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Specifically I was wondering what the Khorne helmets (in 40k) were based off of. Aztec/Mayan? Asian? What?

I suppose you won't be satisfied with the answer that the current "bunny ears" helmets are just modifications of the old Realm of Chaos Bloodletter head horns?



Compare what a Bloodletter used to look like and how the horns were arranged:


Go find a culture that didn't go around putting horns on helmets.

The 'bunny ears' as some might put it, are meant to be Jackal ears.

Thus I would suggest Egyptian in influence.

Mr Mystery wrote:The 'bunny ears' as some might put it, are meant to be Jackal ears.

Thus I would suggest Egyptian in influence.

Source?

To be honest, Khorne is the simplest.

It's an amalgam of a lot of traditional 'devil' imagery - specifically middle-ages stuff.

A great example would be Tim Curry in 'Legend'. Or Hellboy, for that matter. Red demons with long horns and long tongues. In many ways, the Khorne imagery is the most traditional of all the Chaos Powers.

The Berserker horns are the derivation of the whole Bloodletter/thirster thing...

The "bunny ears" are so their helmets resemble the mark of Khorne, which is meant to resemble a skull.

They're wearing skulls on their heads. Sometimes the helmets are fashioned to look like skulls, so they're wearing skulls on their skulls. There's a yo dawg joke in there somewhere that doesn't need to be made.

Hyborean, as worn by Stygian priest-kings, Aquilonian warlords, and Austrian bodybuilders.

krazynadechukr wrote:What historical people is Khorne based off of?

They aren't. No one in history dressed or acted like that.

maybe the Aztecs

smackpie wrote:maybe the Aztecs

No. Not at all.

Khorne is based off the Cornish culture, a group of people originating from Cornwall, England who were famous for their hens and pasties.

The helmet shape is derived from the Bucca a mythological deity from Cornish folklore.

whitedragon wrote:

Mr Mystery wrote:The 'bunny ears' as some might put it, are meant to be Jackal ears.

Thus I would suggest Egyptian in influence.

Source?

The background we all read? It defines them as Jackal Ears.

While most Egyptian gods had animal heads, the army didn't wear helmets for most of its history.

The best known Egyptian army unit with helmets is the Sherden mercenaries, who wore a helmet, or perhaps hat, shaped like a small Vietnamese conical straw hat with a pair of decorative horns. I don't know if any examples of this head gear have ever been found intact.



It's possible that some troops may have had metal helmets and armour by the late New Kingdom period. It was in use by neighbours. There doesn't seem to be much evidence for it, though.

Sorry, wasn't meaning Egyptian Armour, more the Jackal as a sign of death etc.

Apologies for the confusion.

Mr Mystery wrote:

whitedragon wrote:

Mr Mystery wrote:The 'bunny ears' as some might put it, are meant to be Jackal ears.

Thus I would suggest Egyptian in influence.

Source?

The background we all read? It defines them as Jackal Ears.

And I ask again. What is your source? I don't recall reading any fluff that describes Khorne Helmets as representing Jackal's ears. Please direct me to a codex/rulebook fluff passage, or a black library novel that describes such so that I can see it.

Can't remember exactly, but I know I read it somewhere.

I'm telling you its Hyborean age style!

But for those who don't believe me, the more modern offshoot is medieval devil imagery, which is derived from older pagan imagery, since xtians noticed that many religions of other cultures were gods depicted as aspects of animals. toss in the greek mythology of the horned minotaur who lives in a maze and demands sacrifices, pan who corrupts maidens and dances around at night getting wasted with goat horned satyrs (who run away with virginity by night and incite drunken brawls whenever they can, both offshoots of dionysian imagery... all this pagan stuff that xtians saw as evil (i.e. having any fun) had horns.

Isn't it 1K Sons who riff off of Egyptian symbology?

Here is the pic of an aztec/mayan outfit, that I based the idea that Khorne helmets were designed similar to.... Khorne masks also remind me of Samuraii and kabuki and kachina masks....

I don't know about Mayan but that doesn't look like any historical Aztec or Inca picture I am familiar with.

It's more like a fantasy artist's riff on a Central American native priest's costume.

What's the source?

there is historical precidence for the mongol hordes, as they swept across Asia, they would wipe out a village and create enormous pillars with the skulls and bones in the center, so that any who saw would know the fate of everyone, and that of anyone who stood in the way of the Khans.

Could be a small ideological inspiration for khornate folks in warhammer and 40k.

Beyond that, im with Guitardian.

Kilkrazy wrote:Isn't it 1K Sons who riff off of Egyptian symbology?

I could see where one would draw that conclusion. The whole sealed armor (like a sarcophagus) thing would feed into that as well.

krazynadechukr wrote:Here is the pic of an aztec/mayan outfit, that I based the idea that Khorne helmets were designed similar to.... Khorne masks also remind me of Samuraii and kabuki and kachina masks....

Thats not an image of a real person/thing...

Aztecian enough....

krazynadechukr wrote:Aztecian enough....

Not even slightly.

Brother SRM wrote:The "bunny ears" are so their helmets resemble the mark of Khorne, which is meant to resemble a skull.

I hate to sound smug by quoting myself here, but I'm doing it anyways. I don't think Khorne Berserker helmets are meant to resemble anything but the icon of Khorne. If they were meant to evoke devil horns, they'd have horns like most other Chaos Marine helmets. If they were meant to be Egyptian, they'd be Thousand Sons. GW isn't super subtle with this sort of thing.

Kilkrazy wrote:I don't know about Mayan but that doesn't look like any historical Aztec or Inca picture I am familiar with.

It's more like a fantasy artist's riff on a Central American native priest's costume.

You're exactly right. Not historical at all. Real Mesoamericans did not have screws, much skill in metal forging, or the ability to float in the air.

krazynadechukr wrote:Khorne masks also remind me of Samuraii and kabuki and kachina masks

There may be some similarity simply by virtue of the fact that a human snarling face is going to look the same regardless of culture, but there are enough differences to be certain that Khorne armour is in no way inspired by Samurai or kabuki.

Ensis Ferrae wrote:there is historical precidence for the mongol hordes, as they swept across Asia, they would wipe out a village and create enormous pillars with the skulls and bones in the center, so that any who saw would know the fate of everyone, and that of anyone who stood in the way of the Khans.

This is the closest parallel so far in the thread, and even that is not enough IMHO to say Khorne is based off of the Mongols. Because the Mongol hordes, though scary to the people around them, were a society that occasionally did something other than kill people. Take the sophistication of their composite bows for example. They knew how to utilize different kinds of sinews and wood and glues of different strength to make a sophisticated weapon that we would struggle to replicate today. That kind of skill is completely alien to Khorne lore. No servant of Khorne would waste their time learning the properties of the different parts of an animal and how they could be used. That takes too much time away from killin' and pilin' up the skullz.

Khorne represents nothing more than eternal mindless slaughter. To suggest that that is based on any human society is quite insulting to that society. All human societies have killed, but all have produced culture of value as well. As others on the thread have said, the imagery does not come from any real human society, but is a stylized take on medieval interpretations of devils and demons, which was itself and attempt to distort the imagery of rival cultures.

Brother SRM wrote:

Brother SRM wrote:The "bunny ears" are so their helmets resemble the mark of Khorne, which is meant to resemble a skull.

I hate to sound smug by quoting myself here, but I'm doing it anyways. I don't think Khorne Berserker helmets are meant to resemble anything but the icon of Khorne. If they were meant to evoke devil horns, they'd have horns like most other Chaos Marine helmets. If they were meant to be Egyptian, they'd be Thousand Sons. GW isn't super subtle with this sort of thing.

Not smug at all-I believe this as well.

krazynadechukr wrote:Specifically I was wondering what the Khorne helmets (in 40k) were based off of. Aztec/Mayan? Asian? What?

It's not Historical, per say. Khorne's imagery was established way back in the days of Rogue Trader and Warhammer Fantasy and was established in Slaves to Darkness and the Lost and the Damned. As for Historical, it is only historical in the context of being one of GW's first couple of books, before they became the bloated corprate whore that they are today.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Realm_of_Chaos_(Warhammer)

Guitardian wrote:I'm telling you its Hyborean age style!

maybe you should look up the difference between fictional and historical, conan the barbarian is not real.

krazynadechukr wrote:Here is the pic of an aztec/mayan outfit, that I based the idea that Khorne helmets were designed similar to.... Khorne masks also remind me of Samuraii and kabuki and kachina masks....

you pic is not a historical representation, it is a fiction fantasy style drawing and does not actually show what aztecs or mayans looked like

the khrone symbol is a stylised skull