Why is the Grim Darkness of the Far Future so Interesting?
This talk by Dr Thomas Arnold is based on an article he wrote for Blackwell’s ‘And philosophy’ website, posted 11th January 2023.
5 RESULTS
What happened to the Lost Primarchs? Or, a case of invitational incompleteness
Everyone who’s interested in 40K lore knows that the Emperor of Mankind gene-crafted 20 “sons” to be his superhuman generals in the Great Crusade to reunite humanity. Equally well known is that two of these Primarchs – the second and the eleventh – were “lost”: everything about them was intentionally deleted from Imperial records. But …
Intertextuality as a double-edged chainsword – is writing for Warhammer a barrier to narrative invention?
Julia Kristeva’s poststructuralist concept of intertextuality applies to the creation of all genres and formats of texts, but when it comes to working within an existing universe such as Warhammer, the relationship with what has come before and, challengingly from wider narrative and character arc perspectives, what may come in the future, takes on a …
The Power of Ensembles: How Warhammer Novels Introduce Worldbuilding and Create Tension through Multiperspective Storytelling
Worldbuilding is an integral part of the science fiction and fantasy genres. A major challenge of these genres is introducing the setting to readers in a way that is natural and doesn’t overwhelm them. This can be done through a reader surrogate character, a character that is either new to the setting (such as Neo …
Excommunicate Traitoris – On Defining Canon, Communities, and the Building of Narrative Worlds
Abstract “Everything is Canon” or so goes the meme which exploded through the Warhammer 40,000 online community in mid April 2024. In reaction to the ostensibly new revelation of female Custodes in the 10th Edition a proportion of 40K fans declared this news as “heretical” and a betrayal of the fandom. In response Games Workshop …