Space Marines have a hard life in Warhammer 40,000 – at least from the perspective of normal humans. While others may retire after enough years of service, the bred superhumans only have the next mission waiting for them. A user wants to know why this is the case and receives a sober yet accurate lore explanation.
Spoiler Warning: This contains some information about Space Marine 2 and the series Secret Level. We try to keep spoilers to a necessary minimum.
Who is Titus?
- In Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 you play as Lieutenant Demetrian Titus, a Space Marine of the Ultramarines.
- Throughout his life, Titus has numerous achievements to show, including victories against Orks and the Chaos as well as a membership in the respected “Deathwatch”, which was essentially a kind of exile for the former captain.
- At the beginning of Space Marine 2, Titus is saved from certain death by a Carnifex, one of the worst variants of the deadly Tyranids. Titus becomes a Primaris Marine, an even better, stronger version of the already superhuman Space Marines.
This is what happens to Titus: The story of the lieutenant continues after Space Marine 2, even if some of you may not have noticed it. The Amazon miniseries Secret Level has an episode set in the world of Warhammer 40,000.
There, a group of Space Marines sets out to destroy a Chaos relic and falls into the clutches of a dangerous sorcerer. The mission is essentially a suicide mission, as the chances of success are nearly zero.
On Reddit, a user asks why Titus was chosen for this mission. After all, the Ultramarine is a war hero with several awards. A complex Primaris rite is not granted to just any Space Marine.
Someone with Titus’s history should rightly deserve to rest on his laurels. However, the community sees it quite differently and explains: A Space Marine does not live to rest, but to die.
“That’s not even grimdark, that’s real life.”
In the comments, users discuss what actually defines a Space Marine and what their purpose in life is. According to many fans, this can be easily summarized: To die for the Emperor and the Imperium.
Space Marines are genetically engineered living weapons that were literally created for combat. As such, they are utilized. They are not soldiers, so they are not treated as such, but as a tool to achieve a goal.
Technically, Space Marines are immortal, but none of them lives long enough to find out. Even after their death, their greatest heroes must continue to serve, imprisoned in coffins of steel that keep them “alive.”
That Titus was chosen for this mission is also logical: He has both extensive experience with Chaos and a proven resistance to the Warp, and he is known for not only succeeding in impossible missions but also returning.
A user suggests that this is the curse of success: “Do a good job, achieve the seemingly impossible, and your reward is the next impossible task. That’s not even grimdark, that’s real life.”
By the way, the Space Marines are not the first superhumans the Imperium uses to achieve its goals – and not the first of these supersoldiers that were born with a tragic fate: Warhammer 40,000 already had genetically engineered superhumans before the Space Marines, but they were too problematic
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