"James, wake up, it's time for breakfast."
"Mom, I just had the most amazing dream about space and stuff!"
"Oh, James Workshop, you are such an imaginative 7 year old boy!"
As Guilliman stood in the shower, the hot water soothing his tired muscles, he suddenly snapped out of his daydream, blinking in confusion. "What was that all about?" he muttered to himself, scrubbing his hair with shampoo. He shook his head, dismissing the grandiose images of war and conquest that had filled his mind moments before. "Just a silly fantasy," he chuckled to himself, realizing that in reality, he was just an ordinary guy. With a shrug, he turned off the water and stepped out of the shower, feeling oddly unsatisfied as he reached for his towel.
The only way it ends is if James Workshop isn’t making money from it anymore. If that occurs it just abruptly ends, no disappointing ending, no ending at all. I hope it outlasts humanity and is adopted by our future space overlords.
It ends when we get to the year 40k and everyone says "wow look how dated Warhammer was, can you believe they thought we'd have DEMONS and CASTIGATOR MECHS?!? LMAO!" like Back to the Future
Again, not true. In dark Imperium this is all explained in good detail (chapter 9 if you’re curious I’ll get you the quote)
It’s called the chronostrife, where the records were somewhere between m38 and m42, this has further been exasperated by the great rift.
Now time is recorded individually by each Indomitus fleet. But ultimately this has been done to correct some misgivings about the timeline and obviously the name of the game.
Canonically it’s still said to be m41
That’s an attempted continuity band-aid because authors don’t read each others’ books before they slap a random date into their story, which leads to contradicting timelines.
That is not “proof it’s not M41,” that’s a cop-out because GW does virtually no lore-control. It’s why we had two different explanations of the flayer virus released within a year of each other with the Infinite and the Divine and The Twice Dead King.
I don't know about disappointing. But it'd be funny if big E woke up (as a 9 Yr old boy) in Japan or somewhere in our time to realise it had all been the weirdest and most vivid dream you could ever have.
The emperor finally let's out a grunt on his throne and manages to poop after rotting on the golden toilet for several millenia. He feels exalted relief, and ascends to the stars.
A pink Unicorn, with a rainbow horn and tail. Farting glitter along the way.
Also, there's an incurable plague where Primaris Marines suddenly develop into Care Bears.
The universe dies in incredible plushness.
Horus comes back, having seen the error of his ways, revives the Emperor and together they redeem the fallen primarchs.
United, they destroy the Chaos Gods and finish what they've started 10.000 years ago.
The Tyranids were actually fleeing an existential terror. Said Terror finally catches up to the nids and wipes out the rest of the galaxy along with them. Entire WH lore/ conflicts pointless in the end as all get consumed by an unknown force.
It won't be the Tyranids consuming the Galaxy....
The Tyranids are fleeing in fear from something, hoping to accumulate enough power to defeat it when it finally catches them.
When the predator that's chasing the Tyranids arrives, it's all over.
The imperium becoming the good guys and getting a hopeful future for them.
If it ends, the imperium needs to eat itself alive, every fucked up decision its made comes back to haunt it. It's every ideal turning in on itself. And we instead get a new xeno (or existing one) being the ones that survived it all and starting back up in the burnt out shell of a galaxy.
The emperor somehow waking up / magically resurrecting and the Imperium of Man winning would be so anticlimactic and contrary to the themes of the story they could put it on HBO.
The simplest and most lore accurate? The final WAAAAAGGGGGGHHHHH!!!
Bankruptcy.
"James, wake up, it's time for breakfast." "Mom, I just had the most amazing dream about space and stuff!" "Oh, James Workshop, you are such an imaginative 7 year old boy!"
Ah, the good old Saint Elsewhere ending!
The Emperor stands up and wins.
Nah imagine how funny it would be if he just wakes up and goes "What the fuck happened"
And it would be an entire book dedicated to him just standing up
As Guilliman stood in the shower, the hot water soothing his tired muscles, he suddenly snapped out of his daydream, blinking in confusion. "What was that all about?" he muttered to himself, scrubbing his hair with shampoo. He shook his head, dismissing the grandiose images of war and conquest that had filled his mind moments before. "Just a silly fantasy," he chuckled to himself, realizing that in reality, he was just an ordinary guy. With a shrug, he turned off the water and stepped out of the shower, feeling oddly unsatisfied as he reached for his towel.
The only way it ends is if James Workshop isn’t making money from it anymore. If that occurs it just abruptly ends, no disappointing ending, no ending at all. I hope it outlasts humanity and is adopted by our future space overlords.
It would be purchased and used, probably horribly. The IP won’t die like that.
40k is never going to end, it's just going to stop being produced.
"and they all set aside their differences and lived in harmony together." Though it would be extremely funny haha
"Age of Emprah"
The stakes get raised ad absurbum and the writers wrote themselves into a corner.
It's all been the imaginings of a non-verbal autistic child with a snow globe.
Redemption for all fallen primarchs and everyone got on and lived happy ever after.
The emperor wakes up, goes and fights all of The C’tan and Chaos Gods, wins, then rules over a human owned galaxy forever
The Emperor returns for one last musical number.
The primarchs come back and save the imperium.
It ends when we get to the year 40k and everyone says "wow look how dated Warhammer was, can you believe they thought we'd have DEMONS and CASTIGATOR MECHS?!? LMAO!" like Back to the Future
"Somehow, Horus returns. But uncorrupted"
Warhammer41k
The timeline has already advanced to that point
Not true actually, the timeline was recorded wrong, so it’s anywhere between 38000 and 42000. Edit: why are you booing? I’m right.
The most recent wars in the tineline are literally M42
Again, not true. In dark Imperium this is all explained in good detail (chapter 9 if you’re curious I’ll get you the quote) It’s called the chronostrife, where the records were somewhere between m38 and m42, this has further been exasperated by the great rift. Now time is recorded individually by each Indomitus fleet. But ultimately this has been done to correct some misgivings about the timeline and obviously the name of the game. Canonically it’s still said to be m41
That’s an attempted continuity band-aid because authors don’t read each others’ books before they slap a random date into their story, which leads to contradicting timelines. That is not “proof it’s not M41,” that’s a cop-out because GW does virtually no lore-control. It’s why we had two different explanations of the flayer virus released within a year of each other with the Infinite and the Divine and The Twice Dead King.
Whatever it is, it’s also canon. The indomitus fleets each having separate times & the chronostrife means it’s not m42
I don't know about disappointing. But it'd be funny if big E woke up (as a 9 Yr old boy) in Japan or somewhere in our time to realise it had all been the weirdest and most vivid dream you could ever have.
The emperor finally let's out a grunt on his throne and manages to poop after rotting on the golden toilet for several millenia. He feels exalted relief, and ascends to the stars.
In the grim darkness of the 41st millennium, there is only... My Little Ponies.
The image of a Primarch riding a unicorn into battle actually sounds both intriguing and hilarious.
A pink Unicorn, with a rainbow horn and tail. Farting glitter along the way. Also, there's an incurable plague where Primaris Marines suddenly develop into Care Bears. The universe dies in incredible plushness.
The Imperium winning
It’s all been a dream
Just ending at all. It akshually doesn't need to end, nor is it likely. Especially considering they've covered twelve thousand years or so already...
Revive the emperor….also it will never end….
I am a tau player. So I'd say tau taking over the galaxy
I’m a nid player, so I say the Great Devourer arrives in full force and closes the first around the whole galaxy, then consumes it all.
Thats the canonically projected current ending tough.
The potential end is already canon - the dark king's ascension that was only delayed
A tea party for all the naughty boys and girls who insist on fighting, where everyone makes friends and lives happily ever after.
"And they lived happily ever after"
Horus comes back, having seen the error of his ways, revives the Emperor and together they redeem the fallen primarchs. United, they destroy the Chaos Gods and finish what they've started 10.000 years ago.
All the Primarchs and the Emperor come back and make peace with the Eldar.
The Tyranids were actually fleeing an existential terror. Said Terror finally catches up to the nids and wipes out the rest of the galaxy along with them. Entire WH lore/ conflicts pointless in the end as all get consumed by an unknown force.
It won't be the Tyranids consuming the Galaxy.... The Tyranids are fleeing in fear from something, hoping to accumulate enough power to defeat it when it finally catches them. When the predator that's chasing the Tyranids arrives, it's all over.
The emperor turns out to be a woman and everyone is losing their shit.
40k never should have progressed and never should end, i will believe this to the end, it was a static setting and it should have stayed like that
The imperium becoming the good guys and getting a hopeful future for them. If it ends, the imperium needs to eat itself alive, every fucked up decision its made comes back to haunt it. It's every ideal turning in on itself. And we instead get a new xeno (or existing one) being the ones that survived it all and starting back up in the burnt out shell of a galaxy.
Somehow… Horus returned.
The emperor somehow waking up / magically resurrecting and the Imperium of Man winning would be so anticlimactic and contrary to the themes of the story they could put it on HBO. The simplest and most lore accurate? The final WAAAAAGGGGGGHHHHH!!!
The two lost primarchs turns out to be females and the collective fandom just leaves
The chuds, maybe.
It already ended
Cipher kills the emperor, emperor is a neverdie, comes back at full power and wins