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Of all the races in 40k the Craftworld eldar are the ones i know the least about so i have a quick question..

Are the Eldar cold ruthless killers like most of the other races in 40k? Like do they have a no prisoners tradition like most other races? do they take slaves? and do they shoot surrendering Guardsmen etc?

Because ive always thought that along with the Tau the eldar are the only merciful race in the 40k universe wanted to know if this was true or not.

Eldar Aspect Warriors are extremely brutal. I remember a part in Path of the Warrior where the main character, a Dire Avenger, gunned down three defenseless children and their mother simply because they were unlucky enough to be in a certain estate that the Eldar had attacked.

EDIT: That being said, there are some merciful Eldar. Like that one who relocated a group of Imperial colonists instead of simply going in and slaughtering them all.

Just remembered it depends on the Craftworld also like the Scorpion temple eldar are pretty brutal and are untrustworthy but i remember there being one eldar craftworld that is actually allied with the imperium Biel'tan i think? the green and white ones

 Coolyo294 wrote:
Eldar Aspect Warriors are extremely brutal. I remember a part in Path of the Warrior where the main character, a Dire Avenger, gunned down three defenseless children and their mother simply because they were unlucky enough to be in a certain estate that the Eldar had attacked.

EDIT: That being said, there are some merciful Eldar. Like that one who relocated a group of Imperial colonists instead of simply going in and slaughtering them all.

,
That is not entirely true. They were killed because they were tainted by Chaos. The Inquisition would do the same anyways

One has to keep in mind that Aspect warriors aren't realy themselfs in combat. Their personality in combat and their "true" civlian personality are separated from each other ( at least that was the Path of the Warrior explanation).

 KingDeath wrote:
One has to keep in mind that Aspect warriors aren't realy themselfs in combat. Their personality in combat and their "true" civlian personality are separated from each other ( at least that was the Path of the Warrior explanation).

Its is also how the codex puts it. Once the helm is donned (the end of their ritual preparation for battle) their psyche is completely focused on their selected aspect of khain. Be it Dire avenger or other. The exarchs are those who lose themselves and no matter what, their psyche is permanently in the warlike mindset.... love me some eldar XD *que nerd sqee

Brother Chaplain Haigh wrote:
Just remembered it depends on the Craftworld also like the Scorpion temple eldar are pretty brutal and are untrustworthy but i remember there being one eldar craftworld that is actually allied with the imperium Biel'tan i think? the green and white ones

...Biel-tan are the nastiest and most racial-supremacist xenophobes of the entirety of the Eldar. Ulthwe is the closest thing to 'friendly' towards humans that you'll get amongst the Eldar, mostly because they're willing to set aside racism and grudges in pursuit of stopping Chaos in a way that few other Craftworlds are.

The thing to remember about the Eldar is that all the tales about them being vicious random untrustworthy buggers are written from the Imperial point of view. The Eldar have pretty good precognitive abilities, meaning their entire high-level strategy is devoted to directing the universe down a path on which they survive and flourish, ignoring essentially every other consideration. The problem with their relations with humanity is that the Eldar give preserving the life of anyone else zero importance in their calculations, so it's a matter of two civilizations devoted to ensuring their own species comes out on top running into each other. They'll work together if it turns out to be necessary, but both sides are perfectly happy to sit back and let the other burn or light the torch themselves if it'd serve their own purposes.

Well i would still rather have my colony attacked by eldar than dark eldar lol

Brother Chaplain Haigh wrote:
Well i would still rather have my colony attacked by eldar than dark eldar lol

gods id not let them take me alive who else wants a grenade vest?
and no not the emp or photon verity were not making them laugh to death!

It depends on their mission. Eldar will kill 150,000,000 humans to save 1 Eldar life if need be. They will massacre entire worlds mercilessly if their Seers tell them too. Many however will also show mercy to innocent humans if it doesn't interfere with their mission.

The Eldar are brutal, ruthless killers but they're not cruel. Those that enjoy cruelty will have their soul swallowed up by Slaanesh or get banished and become Dark Eldar, so you won't find sadistic Craftworlders. That's the key difference between them and many other factions....And their Webway cousins.

 Harriticus wrote:


The Eldar are brutal, ruthless killers but they're not cruel. Those that enjoy cruelty will have their soul swallowed up by Slaanesh or get banished and become Dark Eldar, so you won't find sadistic Craftworlders. That's the key difference between them and many other factions....And their Webway cousins.

Pretty much...and they will look down on every non-Eldar sapient in the galaxy. For people who consider themselves as above animals like Humans and Orks, the Eldar have a very Human (or rather, animalistic/primitive) worldview:

Humans: Non-Humans are filth only fit to burn.

Eldar: Non-Eldar are just primitive brutes/children/animals only good as pawns.

Orks: Green iz bezt!

...

The three most dominant species in the galaxy aren't all that different.

Eldar think Humans are an inferior species, however they generally respect their right to live unless their deaths directly move ahead some plan to protect Eldar life. Craftworld Eldar very rarely if ever kill humans out of spite. Humanity on the other hand would think nothing of going out of its way to burn a maiden world to the ground for the lulz.

BlaxicanX wrote:
Eldar think Humans are an inferior species, however they generally respect their right to live unless their deaths directly move ahead some plan to protect Eldar life. Craftworld Eldar very rarely if ever kill humans out of spite. Humanity on the other hand would think nothing of going out of its way to burn a maiden world to the ground for the lulz.

Eh, not really. As much as I'd love to launch a galaxy-scouring crusade meant to reduce every Craftworld into burned-out husks and Maiden Worlds turned into Imperial Worlds, the Imperium does not have the motivation or resources for such a campaign. Anyway (coughs)...my point is, despite all their claims of "Oh, we're better than that!" or "We're above such crude emotions or thoughts!", they're not really all that different from Humans or even the Orks when it comes to their world view. Physical abilities and technology may make one superior, but not necessarily different.

Show a non-Eldar to an Eldar and you'll get disdain. Show a non-Human to a Human and you get disgust. Show a non-Ork to an Ork and you get, well, violence. Get my point?

Not having the capabilities to perform the act isn't related to the mindset, which is what we're talking about.

if the Imperium had the means, they would wipe out every single Eldar in the Galaxy. The reverse wouldn't be true for Eldar.

BlaxicanX wrote:
Not having the capabilities to perform the act isn't related to the mindset, which is what we're talking about.

if the Imperium had the means, they would wipe out every single Eldar in the Galaxy. The reverse wouldn't be true for Eldar.

The Imperium has the means...except doing so would result in a victory so hollow as to be meaningless. The same goes for the Eldar. And I'm pretty sure Eldrad once mentioned he couldn't care less about Mankind getting wiped out.

The Imperium does not have the means to exterminate the Eldar from the Galaxy.

Eldrad is one individual out of billions.

BlaxicanX wrote:
The Imperium does not have the means to exterminate the Eldar from the Galaxy.

It does. What it doesn't have is the opportunity or immediate need to so.

Eldrad is one individual out of billions.

And before his death was the greatest living leader of the Eldar.

 Tadashi wrote:

It does. What it doesn't have is the opportunity

Ergo, they do not have the means to do so.

The Imperium has no way of dealing with webway, anyway.

And before his death was the greatest living leader of the Eldar.

Which is a non-sequiter.

Eldar would kill every living Human on planet ( yes, that includes women, children and old Humans ) if that is in their interest. They don't take prisoners, ever.

Tau are little different, they would conquer the planet and keep the population under their rule, slowly converting it t other "Grater Good" dogma. And most of their prisoners work in mines for the rest of their life.

Well to be fair, when your race is slowly dying out one migth become less than friendly towards other races and such. But yes Eldar can be quite ruthless if need be.

 Brother Captain Alexander wrote:


Tau are little different, they would conquer the planet and keep the population under their rule, slowly converting it t other "Grater Good" dogma. And most of their prisoners work in mines for the rest of their life.

Space Communists. Or commie fishes.

 Tadashi wrote:

 Brother Captain Alexander wrote:
Tau are little different, they would conquer the planet and keep the population under their rule, slowly converting it to their "Greater Good" dogma. And most of their prisoners work in mines for the rest of their life.

anime fan Space Communists. Or commie fishes.

I see very little difference between the Eldar and Tau in how their civilisations work. It's just that the Tau are all for the community, but Eldar are the community for the Eldar.

The Eldar's view of other species is probably similar to what ours would be like if we had to live in a world dominated by chimps today. Not Planet of the Apes chimps, but actual chimpanzees!

They are annoyed that they are not on top of the pile anymore but know that it is their own fault. Not trying to wipe out the others but not really viewing them as equal so when needs must they are prepared to show no mercy. If you saw a chimp with a hammer hitting an unexploded nuclear bomb, wouldn't you try to stop it? That is what they see humans like with chaos. The chimps don't know that what they are doing is very dangerous, but that won't stop them either taking the bomb away from the chimps or having to kill the chimps because these chimps are too stupid to be shooed away!

 monkeypuzzle wrote:
The Eldar's view of other species is probably similar to what ours would be like if we had to live in a world dominated by chimps today. Not Planet of the Apes chimps, but actual chimpanzees!

They are annoyed that they are not on top of the pile anymore but know that it is their own fault. Not trying to wipe out the others but not really viewing them as equal so when needs must they are prepared to show no mercy. If you saw a chimp with a hammer hitting an unexploded nuclear bomb, wouldn't you try to stop it? That is what they see humans like with chaos. The chimps don't know that what they are doing is very dangerous, but that won't stop them either taking the bomb away from the chimps or having to kill the chimps because these chimps are too stupid to be shooed away!

Planet of the Apes...my first response was nuke 'em before they reach the point. Hasn't really changed all that much really...except now I would subject all primate habitats to neutron bombardment.

CW Eldar will only kill humans if necessary. Corsairs are just asses.

 Tadashi wrote:

BlaxicanX wrote:
Not having the capabilities to perform the act isn't related to the mindset, which is what we're talking about.

if the Imperium had the means, they would wipe out every single Eldar in the Galaxy. The reverse wouldn't be true for Eldar.

The Imperium has the means...except doing so would result in a victory so hollow as to be meaningless. The same goes for the Eldar. And I'm pretty sure Eldrad once mentioned he couldn't care less about Mankind getting wiped out.

They can't really. Finding the Craftworlds is hard enough and assaulting even 1 results in an enormous campaign. An entire Imperial Battefleet (i.e. the ships for an entire Sector) were wiped out trying to destroy a Craftworld. Yes they could eventually grind the Eldar down through attrition if they somehow cornered them and prevented their fleet from bolting, but it'd waste resources the Imperium can't spend given the Tyrannic Wars, Armageddon, 13th Black Crusade, constant rebellions, etc..

 Tadashi wrote:

BlaxicanX wrote:
Eldar think Humans are an inferior species, however they generally respect their right to live unless their deaths directly move ahead some plan to protect Eldar life. Craftworld Eldar very rarely if ever kill humans out of spite. Humanity on the other hand would think nothing of going out of its way to burn a maiden world to the ground for the lulz.

Eh, not really. As much as I'd love to launch a galaxy-scouring crusade meant to reduce every Craftworld into burned-out husks and Maiden Worlds turned into Imperial Worlds, the Imperium does not have the motivation or resources for such a campaign. Anyway (coughs)...my point is, despite all their claims of "Oh, we're better than that!" or "We're above such crude emotions or thoughts!", they're not really all that different from Humans or even the Orks when it comes to their world view. Physical abilities and technology may make one superior, but not necessarily different.

Show a non-Eldar to an Eldar and you'll get disdain. Show a non-Human to a Human and you get disgust. Show ANYTHING to an Ork and you get, well, violence. Get my point?

Fixd that for you

The Imperium has the resources to destroy the eldar ten fold they just cant spare enough forces to do so, I mean the Eldar are probably weaker and less numerous than the Tau and the Imperium has been on the Tau's doorstep and nearly exterminated them all TWICE they just had to cancel the crusade and divert there troops because of chaos crusades from the eye.

Although for those who haven't read the Grey Knights Novels a Greyknight was once captured by Chaos shortly before Abaddons 13th Crusade and sent to a deamon world to be used as a Gladiator for the populations entertainment and there he befriended an Eldar and the two basically became best of friends and helped each other out alot sort of like the friendship between the Black guy and spartacus in the Gladiator movie. The eldar also enlightened the greyknight on some of the Imperiums extreme views on Eldar and the space marine did the same and dismissed everything the eldar believe about humanity. (wont post spoilers)

But the greyknight walked away believing Eldar to be the same as humans..

As I recall the situation Biel'tan forces worked along side IG forces to combat a mutual threat and once they were victorious the Biel'tan forces turned around and shot the IG up.
Biel'tan is rated as the most militant of the CW Eldar and although they hate Orks for the havok they have wrought on Eldar maiden worlds.
They also don't like anyone else on them either like IoM colonies.

Even if Eldar were the ONLY non-Imperium faction in the entire Galaxy, the Imperium still wouldn't be able to exterminate the Eldar from the Galaxy.

Because Webway.