OK, I'm a nerd, you know it, I know it, so lets get it out in the open. I feel comfortable admitting it these days, since the Lord of the Rings movies made it socially acceptible to come out of the Narnia. So now we've covered that...
I know several of you are familiar with the Warhammer and Warhammer 40K universe(s). My first ever real paying job was in a games store where I was the resident expert on such things, so that uninitiated parents could ask me what their kids needed for their armies and so on, way back in the days of version 2 and Space Hulk, only shortly after the old "Rogue Trader" days. I used to play, but eventually I got more into the miniatures, and having moved around and lost several playing groups, now I pretty much limit myself to the painting and ignore the gaming. However, over the years, the back story has always facinated me, and since there has never really been a complete lay down misere about how it all came to be, when the Heresy series of novels were released, which is a blow by blow account of how Horus rebelled against the Emeror and the motivations of the different Primarchs and other factions, I started reading them.
Its interesting. I expected it to be fairly straight forward and a little undergraduate (40K is, after all, supposed to be for kids, right?) but there are some very subtle nuances and quite insightful threads running throw the maelstrom. Very little is straight forward, and none of the "badies" are actually "bad", each of them appears to have a motive which, in the context of the individual, is quite righteous.
So, here's my question... The whole 40K universe is steeped in Judeo-Christian imagery and reference, but out of the 2 main protagonists, the Emperor and Horus, who is the Christ figure and who is the anti-Christ? From the 10000 years on perspective, clearly the Emperor is portrayed as the Messiah and Horus is the betrayer, but thats after 10000 years of Ecclesiarchy dogma and the propaganda of the victors. But in actual fact of what ACTUALLY occurs circa 30K during the Heresy, one could argue that it is Horus and the traitor Primarchs that are fighting for some sort of salvation for mankind, while the Emperor is far more the oppressor.
Thoughts?
I know several of you are familiar with the Warhammer and Warhammer 40K universe(s). My first ever real paying job was in a games store where I was the resident expert on such things, so that uninitiated parents could ask me what their kids needed for their armies and so on, way back in the days of version 2 and Space Hulk, only shortly after the old "Rogue Trader" days. I used to play, but eventually I got more into the miniatures, and having moved around and lost several playing groups, now I pretty much limit myself to the painting and ignore the gaming. However, over the years, the back story has always facinated me, and since there has never really been a complete lay down misere about how it all came to be, when the Heresy series of novels were released, which is a blow by blow account of how Horus rebelled against the Emeror and the motivations of the different Primarchs and other factions, I started reading them.
Its interesting. I expected it to be fairly straight forward and a little undergraduate (40K is, after all, supposed to be for kids, right?) but there are some very subtle nuances and quite insightful threads running throw the maelstrom. Very little is straight forward, and none of the "badies" are actually "bad", each of them appears to have a motive which, in the context of the individual, is quite righteous.
So, here's my question... The whole 40K universe is steeped in Judeo-Christian imagery and reference, but out of the 2 main protagonists, the Emperor and Horus, who is the Christ figure and who is the anti-Christ? From the 10000 years on perspective, clearly the Emperor is portrayed as the Messiah and Horus is the betrayer, but thats after 10000 years of Ecclesiarchy dogma and the propaganda of the victors. But in actual fact of what ACTUALLY occurs circa 30K during the Heresy, one could argue that it is Horus and the traitor Primarchs that are fighting for some sort of salvation for mankind, while the Emperor is far more the oppressor.
Thoughts?
