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Interesting question - I think the emperor never told his sons besides horus about chaos because he wanted to protect them from it and keep them out of chaos influence. If the primarchs fully believed the imperial truth then chaos would have no power over them

eg Horus was LOYAL - it was erebus and typhus - both spacemarines not primarchs who were traitors from the start, weeds embedded by chaos into the legions to corrupt the primarchs

The emperor trusted horus because he taught him about the wap, gave him control of THE ENTIRE MILITARY - ASTERIES,IMPERIAL ARMY etc - THATS MASSIVE

He intended horus for great things, tried to prepare him for what he would face - eventually people would ask him questions about the warp and he would need to have good answers for them ie the first horus heresy book

If I was the emperor I would of trusted only malcador and horus. Besides, if you control those two you control everything else. The emperor himself has conquored earth and lead a 200 year WAR of CONQESUT

He knew politics inside out, the human condition and he knew that people fail. He knew from that start he needed praetorians, counter intelligence, para militaries all these things to keep a grip on power. Thats real politik

He knew he would need the inquisition, grey knights, some loyal generals (ie the primarchs especially leman russ) Thats why he had such an elaborate system of political power over the galaxy set up. Finally he knew boys will be boys and his sons have human emotions, feelings and failings. Though they are super warriors, they are still very human

One side always keep an eye on the other side

Thats how you rule an empire - done all throughout history ....

PS Ironically enough dont forget that magnus the red was loyal all along, he tried to save horus, warn the emperor and unlock the eldar webway. Pity tzeench was just toying with him and the emperor saw it the moment he tore open the webway on terra

He trusted Russ and others to do exactly what was required and requested by him, whatever that might be..........

The Emperor was probably too paranoid and twisted to really trust anyone completely but Horus likely came close.

i would think most of the primarchs especially Horus as his most beloved son. Most others i don't know I'd think he would trust military advisers and generals but other then that not a clue

LoneLictor wrote:Nah, he trusted Horus. He gave Horus control over his army and taught him about the warp, something he didn't teach the other Primarchs.

Not true, he "taught" at the very least Magnus of the Warp as well. Granted, I say "taught" because Magnus was already well-aware of it. And keep in mind that what the Emperor taught Horus of the Warp is basically a very small picture, since he believed that Daemons were not truly sentient and that there was no signifigant intelligent powers in the Warp. That was knowledge that only Magnus had, Magnus learning of powerful, intelligent Daemons without the Emperor's help.

The Emperor trusted some people with some things.

For some reason, he didn't think any of his sons could handle such a shocking truth like "Oh by the way I am going back to Terra to create a Webway system that will make FTL travel safer, faster, and more efficient."

Apparently that was dangerous knowledge.

Apparently.

He really did not trust the primes like, Kurtz, Angron and, to some extent Magnus. I think he saw the more dangerous streaks in the primarchs like Perturabo and Lorgar. Russ had an obvious dangerous streak, but it was pretty well directed and, to a degree, selfless. Dorn and Guillman were obviously trustworthy. Horus was just so fething personable.

Well, even if he did, he certainly shouldn't have trusted Russ, the Great-Hypocrite-wolf. Maybe he trusted Malcador? He seemed to keep him pretty close, and I think Malcador knew what the Emprah was trying to achieve at the Golden Throne, something even Horus was not privy to.

I think malcador was the only one to garner almost complete trust from the big E

Phiasco II wrote:Well, even if he did, he certainly shouldn't have trusted Russ, the Great-Hypocrite-wolf. Maybe he trusted Malcador? He seemed to keep him pretty close, and I think Malcador knew what the Emprah was trying to achieve at the Golden Throne, something even Horus was not privy to.

Hypocrite Wolf, How my friend, how?
Hypocrite due to his actions on Prospero?
I don't understand.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Also forgot to write my view. The Emperor DID trust his Primarchs. Otherwise he would not have given them Such important jobs as leading his armies in the first place. The Primarchs he didn't trust wholeheartedly would be Angron, due to the fact he knew Angron hated him from the start. And maybe he didn't trust Magnus, as his curiosity seriously was his downside. He never truely trusted them, but didnt expect them to do anything bad. His most trusted I'd say were Horus, Sanguinius, Dorn and Russ. Clearly for their titles and notoriety. Horus as Warmaster, Sanguinius due to his complete selflessness, Dorn as Being the Emperors Shield and Russ as his Executioner. Others he did trust, but the four listed even moreso.

He trusted allof his loyal custodes too.

And Russ.

Malcador above all, even his sons. Malcador was there from the beginning, a HH Book on Malcador would be a brilliant way of side stepping the argument for a book on the emperor. It would keep the Big E mysterious and still allow for some revealing observations on his Character.

I think second of all, Valdor Constantin.

Third, Magnus, his truest son. The only one to see him in his true Psychic light. The one who have become the astronomican and tamed the Webway.

Of course he 100% trusted Alpharius (and Omegon, as he was one of the few people in the galaxy outside the Legion to even know of him!)

In fact, it was most likely Legion tampering that lowered the shields in the Vengeful Spirit during the Siege of Terra...

Anyway, His trust is well rewarded as the Legion remains (mostly) loyal to him and to Humanity (though maybe not The Imperium, corrupt as it is now) to this day.

It's really too bad Horus always feels like more of a convenience or a plot device than a character.
I just wish I could relate more to a lot of the primarch's decision making and characters... but I guess I'm not supposed to understand the meddling of chaos and the mind of an ancient superman... even if it does seem awfully childish and poorly thought out.

Then again, maybe be if the Emporer has been a little more forthcoming with his plans (and potential history with the cabal) he may not have run into so many dumbass problems.

Then again, very little of it makes any sense to me when I try to reason out what the objectives and realities the 40k powers live under, especially when it comes to hope for mankind... I guess that's just my regular old human brain again.

Phiasco II wrote:Well, even if he did, he certainly shouldn't have trusted Russ, the Great-Hypocrite-wolf. Maybe he trusted Malcador? He seemed to keep him pretty close, and I think Malcador knew what the Emprah was trying to achieve at the Golden Throne, something even Horus was not privy to.

I still want this little bi*** to reply so i can defend The Wolf King

I think you need to first define trust.

You can trust people in various ways. For example, the Emperor could absolutely trust Tzeentch... to do as is it's nature to try and screw with his plans.

The Emperor absolutely trusted his sons. He trusted that certain ones would rebel and that others would stay loyal. It's apparent in how he treated each one upon finding them and through how they were used. Perhaps the biggest item was the way he treated Lorgar. He let Lorgar establish churches in His name for decades without comment. Then he sent the Ultras and Malcador to b**ch slap them in the worst possible way thereby guaranteeing the Word Bearers would seek out something more worthy of their adoration. It doesn't take a hugely intelligent psychic force to see the only possible outcome.

This leaves us in a situation where either the Emperor had no clue that his actions would lead to civil war or that he absolutely knew where events were going.

Given his psychic talents and years and years of experience watching the world tear itself apart; I lean towards saying the Emperor knew exactly what was going on and actively took steps to encourage everything from Horus' rebellion to the ultimate worshiping of him as a god.

Now, by trust, if you mean letting someone know his exact plans I would say the only possibility is Malcador; but even that is iffy.

The Son Of Russ wrote:I still want this little bi*** to reply so i can defend The Wolf King

He condemned psykers, and came up with a factually incorrect explanation for what makes his Rune Priests special snowflakes.

Hypocrisy.

Also, no one likes a neckbearded internet tough guy Space Wolves fanboy.

Void__Dragon wrote:

The Son Of Russ wrote:I still want this little bi*** to reply so i can defend The Wolf King

He condemned psykers, and came up with a factually incorrect explanation for what makes his Rune Priests special snowflakes.

Hypocrisy.

Also, no one likes a neckbearded internet tough guy Space Wolves fanboy.

That's not true. I enjoy watching Space Wolves fanboys defend one of my favorite SM armies

There were certainly different degrees of trust shown by the Emperor, and I believe Malcador had the most of anyone, although how much that exactly was is up for debate.