Have you ever wondered how sinister our angels are?

[Larhendiel]

I just went through WIkipedia and searched for meaning for their names in Judaism, Christianity and Islam.

Those guys are gloomy!

We should get folks who wrote about them to write our Black Library novels

Azrael

Belial

Sammael

Asmodai

Ezekiel

Naaman

There is no Sapphon but he sounded to me similar to biblical Samson

[ElectricPaladin]

I've been using various demon names for my Knights of Blood. It's fun.

[Spaz431]

Gw has for many years toed a wierd line with faux religious items.

[Bryan Blaire]

Sapphon has supposed roots in a theme that underlies the actual "Dark Angel" poem by Lionel Johnson. That name and theme are generally referenced as support for the Dark Angels "not coming out of the closet", "cross dresser", etc., jokes that inevitably crop up.

 

Yes, the references for the Dark Angels names are considered literal "dark angels" (aka demons or other similar dark entities), but then again, so is Mephiston (reference to Mephistopheles) - hence support for the "he is a demon prince" idea. Dante is clearly an easily spotted potential Inferno reference as well. Baal is another potentially dark BA reference, as it was the name of a Caananite god or demon (depending on where one stands on that line).

 

A recent discussion on references to other material (many historical and religious names, locations and ideas) found within 40K can be found here.

 

Another set of references that is incredibly easy to see/find, but often gets left out of the discussion are those to be found within the series of Dune (or are so often referenced as to point them out becoming passé):

 

God-Emperor - reference to the God-Emperor Leto II Atredies (not Paul - who rules simply as the Emperor), prescient ruler of the "Old Empire"

 

Golden Gate (human/Imperium gate/path to the Webway) - possible reference to the Golden Path (the path that Paul foresaw and his son God-Emperor Leto II implemented to save humanity from the "annihilation" that Paul foresaw [which locked it into existence] at Kralizec by first stagnating humanity for thousands of years, during that time in which he bred humans that were invisible to prescience so that humanity would no longer be locked into this prescient destiny due to people like his father and himself - as well as allowing the creation of computers that could replace Navigators, allowing humans to be free from spice all together)

 

Golden Throne - possible reference to the Golden Lion throne, the "seat of power" of the Padishah Emperors that Paul Atredies deposes to take over rule of the Empire

 

Adeptus Sororitas - the Fish Speakers (an all female army of warrior-priestesses that serve the God-Emperor)

 

30K to 40K (10,000 year span) - possibly a reference to the time span between from when the Padishah Emperors sit on the Golden Lion throne to when Paul Atredies deposes the last Padishah Emperor, which is approximately 10,000 years (the year date that Paul actually does this is the year 10,193 A(fter) G(uild))

 

War against the Men of Iron - possible reference to the Butlerian Jihad, the crusade against "computers, thinking machines and conscious robots" that led to the religious commandment "Thou shalt not make a machine in the likeness of a human mind."

 

There are a couple of different organizations in 40K that could be said to be based on the Sardaukar from Dune as well

 

(That's about all I can think of right now)

[Master Sheol]

@Bryan blaire... Astartes are the Sardaukar... ;)

[Bryan Blaire]

@Bryan blaire... Astartes are the Sardaukar... ;)

Not necessarily. They may have started out similarly, in which they would have been the reference, however, their current incarnation is almost nothing like the Sardaukar. If anything, the Tempestus Scions may be the most similar conceptually to the Sardaukar.