Warhammer 40K: Nine Of The Grimdark’s Biggest Retcons
Let’s talk about a few times 40K underwent some major retcons.
Warhammer 40,000 has a long history. This is true both in-game and in real life. It’s a setting filled with a thousand storylines full of mystery and contradiction. Over the decades since the 1980s, 40K has undergone a few, just a few, retcons. These changed what we had been told was true (or as true as anything in the Grimdark is) to something altogether new. Today, let us take a look at a few major changes that, for better or worse, reshaped the setting.
9. Female Custodes
This is the most recent of the major retcons. Up until recently, it was thought that the Adeptus Custodies, much like the Space Marines, were all male. However, a recent short story confirmed the existence of female Custodian Guard. On top of that GW, confirmed that they have been around since the formation of the Adeptus Custodes. While this retcon doesn’t have a huge impact on the fluff it does open up interesting avenues and provides for more representation.
8. The Squats Are Dead
The Squats were a major army in the dawn times of 40K. For a couple of editions, they battled across the tabletop. Then… they vanished. It was never really officially stated what happened. However, the generally accepted view was that they had been wiped out…maybe by the Tyranids…maybe. It was also possible they had never existed. That was until 2022. Then GW decided to bring them back as the Leagues of Votann. With some major retcons on their history and lore. Good times!
7. The Origins of the Deathwatch
Originally it was stated that the Deathwatch were formed during the Apocryphon Conclave of Orphite IV. This was a grand conclave of the Ordo Xenos. At it, the Inquisition debated how best to deal with the rising threats to the Imperium, in particular the many Xenos races. Ultimately the Inquisition met with a large gathering of Chapter Masters. They agreed that a dedicated force of anti-Xenos veterans would work best. Thus was born the Deathwatch.
Sometime later, Black Library went back and retconned this origin. Under the new story, the Deathwatch was formed during the War of the Beast. During this conflict, the Imperial Fist’s Chapter Master and Lord Commander of the Imperium realized that he needed small, dedicated strike teams of veterans to help win the war. The original squads were formed out of survivors from other conflicts in the war. After their usefulness was proved, they gained a permanent role in the Imperium.
6. X – Was Here All Along
This is kind of a catch-all category and comes up a lot. Prior to 8th Edition and the Great Rift, there wasn’t a lot of technical innovation among the races of 40K. This was especially true when it comes to the Imperium. Thus, when the game designers wanted to add something new to the game, they often would simply go back and retcon things so that, of course, that thing was here all along. Heck, it’s been used for thousands of years. You, uh, you just never saw it. Space Marines are the most visible targets of this. However, other factions, such as the Astra Militarium, have gotten the treatment (like that of Rogal Dorn above). Arguably, the Adeptus Custodes have been the most affected by these changes. They had an entire army worth of variety retconned into existence after decades of only existing in the original 1980s Rogue Trader book.
5. Why the Alpha Legion Turned
You could maybe argue that this wasn’t a retcon at all. Early on, I’m not sure we ever had a clear reason why the Alpha Legion turned traitor. Still, it was readily assumed, and hinted at, that the Alpha Legion, like the other fallen Legions, had been slowly corrupted by the forces of Chaos. Ultimately they joined Horus when he called them to his side. However, the novel Legion retconned things. It made the Alpha Legion secretly loyal. It was revealed that they had turned traitor at the behest of an Xenos Cabal. This was in order to ultimately thwart the plans of Chaos. It was also revealed/retconned that the Alpha Legion had not one but two Primarchs, identical twins hidden from all.
4. The Horus Heresy
Honestly, pretty much every aspect of the Horus Heresy has been retconned at some point. In many cases, parts of it have been retconned multiple times. Even when something hasn’t been explicitly retconned, you often have multiple competing stories that seem like retcons. However, the biggest retcon is probably in its existence. The Heresy was not mentioned in the original 40K lore, though there was mention of a long-ago Civil War. It was first introduced as a concept in Adeptus Titanicus to justify using the same titans for both sides.
However, at that point, it was still simply an Imperial civil war, and not a Chaos driven plot to destroy the Galaxy. It wasn’t until later in the Realm of Chaos books that the Heresy would begin to take its current modern form.
3. Eldar/Human Ultramarines
Look, early 40K was really weird (at least compared to what we’ve come to know), and a lot of things that were true back in Rogue Trader have slowly been retconned away. Now, a certain number of those retcons fall under the “well, you didn’t know the whole story” or “this was there all along” category, or even the “might be true” or “just some random propaganda”. One of the oddest things, though, was the Imperium’s view towards Xenos at the time. Suffering not the Xenos to live is such a cornerstone of 40K that it has become its own meme, and the Imperium’s opposition to Xenos is legendary (see the second entry on this list). And yet… it wasn’t always so.
Back in the day the Imperium was pretty welcoming of the Xenos, Illiyan Nastase up there was the Chief Librarian Astropath of the frigging Ultramarines was a known half human/half Eldar mix. Note that he was also an important player in Terra’s politics. Another idea retconned away we can see with him is that Librarians, or other people, might move around a bit, serving with various Chapters for a period of time.
2. The 8th Edition Timeline
A few years ago, GW made one of the biggest and most forceful retcons ever. This was to the entire post-7th Edition timeline. When 8th Edition launched, the timeline made a massive jump forward. The time jump skipped over roughly 200 years, with the novel Dark Imperium (itself set in the past of 8th Edition) taking place 112 years after the opening of the Great Rift. Dark Imperium chronicles the end of the Indomitus Crusade, while its sequels cover what took place after that.
Then, after several years of new lore, GW decided to make a massive change. They opted to go back and retcon both the timeline and the Crusade. Under their new timeline, Dark Imperium takes place only 12 years after the opening of the Great Rift. In addition, it covers not the end of the Indomitus Crusade, but merely the end of the first phase. Rather than the Crusade and the opening of the Rift being well in the past, it is instead an ongoing event, with the Rift only opening a handful of years ago. This was not merely a case of new information contracting old stories. GW actually went back and rewrote parts of several novels to make things fit. It’s the first and only time they’ve done something like that extreme.
1. The Black Crusades Weren’t Failures…
This might be the biggest retcon of all time. Over the many years of the Long War, Abaddon the Despoiler, Warmaster of Chaos, has repeatedly tried to bring down the Imperium. Though he had led many attacks against the forces of the Corpse God, the greatest of his campaigns were known as the Black Crusades of which he launched 13. Each of these posed a major threat to Imperial Space, yet ultimately, each time, the Imperium rallied together and, at great cost, thwarted the Despoiler, sending him screaming back to the Eye of Terror, vowing to return like a Saturday morning cartoon villain. The final, the 13th, Black Crusade was a massive assault against the fortress world of Cadia, covered in the Eye of Terror campaign in 2003, this campaign also saw Abaddon defeated and thrown back. For 14 years, he waited in the Eye of Terror, plotting anew.
…But All Part Of The Plan!
Then, in 2017, came the big retcon. The 13th Black Crusade was never defeated it turns out. The victory won in the Eye of Terror campaign, which seemed final, was actually just won against perhaps the vanguard and the real attack hadn’t even happened. Indeed everything was going just as planned for Abaddon. Even more “surprising” all his other failed Black Crusades weren’t failures at all, they had all been targeted strikes that had succeeded in achieving the Despoiler’s esoteric goals. Abaddon wasn’t the biggest failure or pasty in the galaxy, but actually the greatest scheming mastermind of all time!
With the destruction of Cadia, a series of defeats turned into a victorious road map for dealing the Imperium, the greatest blow it had felt since the Heresy. Abaddon was redeemed. Of course, this new Abaddon surely wouldn’t just go back to his old habits of half-victories and losing to Imperials right away, would he? What’s that? What’s a Vigilus? I’ve never heard of it. Also, he’s now best buddies with Vashtorr (another schemer), so there’s that.
Let us know what you think was the biggest retcon in 40K down in the comments!
