User blog:Raffney/Timetravel in 40k OR is the Emperor a Chaos God?

Many had ask that last question over time i know but few have drawn the inevitable conclusions from it.

To understand what i am getting at you need to know how timetravel in the warp in warhammer really works but let's start even further for the moment, let's start at the beginning of the emperor of man.

Like any normal human beeing the emperor started as a child in the earliest of human history. One of the strongest characters traits of him has always been his strong connection to the human race. Over the millennia he gathered immense wisdom while leading and directing humanity from the shadows.

At some point however he foresaw the end of humanity in the relatively near future and concluded that if this would not counteracted immediately and effectivly it would lead to certain extinction.

So he started immediately and took all his gathered wisdom and knowledge from over the millennia into action. In his mind the most effective way to counteract human extinction would lastly require him to step into the open by revealing his presence to all of humanity. In doing so he also saw the chance to not only save humanity from extinction but also to lift humanity up to unknown highs and supremacy over the galaxy. It may even serve the original purpose better in the end.

Vision of the future
The extinction of the human race the emperor foresaw in his vision i belive would not be caused only by Chaos but instead by the many threats the near future held. That would explain why Chaos for him at that point were only one of many threats for the survival of humanity. He of course knew of Chaos and he also knew it posed a threat. That is the reason why he implemented the imperial thruth. The emperor was about to fight any foe that could lead to human extinction. That is why he started the great crusade after all. The orks were one of the many foes that needed to be destroyed and in the long run he could also starve the threat of Chaos from which he knew it lingered in the warp.

But i'm sure he did not knew that Chaos since the fall of the eldar had regrown in such a serious manner and evolved in strategies and tactics from what the emperor knew about them. Much like the emperor himself the Chaos gods took action to ensure their survival and the seed of heresy took root in the imperium.

So after the horus heresy and after the emperor took seat into the golden throne on terra he became something like a chaos god himself. Not quite the same but certainly very similar.

But severell questions remain and now it gets really nerdy. For example there are instances in the heresy books in which it is made clear that the emperors name and his power were something like an anti venom to chaos and demons even long before he became that much similiar to a chaos god. How could his power be summoned that early like that of a Chaos god if he still walks around as a psyker?

Also how is it possible that he seemingly knows the entire timeline at any point but also seemingly did not know it (like the betrayel of horus and other details).

Another point is the fact that the early Chaos Gods did not act on the emperor in particular in the real world if he really possesed the biggest threat to their survival.

Solution
I thought about that quite a while and came to a possible solution for all that problems. I personally find that solution very fitting.

Let's remember how a Chaos god and the warp works. In the warp time does not matter much only in the real world it proceeds in a linear fashion. The Word Bearers for example were able to travel through time via the warp and see the primarchs in the emperors laboratories. They acted and it lead to spread of the primarchs over the galaxy. Same goes for Horus. He saw the future and in fear of it he betrayed the emperor not knowing he is the one causing it.

Conclusion is that the timeline in warhammer in the real world can not really be changed via warp travel. But what does that mean the other way around?

For example what excatly happened when Slaanesh were born? Did he not always existed in the warp? All he stands for and all his powers were put together in the real world at a certain point sure but in the warp it does not really matter that much. He did exist always and never.

So if the emperor at one point in the timeline realy would ascend into something like a Chaos god he always were be right? In a way like any other Chaos god.

<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm">Of course that would not change the real worlds timeline, that is not how the warp works, but it gives us some inside on how and why certains things are they way they are.

<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm">If he really becomes a Chaos god later on (and he certainly is it not now) than his presence could protect his earlier self as well and give him the powers to do the incredible things he did. Maybe it functions in a way like a loopback. The emperor cannot be destroyed by the chaos gods in the past because he already did exist in the warp as a god in the future. That also means that he cannot inform himself of horus treachery because the timeline already exists in which he became a god. With him knowing he would counteract it because, and i believe it is the thruth indeed, he hated religion and it is religion in the end that gave him his godlike powers.

<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm">So in the end he knows and he knows not.

<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm">There we have it. My little theory on the emperor as a Chaos god! Like to hear your thoughts!