40K Grimdark Theories: The Emperor Planned To Destroy The Space Marines
Today let’s take a look at another crazy 40K theory, this time about how the Master of Mankind planned to betray his own creations.
In the glory days of the Great Crusade, the Space Marines, the Legiones Astartes, were at the forefront of Humanity’s conquests. Lead by their towering Primarchs, the Emperor’s Angels of Death represented the height of technology and, in many ways, the pinnacle of humankind. Yet as the Great Crusade drew towards its end, the fate of these warriors hung in the balance. Some, like the Primarch Guilliman, planned for them to transition from war leaders to civilian roles, either as peacekeepers or administrators. Yet one theory states that the Emperor had other plans for his loyal sons, darker ones by far. Let us take a closer look at this theory.
Warriors of Thunder
To fully understand this theory, lets go back a few centuries to the Unification Wars. These wars were fought by the Emperor of Mankind to conquer and unify Terra at the end of the Age of Strife. During these wars, the Emperor used many armies and a vast array of troops. Here fought the Old Hundred, the first of the Custodian Guard, and towards the end of the wars – the first Space Marines. The most important of the Emperor’s troops at this time was the Thunder Warriors. These warriors were an early version of what would one day be the Space Marines. They were stronger and tougher than a Space Marine, though with a shorter life span. They also seemed to lack some of the finesses of Marines, instead of being more brutal and violent.
The Thunder Falls Silent
The Thunder Warriors were absolutely loyal to the Emperor and served him well during the Unification Wars. However, at the end of the wars, the Thunder Warriors all died out. The official story was that they had all fallen in battle, the last dying to win the great victory of the Battle of Mount Ararat. In reality, the Emperor seems to have killed them off himself. The exact means are a bit confused and come from several sources. The Thunder Warriors were not replenished, and their lives were thrown away in battle. Instead, the Emperor had them massacred at Mount Ararat and possibly a few other conflicts.
Thunder Warriors were, almost certainly, built with a built-in timer and born to live short lives – then die. Whatever the specifics, it is clear that the Emperor was behind the end of the Thunder Warriors, A handful did survive such as Arik Taranis (from the Outcast Dead) and Ushotan (from Valdor: Birth of the Imperium). In both cases, the survivors are sure that the Emperor betrayed them and disposed of them when not needed, replacing them with the Space Marines.
The Fate of the Space Marines
Given the nature of the Thunder Warriors’ demise, it’s little wonder that a theory has sprung up, saying that the Emperor planned a similar fate for the Space Marines once the Great Crusade was finished. With the galaxy unified and the major outside threats to the Imperium destroyed, what need would the Master of Mankind have for a massive force of super soldiers? Rather than keeping around this power, and potentially volatile force, might it not have made sense to destroy them in a grand act of treachery? With the Space Marines gone, the Custodian Guard and the Imperial Army could keep peace internally.
A Doom Unknown
The way the Emperor might have planned to destroy the Space Marines is unknown, though there are a few theories. One theory is that he planned to have the Custodian Guard massacre them, likely mid-sized groups. During the events of the novel Master of Mankind, the Blood Angel Dominion Zephon witnesses Custodians fighter traitor Marines and noted that the Guard almost seems made to kill Marines and seems to think that that might have always been the plan. Another theory goes that the Space Marines would have just died out eventually, and not been replaced, killed off in unending campaigns, or eventually by old age.
Part of this theory also states that the reduced capabilities of Marines in 40K are due to them (as a biological product) operating well past their intended lifespan as a group. Lastly, a more extreme version is that the Emperor planned the Great Crusade as an excuse and way to kill off the Marines, but the intervention of the Chaos Powers lead to things getting out of hand.
Death of the Primarchs
If the Emperor had turned on the Marines, he would likely have had to kill off the Primarchs as well. The Primarchs, however, would likely not have just stood by and let their sons be killed off. Also, as the Horus Heresy made clear, the Primarchs represented a major threat to the Emperor should they ever turn on him. In a galaxy at peace, one which the Emperor wanted dedicated to him alone, the Primarchs were rivals for the people’s love. Magnus might have been kept alive, trapped on the Golden Throne, but not the others.
A Good Theory?
Given the Emperor’s past, and the revelation that he never loved the Primarchs, I’d say there is a decent chance this theory is true. There is certainly some evidence to support it, and it does seem to make sense. Whatever Guilliman might think, there doesn’t seem to be a place for Space Marines in a pacified galaxy. Maybe the Ultramarines could have made the transition to statesmen, and the Blood Angels to artisans, but there seems little place here for the likes of Angron and his World Eaters, or Russ and his Space Wolves.
Moreover, some of the Emperor’s actions towards the end of the Great Crusade are suspicious. Notably, he does not tell the Primarchs or Space Marines about the Webway Project, though he trusts the Mechnicum, Sister of Silence, and Custodian Guard with the knowledge. Also, he moved to devolve power onto the High Lords of Terra and the Senatorum Imperialis, reducing the power of the Primarchs and putting baseline humans in charge of the Imperium (this was even one of the grievances to helped lead to the Heresy). Both these imply that the Emperor might not have seen a future for his sons and their legions after the Great Crusade ended.
A Theory With Modern Echoes
Of course, without a positive confirmation from the Emperor Himself, it is pretty much impossible to prove the theory one way or another. Whatever the plan was, Horus threw it all into disarray, and the Space Marines survived well after the end of the Great Crusade. However, it does seem that those original Marines’ luck, if such it be, has now run out. In today’s Imperium, they face replacement by the Primaris Marines.
Let us know what you think of this crazy theory, down in the comments!
