Fulgrim - An obituary

The story of Fulgrim in the Heresy series has been one of the most interesting for me. Reading about his pride, his fall, being trapped in a picture whilst a Daemon inhabited his body and killed his brother, before wresting control once more and embracing the darkness that the daemon had brought into his soul.

The discussions between Fulgrim and the daemon in Reflection Cracked are a stand out point, and who can forget the moment we look at the picture and realise that the eyes are moving, that it is Fulgrim trapped within its fabric? Creepy.



Then there's the scene where a group of Emperor's Children capture their Primarch, realising there is something wrong after observing him for weeks. Torturing him for days, only to realise that their father had already beaten his inner daemon (so to speak).

The moment the reptilian daemon Primarch throws the polished, fleshless head of one of his dead brothers to another of his brothers as a trophy. On the one hand we could see it as a trophy, a gift of fealty to the Warmaster. But maybe Horus saw it as a warning, even if it was an unintentional one: if one Primarch could die, so could another, so could they all, included one who believed he was first amongst them. We also see in that scene how Horus loathes Fulgrim for what he has become, not seeing the irony in the situation.

All stand out points in the story of a very interesting, narcissistic character. He's been written well.

But now Fulgrim is dead... or at least his mortal shell is. What he has become is something other, something more whilst at the same time something far less than he ever was as a Primarch: A Daemon.

Twitter Primarch Deathmatch Week 7 - Result - Fulgrim v Angron

"...and Fulgrim raises his sword aloft ready to finish the downed Angron. This could be it!.....Wait, he's stopped.....What is he doing?.......He's started crying!.....Where's he looking?.......Is that? It can't be! He's seen his reflection in one of the monitors....He's realised his face has been damaged!!!"

"And that folks is how Angron took that beautiful but messed up head right off its shoulders. The moral of the story is that vanity will get you distracted and therefore your head cut off! And Angron goes through to the Quarter Finals with no such problems!!"

"Stay tuned Deathmatch fans for our next draw coming up soon..."

Twitter Primarch Deathmatch Week 7 - Fulgrim v Angron

"The excitement is building here in the Deathmatch Studios. There are only 8 Primarch's left to fight in Round 1 with some big fan favourites to still be drawn. The 8 left are Horus, Sanguinius, Angron, Vulkan, Dorn, Leman Russ, Fulgrim and The Khan!"

"And here is our special guest for the draw this evening.....Ravenor!"

"Are you ok Ravenor? Can we get some help here please? Really? The studios aren't disability friendly? He can't get his chair through the door? This is outrageous and completely unacceptable, I tell you heads will roll for this."

"Never mind the show must go on. Ravenor can you use your enhanced Psychic powers to draw the balls from outside the studio? Yes? Fantastic."

"And here we go, the balls are trembling....and yes, one is rising up out of the bowl now.....it's actually glowing! What do you mean that isn't you Ravenor? It's beautiful, how have we not noticed that particular ball before? This can only mean one thing.....the first competitor is.....Fulgrim!"

"Thank you Rav, now can we have the next ball please. What is happening here? I think that Ravenor's psychic force is having an effect on the draw here. The bowl is filling with......BLOOD! What is going on? Hang on, a ball is emerging from the fluid. This can mean only one thing.....BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD! It's Angron!"

"What a treat we are going to have for this Deathmatch. It's the beauty of The Phoenician v the violence of Angron!"

"This could be close so while we clear up this mess in the studio, let's fight! Go and vote for your favourite @4dadsapocalypse now!"

Dave's Primarch Miniature Theory

Firstly, happy Christmas everyone. I hope you all got your hobby-gift wish? (let us know please). My lovely wife (she didn't make me write that, honest... Love you Helen) brought me a copy of Wolf King. I haven't managed to read it yet but the limited edition packaging is awesome. I have never brought a HH limited edition before but I love Wolves and Chris Wraight is a great writer so I thought this would be a good Christmas gift for me.

But, lets get down to the topic of my post... my theory on Forge World's Primarch miniatures and more specifically, why they designers have selected the poses that they have.

When Roboute Guilliman was released there was no doubt it was a fine miniature, but why did they select THAT pose? The one with a single power fist and a sword?! I, like many I am sure based on the comments I have read around the interweb, was so hoping for the twin-power-fist-angry-rage-face pose from the cover of Know No Fear:

Having Guilliman with that pose would have made me buy him, despite my previous lack of love for the boys in blue. That pose and that book made me love the Ultramarines. In fact, every time a new Horus Heresy novel comes along, 9 times out of 10 Neil Roberts' artwork makes me want to start a new army. And I know many in the community feel the same, just read the comments on any blog or forum site.

I didn't buy that miniature in the end. I generally paint the miniatures that inspire me, and that pose didn't get my blood pumping.

So, with Mr Roberts' excellent direction, why has Forge World chosen not to use the Black Library art for inspiration on so many occasions?

Here's my theory: many of the miniatures coming along now represent the two side of the same coin so often thrown up in the literature. We have Guilliman the empire builder, Lord of the Five Hundred Worlds. His miniature pose matches that of Horus, first among equals and builder of the Imperium (whether on behalf of himself or his farther):

Both have a single power first and a power weapon in the opposite hand.
So who else have we got so far? Ferrus and Fulgrim don't really match in terms of pose but they were modelled much earlier, so I'll exclude them.

But we do have Vulkan and Perturabo, arguably two sides of the same coin: both blacksmiths, both artisans, both believers in the strength of Man:

And FW posed them similarly: hammer in one hand, leaning in for the attack.

Then we have the latest addition (which made me think of this whole link in the first place): Corax and Curze. Both from planets enslaved by the dominant elite, both members of the enslaved population. Both could have become bitter and twisted but one chose the dark and the other the light. Look at the way they are posed:

Look at the legs, look at the claws. Both Angels, but one is an Angel of Death and Destruction. Horus and Guilliman aside, these two are definitely, consciously designed as a pair of miniatures I would suggest.

So in summary, the designers haven't gone for the poses depicted by the artwork, they have gone for the poses that reflect that Primarch's character and tied that in with their traitorous (or loyalist, depending on your persuasion) counterpart.

Maybe I'm reading too much in to it.

When I threw this thought out there, Steve (another of the Four Dads group) suggested that the doubling up of poses was inevitable. There are 18 (or 19) Primarch miniatures to design and ensuring that they are all unique whilst remaining dynamic was always going to be difficult. I'd argue that the artwork for the novels is all different and dynamic, so the designers could have easily done this if they had selected images from the novels/novellas/audio dramas/Collected Visions... there are tons of sources.

What do you think?

Dave