Where Did the Emperor of Mankind Come From? | Warhammer 40K Lore

Where did the Emperor of Mankind come from? Warhammer 40K lore gives four different origin stories, and every one of them was told by somebody who needed it to be true. ▶ Where I promised you this video, 10,000 Years of the Imperium: https://youtu.be/1w5s1lJGkTA ▶ Watch the whole Human Experience season first: https://youtu.be/tx2vB02MNQc Ten thousand years ago, a boy kneels over his father's skull in a village on a river. That's how the story is told. Who's doing the telling is half of what this video is about. This is the start of my series on the God-Emperor, from the river to the Golden Throne. I start with the oldest version of his origin, the shamans from the 1990 Realm of Chaos book. Then the boy on the Sakarya and his uncle, from The Master of Mankind. Then forty thousand years of scraps: the Perpetuals, Ollanius Persson, the tower, Mars and Molech. After that come the other theories, the Emperor as a weapon, the Old Ones, Molech again, and the question of who wanted us to believe which one. It ends on Terra at the end of the Age of Strife, in the Unification Wars, with the first Thunder Warriors. What's canon I tell you as canon. Where the books go quiet I say so, and where I'm reading between the lines it's marked as mine. Which of the four would you want to be true? Tell me in the comments. CHAPTERS 0:00 The Room at the Top of the Stair 1:50 A Boy on a River, 10,000 Years Ago 2:59 Who He Is, and Why We Don't Know 6:20 The Oldest Story: The Shamans 8:02 The Last Evening 12:02 The Boy on the Sakarya 14:56 Forty Thousand Years of Scraps 16:44 Ollanius Persson 18:43 Molech 19:34 The Other Origin Stories 24:52 Which One I Lean Towards 26:56 What He Knew About the Warp 29:47 Terra at the End of Old Night 32:00 Thunder Warriors 33:29 Next Time: Ararat THE HUMAN EXPERIENCE (the season before this one) Before the Imperium: https://youtu.be/tx2vB02MNQc The Great Crusade: https://youtu.be/wRa843ZpCZU The Great Betrayal: https://youtu.be/WlfJgk8uh0s 10,000 Years of the Imperium: https://youtu.be/1w5s1lJGkTA Where the channel starts, the War in Heaven: https://youtu.be/2ci42PX2xI8 Full 40K Lore Playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLVpV_V5-G_G8 🔔 Subscribe for the rest of the Emperor series: https://www.youtube.com/@ada-em?sub_confirmation=1 Independent fan project, not affiliated with or endorsed by Games Workshop. Warhammer 40,000 and all associated names, characters and lore are the property of Games Workshop Ltd. The scenes are paintings made for this video and brought to life as a motion comic in 2D and 3D. Script written by me. #Warhammer40k #EmperorOfMankind #40kLore