Malleus is Grimdark(TM) for "Daemon and other such nasty Gribbliness"

In the same way that Hereticus is Grimdark for "Witches, Mutants and other such heretical Gribbliness" and Xenos ....Oh I'm sure you get the point

Sometimes authors (not just GW ones) use words cos they sound cool and don't bother with finding out what it actually means.

Remember, Never let the truth (or accurate definitiion) get in the way of a good story!

In the Daemonhunters Codex, it is stated that the "Malleus" in "Ordo Malleus" means hammer. Daemonhunters characters even get a points discount on thunder hammers in comparison to power fists to encourage the use of the order's symbolic weapon. I agree with others that the inspiration probably comes from the "Malleus Maleficarum," which was, after all, written by two inquisitors. 

For an in-universe explanation as to why the naming convention of the Ordo Malleus does not follow that of the other two, perhaps it is due to the fact that (depending on where you look) even knowledge of the existence of daemons is proscribed. Your imperial citizen may know that aliens exist, definitely knows that heretics exist, but the existence of demons may not be something publicly admitted. So this way an inquisitor can announce his credentials in a suitably dramatic manner without spilling the beans.

Lupinorc said:

Like I said, it's just some cold shit to say before you pop a cap!

Next time I run I'm going to have an Inquisitor start screaming "muthafarkin-slaanesh-on-a-muthafarkin-plane!"

Karmatech said:

You had it right the first time, there is no "seriously", unfortunately.

Originally, the Ordo Malleus was a secretive order of the Inquisition, the Watchers of the Watchers essentially, back in the days when every potato farmer on every Agri-world in the Imperium hadn't heard of Abaddon and his umpteenth useless Black Crusade, ie. the "Pre-Spiky Bitz Era".  As Domis mentioned, the word Malleus was used in an evocation of the Malleus Malificarum, giving the 40k Inquisition a very historical Inquisition feel.  The Malleus meant for 40k what it meant for the medievals, "that which smites".

Enter Gav Thorpe and Dan Abnett, who apparently knew nothing of any of this.

In giving the Inquistion his "White Wolf Treatment" (by which I mean breaking the Inquisition into easily defined warring factions) Gav created the structure we have now.

Ordo Xenos - Xenos means "Alien" therefore they fight aliens.

Ordo Hereticus - Hereticus means "Heretic" therefore they fight heretics.

Ordo Malleus - Malleus means "Daemon" therefore they fight daemons. Oh, wait, Malleus doesn't mean Daemon, oh well, we'll just dub Daemons "Malleus" anyway and pretend we were saying it meant "that which is smitten" rather then admit we didn't have a clue about the real history of the term or our own game.  After all, it's not like 12 year olds actually know Latin.

Duplicate Post, feel free to delete if possible.

Lord Kruge said:

I get the confusion. I am definitely pre Thorpe/Abnett. I still use Slaves to Darkness as my reference for the ordo malleus. So according to the newer version of fluff, really it should be called something like Ordo Malus, as discussed up the thread. That sounds a bit more like daemons and a bit less like killer Estwings! (For all you tradesmen out there...)

Btw, someone put me out of my misery. Why the extra A in Daemon?

Bad Birch said:

It's a latinized version of a Greek word used to describe spirits (malevolent or not) of pre-Christian religions without Christian dogma.

Edit: wiki for the win!

Bad Birch said:

LOL.  Overall I feel that the Thorpe additions to the Inquisiton have added much needed depth to the 40k universe in a time where, at least to me, additions tend to strike me as vacuous. Of course, with that said, I also was a bit miffed when the Ordo Malleus was outted, which is one of the reasons that I still keep a version of the "watchers of the watchers" in Kage-verse.

Bad Birch said:

It's just another variation on "demon," same as "daimon."

Kage

Karmatech said:

In which part did he say "I charge the malleus"? When he was getting his righteos smite on at the very end, he says "In the name of the Holy God-Emporer of Terra, I call thee Diabolus and hereby deliver your sentence".  Which makes a lot more sense than calling him a hammer. 

Texas_Ben said:

I was wondering the same thing. In my copy of Eisenhorn, he cries out "Diabolus" not "Malleus." I might be missing the passage, or could it be BL editors tried to fix the mistake of earlier printings?

For the record, I've always subscribed to the Malleus Maleficarum / Hexhammer interpretation of where Ordo Malleus gets its name. So if Eisenhorn did charge someone for that hammer I probably would have noticed... or chalked it up to glossia.

Well, if you're looking for the 40K definition, you can take the latin roots of Hammer and Evil, and translate Ordo Malleus as "The order of smashing out the hated enemy of malleability(chaos)."