#Cawl trying so hard to be a good dad to his genetic monstrosity of a magic son

[ghostinthegallery]

Genefather and Cawl are still in my and they won't leave, but also this is a wonderful excuse to finally touch on the most important theme in 40K. The narrative backbone from which all else stems.

I am obviously referring to daddy issues.

(jokes aside) Father/son relationships are fundamental to how the Imperial side of 40k's narrative has played out. And Genefather ids no exception (I know with that title we are all shocked). So I'm gonna draw some narrative parallels between Belisarius Cawl and the God Emperor (which will definitely help the "Cawl is a Mary Sue" accusations lol)

Spoilers for Genefather below

Genefather literally opens with father/son issues. It knows what it's about. Alpha Primus in the doorway of Cawl's lab, reflecting that he never had a childhood, but he still feels like a kid waiting for dad to stop working on his Big Project and notice him. Which leads to the first moment Cawl (clumsily) expresses his affection by saying that Primus is just as important to him as Qvo is. Naturally Primus rejects the overture and storms off like the angsty teenager he is. His feelings towards Cawl are...understandably mixed. Primus hates him, fears him, respects him, desperately wants to protect him. He resents Cawl for making him "wrong" and lying about what he is. At the end of the day, he wants Cawl to listen to him.

Kinda sounds like the messy relationship between another scientist who genetically engineered some guys and assumed a paternal role in their adult lives, huh? Big E did it on a bigger scale of course, but Primus literally is Cawl's attempt at making a Primarch. The echo is there. Fathers and their giant, test-tube sons.

There's one huge difference between them though. Cawl is not exactly in line for "father of the year," but he enthusiastically and unambiguously loves Primus. He loves him so much that when forced to choose between his life and the safety of humanity, Cawl doesn't hesitate. He lets FABIUS BILE escape with everything he needs to make an army of chaos primaris marines, all because the alternative was letting Primus die. To be clear, this is VERY BAD NEWS for the Imperium. Super bad.

And Cawl knows how bad this is, but he is super clear about why he is doing this. Sure, Fabius tries to relate, he cares for his creations too, and Primus is apparently one hell of a creation. But Cawl pushes back. He doesn't feel the fondness a scientist has for their successful experiment, he feels the affection a parent has towards his child.

Imagine Big E in a similar situation. Weighing the safety of humanity against the safety of one of his children. There is no way in hell he would ever choose his kid, and most (if not all) of the Primarchs probably knew that. The Emperor would always put humanity's needs before theirs. He couldn't do anything else, he was just operating on too grand of a scale.

As for who's choice is right? Who the heck knows? I don't think it matters or that it's possible to say. Either choice can (or has) led to bad endings. I think it's more...mirroring tragedies. The God Emperor shows what can go wrong when you never choose an individual over the whole, no matter how close that individual may be. Cawl's choice (potentially) shows what can go wrong when you abandon the whole for one person you love.

I'm curious who will wind up with more regrets.