The world's first academic conference dedicated to all things Warhammer
This talk by Dr Thomas Arnold is based on an article he wrote for Blackwell’s ‘And philosophy’ website, posted 11th January 2023. https://andphilosophy.com/2023/01/11/abandon-hope-all-ye-who-enter-here-why-is-the-grim-darkness-of-the-far-future-so-interesting/
Jaques Derrida is quoted as saying, “The end approaches, but the apocalypse is long lived.” The lore of Warhammer 40K is an apocalyptic myth created explicitly in the image of the Roman Empire. But the obvious connections to Imperium Romanum are only part of the picture. WH40K portrays an extension of the cycle of apocalypse …
The concept of death, as expressed in games and other fictions, is not necessarily negative. It does not play the same role, or pose the same threat, as death for us, in the physical world. But few intellectual properties revel in the exploration of death in the way that the Warhammer 40k setting does. Whether …
Abstract Games Workshop’s Warhammer 40K (WH40K) is widely regarded as the progenitor of the Grimdark genre: a simple tagline in a magazine advertisement that read ‘In the grim darkness of the far future, there is only war’ spawned a universe of hopeless, superstitious and terrifying visions of mankind’s future. It was a black mirror that …
The humans that inhabit the grim future of the 42nd Millennium live under oppression so dire it borders the comical. Indeed, the level of ‘grim dark’ terror and repression that Imperial citizens are subjected to is commonly understood to be satire of existing repressive ideologies. It follows then, that the Imperium is in a nigh …
The Warhammer 40´000 setting is characterised by its proverbial “grim darkness”. Its take on the far future is a highly dystopian one. The most important polity in the setting, the galaxy-spanning Imperium of Man, is described as the worst possible regime. It is a militaristic, xenophobic, highly repressive dictatorship. By contrast, the T’au Empire is …
For many fans of Warhammer and Warhammer 40,000, John Blanche needs no introduction. He simply is Warhammer. His work has inspired thousands, if not millions of hobbyists across the globe in a career that spanned decades, and has literally shaped a whole genre of art and literature, known as Grimdark. In this keynote John joins …