Who are the 10 most powerful Mortals in the 40k universe?

[RikuEru]

In no particular order:

 

1. Any poor human living to his... 40th birthday as a slave in a regular manufactorum

 

2. Any poor human able to survive to his 40th birthday as a minor worker (slave) on a Navy Vessel

 

3. Any poor human that survives more than one session of Dark Eldar or Slaaneshi Torture with atleast a part of his personality (barely) intact.

 

4. Any poor human living as an Orkish slave.

 

5. ...and any human brave/dumb enough to be able to flee from Ork Captivity and surviving for more than a week.

 

6. Any human genuinely brave (=not forced, by propaganda, gunpoint or any other means) enough to look at a [put your most despised Chaos God here]-Invasion force and then decide to stand their ground (however futile that might be)

 

7. Any poor sucker - no matter which side they are on - that crosses the way of any named character listsd in the thread - and lives to tell the tale.

 

8. Any regular human (or Tau?) that has lived through a Gellar Field Breach and was not purged afterwarss for his own safety.

 

9. Lukas the Trickster*

 

10. Any Guardsman that dares to correct his Comissar and doesn't get shot immediately.

 

 

 

 

*(He wrote himself on the list)

[Panzer]

Well if we go with "can be killed and is not divine" then we might want to exclude Guilliman from this list. He says he's not divine but everyone in the imperium believes he is and if believe can create gods then it surely can make beings divine ... also Primarchs have a good portion of warpstuff added when big E created them as well.

Sorry Ishagu, Guilliman can't be the number 1 of the galaxy. :P

[Ishagu]

Well if we go with "can be killed and is not divine" then we might want to exclude Guilliman from this list. He says he's not divine but everyone in the imperium believes he is and if believe can create gods then it surely can make beings divine ... also Primarchs have a good portion of warpstuff added when big E created them as well.

Sorry Ishagu, Guilliman can't be the number 1 of the galaxy. :P

"Even I am just a man" - Roboute Guilliman

[Beams]

Celestine definitely isn't mortal, but arguably the other living saints are?

 

Also, Ephrael Stern is probably pretty high up there, as well as Khaldor Draigo (if anyone is entirely sure what's going on with him)?

[Shinespider]

The problem is that none of this is as binary as we want it to be. There are plenty of characters in this setting who are kinda-sorta-maybe infused with enough warp stuff to kinda-sorta-maybe be considered kinda-sorta-maybe divine. 

[Harrowmaster]

Can Cawl or any other high ranking tech priest be included? I mean they likely have several back up servers and other vessels ready to take their consciousness. Cawl even has his little AI companion. 

[Vykes]

-blinks- you know, there's a certain degree of mirth I'm finding in this that I knew that word choice would likely make this devolve fairly quick but I bet on the wrong horse and said that it would be the meaning of the word 'powerful' not 'mortal'   

 

I'd start by saying 'my definition of Mortal means non-significant warp entity and still predominantly alive' which takes out celestine, Sanguinor, Lucius, the Dark Gods, Dreadnoughts, C'tan, Gork and/or Mork, Emps, and Demon/Warp primarchs that exhibit significant warp-derived supernatural abilities (Corax bird-boy is as much on that list as Magnus, but Bobby G and Abbadon aren't).  Likewise, power means individual power and not just wielding political influence over key institutional roles (which shifts the Fabricator General, High Lords, and Vect off the list for me). 

 

1: Roboute Guilliman
2: Ezekyle Abaddon
3: Kaldor Draigo
4: Ahzek Ahriman
5: Eldrad Ulthran

6: Khârn

7: Mephiston
8: Ghazghskull Thraka
9: Logan Grimnar
10: Erebus

 

Marines are massively on the list because they are super-human and poetically demi-gods, but still conform to what I call 'mortal'.  Some like Erebus would be higher on the list if they did more stuff like they used to (Erebus is scary in 30K, what with his confrontation with Gulliman).  Luther might be up there but, yeah, again same issue as Erebus.  Guard characters are often cool but that's different, very very different. 

[Ranulf]

Sly Marbo tops the list, y'all just can't see him up there. 

 

-Ran

[Ishagu]

You don't rate Trajan Valoris? I'd argue he's above all Astartes who aren't gifted psykers.

[Sword Brother Adelard]

I thought Abaddon was essentially immortal. He died in a WD report once to Ulthran. (Phil Kelly got ridiculously lucky) and they fluffed up the moment in a little paragraph which stated that Abaddon's soul/essence/something had been whipped away by his dark masters as Ulthran's spear had pierced his throat.

(However, I think this whole storyline may have been retconned at some point.)

 

Otherwise, I agree that marines are mortal in that they are killable. Whereas other beings in the setting are not. (Didn't GW confirm that Vulkan and the Emperor are perpetuals?)

 

Also, I would have rated Tigurius higher than Mephiston.

[Claws and Effect]

1) Any Primarch that is not a Daemon Primarch (except Vulkan). Ferrus Manus proved conclusively they can indeed be killed. Currently we only have Guilliman playable in 40k, but the others will be right up there with him if and when they are released. I doubt Roboute will be arrogant enough to try and order his brothers around like common soldiers.

[Lord Raven 19]

Yarrick as orks believe he cannot die

Rip papa smurf

[Red_Shift]

I define mortal as a being that can be killed and is not divine.

So Sly Marbo is out?

[Sete]

1- The Lion.

Just because he's taking a nap it does not mean we can count him out...

Sorry ishagu ;)

[chapter master 454]

Power is a measure of impact on the universe. Sadly...none have made an impact.

 

In the far distant future of the 30th millennia there was nought but war, no matter the cover.

 

10,000 years have past. Many have come. Many have gone. All have been consumed by the true master of change and stagnation. When they thought they had changed war, it stayed the same. When one accepted it, it changed. In the distant future of the 41st millennium there is only war.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Oh and Cato Sicarius. Truly the most powerful mortal to exist as cato sicarius can never fail and thus if ordered to, could revive the emperor of mankind without second thought but Cato Sicarius doesn't do so because Cato Sicarius does not wish to make the Emperor feel indebted to Cato Sicarius for such a droll task that would be of no challenge for cato sicarius!

[Tyriks]

I thought Abaddon was essentially immortal. He died in a WD report once to Ulthran. (Phil Kelly got ridiculously lucky) and they fluffed up the moment in a little paragraph which stated that Abaddon's soul/essence/something had been whipped away by his dark masters as Ulthran's spear had pierced his throat.

(However, I think this whole storyline may have been retconned at some point.)

 

Otherwise, I agree that marines are mortal in that they are killable. Whereas other beings in the setting are not. (Didn't GW confirm that Vulkan and the Emperor are perpetuals?)

 

Also, I would have rated Tigurius higher than Mephiston.

I would never put Tigurius over Mephiston. Mephiston fell to the Black Rage and got better. If any 'normal' astartes librarian belongs on the list, it's Mephiston.

[Sword Brother Adelard]

It's a bit hard to judge Tigurius on his inability to overcome a flaw his geneseed doesn't have. Meanwhile (if it is true, and 5th Ed Codex suggested it was) only Varro has been able to tap into the Tyranid Hive Mind itself, which is pretty hardcore.

[TheRealMcCagh]

Isn't Mephiston better in every way on the TT though? Also, in his newer novels he straight up freezes time to talk to someone. As in, the Orcs and Blood Angels all around him are completely frozen. He does it later to shoot an opponent Indiana Jones style. Tapping into a Hive Mind isn't really as quantifiable as blowing a hole through a Tyranid swarm to get you squad out is. Mephiston seems way more powerful offensively. Tigurius seems powerful like how Jedi in the original trilogy are powerful. Sort of that 'cosmic awareness' kind of powerful, and less a face full of lightning powerful.

 

I forgot, he also walks around in the warp unaided and found a planet that 'couldn't be found.' Then teleported his crew to that planet all the way from Baal. Those Darius Hinks Mephiston novels are kind of off the wall

[RandomMarine]

There was a Salamander who died of old age I believe, he'd been left abandoned on a planet. I believe most simply fall in battle eventually.

Yep and he died of old age after roughly 10k years and that was more due to atrophy having not moved for millennia than actual age

[Vykes]

You don't rate Trajan Valoris? I'd argue he's above all Astartes who aren't gifted psykers.

Complete confession time, I didn't pay any attention to him so it's an omission based on ignorance. I loath grey knights, Draigo's up there because his ability is pretty decently known but I tend not to want to look into them much.  

 

Aye, Varro and Helbrecht are pretty high up there for me, just off the list and even then, on a good day they'd be taking up spots.  And pending on Khârn and being 'mortal'.  Kinda questionable there, he's almost Cypher esque at this point. 

[kombatwombat]

I’m interested that you put Draigo above Valoris.

 

If you measure power as influence or the ability to get people to do what you say, Valoris ties with Guilliman. Every Custodian speaks with the voice of the Emperor, which makes their authority within the Imperium absolute. In Master of Mankind, Dorn tries to tell a senior Custodian to ‘report in full’ at a meeting where his task is to report. The Custodian says straight to Dorn’s face ‘look at me. Look at the colour of my armour, and remember with whose authority I speak. You don’t give me commands.’

 

Guilliman and Valoris are in an interesting position where both have absolute authority within the Imperium, but neither can command the other. The same doesn’t apply to Draigo. If Johnny Custode says to Draigo ‘jump’ it is Draigo’s duty to ask ‘how high, sir?’. Draigo’s authority is further undermined by nobody knowing he exists. If Draigo tried to tell a Blood Angel to jump, the Angel might just say ‘interesting paint scheme on your armour, brother.’ Draigo also currently has zero authority as he’s wandering around the Warp entertaining the Chaos Gods.

 

In a straight crossing of blades, Valoris is basically going to say to Draigo what Juggernaut said to Deadpool in the most recent movie. The guy is supposed to be the best Custodian since the Heresy, and some of the better Custodes in 30k did ugly things to Astartes.

 

The wildcard element is Draigo’s witchery. The big question becomes ‘how powerful of a psyker do you have to be to overcome a Custodian’s natural resistance to Warp shenanigans? It’s a hard one to answer since I don’t know of an Astartes psyker directly attacking a Custodian in the lore.

 

So with his psychic powers Draigo might outdo Valoris, or he might not. In every other area, though, Valoris outclasses him, so I would say Valoris has to be above Draigo.

 

What about Abaddon? Well, once again it’s peak Custodian vs peak Astartes, where it would not be smart to gamble on the Astartes, only this time the Astartes doesn’t have the wildcard psychic element. So the only way Abaddon could be above Valoris would be influence/authority. Abaddon has a loose authority over Chaos, but Valoris has total authority over the Imperium. Ultimately it’s probably close, but Valoris edges it in my book at he should kill Abaddon in a fight.

 

To me it looks like your top 3 should be Guilliman, Valoris and Abaddon.

[Guest]

I mean kaldor draigo is lost in the warp and we don't know if he is alive or dead. So going by that logic the top 10 should just be filled with non-daemonic primarchs and then Abaddon.

 

It seems like Ishagu made another list just so he could Roboute at the top and forget that the other primarchs are still around. At this point we know Russ and Lion are for sure alive.

[Black Knight]

What about Eisenhorn, especially with what happened in the Magos?

Spoilers for the Magos

{He became warp enfused and learned how to use Enuncia, He could basically kill anyone right now by using the words. His current story arc seems like if he failed, the Emperor himself maybe at risk. Also with his previous powers he momentarily stunned and one shot a marine of the Emperor's Children with his power sword.}

[b1soul]

Excluding gods (e.g. Chaos, C'tan), daemons, daemon princes, Necrons, and Eldar...

 

 

From an individual combat prowess perspective (there would be some overlap):

 

1. Loyalist primarchs (e.g. Guilliman with Emperor's Sword)

2. Elite Chaos Lords (e.g. Abaddon with Drach'nyen)

3. Elite Ork Warbosses (e.g. Ghaz overflowing with WAAAGH!)

4. Elite Custodes (e.g. Valoris)

5. Elite Tyranid synapse creature (e.g. Swarmlord)

6. Elite Space Marines (e.g. Dante)

 

From an authourity perspective:

 

1. Guilliman

2. High Lords

3. Abaddon

4. Ghaz

5. Swarmlord enacting will of Tyranid hive-mind in Milky Way

[Emicus]

Powerful as in 1 in 1 action, psychic, fisticuffs and overall wargear and tactics?

 

Or powerful as in what resources they ultimately command, themselves + what they can have done at the snap of a finger.

 

Cause gulliman is pretty much backed by the entire Imperium man... Half the list is 'under him'; literally!