Will Dante save the Emperor?

[Captain Antargo]

I am curious as to what other people think of this prophecy or a foresight about a "Golden warrior" who saves the Emperor. This vision has been seen by Sanguinius himself, and he states: "...so too did this golden warrior lay down his life to protect my father..."

 

Here is the extract and source (Devastation of Baal Book): 

 

I fear what I have seen, the primarch wrote. My visions plague me with darkness. So little of comfort can be gleaned from them. The consequences of our victory are dire indeed, as I have described in these writings, and yet there are some things I cannot bring myself to record, visions so dark that they fill my heart with despair.

The dreams of my father are dead, that is certain. Long aeons await of war and suffering that would break the heart of the Emperor to perceive. He never showed any sign that He saw the dark future advancing towards us. Does He know? I cannot credit that He does not. My gift of foresight – if gift it can truly be named – descends from His, and His is more potent than I can conceive. Time and again I have asked myself, did He always know, and did He foresee all that has come to pass? Or was He, like me, taken unawares? The brighter future I once saw has been burned to ashes and a second, rotten potentiality raised in its place. I curse you, Horus, I curse you to the end of days.

I have written too often on these matters. I still cannot divine the answer. I shall instead write down my dream of last night. This brought some comfort to mue when no comfort ought to be expected, and is thus worthy of record.

Dante unrolled the scroll, exposing the next page.

There shall come to pass days of great darkness, when mankind is diminished and all the lights of the world shall be extinguished, and the final scraps of hope torn away. I dreamed I was upon a plain of black sand studded with diamond stars. In the dream there was a great hunger that pervaded all time and space, a more terrible and consuming appetite than the thirst that dogs my sons. It rose from the east of the night, and swallowed the moons of Baal that coursed across the unfamiliar sky. Before Baal Secundus was consumed, a bright light flashed upon it and sped away, outpacing the shadows.

The hunger spread rapidly, bloated by its meal of my home. Fortified by the blood of Baal, the formless hunger took shape, becoming a ravenous dragon that consumed the stars in great mouthfuls, until the only light was the memory of their glory, trapped in the diamonds on the sand. As the last star was eaten, the hellish Octed of the traitors burned through the western sky, writ in fire on the starless void. Then this too went out, and I was alone in the dark.

Shadows swirled and parted. The vision lost its disguise of metaphor, and I looked upon a scene that may be a true echo of the future. I saw my father. Ruined. Broken. I knew it was Him, though His body was little more than a corpse, for I could feel His mind. His power was much reduced in potency, and I could feel no sense of consciousness there, merely raging, ungoverned power that threatened to obliterate my sleeping mind. This living corpse of my father was trapped in machinery that fed His soul essence of others. I do not know if I should commit this to paper, even in my private writings. He cannot ever know of this fate, if He does not already. Or is He aware, and makes this choice between that life in death and the utter destruction of mankind? If so, my respect for my father grows.

As the guns of the Warmaster pound at the walls of the Palace, perhaps this miserable reality is the best that can be hoped for. Perhaps this is what I must die to ensure.

The hunger came for my father. The puppets of the Dark Gods clashed with the hunger for the pleasure of killing Him. There was a warrior in gold before the throne, surrounded by my father’s Custodians and other heroes who, mighty though they were, paled next to the lords of our days. There they fought, and there they died. The vision ended as the devourer of flesh and the devourers of souls closed in on my lord and creator. There was despair only, despair and more despair. But before I woke something more. I sensed stirring in the warp, and the touch of my father, His mind made anew, and the knowledge that all might be well.

As I am fated to, so too did this golden warrior lay down his life to protect my father. The precious seconds he bought with his blood could change everything, or they could change nothing. Maybe the vision is false. I pray the future is mutable, and so it has proved in the past. All but the moment that draws near, the reckoning when I must face my brother. That I cannot avoid.

I do not know who this golden warrior was. He appeared similar to my Herald, and I saw my own face depicted upon his mask, but he was not me, and he wore a form of armour I do not know. It is certain that he was one of my sons, and whether his sacrifice will prove to be in vain or not, I know this: that he was a noble warrior, true and purer than any of his age, and I love him for that, for it means that my works for the Emperor, at least, have not been undertaken in vain, and that my unavoidable death might also prove fruitful.

[Panzer]

Well there are two important things to keep in mind.

 

Firstly, there are beings and events that disturb the flow of time which can often result in prophecies not playing out like they are supposed to. Even if you are the as powerful as the Emperor (there was a great topic about it like a week ago on r/40kLore).

 

Secondly, what the prophecy shows is pretty much the end of the setting as we know it one way or another. Whatever comes afterwards is either basically a soft reboot, or the end (which could be followed up with a hard reboot as we've seen it happen with fantasy and Age of Sigmar). Since 40k is selling MUCH better than fantasy ever did, it's somewhat unlikely we'll ever see them advancing the story to that point.

 

 

As for interpreting the prophecy itself ... I actually hope the golden warrior is an amalgation of Dante and the Sanguinor.

Dante Darkness of the Blood spoiler:

Based on Mephiston being the avatar of the black angel warp entity and the Sanguinor being not just the avatar of the bright angel warp entity but having committed to becoming the bright angel warp entity himself.

Not to mention that Dante seems to have a special connection to the Sanguinor with being the only one the Sanguinor ever actually talked to, and they both sharing the spot of being not-Sanguinius in the chapter, as well as having a special connection to Sanguinius (seeing him in a vision when he was about to die).

Whether he can actually save the Emperor or not? If it actually happens as prophecied I have no doubts he will be able to. No particular in-universe reason. Just because GW wouldn't ever let 40k end. :sweat:

Edited June 1, 2020 by Panzer

[MegaVolt87]

8th ed Dark Imperim is AoS re-boot, primaris are the stormcast etc. The 40k re-launch has come and gone, we are living it now. Its going to be years for a Dark Imperium 2.0 equivilent, death of the Emperor etc. There is years worth of content before Sanguinor/ Dante can try and save the Emperor. At least that future proofs those characters, so there would be no rubicon primaris Sanguinor lol.

[Panzer]

8th ed Dark Imperim is AoS re-boot, primaris are the stormcast etc. The 40k re-launch has come and gone, we are living it now. Its going to be years for a Dark Imperium 2.0 equivilent, death of the Emperor etc. There is years worth of content before Sanguinor/ Dante can try and save the Emperor. At least that future proofs those characters, so there would be no rubicon primaris Sanguinor lol.

 

No, 8th edition is not even close to the AoS reboot. A lot of stuff happened (but at the same time not that much), but saying it's like what happened with AoS is just silly. :sweat:

[Leonaides]

Equally, that prophesy could be allegorical rather than factual. Maybe it refers to dante and the angels leaving baal to head to the Palace and dante ending up leading the final defence of the palace/throneroom etc...