Editing Silent King (section)

== Szarekh: hero or villain? ==
Szarekh is one of the most interesting head figures in Warhammer 40k. Morally he is a very complex character. Whereas other heads of factions could be qualified as good people in terrible situations, such as Guilliman or Farsight, while others are definitely just evil people doing evil for the evulz, such as Vect or Abaddon. Szarekh is in a weird spot that leaves much of his morality up for interpretation depending on how you see his actions.

Szarekh's actions have both been tremendously evil, such as what he did to his own people turning them into Necrons and how he disregarded Orikan's warnings that the deal carried a huge cost the C'tan didn't mention, but also tremendously good, such as killing the C'tan and freeing his people from his own grip (like a certain someone also said he would do once humanity had evolved enough). Not only did he forsake power, but also out of guilt he left the galaxy. This does show some character development, more than most 40k characters get.

There is an important fact to remember, if necrontyr lifespan is anything to go by, he did not start the War in Heaven, he inherited it after untold generations of war when the necrontyr were basically in their last leg, when you consider this you find the bargain he did with the C'tan looks more like the [[Great Crusade|last desperate gamble]] [[Indomitus Crusade|of a hard pressed monarch attempting to save his kin from total annihilation]] than your average Chaos worshipping noble who is just in to get more power. He got a very hard hand to play and he did as best as he could given the circumstances and unlike, say, the Emperor or Guilliman, he didn't have psychic powers, a decent starting point or even a gene-enhanced body to tank with all the stress and hardship, in a few more years he and everyone he knew and cared for was going to get consumed by cancer, or were already in the process of dying, so, from his point of view it may have been a no brainer.

Then we don't know what he had been doing for 60 million years, it should be interesting to know what other galaxies think about the Silent King.

We do know that Szarekh came back, not just to save his people from the Tyranids, but to save most of the sentient life in the galaxy. And here is where motivation becomes extremely important to know where Szarekh lies within the moral spectrum. However, there is more. Among the Necrons, there is no record or memory of Szarekh's history other than him being in charge and the deal with the C'tan. How he ruled, where he came from, and more is unknown to everyone save Szarekh himself and maybe the C'tan. Worse, anytime the Necrons think about these things, their minds are pushed elsewhere, as if something is deliberately blocking them from questioning Szarekh. When he meets Necrons, they join him right away. While it's hinted this is due to his power and rank (backed by the Triarch Praetorians), there are hints of [[Ethereal|more direct methods of control]].

Despite this, there is his stance on the other races. You see the official reason why the Necrons are trying to save other sentient species from the Nids and the Great Beast is supposedly to later see if it is possible to make some reverse biotransference, which should mean Szarekh's desire to save other races is fueled out of selfish motives.

But the Indomitus book offers a different possibility for the motivation within the Silent King's attempt to save other sentient species. The plasmancer says that Szarekh ordered his Nemesors to try to preserve human life if possible in order to "use them as labor" in case biotransference is not possible. Now think about it, using humans as labor is a terrible idea if you are a Necron. Necrons have drones in droves to do manual labor, so autonomous humans who need amenities and extensively processed biomatter are useless as a workforce to them. Plus, given the Necrons' lack of need for amenities or physical comforts, there is much less need for goods or services. Yet Szarekh insists on telling the Necrons to preserve the life of these meatbags for two ultimately futile endeavors.

What if he is actually just trying to convince overlords to not kill sentient species by using these two motives as excuses to justify such an order?

Szarekh has clearly done horrible things, but it is entirely possible that he is trying to redeem himself for his actions, both towards his people and towards the galaxy. Or he is a lighter shade of grey, not-so-Grimdark imperialist who just wants to rule over as many diverse subjects as possible without being a murderous dick. Clearly the morality of Szarekh requires a lot more study within the black library, after all we don't see many great redemption arcs in Warhammer 40k, and Szarekh can provide us with one. Or not, since his way of sealing the rift would destroy all living beings.