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What Are The Origins Of The 'From the Moment I Understood the Weakness Of My Flesh' Copypasta? The 'Warhammer 40K' Meme Explained
"From the moment I understood the weakness of my flesh, it disgusted me," says Magos Dominicus Reditus, a minor character in the Warhammer 40,000 universe. But while Reditus' role might be insignificant in the scale of Warhammer 40K's events, the impact of his monologue on memes has been impressive, providing an excellent copypasta and soundbite that pleases the Omnissiah himself. Learn more about its origins and how it turned into a meme here.
Where Does The 'Weakness of My Flesh' Copypasta Come From?
On February 21st, 2018, the teaser trailer for the 2018 tactical turn-based combat video game Warhammer 40,000: Mechanicus premiered on YouTube. In the trailer, the character Reditus, a slain Magos Dominus who presently exists as a semi-sentient servo skull, delivers a narration about his disgust for flesh and his immortality as a machine.
From the moment I understood the weakness of my flesh, it disgusted me. I craved the strength and certainty of steel. I aspired to the purity of the Blessed Machine. Your kind cling to your flesh, as though it will not decay and fail you. One day the crude biomass you call a temple will wither, and you will beg my kind to save you. But I am already saved, for the Machine is immortal… Even in death I serve the Omnissiah.
In the Warhammer 40,000 universe, the Adeptus Mechanicus is a cult that jealously guards the knowledge of technology, and who worships the Machine God, also known as the Omnissiah. The Tech-Priests of the cult regard human flesh as weak, with the practice of replacing organs and body parts with mechanical, bionic parts being viewed as sacred. Therefore, Reditus, now an immortal machine, regards his current state as a blessing, cursing his biological past.
'The Weakness of My Flesh' Copypasta In Memes
The copypasta gained initial spread in the Warhammer 40,000 community, being spread on Warhammer 40K Discord servers. The copypasta started gaining more prominence in 2020, as memes using it were posted in the /r/Grimdank subreddit, among other places.
"The weakness of my flesh" gained even higher popularity as a soundbite, as the monologue got paired with images and videos of jerry-rigged, often bizarre mechanical and technological upgrades and silly-looking doodads.
This Orangutanicus video became particularly popular. Reject monke, embrace transapeism.
What Does "Weakness of Flesh" Specifically Refer To?
The "weakness of flesh" is a term used by the Cult Mechanicus to describe any bodily wants, such as eating food purely for the taste of it, copulating, pleasure drugs, etc. Since machines do not have these desires, members of the Mechanicum do their best to cast aside such weaknesses.
For the full history of the "weakness of my flesh" copypasta be sure to check out our database entry for more information.
