40K mysteries

[Kaede45]

I’ve been thinking lately about certain mysteries in the 40K universe & how some have been answered & some haven’t. My thoughts behind this topic are: what mysteries do you want solved & what mysteries do you think shouldn’t be solved?

 

One mystery I’ve been pondering a lot is the T’au Ethereal caste. I don’t think there ever was an explanation given as to why the other castes are completely obedient to them. There is the theory that the Ethereals have some sort of pheromones that they exert, but I don’t think that any concrete explanation of whether or not this is true was ever given.

 

As for a mystery whose solution I despise… the Terminus Decree. I don’t think I need to explain this one, but I will. The Terminus Decree was a cool mystery that everyone assumed would spell the end of 40K. One of the better theories was that it was a virus that targeted exclusively the Astartes. But then GW revealed that it was a stupid suicide mission for the Grey Knights that made no sense! Honestly, the Terminus Decree, in my opinion, should’ve been left a mystery.

 

Anyway, these are just my thoughts. What are y’all’s thoughts on the subject? As always, thank you very much for your time & of course, God bless!

[SvenIronhand]

4 minutes ago, Kaede45 said:

As for a mystery whose solution I despise… the Terminus Decree. I don’t think I need to explain this one, but I will. The Terminus Decree was a cool mystery that everyone assumed would spell the end of 40K. One of the better theories was that it was a virus that targeted exclusively the Astartes. But then GW revealed that it was a stupid suicide mission for the Grey Knights that made no sense! Honestly, the Terminus Decree, in my opinion, should’ve been left a mystery.

 

Only if you don't read HH and get why the Emperor becoming a proper god is a bad thing.

As for the Ethereals, I hate the Phil Kelly retcons of them having literal mind control. It robs the Tau of agency.  

[Brother Anderson]

For the ethereals my bit of baseless speculation is that they could have brighter souls than the rest of the Tau, so they are drawn to follow their orders in a reverse of the revulsion people feel towards blanks.

 

In terms of other mysteries, I know the "deep warp" is more or less entirely a YouTuber creation, but I like the idea enough that I'd like some tidbits thrown in somewhere to fuel some speculation.

[grailkeeper]

More mysteries is more better. 

The Heresy series cleared up a lot of old mysteries, and often the stories we got weren't as good as the mystery giving rise to them. 

[Tawnis]

For the T'au Ethereals, the original pheromone theory was an in universe theory that an Inquisitor had about them with fairly little supporting evidence, it just kinda made sense to them. So that one's VERY unlikely.  

The books certainly lean more towards the mind control angle, but it's not super consistent and effects such a broad scale, but it does certainly look like it on the surface. There is the case where Aun'Va ordered a T'au he is displeased with to end themselves. You see the T'au in question go from confused, to trying to resist, to doing it. However, it's unclear exactly HOW it happens, just that it does and it's more-less irresistible. This is the most direct example. 

There is another where an Ethereal steps through a panicked riot of T'au fleeing for their lives and they very quickly stop, calm, and let the Ethereal pass. This implies a much more broad passive effect to the expression of the Ethereal' s will. 

Another is how Commander Farsight started thinking for himself a lot more once his three Ethereals were killed in battle, implying that it's a kind of constant passive effect, similar to the above example, and that it increases with proximity and consistency and keeps them in line. 

There is another interesting theory, since the Ethereals just showed up out of nowhere one day to save the T'au from themselves, there is speculation that they could be from an alternate future. The idea is that the T'au nearly wiped themselves out with civil war and were much fewer when the other races came knocking on their door, (or any other catastrophe even if they did survive a lot longer as a race since it's all hypothetical). They used their advanced science to generically modify themselves to be able to compel other T'au and sent themselves back in time to save their people from civil war and start the empire we know now. It's certainly not an explanation without it's excessive stretches, but interesting to think about. 

As for the mysteries that shouldn't be solved. I would say The Lost Primarchs, but with a big asterix.  I think that GW should (and I actually think it's very likely that they already have) decide on the fate of the lost two and work any lore from those times around what they know happened. However, they should never actually tell anyone this because it is so much fun to speculate on who they were and what they did from the little crumbs we are fed every so often. 

[Karhedron]

The fate of Omegon (who is really Alpharius) is another mystery that is still open. Even in the original lore, the tale of Guilliman killing Alpharius at Eskrador during the Scouring was presented as being dubious and possibly AL propaganda. The fate of several of the Loyalist Primarchs is also suspiciously vague.

[Tawnis]

54 minutes ago, Karhedron said:

The fate of Omegon (who is really Alpharius) is another mystery that is still open. Even in the original lore, the tale of Guilliman killing Alpharius at Eskrador during the Scouring was presented as being dubious and possibly AL propaganda. The fate of several of the Loyalist Primarchs is also suspiciously vague.

I agree... and totally not because it would mess with my custom chapter's origin story. 

[Frogian]

18 hours ago, grailkeeper said:

More mysteries is more better. 

The Heresy series cleared up a lot of old mysteries, and often the stories we got weren't as good as the mystery giving rise to them. 

Yeah, it's obviously been massively successful and hard to argue that GW wasn't right to explore it in full, but I miss when the primarchs were just legendry characters from 10k years ago with just the odd mention and shrouded in mystery. 

[GSCUprising]

For the love of the Four-Armed Emperor,  please don't do a Ridley Scott like he did with Prometheus and try to explain the origins of the Tyranids. Faceless horror is exactly how they should remain. 

Edited Friday at 01:47 PM by GSCUprising
I hate typing on this phone.

[Tawnis]

23 minutes ago, GSCUprising said:

For the love of the Four-Armed Emperor,  please don't do a Ridley Scott like he did with Prometheus and try to explain the origins of the Tyranids. Faceless horror is exactly how they should remain. 

I think it would be neat if they somehow were able to mcguffin a way to a galaxy that the Tyranids had already eaten, or mostly eaten, perhaps as a way to add a new and unique race to the game that just does not make sense to have "been here all along" but only with the caveat that the Tyranids just showed up there at some point as well and we don't actually learn anything about their origins. 

I mean that is its own can or worms I suppose, but what I mean is, I'd like to see expansion on them and what they've done, but like you said, not actual origin story. 

[phoenix01]

For me, it's the identities of Primarchs II and XI. Revealing that they are =I= REDACTED =I= and =I= REDACTED =I= was somewhat of a let down. 

[MoriyaSchism]

22 hours ago, Karhedron said:

The fate of Omegon (who is really Alpharius) is another mystery that is still open. Even in the original lore, the tale of Guilliman killing Alpharius at Eskrador during the Scouring was presented as being dubious and possibly AL propaganda. The fate of several of the Loyalist Primarchs is also suspiciously vague.

The real story is that Alpharius replaced Guilliman at Eskrador and ultimately it was Alpharius who got wounded by Fulgrim. That's why the newly revised Codex Astartes is so terrible. 

Jokes aside, I think the worst two things so far have been the Terminus Decree reveal and every single thing they've done to the Exorcists lately. The Exorcists got the worst Index Astartes article ever written, I unsubscribed from White Dwarf after that. I don't think they should be revealing or solving any of the long standing mysteries. They just don't have the writing talent to write anything compelling or interesting. 

 

 

[GSCUprising]

2 hours ago, MoriyaSchism said:

The real story is that Alpharius replaced Guilliman at Eskrador and ultimately it was Alpharius who got wounded by Fulgrim. That's why the newly revised Codex Astartes is so terrible. 

Jokes aside, I think the worst two things so far have been the Terminus Decree reveal and every single thing they've done to the Exorcists lately. The Exorcists got the worst Index Astartes article ever written, I unsubscribed from White Dwarf after that. I don't think they should be revealing or solving any of the long standing mysteries. They just don't have the writing talent to write anything compelling or interesting. 

 

 

Alpharius truly is the Gary Oldman of the Primarch lore.

 

Heck, I am not even sure I am not Gary Oldman right now.

[NovemberIX]

I had rather liked the story hook mystery of the Inquisitorial Ordo Chronos and their disappearance until 9th came back and retconned them as glorified time keepers. 

[Timberley]

Whilst the HH series has been massively successful, I enjoyed it being a nebulous time of legend and ancient history, where propaganda is mixed with truth, and demi-Gods strode the Imperium. It all seems a bit duller because of the explanation. 

 

I hope they never explain the T'au Ethereals, the Dragon, or the lost Primarchs. Some mysteries are great because they allow us to debate their possibilities and be both right and wrong at the same time.

 

Having said that, I'd love them to explain some of the more potentially boring things, like how much space the Imperium actively controls, how does Eldar tech actually work given the nature of Wraithbone and lasers, and if the Black Library uses the Dewey Decimal system and has lending cards. 

[Antarius]

I realised some time ago that I prefer most of the mysteries/hints in the (older) timelines pointing towards M42 to actually remain mysteries. I don't think a lot of those can be explained in a satisfying way (Cypher would probably be one of my main examples; all this time getting closer and closer to Terra and then, when he gets there "ooh, nothing happened, but mysteriously!"), so I'd rather just pause my personal timeline and ignore those things.

Generally speaking, I don't want all the ambiguous stuff to be decisively explained. It's fine for someone in-setting to have a theory or belief, but if we get "word of god" type explanations, it usually cheapens the setting.
Another thing is the "local mystery" vs "setting-wide mystery"; it's fine to get the lowdown on Hive Secundus, but I wouldn't want it "revealed" that actually the Tyranids are from planet XYZ and came about because person X fed his pet ants some Y brand cereal.

 

More specifically, I hope they don't get too specific with the workings of the warp and the realm of Chaos. For one thing, it's not possible to come up with an explanation that isn't obviously silly as it's all made up stuff that couldn't ever work, so keeping it vague is the way to go. For another, it's a central mystery that would suck out the "magic" of the setting if it was explained in some prosaic way.

[gideon stargreave]

Luckily for me, everything is a mystery since I started using white spirits to thin my paints 

[GSCUprising]

52 minutes ago, Antarius said:

Another thing is the "local mystery" vs "setting-wide mystery"; it's fine to get the lowdown on Hive Secundus, but I wouldn't want it "revealed" that actually the Tyranids are from planet XYZ and came about because person X fed his pet ants some Y brand cereal.

Erk! Busted! Back on the ship, lads. They've figured it out.

 

But, yes, I am in agreement with you. The tyranids should not be explained. Half the setting shouldn't have been, to be honest. That air of mystery is what keeps people like me coming back. So, Necrons, for example, not an army I collect, but they have a real air of mystery about them. We know their approximate age, their relationship with the C'Tan and the Eldar, but it doesn't require any more than that.

 

That vagueness allows for some interesting stories in the present day and for oddballs like Trayzyn (WH40K's troll of trolls) to turn up. Fun!

Edited yesterday at 07:03 AM by GSCUprising

[MARK0SIAN]

I totally agree that the Terminus Decree was a massive let down. It was such a cool little mystery and should always have remained so. I honestly think most stuff is better left as mystery, both because mysteries are cool in themselves but also because the reveal is nearly always a let down.
 

That said, the biggest mystery I’d like explained is what’s going on with Valdor and the King in Yellow storyline. I don’t think it qualifies as a classic 40k mystery though as it’s (relatively) new and is clearly intended to be revealed at some point. 
 

However, at the rate things are going I’ll have to put a clause in my will that my descendants must break out the Ouija board to let me know what happened when it is eventually released.

[The Praetorian of Inwit]

I don't trust GW to resolve any mysteries in a satisfactory way. Best to leave them be now. 

[calgar101]

4 hours ago, The Praetorian of Inwit said:

I don't trust GW to resolve any mysteries in a satisfactory way. Best to leave them be now. 

Definitely what should be happening. 

[Vogon]

One thing I'd like to know is what happened to all the perpetuals from theHH books. I think a couple were resolved but there were quite a few of them.

 

Cheers

 

Vogon 

[calgar101]

24 minutes ago, Vogon said:

One thing I'd like to know is what happened to all the perpetuals from theHH books. I think a couple were resolved but there were quite a few of them.

 

Cheers

 

Vogon 

Pretty sure 99% don't make it.

[Kommisar_K]

Full agreement on the Terminus Decree. The Grey Knights, the psyker Space Marines, will go through the Adeptus Custodes and Sisters of Silence, actual blanks, and accomplish some stupid suicide mission... Yeah well that became irrelevant fast. 

 

Anyway, I'm kinda curious about the true origin of the Orks. Only stuff I've heard is that they were probably creations of the Old Ones, but "Orks iz Orks" they say. Never found out if that theory has officially been confirmed or is just fanfiction. Anyway, seems like a tale that could be quite interesting. Even more so if we just got a few tidbits. 

[Cpt_Reaper]

I'm that guy that just has to be different. If there is a mystery, the answer must eventually be known. Even if the answer isn't satisfying.

 

Now, I don't think everything is a mystery. Take the two missing Primarchs. The questions of who were they and what did they do have an answer. Something that got them both removed from all records. That's the answer. No more mystery.

 

The Terminus Decree was a mystery. What's in the box? Now we know...the Grey Knights have a job to do. Mystery answered. Another is the fate of Alpharius. Alpharius is dead. For realsies, no take-backs. Omegon may or may not be dead, and that will need a definitive answer one day.

 

In short if GW knows the answer to a question or scenario they posed us they must answer it at some point.