Warhammer 40,000/Tropes/Q to Z: Difference between revisions

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 Q through the letter Z.

 

 

== Q ==

* [[Rated "M" for Manly]]: Part of the [[Tagline]] is "There is only war.", after all.

* [[Razor Floss]]: Many Eldar weapons.

** Also most [[Space Marines]], who have much longer lifespans.

*** Taken [[Up to Eleven]] by the Blood Angels, those that don't fall to [[The Corruption|the black rage or red thirst first of course.]]

* [[Redemption Equals Death]]: One of the fundamental concepts behind the [[Church Militant]]'s idea of "[[Fate Worse Than Death|penance]]."

* [[Red Shirt]]: Though not specifically called out as such, this tends to emerge from the gameplay mechanics. The wound allocation rules (barring special exceptions) allow the player who controls the unit being hit to designate which models in the unit fall in combat when the unit is attacked. Inevitably, it will be the models without special options, wargear, or abilities, who [[Taking the Bullet|Take The Wound]] instead of the more important ones.

** Typically, a world's Planetary Defense Force (PDF) has it even worse than the Guard, as their primary job in most stories is to die horribly at the hands of the invading forces until the Imperial Guard arrives. That's right, they're the [[Redshirt Army]] ''for'' the [[Redshirt Army]].

** As an aside, PDF also stands for "Please Don't Fight [Us]".

** The Imperial Guard used to field the same vehicles as Space Marines -down to dreadnoughts and land speeders- before the IG vehicle range was introduced in the mid-90s.

** Primarchs were absent from the Rogue Trader rulebook. The Horus Heresy was initially introduced -in the background for the original Space Marine game- as just a huge civil war, and Warmaster Horus as a mere corrupted general. In this early version of the background, the Emperor had simply grown old and weak over the millenia until he had to be placed on life support.

** One member of the Soul Drinkers has an extremely large mutant hand, which he either uses to wield his power axe to great effect, or uses to splat people dead while using his normal hand to use the axe.

* [[Right Hand Versus Left Hand]]: Common in the Imperium, ''standard operating procedure'' in the Inquisition.

* [[Roboteching]]: Tau Smart Missile systems.

* [[Rock Beats Laser]]: A setting of world-splitting superweapons, ludicrously powerful weaponry and interstellar empires, and the standard tactic of most factions is to charge screaming at their foes waving a sharp thing. And it ''works''.

* [[Rodents of Unusual Size]]: They live in the underhives.

* [[Room 101]]: Commorragh, the home of the Dark Eldar, is implied to be a ''City'' 101.

* [[Scale of Scientific Sins]]: Unsurprisingly, pings on all 7 sins.

* [[Scary Black Man]]: The Salamanders are an entire chapter of this, and they're one of the nicer chapters of Space Marines.

** The Imperium of Man and its subfactions: all xenocidal and imperialist, [[We Have Reserves|as happy to wipe out billions of its own people]] as it is to exterminate entire alien races.

** [[Our Elves Are Better|Craftworld Eldar]]: Dying elder race with massive superiority complex. Through their past depravity, they are responsible for creating the Chaos god Slaanesh. Not quite xenocidal, but consider the deaths of <s>millions</s> hundreds of billions of humans to safeguard a few hundred Eldar lives more than a fair trade, and have the [[Psychic Powers|psychic]] future-prediction and [[The Chessmaster|manipulative skills]] to make that sort of thing a reality rather than a dream. As an example, they tricked the Ork warlord Ghazghkull Thraka into attacking the human planet of Armageddon, setting off the Second and Third War for Armageddon, killing ''billions'' of humans, to prevent Ghazghkull from attacking one of their Craftworlds (world-ships that harbour the refugees of their lost empire).

*** Harlequins: A meta-faction with members drawn more or less equally from the other three factions, who form troupes of wandering [[Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot|bards, historians, performers, and high-speed close-combat specialists]] who are [[Monster Clown|feared and respected]] by the elite troops of all sentient races, including their own. All of this is, of course, secondary to their "Great Work", which is the re-uniting of the other Eldar factions and hastening the [[Have You Seen My God?|creation of Ynnead]], the Eldar god of death, who will destroy the Chaos gods and cause the Eldar race to be reborn as near-invicible demigods. They also have many weapons that can kill in [[Cruel and Unusual Death|extremely gory and unpleasant ways]], including a monofilament wire that inserts into a man's body and flails about, tearing his insides apart. Why use these horrible weapons? [[Can't Argue with Elves|For reasons your puny human mind cannot possibly comprehend]].

** Tau: Technologically advanced humanoids with a rigidly caste-based society. The Ethereal caste rule over the [[Elemental Rock-Paper-Scissors|Earth, Air, Fire and Water]] castes, who are all utterly loyal and devoted (one theory has it the control is based on pheromones). They see themselves as [[Benevolent Alien Invasion|benevolent imperialists]] fighting religiously for the 'Greater Good,' and are singled out for being the only faction that seriously engages in diplomacy or offers anything other than genocidal total war. Despite a thing for [[Unreliable Narrator|(allegedly)]] [[Utopia Justifies the Means|mass sterilisation, warmongering and concentration camps]], they really are the nicest people you'll find in this galaxy. Imperialist, expansionist, slightly fanatical, ("slightly" in this setting meaning that only one mech per army can be upgraded to [[Taking You with Me|a suicide bomber]]), nothing will get in the way of their manifest destiny to conquer the galaxy in the name of the Greater Good.

** Necrons: Ancient undead metal constructs powered by the souls of long-dead aliens that hate all living things. Ridiculously advanced technology, [[Implacable Man|almost impossible to kill]], and [[Omnicidal Maniac|omnicidal down to the last bacterium]].

* [[Scenery Gorn]]: About half of the art. A fair proportion of the other half is just regular [[Gorn]].

** Done both metaphorically and literally by the Necrontyr, a short-lived, life-hating race who had themselves sealed in undying living-metal battle shells, becoming the Necrons. "In a can" indeed.

* [[Sense Freak]]: Followers of Slaanesh. Dark Eldar as well.

** On the other hand, there is another saying which goes "No man who died in His service died in vain", so make what you will of it. Imperial dogma is occasionally contradictory. Pointing this out is heresy.

* [[Sentient Cosmic Force]]: The Warp is this.

* [[Shadow Dictator]]: The God-Emperor of Mankind. The ''official'' story is that he was mortally wounded in a duel with Horus and has been hooked up to the Golden Throne and [[Not Quite Dead|preserved in a state between life and death]] ever since, but sometimes it's alluded that he might be, in fact, long dead. Of course, those making said statements generally happen to be enemies of the Imperium, so it's impossible to know whether or not they're true.

** It's also important to note that the Eldar believe that if the Emperor died, he would ascend to full-on Godhood upon fully transitioning to the Warp, which they're convinced would make another Eye of Terror. Also, it's heavily implied that if this happened, he'd utterly curbstomp the [[Bigger Bad|Chaos Gods]], who were so terrified of the Emperor that they actually ''worked together'' to eliminate him.

* [[Shaped Like Itself]]: Orks wired into Deff Dredds "soon find out that the disadvantage to being permanently enclosed inside a metal can is being permanently enclosed inside a metal can."

* [[Shared Universe]]: Particularly in the novels; most fans regard anything written by some authors, especially C.S. Goto, as automatically non-canon.

* [[Shiny-Looking Spaceships]]: Eldar and Tau, mostly.

* [[Shock and Awe]]: Necron ranged weapons typically fire bolts of green lightning that [[Disintegrator Ray|strip away the target's flesh one molecular layer at a time]]. A great many psychic powers also involve using bolts of lightning to fry people.

* [[Shoulders of Doom]]: If you look at the [[Games Workshop]] site, "Shoulder Pads" is an entire category of modeling bits, along with scenery and weapons.

* [[Shout-Out]]: Tonnes, some subtle, some obvious.

** [[The Swords Trilogy]] was started in 1977 and had the [[Order Versus Chaos]] motif, complete with Chaos Gods and an eight pointed star as the sigil of Chaos. So Warhammer is [[X Meets Y|H.P. Lovecraft meets The Swords]].

** [[Animal Farm|"All Orks is equal, but some Orks are more equal dan uvvas."]]

** The Adeptus Arbites are the Imperium's police, with big guns, eagles and ginormous shoulder pads. [[Judge Dredd|Hmmm...]]

** The [http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e142/paco1185/blood%20angels/DSC03570.jpg cover art] for the 3rd edition Blood Angels codex has someone who looks suspiciously like [[Christopher Lee]]. (Compare the lower left Marine to the [http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/418GBD120QL._SL500_AA300_.jpg DVD cover] for ''Scars of Dracula.'')

** The two gods of the Orks are stated in ''Gorkamorka'' to be Gork and [[Mork and Mindy|Mork]].

* [[Shrouded in Myth]]: Space Marines are seen as legends by most of the Imperium. An average Imperial citizen will occasionally get to see how much of the legends are true; unfortunately, this is generally in a Marine-worthy combat situation, meaning the citizen's life expectancy can probably be measured in minutes at most.

** One comic story describes an Ork invasion of a medieval-level Imperial world and a Black Templar counterattack, from the perspective of one of the world's peasants. At the end, after the Orks are driven off, the peasant hopes that they never come back again: not because he's scared of the Orks, but because he's scared of the ''Space Marines''.

* [[Sickly Green Glow]]: Necrons in general and gauss weapons in particular.

* [[Sighted Guns Are Low Tech]]: One of the few science fiction works to avert this trope.

* [[Single Biome Planet]]: Used and averted equally often.

* [[Sinister Scythe]]: Trademark of Nurgle followers and the [[Grim Reaper|Nightbringer]].

* [[Split Personality]]: Eldar on the path of the warrior deliberately cultivate a separate "warrior" personality so that their "true" selves can remain untainted by the violent and murderous things they have done. Those who screw up and [[Shapeshifter Mode Lock|lose the ability to switch back]] become Exarchs.

* [[Spy Catsuit]]: Several Eldar have one, but it's pretty much standard issue for the Officio Assassinorum agents of the Imperium. Some employ chamaeleonic mimicry abilities, others have no special reason apart from being [[Fetish Fuel]]. In one of the newer novels, this tendency is repeatedly [[Lampshaded]] when several characters can't keep their eyes from the girl-assassin brought up by a [[Chainsaw Good|rather]] [[Kill It with Fire|puritanical]] [[Sex Is Evil|sect]] who would most likely kill them if she had any idea ''why'' they looked at her like that.

* [[Stab the Sky]]: Common pose of characters in artwork; not so much in actual tabletop models these days, unless you pose them that way yourself. Older models ''did'' tend to have their swords held high over their heads, due to pewter- and plastic-casting limitations of the time.

* [[Standard Sci-Fi Army]]: Considering its focus on war, every single type of unit conceivable has been used in the games.

* [[Standard Sci-Fi Fleet]]

* [[Standard Time Units]]: The Imperium officially runs on Terran years, and presumably Terran days onboard starships.

** Sort of: the Imperial calendar is explicitly based on the Gregorian, but rather than having 365 days, it has 1000 "Days"/"Year Fractions"/"[[Call a Rabbit a Smeerp|Chronosegments]]" of roughly 8hrs 45min apiece. If you think of each Chronosegment as a work shift, it makes it easier, especially if a "week" is 20 Chronosegments, and a "month" 100, as you wind up with roughly the same breakdown as the 7/30 you have now. The fluff explicitly has the "Year Fraction" part of the system used only by those who have to deal with ''lots'' of different local calendars.

* [[Stop Worshipping Me!]]: The God Emperor of Mankind when he was alive.

* [[Stout Strength]]: Generally anything associated with Nurgle gets this treatment. Especially the daemonic servants who the fatter they are, the more powerful they are.

** The whole mini-empire was a united alliance, ruled from Ultramar by Guilliman, before the Empire even got there. They only directly rule one world, it just happens to be the capitol.

*** And as Guilliman actually wrote the Codex, it probably is not against it.

* [[Sword and Gun]]: Generally favoured by every somewhat-sentient race in the game for close-quarters combat troops.

* [[Synchronisation]]: Titans and their Princeps, some ships and their captains.

 

== T ==

** Before the 5e codex, the Iron Warriors were this. Is being able to play with an extra tank not enough for you? How about borrowing Basilisks from the Imperial Guard and Vindicators from the [[Space Marines]]?? (At least, now all the Chaos Space Marines can use Vindicators)

* [[Tarot Motifs]]: The Emperor's Tarot. Used seriously for divinition: and it works: and as playing cards.

* [[Technopath]]: Eldar are and know it, Ork Meks are but don't, and the Adeptus Mechanicus ''think'' they are.

** They may even be - certainly they are in the tabletop spinoff ''[[Dark Heresy]]''. The amount of [[Clap Your Hands If You Believe]] going on here is [[Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane|deliberately ambiguous]].

** Inverted for Chaos Space Marines. They spent most of third edition as an incredibly dangerous force, then got the fourth edition codex, which removed the legions as anything other than a paint job, removed most of their customisation and nerfed most of what remained.

** And of course, played straight and inverted for Chaos Space Marines in the thirteenth Black Crusade. After thirteen tries, Chaos wins the campaign and takes Cadia. Then Games Workshop retcons it so they only have a foothold on the planet.

* [[Time Abyss]]: Most Eldar, but a few ancient Marines and Chaos Marines cross into this trope as well. The Dreadnoughts are prominent even among the Marines: the oldest one of them has seen the Emperor and fought by his side in life, which is almost 11 000 years from current in-universe time. Truth be told, though, Necrons own this. The C'tan are outright stated to be the oldest living things in the universe, and the actual Necron race is ancient on par with the Old Ones themselves. The Necrons and C'Tan are actually old enough that they have to periodically wake up and move their tomb worlds when they stars they orbit die.

* [[Tin Tyrant]]: Pretty much every commander wears a high tech suit of armor. Artwork of Khorne and the Emperor also has them fall under this.

* [[Tome of Eldritch Lore]]: The Black Library is an entire extradimensional stronghold full of these. See also the Book of Lorgar.

* [[Torture Technician]]: Dark Eldar Haemonculi, quite a lot of Inquisitors. Most Ork painboyz have got the Torture part down, but the Technician (keeping him alive) part is usually ignored.

* [[Touch of Death]]: Mainly used by C'tan and daemons, but the odd high-power psyker has been known to do this.

* [[Tournament Play]]: The kind of competition at a 40k Grand Tournament is enough to give the casual player horrible nightmares. Quite appropriate for the setting.

* [[Tranquil Fury]]: Usually this or an [[Unstoppable Rage]].

** Given what they know about Chaos (especially Khorne), Space Marines and Eldar try to fight in this state.

* [[Tsundere]]: 1d4 chan's interpretation of Commander Shadowsun(dere), a female Tau general. Pretty much completely unsupported by canon, but funny nonetheless.

** A large number of Eldar females (especially the ones who get shipped with Space Marines) are a bit closer to canonical.

* [[Turn-Based Strategy]]

 

 

== U ==

* [[Ugly Guy, Hot Wife]]: Nurgle and Isha.

* [[Ultimate Evil]]: The Emperor and the Chaos Gods all get this treatment to varying degrees.

* [[War Is Hell]]: In some instances, literally.

* [[Warrior Monk]]: Sisters of Battle are the most blatant example. Numerous but a relative few Ecclesiarchs may fit into this trope. Space Marines, including the more devout Chaos Marines, have shades of this; many Loyalist chapters are a militant ''and'' monastic order, but the Warrior part has far greater emphasis for obvious reasons.

* [[Warrior Poet]]: The Craftworld Eldar.

* [[Wave Motion Gun]]: Bombardment Guns, Nova Cannons, the appropriately-named Planet Killer, etc...

** Played straight with the Necrontyr. They would die very young due to the intense radiation from their sun.

** Averted by the Tau. They're pretty short-lived, with fifty years being considered ancient to them. They're painfully aware of this.

* [[We Are Everywhere]]: The Inquisition.

* [[We Are Team Cannon Fodder]]: Kroot, Imperial Guard anytime they aren't the protagonists, Gretchin, ''everyone else'' for the Eldar.

** The Necrons kill you with green lightning that literally flays you layer by layer. Except when they tear you apart with claws and wear sheets of your flesh for a hat.

** The Tau stick to <s>mere</s> [[Magnetic Weapons|railguns and pulse rifles]]. Extremely powerful ones at that.

* [[Weird Science]]

* [[Well-Intentioned Extremist]]: The Tau. The "well intentioned" bit is what sets them apart.

* [[A Wizard Did It]]: The Warp did it. Or the Eldar. Or the C'tan Deceiver. Or Tzeentch.

* [[Wolf Man]]: Wulfen are basically werewolves...in space..with guns...in power armour.

* [[Womb Level]]: The interior of Tyranid hiveships.

* [[Wooden Ships and Iron Men]]: Life on board Imperial Fleet ships is this trope [[Recycled in Space]].

== Y ==

* [[You Are Not Ready]]: Common Eldar sentiment to humans. The most common reply is a bolt shell to the face.

* [[You Have Outlived Your Usefulness]]: Gleefully employed by followers of Chaos and the Dark Eldar.

** Also employed by the Grey Knights chapter with most other Imperial troops [[He Knows Too Much|in order to preserve the secret of their existence]].

 

{{reflist}}