Board Thread:Warhammer 40k General Discussion/@comment-24383134-20140105071847/@comment-3258762-20140111115620

The thing people don't seem to remember is that the Emperor is fully capable of dying and regenerating, but he doesn't. Because as of right now, in his decayed state, he is much more powerful where he needs to be, in the warp. Imagine it like trying to multitask. Sure, you can write something and read something at the same time, but if you put down the book, you can write so much faster and better. The Emperor needs to be the way he is to prevent total mayhem. If he blanks for just a second, the torn webway will open and daemons will come pouring through, the Astronomican will blink out, just for a short time, but who knows what happens if it goes out just a second?

Further, as it is shown in Vulkan Lives, it doesn't go quickly to regenerate. Every time Vulkan died, it took him several hours to regenerate, even if it was such a small thing as getting a fork through his hearts. Imagine if that were to happen in 999 M41, when the Emperor is battling the gods of Chaos every second of his existance, and he just dies for 1-2 hours. Disaster waiting to happen.

Hence why the Emperor is rightly seen as the ultimate martyr. He didn't die for humanity, he lives on for humanity, in constant suffering and a, quite frankly, hellish state of existance, so that humanity may soldier on.