Board Thread:Warhammer 40k General Discussion/@comment-58.179.157.107-20140511083958/@comment-27890440-20160307201518

Didn't want it or claimed not to want it?

Thinking back through HR and FG I'm struggling to find any genuine seeming indication that he had not wanted the job, rather that he was the consumate politician. Throughout those books we see him flatter, seduce, threaten, spin doctor and maneouvre just as much as we see him fight, gaining the utmost from his underlings by more than simple animal dominance. It makes perfect sense for him to have praised his brother's acheivements whilst being humble about his own, to have expressed surprise at his own promotion. It served him best to act that way, although to me at least he seemed pretty pleased with himself.

The primarchs were the ultimate alpha males, submitting only to their father and Horus's promotion left at least sixteen bruised egos with no indication he would have felt differently had another choice been made.

Even the given example of Sanguinius can be read differently, whilst he may not have wanted the job that does not negate a more multi layered interpretation. He may have been a true examplar of selflessness or he may simply have had the grace to accept that he wouldn't have been the best choice, acknowledged his limitations and had the maturity to keep his pride in proportion, showing heartfelt support for his beloved brother because he saw that as the right thing to do. There's a difference between that and outright not wanting the job on any level.

Although they both may at points have expressed their lack of ambition they did so for different reasons, political expediency in the first case, altruistic sacrifice in the second.