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By the will of the Immortal God-Emperor, the great reliquary, or "page" as it is known, of tropes has grown to the point that it shall be broken up into three different pages. These pages are divided by the letter that starts the trope, and misplaced tropes shall be returned to their proper place. This page is for those tropes that start with the letter I through the letter P.
Venerate the God-Emperor. To deep-strike back to the main page, click [[Warhammer
== I ==
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* [[Jerk with a Heart of Gold]]: <s> Rowboat Girlyman</s> Roboute Guilliman, primarch of the Ultramarines. Sure he could be an ass, but he legitimately cared about the people. His actions and policies would eventually lead to the Ultramar system becoming one of the nicest (and least corrupt) places in the Imperium.
** Though he cared far less about people who didn't follow the Ultramarine example, such as when he killed an entire city as a warning to his brother Lorgar after Lorgar taught them to worship the Emperor, which Guilliman didn't like.
* [["Join the Army," They Said]]: The Imperial Guard.
** Or, to quote 1d4chan, "Join the Imperial Guard or die. Then die."
* [[Judge, Jury, and Executioner]]: Several organisations and individuals with this power. The Adeptus Arbites who enforce Imperial law (and who [[Captain Ersatz|rather resemble]] the [[Judge Dredd|Judges of Mega City One]], although this is superficial: according to ''[[Dark Heresy]]'', abandoning due process and using summary execution is the worst heresy an Arbites officer can commit), the [[In Soviet Russia, Trope Mocks You|Commissars]] of the [[Redshirt Army|Imperial Guard]], the [[Church Militant|Ecclesiarchy]] (who tend to favour [[Fate Worse Than Death|unusual punishments]]) and, of course, the Inquisition. Innocence proves ''nothing.''
** "A plea of
** Unusual punishments...or [[Kill It with Fire]].
* [[The Juggernaut]]: Necrons, Tyranids, and the <s> Imperial Guard</s> Space Marines. There's also a breed of Khornate daemon actually ''called'' the Juggernaut; for the uninitiated, it's the thing that looks like an angry metal rhino.
* [[Julius Beethoven Da Vinci]]: The Emperor is likely to have been Alexander the Great (his flagship is called the Bucephalus), among numerous other historical figures (or at least [[Magnificent Bastard|stole their stories to ease his transition to power]]).
* [[Just Eat Him]]: What the Tyranids do.
* [[Just Plane Wrong]]: As it's prone to doing, ''[[Warhammer
** Most are modeled to resemble WWII propeller fighters but with jets instead of propellers, yet they supposedly can achieve speeds in excess of Mach 2. Take the Imperial Navy's air fighters. Real world aerodynamics would conspire to prevent this (though ridiculously tough 40K materials in turn would conspire to prevent real life aerodynamics); though enough brute force can make anything fly, it has rather greater trouble making anything ''turn'' (you don't put the engine in the front in supersonic fighters, because it moves the Center of Weight fore of the center of pressure, and would make the fighter so stable in supersonic flight that no amount of control force would allow it to maneuver). Let's not even get started on the Orks, Chaos and Dark Eldar aircraft, this entry would reach monstrous proportions (well, more monstrous then it already has). The only aircraft that could maybe fly, and that's a very big maybe, are the Eldar and Tau. And that excludes [https://web.archive.org/web/20131124153441/http://www.forgeworld.co.uk/Warhammer-40000/Tau/TAU-AIRCRAFT/TAU-ORCA-DROPSHIP.html that Tau dropship that looks like gussied-up cinderblock], obviously.
*** The Ork planes don't fly because they make sense, they fly because the Ork themselves think they can fly, in the same manner their trukks run faster when painted red.
** Also, let's hear it for the Thunderhawk, an SSTO troop transporter with a scale 16-inch spinal gun that isn't under any kind of faring and is only capable of firing ''above'' the aircraft. This along with the slender midsection presumably makes the Thunderhawk the only troop aircraft to be able to land infantry in two places at the same time.
** It's probably worth remembering that the Imperials, Eldar and Tau have anti-gravity technology, and the last two make extensive use of it. It's probably safe to say that this technology negates the need for aerodynamic structures somehow.
*** Eldar and Tau are not so big offenders. And while the Imperials use anti-gravity technology the fluff for the last three editions clearly states that it's used only} on the Land Speeder. Besides no amount of anti-gravity will prevent air-resistance, and the problem with Imperial aircraft is that they are not streamlined enough to reach their Mach 2+ maximum velocities given in fluff.
**** Obviously, Imperium in any edition widely used antigravity — in servoskull and cherub drones, grav-plating on space vessels and whatnot. Land Speeder is the only Imperial ''vehicle'' explicitly using it as ''primary'' system — it gives all the lifting force at cruising speed rather than only allows limited takeoff/landing hover mode or assists actual wings.
*** Valkyrie can hover, but doesn't look like it either has takeoff engines for VTOL (like the nose thrusters on Thunderhawk) nor like its big engines could bend vector thrust this much (like a convertoplane). Antigravity? But if you look into details, there are also questions like "why the multilaser would be limited to powerpack, if there's clearly enough of power on board to recharge?" and so on.
== K ==
* [[Kick the Dog]]: Everyone, to everything, all the time.
* [[Kill'Em All]]: This one was a no-brainer.
* [[Killer Rabbit]]: The Catachan Barking Toad, a large, [http://uk.games-workshop.com/download/popup.htm?/warhammer40000/creature-feature/images/toad-big.jpg sad-looking amphibian]{{Dead link}} sometimes dubbed the [[Memetic Mutation|"Ronery Toad"]]. If attacked, hurt or even surprised, it [[Taking You with Me|explodes into a cloud of obscenely virulent toxins]], killing absolutely everything
* [[Kill It with Fire]]: ''Imperial government policy'' towards ''everything.'' The Salamanders chapter of Space Marines and the Witch Hunters specialize in fire based weapons. The Sororitas are also [[Burn the Witch|very fond]] of flame-based weaponry. On the Eldar side, the Fire Dragons kill tanks with fire, specifically with fusion guns and firepikes.
* [[Killed Off for Real]]: GW's [[Old Shame]], the Squats.
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* [[Lethal Joke Character]]: The Apocalypse expansion includes rules for a Warlord Titan, four times the size of the biggest model they actually sell with the point cost of an entire army and almost certainly meant as a joke. Then some people actually scratch-built them, and they are so unbalanced that an equivalent-cost force of super-heavy tanks and artillery can't even get through the shields before being wiped out.
** And if that's not enough, one of the datafax on the Games Workshop website is for the ''Emperor'' Titan, which is best modeled by someone [[Cosplay|dressing up as the Titan]] and climbing on the table. It's all fun and games until someone's whole army gets squished....
*** To demonstrate, [http://www.forgeworld.co.uk/Images/Product/AlternativeFW/xlarge/ImpReavAlt24.jpg here]{{Dead link}} is an official ''Reaver''-class Titan miniature on scale with other 40k models. [https://web.archive.org/web/20141018120502/http://www.puolenkuunpelit.com/tieto/galleria/GW/Butchery3/kuva5.jpg Here] is a custom-built ''Emperor''-class Titan in the same scale.
* [[The Library of Babel]]: The Black Library.
* [[Lighter and Softer]]: [http://1d4chan.org/wiki/BrightHammer40k BrightHammer 40k]. For starters, the Emperor is rocking a goatee, Slaanesh is all about love & kindness instead of sadism, and there is such a thing as peaceful diplomacy with Orks.
** 4e showed some signs of this, as did the introduction of the Tau back in 3e. [[It Got Worse]].
*** Arguably, the series was at its worst in the third edition. I joke not. During 3e, there were chaos cultists on Terra, the Imperium was losing worlds by the hundreds and High Lords did not care, in fact most of them had been driven insane by imperfect deageing treatments. This was before the Horus Heresy, before the Imperium's methods were justified by dozens of books. There was no Ciaphas Cain, no likeable or sane character to be found. The Sisters of Battle fielded suicide bomber cadres, the Space Marines were a shadow of their power in latter editions, and even more insane: imperfections in their half forgotten surgical techniques rendered 9 out of 10 recruits dead and the survivors deranged. The Religious Horror was at its peak, the artwork like of things that can barely be called human hugging and kissing undetonated artillery shells, begging the gods of war for salvation has never been reprinted, the forces of Chaos, later Ultimate Evil, were simply presented as a alternate form of insanity to that of the Imperium's. By 5e, Warhammer shows an Age of War where humanity's survival hangs in the balance. 3e showed an Age of Insanity where the spirit of man was long dead.
** ''[http://1d4chan.org/wiki/Emperasque Tales of the Emperasque]'' has this mixed with [[Bloody Hilarious]]... and it's a [[Crack Fic]] deconstructing [[Deus Ex Machina]], no less.
* [[A Lighter Shade of Black]]: Probably the reason why many players still prefer to stick with the Imperium. And to a lesser degree, the Tau and Eldar.
* [[Light Is Not Good]]: The [[Church Militant]] makes sure of this one.
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** The [[Asskicking Equals Authority|commanders]] of many armies are wicked fast in combat, orders of magnitude tougher than basic infantry, and often capable of wiping out entire ''squads'' of enemy troops single-handed in melee.
** A fair number of armies' units in the first place. Space Marines in particular are consistently noted as being more agile than anyone would expect given their bulkiness and mass.
* [[Lightning Gun]]: Laser-ionization type (unsurprisingly, given the Imperium's love of lasers). One of the old (30k era) designs. Has [[Charged Attack]]. And then there are Lightning Cannons sized for a tank (of course).
** Luminen Blast is Tesla Coil style (unsurprisingly, given Mechanicus [[Mad Scientist]] inclinations) short-range discharge possible with bioelectrical Mechanicus implants - not energy-efficient, but any attack that stuns has its uses, let alone ranged one. And of course, some Techpriests really take it to the heart and go on a [http://www.games-workshop.com/en-NO/Ad-Mec-Fulgurite-Electro-Priests merry] [http://www.games-workshop.com/en-NO/Ad-Mec-Corpuscarii-Electro-Priests rampage]...
* [[Limited Wardrobe]]: If the artwork and models are anything to go by, every single female Death Cult Assassin in the Imperium (and [[Amazon Brigade|we've yet to see a male one]]) wears the same slashed-up bodyglove, the same skull-decorated corset, and the same [[Combat Stilettos|high-heeled boots]], and is armed with either the same katana or the same pair of daggers. And nine times out of ten, they'll be wearing the same gimp hood and have the same bionic eye, to boot.
* [[Living Labyrinth]]
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** The Imperial Robot rules in ''Rogue Trader'' were probably the most complicated set of rules for a single model in the history of the game (though the Imperator Titan and Mega-Gargant come close). Basically, any time they wanted to use a Robot, the player would have to create a program for it before the game started using a series of [[wikipedia:Logic gate|logic gates]] to define how it would react to various situations (no visible targets, target in sight but out of range, target in sight and in range, etc), with the robot's points cost being partly decided by the number of instructions in its program. This was about as complicated and pointless as it sounds, and might well be the reason the later editions avoided the idea; the Legio Cybernetica seemed to go the way of the Zoats and Squats.
* [[Look on My Works Ye Mighty and Despair]]: The Eldar and pre-Imperium humanity. Also the Necrontyr - precursors to Necrons - have achieved an incredible level of technological advancement before turning their souls over to C'tan and becoming the [[Omnicidal Maniac|legion of killer robots that held the entire galaxy in their sway]], but then of course [[It Got Worse|something even worse came along in the form of Enslavers]].
* [[Looks Like Cesare]]: Astropaths, due to their Soul Binding.
* [[Loophole Abuse]]: When the rules of the Ecclesiarchy were rewritten following the Age of Apostasy, the Imperial Church was prohibited from maintaining any "men under arms," so as to avoid the wanton abuses of power that characterized the reign of the previous Ecclesiarch. The rule was ''intentionally'' worded this way so that the Ecclesiarchy could maintain the [[Amazon Brigade|Sisters of Battle]] as an internal police force.
* [[Losing the Team Spirit]]: Killing the Tau army's
** It should be noted that such [[Unstoppable Rage]] among the Tau typically takes the form of [[Tranquil Fury|a slow, steady advance as the Fire Warriors methodically pour shot after shot into the enemy]] until they are killed, the enemy is killed, or they run out of ammunition.
* [[Lost Colony]]: All over the place.
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* [[Loves the Sound of Screaming]]: The Dark Eldar.
* [[Low Culture, High Tech]]: Orks and Humans, due to the various scavenged and Lost Tech.
* [[Luck Manipulation Mechanic]]: In the ''[[Warhammer
== M ==
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*** In Second Edition, rather than simply firing twice per round, the Cyclone came pre-loaded with twelve krak missiles, and the Terminator carrying it could launch any number he wanted at a time: meaning, if he wanted, he could trigger all twelve at once for a truly Macross-y rain of death. However, the Cyclone was also prone to potentially disastrous<ref>(and hilarious)</ref> misfires if the Terminator carrying it was hit.
* [[Mad Oracle]]: Precognition is a fairly well-known power of psykers, but carries with it [[The Dark Side]]. Aside from the Eldar, [[The Dark Side]] seems to win more often than not with would-be prophets.
* [[Mad Scientist]]: A great many Imperial tech-priests fall into this, though arguably ''all'' tech-priests are insane [[Cargo Cult|by]] [[Machine Worship|modern]] [[Cybernetics Eat Your Soul|standards]] - and those of them who "go too far" by ''their'' standards (wind up branded Hereteks and hunted down) tend to be far crazier. Non-Imperial examples include Fabius Bile, Dark Eldar Haemonculi, and Ork Painboyz and Mekboyz (also known, appropriately enough, as Mad Doks and Mekaniaks respectively).
* [[Made a Slave]]: All sorts of people. Orks enslave, Dark Eldar enslave, Chaos forces enslave: even Imperial Space Marines have slaves to do work that a Space Marine is not needed for (though the Marines' slaves are generally failed Marine candidates who somehow survived washing out, and are often [[Happiness in Slavery|more than happy to help]], since they're ''still'' in a better position than the vast majority of Imperial citizens).
** Imperial propaganda paints humans who join the Tau Empire as this, while the Tau propaganda paints them as becoming freed from the miserable existence of the Imperium. The actual result is likely somewhere in between, though which side it leans more toward varies on a case-by-case basis.
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* [[Made of Plasticine]]
* [[Magic Is a Monster Magnet]]: Psykers risk having their brains eaten every time they use their [[Psychic Powers]].
**
* [[Magic Knight]]: Space Marine Librarians, Chaos Sorcerers, Eldar Warlocks, some militant psyker orders training with force weapons... the Grey Knights are a whole ''army'' of these.
* [[Magic Misfire]]: Perils of the Warp.
* [[Magitek]]: Mostly the Eldar and the Necrons, though Imperial <ref>wards, Psyocculum, force weapons, psycannons, Null rods, Animus speculum... and there's a whole order of Techsorcists who study how machines interact with Warp - both sorting out effects of corruption and more arcane and creative sides</ref> and Chaos gear <ref>possessed weapons and vehicles, mostly</ref> crosses into this sometimes.
* [[The Magnificent]]: Kharn the Betrayer, Abaddon the Despoiler, and Scyrak the Slaughterer, among others.
* [[Man-Eating Plant]]: Crop up all the time on [[Death World
* [[Man in the Machine]]: Space Marine Dreadnoughts, Ork Deff Dredz and Killa Kanz.
* [[Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane]]: 40k loves this one, given how blurry the line between magic and technology tends to be.
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* [[Mechanical Horse]]: Krieg Death Riders and the like on the Imperial side, cyboars for the Orks.
** Mogul Kamir of Atilla had a mechanical horse made for him by the Adeptus Mechanicus, because he kept riding the flesh-and-blood ones to death.
* [[A Mech by Any Other Name]]: Dreadnoughts, Knights, Wraithlords, Gargants, Titans, Crisis Suits, etc.
* [[Medieval Stasis]]: Most of the races in the 41st millennium have been in a state of technological stagnation for thousands of years. Also literal on many worlds.
** The Imperium bans any
** The Eldar are in a decline, with all their efforts focused on keeping their immortal race alive.
** The Necrons are a machine race that are basically mindless outside of their Lords, and have been asleep for the past 65 million years.
** The Orks are
** Averted by the Tyranids and the Tau.
* [[Mega City]]: Hives. In the spires the local rulers live, and toward the bottom it becomes more and more hellish, as the systems recycling pollution and industrial waste are imperfect. The underhive usually is lawless and something eats people regularly, but it's allowed to be like this as a safety valve for pushing all the mutants and malcontents from the places that matter.
* [[Mental World]]: The Warp.
* [[Merchandise-Driven]]: Oddly enough, the majority of the background material and fiction does ''not'' fall to this trope, although rules modifications and new army lists are often accused of changing stats only to boost sales of certain models, and both the monthly magazine ''White Dwarf'' and the Games Workshop website have gradually become less hobby supplements and more miniatures catalogues.
* [[Mercy Kill]]: The Emperor's Peace.
* [[Messianic Archetype]]: The Emperor.
* [[Mighty Glacier]]: Models wielding [[Power Fist
* [[Military Mashup Machine]]: The Imperium in particular has a recurring love affair with these, and the Tau may be starting to lean this way.
* [[The Milky Way Is the Only Way]]: Mostly justified by the limitations of the various races' FTL. The Tyranids come from outside the Milky Way, but nothing more is known.
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* [[Moody Mount]]: Juggernauts of Khorne.
* [[Mook Maker]]: Some of the Tyranid critters, such as the Tervigon and the Parasite of Mortex, have the ability to spit out smaller creatures.
** Also, the Necron Tomb Spyder is another noteworthy example, putting out scarab swarms [[Cast
* [[Mordor]]/PollutedWasteland: Most hive worlds and other heavily-industrialized human or ork planets, including Holy Terra.
* [[More Dakka]]: The [[Trope Namer]], and home to the greatest examples in fiction or out of it.
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* [[Mutant Draft Board]]: The Adeptus Astra Telepathica, responsible for human psykers.
* [[My Country, Right or Wrong]]: The Imperial Guard sometimes gets this treatment, especially when they're the antagonists.
* [[My Significance Sense Is Tingling]]: Psykers can sometimes feel the psychic backlash of mass deaths or other strange events in the Warp. They can also detect the warp shadow of an oncoming Tyranid hive fleet... often by going insane and dying.
* [[Mystical Plague]]: Nurgle mages get these kinds of spells.
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** Also names like Decapitator or the Red Terror.
** Dark Eldar get in on this, too. Lelith Hesperax, Urien Rakarth, and Asdrubael Vect, Supreme Lord of the Kabal of the Black Heart are all about as nice as they sound.
* [[Nanomachines]]: Uncommon, but they crop up. ''[[Warhammer 40,000 Roleplay]]'' games add more.
** It's not quite clear whether Necron "living metal" is made of 'em, but there are several application even within the Imperium.
** Mechanicus got an entire [http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Cult_of_the_Micro-Omnisiah Cult of the Micro-Omnisiah] sect. Unsurprisingly, they are concerned mainly with manufacture of miniaturized electronics and biological applications (including weaponized).
*** There are also things like autosanguination (blood nanobot implantation) and a few more arcane cases.
** There are runaway nanobot swarms from Dark Age of Technology, some even sentient. Like Bloodtide - pre-Imperium (i.e. from Dark Age of Technology) weaponized nanobot swarm that achieved sentience.
* [[Necessarily Evil]]: Imperial servants in general, and Inquisitors in particular, knowingly and willingly do horrible things to innocent people on a regular basis because the consequences for ''not'' doing so could be catastrophic for humanity as a whole.
* [[Neglectful Precursors]]: Strangely enough, inverted as it's more like neglectful ''moderners''. Back in the golden age of technology, people were smart enough to create standard template constructs (STCs) allowing any colony to build whichever it may need from the ground up (amount of the required efforts may vary). Anyone who had one could build anything from a house to a tank if the situation required, regardless of ability or technology. Ten thousand years later, these same items created millennia ago are still in use, but the massive galaxy-spanning Imperium appears to be having trouble finding the printouts of the things.
** To be more exact, the STCs are long-gone without maintenance. By and large, Imperium is having trouble finding even drawings of the things. A single ancient sketch of a blueprint taken off a broken STC (broken is as good as they come after 20,000 years or so) is a prize enough to burn entire star systems. Or gift said systems to the blueprints' finders. In such cases the risk is often worthwhile - even inferior replicas of archaeotech may give enough of an edge to save much more than was lost, derivative industrial archives may give any sort and amount of [[Crazy Awesome]] stuff (like Aegis data fragment that included [[Stun Guns|Shock Blaster]] and [[Laser Blade|Energy Blade]]), and an actual partial copy of STC could (and did) lead to improvements significant on the strategic scale.
* [[New Technology Is Evil]]: A cornerstone of the Adeptus Mechanicus.
** Ask any two Magi and you'll get at least two answers, though. They all believe in the existing rituals of construction and maintenance, most believe in reverse engineering, enough believe in "respectful improvement" that new weapons ''do'' emerge, and they sometimes fight each other over whether xenos tech can be studied and recreated in a "purified" form or is just a blasphemy against the Machine-God.
* [[Nice Hat]]: Commissars', though [[Bad Boss|the wearers aren't.]]
* [[Nietzsche Wannabe]]: And they're the unbelievably and naively ''optimistic'' in this setting. Be honest and ask yourself what's worse: a cold and uncaring universe, or a universe actively out to get you?
* [[Nightmarish Factory]]: Mars and forge worlds in general.
* [[Night of the Living Mooks]]: Necrons.
* [[Night Vision Goggles]]: Tau blacksun filters, Imperial
* [[Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot]]: *deep breath*:
** Repentant fanatical bondage nuns with chainsaw flamethrowers.
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** Genetically engineered green-skinned soccer hooligan axe-crazy techno-barbarian space-orc aliens who are subconsciously psychic.
** Asian caste-based bunny-eared-mecha-using alien hooved collectivist suicide bombers.
** Axe-waving blood-drinking/mutated burning tentacley/rotting maggot-ridden cyclopean/androgynous crab-clawed sex-fiend psychic emotion eating daemons.
** Viking/Mongol/Roman/Spartan/perverted [[Sense Freak]] bondage-obsessed/AxeCrazy/magic zombie/cyborg/vampire/Daemon-possessed genetically engineered power-armoured super-soldier [[Warrior Monk|warrior monks]].
* [[No Hugging, No Kissing]]: Unsurprisingly, the subjects of love and romance tend to be completely glossed over in the setting and all of its spin-offs. Because there is only war. As noted on its page, Warhammer 40k prefers to minimize the love story aspect of its approach to [[Space Opera]].
** It's actually quite justified when one takes a closer look. Space Marines are largely asexual (whether by choice or conditioning is a matter of no small fan debate), the Eldar largely repress sexual desire to avoid [[Emotions vs. Stoicism|falling prey to the urges that brought about the Fall]] and subsequently getting their souls devoured by its result, the Tau view sex simply as a matter of procreation, Orks are [[Mono-Gender Monsters|fungus]], the Necrons can no longer procreate, the Tyranids are hatched hive insect style, and most Chaos followers are too furious, too mutated, or too rotten to care about sex. The only groups which do engage in this aspect are the Imperial Guard, the Slaaneshi, and the Dark Eldar...and you really don't want to know about the last two.
* [[Non-Human Undead]]: Undead Daemons created from the souls of those killed (not NOT turned into the undead) by the undead plague, undead statue robots (wraithguard and wraithlords) Undead Wizard Statue Robots (Wraithseer and Warlock Titans). Undead Robots (necrons) and Undead Mecha (Dreadnoughts to a degree and Nurgle Titans). Surprisingly no Undead Dragons (then again, their fantasy counterpart fills in whatever holes it has).
* [[No One Gets Left Behind]]: Thoroughly averted for the most part - the Tau and Eldar are about the only ones who ever try
** Black Templars will risk life and limb to recover the body of a fallen Emperor's Champion.
** Necrons have an automated version of this.
** Also, given the [[Cargo Cult]]/[[Ancestral Weapon]] nature of technology in the Imperium, the Adeptus Mechanicus and the Space Marines will often insist, and go to sometimes-absurd lengths to ensure that No ''Tech'' Gets Left Behind.
** Orks invert this trope brutally and repeatedly.
*** It's actually built into their genetics (again! noticing a pattern?) so that when they die, they release a huge bunch of spores to grow into more Orks.
* [[No Plans, No Prototype, No Backup]]: Even the best and brightest Mekboyz don't know how some of the things they build work, or occasionally even what they had in mind when they started nailing bits on. Often the purpose of a Mekboy speshul invention can only be determined by testing it, a dangerous pursuit.
** Also justified for a lot of Imperial tech, thanks to it being [[Lost Technology]] - most of the plans and prototypes were reduced to dust many millennia ago, and some were lost with the whole industrial worlds fallen to some or other trouble.
* [[Nothing but Skulls]]: Most commonly associated with the Imperium. Yes, the <s>good guys</s> protagonists. They're also known for using cyborgs flying skulls,
** Orks, followers of Khorne, and Dark Eldar aren't slouches in the skull-taking department, either.
* [[Not So Different]]: The Imperium and the Eldar are both avowed enemies of Chaos and both elitist xenophobes. Naturally, each considers being compared to the other to be a dire insult. And while the Rak’Gol are depicted as horrid monsters, the way their behaviour is described is chuckle-worthy, if you compare point by point.
** Inquisitors for most part are people who don't consider themselves bound by the Imperium law and traditions, chasing whatever purpose they perceive as worthy, for most part operating secretly via networks of weakly connected cells. Exactly like most heretics. The irony is acknowledged.
* [[Noun Verber
* [[Nuke'Em]]: Standard Imperial policy on dealing with anything more dangerous than an angry dog. Usually [[It's the Only Way to Be Sure|the right thing to do]]. Occasionally not enough.
** A particularly [[Egregious]] example is the Death Korps of Krieg, who "[[There Is No Kill Like Overkill|subjected their homeworld to a 500-year campaign of atomic cleansing]]."
* [[Number of the Beast]]: The Grey Knights are Chapter 666, and their initiation involves the 666 [[Mind Rape|Rites of the Emperor]]. They hunt daemons.
* [[Numbered Homeworld]]: Both averted and played straight.
== O ==
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* [[Obviously Evil]]: Played straight, but also possibly subverted [[Alternate Character Interpretation|depending on just how "evil" you consider the Imperium]].
* [[Obvious Rule Patch]]: ''White Dwarf'' used to give out official rulings against interpreting the second edition rules in stupid ways. For example, your Imperial Assassin using the shape-changing drug Polymorphine is not allowed to disguise himself as a tiny Gretchin while wearing Terminator Armour and riding an armoured motorbike just because the rules don't specifically say he can't.
** ''A [[Commissar]] (of any rank) will never [[You Have Failed Me...|execute
* [[Officer and a Gentleman]]: The Imperial ideal. True to real life, many are also corrupt, incompetent, treasonous, or all-around bastards.
* [[Offscreen Villain Dark Matter]]: Ten thousand years of continuous war, and the Traitor Marines are ''still'' in bolter shells. This has been made somewhat less ridiculous in recent fluff, with mention of Chaos forge worlds, and a change in focus towards Renegade (recently-corrupted) Marines to distract from the question of how the original Traitor Legions even still ''exist''. And since they do reside in the Eye of Terror, where "physics" is even more of a joke than elsewhere, they have ''literal'' [[Offscreen Villain Dark Matter]].
* [[The Ogre]]: Ogryns of the Imperial Guard, armed with automatic shotguns designed to be equally useful as giant clubs (they will use any weapons like this, the difference is that Ripper Guns are built to withstand such treatment).
** Feral World Ogryns, from the abhuman rules in ''White Dwarf'', don't even get the shotguns.
* [[Oh Crap]]: The general logical conclusion from infantry squads taking a leadership test in the tabletop. While some examples are psychic powers messing with them, it's otherwise watching the rest of their squad get killed horribly and/or in quick succession and reasonably figuring that they'll be next.
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*** Horus killing Sanguinius for refusing to join him before the final fight with the Emperor.
** [[Promotion to Parent]]: Roboute Guilliman essentially promoted himself after the Emperor's death/ascension/interment.
** [[Rage Against the Mentor]]: Alpharius, against Roboute Guilliman, although Alpharius admitted nothing more than a pragmatic indifferance to his brother's boasting. Other examples include Rogal Dorn, Primarch of the [[Imperial Fists]], masters of
*** Perhaps the biggest example of this trope is that of Horus and Abaddon. Abaddon looked up to Horus, and his loyalty (before and during the Heresy) was greater than any other...except for when Horus eventually loses the siege of Terra and Abaddon starts having second thoughts. Cue taking immediate command of all chaos forces and retreating back to the Eye of Terror, thus coining the phrase "Horus was weak, Horus was a fool". Such was his hatred of Horus's weakness, Abaddon renamed the Sons of Horus legion to the Black Legion and, upon hearing about even the potential to clone Horus, launched an all out attack to destroy the project. Not that Abaddon has done much better than Horus... [[Failure Is the Only Option|13 Black crusades later and not an awful lot has changed...]]
* [[People Jars]]: How you get a new [[Super Soldier|Space Marine]] Chapter, amongst other things.
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* [[Phantasy Spelling]]: Chaos "daemons" might or might not be an example of this. The word technically means "minor deity", but since that's what a lot of daemons actually ''are''...
* [[Phantom Zone]]: The Warp.
* [[Phlebotinum Overload]]: Whenever the Warp gets involved, phlebotinum overload usually happens and with fatal consequences. Unless it goes badly, what happens doesn't bear thinking about.
* [[Physical God]]: The Emperor may have been one of these, and the Primarchs were basically demigods; also, the Avatars of Khaine and the C'tan. Daemon Princes can sometimes have pretty god-like powers, too.
* [[Pirate]]: '''IN SPACE!'''
* [[Pistol-Whipping]]: A game mechanic.
* [[Plague of Locusts]]: Figuratively. The Tyranids are often likened to a terrifying [[Horde of Alien Locusts|plague of alien locusts]]. They travel the galaxy in Hive Fleets that are so incomprehensibly massive, they are made of ''lightyears'' worth of ships at their biggest. They descend upon planets and devour everything they can with a crazed, hungry fervor - and by "everything", we ''mean'' everything. Their rampages end with the targeted planet being stripped of all life and left a barren rock. You can kill millions, if not ''billions'' of the damned things and still lose, because they always have millions and billions more to throw at you. Furthering the comparison to an apocalyptic swarm of insects is that there's no properly defined leader: all Tyranids are governed by a ravenous hive mind that is so overwhelmingly savage and powerful that it's ''impossible'' for the setting's Chaos Gods to control or corrupt.
* [[Planet Eater]]: The Tyranids are this, and intend to do it to every life-bearing planet in the galaxy.
* [[Planet of Hats]]: Applies to several races, to try and reduce their [[Separate but Identical]] nature.
** Imperial Guard: Everyone from Cadia is a soldier, everyone from Krieg is an exceptionally grim and dour soldier in a longcoat, everyone from Praetoria is a ''Zulu'' extra, everyone from Catachan is Rambo ([[Up To Eleven|but more hardcore]])...
** Eldar: Five major subfactions are each a Craftworld of Pointy Helmets: everyone from Ulthwe is either a professional soldier or a [[Psychic Powers|Seer]], everyone from Alaitoc is a [[Cold Sniper|hooded loner with a sniper rifle]], everyone from Biel-Tan is an [[Split Personality|Aspect Warrior]], everyone from Saim-Hann rides a [[Air Jousting|flying]] [[Badass Biker|bike]], everyone from Iyanden is ''[[Night of the Living Mooks|dead]]''.
** Orks: Every [[Goth|Goff]] is grim and dour and [[Serious Business|takes fighting (comparatively) seriously]], every Evil Sun is fanatically obsessed with fast-moving [[Law of Chromatic Superiority|red]] vehicles, every Deathskull is a thieving bastard who [[More Dakka|welds guns together into bigger guns]], every Bad Moon is a [[Rich Bitch|rich bastard]] who buys all the best wargear, every Snakebite is a [[Space Amish|backwoods hick]] who clings to traditional ways of doing things, and every Blood Axe is a [[Ninja|sneaky bastard]] who believes in un-Orky things like ''tactics'' and ''camouflage''.
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* [[Plot Armor]]: All races to an extent but some tend to have more than others. The most extreme example of this trope are the Tau, which earns them a certain degree of hate from the fan base.
* [[Plucky Comic Relief]]: You know you're on the [[Sliding Scale of Idealism Versus Cynicism|extreme end on the cynical side of the scale]] when this role is filled by the [[Blood Knight|rampaging, murderous hordes of Orks]], whose idea of a good time is to indiscriminately kill anything, including each other, and introducing people's internal organs to daylight.
* [[The Political Officer]]: Commissars. The Severan Dominate's secession had them removed... and replaced with Ducal Legates.
* [[Politically Incorrect Hero]]: Subversion in that the Imperium is only considered heroic in comparison to the other factions in the galaxy.
* [[Politically-Incorrect Villain]]: Considering the trope listed above, it's more like Politically Incorrect ''Everyone''.
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** Slaanesh is literally the god of [[Power Perversion Potential]]. If you're a servant of Slaanesh who ''doesn't'' use the god's Gifts in this way, you're doing it wrong.
* [[Powered Armour|Power Armour]]: Ubiquitous.
** Imperial: Varies from what-it-says-on-the-tin man-sized suits of armour that can carry themselves and protect against conventional small arms, to the ridiculous terminator armour (or tactical dreadnought armour) that's
** Chaos: As above, corrupted by the forces of [[Spikes of Villainy|spiky Chaos]] and pulsating with daemonic energies, screaming faces and trophy racks of skulls . Also, might involve horns and tentacles.
** Eldar: Advanced body-suits made out of living plastic covered in gems, can change shape according to the will of the user and frequently come with psychically activated helmet-mounted nasties. Generally doesn't enhance strength but can come with integrated weapons. Can also come equipped with holographic generators, which let them dance around while the enemy think they're somewhere else, which while being utter genius, is useless against someone blasting you with a tank (In theory).
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** Similarly, naming your planet Tartarus or Armageddon is [[Tempting Fate|just asking for trouble.]]
* [[Proud Warrior Race Guy]]: Khorne Berserkers are one part this to nine parts [[Axe Crazy]]. And "Orks iz made for fightin'." Space Marines also qualify to some extent. Also: Biel-tan, Lucius the Eternal, Cadia, the Tau Fire Caste . . . let's just say 40k is quite fond of this trope and move on.
* [[Psychic Link]]: Eldar specialise in these. Humans sometimes bind a psyker with someone else, usually bodyguard (in rare cases when a psyker is considered valuable).
** Also, soul-binding, performed both by Chaos cultists (to their gods) and Astropaths (to the Emperor).
* [[Psychic Powers]]: In the background, necessary for FTL travel, but carry the risk of being possessed or worse by daemons. In the game, originally the excuse for a [[Recycled in Space]] magic system, now mostly minor but useful powers in some armies.
* [[Psychic Static]]: The Shadow in the Warp.
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{{reflist}}
[[Category:Warhammer 40000]]▼
[[Category:Split Trope Lists]]
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