Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

So, Dakka, I'm sure many of you share my curse of insomnia (Who knows why, but us nerds do seem to suffer.), so you'll be familiar with the eclectic and eccentric thought processes that go along with it, so you'll maybe hear me out with some wild theories I have come up with about everyone's favourite enigma, Malcadoe the Sigillite/Hero.

We've all heard the one about him being the Emperor's relative, but it is never gone into too much detail. I've come up with several possible theories here:
He's the Emperor's twin. Now this may sound ludicrous, even heretical to many, but my theory is this: As the Shaman's souls bombarded this poor woman's womb, that of the woman who would become the Emperor's mother, it may be safe to assume that she was already pregnant, or conceiving, could the sheer force of all this psychic energy split the ovum in two, with a couple of late souls mis-firing into the other embryo, thus creating a second, yet accidental and much less powerful, being? This could easily explain one way in which the Emperor stayed hidden for so long, The Emperor coming up with all these good ideas and sending his beloved and more human looking twin to be the mouthpiece, working in unison over the millennia to guide humanity.
The first born son. We all know he had kids, maybe Malcador was the first, being brought up by the Emperor himself, he learned how to master his psychic talent. (Kind of conflicts with some established fluff about the Emperor's kids being blanks in some accounts.)
The human brother. It's probably safe to say that the Emperor had human siblings back in the day, what if, upon seeing his entire family grow old and die, The Emperor couldn't bear to see his baby brother do the same? The Emperor visited Malcador on his death bed and transferred some of his powers to him, ensuring that He was never alone throughout his long life, always having a near equal with whom he could seek counsel, share his ideas and hide out with.

Theory set two: Malcador is a creation of The Emperor.
Part one: It's stated that The Emperor grew up as a normal child somewhere (If anyone has the source for this I'd be eternally grateful, just to prove I'm not bonkers.), learning to use his powers as he grew. Now, hands up who's ever had an imaginary friend. What if as a child The Emperor had one too, but as his psychic powers began to manifest, so too did Malcador, creating the perfect friend, confidant and ally?
Part two: Malcador is the Emperor's earliest attempt at fiddling with humanity's psychic potential. We all know he did it, maybe this first attempt went a little too far for the common man of the current time, and was thus a one off, at least until The Emperor's final plan was complete.
Part three: Seeing the Chaos gods creating Daemons from themselves, a young and foolish Emperor attempted to do the same, creating Malcador, but causing all Hell in the Warp, so deciding it was a bad idea.

Now, my final theory, which I'm sure I read somewhere once, so apologies to anyone if I'm stealing your limelight here. Malcador IS the Emperor. He creates the Emperor's body and transfers his consciousness into it, leaving some power behind. He creates this new body to inspire awe into all, and to give himself an easy supply of genetic code to use later to make the Primarchs.

Now, as I said, these are just theories I've been jotting down madly since around 6am as they came into my head, so I've purposefully left out people's more widespread beliefs about Malcador, as they are not my own. But anyway, what does Dakka think about these ravings of a mad man? What does Dakka itself think about the beloved Sigillite, I'm eager to hear your theories the man.

TL;DR: Malcador is his Son/brother, Malcador is his imaginary friend, Malcador is the Emperor.

And, the unlikely event that someone has never heard of him, here's his Lexicanum and 40k wiki pages:
http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Malcador_(Character)#.UB95Ik2PWLw
http://warhammer40k.wikia.com/wiki/Malcador_the_Sigillite

Or... As I believe, Malcador is just a person. Albeit a very powerful psyker, influential figure and all-round swell guy.
Rather than imaginary, a creation of the Emperor etc. IMHO

I have always been of the opinion that Malcador is simply a 'normal' human (in that he wasn't genetically modified or cloned from the emperor or anything) that happens to be an organizational genius and extremely powerful psyker. Just to respond to each of your theories.

1. Malcador can't really be the emperor's 'twin' since he is assuredly weaker (sitting on the throne in the time it took the Emperor to slay Horus and be carried back by Dorn killed him) psycically. However, he certainly could be a 'brother.' Since the Emperor was created by Shamans who would wander the warp and be reborn after a while, but were recently getting eaten by chaos and decided to sacrifice themselves, some of the shamans may have been in the warp when the mass suicide that created the Emperor was carried out. Upon returning they saw that they were screwed if they didn't do something and attempted the same, but being fewer in numbers, created a weaker being.

2. The Emperor isn't a chaos God, he is infinitely weaker, he cannot simply will a being into existance. The idea that Malcador is some sort of test tube baby created to maximize the human psychic potential is a possibility, perhaps like a precursor to the primarchs.

3. Seems plausible, perhaps one could take it further. The Emperor was a normal looking man, which allowed him to fit in in society, and being 8 foot tall isn't normal, so perhaps Malcador is the emperor's original body. When the Emperor decided to take a direct role in leading humanity he knew that he would need something more powerful and intimidating to keep his thunder warriors obeying him through force, and decided to attempt to create the "perfect" being. That being was the emperor, a being big enough to stand above space marines and primarchs, a being psychically powerful enough to guide ships through the perilous warp, and a being with a genetic template that could be used to later create the primarchs and the space marines from them. Honestly it seems like Malcador did do a lot more work than the emperor, created the Administratum, Officio Assassinorum, and the Inquisition. Anyone can lead an army, it take a genius to organize the beauracracy that runs an empire of trillions.

On the information we presently have, the safest assumption is that Malcador's just a servant - perhaps more an ally or even a friend - of the Emperor; one who has proven his loyalty, ability and personal power "off-screen" in the years - decades? centuries? - preceding the great crusade.

It's possible that subsequent novels will reveal more - that he's a proto-primarch, a perpetual, an avatar of the Emperor's psyche - but for now - which makes a rather refreshing change from all the rest - he's just a potent human psyker who hods the Emperor's trust.

Buttons wrote:I have always been of the opinion that Malcador is simply a 'normal' human (in that he wasn't genetically modified or cloned from the emperor or anything) that happens to be an organizational genius and extremely powerful psyker. Just to respond to each of your theories.

1. Malcador can't really be the emperor's 'twin' since he is assuredly weaker (sitting on the throne in the time it took the Emperor to slay Horus and be carried back by Dorn killed him) psycically. However, he certainly could be a 'brother.' Since the Emperor was created by Shamans who would wander the warp and be reborn after a while, but were recently getting eaten by chaos and decided to sacrifice themselves, some of the shamans may have been in the warp when the mass suicide that created the Emperor was carried out. Upon returning they saw that they were screwed if they didn't do something and attempted the same, but being fewer in numbers, created a weaker being.

2. The Emperor isn't a chaos God, he is infinitely weaker, he cannot simply will a being into existance. The idea that Malcador is some sort of test tube baby created to maximize the human psychic potential is a possibility, perhaps like a precursor to the primarchs.

3. Seems plausible, perhaps one could take it further. The Emperor was a normal looking man, which allowed him to fit in in society, and being 8 foot tall isn't normal, so perhaps Malcador is the emperor's original body. When the Emperor decided to take a direct role in leading humanity he knew that he would need something more powerful and intimidating to keep his thunder warriors obeying him through force, and decided to attempt to create the "perfect" being. That being was the emperor, a being big enough to stand above space marines and primarchs, a being psychically powerful enough to guide ships through the perilous warp, and a being with a genetic template that could be used to later create the primarchs and the space marines from them. Honestly it seems like Malcador did do a lot more work than the emperor, created the Administratum, Officio Assassinorum, and the Inquisition. Anyone can lead an army, it take a genius to organize the beauracracy that runs an empire of trillions.

The emporor is most certainly not "infinitely weaker" than a Chaos god. While there are no 100% certain instances of the Emperor willing something into existence there are several instances where it is likely that he has something to do with it. Saints, Sanguinor ect...There are however 100% bulletproof evidence that the Emporor can will a being out of existance. An ability that scared the living daylihts of the Chaos gods.

OnT
Imo I think Malcador, while extremely powerful were simply a man. Maybe he was the next step in human evolution that the emporer were trying to bring forth.

Another theory newly formed, could he not be one of the all powerful pskyers from the age of strife?

My personal theory is that Malcador is just an exceptional psyker beyond what is represented by other such exceptional psykers like John Grammaticus etc...

What this means is open for debate, but the Emperor did speak to John as if they were kindred beings in some fashion and I don't think he was being polite. For the Emperor to acknowledge another so personally should not be taken lightly. Let alone what Malcadors position says about his relationship to the Emperor as a reflection of Malcadors power.

I believe there was even a fluff theory claiming Malcador was literally the Emperors brother once-upon-a-time, but whether this should be thought of as a real genetic connection or an allusion to a psychic kindred spirit is beyond my knowledge.

Malcador was just a REALLY powerful psyker. Probably the most powerful one that ever occured naturally. Alpha-plus level for sure.

Psykers can be artificially created. Its possable the Emperor experimented with the concept, and maybe even considered dividing his power between 2 bodies.

Like stated in "TS" council of Nikea - Malcador was a psyker who feeded on emperor's aura which gave him prolonged life and empowered his psykic powers.....
So being near to emperor all the time was the main thing which powered him....I'can wait the book....and don't post stuff like he is Emp's brother...it's just to damn wrong even to incline that

He is probably a perpetual or a normal human that has has his life extended by the Emperors genetic/psychic manipulation.

Those theories aren't bad, and with the Emperor, almost anything is possible. However, I don't choose to believe that Malcador is the Emperor because of Deliverance Lost-If Malcador was the Emperor, he would have been able to interact significantly outside the area he was working on the golden throne in, in which case why wouldn't Malcador simply help Corax get the gene-tech and

I'm with the group saying that Malcador is an extremely powerful psyker, but mortal. Not only do I believe this because of what I've read, but having a few non-astartes mortals able to hold their own in a galaxy of superbeings appeals to me. It's why I don't like the new Ollianus Pious fluff as much, though for him it's better than Squatting

@DarthMarko Where did you get those quotes? Thousand Sons book?

On topic:

I think that Malcador is definitely connected to the emperor probably by being the results of the first experiments on the human DNA

Yep - council of Nikea (part)