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We all die, and the only ones who know exactly where their souls go is the Eldar. Where do the other races go? Seems like a great unanswered question, even in the 40k universe.

Human souls dissolve into the Warp.

There's no afterlife, unless your soul is tortured for eternity after being sucked into the warp.

There's something about Furies eating the souls of the dead as well but I can't remember much of it.

Your soul doesn't go anywhere. It stays in the Warp where it has always been. Only difference is, now it's not connected to anything in the material universe.

I imagine that after lifes vary a lot. Most souls will just be devoured by Furies and then the person will no longer exist. So you die then you feel an incredible pain and see a gargoyle eating your face and then everything goes black.

But for some people it might be different. They could be carried off by the currents of the warp. Maybe they were very angry when they lived, and their soul attracts the attention of some Khornite daemons. Now that they're soul is no longer bound to the material world, those daemons can do whatever they want with it. They can enslave it in their daemon army or eat it or promote it or whatever.

More likely, most souls continue just as they were, not attracting any attention, being hardly "there" at all.

The souls of the dead will join the emperor in the ‘Sea of Souls’ and sit by his side forever.

Mortal souls disolve in the warp, at least that's what was written in the Liber Chaotica books.

All a bit depressing really isn't it.

Is it better to burn in hell than to fade away?

Mortal souls disolve in the warp, at least that's what was written in the Liber Chaotica books.

Eldar codex agrees. Only psykers have the willpower to be a self-aware soul after death. That's why Eldar fear death so much that they use Spirit Stones. Because they are all psychic, when Slaanesh comes after them to devour them, they will be fully aware of it.

AegisGrimm wrote:Only psykers have the willpower to be a self-aware soul after death. That's why Eldar fear death so much that they use Spirit Stones. Because they are all psychic, when Slaanesh comes after them to devour them, they will be fully aware of it.

Wow, all of that would actually fit in well with that theory about the Emperor being a Warp God himself. Think about it - his essence is still "anchored" to the dessicating body on the Golden Throne, so perhaps he cannot go hunt for human souls as easily as the more free Chaos Gods and needs to be "tube-fed" by those 1.000 psykers a day. Or they are an intentional bonus to make him even stronger.

Sort of gives that religious dogma that "the souls of His servants go sit with Him when they die" an inkling of truth.

They'd sit with him alright. They'd sit on his dinnerplate.

Ah well, just a crazy theory. But it would be seriously grimdark, so I like it!

So by the sounds of it when the average Guardsman falls in battle, that don't go to a place similar to the Happy Hunting Grounds, Heaven or Valhalla? Sounds quite depressing really

So by the sounds of it when the average Guardsman falls in battle, that don't go to a place similar to the Happy Hunting Grounds, Heaven or Valhalla? Sounds quite depressing really

.....40K much?

Well TBH I had all ways pictured a lone Guardsman walking through the war-torn street on the planet in which they fell in battle, watching their fellow comrades fighting and dieing. and at the end of it all the Guardsman would just walk off into the sunset and vanish.

I really don;t think the fluff denounces it, now that I think of it. Several stories have saints and heroes that come back from the dead. They must have been somewhere that didn't destroy them, to come back. And "The Emperor did it" is too much hand-wavium for me.

Seems to me that Chaos daemons and Gods come from the worst of sentient beings' feelings. Maybe there's a force that can do the opposite for race's hopes and compassions. I've never seen anything that defines the Eldar gods before Slaanesh as anything warp-spawned.

None. Non-psychic Human souls dissolve into the Warp, but the psychic souls get absorbed into the Emperor's oversoul as opposed to being reincarnated - except for the souls of Imperial Saints, who may or not be Daemon Princes of the 'God-Emperor'. Chaos worshippers have their souls' energies divided between the Powers, though they may barter and resurrect these souls if they wish. Tyranids have NO soul - each of them share one gestalt soul, that of the Hive Mind. Eldar souls get consumed by Slaanesh unless claimed by another Power or are protected by Eldar technology/divinities. Same with the Dark Eldar. Ork souls get absorbed by Gork and Mork. Tau souls dissolve into the Warp. Necrons don't have souls anymore.

Your soul is a warp entity that's attached to a physical being. In a way, you're a demon in your own body. Once the body dies, the warp-entity that is your soul has no connection to the material plane, so just floats around the warp until its consumed by something, probably.

I once read that human souls tend to gravitate towards the astronomicon after death. The ones that get too close probably become fuel.

Manchu wrote:Is it better to burn in hell than to fade away?

Yes.

Buttons wrote:

Manchu wrote:Is it better to burn in hell than to fade away?

Yes.

No.

Discuss?

Manchu wrote:Discuss?

Would you enjoy an eternity of pain and suffering as opposed to just disappearing? I certainly wouldn't.

Either way you're not aware of it so what difference does it make?

Testify wrote:Either way you're not aware of it so what difference does it make?

I assumed we would be hypothetically aware for us to be even discussing the matter.

Lynata wrote:

AegisGrimm wrote:Only psykers have the willpower to be a self-aware soul after death. That's why Eldar fear death so much that they use Spirit Stones. Because they are all psychic, when Slaanesh comes after them to devour them, they will be fully aware of it.

Wow, all of that would actually fit in well with that theory about the Emperor being a Warp God himself. Think about it - his essence is still "anchored" to the dessicating body on the Golden Throne, so perhaps he cannot go hunt for human souls as easily as the more free Chaos Gods and needs to be "tube-fed" by those 1.000 psykers a day. Or they are an intentional bonus to make him even stronger.
Sort of gives that religious dogma that "the souls of His servants go sit with Him when they die" an inkling of truth.

Do those that get fed to him have anything left after he has sucked out their Psychic goodness though, I guess he is taking their essence into himself as sustenance so I assume they would, or does that mean that their soul is no longer their own and is now a part of the Emperor, aren't they just food to sustain the Emperor and charge the Astronomicom? If the Emperor didn't have the feeding program in operation I guess he would burn out much faster and the Astronomicon would go out Nice one Lynata

So maybe those good souls that don't get fed directly to the Emperor are trying to swim their way to him in the warp as well, drawn by the Astronomicon?

AegisGrimm wrote:

So by the sounds of it when the average Guardsman falls in battle, that don't go to a place similar to the Happy Hunting Grounds, Heaven or Valhalla? Sounds quite depressing really

.....40K much?

Well, maybe they do if the soul is still sentient in a way, in Battle for the Abyss their is a part where the Gellar Field of a ship fails and the pilot experiences his past and happy places, until he asplodes in blurple. Maybe, as the soul is energy, it has the same thing happen to it until it's either reborn, eaten or fades away.

Tadashi wrote: except for the souls of Imperial Saints, who may or not be Daemon Princes of the 'God-Emperor'.

Possibly the difference between the Emperor and the Chaos Gods is that he is only lending them an proportion of his power rather than transforming them into a follower. Or maybe he dishes out Psyker souls as treats?

Hey Sister, your doing awesomely well smiting those Heretics in my name, shame you took a bullet in the face though. Here have this awesome Psyker soul for awhile to kick ass again in my name!

Pilau Rice wrote:

Tadashi wrote: except for the souls of Imperial Saints, who may or not be Daemon Princes of the 'God-Emperor'.

Possibly the difference between the Emperor and the Chaos Gods is that he is only lending them an proportion of his power rather than transforming them into a follower. Or maybe he dishes out Psyker souls as treats?

Hey Sister, your doing awesomely well smiting those Heretics in my name, shame you took a bullet in the face though. Here have this awesome Psyker soul for awhile to kick ass again in my name!

Hey, it's been a while.

But isn't an Imperial Saint already transformed? Saint Sabbat got reincarnated after all - even if I usually have no liking for the Imperial Church, she is too badass to hate.



As I said badass...maybe they just get new powers from the old man...its been pointed out in this thread that our souls are basically warp-entities/daemons in mortal form.

Wasn't she a normal Sororita until she had the vision from the Emperor?

Pilau Rice wrote:Wasn't she a normal Sororita until she had the vision from the Emperor?

She was never a Sister...IIRC, her first incarnation was an inspired sheperd girl from Hagia who eventually came to lead an Imperial Crusade into the Sabbat Worlds (which were named after her). Her second incarnation was an ordinary girl who got killed by a Blood Pact tank...only to have the soul infused into Sanian, the same scholar girl who was present on Hagia in Gaunt's Ghosts: Honor Guard and was being used as a puppet saint by Lord General Lugo...ironic, as it turned out - she really did become a Saint, and I get the feeling Milo might become a Warmaster eventually, after all she said (and so far, she's the only Imperial Saint I really respect).

Tadashi wrote:

Pilau Rice wrote:Wasn't she a normal Sororita until she had the vision from the Emperor?

She was never a Sister...IIRC, her first incarnation was an inspired sheperd girl from Hagia who eventually came to lead an Imperial Crusade into the Sabbat Worlds (which were named after her). Her second incarnation was an ordinary girl who got killed by a Blood Pact tank...only to have the soul infused into Sanian, the same scholar girl who was present on Hagia in Gaunt's Ghosts: Honor Guard and was being used as a puppet saint by Lord General Lugo...ironic, as it turned out - she really did become a Saint, and I get the feeling Milo might become a Warmaster eventually, after all she said (and so far, she's the only Imperial Saint I really respect).

Hmm, ok, I assumed that she was involved with the military she was a Sister of Battle. I can't imagine that she wasn't part of the military.

I can't find much out about her.

Still, she possibly could have been your average Josephine until the Emperor got in touch.

She's closer to Joan of Arc, actually, much more so than a regular Sister. For one thing, none of her incarnations were of great importance at the beginning or were trained to be 'somebody' - a sheperd girl, an ordinary girl, and a scholar-turned puppet.