# The true face of the Emperor - Deliverance Lost



## Brother Lucian (Apr 22, 2011)

Potential spoiler.



Did anyone else notice what happened on page 244, where Corax witnesses the majesty of the Emperor on his arrival, but also looking past the glamour to see a quite mundane and unimposing man behind it. Giving much further crecedende to the idea that the Emperor form was a psychic construct that he kept himself wrapped in.

Corax also recalls seeing the face from his earliest memmories from the tanks and later asks his father if its his true face, but the Emperor evades and says he have had worn many faces in his life.


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## Khorne's Fist (Jul 18, 2008)

No spoilers warning in your thread title or spoiler tags in your post can ruin it for people. Remember, most people haven't got this book yet as it's not due out till next month. I can't download the advanced order ebook until the 15th.


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## Brother Lucian (Apr 22, 2011)

Khorne's Fist said:


> No spoilers warning in your thread title or spoiler tags in your post can ruin it for people. Remember, most people haven't got this book yet as it's not due out till next month. I can't download the advanced order ebook until the 15th.


Fixed it, thank you. Didnt think it was that much a spoiler as its not plot related.


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## Barnster (Feb 11, 2010)

We have had desctriptions of the emperor as a plain normal man many times before I don't see how this is anything new. The custodians and marines would tower over him


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## MuSigma (Jul 8, 2010)

Barnster said:


> We have had desctriptions of the emperor as a plain normal man many times before I don't see how this is anything new. The custodians and marines would tower over him


I never heard that before - I always assumed he bigger than a primarch.


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## Kickback (May 9, 2008)

But then in Last Church he comes across as a normal bloke, but the chair he sits on creaks like he's huge.
I know it could just be armour, but he'd have to be bigger than usual to wear said armour.


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## MEQinc (Dec 12, 2010)

Barnster said:


> We have had desctriptions of the emperor as a plain normal man many times before I don't see how this is anything new.


Which sources are you refering to? To my knowledge this is the first time the Emperor has been described as 'mundane and unimposing'. 

Now, the idea that the Emperor is not as he commonly appears has been quite thoroughly established, with Grammaticus in _Legion_ and the _Last Church_ story, but both have hinted at the Emperor being more than he appeared, not less. Indeed Corax's description would almost completely contract Grammaticus' (Grammaticus describes him as bloodthirsty, violent and inhuman). This, combined with the Emperor's evasiveness leads me to believe that the 'man behind the man' (the more normal looking face) is an illusion created to manipulate and control Corax, much like in the Last Church, rather than Corax truely seeing the Emperor.


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## connor (Jan 31, 2011)

during the final battle with Horus, he whent toe to toe Horus. Would he need to be big imposing and tough to take him on?


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## randian (Feb 26, 2009)

connor said:


> during the final battle with Horus, he whent toe to toe Horus. Would he need to be big imposing and tough to take him on?


No. Awesome psychic power can make up for any physical disparity.


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## thebinman (Jun 18, 2010)

Anyone remember the picture in Rouge Trader, flanked by Custodes, wielding a large staff and covered with a hood? Thats anyways how I imagine him (although that could have been the Sigilate, I suppose)


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## daxxglax (Apr 24, 2010)

Kickback said:


> But then in Last Church he comes across as a normal bloke, but the chair he sits on creaks like he's huge.
> I know it could just be armour, but he'd have to be bigger than usual to wear said armour.


The Emperor can use his powers to disguise himself, as he did when he met many of the primarchs (Mortarion, Vulkan, Russ, etc.). My guess would be that he concealed his true form, but couldn't exactly reproportion his mass. Also, shapeshifters/disguise-masters have a history of having "normal" faces. Take Stephen King's character Randall Flagg/Walter o'Dim/Marten Broadcloak for instance.

I think the Emperor having a plain face makes sense. I mean, even a normal mortal is immediately struck by the psychic power he radiates. Any visage is going to look comparatively plain to an aura like that.


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## GoRy (Apr 1, 2008)

Always figured it was a psychic construct myself.

Always figured he's probably like a youthful John Lithgow under all the lights and confusion


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## Rems (Jun 20, 2011)

He's a unparalleled psychic being, i imagine everyone see's him as he wants to be seen at the time. 

In _The First Heretic_ the Word Bearers are blinded and overawed by his very presence. In the _ The Last Church_ he appears as a normal man. He appears like that to Russ aswell. He adopts another persona when meeting Mortarion. 

I very much doubt the typical image; that of a huge man in golden armour is how he truly looked. That was likely, as every time someone has viewed him, a glamour or such. Perhaps the emperor is some small, wizened figure; his level of psychic power would make any physical considerations pointless. Or he could have used his powers to turn himself into some kind of uber primarch; biomancy would be something i'm sure he had a grasp on.


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## Brother Lucian (Apr 22, 2011)

In one of the older depictions of the battle between the Emperor and Horus. As the Emperor collapses after dealing the deathblow to Horus, his psychic power flees him as the full weight of age comes down on him, and we see a hideous wizzened corpse. But who is not to say that it was true appearance?

Which may be closer to the truth as some have glimpsed his core to be utterly inhuman. In the first edition of wh40k, which did not have the Horus heresy yet, the Emperor was described as having ended up on the throne because his body could no longer sustain him, having worn it out, but still keeping 'living' in a sort.

So in truth the Emperor may be in truth be more akin to a Lich, cloaking himself in endless layers of glamours to give an illusion of life and humanity, but forever estranged from it because of his inhuman nature and absolutely singular focus on the survival of the human race. So the current imperium worshipping his divine corpse, and the mentions of the corpse emperor might be quite on the nail.


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## sponsra (Aug 11, 2011)

thebinman said:


> Anyone remember the picture in Rouge Trader, flanked by Custodes, wielding a large staff and covered with a hood? Thats anyways how I imagine him (although that could have been the Sigilate, I suppose)


Hmm, cant seem to remeber that one, and I don´t have my old books here. Think you could find a link?


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## Giant Fossil Penguin (Apr 11, 2009)

We know that the 'Golden Emperor' is a form that makes normal Humans fall to their knees and lose control of their thoughts, the sight and psychic 'wash' basically switching them off. 
So, my thought is that when the Emperor was starting up the Primarch Project, he would have had to spend time with the Scientists who were working with him. However, if his mere presence is going to incapacitate them, then he won't be able to give them the full benefit of his insight and expertise, nor take advantage of their knowledge. So maybe this 'mundane face' is a sort of reverse glamour, a mask of normality worn by the Emperor so that he could work alongside his science team. This being the case, it would make sense that this is a face that the infant Primarchs would connect with their Father, and would also make it immediately true the Emperor's response that he has 'worn many faces'.
As good a theory as any!

GFP


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## MontytheMighty (Jul 21, 2009)

glamour or not, I like this form


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## Harriticus (Nov 10, 2010)

The Emperor was born a normal man in a normal family, not a surprise he'd look mundane.


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## Serpion5 (Mar 19, 2010)

Harriticus said:


> The Emperor was born a normal man in a normal family, not a surprise he'd look mundane.


Where is the source for this? 

Most recent canon says origins are simply unknown.


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## MEQinc (Dec 12, 2010)

MontytheMighty said:


> glamour or not, I like this form


Dear god, how creepy and dead do his eyes look?


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