“Everybody, everywhere is f—ked”: Henry Cavill’s Warhammer 40K Lore Makes ‘Game of Thrones’ Universe Look Like a Fairy Tale

Forget the Red Wedding or the Battle of Bastards, nothing comes close to the layered tragedy of Warhammer 40K, a strategic tabletop multiplayer game that has been adapted by Henry Cavill into a live-action franchise. The game, like most good things in this world, is not without its flaws, but the only glaring one in the case of Warhammer seems to be the bleak, dystopian, and utterly hopeless condition of the universe that its factions live in.

The more one dives into the lore of Warhammer 40K, the more one understands the depraved and amoral brutality that guides all life in the universe. Starting from the classically evil Imperium to the Orwellian overlords, nothing is as it seems in the Warhammer universe, insomuch that it makes the gritty, exhibitionist and emotionally exploitative world of Game of Thrones seem like child’s play.

Warhammer 40K Proves Far Superior to Game of Thrones

For a game, Warhammer 40,000 is far too cruel to be considered popular. Marred by grimdark lore, the prelude to the Warhammer universe is colored by tragedy and horror. Burdened with the knowledge that there is nothing good or moral about this universe that one can stand behind or actively represent, it quickly becomes clear that the only faction resembling a protagonist would be considered a villain in any other setting outside the game.

As a Reddit user, Palidane7, perceptively pointed out:

When you first start learning about 40k, you read about the different races, and think the great tragedy is that there are no good guys. The Imperium is a hell-ish dystopia that combines all the worst aspects of both Nazi Germany and the Inquisition-era Catholic Church. The Eldar are insanely narcissistic pricks with Chronic Backstabbing Disorder… The Tau are a slave race controlled by Orwellian overlords who use pheromones and chemicals to mindr*pe their subjects into being docile and subservient.

These are our protagonists! These are the people we actively root for! Factions that would be cartoonishly one-dimensional villains in any other setting are the closest thing to heroes we’ve got. You think the worst thing about 40k is that the morality scale is so far off the deep end, your only choices are “black as night” or “all consuming abyss of Eldritch hunger”… 

Within such a universe, it becomes difficult to maintain a balance between integrity and villainy. There is no spectrum to divide these two traits from each other. They co-exist in every faction and dictate every action within the Warhammer universe.

Then after a few weeks, when you’ve gotten caught up on the lore, you think the overarching tragedy is that everybody, everywhere, is f–ked, and no one can do a goddamn thing about it… Every day will be worse than the day before it until we hit some kind of awfulness critical mass and everything just ceases to be.

In the world of Game of Thrones, both Rhaenyra and Daenerys Targaryen refused to rule over a kingdom of ash and bone. They sought what was rightfully theirs by birthright but without the bloodshed and sacrifice to accompany it. In Warhammer 40,000, it is not a matter of whether there will be a kingdom left to rule over or not – “the only real question is which of the half-dozen unspeakable abominations currently killing the Imperium will be ruling the ashes.”

Warhammer Universe Brings Out the Worst in Humanity

The universal truth about the Warhammer universe is reflected within its introductory preamble:

“Forget the power of technology and science, for so much has been forgotten, never to be re-learned. Forget the promise of progress and understanding, for in the grim darkness of the far future, there is only war. There is no peace amongst the stars, only an eternity of carnage and slaughter, and the laughter of thirsting gods.”

One may struggle to cope with the depressive hopelessness of the Warhammer universe and adapt one’s mentality to the ethical and moral structures of a new world order. The purpose of Warhammer 40K is not to illustrate the fact that a world divided will surely face a doomed fate. Rather, it reminds its players of the complexity of mankind, i.e. the ingrained prejudice, hatred, hubris, or cynicism that holds people back from resolving their differences, helping each other, and living in mutual harmony.

Meanwhile, Game of Thrones casts a strategic web of power and politics to resolve a situation or resorts to outright murder and assassination to remove a thorn in its side. Warhammer 40K is much more subtle in its design. Power and gold matter little to the factions of this in-game universe. Survival, by whatever means necessary, is the only thing that matters. In the words of Palidane7:

In the 10,000 years since the Horus Heresy, humanity has sacrificed happiness, mercy, compassion, empathy, tolerance, peace, and hope on the anvil of survival. The truest tragedy of 40k isn’t that life is a perpetual waking nightmare for no reason. The truest tragedy is that life is a perpetual waking nightmare because that is the only kind of life that can survive in the 41st Millennium.

In the Time of Ending, the only question left is whether it would have been better for humanity to face our extinction standing tall, soul pure and undefiled, than to fall this low in our rage against the dying of the light.

Henry Cavill‘s live-action franchise is set to feature the actor himself in a leading role. Cavill also currently serves as the executive producer of the series with a promise to deliver a fully realized Warhammer Cinematic Universe to the audience. After his abrupt departure from The Witcher, Cavill’s primary concern remains to stick true to the source material and bring as true an adaptation as possible to the screens.

Made in collaboration with the original creator of Warhammer 40,000, Games Workshop, Henry Cavill plans to launch the dystopian, futuristic, sci-fi series on Prime Video in 2025.