In the grim darkness of the far future, there is a surfeit of narcissists (quite apart from a host of other psychopathologies). Drawing on the existential-phenomenological model of narcissism developed in “Das unersättliche Selbst (The Insatiable Self)” (Arnold/Fuchs 2026), I will first give a brief overview of the spectrum of narcissistic behaviour and its core of a deep lack of self-worth, combined with surrogate strategies; I will also sketch some of the environmental factors, focussing on the parent-child relationships.
In the second part of my talk, I will apply these concepts to the primarchs and their relation to the emperor and their respective foster parents (if they had any). Different primarchs appear to display overt traits of different forms of narcissism, Fulgrim being the obvious example for grandiose narcissism, Perturabo for vulnerable narcissim, with malignancy being present in many of them.
I will conclude my talk with the idea that Warhammer 40k plays on sundry surrogate strategies and ill-formed ideals as can be found in narcissistic personalities: violence, near-indestructible physique, and dominance. Some of the grimness of the far future thus turns out to be related to basic narcissistic structures.
Author bio
Dr Thomas Arnold is currently akademischer Rat auf Zeit in Heidelberg, specialising in Platonism, Phenomenology and Public Philosophy. He is also co-founder of Warhammer Conference.
