The Emperor’s Angel of Death

First and foremost, I, Lao Mo, always believe that the best bridge between readers and authors is the novel's text itself. The author conveys what they want to express through their words, and the reader understands the author's meaning by reading the words. This is the ideal state of communication. However, in reality, I often have to come out and explain the plot myself.

Originally, I thought that after reading for so long, so much, everyone would have a certain understanding of my writing style and creative ideas, and at least wouldn't jump to conclusions rashly. However, most of the time, this idea may have been too wishful thinking...

Back to the book, first of all, this plot is definitely not meant to be tragic for the sake of being tragic, nor is it that I am idle and want to satirize or imply something. I am not a critic, nor a keyboard warrior, at most I just play with memes. You probably wouldn't think I'm a writer of tear-jerker dramas. It's just that we have a Chinese saying, 'Seeing a spot on a leopard reveals the whole animal,' which represents our traditional way of observing society and the environment. Hayes' journey is actually the process of the entire human empire in the 41st millennium.

If you are familiar with the plot before the Great Rift, you should know that GW initially defined the 41st millennium, especially the last hundred years, as the 'Era of Ending.' You can look it up. During this time, most of the Empire's wars ended in failure or were hastily concluded, and most expeditions were bogged down. Entire legions and chapters were annihilated frequently. Just like the difficulties, sadness, pain, struggles, and failures Hayes encountered along the way... the entire human empire at the end of the 41st millennium is also encountering constant failures and setbacks.

It is easy for people to draw hasty conclusions based on what they see at the moment. It's not just Hayes who thinks 'it's over'; the entire Empire, from top to bottom, is filled with an atmosphere and viewpoint of 'it's over.' Hayes is just the most humble and ordinary member of the vast 'it's over' army. Therefore, my portrayal of Hayes' journey is not to 'sell misery,' let alone pad the story, but to let everyone truly experience where the Empire's turmoil, despair, and decay at the end of the 41st millennium come from. After all, the Empire is not an independent natural entity; its essence is still a political and social entity composed of countless people like Hayes. They determine the rise and fall and the atmosphere of the entire Empire.

And what is Hayes' decision after experiencing so many hardships and witnessing so much suffering? I think everyone has seen it. The disabled Hayes carries the mother (the Empire) who has lost her husband (the Emperor) and son (the Primarchs), lost most of her ability to move, and is aging, on his back. This is precisely why the crumbling Empire can survive this Era of Ending. There are always righteous people standing on the ground, always righteous people walking on the road, and the bravest people have always protected it very well. This is my personal core understanding of the Warhammer 40K background for so many years.

Conversely, if the writing only focuses on gods and demons, demigods and superhumans, and those so-called 'chosen ones,' you will get the opposite perspective of 'seeing a spot on a leopard reveals the whole animal,' which we generally call 'seeing the leopard through a tube.' It's like if you go to India for tourism now, if you only go to Mumbai or Kolkata, you might have the illusion that India is also a fairly developed country. If the mortals in the book are all characters like Marbo, then wouldn't the so-called fall of the Empire look like a small joke in a storybook?

Some readers also say, what is the role and significance of writing this for the plot?

I personally believe that reality can be illogical, but novels cannot be illogical. Whether it is the protagonist's behavior or the behavior of the people around the protagonist, it cannot be without reason. Even if it is a virtual character, what he says and what he does must be in the sum of the background and interpersonal relationships he is in, rather than saying that he is a Space Marine, he is a god, so he should be like this.

As for the protagonist and heroine's feelings, the birth of offspring, and some readers' concerns about the so-called 'tail wagging the dog' issue, if you can combine the part of the plot where I brought out Buddhism, as well as the setting of the Deceiver, and the personal settings of the Eldar gods, you may be able to see a clue. I am not a writer who is good at short and fast plots, but I think readers can trust my plot construction ability, just like the Ork Warboss may not be perfect, but at least he created a lifelike Ghazghkull, didn't he?

Of course, I can also understand that many readers come for the Astartes, for the magnificent wars, the strange magic and demons. But I can only say sorry, because I am a person who likes to write what I think in my heart. That is to say, if an author can't even express his feelings directly, then I think whether it is achievement or other benefits, it is meaningless.

As for some readers who think the plot is clichéd and not novel enough, I can only say sorry. After all, I am not a platinum writer. I have never claimed that my writing is so great. The book's results are not so outstanding, and I didn't expect everyone to have such high expectations for me. But I am indeed just an ordinary writer, not even a full-time writer...

Finally, there are some readers' views that I don't quite agree with. A very special thing about the Warhammer 40K background is that there is one or several enemies that humans can always 'blame,' so it is easy to become a situation where the problems of the human empire are attributed to a certain alien enemy or supernatural force, and then everything will be solved by fighting against it. But in fact, the Empire's own problems are the Empire's own problems. There is no room for shirking responsibility and not facing them directly, rather than saying that anyway, it is all about being worse than the worst. It can't be said that Chaos or aliens are worse, and then the Empire can't be mentioned...

The most core issue is that GW, as a European cultural circle enterprise born in the Cold War era, whose country even retains a monarchy, determines that 40K must have a strong conservative + Christian color and other limitations. Although these limitations also shape the unique charm of 40K, in our Confucian cultural circle + socialist + materialist country, these limitations will also form some defects that we see as unreasonable and inappropriate. Therefore, for fan creations, which part to choose to retain, and which part to choose to transform or abandon, is the most, most, most difficult and the most, most, most important. But everyone's standards are different, and what I can present will naturally not be able to satisfy all readers.

The above is what I want to say, and I hope it can be helpful to readers.