Both Doctor Who and Warhammer 40,000 are among the most famous science fiction worlds from the UK. Fans have now wondered what would happen if the universes met in parts with… surprisingly detailed considerations.
What are “Weeping Angels”?
- In Doctor Who – by the way, one of the best sci-fi series on IMDb – the “Weeping Angels”, or in German: Weinende Engel, are one of the strongest life forms in the universe.
- They are said to have existed since the dawn of time, or at least shortly thereafter, and feed on time energy, which they steal from their victims.
- Weeping Angels take the form of stone statues in the shape of angels whenever they are being observed, but they can also look like any other statue.
Why are they so dangerous? According to several incarnations of the Doctor, Weeping Angels are the “loneliest” but still “friendly” killers: They kill by sending their victims back in time by exactly as many years as they would have lived.
The angels feed on the released energy. However, it can also happen that they simply kill their targets directly, for example by breaking their necks. What really makes them dangerous, though, are their abilities for defense and multiplication.
Weeping Angels make use of something called “quantum-locking”: Whenever they are being observed, they turn to stone. Only when no one is watching do they move, and that faster than it seems possible. For this reason, they often keep their hands in front of their faces (and look “weeping”) to avoid locking each other. In this state, Weeping Angels are nearly immortal; they can only starve.
It suffices to observe angels indirectly, for example through recordings. But it is said that anything bearing the likeness of an angel can itself become one. That is: Videos and images that show angels, even a person’s thoughts, can become Weeping Angels. There is a whole episode of Doctor Who on YouTube from the creators that delves into the lore of the Weeping Angels.
“Every augmented individual would be their downfall”
In the Grimdank subreddit, where the truly (not) serious discussions about Warhammer are held, a user asked what would happen if the Weeping Angels suddenly appeared in the 41st millennium.
The community is very unanimous here: The Imperium would simply assign a servitor to stare blankly at a corridor where the angel stands for an indefinite period. Servitors are lobotomized humans who function as “human” automatons – they can certainly observe.
The issue with the likeness of an angel could also be easily resolved. One could simply slice the servitor’s brain so that it can see but cannot remember images. And even if not, there are countless other possibilities:
- The already genetically engineered Space Marines could simply be given transparent eyelids, making the angels no longer a threat.
- Skitarii, the soldiers of the Mechanicum, would not have eyelids anyway, but rather artificial moisture for their eyeballs.
- And finally, it would even be likely that the Imperium would simply drop the angels somewhere on a planet and use them as a weapon.
In the worst case, there would certainly be some way to manipulate the forces of the Warp. The Warp has a strange effect on time anyway, and there would certainly be ways to eliminate Weeping Angels.
Even with other races, users clearly see that the angels would stand no chance. Tyranids, that devour everything, would simply throw the angels into their pools of biomass and break them down to obtain their minerals. Worse still, they would likely breed even more terrible Tyranids from the abilities of the angels.
The war-hungry Orks would probably fight, but after a few of their boyz were sent back in time, they would simply lose interest – after all, there is no fight here.
Necrons, on the other hand, would probably just watch in amusement. The robotic mummies from space don’t “live” anyway – or endlessly, depending on how you see it. In any case, they could not serve as food for Weeping Angels. And if they did, they would probably gladly travel back in time to change their fate.
Many fans believe that Weeping Angels would not be considered a curse in Warhammer 40,000, but rather would be used in some way by almost all races – either for improvement to travel in time, or simply as a weapon. Because most are not hesitant here, with one exception: Exterminatus is the worst weapon in Warhammer 40,000 and even the mad Imperium only uses it very rarely
