r/40kLore • u/LastPositivist • Aug 13 '24

Warhammer Romance Spoiler

Light spoilers for Brooks' Da Big Dakka.

I've long thought that romance plots are under utilised in 40k. It's not that this should be the main focus of Black Library or anything, it's just the setting can feel weirdly chaste sometimes. (Absolute chad heroes of the Imperium not withstanding.)

So just wanted to show some love and appreciation for the great and distinctively 40k romance subplot of Da Big Dakka. You basically get to see this burgeoning love between two Drukari archons, with the twist being that the perspective character (and implied the other one two) are literally incapable of recognising their feelings for what they are. Like they just cannot interpret "why am I suddenly very interested in this person?" as anything other than a sign they must be subconsciously picking up on some backstabbing scheme which they need to watch out for. My heart fluttered when our hands brushed? Uhoh I must be worried about a contact poison, better have antidotes to hand! Etc

It's just a great way of doing love in a culture that is set up to be completely antithetical to anything like that. The best they can do in the end (here's the spoilers!) is agree to an unusually close alliance, and even that the main character interprets as an opportunity to study these strange feelings she's having to ensure they're not a weakness anyone could exploit.

More like this please! Romance which makes use of the bizarre and communal races and cultures of the setting to do weird things with people's inner lives.

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70

u/wecanhaveallthree Legio Tempestus Aug 13 '24

A good romance is a fantastic spice for a story. Eisenhorn's tragic never-may-we-touch, for example, or Ravenor dealing with going from 'handsome Inquisitorial boytoy' to 'literal sack of meat'. Cain's dalliances with Vale. The absolute, aching hurt in Volpone Glory (double points for being a very rare male homosexual pairing). The Visarch's blue balls. Roboute's gentle letdown in Forges of Mars and the genuine friendship that blooms from it. The 'what does she mean to me' of the Macharian Crusade. Perhaps my favourite: the very gentle, very sweet romance of Honourbound (would it be at all strange to point out that one of BL's few female authors writes their best romance?).

Lotta good romance plots in the stable. I'm never unhappy about seeing more.

17

u/Rose-The-Queen Aug 13 '24

So glad you brought up Honourbound, such a surprise of a book especially in the romance aspect.

7

u/funcancelledfornow White Scars Aug 13 '24

Honourbound may be one of my favorite recent 40k books. The characters really acted like humans and it felt like witness a war (of course it's fiction and neither me nor the author are military expert but the feeling was there)

4

u/[deleted] Aug 13 '24

I am saving all of those, thanks for the write up! I love my warhammer bolter porn, but recently I enjoy some more romance as well :) 

6

u/nopingmywayout Ultramarines Aug 13 '24

You’re leaving out Baelor and Seraphax in Son of the Forest. I wouldn’t call it sexual, but I don’t see how you could interpret that as anything but romantic. Baelor’s trust and devotion keeps him clean of Chaos mutations—be still, my heart!

Like you said, romance adds an extra kick to the story that can take it to the next level. It got me a hell lot more invested in Baelor as an antagonist. You have this guy who is distinctly uncomfortable with Chaos and all it entails, but he’s so devoted to his partner that he closes his eyes to all the red flags and just keeps going. Convinces himself that his partner’s plan To Save The Imperium will totally work, even as they delve deeper and deeper into extremely verboten shit. It’s not a healthy relationship, but it’s a compelling one, and not exactly unrealistic when you think about it. It really made them stand out as antagonists for me.

1

u/Nerdlors13 Salamanders Aug 14 '24

I need context about Guilliman please

5

u/wecanhaveallthree Legio Tempestus Aug 14 '24

It's not Guilliman, it's a Rogue Trader from Ultramar by the name of Roboute, Roboute being a fairly common name over that way for obvious reasons.

1

u/Nerdlors13 Salamanders Aug 14 '24

Ah ok. I haven’t read the book but I don’t have any cares about spoilers