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I heard a theory today that nearly made me choke on my chicken sandwich and would like to know if it is an established theory or just a stroke of genius by the guy I heard it from.

He said that Malcador was the actual Big E and that the 'Emperor' was 'Primarch Zero'. When I asked him of what made him think this he came out with things like Malcador always been present when the 'Emperor' is or, at the very least, not far away and that he was the only one that could operate the Astronomicom (to a degree anyway) apart from the big E.

I'm sure that the dude said a few other things as well but my brain was recoiling from the 'Ring Of Truth' at the time to take it in. I was wondering if anyone else had heard of this theory and that if they had could they discuss it further in this thread?

Ta Much!

I certainly haven't heard anything like it. Don't know if I neccisarily believe it but it makes for an interesting 40k conspiracy theory.

Malcador burnt himself out sitting on the throne because while being a powerful psyker, he was not the emperor. He sacrificed himself so that the Emperor could fight Horus. There is no way that the Emperor would have been allowed to knowingly commit himself to an action that resulted in his death.
Despite the actual Emperor's condition, he is still alive. All the Primarchs regarded the Emperor as such during the heyday of his reign.
The Emperor's blood is regarded as a sacred thing on the various seals that still bear it. Those blood drops came from the Emperor himself in the presence of others so are known to be his and not Malcador's.
Malcador was a powerful lieutenant, a right hand man, but not the man in charge which is why at the end he was expendable.

I've floated this theory myself multiple times. cadbren has a good counterpoint to that theory, however he does not take into account what I call the "alpharius effect", I.E. - one soul split across two bodies. I am of the opinion that Malcador was the real emperor, and the emperor was the real emperor, because they were the same soul/spirit, but two vessels were required to store it. There is a part of a certain Horus Heresy book, I want to say it was A Thousand Sons (or perhaps it was Nemesis), where one of the characters remarks that it seemed that Malcador and the Emperor shared the same thoughts, as in they literally shared the same thoughts, and that Malcador seemed to be the mouthpiece, with the Emperor only speaking when Malcadors word was not heeded by the others in the room.

That's a rather radical and un-based theory.
Malcador is dead, The Emperor is on The Golden Throne. Any conspiracy theories are just that, theories, and always go against cold hard fact.

I'm going to say no to this theory.

First is the thought of Malcador being around since circa. 8000 B.C. and surviving until the 31st millenia. Not to mention the fact that he would have to be the one to personally defeat The Dragon and then imprison it.

Then there's the Golden Throne. Malcador was completely burnt out within a relatively short time, while the Emperor, even in his critical condition, still resides in the Golden Throne.

Don't you mean The Emperor was the only one to defeat and imprison The Void Dragon?

iproxtaco wrote:Don't you mean The Emperor was the only one to defeat and imprison The Void Dragon?

Right, sorry. I fixed that in the post.

there is a theory that Malcador was sort of a secondary body the Emperor was controlling.


an extension of his will.



but the Emperor was the real Emperor. Malcador was the most powerful human psyker after the Emperor.


its also possable that Malcador was the Emperor's biological child. possably his 1st born(the others became the Sensei)

Any evidence to suggest any of the above theories though?

other then the strong connection the Emperor had with Malcador.


When Malcador was removed from the golden throne and the Emperor was placed on it, Malcador died. at that very instant, the Emperor regained conciousness.


if Malcador contained a portion of the Emperor, then that would make sense.

Malcador saved the last ounce of his strength to give to The Emperor so he could tell everyone how to do make the Throne into what it is today. No connection is hinted at.

And as for Malcador being the Emperor's son, those were the Sensei. These immortal beings are actually completely psychically invisible to the Emperor - blanks, in fact. So there's no way that Malcador could have been a Sensei.

Just curious, where does all the Sensei, Star Child, stuff come from? It wasn't there back in the old Rogue Trader / 1st edition days (to my knowledge)... and I can't find it in any "current" fluff.

Around 3rd edition 40k, if I remember correctly. It was definately before my time, but it's stuff that I find utterly fascinating, since it would allow GW to actually advance the storyline.

Anyway, here's some links for you!
http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Star_Child
http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Sensei

the Sensei and Star Child fluff is still valid as it isn't in direct conflict with any existing fluff.

Lobukia wrote:Just curious, where does all the Sensei, Star Child, stuff come from? It wasn't there back in the old Rogue Trader / 1st edition days

Yes it was. Check the Realms of Chaos books.

While we are asking this, can i throw in two observations and ask...in the 40k universe, can it be possible that Zeus could have been the Emperor? and can Jesus have been the Emperors servant?

LumenPraebeo wrote:While we are asking this, can i throw in two observations and ask...in the 40k universe, can it be possible that Zeus could have been the Emperor? and can Jesus have been the Emperors servant?

Or the Emperor

LumenPraebeo wrote:While we are asking this, can i throw in two observations and ask...in the 40k universe, can it be possible that Zeus could have been the Emperor? and can Jesus have been the Emperors servant?

It's assumed that all those important people in history were actually the Emperor in disguise.

Oh well, at least we know (or it's heavilly implied, anyway) that the Emperor wasn't Genghis Khan...

thats Khan

chaos0xomega wrote:I've floated this theory myself multiple times. cadbren has a good counterpoint to that theory, however he does not take into account what I call the "alpharius effect", I.E. - one soul split across two bodies. I am of the opinion that Malcador was the real emperor, and the emperor was the real emperor, because they were the same soul/spirit, but two vessels were required to store it. There is a part of a certain Horus Heresy book, I want to say it was A Thousand Sons (or perhaps it was Nemesis), where one of the characters remarks that it seemed that Malcador and the Emperor shared the same thoughts, as in they literally shared the same thoughts, and that Malcador seemed to be the mouthpiece, with the Emperor only speaking when Malcadors word was not heeded by the others in the room.

This makes some sense as Malcador sacrificed himself which could have lead to the Emperor's weakened state currently, however I probably don't know enough about the Horus heresy fluff to make judgements.

Is the Malcador The Emperor, in place of The Emperor, a son of The Emperor or another Body for or twin of The Emperor?
No, none of the above. Any theories are generally unbased and conflict with the cold hard fact that we know.

LumenPraebeo wrote:While we are asking this, can i throw in two observations and ask...in the 40k universe, can it be possible that Zeus could have been the Emperor? and can Jesus have been the Emperors servant?

the Emperor took the guise of people through out history.


assumedly, Jesus was the Emperor.


Zeus wasn't a real person and didn't have a major impact on human history so its unlikely the Emperor took that guise.

Actually I've been thinking this same thing (that Malcador is actually the Emperor) since I read the last few HH books.

I wouldn't be surprised if they depart from the Horus Heresy art book storyline and I'm sure they still have a few surprises for us.

AlmightyWalrus wrote:Oh well, at least we know (or it's heavilly implied, anyway) that the Emperor wasn't Genghis Khan...

George Bush!!! Crikey, it's all starting to make a funny kind of sense to me now. His 'Bushisms' were just His GENIUS intellect in 'entertainment' mode.

I KNEW he was having a laugh, you can see the underlying smirk on his face when his speeches went south. Comedy genius.

Well, considering they've appeared in the same place, kinda puts an even bigger hole in the already un-based conspiracy theories.

the Emperor's soul is actually an amagamation of thousands of human psykers.


whos to say he couldn't control 2 bodies at once.

The established fluff would like you to have a look at it.