# How come none of the Primarchs had wives/partners?



## NIKT208 (Mar 14, 2011)

I am referring to the time before they were 'discovered' by the Emperor. Power and influence aside you would have thought maybe one of them (if not more) would have had a wife/partner. 

Before you counter this with the 'they are towering giants who overshadow everything in their presence' it has been noted that throughout his long life the Emperor himself had numerous wives/partners, and even sired a large number of children (or has this been retconned too). 

Just a thought.

Nik


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## TheSpore (Oct 15, 2009)

Maybe they just didn't have the time... I mean they were quite busy even before being found by the Big E.

As for the Big E he prolly women thrown at him from every angle what wouldn't take on all those wives .


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## Child-of-the-Emperor (Feb 22, 2009)

I have always been under the impression that the Primarchs were asexual, makes perfect sense considering their purpose was to act as warlords.

And this belongs in fluff by the way, not BL fiction.


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## NIKT208 (Mar 14, 2011)

Child-of-the-Emperor said:


> I have always been under the impression that the Primarchs were asexual, makes perfect sense considering their purpose was to act as warlords.
> 
> And this belongs in fluff by the way, not BL fiction.


I guess the Emperor could have supressed their carnal desires when he created them, but even having a woman to confide in would be obvious (as they say behind every great man is a great woman). 

As for the warlord issue, didn't Genghis Khan have hundreds of children. Spreading their seed would be the most obvious thing to do, allowing a clear line of succession (this is of course independant of the above comment regarding asexuality).


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## gally912 (Jan 31, 2009)

I've also been under the impression that the Primarchs were asexual, and extend that to all space marines.

Isn't the setting grimdark enough without adding women problems?


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## TooNu (May 4, 2011)

I would have thought that because they were engineered by the Emperor, the ability to feel sexual lust, feelings or simply attraction to a female were likely removed from their DNA.
I guess the emperor learned first hand how troublesome women could be in his plans for his Imperium :laugh: 

This is the most likely answer to be honest.


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## NIKT208 (Mar 14, 2011)

TooNu said:


> I would have thought that because they were engineered by the Emperor, the ability to feel sexual lust, feelings or simply attraction to a female were likely removed from their DNA.
> I guess the emperor learned first hand how troublesome women could be in his plans for his Imperium :laugh:
> 
> This is the most likely answer to be honest.


You say that, but in Horus Rising/False Gods Loken starts to feel an unexplanable attraction to Mersadie Oliton. I dont think the Emperor could supress the most primal instinct, not completely anyway. To do that he would obviously have to remove all emotions, thereby creating automatons (i.e pretty much what we have in 40k setting).


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## karlhunt (Mar 24, 2009)

He did that once, hence the custodes and his need to make a better version in the primarchs.

The real question is, does it matter? At best the primarchs genes would have been diluted to SM levels, at worse, they would have been repressed all together. Ultimatly I assume you have a case like the clasic mule. A genetic bastard who, while a great worker, is incapable of reproducing.


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## Cowlicker16 (Dec 7, 2010)

I guess it could be knowing you would outlive everyone else could put a damper on a relationship, they had such ambitions that they could not be distracted enough to worry about it or maybe having the company of an army based on your genetics is enough to keep you satisfied


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## Lord of the Night (Nov 18, 2009)

NIKT208 said:


> Before you counter this with the 'they are towering giants who overshadow everything in their presence' it has been noted that throughout his long life the Emperor himself had numerous wives/partners, and even sired a large number of children (or has this been retconned too).
> 
> Just a thought.
> 
> Nik


That was retconned. The Sensei, the children you refer too, no longer exist in 40k lore.

The Primarchs were developed to be warriors and generals, relationships would have gotten in the way of that and as such any inclination towards such a thing would have been erased during their creation, to ensure that they focused on war and war alone.


Lord of the Night


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## Angel of Blood (Aug 18, 2010)

Never seen that woman get fucked by a horse and die? Think that, only worse.....


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## NIKT208 (Mar 14, 2011)

Angel of Blood said:


> Never seen that woman get fucked by a horse and die? Think that, only worse.....


Heh heh...you say that but IIRC Magnus could change his size!!:biggrin:


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## brianizbrewtal (Jan 26, 2011)

This is starting to get real funny lol.

Ok, so it's bad enough that every loyal legion has to worry about Chaos in their midst, it would be worse if they had to worry about some lass Yoko Ono-ing their legion...right?? hahaha :laugh:


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## LukeValantine (Dec 2, 2008)

I imagine the primarchs were not asexual, but did not have wifes since it would have served little purpose since they are genetically different enough to be considered a different species, and as such would have been unable to reproduce with humans, and since none of the primarchs were female (Odd considering they were not actually space marines and as such were not bound by the reasons why any of them can't be female) none of them would have really felt the need to marry a human.

Or the short answer is GW is afraid of vegina's.


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## Lord of the Night (Nov 18, 2009)

LukeValantine said:


> Odd considering they were not actually space marines and as such were not bound by the reasons why any of them can't be female.


Well that reason is self-explanatory. If the Space Marines can only be males due to genes then obviously the Primarchs had to be males. Its the other way around from what you said.


Lord of the Night


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## ChaosRedCorsairLord (Apr 17, 2009)

NIKT208 said:


> I am referring to the time before they were 'discovered' by the Emperor. Power and influence aside you would have thought maybe one of them (if not more) would have had a wife/partner.


They did, unfortunately they all died of crushed pelvises. Being a genetically engineered super-soldier with the strength of 10 men has it's disadvantages.


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## Diatribe1974 (Jul 15, 2010)

You also assume that their might be children involved, but for all we know, while some of the parts might be there externally, the Emperor might've designed them to be incapable of being able to reproduce. So think about it: If you're even unable to do the deed (let alone, reproduce), why bother? If an Ork talks back to you, you can blow his head off (even if he doesn't talk back) & no one will ever give a crap. Do that to a wife or partner and folks might grumble after the 13th or 14th time you did it.


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## Sacred Feth (Jan 13, 2011)

Primarchs were not created to breed so I would imagine they have no sexual desire.

Even if they did, it would only result in death by snoo snoo.


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## demonictalkin56 (Jan 30, 2011)

the no sexual desire thing is probably accurate; even when in full grip of slaaneshi excess in Fulgrim i think it was only civillians that decided to get it on not the marines


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## ckcrawford (Feb 4, 2009)

I don't the Primarchs were asexual. I think that the Primarchs learned very quickly how unnecessary relationships with human beings in general (besides their own troops) were going to be, and thus devoted their time being more logical in that area. Spending their time and effort on their military and worlds than sexual/intimate relationships.

I imagine they did probably bang a chick or two here and there before they were given bigger tasks, first and foremost, being the Great Crusade.


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## karlhunt (Mar 24, 2009)

The real question is, why hasn't the Emperor ascended and taken his place among the other chaos gods?


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## spanner94ezekiel (Jan 6, 2011)

@ OP - because they're all frigid and have no concept of anything outside of war and politics.
@ karlhunt - because he's too busy being nearly dead on the Golden Throne. That and he's not actually a force of Chaos as he has no power over the base emotions of any particular race (hope etc not included as he's a figurehead of it, not a creator or someone who lives off it)


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## bobss (May 18, 2008)

karlhunt said:


> The real question is, why hasn't the Emperor ascended and taken his place among the other chaos gods?


The Chaos Gods are concious entities formed from emotion. The Emperor may have 'qualified' as a God, in terms of sheer, raw power, devotion, age and perhaps wisdom? But with the Chaos Gods as the benchmark, the Emperor is not a God.


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## TheReverend (Dec 2, 2007)

But there would have been pressure on them to have children, heirs, in some of the societies they were raised in. El'Johnson for example was raised by a knightly order and succession would have been through the eldest son. Surely his 'father' and his comrades would have been looking to him to start his own family line?


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## karlhunt (Mar 24, 2009)

Fine maybe not a god, but he has done more to further the cause of chaos than any other man EVER!


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## ThatOtherGuy (Apr 13, 2010)

You see gentlemen, the primarchs were actually dealing with two crusades: one on the battle field and the other in the bedroom. They were probably banging more bitches and hoes than Gene Simmons and Ron Jeremy combined. Such is the power and stamina of a primarch.


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## normtheunsavoury (Mar 20, 2008)

I really don't believe there is any real reason, things like this are not what 40K books are about, they are about shit getting shot and blown up.
How many books, including Dex's, include any form of romantic story line?
It's hinted at very briefly here and there but it's not the main focus of any of the story lines. 
If you want to believe that Space Marines or their Primarchs had or didn't have those urges then go for it. GW are very unlikely to answer the question any time soon so its up to you. 

Is really just Space Marines and Primarchs that are affected by this asexuality?
Are there sex scenes in any of the Gaunts Ghosts books?


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## karlhunt (Mar 24, 2009)

Does it matter? There are to twpes of people on these forums, geeks and nerds. the only difference is that geeks get laid and nerds dream about their heros getting laid.


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## BlackGuard (Sep 10, 2010)

*Cough*

I direct you to the Astarts implant known as the Betcher's Glands. The saliva of an Astartes is corrosive poison.

I can only assume the saliva of a Astartes Primarch is much stronger.

They probably spit on something early on and watched it boil away and therefore could only imagine what would happen if they tried to make-out with someone?


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## raider1987 (Dec 3, 2010)

I let Leman Russ loved to fuck. But after a few hundred years its not quite the same anymore.


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## Captain Galus (Jan 2, 2008)

When you're created to kick the universe in the balls and otherwise make it a better place for humanity, you don't need a woman...or otherwise, in Fulgrim's case.


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## ckcrawford (Feb 4, 2009)

I also think the Primarchs, being the extremely competetive and egotistical individuals that they are would not want a son to grow up and compete with them with their right to rule. I mean if you look at a lot of them, they had adoptive father's who they kind of had this sort of competetive nature with.


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## karlhunt (Mar 24, 2009)

Where did all these gay adds that cover peoples posts come from? Not cool guys


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## AgentOrange24 (Mar 25, 2010)

Because they were like 12 foot tall mutants?


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## JelloSea (Apr 12, 2011)

Honestly they all probably did, but they out lived their first few wives then decided to not go through that process again after they found out they lived for thousands of years or after the Emperor came.


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## Angel of Blood (Aug 18, 2010)

normtheunsavoury said:


> Are there sex scenes in any of the Gaunts Ghosts books?


Gaunt gets his end away twice i believe.


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## WarWolf88 (Apr 1, 2010)

NIKT208 said:


> I am referring to the time before they were 'discovered' by the Emperor. Power and influence aside you would have thought maybe one of them (if not more) would have had a wife/partner.
> 
> Before you counter this with the 'they are towering giants who overshadow everything in their presence' it has been noted that throughout his long life the Emperor himself had numerous wives/partners, and even sired a large number of children (or has this been retconned too).
> 
> ...


Well, to be fair, all the Primarchs ended up in very different situations and their personalities also play a role; for example good ol' Russ most like had more then one chieftain looking for approval by showing his suitable aged daughter, and Guilliman also must have been similarily courted by the politicians of Macragge, but Argorn ended up as a gladiator slave, and Lorgar was too heavily involved in all sorts of nutty religious bafoonary to be intrested in "fleshly pleasures".

As far as I know the Sensei-fluff (illegit sons and daughters of the Big E you mentioned) is no longer canon, but I don't know if it's compleatly burried. However, this brings up a couple of things:

First, the Sensei are steril. They can't have children of thier own, yet they most likely have the same lifespan as the Emperor. And as the Primarchs are based on Big E's DNA, I would not discount the possibility that the starility has also been passed on to them. I can't however say if they are aware of it...

Second, the Primarchs are compleatly gene-engineered and born in tubes. It is possible that their DNA is not compatable with humans to reproduce (we had a discussion on if the SM can do this, since they were once upon a time normal humans . Thread here), and as I recall all of them knew that they were not "normal", this may have discouraged them even further from courting or taking on any lasting relationships.

And to be honest, they were perhaps a little too concentrated in their own ambitions, like, ruling a whole damn planet, to spare any thought on finding a suitable partner.


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## no pain no gain (Mar 10, 2011)

*Hmm*

I think I've read somewhere that Eidolon has a consort. Some queen of sort...

Might not be canon though...


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## Ashkore08 (Feb 12, 2011)

Dude. The primarchs were like... 7-9 feet tall. Their wives would most likely be 6-7 feet.
He would Rip.Her.Up.


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## gothik (May 29, 2010)

only a couple times have i read that SM's had attractions towards women Ragner and Loken and i think Uriel might have towards the governess once (might have read that wrong) before Ragner was changed into a space wolf, the night of his taking he had got it on with some woman who was then taken as a prisoner so its possible that in thier human years they might have some lineage from way back when (not sure how old Ragner is so any kids he may have fathered might have, fuirther down the line sired future space wolves) they might not nessercarily know about it though. i mean Uriel became a Ultramarine due to his ancestor being a member of second company UM but that was never elaborated on. i suppose its possible they feel what we would attraction and what they might call affection whatever that might mean to a space marine but unless GW come out and say they cannot have children full stop then its down to the gamer to interpret whatever way he or she fits.


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## aboytervigon (Jul 6, 2010)

I know space marines have there sex drive repressed through psycho-therapy.


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## normtheunsavoury (Mar 20, 2008)

aboytervigon said:


> I know space marines have there sex drive repressed through psycho-therapy.


I'm fairly certain that's a fan assumption, I don't think it's actually anything that's come from GW.



> Dude. The primarchs were like... 7-9 feet tall. Their wives would most likely be 6-7 feet.
> He would Rip.Her.Up.


Wow, how incredibly grown up of you to make that observation, well done! [/SARCASM]


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## aboytervigon (Jul 6, 2010)

It was noted by one of the marines in fulgrim that his sex drive had been repressed and seeing a naked woman brought it back.


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## normtheunsavoury (Mar 20, 2008)

aboytervigon said:


> It was noted by one of the marines in fulgrim that his sex drive had been repressed and seeing a naked woman brought it back.


Really?

I don't remember that, not doubting, I just need to get round to reading the book again!


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## TheSpore (Oct 15, 2009)

GW never really mentioned much on this subject because now they have been focusing on a younger audience as well as an older one too so they have to try to appeal to both. So they just suffice with gunz blood and violence. If they added sex to the menu then it would be an even better read


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## gally912 (Jan 31, 2009)

TheSpore said:


> GW never really mentioned much on this subject because now they have been focusing on a younger audience as well as an older one too so they have to try to appeal to both. So they just suffice with gunz blood and violence. If they added sex to the menu then it would be an even better read


Pff. I don't know about you, but there is enough sex and woman drama in my life that I don't need to have it in my 40k. Noooo thanks.


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## raider1987 (Dec 3, 2010)

Ravenor and Eisenhorn both have relationships in them. Well not Ravanor himself but Harlon Nayl gets it on. So does Kara Swole with that doctor guy. Eisenhorn gives that doctor woman a poke as well. Man they were awesome books, with amazing believable characters. In Blood Reaver there is a relationship hinted at but its not on general release so I won't say more. 

Also in the Cain novels its blatantly obvious that he is nobing Amberly Vail. I think that relationships make the books feel more real. Real believable humans have relationships, very few authors can portray that in BL. Plenty of the authors do incredible battles and stories, but lets face it, most people don't read a 40k novel and want a romance.


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## Abomination (Jul 6, 2008)

I'm guessing Russ probably had a bit of fun on Fenris. After all the Space Wolves are the only chapter that still knows how to party and are alot cooler than the stuffy regular SM's. It does say in the Codex that Russ's court was attended by the most beautiful of maidens so I wouldn't be surprised if there was still alot of it about on Fenris..


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## klaswullt (Feb 25, 2012)

NIKT208 said:


> I am referring to the time before they were 'discovered' by the Emperor. Power and influence aside you would have thought maybe one of them (if not more) would have had a wife/partner.
> 
> Before you counter this with the 'they are towering giants who overshadow everything in their presence' it has been noted that throughout his long life the Emperor himself had numerous wives/partners, and even sired a large number of children (or has this been retconned too).
> 
> ...


No. The Emperior was sterile and never had children.
Also, the Emperor was not a giant, but the Primarchs where.
It was never official. 

Space Marines dont't have sex, they are living weapons
as for the Primarchs its a bit of a mystery.

What applies to the Emperor does not neccessary apply to the Primarchs
and what applies to Space Marines does not alawys apply to the Primarch.

It could be that Primarch where not designed as minimalistic as the Space Marines
becouse they where born in tubes instead of mutilated and enhanced with freakish organs.

The Primarch could be asexual killing machines,
they could be sterile becouse of their power.
OR... they could be sexual and fertile.

They are not human, so chances are that is why they are asexual.
Human females are not interesting anymore,becouse there is no biological
basis. Females are attractive only becouse the female have strong genes,
for a primarch no females can contribute with their genes
becouse the Primarchs genes are perfect, and therefore no women are attractive.
From their perspective, all females have bad genes and ergo no female is attractive.

Their offspring would not be space marines in my opinion
though they would inherit lots of power they wouldnt exactly be Space Marines.


In worst case, the children did become new Primarchs (how lame)
but that recruire one male and female Primarch to have a child
there are none.


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