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EVERY SINGLE Faction's Endgame In Warhammer 40k!

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Engaging Recap: Every Faction’s “Endgame” in Warhammer 40,000

The video argues that most factions aren’t fighting for the war—they’re fighting toward some larger outcome. Each side pursues an apocalyptic chain of goals: what they want to become, fix, or devour—and why “victory” is usually grim, limited, or self-destructive.

Orks: The “Fun” Endgame (Spoilers: It’s Just Fighting Forever)

  • Core goal: Orks don’t have a master plan to conquer; they want to fight endlessly. Fighting is their recreation, economy, religion, and even their biology.
  • Big highlights:
    • Bigger with every win: Orks grow stronger with no clear upper limit.
    • Critical mass energy: Their numbers can build an immense psychic/energy “critical mass,” enabling impossible Ork technology and even pocket-dimension travel.
    • Waaagh! war escalations: Their society culminates in massive Waaagh! gatherings—sometimes millions strong—sparking conflicts across whole sectors.
  • Standout moment / joke-reaction vibe: Ghazghkull captures Commissar Yarrick and then sets him free—not mercy, but Ork logic: keeping a top rival alive sustains the fight for the long run.
  • Ork “victory” punchline: The universe becomes curated—enough enemies to keep battles going, but not so many that every interesting opponent is wiped out. The narrator even jokes the Orks might already be “winning,” depending on how you look at it.

Tau: Utopia, Tech Speedruns, and a Control System That’s Starting to Crack

  • Core goal: The Tau seek a future of collective harmony (“Greater Good”), advanced technology, and integration through diplomacy.
  • How they advance so fast: A warp storm delays the Imperium’s discovery of the Tau for thousands of years, letting them surge from young civilization to high-speed expansion, assimilation, and operational advantages over Imperial forces.
  • Big highlights:
    • Their endgame is half technology and half diplomacy—so convincing that some humans defect from the Imperium to live under Tau governance.
    • The catch: Ethereals’ caste system, which is less “free cooperation” and more rigid biological control.
    • Non-Tau species (humans, Kroot, Vespid) become second-class citizens, creating predictable friction.
  • The looming disaster: As Tau space expands, they encounter warp weirdness they previously avoided, eventually leading to belief birthing the Tau’va—a Tau “goddess”—with warp consequences.
  • Ending forecast: Tau victory seems unlikely because:
    • multicultural utopias tend to collapse in 40K, and
    • Farsight/renegade Tau suggest Ethereals may lose control—or become even more authoritarian.

Necrons: “Delete the Galaxy’s Life Problem” (And Then Possibly Rewrite Reality)

  • Core goal: Necrons want to undo what happened to them—specifically, the loss of their souls through biotransference—and ultimately rule a dead (or remade) universe.
  • Why they’re terrifying: They dominate real space with “physics-as-magic” tech, including:
    • Celestial Orrery: star-destruction from a touch of a hologram.
    • Pariah Nexus: region-wide warp silence.
  • Main plan: The Silent King returns from exile, wakes tomb worlds, and coordinates an endgame so brutal it borders on “making the Milky Way boring”: wipe out life, then move on.
  • Two Necron philosophies:
    1. Destroyer-cult route: eradicate life down to the microscopic level (painted as possibly cursed/mad).
    2. Silent King’s “fix it” route: reverse biotransference using suitable hosts.
  • Standout twist: The Silent King likely chooses humanity—not out of mercy, but because humans multiply quickly and can survive almost anything, making them ideal vessels. Tau are also mentioned as possible hosts.
  • “This could win” logic: If the reverse-biotransference science works and the cleansing phase succeeds, the Necrons’ endgame has a strong shot—though it depends on surviving their own war-wear and internal curses.

Imperium (Emperor’s Plan): Save Humanity From Chaos, Then Let It Evolve

  • Framing: The video presents Imperium goals by ideology later, but first covers the Emperor’s intent.
  • Core goal: Remove humanity from Chaos influence, using:
    • Webway travel,
    • manipulation informed by Eldar tech,
    • and long-term efforts to reduce belief-based empowerment of warp entities.
  • Key highlights:
    • The Emperor believes humanity will become a controlled psychic super-race without Chaos.
    • The Heresy/Horus disaster may have been engineered to thin the legions—possibly preventing another “Thunder Warrior” style collapse.
  • Contingency (Golden Throne era): When the Webway project fails (thanks to Magnus), the Emperor chooses a darker path:
    • absorbing vast numbers of souls,
    • using primarch returns as Chaos disruption,
    • and positioning Chaos war itself as a stage to confront the gods.
  • Notable implication: Abaddon is treated like an “Emperor’s tool” (golden-eye parallels, golden-warrior parallels, and psycho-conditioning themes), implying a cosmic chess match where Chaos is baited.

Chaos Gods: Not Conquest—Endless Cosmic Play (“The Great Game”)

  • Core goal: Chaos doesn’t need to wipe out the galaxy—it needs freedom to play in reality.
  • Key idea: The gods constantly war with each other, but the rivalry is part of the game:
    • Their plans rely on puppets, not eliminating every competitor.
    • They want an environment with malleable rules (like gravity) to manipulate at will.
  • Why “Chaos domination” is unlikely: Even if they get close, their nature makes them implode through infighting and self-destruction—because they need sentient life as food.
  • Twist: Even when they could theoretically “win,” they have incentives to keep the game running forever, not finish it.

Eldar: Vengeance, Soul-Safety, and a New God That Requires Maximum Casualties

  • Past fall: The Eldar psychic empire collapsed when Slaanesh was born, causing catastrophic deaths and the “emotions as a weapon” problem.
  • Three big endgame tracks:
    1. Craftworld Eldar: survive via soulstones feeding the Infinity Circuit (safely storing souls).
    2. Drukhari: survive by not dying, and by torturing others to keep their corrupted souls fed.
    3. Harlequins / Cegorach: the “Laughing God” runs secret schemes against Chaos.
  • Big highlight / emotional hook: Infinity Circuits appear to be forming a new Eldar god: Ynnead (God of the Dead).
  • The horrible price: To kill Slaanesh and birth Ynnead, every Eldar soul must be safely in Infinity Circuits—making mass death effectively required.
  • Ending tone: Eldar hope for resurrection/cosmic rebirth; if that fails, they still get one final gift: the chance to kill Slaanesh.

Tyranids: The “No Endgame Needed” Endgame (Eat Everything, Always)

  • Core endgame: Tyranids don’t need a victory condition—they run a life-consuming loop.
  • Key traits making them near-unbeatable:
    • Hive mind intelligence and adaptability.
    • Warp disruption around hive fleets, which deadens warp activity and limits psychic/demonic interference.
    • Rapid biomass-based regeneration and replacement.
  • Their method:
    • Spore assaults,
    • Tyranorrrofying planets into sterile husks,
    • then harvesting biomass to build the next invasion.
  • Why they can’t really be “beaten”: Any “victory” would require total annihilation of every Tyranid life form, because they can relocate to easier targets and avoid decisive fights.
  • Final verdict: “There is no winning—only how long you survive.”

Final Takeaway (Video’s Main Thesis)

Most factions’ “endgames” aren’t clean paths to victory:

  • Orks want fights forever and may already have “won” by curating enemies.
  • Tau want a utopia, but their control system and warp-birthing religious shocks threaten collapse.
  • Necrons aim to cleanse life, then possibly restore themselves via host bodies—potentially the most “game-winning” plan if it succeeds.
  • Imperium tries to shield humanity from Chaos, but it’s an enormous contingency labyrinth.
  • Chaos wants freedom to play, not final victory.
  • Eldar want vengeance and a god capable of killing Slaanesh—at the cost of mass death.
  • Tyranids are the most likely “winners” because they don’t need an end-state; they consume until everything ends.

Personalities Mentioned (Factions / Roles)

  • Ghazghkull (Ork warboss)
  • Commissar Yarrick (Militarum commander)
  • Silent King (Necron ruler / last Silent King)
  • Emperor of Mankind (Imperium’s ultimate plan)
  • Malcador the Sigillite
  • Abaddon the Despoiler (Chaos Warmaster)
  • Cegorach (Laughing God / Harlequin patron)
  • Ynnead (God of the Dead)

Original video