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I suppose a lot of us have seen the pictures of him, though they're either non-legit fan art or don't show his face.

So beyond the glowing incredible features we all know he has, how do you view the Pre-Heresy Emperor?

I've always seen him as a grey-haired, middle-aged man with his hair cut to a flat top or something similiar.

Hm, my view on him would be like someone not middle-aged but rather someone in his late 20s-early 30s (age when a human being's at the top of his power), quite solid but not towering as Space Marines are, dark, short-hair, green eyes (don't really know why, but this is how i'd see him) and with a serious look on the face.

Oh, and a huuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuge sword in his hands.

That sorta proves how different he can seem since that's an udder opposite to how I see him.

Well, yeah, as different people have different expectations.

However, i wish GW would publish something with some canon pics of everyone, as i tend to get some reeeeaaaally twisted views on some of the 40k guys.

I kinda pictured him as leonidas from 300 but bigger, clean shaven & without the rage.

A genocidal bastard with 20 kids out of control in power Armour, who gets raped by his oldest son in 1vs1

I would not taint his holy vision with this humble eyes

I see him as a decrepit & decaying husk forever attached to a Golden Toilet.

With a look on his face that screams "I have to take the world's largest number 2.."

I shoulda mentioned Pre-Heresy Emperor... XD

The Emperor is a bad man.

He eats babies and kept his 20 sons in a basement and feed them a bag of chips a week.


It's the truth!!!!!!!! the truth I say!!!

Mr John Redcorn o_o

A power full entity that lives primarily in the warp. He eats phykers and binds the souls of others to his will. His agents sow destructions and mayhem in his name. In conclusion the Emperor is … the fifth chaos god, Inquisition to Terra we must annihilate this demon in the NAME OF THE EMPEROR!!

Other wise i tend to see him as an idiot. After all how many people warned him of Horus?

I see him as a dude with huge muscles, lank black hair, yellow gold eyes, and a curved nose. So he sits on a golden toilet. dude could rip you in half with his mind (?). If he coulld spare time form his busy schedule of eating psykers and saving the imperium. That makes him kinda lame, being broken in two, having all this power only to use it on a toilet.

Also, He did smack Horus dead. In your face, Tratiors!(sorry bout that. Said it probably because for some reason I strongly dislike Chaos)

Still, Hes pretty beastly.

For the Allfather!

LunaHound wrote:Mr John Redcorn o_o

DANGIT! Now that'll all I see!

EDIT: wow, what a huge picture, anyone know how to scale it down?

The Emperor Heals! do you have a migraine Space Marines?

A self-serving narcissist that believed he knew what was best for humanity.

One that believed in the purity of humanity, yet created a new breed of genetic monstrosities that he claimed were the pinnacle of mankind, yet none would ever reach it barring genetic reconstruction.

A hypocrit, a self-serving martyr, and a false god that thought to claim his ascension to godhood, but failed miserably.

It's funny to watch the non-imperial players rag on the Emperor. I mean, really, there's so many opinions that are in here that have NOTHING to do with his appearance.

Lorgar's_Blessed wrote:It's funny to watch the non-imperial players rag on the Emperor. I mean, really, there's so many opinions that are in here that have NOTHING to do with his appearance.

You asked, I delivered. Anyone who touts "Humanity First!" But comes at you with creatures who aren't even classified as HUMAN should be deemed a hypcrite.

Well, from what I recall abhumans were actually much more widely tolerated pre-Heresy. It's the Imperial Cult that badly cracks down on them now.

sniperjolly wrote:


EDIT: wow, what a huge picture, anyone know how to scale it down?

I uploaded that on lexicanum.
I view the Emperor as a man who tryed to protect humanity in any way,from chaos,xenos and from itself,he was working on a device which could detect psyker genes in the population,but the device wasn't finished because of the herey,I dislike him for believing that Horus could be saved after he was responsible for the billions of death,deaths of dozens of thousands space marines and the deaths of several primarchs.That was idiotic.
I see him as the only "good" human in the 40k,beside the Space Wolves.
If only the Leman Russ was the Warmaster.
Imagine the Imperium without the Imperial Cult,that would be interesting to see.

IvanTih wrote:I dislike him for believing that Horus could be saved after he was responsible for the billions of death,deaths of dozens of thousands space marines and the deaths of several primarchs.That was idiotic.

Well, my image of the final moments of the Heresy was always been something like

"Horus, you've been a really bad boy. You killed billions, you beat the crap out of your brothers, you talked to the bad ones (i.e. Chaos), you didn't eat your whole lunch, and even worse, YOU SKIPPED SKOOL! Boy you're grounded! Permanently!"

"No daddy NOOOOO!!!"

@sniperjolly : Don't know why, but i've always hated that pic. Makes the Emperor look totally gay

Doombot001 wrote:and a false god that thought to claim his ascension to godhood, but failed miserably.

I believe that is false sir. IIRC The emperor NEVER wanted to be worshiped as a god and in fact gave the word bearers tons of crap because they did, and that made their progress slower on the crusade. (Partially causing their fall to chaos). The Imperial cult made him into a "god" and many space marine chapters see him as a man not a god (I.E. dark angels, space puppies)

Shas'O Dorian wrote:

Doombot001 wrote:and a false god that thought to claim his ascension to godhood, but failed miserably.

I believe that is false sir. IIRC The emperor NEVER wanted to be worshiped as a god and in fact gave the word bearers tons of crap because they did, and that made their progress slower on the crusade. (Partially causing their fall to chaos). The Imperial cult made him into a "god" and many space marine chapters see him as a man not a god (I.E. dark angels, space puppies)

Some say he did have a hidden agenda. They even go so far as to say that's what he went back to Terra to do.

Sadly, it's completely possible as it's one of the few things that explains the Astronomican being kept up while he's technically in absolute stasis.

IvanTih wrote:
I see him as the only "good" human in the 40k,beside the Space Wolves.
If only the Leman Russ was the Warmaster.

Then Leman Russ would have been corrupted. The whole scheme wasn't targeted at Horus because of his flaws, it was done because he was in a position where he could influence his brothers, either swaying them to his side or getting them out of the way. If it would have been Leman Russ instead, he would have been corrupted just as well. We're talking about gods whose powers draw from the entire galaxy here. They could apply so much pressure of the right kind that no pimarch would ever be able to resist their manipulations. Russ included. Everybody has his breaking point, Russ included. If I had to venture a guess, I'd say they'd have played his distrust of sorcery having Khorne as the frontman, rather than Tzeentch concocting a vision instead.
I'd rather imagine that Russ was the wisest of the primarchs, and, coupled with his tactical and strategic knowledge and his instincts, he would have really been a force to be reckoned with. He might have actually pulled off a better Heresy. Also, because he wasn't prone to overthink things, he wouldn't have resorted to a desperate gamble, actually nuking Terra from orbit or something, instead of waiting for a rematch.



Anyway, back to the Emperor.
I rather imagine him as a well intentioned father figure who frequently makes the mistake of talking down on his sons. "I'm right, cause I'm older/your father/Emperor, now do what I say or you're grounded for the rest of the Crusade?" Come on... I mean, you go through all the trouble to create twenty godlike sons, place the most formidable fighting forces in their hands, and then you treat them like kids? Keep them in the dark? Withhold information from them?
Would it not have been better to just tell them about the Webway and why he had to leave the Crusade to build it? Would it not have been better to tell them about the Chaos gods rather than just say there are no gods and religion is crap (I'm pretty sure he knew)? Would it not have been better to tell Lorgar that he appreciates his devotion but that it's not the right time for it? Would it not have been better to summon Magnus to Terra under the pretense of helping out with the defenses and see if there was any chance he was right instead of sending Russ to Prospero? He could have just arrested Magnus when he landed on Terra, damn it, but he was too freaked out that he caught his son smoking... I mean playing with warp magics to think straight.

The Emperor fails to understand that unquestionable authority works on the masses, but not so much with his sons and generals. He just takes his leadership for granted. He's naive, he's oblivious to the psychological welfare of others, he acts on impulse quite often, he ignores information he does not want to hear... He's just deeply flawed in ways that you'd expect a man who's been alive since the Bronze Age would have outgrown by now...

As the most powerful psyker of all time im pretty sure he could look like whatever the hell he wanted to look like. I have read of him wearing "runes of concealment" on several occasions to mask his "god-like brilliance".

Lupe wrote:Then Leman Russ would have been corrupted. The whole scheme wasn't targeted at Horus because of his flaws, it was done because he was in a position where he could influence his brothers, either swaying them to his side or getting them out of the way. If it would have been Leman Russ instead, he would have been corrupted just as well. We're talking about gods whose powers draw from the entire galaxy here. They could apply so much pressure of the right kind that no pimarch would ever be able to resist their manipulations. Russ included. Everybody has his breaking point, Russ included. If I had to venture a guess, I'd say they'd have played his distrust of sorcery having Khorne as the frontman, rather than Tzeentch concocting a vision instead.
I'd rather imagine that Russ was the wisest of the primarchs, and, coupled with his tactical and strategic knowledge and his instincts, he would have really been a force to be reckoned with. He might have actually pulled off a better Heresy. Also, because he wasn't prone to overthink things, he wouldn't have resorted to a desperate gamble, actually nuking Terra from orbit or something, instead of waiting for a rematch.

I was going to say the same thing, but you beat me to it. With the exception that i really don't see Russ as the wisest off all, as he sometimes tends to get overheated and pretty impulsive, and frankly, drinking and eating contests don't show one's wiseness, quite the contrary

Lupe wrote:The Emperor fails to understand that unquestionable authority works on the masses, but not so much with his sons and generals. He just takes his leadership for granted. He's naive, he's oblivious to the psychological welfare of others, he acts on impulse quite often, he ignores information he does not want to hear... He's just deeply flawed in ways that you'd expect a man who's been alive since the Bronze Age would have outgrown by now...

Well, yeah, but let's not forget that, despite his grand status and huge array of powers and all the things he could do and did, he was ultimately hman and humans make mistakes, even "godlike" humans. It's in our nature.

And many of us if we were there instead of him would've maybe done exactly the same thing, i mean, even if you see your son being a douche-bag and wiping out billions and trying to kill you, he's still your son. Sure, you'd ultimately bash his head on the house walls till he can no longer move, but he's still your son

What i really regret is Horus telling Russ to kill Magnus and not bringing him back to Terra and Russ obeying...it would've been interesting to see how the Emperor handled the whole thing.

I always imagine bruce willis. (the old die hard 4 one)

aka_tizz wrote:
I was going to say the same thing, but you beat me to it. With the exception that i really don't see Russ as the wisest off all, as he sometimes tends to get overheated and pretty impulsive, and frankly, drinking and eating contests don't show one's wiseness, quite the contrary

Well, the way I see it, being wise doesn't mean you can't fool around and live well. He wasn't a monk, after all...

But Russ clearly did a few things that show his wisdom and planning ahead. Which is more than I can say about anyone else, really. (maybe Guilliman, although I can't believe I'm saying this)

If his 'blunt barbarian' act (and I cannot stress enough that it was just an act) isn't enough, look at the way he ran Fenris. Then compare it with what the Lion did for Caliban and how that worked out for him and his Legion. Or for that matter, look at Olympia and Nostramo Quintus, that other primarchs sought to change to fit in their visions for humanity.
Or how of all the primarchs, Russ and the Khan clearly didn't give a damn who was Warmaster, when everybody else was throwing fits of rage or sucking up to Horus. I even think he might have been on to something with not trusting Magnus, now that we know what was really going on on Prospero.

I cant belive that nobody has said this, oh well
i imagine that the emperor looks like chuck norris...because he IS chuck norris
sorry