A tale of Heresy

Last Christmas I got a big box filled with books. It was a box set of 12 bestsellers and an extra book with short-stories. I had never before wanted books for Christmas but after I had borrowed one from a friend I took a chance and I have fallen completely in love with a universe, I was into when I was 13 years old. The Warhammer 40.000 universe. More precisely the Horus Heresy. In this post I will write about why I have fallen in love with the story and characters and also why I sometimes hate it.


I have a huge problem with the entire Heresy episode. And that is; I'm rooting for the wrong team. I know Horus is gonna die and everything is gonna blow up in his face and the Traitor legions will flee to the Eye of Terror but I have never felt so captivated by any type of writing like I did when I read the first 3 chapters og Horus Rising. The author Dan Abnett is a genius at what he does. You get no introduction at all and is thrown right into a war, that you se from the eyes of Garviel Loken, Captain of the 10th company in the Luna Wolves Legion, and right from the moment I finished the first page I knew I was gonna be a traitor legion guy. Horus is the first of the 20 Primarchs and by far the most bad ass of them all. Each primarch seems to have one specialty like Regal Dorn of the Imperial Fists is a master in fortification, Angron of the World Eaters is a butcher, Ferrus Manus of the Iron Hands is a master craftsman and so on, but to me Horus can do everything he wants to. The emperor has elected him to be the Warmaster while he goes back to Terra (Earth), because of that reason. Loken and his company spring a trap in the throne room on the fake Terra planet they are invading and while he hangs on for dear life a teleportationbeam appears and a demigod walks out of it and takes out the shock wave like bomb that was placed in the throne room. I remember that I had to put the book down and think; "what the hell had just happened?". Right at that moment, Horus had me. I dived into the Luna Wolves and got blown away by their brilliance. 

Through out the various books you follow different legions and characters in different parts of the galaxy and not all of them are equally good, but you still feel like it's all a part of the bigger picture and all. There is one thing though, through every book you see what chaos does and how it works and I fucking love it! You are slowly introduced to the warp and the chaos inside it and some of the chaos gods show themselves at various points. Primarch Fulgrim and his legion is deeply affected by the chaos god known as Slaaneesh. Slaaneesh is the god of pleasure and emotion and the transformation Fulgrim and The Emperor's children undergo is gripping and intens. They go from being a perfectionistic and arrogant Legion to a completely insane mass of kill seeking lunatics. The struggle Fulgrim undergoes himself is a long battle that sees him vanish into the darkest corner of his own mind and then a Demon of Slaaneesh takes control of his body. Fulgrim beheads his brother-Primarch Ferrus Manus while The traitor legions fight the Salamanders, Raven Guard and the Iron Hands on Istvan 5. The battle known as the Drop Site Massacre shows exactly why chaos is so fascinating. Legions that were once loyal to the emperor are turned into killing machines who fight former allies and brothers while guided by powers so imens even the Eldar don't dare touch it.


I'm a traitor guy all the way and therefor are my favorite legions part of the heresy. A lot of people don't like the Death Guard or don't really have an opinion on them but I think that the fact they are plain and simple is a plus. They don't ware ornaments or have any paint on their armors and ships. Mortarion is not a flashy guy he is a machine. The Death Guard legion keep on going and are well known for being methodical and really good at terring and breaking down the enemy whit now rest or pause in their war making. The Luna Wolves or Sons of Horus as they're called now are sort of a mix between some of the other legions. They reflect their Primarch Horus and his  ability to be good at everything. But the Sons of Horus are known for being the best at infiltrating fortresses. The Imperial Fists build the fortres and the Sons of Horus take it down. Some of the characters you get to know in the first couple of books are awesome characters. Loken is so likable that, even though I knew he would never be a traitor along with his friend Tarik Torgaddon, I still cheer for him to kick Abaddon's ass on Istvan 3. The Word Bearers are Lorgar's legion. i hated them at first because of Chaplain Erebus. Erebus is on a mission to turn Horus into the arms of chaos but he is so easy to see through and foolish in some of his planning that you can't help but think; "Why did no one but Loken and some remembrancers figure it out?" he is so obvious and I still hate him but after reading Scions of the Storm in Tales of Heresy I love them. The emperor thought Lorgar a fool and he didn't like it. The son who always loved his father more then anything in the world was told to stop it and he did. He did it so much that the fate of humanity was painted in blood. Another legion I really like is the Alpha Legion. They do nothing by the book and a wrapped in mystery and shadows. I love sneaky warfare and the fact that they know so much more then every other legion when it comes to the warp and mysterious powers. Nobody knows for certain what they're doing at any point. They've gone rogue from the get go, and always get the job done. Are there two Primarchs in the Alpha legion? Alpharius and Omegon or just one? I love the intriges and confusion they leave behind as well as their armor and their symbol the hydra.

The of course there are some legions a really hate. First of are the Ultramarines. For some reason are the Ultramarines better then everybody els. They are above all the other Astartes because they're Ultramarines. They seem to have no respect for the other Primarchs. Only their own, Roboute Guilliman, is worth a damn and to me that's bullshit. Some of the Primarchs hate each other but to think of only your own Primarch as worthy of the emperor's embrace is blasphemy. But if there's one legion that really pisses me of then it's the Space Wolves. How can rules be different when it comes to one legion. Why can they seemingly do what ever they want and get away with it? Leman Russ, The Primarch of the Space Wolves, is the Emperor's lapdog. The Space Wolves are supposed to be his assassin's or special forces of some kind, and Leman Russ is, as an example, to escort Magnus the Red back to the Emperor for violating the rules of warp magic. Rules that don't exist when it comes to the Space Wolves. They have visions and druids who perform rituals on their home world of Fenrir and that is allowed by the emperor. Lorgar musn't worship the emperor as a god and Magnus is not allowed the explorer the warp. But on Fenrir you can do whatever you want as long as you're a Space Wolf. What The Fuck? And of course Space Wolves and Ultramarines are better in combat then all the other astartes.

This leads me to a point that leaves me frustrated. How can one astartes be better then the other? In The Battle for the Abyss a couple of Ultramarines, one Space Wolfe and one World Eater take on an entire ship filled with Word Bearers and Thousands of human soldiers. The World Eathers, though you've been told they are experts in close- quarter and boarding combat, are useless. The World Eater has been on board the and trapped in the ship for weeks and they can't find him. So there's no tracking on board the Furious Abyss or any cameras or sensors? And the World Eather knows your ship better then you do? BS. at some point the 3 loyal astartes are cornered by some 15 World Eaters, but they fly right through them. Every time the traitor legions or allies fail they fail in some stupid and impossible fashion. On Mars when everything goes bananas Titan machines loyal to the fabricator general are just standing there, watching while their comrades are blown to bits. I know I'm cheering for the losing team, but still. Let the loyalists win an even fight by a small margin or by a close call. The entire civil war is won on a close call. Let the entire wall be one enormous rope pulling where nobodies giving an inch and the winner is found by a nose.


But even though this really bothers me it won't change the fact that I love this universe and the stories about it. Everything is so bloody and action packed and the warp and what's in it, really has me in a grip. Horus is my Warmaster and therefor the true leader of mankind and though I know he comes up short at the end somewhere deep down I still hope it turns out different for him when I read it myself. Lupercal!




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