Inquisition (Warhammer 40,000)

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The Inquisition (The Holy Orders of the Emperor's Inquisition) is an organization in the fictional Warhammer 40,000 universe. They act as the secret police of the Imperium, hunting down any and all threats to the stability of the God-Emperor's realm. In fiction relating to the games, Inquisitors are usually represented by extremely powerful, intelligent, and talented individuals. In the games, Inquisitors are usually powerful combatants with a variety of specialized abilities with a party of followers who improve and protect the Inquisitor. Inquisitors also grant the player access to many new units, such as Imperial Assassins and Daemonhosts.

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Secret police are intelligence, security or police agencies that engage in covert operations against a government's political opponents and dissidents. Secret police organizations are characteristic of authoritarian and totalitarian regimes. Used to protect the political power of an individual dictator or an authoritarian regime, secret police often operate outside the law and are used to repress dissidents and weaken the political opposition, frequently with violence.

Development of the Inquisition

There were originally only two Orders within the Inquisition (Ordo Malleus and Ordo Xenos), but a third (the Ordo Hereticus) was added after the events of the Age of Apostasy. [1] A further fourth the Ordo Sicarius was formed following the Wars of Vindication. [2] It is rumored that the Inquisition has thousands of independent ordos and cells for various goals and tasks, and the resources they pool together can rival those individually owned by Inquisitor Lords.

Within the narrative provided by source books and other media, a number of Inquisitors are considered to be famous. Those include Gideon Ravenor, Ario Barzano who is featured in the book Nightbringer by Graham McNeill, Gregor Eisenhorn the main character in the Eisenhorn series by Dan Abnett, and Jaq Draco, the main character in the Inquisition War series, written by Ian Watson. In the graphic novel Daemonifuge , by Kev Walker, the character Silas Hand features prominently. [3]

Graham McNeill is a British novelist. He is best known for his Warhammer Fantasy and Warhammer 40,000 novels, and his previous role as games designer for Games Workshop. He is currently working as a Senior Writer at Riot Games.

Dan Abnett British comic book writer, novelist

Dan Abnett is a British comic book writer and novelist. He has been a frequent collaborator with fellow writer Andy Lanning, and is known for his work on books for both Marvel Comics, and their UK imprint, Marvel UK, since the 1990s, and also 2000 AD. He has also contributed to DC Comics titles, and his Warhammer Fantasy and Warhammer 40,000 novels and graphic novels for Games Workshop's Black Library now run to several dozen titles and have sold over two million copies. In 2009 he released his first original fiction novels through Angry Robot books.

Ian Watson (author) author

Ian Watson is a British science fiction writer. He lives in Gijón, Spain.

The development of other characters alludes to important literature works. Fydor Karamazov, Fyodor is known as the Pyrophant Judge of Salem Proctor. This is a reference to Arthur Miller's The Crucible, Proctor being the name of one convicted, yet innocent, witch; and Salem being the puritan township he lived in. His name is a reference to The Grand Inquisitor a chapter in the Russian authors Fyodor Dostoevsky's book entitled The Brothers Karamazov. [4]

<i>The Crucible</i> 1953 play by Arthur Miller

The Crucible is a 1953 play by American playwright Arthur Miller. It is a dramatized and partially fictionalized story of the Salem witch trials that took place in the Massachusetts Bay Colony during 1692–93. Miller wrote the play as an allegory for McCarthyism, when the United States government persecuted people accused of being communists. Miller was questioned by the House of Representatives' Committee on Un-American Activities in 1956 and convicted of contempt of Congress for refusing to identify others present at meetings he had attended.

The Grand Inquisitor literary work

"The Grand Inquisitor" is a poem inside Fyodor Dostoevsky's novel The Brothers Karamazov (1879–1880). It is recited by Ivan Karamazov, who questions the possibility of a personal and benevolent God, to his brother Alexei (Alyosha), a novice monk. "The Grand Inquisitor" is an important part of the novel and one of the best-known passages in modern literature because of its ideas about human nature and freedom, and its fundamental ambiguity.

Fyodor Dostoevsky Russian author

Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky, sometimes transliterated Dostoyevsky, was a Russian novelist, short story writer, essayist, journalist and philosopher. Dostoevsky's literary works explore human psychology in the troubled political, social, and spiritual atmospheres of 19th-century Russia, and engage with a variety of philosophical and religious themes. His most acclaimed works include Crime and Punishment (1866), The Idiot (1869), Demons (1872), and The Brothers Karamazov (1880). Dostoevsky's body of work consists of 11 novels, three novellas, 17 short stories, and numerous other works. Many literary critics rate him as one of the greatest psychologists in world literature. His 1864 novella Notes from Underground is considered to be one of the first works of existentialist literature.

Notes

  1. ↑ Priestley, Rick (2004). Warhammer 40,000 (4th ed.). Nottingham: Games Workshop. ISBN   1-84154-468-X.
  2. ↑ Exterminatus Issue 8, Bringers of Death Page 22
  3. ↑ Walker, Kev (1999). Daemonifuge (1st ed.). Nottingham: Black Library. ISBN   1-84154-117-6.
  4. ↑ McNeil, Graham; Hoare, Andy; Haines, Pete (2003). Warhammer 40,000 Codex: Witchhunters (1st ed.). Nottingham: Games Workshop. ISBN   1-84154-485-X.

See also

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References

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