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Would you guys say this is about right?

I believe that in Unremembered Empire it was implied that Guilliman was not too much over 9' and that The Lion and Sanguinius were a touch taller. So I'd call 9'4" a decent size.

Though of course some Primarchs were shorter or taller than others. (e.g. Vulkan was a giant even compared to his brothers while Lorgar was a little shorter than average [and of course we had the midget Alpharius])

So yeah, I'd call it just about accurate.

Space Marines are just barely 7ft (on average) get too much higher and they'll be constantly bumping their heads on the ceiling when indoors (their biggest weakness).

You will find that Marine height is one of the most inconsistent factors in 40k. Sources range between 6 and 10ft. Take your pick.

 Ashiraya wrote:
You will find that Marine height is one of the most inconsistent factors in 40k. Sources range between 6 and 10ft. Take your pick.

That's unfortunately the truth of the matter, so yeah they're any height you want them to be and are able to change height to whatever is convenient for the plot because they're shapeshifters after all.

Or like the humans they used to be, they vary in size, so some could be 6ft and half while others could hit about 8ft. Its not like one of the process of making SM is making sure they're all the same height.

 Ashiraya wrote:
You will find that Marine height is one of the most inconsistent factors in 40k. Sources range between 6 and 10ft. Take your pick.

Source for 10 ft?

There are famously some big marines who required custom armor, but the stated average is clearly seven. The clearest source I can think of is the Chaos Codex, pg 36: "Space Marines stand seven feet tall. . ."

 Bobthehero wrote:
Or like the humans they used to be, they vary in size, so some could be 6ft and half while others could hit about 8ft. Its not like one of the process of making SM is making sure they're all the same height.

From a logistical standpoint it would be beneficial for them to all be about the same size, to they didn't have to bother with different sizes of armor. "Uhh, sorry brother, we don't have a replacement leg piece in your size. You'll have to go without for a battle or two."

(I'd guess that this is probably not the case, and that some aspects of the armor may be adjustable, or individual plates can be manufactured and replaced. On the flipside, I'd guess Terminator Armor is probably less tight fitting, but also more of a one-size fits all in most cases.) Terminator armor clearly adds height, as the suit rises quite a bit past the head. The boots might add height as well for increased support/magnetic grip/stompiness/whatever, but probably not by much. An additional inch or two maybe.

LightKing wrote:



Would you guys say this is about right?

Works for me - most useful

The chart works for me too, my head canon has Marines at 7' so basically each rank is one head taller than the next.

Peoples 6'
Marines 7'
Primarchs/Terminator armor 8'
Emperor 9'

Going on the old Jes Goodwin pic
(this one):


Unfortunately, in the full picture, it starts at 1' which is at the GROUND level - Which means the only reason a marine is 7' is because of his 1' platform boots.

 Insectum7 wrote:


Source for 10 ft?

ADB's rightly praised Night Lords series leaps to mind.

I myself decided to go for 9' Marines (with sources such as the Last Detail). 9' is around my favourite height in science/fantasy because it is clearly superhuman and terrifyingly massive, but 10' and bigger starts to feel rather excessive (outside super special cases like Primarchs).

Pausanius from McNeill's Ultramarines is very tall for a space marine, to the point where its mentioned his armour has been customised by adding bits of terminator armour (not sure why, also probably heresy).

I'm not sure if this is backed up by any official source, but I've always imagined that the primarchs weren't as stocky as marines (barring a few exceptions) having proportions more on par with a regular human athlete.

Also, the generic human is probably too tall. >6 feet is by no means generic in our time, let alone in 40k where the average citizen is given backbreaking amounts of manual labour and the bare minimum amount of rations to survive.

I'm firmly in the camp of 6ft Human, 7ft Astartes, 8ft Termie/Primarch, 8.5ft Primarch Termie (9ft Vulkan ). I don't consider the Emperor to be any bigger than a Primarch. If anything, I like the idea that he's smaller - that it's his sheer personality that commands attention rather than relying on physical threat.

 Blackhair Duckshape wrote:
I'm not sure if this is backed up by any official source, but I've always imagined that the primarchs weren't as stocky as marines (barring a few exceptions) having proportions more on par with a regular human athlete.

+1
Marines are freaks of nature with all sorts of implants that make them seem more like fleshy beats and less like humans. Primarchs would lack implants, and only have 1 heart for instance.

 Exergy wrote:

 Blackhair Duckshape wrote:
I'm not sure if this is backed up by any official source, but I've always imagined that the primarchs weren't as stocky as marines (barring a few exceptions) having proportions more on par with a regular human athlete.

+1
Marines are freaks of nature with all sorts of implants that make them seem more like fleshy beats and less like humans. Primarchs would lack implants, and only have 1 heart for instance.

I could be mistaken, but doesn't Magnus destroy "one of" Leman's hearts in their duel, thereby implying that Leman has a spare?

 Unusual Suspect wrote:

 Exergy wrote:

 Blackhair Duckshape wrote:
I'm not sure if this is backed up by any official source, but I've always imagined that the primarchs weren't as stocky as marines (barring a few exceptions) having proportions more on par with a regular human athlete.

+1
Marines are freaks of nature with all sorts of implants that make them seem more like fleshy beats and less like humans. Primarchs would lack implants, and only have 1 heart for instance.

I could be mistaken, but doesn't Magnus destroy "one of" Leman's hearts in their duel, thereby implying that Leman has a spare?

From what I could understand, Primarchs have the same functions and organs as Space Marines, but rather than having them implanted, they were born with the organs present. That said, I'm not sure they'd have all of the organs - for example, if they were genetically coded to be bigger than a human, they wouldn't need the organs that promote bone and muscle growth like a SM does, because they would 'naturally' grow to those proportions - which a human seeking to become a SM would need. But for stuff like two hearts and the Betcher's gland, I'd imagine they are genetically constructed to develop those 'naturally'.

 Kid_Kyoto wrote:
The chart works for me too, my head canon has Marines at 7' so basically each rank is one head taller than the next.

Peoples 6'
Marines 7'
Primarchs/Terminator armor 8'
Emperor 9'

IMHO I dislike that GW made them so freakishly large. Marines' greatest strengths are their discipline, zeal and perseverance. They're not big brutes like the Orks.

Well, we already know that scale is 'wrong' and even if it was right, WTF is up with the Emperor being 9' tall?

Nine feet is because being eight inches taller than someone is not impressive, it has to be an entire foot or it doesn't count. I should know, one of my buddies is a former primarch and he has no respect for anyone who is under a foot taller than he is.