Epigraph quotes in Black Library books

[The Scorpion]

One of my favorite things over the years whenever I open a Black Library book is to read the quote from the beginning.
Sometimes they reference real history, sometimes they are purely fictional, but every time they feel immersive.
They serve in a way, to set the tone of the story, and can sometimes be quite meaningful. I think a well-chosen quote can truly add a quality flourish to any novel.

I wanted to share my love for these epigraphs by sharing my top 3 of all time.

Coming in 3rd place we have the opening that Chris Wraight chooses for Scars:

Quote

‘Matter is a slave in whatever realm of being it occupies. In the world of the senses it is constrained by the silent laws of space, time, logic and number. In the other world it is shackled to other immutable rigours – dreams, hopes, vicious desires. These things are the tenets of physics in that place. As our nightmares are but shadows in this world, banished by the hard-edged dawn of reason, order is but a shadow in that one.

‘Which is the more real? Which endures, and which is doomed to destruction? You may say neither, for they are reflections of one another. This is false. You must choose. We learned this during seven years of blood and compelled maturity.

You must choose.

‘Daemons and mortals alike may have dignity. Only the vacillator, the equivocator, the cautious – only he has no place in the heavens.’

—Reflections, Targutai Yesugei

All of the quote is good, it announces from the get-go the wisdom of the Scars, showcasing their unusually acute understanding of the Warp. But what really caught my attention was the final line.
What does that mean? Where is that coming from? I must've spent a good fistful of minutes trying to decipher the meaning when I first read it.
You really cannot begin to make sense of it until you finish the novel, and in particular the story of Torghun Khan. Does it clear all your doubts? No, but you begin to see where the Stormseer is going with this, and in my opinion, that is what makes it a great quote.


At number two we have of course the GOAT Fehervari with one of the most obscure but also deepest quotes not just of the Dark Coil and 40k, but also fiction in general, at the start of Requiem Infernal:

Quote

‘We are all shadows grasping for substance in the long nightmare of the 
soul.’

— Icharos Malvoisin 
Chaplain Castigant, Angels Penitent

William Faulkner once said that the only thing worth writing about is the human heart in conflict against itself, and this is a quote that goes along those lines. Curiously enough, I remembered this epigraph after reading Diocletian's emotional journey in The Carrion Lord of the Imperium by ADB. I think this quote would have been perfect there, but it could have also would have ruined the story by making its meaning too on-the-nose.

In any case, this quote is amazing. The fact that it comes to us from one of the darkest figures in the Dark Coil adds to its aura. It shows that the man in question is many things, but not a fool.

It would be hard to top this, but these are Black Library epigraphs. There has to be something that is even more fitting for the setting, and lo and behold there is.

At number one, we have this absolute gem by John French in one of his short stories for the Horusian Wars anthology Divination:

Quote

‘There is nothing worse than realising that one’s father is mortal, and 
flawed, and always was.’ 

— from the Life of Sebastian Thor, 
proscribed as a Heretical text circa M37

Your father wasn't perfect.
It doesn't matter if he was a great hero, a Primarch, or the Master of Mankind himself.
At the end of the day he too was human and made mistakes. You just didn't want to see it.

That's it. There is no bigger truth nuke in Warhammer 40 000 than this.

This epigraph is perfect. The quote, the fact that he gave it to Thor, the implication that it is an outlawed text, the story it is attached to (The Father of Faith, which btw is the best of the Anthology). Everything comes together perfectly with this one.

This is the best epigraph in Black Library of all time.

 

Edited yesterday at 02:52 AM by The Scorpion
Corrected typos

[wecanhaveallthree]

Epigraphs are for COWARDS. They are the ultimate sin of 'tell' over 'show'. 

 

They're one of my biggest complaints about Ashes of the Imperium. They tell a far more interesting story in far fewer words than much of the book itself, and deliver extensive 'corrections' in what are, essentially, footnotes. Please don't hint about a more interesting story in your current, boring story, or I will scream about Arik Taranis for decades (oh my god, it's been decades).

 

Fehervari, however, is no coward, and he uses epigraphs appropriately and responsibly to enhance his story rather than either deliver ham-fisted exposition (lmao @ ADB's 'UM BTW DADS MAYBE AREN'T SO GREAT???') or tell a more interesting story (I'd love to have seen some of those cool trials Ashes quotes at length! They might even be almost as good as Trial of the Mantis Warriors!). When Fehervari delivers an epigraph, it adds layers or nuance, because Fehervari also writes whole journal chapters and, freakin', whatever the hell The Reverie is. Fehervari gets away with it because it's entwined with his craft and feels like something, at worst, from an RPG sourcebook's text slug (which are always cool). Abnett also gets away with it, but only on sufferance.

 

And McNeill, because he uses them to write out whole hymnals.

[SvenIronhand]

6 hours ago, wecanhaveallthree said:

Epigraphs are for COWARDS. They are the ultimate sin of 'tell' over 'show'. 

 

As someone who went to college for writing and has a BA in it, there are exceptions to that rule.

[wecanhaveallthree]

There are exceptions to every rule. 'Show don't tell' is great advice for a budding young author to ensure they're putting their cool worldbuilding into the story rather than being the story. But I found the epigraphs in Ashes to be a particularly egregious issue because they're pure 'worldbuilding' rather than part of the narrative, and since they open every single chapter, they're absolutely everywhere. Abnett's Fragments became this in the bloated EATD books, for example. 

 

It's as if you open every scene in the Scottish play with an extensive monologue from one of the witches, discussing the sociopolitical fallout and inevitable desertification leading from the relocation of Birnam Wood. 

[The Scorpion]

But we aren't talking bad epigraphs. We are talking the good ones, so drop your picks fellas.

[wecanhaveallthree]

Crossfire counting down the days to Sanguinala and detailing the religious requirements is great: rising tension, good insight into the Imperial Cult, a reminder that the 'cop story' happens within the insanity of the bloodiest and most oppressive regime imaginable.

 

My favourite:

 

Quote

 

All citizens must be in the streets an hour after dawn, although ideally the practice of walking the street with the priestly processions throughout the night is to be encouraged. On the hour mark the clergy in the streets will give the order and each citizen should put the confession they previously sealed onto their home to the torch. Priests, deacons and the heads of households or masters of barracks will lead the prayer once the confessions are alight. Members of the Emperor's flock must remember that their souls should be unburdened of sin as their confessions are burned away, and the small blades blessed the previous day should already be bundled on the end of the scourge lanyard ready for the prayer to end. The scourging should bring on collapse by the time the confessions are burned away, and those too physically or morally weak to achieve such a state in time may plead assistance from members of the clergy who will be patrolling for this purpose.

 

Citizens should attempt to return to their homes as soon as they are able; all doors and shutters should already be closed. During the night no lights should be lit at all. Now the cleansed soul may mourn for the weakness and fall of Hydraphur all those years ago, and for the good souls who perished beneath the rule of the Apostate and the unbeliever.

 

 

Awesome. 

[DukeLeto69]

24 minutes ago, wecanhaveallthree said:

Crossfire counting down the days to Sanguinala and detailing the religious requirements is great: rising tension, good insight into the Imperial Cult, a reminder that the 'cop story' happens within the insanity of the bloodiest and most oppressive regime imaginable.

 

My favourite:

 

 

Awesome. 

Farrer = excellent writer

[byrd9999]

On 3/28/2026 at 11:26 AM, wecanhaveallthree said:

Epigraphs are for COWARDS. They are the ultimate sin of 'tell' over 'show'. 

 

They're one of my biggest complaints about Ashes of the Imperium. They tell a far more interesting story in far fewer words than much of the book itself, and deliver extensive 'corrections' in what are, essentially, footnotes. Please don't hint about a more interesting story in your current, boring story, or I will scream about Arik Taranis for decades (oh my god, it's been decades).

 

Fehervari, however, is no coward, and he uses epigraphs appropriately and responsibly to enhance his story rather than either deliver ham-fisted exposition (lmao @ ADB's 'UM BTW DADS MAYBE AREN'T SO GREAT???') or tell a more interesting story (I'd love to have seen some of those cool trials Ashes quotes at length! They might even be almost as good as Trial of the Mantis Warriors!). When Fehervari delivers an epigraph, it adds layers or nuance, because Fehervari also writes whole journal chapters and, freakin', whatever the hell The Reverie is. Fehervari gets away with it because it's entwined with his craft and feels like something, at worst, from an RPG sourcebook's text slug (which are always cool). Abnett also gets away with it, but only on sufferance.

 

And McNeill, because he uses them to write out whole hymnals.

 

I was agreeing with you until you blotted your copy book by praising McNeill for his epigraphs.

 

He is the worst sinner of Tell Don't Show by basically parsing his novel out in terms of a series of obvious quotes.