The Warhammer universe, in its totality, has exploded in popularity in the twenty-first century, crossing the boundary from niche tabletop wargame to vast multimedia franchise, spanning novels, video games, and television. Yet with this increasing cultural cachet comes a significant question – why, in this particular historical moment, has this famously “grimdark” setting gained significant social traction? As the Warhammer universe expands its reach into the popular psyche, and its influence mutates in its various interpretations by individual users and political groups alike, it is worth examination as a means of disseminating historical narratives. Popular historical narratives and their associated tropes shape much of the setting of both the 40k universe and its equivalent in Warhammer Fantasy’s Old World. From the perspective of historian as storyteller, and informed by the nascent study of transmedial narratology, this paper will seek to explain how the Warhammer universe acts as a medium by which popular historical narratives are not only transmitted, but shaped through narrative play, and the resulting act of narrative creation. In so doing, it will likewise seek to explain the popularity of Warhammer, and its “grimdark” setting, as representational of the effort of understanding the inhabited present, using a Hegelian notion of synthesis, and informed by Michel Foucault’s work on the idea of an epochal épistémè. Examined through these theoretical lenses, the Warhammer universe thus becomes a powerful means of navigating and reframing contemporary anxieties through the narrative synthesis of historical understanding.
Author bio
Alexander William Hofing is a historian and doctoral candidate currently engaged in research on the role of the Knights of St. John during the Cretan War of 1645-1669. His scholastic interests include the history of violence, the history of technology, medieval music, and the relationship between history and narrative.
