John Blanche Interview - My new favourite thing about 40k

[Doghouse]

 

I came across this interview with John Blanche discussing iconic pieces of his art and when he comes to describing the Emperor artwork he talks about how it's not actually the Emperor. Obviously this is his interpretation but given his obvious status within the history of the game it lends a lot of weight to one of the more fun outlandish aspects of the game I had never really considered. He talks about how his iconic artwork is of a figurehead on the front of the Golden Throne, a physical representation of the Emperor and how the pilgrims spend decades queuing to lay offerings when in reality (if such a thing exists when discussing fictional 40k) he's deep within the throne in bits being kept alive in jars by the machinery of the Adeptus Mechanicus. 

 

While the more modern interpretation is of an actual throne that the Emperor is sat on I just love the matter of fact delivery of when he says well of course it's not the Emperor. There are some interesting insights into the Black Templar and second edition Sisters codex that are interesting as well. so well worth a watch.

 

It's funny how something such as a matter of fact comment can just trigger your inspiration or renew your love of something. Regardless of whether canon comes into play or not in this instance, this dogmatic medieval-esq belief over the harsher more factual and far less mythological technical reality is a wonderful concept that captures the setting perfectly for me.

 

Obviously 40k is written through the lens of the unreliable narrator where the most current lore is the set in stone version but in this instance this is the lens I will choose to forever see the Emperor through.

[ZeroWolf]

Thanks for sharing this, I'll give it a watch later when I have a free moment. The guy (and his art) are legendary. I hope he's enjoying retirement.

[firestorm40k]

I watched this yesterday, a very illuminating and enlightening video. 

 

It is kind of sad to see how his health has taken a turn  I had the pleasure of meeting him in person at an event held at Warhammer World in 2012, we ended up having a nice chat about our mutual appreciation of obscure electronic music  He's truly a nice chap when you speak to him in person 

[Firedrake Cordova]

Thanks - it's now in my "watch later" stack  

 

The discussion about the Golden Throne sounds interesting. I'll admit I'm not up on the current lore, but I'd always assumed the Golden Throne was akin to a stylised dreadnought sarcophagus, much like Gideon Ravenor's "chair" (in fact, I assumed the Golden Throne was the inspiration for that).

[nilsh]

20 hours ago, firestorm40k said:

we ended up having a nice chat about our mutual appreciation of obscure electronic music

 

Now I'm intrigued, what music is that?

 

I haven't watched the video yet but will later, he's been such a huge influence on the art I love.

[firestorm40k]

49 minutes ago, nilsh said:

 

Now I'm intrigued, what music is that?

People like Jeff Mills, Autechre; I said I like the Industrial influenced work of Surgeon and Regis... He was telling me about listening to a lot of dub techno - he recommended an album called Liumin by Deepchord presents Echospacer, I ended up listening to it on repeat for the next few months  He got that recommendation spot on 

[nilsh]

That's awesome, thank you!

[Ceb87]

His description of the emperor in bits in jar is really Akira-esque