Warhammer 40K fans celebrated the world’s first academic conference on the hobby

I don’t know about you, but I often take the time to ask myself the big questions. Where do I want to be in five years? Do I believe in an afterlife? And what do the political and economic systems of the Imperium of Man mean? Warhammer 40,000what tradition says about human nature?

It’s exciting to see academics agree, with many coming together to create the world’s first academic conference dedicated to all things Warhammer. (Unfortunately this only includes 40K, so no big deal Age of Sigmar.) The two-day conference was held at the University of Heidelberg, Germany, with iconic artist John Blanche as the keynote speaker.

While much of the Warhammer hobby involves big, bombastic battles between Space Marines – often referred to as ‘bolter porn’ by the fanbase – the novels also cover a surprising amount of ground when it comes to theological, philosophical and intellectual matters. . In both the Horus Heresy series and modern writing, you can find characters arguing about the true nature of divinity, human nature, and the government’s obligation to man.

Sure, sometimes the people making these arguments are the 8-foot-tall Roboute Guilliman, son of the Emperor, and his space elf companion, but that doesn’t make the writing any less interesting. The First Book of the Horus Heresy, Horus rises by Dan Abnett, is actually largely made up of characters discussing the purpose of the Great Crusade and the Empire itself. Not every book spends so much time building an intellectual framework, but it’s great to see that academics have noticed the depth of the setting and are celebrating it at a conference.