40K Grimdark Theories: Constantin Valdor Is Out To Destroy The Imperium
Has the Emperor’s most loyal servant turned on Him? Constantin Valdor looks to be up to no good!
Warning Spoilers for Penitent: A Bequin Novel
Constantin Valdor is known as one of the most stalwart defenders of the Imperium. The Captain-General of the Custodian Guard and a man on par with the Primarchs. Valdor served with distinction during Unification and the Heresy. Then he vanished. Until now his fate was unknown. However new revelations have revealed that it appears he is alive, and may be a danger to the Imperium. Let’s take a closer look.
The King In Yellow
Over the course of the Bequin novels its revealed that the Inquisitors Eisenhorn and Ravenor, among others, have been hunting a mysterious “King in Yellow”. This king is supposed to be the head of a vast and secret network that might predate the Imperium itself. Pretty much every party that we hear from feels he is working against the Imperium and is a major threat. Five Eldar Craftworlds have allied to destroy him.
At the end of Penitent it is revealed that the King In Yellow’s name is Constantin Valdor. If this is not some misdirection, it is the first confirmed sighting of him in about 10,000 years. It also paints a picture of him as a dire enemy of the Imperium. One with access to impressive forces.
The King’s Forces
In Penitent we get a look at the City of Dust, Valdor’s fortress. This gives us some idea of the forces he has amassed over the millennium. The City of Dust seems to be some sort of city of Order, built directly in the Warp. In this place Valdor commands an army of thousands of winged Astartes. Possibly some sort of clone of Sangiunus. He also has an unknown number, in the hundreds at least, of cloned Nulls, each hosting a daemon they can command. There is a massive golden warfleet of powerful ships. Mention is also made of Custodians.
Of course all of this is in addition to the seemingly vast resources he commands in his galaxy wide secret organizations. There also seems to be more mortal troops he can call to his aid. All in all its a massive impressive array of troops, one on the scale of a Legion of the Great Crusade.
Has Constantin Valdor Turned?
Everyone who we get a story about the King in Yellow from is convinced that he is an enemy of the Emperor. Initially both his enemies and allies believe he is searched for the Emperor’s true name in the language of Enuncia. They think that he is planning to use this name to gain total control over the Emperor and bring Him down. While some doubt has been cast on if this is his real goal, research into Enuncia certainly seems a major focus of his. On top of this he seems to have spent thousands of years fighting against the Inquisition and the Imperium. While we don’t know his plan, with a massive army at his beck and call, and unknown powers in his arsenal it seems he could cause real issues for the Imperium.
Why Did He Turn?
Why would the Emperor’s most loyal creation turn on Him? While we can’t know for sure yet, there are a few guess we can make. We know Valdor left on some sort of mission. It is possibly one given to him by the Emperor. Since then 10,000 years have past. It seems Valdor has spent some amount of that time in the Warp.
It’s simply possibly that after all that time he has been corrupted. Perhaps some knowledge gained through his spear lead to this. Maybe he just fell. He would not be the first. Or maybe he has been manipulated from the first. Perhaps his whole mission was given to him by Mangus, or another Chaos power in disguise. It could also be that he, like Guilliman, dislikes what the Imperium has become. Maybe he feels he is still loyal to the Emperor, but just wants to destroy the current Imperium in its debased form.
Penitent takes place several hundred years in the “past”, before the opening of the Great Rift. Thus its seems that whatever Valdor was planning was either averted or somehow delayed (unless he was involved with the Rift?). Hopefully we will get more answers in Bequin Book Three: Pandemonium. For now are simply left to contemplate how Valdor became, according to the Inquisition, one of the greatest threats to the Imperium.
Unless of course we’ve all been mislead. But thats a theory for another time.
