Board Thread:Warhammer 40k General Discussion/@comment-96.237.238.119-20131218020230/@comment-24944355-20170225222211

While the Emperor is bound to the mortal universe he is protected from direct attack by the Chaos gods but is also unable to contend against them directly. This is what has allowed him to build so much power over the last 10,000 years as the Chaos gods would have overwhelmed him easily if the Emperor had died immediately following the Horus Heresy. Now however the Emperor has accumulated a colossal amount of power, enough to battle all four of the Chaos gods with some chance of success, but to be able to do that he needs to die & enter the warp fully as a god. What the Emperor would prefer is to remain in the physical realm for another few thousand years & accumulate enough power that the Chaos gods could not match him. Unfortunately the Chaos god are not going to allow that, they are going to attempt to force the Emperor's hand by threatening the destruction of the Imperium through their mortal puppets. That threat, along withe the fact that the golden throne is failing, will force the Emperor's hand & he will need to enter the warp earlier than he would like. As for why the Emperor would choose godhood, he knows that any effort of his in the physical universe would only be a delaying action & that the Chaos gods would ineviably destroy humanity unless they are defeated, or at least matched, in the warp.