John French on the Emperor of Mankind

"But, and brace yourselves,
that does not make him the ‘good guy’ – that just makes him a person. The
words spoken by the Emperor to the Chaos gods and the words spoken by Horus
to the Emperor have more than a kernel of truth to them. The Emperor is a
despot and a tyrant, there is very little room to doubt that. He has done terrible
things in pursuit of what he sees as ultimate victory – triumphing over the age
old darkness that stalks humanity. And importantly, he is alone."