What Does 'Blood For The Blood God' Mean, And Where Did The Quote Originate? The 'Warhammer 40,000' Battle Cry Explained

Warhammer 40,000 is a tabletop role-playing game that has enjoyed an ever-growing following since its inception way back in 1987 (not to mention its fair share of memes). If you've never heard of 40K before, the game follows an intergenerational war between a human civilization in decline and various attacking aliens and supernatural forces — notably including the four chaos gods Tzeentch, Nurgle, Slaanesh and Khorne (who we'll get to in a moment).

One of the more popular memes to emerge from the game and fandom is a battle cry that goes, "Blood for the Blood God, Skulls for the Skull Throne!" But what does this saying mean, and why do so many people use it as a copypasta around the internet?

Here's the origin of the Blood God Khorne's iconic battle cry.

What Is Warhammer 40,000 and Who Is "Khorne"?

Warhammer 40,000 is a tabletop game known for popularizing the fiction genre of grim dark, which is said to have been derived from the tagline of the game, "In the grim darkness of the far future there is only war."

Khorne is the name of one of the Four Gods of Chaos in the game, and he is worshipped by certain sects of the faction called the Chaos Space Marines, such as the World Eaters (often seen in memes and fan art related to the Blood God sporting their iconic red-and-gold armor).

Khorne is not only worshiped as a God of Chaos, but he is also the God of war, murder, anger, hatred and general bloodshed. His home realm is said to be filled with rivers of blood that flow around his throne, which is said to be made entirely of the skulls of those that die in battle. Needless to say, his most devout devotees likely found inspiration for their battle cry from his home decor.

How Did Memes About "Blood For The Blood God" Spread?

"Blood for the Blood God, Skulls for the Skull Throne!" is the battle cry favored by many followers of Khorne, and memes about the admittedly catchy phrase began to spread rapidly in the early 2010s as the fandom continued to grow.

Some of the early memes about the Khornate battle cry were in classic proto-meme Rage Comic and Advice Animal formats, such as the fitting Insanity Wolf.

Strangely enough, other early examples were My Little Pony themed, some of which made parodies on the original quote that have continued on well into the 2020s.

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For the full history of Blood for the Blood God, be sure to check out Know Your Meme's encyclopedia entry for more information.