIT AND IT DIDNT WORK! WE'RE LITERALLY JUST TRYING TO STOP PLANETS FROM GETTING EXPLODED, BUT ALSO SPACE WIZARDS EXIST AND DESERT PLANETS ARE IMPORTANT, SO NOT THAT DIFFERENT FROM DUNE!" But no, I really think you should lean into the "this is a game that can be played and is very fun." That part of your market is lacking. Under no circumstances should you turn away from the grimdark in the media you produce. Everything is awful, and all you can do I keep it from being less awful, but you can't make anything better.

[@spencer1980]

Yeah, primarchs sell well, custodes sell well, lore does hella numbers on youtube. "Everything is awful and we are fucking fucked no matter what we do" is what makes books sell well. If you want optimism, idk read a fucking spiderman comic or some shit. Grimdark is what makes these books fun to read. I do think youre failing to capitalize on military nerds for the table top aspect. The hobby is mostly centered around painting miniatures. I just wanna give em a coat with a rattle can and then move pieces around. That this is not the most popular game ever with vets, is bad marketing. I just wanna kill shit.