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After the Chaos gods stole the original 20 primarchs from the Emperor's lab, why didn't he try to make any more of them? The fact that the Chaos gods decided that they were a big enough threat to personally attempt to deal with indicates that more are called for. A lot more. Like, say, 1000 of them. 20 is hardly adequate to command a campaign of galactic conquest like what the Emperor had in mind.

IIRC the Emperor didnt have time to create more. Things were in motion for the great crusade already and the only thing he could do is to create the space marines from the genetic template of the missing primarchs. I think that it is implied that a primarch takes a looooonngg time to make (the emperor could have been working on the project for possibly thousands of years).

If the Emperor is all-seeing, why didn't he know the Chaos Gods would take the incubation capsules?

I don't think it's clearly established if the capsules were thrown across the galaxy by Chaos, or if the Emperor did it on purpose. I mean, all the Primarchs landed on inhabited worlds. And at least two were horribly mutated (Sanguinus and Magnus), and were not killed for being mutants. And a number landed on suitable planets - Russ, the primarch with big canines, lands on a planet (that barely has any permanent landmass, so it's amazing he didn't land in the ocean) with -big canines. Curze looked like the people of Nostramo - imagine if Sanginus landed there, he'd stick out like a sore thumb (blonde and blue eyes in a land of goths). I've always thought that the Emperor had a hand in throwing them across the galaxy so that they'd have to learn to pull themselves up by their boot straps.

The Emperor's original intention was to eventually create an entire new race of super-humans, à la a race of Primarchs. However, the intervention of the Chaos Powers ruined this plan and so, using genetic material implanted into laboratory gholems the Emperor created what would become the Space Marine implants.

What's interesting is that the Emperor created the Primarchs as a force to combat Chaos and yet He failed to mention the existence of Chaos to anyone else. My interpretation, somewhat supported by Horus' dream vision in the HH series, is that the Emperor allowed the Chaos Powers to spirit away the nascent Primarchs as part of a long term strategy which means that the Horus Heresy isn't/wasn't a catastrophe but a carefully planned event.

The thing about the Primarchs however is that they evolved and changed as characters over the course of 40K's development.

Take Leman Russ for example the special agent who eventually became Imperial Commander Lucan, as in the planet Lucan, the Space Wolves homeworld. As the wolf theme was developed so to was the character of Leman Russ who eventually became the Primach we know today. His arrival on 'Fenris' is coincidental, it's entirely contrived and the same can be said of all the other Primarchs, some to a lesser degree, but all with revised histories.

Maybe he ran out of funding?

In the Horus heresy series, the Emporer WATCHES the primarchs being taken into the warp, and lets them go. WHY?

Inquisitor Lord Bane wrote:In the Horus heresy series, the Emporer WATCHES the primarchs being taken into the warp, and lets them go. WHY?

even the emprahs powers have a limit it seems.

or he was busy eating a doughnut.... mm doughnuts

20 is a nice, marketable number.

Maybe the 20 were the culmination of decades of work and were not easily replicated?

Lol I always picture the emperor in a long white lab coat and safety specs looking along the line of 20 pods while thinking "good job", then going into the other room to get a coffee. When he comes back with a steaming mug he chokes and drops his mug when he sees they are all gone.

But seriously I believe the emperor made the primarchs from his own soul(s) each time he made a new one it seriously weakened him. More than 20 could have caused too much stress on the emperors soul(s).

I think the emperor didn't create more primarchs because he knew about the Horus heresty before it happened. I believe he only created 20 so that when they turned to chaos his loyalist legions could kill the few that turned. I just think he didn't anticipate anticipate the space marine chapters turning as well so that is why everything went out of hand.

If he knew the heresy would happen before he did then why in His holy name did he do nothing to prevent it?

I think he knew he couldn't. Chaos cannot be ended

The Acolyte wrote:I think he knew he couldn't. Chaos cannot be ended

Someone's been reading the gk omnibus...

I think it's cuz he ran out of Viagra.

Saldiven wrote:I think it's cuz he ran out of Viagra.

true story.

It fits with the Star Child theory quite well. I mean after all if Chaos whanted to destroy the Primarchs they would have dumped them on lifeless hunks of rock or in the middle of an ork camp.

so emperor plans out the HH and is now slowly dieing and will within the next few thousand years die and be reborn as a truly all powerful god.

That makes no sense whatsoever. He foresaw it? So proceeded to invest all the effort to create supermen who ultimately fracture the Empire he created as well as destroy himself? Why didn't he just not make them then and do something else? Sounds like post fact justification.

The fact that they were well suited to their worlds is just bad GW contrivance. This stuff ain't literary genius, folks. It's schlock sci fi to move models.

Even if the emperor knew he couldnt change it could he. Would result in a time paradox - if he changed the horus heresty then he would never forsee it in the first place so would never change it.... parazoxical!

vodo40k wrote:Lol I always picture the emperor in a long white lab coat and safety specs looking along the line of 20 pods while thinking "good job", then going into the other room to get a coffee. When he comes back with a steaming mug he chokes and drops his mug when he sees they are all gone.

But seriously I believe the emperor made the primarchs from his own soul(s) each time he made a new one it seriously weakened him. More than 20 could have caused too much stress on the emperors soul(s).

Hey don't use philverse here.

It would suck him of all his resources. He would be so poor if he made 1000 of 'em. He just had the resources for 20.

maybe..the emperor was just lazy...or stupid..
considering he didn't notice Horus's "little" plan i think its quite easy to argue the latter

Too true.