With the latest edition of Warhammer 40,000, Games Workshop has clearly laid out the fate of the Emperor – but only in a small footnote. The mystery has kept fans busy for years, and now they are disappointed with the wording. Most overlook what it is really about, explains a user, earning much agreement.
What is this secret?
- Games Workshop has revealed the Terminus Decree, the last command of the Emperor to the Order, in the Codex of the Grey Knights with the 10th Edition .
- It is stated there, in short: Should the Emperor ever rise, the secret order of the Grey Knights must ensure that he sits back down and does not leave the Golden Throne.
- The relatively small passage has caused dozens of memes and much excitement in the community.
Why are people so upset? For many years, the Terminus Decree was a secret. It was known that it existed and that only the masters of the Grey Knights were allowed to read it in the greatest need. What it contained was previously unknown.
That Games Workshop now casually describes its content in a new rulebook has upset fans. And even worse: Many believe that the command makes absolutely no sense.
Since the Terminus Decree can only be read when the Imperium is on the brink and the Emperor would rise, it would already be too late to stop the whole affair. It is said: The Grey Knights would simply be sent to their death.
They would still have to fight through the Custodes, which would result in hundreds of lives of the strongest fighters of the Imperium being lost. Some fans speculate: That is precisely the plan, to enable a second birth of the Emperor, just like back then.
On Reddit, a user now explains that this is all nonsense. Because the main point that the Terminus Decree wants to make is completely ignored.
In Chaos Gate: Daemonhunters, you can see Grey Knights in action:
“The Emperor must not leave the Throne”
The post states that Games Workshop has now literally filled the Terminus Decree with content because it needed to make clear: The Emperor must not and will never leave the Golden Throne. Earlier attempts had been made to explain this:
- First, it was said that the Astronomican, which is needed for navigation in the Warp, would extinguish without the Emperor.
- Then the web of fate was introduced: Should the Emperor ever leave the Throne, Terra would simply explode.
- And when that was still not enough to make it clear that the Emperor must stay on the Throne, it was said: Should the Emperor leave his place, he would become the new Chaos God of Tyranny.
Since all that was not enough to make it clear to fans that the Emperor must stay on his Throne, it has now been stated in very unambiguous terms. He must not split his soul, ascend, or regenerate (not even into Matt Smith or David Tennant). If it were to happen nonetheless, the Custodes would already be dead and the battle would have to be fought in the Warp.
The post has garnered hundreds of comments and over 2,000 upvotes. In the comments, many users agree and say: The whole thing is actually logical. If the Emperor were to rise, the world of Warhammer 40,000 would simply cease to exist.
Alternatively, it would happen that Warhammer 40,000 follows the path of Age of Sigmar: the world would be gradually divided, and in the end, there would be a patchwork of smaller locations.
However, not all fans are ready to let go just yet. The clues and allusions are simply too obvious – although they are just that: allusions to create a mystery. Particularly the idea of the Emperor as a god is becoming increasingly likely: The new leader of the Imperium in Warhammer 40,000 questions whether the Emperor is a god, and he should know better
