The name Warhammer 40,000, with its aesthetics and, above all, the incredibly detailed background, is now a fixture in pop culture. This epic, supposedly monolithic narrative is actually a piece of work by different artists, designers and authors. The unifying element of these different media and narrative styles is the depiction of war and all variations of its brutality and aesthetics. Taking sides in favour of war always seems impossible. In the grim darkness of the far future, not only peace but also clear morals are absent. All factions act brutally and with extreme cynicism in their own way. It is said, that precisely this is where the universe is an ironic commentary on the warfare it depicts. Based on this, however, it would be practically impossible for the franchise to generate the high level of identification that it de facto possesses. The power of identification arises from the individual characters, the heroes, who have to assert themselves in this hostile universe. In the Warhammer universe, there is actually no partisanship for the war, but rather for its functionaries, the soldiers. In no medium is this process expressed more clearly than in the countless novels that use the Warhammer 40,000 universe as a background. One of the most famous and successful series is without a doubt the Gaunt’s Ghosts series by Dan Abnett. With the method of close reading it is intended to answer various questions about the depiction of war. How does war appear in the novels and how act characters in it? Which moments of military heroism are rejected and which are explicitly not? How is consent for or rejection of acts of war generated? Answering these questions allows conclusions to be drawn about the general construction of war, its criticism, but also approval in popular culture.
Author bio
Karl Sommer is studying to teach German and history at the MLU Halle-Wittenberg since 2016. Research focuses on scientific theory and the portrayal of war in popular media.
