Why is the Emperor so huge in this Blanche pic?

[Sandlemad]

Yeah, I think digging into this as though it necessarily represents something in the 40k universe rather than being a non-literal work meant to convey atmosphere and feel is maybe not a mistake - it would be a cool statue - but rather missing the point.

 

 

 

I like the explanation most that it is peace of art within the 40k universe, i like to think most blanche art is actually imperial artwork rather than depictions of actual events.

 

IIRC they actually did this in the video game Vermintide 1 (Fantasy I know, not 40k, but the same principle). In one mission you go to a Wizard's mansion and there are a bunch of Blanche artworks hanging on the walls. The Witch Hunter character even comments that the artist was burned for heresy .

 

Johann the White! He featured in Liber Chaotica too, where you see the increasingly, well, Blanchian works that get him burned at the stake.

[mughi3]

Why is the emperor so big.....because he is THE EMPEROR! your heresy shall not be permitted!

 

 

LOL seriously that's some artistic license considering nobody should be in the throne room save the 300 companions of the custodus

[killersquid]

On the voxcast podcast with John blanche, they say that the image we all know of the emperor on the golden throne, isn't actually the emperor. It's just the facsimile which the imperial population are allowed to see. No one actually gets to see him, and the throne isn't a chair, in the strictest sense.

[MegaVolt87]

On the voxcast podcast with John blanche, they say that the image we all know of the emperor on the golden throne, isn't actually the emperor. It's just the facsimile which the imperial population are allowed to see. No one actually gets to see him, and the throne isn't a chair, in the strictest sense.

 

Yeah I always thought this myself, don't make sense for hundreds of thousands pilgrims to shuffle through the actual throne room of the Emperor. 

[Kilofix]

But the Emperor is pretty tall isn’t he? Like taller than Custodes if I remember.

[Antarius]

I think it's a depiction of the idea of the Emperor, more than a picture of how he literally looks. It's an abstract take on expressing the basic facts: a corpse-ruler on a death-throne, wired to strange "life" support and the focus of throngs of adoring pilgrims and ritualistic worship.

It's not supposed to be an actual picture of his throne room: for one thing, he probably doesn't literally have an empty skeletal chest either, but it conveys the idea of what he is.

 

That's my take on it anyway.

 

I don't personally like the idea of it being a statue or imperial propaganda, because I'm pretty sure there's very litte propaganda gain in portraying the emperor like that - unless, perhaps, you're a chaos marine.

[Haywire]

Well, the skull iconography is prevalent throughout Imperial society because it's meant to remind the Imperial citizenry of the Emperor's sacrifice in much the same way that Christianity uses the cross to remind everybody of Jesus' sacrifice. It's not beyond reason that Imperial artists might tap into that sort of idea to increase the devotion.

 

"See this? This is what the Emperor did for your sake, so it is only right that you give him thanks and praise for his sacrifice."

[RipOffProductions]

On the voxcast podcast with John blanche, they say that the image we all know of the emperor on the golden throne, isn't actually the emperor. It's just the facsimile which the imperial population are allowed to see. No one actually gets to see him, and the throne isn't a chair, in the strictest sense.

we got these bits of art of the Emperor in the original Rogue Trader rulebook that tie into that idea:

 

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_wT_dsoa_R8s/TSx2JG0kpII/AAAAAAAAAhk/RpJi66ZzzB8/s1600/rogue+trader+Emperor.jpg

 

[Marshal Reinhard]

Only thing I think of when I hear the original question is this image.

Edited July 21, 2019 by Reinhard

[karden00]

Hierarchy of scale, or hierarchical proportionality, perhaps? The figures of greater or greatest significance are represented as larger than life to reflect their importance within the subject.

[Zephaniah Adriyen]

Only thing I think of when I hear the original question is this image.

Now to co-opt that for my Chapter lore. They already act as PDF for their homeworld, which has a decent human population... maybe the child serfs actually do get Space Marine Story Time?

[Sword Brother Adelard]

But the Emperor is pretty tall isn’t he? Like taller than Custodes if I remember.

That depends on who you asked after they saw him. He appeared differently to everyone. There's talk somewhere in the Heresy of people struggling to actually recall what he looked like who had met him. He's variously recalled as old, young, human sized, massive etc.

[MegaVolt87]

Wasn't the only person to see the Emperor's true form John Gramaticus? From memory he was like a older dad bod kind of guy as his true form from that part in HH? 

[Panzer]

The Sisters of Silence know his true form as well iirc.

[MegaVolt87]

The Sisters of Silence know his true form as well iirc.

 

 Now that is interesting, I missed that one. Could explain why they were marginalized over time by the Imperium because they didn't see him as divine because they knew him as an exceptional man, like the Space Marine do. Except they didn't have the political clout to get away with it. 

Edited July 24, 2019 by MegaVolt87

[Panzer]

 

The Sisters of Silence know his true form as well iirc.

 

 Now that is interesting, I missed that one. Could explain why they were marginalized over time by the Imperium because they didn't see him as divine because they knew him as an exceptional man, like the Space Marine do. Except they didn't have the political clout to get away with it. 

 

 

More likely they got their funds cut because they are just "the creepy soulless women that hang around with the Custodes who don't come out of the palace anymore anyway". After all, why have a standing force of Sisters of Silence literally nobody feels comfortable having around, when you already have the Sisters of Battle (it's flawed logic, I know. That's the point).

[Sword Brother Adelard]

 

 

 

 

The Sisters of Silence know his true form as well iirc.

Now that is interesting, I missed that one. Could explain why they were marginalized over time by the Imperium because they didn't see him as divine because they knew him as an exceptional man, like the Space Marine do. Except they didn't have the political clout to get away with it.

More likely they got their funds cut because they are just "the creepy soulless women that hang around with the Custodes who don't come out of the palace anymore anyway". After all, why have a standing force of Sisters of Silence literally nobody feels comfortable having around, when you already have the Sisters of Battle (it's flawed logic, I know. That's the point).

I'd like to know more about what they did between TBA and Dark Imperium. Because in both they were brought back into the Imperial fold, so why did they leave it again?

[bluntblade]

Personally I'm just glad to have seen this pic as a result of the thread. Really nightmarish qualities coming through there.