Warhammer 40K: Arks of Omen – All The Prophecies So Far
The Arks of Omen tarot cards have teased and told us what’s coming. But deciphering the prophecy has been a challenge.
There’s a major event happening with the 40k lore and it’s really shaking things up in the lore. The tarot card teasers have been useful for speculating what’s on the way. However, before they are “revealed” it can be a lot of guesswork. That said, it might be helpful to just read them in the order they were presented along with notes pointing to what was being referenced.
We’ve tried to section off the stanzas in ways that seemed like they were all talking about the same thing. Some of them certainly blurred some lines. So if the notes or images are throwing you off, try reading the “poem” in one go first and then come back to it. This is also a work in progress as there’s more tarot cards for the Arks of Omen still rolling out.
Arks of Omen – The Beginning
(I – Galaxy )
The Galaxy burns in the fire of ambition.
Another round of the great game begins.
Venom in his hearts and blood on his blades.
What new darkness does he bring?
The Arks of Omen
Monuments of iron and stone
And hate and time
(IV- The Silver Key)
Ahh…The Silver Key
New doorways
New paths
New possibilities
Notes: We believe this first section was pointing to the upcoming (at the time) Abaddon story arc. His catchphrase is used (Galaxy), he’s name dropped (Despoiler), and the “Arks of Omen” are also mentioned along with the “Silver Key.” Looking back it’s easy to see all the connections here.
Arks of Omen – The Hound Unleashed
(V- The Great Hoste)
A blood red tide of singing blades
Led by…
A Great Beast
Unliving, but undying
It claws at reality’s gate
Notes: Abaddon directly led into Angron’s release — both in terms of the Arks of Omen book and the Daemon Prince Primarch’s return. It wasn’t just Angron (The Hound), but also the World Eater’s legion (The Great Host) and their new Codex, too. Obviously this one wasn’t too hard to put together either even before we had the books.
Arks of Omen: Vashtorr’s Machinations
Devastation
Annihilation
The future reeks of cataclysm
(VIII- God-Emperor (Inversed) )
The Imperium’s End
The Fall of Humanity’s Empire
The veil grows thin
Malignancy bleeds through
From one world into the next
And here stand the Angels of Death
Bloodied
But unbroken
A great war
Fire and wrath unleash on sacred rock
And yet chaos is fickle
Forever turning upon itself
Notes: This section is one of those “blurred lines” section. We have the arrival of Arks of Omen: Vashtorr and also the Wrath of the Soul Forge King boxed set. The storyline is teasing a confrontation between Vashtorr and the Dark Angels on the latter’s home turf. The two cards “A Shattered World” and “The Lightning Tower” seem like pretty direct references to The Rock. There’s also the obvious Astartes reference, too.
What’s interesting is that it does seem like this section alludes to some “Chaos-backstabbery” with the card “Daemons (Inversed)” which, yeah, it’s Chaos so of course they are going to get in their own way. What’s kind of out of place in this section is the card “The God-Emperor (Inversed)” as it alludes to the end of the Imperium… Or maybe the Imperium as we know it.
Arks of Omen: Rise of the T’au
A horde descends
Scarlet and crimson souls
Blood drunk, blood maddened
Flooding the galaxy
And a light gutters in the endless black
It may scourge the red tide
It may drown beneath its waves
Yet here a change in spirit
From fury to serenity?
I cannot say
I cannot yet see
Notes: Now that we have the fourth (and possibly the final) Arks of Omen book confirmed we know that it’s going to focus on Commander Farsight. Many of the tarot cards had T’au symbols on them along with the Dawn Blade which is wielded by Farsight. There seems to be a back-and-forth here as well in terms of will Farsight fall to the Horde or overcome it. The Fool card might be a tease that something happens to Farsight and he doesn’t give into the fury that builds from using the Dawn Blade but rather he masters it. That could be the trigger to cause what follows.
Arks of Omen: The Future Unfolds
But hope blooms
In the garden of lost souls
And burning stars
And here
A fatherless son
Alone in the endless night
As wars rage
Beneath the gaze
Of a newborn star
Notes: This last section is the newest and we’re in unconfirmed territory here. The Tree of Life card had an image of the Young Warrior (who we assume is Farsight) kneeling before a tree. Perhaps he’s who ushers in this new “star child.” Wouldn’t that be something.
The Arks of Omen is still ongoing as the story isn’t finished being told. Once it’s all wrapped up it will be easy to look back at these cards and readings to point to the results and references. But we’re not there yet…
If you want to watch the videos for each card you can click on the titles above or hop over the Warhammer-Community website and re-watch the videos there. I would also listen closely to the voices that are “reading” the cards. That could be another clue.
Arks of Omen: We ain’t done yet!
