So basically the Emperor himself, through Hikaron, told Cypher "not yet." and Cypher understood in that moment that it was the Emperor he was communing with, agreed and left. I honestly think this gives a bit more weight to the theory that Cypher has to be the one to strike down the Emperor's physical form so he can either reincarnate and be born again or ascend to become a being of the Warp to rival the Chaos Gods themselves

That means Cypher was there when the Watcher's carried away the Lion. That he bore witness to the duel!!! HOLY GOLDEN THRONE!!!

Regarding the sword. Didn't Guilliman recognise the sword just before he got Cypher put in the cells... Why would Guilliman recognise anything other than his brothers blade?

Has anyone considered the direct alignment toward Arthurian legend that Dark Angel lore has started to follow, especially with the introduction of Bors, who in the legends was a Grail Knight, but the position of The Grail Knight was the of Percival who in his travels met a Fisher King kicking off the whole quest to find the Grail to cure him

Guys. GUYS. Cypher is three watchers in a trenchcoat! IT ALL MAKES SENSE!!!1!

My theory was always that Cypher was an Agent of The Lion. Working as a double agent, moving amongst the enemy and gathering information for his Liege Lord but now I'm not so sure.

I wonder if the spirit that visited and saved the custodes might have been an aspect of Malcador. Malcador was the grandmaster of the assasin order, after all, and may still exist as a specter protecting the throne room and the body of the emperor, even if the "true" Malcador was obliterated by the golden throne.

I think youve missed the fact that this is all based before the Lion wakes up (its days after guilliman reaches terra, and when the lion wakes up he hears about guillimans indomitus crusade). I think this sword is a key, and will be a retroactive "this is how the lion was awoken"

Years and years ago, I once was told that the Blade cypher has is the key to unlocking the golden throne, disabling the stasis device. This could help explain why the Big E said "not yet" and why it is so important to everyone. No proof at all sadly, but a neat idea. Not all secrets are buried in the rock after all.

Think people need to remember that in other DA books Cypher has been captured and let himself be captured by DA many times and has been let go. He said something to Az to make him believe it. So Cypher has a mission only he can do.

I've always theorised Cypher was an agent of the watchers in the dark. Or at least aided by them. I would love The Fallen to be represented on the tabletop, with three possible play styles. The Lion, Cypher, and Luthor. Loyal, renegade, and chaos.

I played 40k in the 1990's back in 2nd edition.. My older bro was Dark Angels fan boy, so i knew all about Cyper of course!.. I hope they finally move the whole Cyper lore an storyarc forwards someday soon.. Especially now, with El'Johnson back, if ever there was a perfect time to do it, its got to be now!!.. 🤞🤞

When they showed that the alpha legion had infiltrated the Dark Angels early on ... I assumed Cypher was Omegon

My money is still on Alpharius. Omegon took over the Alpha Legion and was killed by Dorn. Omegon didn't spend all that time on Terra so he was never going to be more than a typical Primarch. Alpharius commented that infiltrating the DA was the hardest so if you're going to infiltrate them doing it as a mysterious figure by design would be the most ideal. And he knew his way around because he spent so many years there... Although I still feel like this is going to be one of those times where the writers are like ooooh I know we set it up to look like Alpharius but we wanted to be cool and edgy and SURPRISE! Cypher is just a typical Marine still somehow doing exceptional things! Bet you didn't see that coming!

I had always hoped it would be Corswain as Cypher but its has to be Zahariel. The Lion himself said that they have a unique bond in killing of the Caliban Lion, Zahariel's psychic abiities could have manifested into forest walking, and his actual meeting with the Emperor being mind wiped. Maybe after fighting Corswain and the breaking, Corswain did something to split Zahariel and Choas fleeing from him as they did Luthor when he wounded the Lion.

It's worth pointing out that Malcador was the Master of Assassins, it would be fitting he would be portrayed as a masked assassin in a vision. It would also explain the lack of golden light that always accompanies the Emperor when he communes with people.

Its obvious that Cypher is actually Alpharius. His motivations, his abilities, etc. Not to mention the relationship the 1st and XXth shared from the HH

My guess, The sword was the first weapon made for the first Primarch. I think it's possible the blade has some relevance to the Emperor's rebirth as a perpetual. Perhaps it has something that will allow the emperor to regain his former self if struck by it. And perhaps while amazing to have him as a singular powerful force once more, maybe he needs to be able to reach around the galaxy as his current state allows.

I’d love Cypher to turn out to be Omegon. It would be great to have a traitor Primarch in the setting who is not actually a Demon Prince. And of he’s Omegon, he may still be loyal while playing the long-game as a traitor. I know there’s zero chance of any of this, but Alpha Legion is my fav…

Cypher and Asmodai are the reason I discovered 40k 30 years ago. Today I barely even remember they exist.

The portion of the book that discussed the artificer who died making the component for the door and left a flaw in the system seemed very similar to the story in the Vashtor book about the flaw that allowed the Inquisition base to fall. So maybe it's Vashtor.

I think its the lions sword, and that sword is a way for the emperor to "heal" or maybe a webway key

we have all the clues... cypher will give el'jonson the lion sword who will kill the emperor on command in the dreamforest to release him into a god when the time is right.

Gotta be Zaharial right? After the book I think its more then ever locked it in my head and he actually met the emperor at one point before he mind wiped him, maybe he planted the seed in cypher's head back then.

in the book "Unforgivin" by Gav Thorpe Asmodei tries to take the sword off of cypher when cypher turned himself in to the dark angels was a very good scene as well when Eziekial asks how Cypher escaped from the rock 7 times before!

More and more Cypher feels like Zahariel. Dude seemed to be most confused among those who followed Luther, was supposed to find some sort of secrets regarding Caliban. Also how does timeline allign? Can we be sure Cypher did not fuck off from Terra to somehow aid Lion in his return?

When the end is upon the Imperium, Cypher will raise the sword above his head and speak the Litany of Activation “By the Power of Grayskull”

There is a theory that states there is one other person the Custodies will listen too other than the EoM, that is Constantine Valdor. For Valdor is the only other being besides Malcador who was there at the beginning.

Obviously, Cypher is Alpharuis.

Just a fun thing to think about. Two major players in the fate of the Emperor are just 2 regular space marines. Dante and Cypher.

Could the figure have been Malcador? We know his body was turned to ashes after siting on the golden throne, but could it be possible that the smallest sliver of his soul is entombed within the golden throne much like the Emperor's? Malcador was the Emperor's right hand man, someone that almost anyone in the Imperium would trust without any hesitation. The Custodes to me would trust only three people without any hesitation (Now including Gullieman), Malcador, and the Emperor. Of course the third is the most likely given what had happened, but I think it being Malcador would be FAR more interesting and impacting.

This has got me even more excited about Cypher. He's always been one of my fave 40k characters and I've been a staunch supporter of his importance in the revival of the Emperor. The part about asking forgiveness just makes me think of Iacton's line in Grey Angel "Forgiveness lad, he's lost the chance for forgiveness." and that that mysterious Dark Angel is in fact Cypher. I still also believe that the Lion's Sword is a potent weapon capable of killing a Perpetual, we know the first legion was given custodian of many lethal and deadly weapons, so maybe one that could kill the Emperor or others like him. Also love the part where the Daemon is taunting him, really cool and a sign he's not all bad.

It is my theory that Cypher IS the Emperor. What do we really know about how perpetuals work? Would a perpetual be able to resurrect his physical self without his psyche IF he was mortally wounded and his psyche was entrapped in an object...say the Golden Throne? Here we have a perpetual physical resurrection without it's very powerful psyche. Cypher is that physical resurrection and it is his gest to reunite the halves back to the whole. The sword is the key that will allow him to do that. When the fatal blow is struck against the Corpse Emperor the sword acts as a conduit and channels the psyche back into the physical husk...Walla the Emperor reborn. Why the Emperor is keeping this all so secret is he knows Chaos is always watching, always looking to thwart his plans. Cypher not having the psychic part of himself would be much like the Sisters of Silence and other null psychics. The "Not yet." instruction could simply mean the Emperor is in the process of completing something and needs a little more time before he is reborn.

I love your work my dude. Keep it up.

Maybe the lions new sword is actually his old sword reforged and granted to the Lion as a sign to reforge the legion in forgiveness and understanding and Cyphers true mission was to present the sword as an omen or alarm clock for the Lion to awaken.

For how much I love the theories; you all are gotta be choke finding out he IS Zahariel lol

Why does everyone forget about the 300 Companions that are always with the big E? Would Cyper get thru all of them too?

There are 2 people who need to be involved before the Big E can be allowed to die. One is Magnus. He would be needed to be redeemed and sit on the throne. The other is Vulkan. He is needed to remove the destruction device that he put on the throne.

Could it be because the emperor could possess a custodies easier than trying directly to communicate with a conflicted cipher?

He masked his presence and power to hide from Chaos. If Chaos were to find out Big E's up to something, they would stop him. But the element of surprise is what E needs for his plans to succeed. For a realm like Chaos, who exists in all times at once, hiding from them is a great feat.

We obviously aren’t gonna know until the last siege of Terra book comes out. Towards the end, when the death guard are coming and Cypher appears. It popped in my mind right then that he has a pretty big role to play in whatever future GW is planning on guiding the ship too. I also have a very sick feeling that the great angel is going to play a much bigger part. I am not going to lie, I will probably cry when he it gets struck down. I also think that he will return. We saw with mephiston seeing both angels fighting in the warp His two sides. They both make up the angel. Anyways off topic, I think that dark angels are going to be tied in heavy into 40k. They are painting the ground work for the lion to be a tempered wise father to his newly rebuilt legion. Something epic is going to happen, you can feel it. The dark imperium novels with RG wishing for a warrior brother to aid him with a legion. The dark angels redeemed with there current brother’s unifying. They have said multiple times in the lion book how many DA sons were on caliban. Most were indeed loyal. The unforgiven becoming the redeemed, unified under there father who has been tempered and understands what must be done. I don’t know why everyone thinks there’s going to be strife between them because they’re already was that. You have to think in terms of a storyline. There was the heresy when the brothers were at each other’s throats both loyalist and traitor, there was the last depressing 10,000 years, and now we’re at the turn to fight out of the corner and bring back humanity into the fold. Honestly, they could bring back all of the loyalist primarchs and the emperor. They have the ghoul stars out there that they can bring in a new threat with and have chaos always be in the background rearing its head at random. They’re not out of the equation just not as powerful as they are now. You can kind of see that they’re trying to wrap chaos up and not have it be the number one threat anymore.

I think it’s a shard of the Emperor that’s trying to see that it becomes the controlling aspect of him. Cypher is a part/ back up plan to seeing that happen. We have already seen loads of powerful beings shattered (C’tan / Magnus) and we have the chat with Roboute Guilliman to show just how shattered he is. Also we have the power that all that faith is giving the emperor but with that comes the fact that it has the ability to over ride the man that was before the throne with the what the emperor god is thoughts of the trillions that worship him

I love this long video from you

i would love if malcador came back. along the lines of it took ten millennia to regenerate from the power of using the golden throne. I just want to see how he would react to this dying imperium.

The sword is probably both the lions blade and also a key. It disappears and the lion comes back, probably taken by the watcher to go be a key.

Now, time and time again, we've been shown that Chaos cannot corrupt a Custodian's soul. But what if that Custodian is dead? A daemon might be able slip in and turn that Custodian into a daemonhost.

Perhaps "not yet" means "not until the Lion has returned" so that the Emperor can be discovered on the throne, slain by the Lion's Sword. The spark to ignite a second Heresy and bring all of the Primarchs together, where such a concentration of power would bring about the resurrection of the Emperor as a perpetual.

It's crazy how people can read the EXACT SAME THING and come to two different conclusions. To me, it was quite apparent that he is loyal, but in order to achieve his objective(s), (whatever that may be) he must sometimes ally himself with those who are enemies of the Imperium. "One foot in the light, the other in the darkness," when I read this, I didn't interpret it as his SOUL/SPIRIT/LOYALTY was split into light and darkness. Rather, I believe it means HIS PATH strays into the darkness, but he remains anchored firmly in the light. Then again, you know what they say, "A man will eventually take on the qualities of the room he finds himself in."

Can't say it's lore, but Amber Kings video on Lion'el Johnson mentions Cypher back when the lion first landed on Caliban. He mentions him as a lord of his own lands and the "keeper of secrets" back when they were still just humans.

Go on you maddog your knocking it out the park lately rho

I know it not is like Luther could only have just one but that aside Luther's sword is currently in possession of the Dark Angels, one of their Chaplains got some info from a Fallen he thought might guide them to the Lion's Sword but the one they found instead was Luther's, it was corrupted by Chaos, giving more weight to it being the one he used in his duel against The Lion; they took it to keep it in their vaults at The Rock.

Cypher is in the 2nd ed Chaos Codex, which is ACTUALLY the best codex.

Whatever the answer, it's Guilliman's fault.

We have to remember that Zahariel, the Cypher, was surprised by knowing the true identity of the previous Cypher. What if he just saw that the previous cypher was some kind of agent of the emperor or the emperor possessing someone as he did with the corpse of the custodes and that he gave him a job since them? That would explain the reaction of cypher in this situation

I mean, he got to the bridge, the lad still had to go through the 300 companion custodes that protect the emperor inside the throne room. So, I would turn around.

One of the best story telling that gripped me in every 40K nerve I have. Just like the cherry on top of the Warhammer Cake. 40K needs to hit the movies. Movie after movie, until that fight on the bridge, of the Vengeful spirit. Would be the Infinity War equivalent. Then through the Black Crusades, Cadia and then Cypher here in this story.... AWESOME!

Imagine if the Terminus Decree just says "Tell Cypher it's time."

Eh... 100 credits that he's Zahariel. Also... why can't he beg forgiveness _as_ he plunges the sword into Emperor Bonebags.

I’d like to see how the modern dark angles can justify treacherous murder of loyal imperial citizens to the recently awoken lion. Cypher lord of the fallen in my opinion is one of the best modern 40k books, can’t wait for the story to continue

Maybe it is fragment of Malcador? We know that you can get fragmented look at what happened to Magnus. So my theory is that it was a fragment of Malcador that spoke to the custodian and kept him alive.

Have we considered that Cypher is aligned with the Watchers and by extension the Cabal? He seems to be able to move around freely, appear where needed and his actions don't seem logical.

Maybe he's an original surviving Thunder Warrior? Born on Terra, escaped the Thunder Warrior purge by hiding on Caliban and eventually acquiring Dark Angel geneseed.

The dark angels recovered Luthers sword in a short story set well after calliban was shattered

One homebrew group I made a while back was Cyphers legion. Basicly they were loyal to big e but never knew what the lion chose so they work to help big e in the shadows and have mostly voulentiers but have some Fallen who seeked redemption and some 1st legion and unforgiven members that were lost in battle or something

Maybe the sword is always a key and when you stick it in someone it unlocks their death.

Cypher woke up the Lion. I heard whispers from the warp…

Cypher is Omegon or Alpharius(depend on which you believe died at the hands of Dorn and Guilliman) since only them could have known the secret passage and i don't think a simple Astartes could feel the need to go see the Emperor. Plus the Custodes just telling him those 2 words instead of cleaving him is definitely pointing at something other than a despicable Astartes(Custodes hate Astartes since they view them as flawed and corruptible). Or the man is the baddest Dark Angel Legionnaire to ever live

Of course, all this assumes the whole book wasn't a lie by Cypher. The Cypher mystery I'm the most curious about is the discord that follows him. Is it an aura, something he does purposefully, or something that isn't real, but things just seem to happen around him.

Cypher is The Lion going back through the ages using his Forest walk.

You say it is a key... what if it is a key to webway gate in the throne room, what if it is the key to closing the gate and freeing the emperor from his interment upon the throne.

The custodians were not immune on the Vengeful spirit during the battle for Terra

"... never sought the ruinous powers, such as Luther." Such as, in this case would mean that Luther is one of the ruinous powers.

Damn Cypher. Even after a book about him, we still don't know who he is or what his real i tentions are.

It's a key to unlock all their forest walking abilities, since their dad is part warp. 😅

More cypher content please WLR

Maybe its not a sword at all but a key... And when you stick it in people, it unlocks thier death. Caboose knew

Wooh how about Malcador as a loyal imperium daemon!

Any possibility it’s the blade of the primacy for the 2nd or 11th legions? Hence guilliman recognizing it

Can't be Omegon. I can not remember which book it was but cypher speaks to omegon at a parade and they have some tense moments. Cypher even threatens him for being disrespectful by tapping him with his plasma pistol. And omegon takes it as a serious threat. So even primarchs show him some respect.

A "divided" soul and not a single mention of Alpharius/Omegon? Come on Rho!

It would be funny if Malcador had reconstituted and was pulling some strings behind the scenes.

Confirmed 2nd edition is the Best. 💯 In the new rule's he doesn't have any fallen with him. He's is down as a loner now. I hope he gets at least a squad in game.

It could be he wants to kill the Emperor with the Lion's sword out of bitterness and revenge to bring the Lion to the same level as themselves. The conflict may be as you say, to seek revenge or redemption and he is conflicted still.

The blade is the key to the dreadwing's vaults

I am Cypharius.

I think that the sword is indeed the Lion's sword, I also think that Cypher is not a Chaos's pawn but he is not working with the Emperor, he is workign FOR the Emperor, probably not knowing it. The Emperor, Malcador et all, before being psycher if immense power, before having loved long life, they are manipulator, they are mastermind that moves pawn on a galactic scale chessboard... the Emperor had Plan A, B, C and D in place.. I really feel what we see here is "just" another manipulation from the Emperor... for the reason why he didn't appear as himself to Hikaron, well, I am not really sure he did not: the "presence" that spoke to Hikaron used his full name, probably something that only the emperor knew... this is quite a heavy business card to shows off...

So this is definitely a reach, but I think you were on to something with your wishful thinking about Malcador- what if Malcador has been intertwined w the Golden Throne and the Emperor somehow? I think Cypher would be more likely to be working under Malcador than any other, since a literal cypher is something Malcador was undoubtedly fond of. Perhaps that's why he showed up to the Custodes in the form that he did

Working for GW at the time, I know his name came from Lucifer...cifer=cypher.....

I only have one 40k book legion of the damned i tried to read it a long tine ago and i felt like i was missing sonthing is it a sequal book? Do i need other bools for it

I actually managed to grab one of the signed copies! 😁

Regarding the custodes and chaos what about the end and the death? Did I miss interperate that scene?

The identity of the sword no longer matters. Flesh is stronger than steel. Thulsa Doom knew it; the Emperor knows it; and, now, Cypher knows it.

Kill emperor or ask forgiveness? Why not both. Ask for forgiveness and kill the emperor to release the god emperor into the warp

What was that part from when Guilliman reached Terra? There was a line about what Guilliman thought about the sword, right? Also, we know Caliban itself is an Old Ones artifact. What if the sword has something to do with that, rather than it being Lion's or Luther's?

Hydra Dominatus

Ok, so Luther is another geronto-astartes. Which bit of the astartes process gives them their longevity? Because rejuvenate treatments would certainly stop working after 10k years

Cypher is split personality luther with lions warp walking abilities

Afaik Luther's sword was recovered by the dark angels already and should be at the rock.

I think the Emperor needs him out there with the sword for a future event. One that will lead him back to the Emperor and use the sword to end the Emperors mortal life. Thus releasing him to his Warp godhood. And once and for all making the Emperor whole again to then guide mankind back from the darkness. Granting man his favors as the Chaos gods have granted their followers their favors and powers. I think someday we might someday see an event similar to this. Just my best guessing here.

I still believe he is Alpharius! Alpharius could have divided and shattered the Alpha Legion during the HH. Both heads of the Hydra were not as big as a normal primarchs, or small as legionaries. Trained to infiltrate by the Emperor, could have steeled him against the dark gods, and would make sense as to why Cypher was never discovered as Alpharius. His ability to break out of the dungeons, Alpharius. Playing both sides, Alpharius. Returning to Terra with the Lions Blade, to prove his legions superiority over the Lion, Alpharius. Wanting to see dad after such a trip, Alpharius. 🤷‍♂️