It took the cool, ambiguous myth and nailed it down into boring old canon "lore" (urgh). I think the focus on the heresy has sort of damaged the game, with people much too interested in having it all nailed down with every aspect of the backstory being explained and linked to the Heresy. Hah, I agree with your premise but not with your reasons behind it at all. I love 40k as much as you do, but I don't need even more ambiguity to my favorite setting, specifically it's backstory, when the Age of the Imperium already allows plenty for that. Even one of the biggest plot points - was the Horus Heresy planned by the Emperor and Malcador - is consistently argued by the fanbase. The Horus Heresy books just lead to even more questions than answers. They need to tell a story that leads coherently into what's next. It just works.īack stories need to be straightforward. So much information has been lost over 10k years. Different regiments, different Astartes chapters, etc. Plus, there is no uniformity within the Imperium. Each could write stories for 100 different worlds and still not even scratch the surface of the level of storytelling that is possible out there. The Age of the Imperium is vast enough to allow for ambiguity and multiple authors. It would be a different story because a different writer would have a different vision from what was originally intended.
![list of horus heresy novels list of horus heresy novels](https://tomeofnerd.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/Unremembered-Empire-banner.jpg)
His vision for Eisenhorn and the direction of the story would change completely. It's basically if you took Eisenhorn, and instead of Dan Abnett writing all of the books, you throw ADB halfway in the middle. You start going straight, things look promising, and then immediately take a sharp left turn. The recent Star Wars movies, for example, show just how if you take one director who has a vision he wants to create, then halfway throw in another director with a different vision, it creates inconsistency and confusion in the story you are trying to tell. Everyone interprets the Emperor's actions in their own way, which only goes to add more confusion to his character. There's no linear direction to who the Emperor is, what he wants, his actions, etc. He has multiple writers, each interpreting him in their own way.
![list of horus heresy novels list of horus heresy novels](https://www.belloflostsouls.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/white-dwarf-108-cover.jpg)
The fact that it's so large with so many books, each written by different authors, creates a level of ambiguity and confusion that is probably even greater than the Imperium itself.
![list of horus heresy novels list of horus heresy novels](https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/81RlVDvMmgL.jpg)
But the initial problem is the Horus Heresy, in terms of 40k, should have remained a time of legend, when the Emperor walked amongst mankind, was betrayed by his favorite son, and ascended to godhood on the Golden Throne.