New Horus Heresy Anthology Ignites Debate on Emperor’s True Form and Golden Throne

A recent Horus Heresy anthology has sparked intense discussion among Warhammer 40,000 fans about the Emperor’s true appearance and the Golden Throne’s reality, hinting that two iconic early artworks may hold canonical significance.

Era of Ruin, an anthology of short stories concluding the Horus Heresy saga—a civil war pitting loyalist against traitor Space Marines 10,000 years before the current Warhammer 40,000 timeline—crashed Warhammer.com’s servers during its special edition preorder launch. The Horus Heresy culminated in the Emperor’s victory over his Chaos-corrupted son, Horus Lupercal, saving the Imperium of Man. Yet, the cost was immense: the gravely wounded Emperor was enshrined on the Golden Throne, sustained as a decaying figure by the daily sacrifice of countless psykers.

John Blanche’s iconic depiction of the God-Emperor, shown below, is etched in the minds of Warhammer 40,000 fans—a grim, skeletal figure, barely present in the 41st millennium.

But does this image reflect the Emperor’s true form? The anthology’s final story, The Carrion Lord of the Imperium by Aaron Dembski-Bowden, suggests otherwise, portraying Blanche’s artwork as a mere in-universe image, not the Emperor’s reality.

In The Carrion Lord of the Imperium, Diocletian Coros, a Prefect of the Legio Custodes—the Emperor’s elite bodyguard—visits the Emperor centuries after the Horus Heresy. The narrative intensifies:

“Through the doors, the secret doors, hidden behind ornate gateways adorned with symbols of triumph,” the story reads. “Beyond the carved depiction of the Immortal Emperor: a gaunt, skull-faced sorcerer on a grand throne, eternally poised between life and death, commanding in His grandeur.

“Through that final portal, unlocked only by a tribune’s blood and sealed with locks that take an hour to open.”

Pause here. The story implies that the familiar image of the Emperor, shaped by Blanche’s art, is a “carved depiction”—propaganda within the Warhammer 40,000 universe. This image isn’t for humanity, who haven’t ventured this deep into the Palace for generations, but for the audience and a select few in-universe characters.

This raises a question: if this isn’t the Emperor’s true form, what is? The story continues:

“Within the innermost chamber, where the walls pulse with an eerie, organic quality, almost spine-like. Diocletian nears the Golden Throne, such as it is, as his kin—clad only in cloaks, loincloths, and black helms—step aside in respect.

“He climbs the steps. Slowly. With reverence, but not the blind devotion the Imperium’s masses expect. They would be appalled by its absence; indeed, this entire place would shock them. That’s why they’ll never know it exists.

“At last, Diocletian stands before his sovereign.

“He gazes beyond the tangled wires resembling entrails, the humming life-support systems, and the mist sprayed every nine seconds to preserve what remains. He sees past the blood bags and nutrient packets feeding the figure on the throne—a mere chair compared to the glorified artworks: a throne without the mythic weight that both curses and saves humanity.

“He beholds a withered remnant, once a man, now barely clinging to life by mortal standards. A tortured being, physically emaciated yet psychically gorged on the souls it consumes daily in its unending, agonizing existence.

“Or does it choose this? Perhaps it relishes the feast. Perhaps it hungers.”

The story’s final section offers more, but the core is clear: the Emperor here differs starkly from Blanche’s art (“a throne without the capital T”). It describes Adeptus Custodes in black helms, wires like entrails, blood bags, and preservative mist.

Some fans link this to a 1987 Rogue Trader rulebook illustration, Warhammer 40,000’s first edition, depicting the Emperor with blood bags, mist, intestinal wires, and black-helmed Custodes.

Warhammer 40,000 fans are thrilled by this story, which not only references two classic Emperor depictions—potentially canonizing them—but embraces the grim-dark essence of the setting. If fans are correct, Era of Ruin elevates a 28-year-old artwork into a pivotal revelation about the Emperor’s true nature.

John Blanche has previously noted in interviews that his art wasn’t meant to show the “real” Emperor but an image for pilgrims arriving at Terra, believing it to be the God-Emperor’s throne. The “real” Emperor, he suggests, lies in a glass tube behind this facade, wired to machinery. Thus, fans have been misled.

Black Library author Dan Abnett, a key figure in Warhammer 40,000 lore, has echoed this, even questioning the throne room’s existence in interviews.

Whatever Games Workshop plans for the Emperor—some speculate he’s awakening—Era of Ruin provides the clearest glimpse yet into the Golden Throne and the decaying Emperor within. It revitalizes early Warhammer 40,000 art, making it newly relevant as the setting pushes forward.