Warhammer 40K Theories: The Emperor Is Hiding Something On Saturn
Let’s talk about the planet Saturn, and what the Emperor may be hiding there, Warhammer 40K fans.
Warhammer 40K is a setting filled with mysteries. Many of them will never be answered, and some can only be guessed at. Some of them are only just hinted. Take Saturn for instance. It is a mysterious world in the Sol system. Its history is shrouded and cloaked in secrecy. On the face of things, it appears to just be another world. However some theories point to there being more to it than meets the eye. Today, let’s consider if there is more to this world than we know and if the Emperor is hiding something there.
A Conversation With A Goddess
The start of this theory is based on a conversion between John Grammaticus and Erda. This comes from the novel Saturnine.
“‘He has never listened, never learned,’ said Erda. ‘In the cycles of old lore, He is Saturn. Inflexible authority.
‘What?’ asked John.
‘He is Saturn. He is Cronus. He is Oanis. It depends on your pantheon.’
‘You don’t believe in gods.’
‘I don’t,’ she said. ‘But the symbols have always intrigued me, and through the ages He has styled himself on many of them, for effect. Mithras, the soldier-god, Tyr Hammerhand, the Wolf of the Romannii, Arawn, Enlil of Storms, Maahes the lion-headed, Seth. And Saturn, most of all. The father-god. The maker. In the acroamatic texts of alchemy, Saturn is glyphed as lead, the prima matera. it is heavy and it seals, and limits, and protects. It is cold authority. Saturn is a black, stone prison, caging all truth inside its chain of rings…’
‘He is Saturn,’ she whispered. The Saturnine aspect is lead. Lead is heavy. But lead, John. Lead can be molded.’
A Double Meaning?
So on the surface this is just a conversation about the Emperor and His nature, and that does appear to be the case for most of it. However, there is a sentence towards the end that stands out to be as being a little strange: “Saturn is a black, stone prison, caging all truth inside its chain of rings…”. This part stands out as it doesn’t really seem to be referring to the Emperor, as calling Him a prison doesn’t really make sense. Nor does this seem to still be talking about lead, as lead isn’t normally described as black, but rather it’s silvery or grey. It’s also not stone, it’s a metal. So what could this be describing if it’s not talking about the Emperor or Lead?
A World or a Prison?
This theory argues that this part of Erda’s speech isn’t metaporhical at all. That she is simply talking about the actual planet Saturn, and perhaps it’s function. Saturn the planet, the theory states, is actually a prison, trapping, something, or some knowledge inside it. Erda does, after all refer to Saturn’s rings, which seems to imply that she is talking about the planet. But here again calling it a “black, stone prison” doesn’t make a lot of sense either, since Saturn is a gas giant and normally looks yellowish. Unless of course this is John mishearing, or misunderstanding, maybe she said something totally different.
A Prison or A Fortress?
It is possible that was Erda was actually saying was: “Saturn is a Blackstone prison”. In this case, she would not be referring to stone of a particular color, but instead to the material known as Blackstone or Noctilith. Since this material has strange properties being able to either nullify or amplify the warp it seems like it’s quite possible some sort of prison for “the truth” if that is warp-related could be made out of it. Indeed, we even know that there is a Blackstone Prison that uses Noctilith in the Imperial Palace at this period in history.
Saturn Is Steeped In The Warp
Saturn’s history has some seeming connections to the warp. Pre-Unifications it was home to powerful void fleets, commanded by the Saturnyne Ordo, who willingly joined the new Imperium. It was also ravaged by strange and cruel Xenos overlords. Given this was during the time of the Imperial Truth these could have been demonic forces. At the time demons were called Xenos. Eventually, Maclador took over control of the planet and barred entry to its rings. In the “present day” 40K grimdark, it is controlled by the Grey Knights and the Inquisition. Saturn is now a highly guarded world, along with its moons and in fact does house many prisons for both mortal and demonic foes.
However, there isn’t a good explanation as to why Saturn was chosen for this or why Titan was used. Nor should Erda have known back in M30 that Saturn’s moons would turn into prisons holding the “truth”. So either she was speaking of the future, that Saturn would turn into a prison, or there is a deeper secret that was already imprisoned in Saturn, maybe using Blackstone, which is why it was picked. This theory posits that something is indeed hidden and trapped in or around Saturn. It could be a a god, or a Blackstone Fortress, or some secret. Maybe it has to do with the Terminus Decree. We may never know – but the Emperor does.
Let us know what you think of this theory, and what could be trapped in Saturn, down in the comments!
