# If the Emperor knew of Chaos, why didnt he warn the primarches?



## The Final Frontier (Oct 15, 2011)

am sure this has been asked before but it just came across my brain the other day while reading some fluff.

I could get why he didn't want to speak about the webway and the golden throne but why wouldn't he tell them about Chaos? surely the Emperor knew about chaos and that his sons aren't perfect as him lol

Hell if horus wasn't corrupted, the Imperium be a shiny place now lol


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## Tyriks (Dec 9, 2015)

I don't think humanity would really be that much better. Even before Horus went to Chaos, the Emperor had withdrawn largely from running the Imperium. He also was not that great of a dude; he forced his religion on everyone, he hated non-humans and genetically divergent humans. He was very much aware of the existence of Chaos and freely chose to lie to everyone about it, enabling the Horus Heresy. Not really any better than the alternative.


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## Euphrati (May 24, 2009)

How do you truly slay a God? 

You forget it ever existed.



Chaos isn't like your normal enemy where the more than know the greater your defense. 

Even knowledge of its existence is so dangerous it can drive normal humans mad. The Chaos Pantheon feeds off belief, the more that believe in it the stronger it becomes. And we are not talking about only worship and devout following belief, we are talking about the sheer knowledge that it is _*Real *_belief. In that knowledge comes the cracks in the armour of ignorance, the whispers in the dark that feed on the fear that the faces in the mirror are real...

So, the more people that know it is there the more dangerous it becomes to humanity (especially with human curiosity).

If you were a being (close to godhood yourself) that knew the best defense that humanity had against Chaos was ignorance until you were ready to either challenge the Chaos gods or seal them away from your own followers- would you take the risk to tell _Anyone _of their existence that you didn't absolutely have to?

The Imperial Truth was that there were no Gods. 

Remember, the Emperor was very carefully destroying all religions the Crusades encountered. And the Emperor never accepted worship as a god either, a fact that saw him punish Lorgar and his legion for worshiping him (an action that eventually drove the dejected primarch to seek something to worship, where Chaos gladly stepped in). It was only in the very end of the Crusades and the start of the Heresy that the Cult of the Emperor took root. By that time in 30k there was little the Emperor could do to stop it, and he doesn't get much choice in the matter in the current 40k setting does he?


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## ntaw (Jul 20, 2012)

Euphrati said:


> How do you truly slay a God?
> 
> You forget it ever existed.


:goodpost:


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## Tyriks (Dec 9, 2015)

Euphrati said:


> How do you truly slay a God?
> 
> You forget it ever existed.
> 
> ...


This isn't really accurate. The Chaos gods don't feed off belief, but off their corresponding emotions and actions. So knowing they're there doesn't change anything, except that it gives you good reason not to behave certain ways. For example, even before Slaanesh was born, the Eldar fed him with their excessive lifestyles. He didn't exist yet, so no one could believe in him, and yet their actions still empowered him.


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## wide_ocean (Dec 14, 2011)

I think the refusal of anything supernatural is the key to this question. Reason and technology were gods and revealing the existence of Chaos, before even considering the risks, would have destroyed the very principle upon which Imperial Truth was built.


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## Brobaddon (Jul 14, 2012)

Let's be honest here, he didn't do it so we have a story and the whole horus heresy  

But yeah I agree with all mentioned above. I bet Emperor would be pretty disgusted nowadays if he knew about Ecclessiarchy and what not. I could imagine he would disband them on a moment's notice. Which would lead to a war btw the " faithful " and not faithful.


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