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Thread for discussing any and all inspirations for Warhammer 40k.

General Setting

So basic setting itself is a combination of Warhammer Fantasy, Dune, Judge Dredd

Imperium of Man is based on WHF Empire of Man, which itself is based on the Holy Roman Empire. This can be seen easily from its rather feudal structure: Hive Lords rule the Imperium overall, but in general the central government is relatively distant and removed from everyday affairs.

Imperial Hive Cities seem to be based heavily if not entirely on megacities of Judge Dredd. Arbiters themselves are basically Judges.

Individual worlds, Space Marine chapters and Imperial Guard regiments are obviously based on historical cultures... or their stereotypes.

Space Wolves (Fenris) - Vikings
Ultramarines - Ancient Romans
White Scars - Mongols
Thousand Sons - Ancient Egypt
Imperial Fists - Holy Roman Empire (???)
Iron Warriors - Ancient Greece
Night Lords - Batman / Vampires
Iron Hands - ????
Word Bearers - Muslim Caliphates

Black Templars - Teutonic Knights

Tanith - Celts (specifically Scotland and Ireland).
Krieg - World War I Western Front (seem to be a combination of German and French)
Catachan - Predator Ahnold
Armageddon - World War I Western Front (combination of German and British?)
Athonos - ancient city-state Greece
Atilla - Mongols, duh
Brimlock - ???
Brontia - ???
Dieper III - Italian Alpine Corps
Drook IV - ???
Elysia - ??? (likely Greek-inspired due to name)
Faeburn - ???
Finreht - Scotland (Scottish Highlanders)
Formund - ???
Haephos - Ancient Greece
Hallicon - ??? (likely Greek-inspired due to name)
Harakon - World War II paratroopers
Huskovite - ??? (likely Russia - Muscovite)
Kaledon - Scotland, duh
Kanak - ???
Karlack - ???
Kashann - ??? (perhaps based on Casshan series)
Minerva - inter-War France ?
Moebia - ???
Mordian - Napoleonic Prussia
Mortessus - Scottish Highlands
Noctus - ???
Paragon - clan Ireland + Imperial Germany
Praetorians - British Redcoats (specifically, Anglo-Zulu war of 1879)
Pyria - British Life Guards
Savlar - Mad Max
Scintilla - 18th century French aristocracy
Semtexia - World War I German
Tallarn - World War I Arabia + Cold War Mujahedeen
Terrax - ???
Truskan Snowhounds - Finns???
Valhallan - World War II Red Army
Ventrillia - ??? (can be basically any medieval society)
Vitria - ???
Vostroya - World War I Imperial Russia

It’s more than just “clearly they’ve read X”.

2000AD as a whole, and Warhammer’s creators grew up in similar circumstances. Post-War, Post-Colonial, Post-Industrial Britain.

Football Hooliganism on the rise. Punk and Post-Punk music creativity. A changing urban landscape of Tower Blocks, Industrial Decay, Brutalist Architecture replacing rows of terraces and formerly quite fancy buildings bombed during the Second World War.

A period of massive unemployment, trade unions, riots, the rise of the nouveau riche, semi-regular terrorist attacks by the IRA etc etc etc.

All the pressures and paranoias that brought, translated into science-fiction.

And they’ve fed into each other. For instance, whilst a pretty modern Dreddiverse Tale, Dan Abentt has been upfront he borrowed heavily from 40k’s aesthetic when writing it, as did the artist Colin MacNeil.

The pop culture references are the same, because the writers were exposed to the same pop culture of sci-fi and fantasy. In the time before home media, it was whatever showed up on telly, or was showing in your local flea pit. Anime and Manga weren’t really a thing at that point, and wouldn’t really break in until Akira.


Mega-Blocks and Hive Cities are both reactions to high rise tower blocks. Built as a solution to post-war housing, and promised as villages in the sky. Sadly, they quickly devolved into crime ridden hell-holes.

The mutant phobic stuff comes from scary movies, and a pastiche of real-world anxiety about post-colonial immigration, and new people with different cultures and foods.

Space wolves are actually from a specific part of Norse lore: Ulfhethnar (Pronounced with the TH of Bathe, not bath- the symbol looked like a small loopy bit, so some historians use a small d.) Similar to the Berserks, they have an animal component they get their strength from- but Wolves are seen as a positive force, since Odin's wolves Freki and Geri are extremely loyal. Unlike Berserks, Ulfhethnar have a strong "pack" mentality and loyalty to their fellow fighters, so won't go all Kharn and start turn their axes on allies. This loyalty is embodied in the Space Wolves. Yes, they are savage barbarians- but their oaths are binding and absolute.

Also touching on wot Grotsnik said: Ad Mech imagery borrows very heavily from the movie Hardware .. which was a rip off from a 2000 AD story called SHOK!. So, here we are again with 2000AD references. Also remember that the Dredd story was a parody of 80's Americans done by Brits, so they weren't afraid to really tweak our noses. For example: the mega cities are ruled by fascists Judges, violence is rampant because everyone has big guns, outsiders are literally walled off (weird prophetic moment there if Trump gets his way), and the populace has dumbed down significantly and are mostly poor menials who dwell in giant high-rises ala Hive cities.

But- most new fans or casual gamers who get into 40k seem to misinterpret the Imperium as a standard of living. It is not, it is held up for ridicule of our modern world. case in point, my Dad spent an hour yesterday just trying to log in to the VA to see about his appointment that has been put off for 9 months now.. that would be a quick day compared to anything the Administratum would put out.

Anyhoo- I'd say Iron hands' motif is just "marine Ad Mech", since despite the naming conventions they don't use any Greek heraldry of a certain snake-haired sisterhood. Also- don't forget Catachans also have bits of Australians ("That not a Knoife!") and especially Rambo. I mean, Sly Marbo. Literally in the name.
Salamanders have the whole Dragon motif- but African blacksmithing was more advanced than European for a long time. One tribe even has a god of Iron, and there are stories that blacksmiths are were-hyenas.

To say 40K is influenced by x y or z is far too simple. Because as others have said x y and z were all influenced by similar things to 40K. Any mention of warhammer fantasy as an influence has mean an influence form Tolkien, which totally missing from your list.

All the marine chapters influences were add ons after the chapters were fleshed out, most marine chapters were just cool colour schemes and names at first.

You missed out dark angles and Lionel johnson influence, the name and the “secret”.

Then, as the hobby exploded in popularity 40K started soaking up other influences in ways to try and win business. The tau coming into the setting was a blatant mecha grab and nod to the Japanese market. Then there’s the destruction of the simple but beautiful horus heresey story, turning it into a emo fest and daddy angst, which appeals to a large proportion of the fan base.

Basically 40K is a melting pot of pop culture over the last 40 years. The big founding influences were clearly 2000AD, dune and Tolkien as well as 1970s/1980s Britain.

Arkan (homeworld of the guard seen in Fire Caste) - Seems to have an American roughly Civil War era/Old West thing going on.

Iron Hands - Not sure about the IH themselves, but their planet "Medusan" is a pun on Medusa the gorgon from Greek mythology, and their primarch was nicknamed "the Gorgon." Gorgons were known for their supernatural ugliness, so this puts him in direct contrast with his bff Fulgrim.

Blood Angels = Not necessary Italy, but like, Italian reneissance art in general.

Eldar = Lots of stuff:
* Kurnous is a reference to Cernos/Cernunos.
* Isha/Lileath/the Morai-Heg are associated in several ways with the concepts of the Mother/Maiden/Crone making them a reference to the mother/maiden/crone triple goddess concept. Now, that concept is actually a lot less common than a lot of people believe, but it *is* fairly common in late 20th century neopaganism where the triple goddess is often paired with/in contrast to Kurnous. So I'm inclined to think that a fair bit of the eldar references come by way of neopaganism rather than OG versions of the things they're based on.

* Biel-Tan/Saim-Hann are references to the holidays Beltane and Samhain.

* The webway is sort of kind of an analogue to the land of Fairy; or at least to the concept of fairy circles/ways of traveling.

* Asurmen probably has a smidge of some sort of eastern influence given that he has a big ol' Yin-Yang symbol on his chest. I'd posit that they had something like martial arts dojos on their brain when they came up with him.

* This is a stretch, but I feel like Yvraine, the lady with necromancy powers and a cat, might be a reference to the Arthurian night Ywain, the guy with healing powers and a lion.

Nurlge - Vaguely based on Nergal from Mesopotamia. He's associated with Death, but that's about where the similarities end.

Necrons - Seem to have an ancient Egypt thing going on, sorta kinda. I feel like this is largely absent now save for the "beards" and the scarabs.

Thanks!

And yeah, Necrons IIRC started out as a Space Tomb Kings, who themselves are basically Egyptian fantasy mummies.